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New coronavirus infectionsat 62,714 and fatalities at

312 on Sunday were the high-est single day rise so far this year.And Maharashtra continuedbeing the biggest contributor tothe Covid-19 tally bearing thebrunt of two mutant strains ofcoronavirus - E484Q andL452R. Maharashtra (36,902cases) followed by Punjab(3,122), Chhattisgarh (2665),Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya

Pradesh, continue to report asurge in the Covid daily newcases, contributing nearly 80 percent of the total cases. While thenationwide caseload stood at

1,19,71,624 and total deaths at1,61,552, the recovery rate hasfurther dropped to 94.58 percent, as per the Union HealthMinistry. The Ministry saidtwo mutant strains of coron-avirus E484Q and L452R arebehind the sudden spike in thenumber of daily cases acrossMaharashtra.

The present active case-load now stands at 3.8 per centof India’s total positive cases. Anet decline of 31,581 casesrecorded from the total activecaseload in the last 24 hours.Maharashtra (62.69 per cent),Kerala (5.43 per cent) andPunjab (5 per cent) cumula-tively account for 73 per cent ofthe total active cases in country.

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As the Government’s moveto widen the ambit of the

nationwide vaccination pro-gramme to include more ben-eficiaries for inoculation islikely to increase the demandfor the jabs, Hyderabad-basedBharat Biotech has written tothe Centre seeking funds worth�100 crore to ramp up the pro-duction of its coronavirus vac-cine Covaxin.

Sources said the Pune-based Serum Institute of India

(SII) has also verbally request-ed for funds from theGovernment’s Covid Surakshascheme to increase its produc-tion.

The move follows in thewake of the increased demandfor vaccines which is expectedto go up further after April 1 as

the Government hasannounced that all above 45years are eligible for Covid-19jab in the country.

Currently, Bharat Biotech isproducing 4 million doses ofCovaxin per month at theirHyderabad-based plant.

A Government-appointedinter-Ministerial panel on vac-cine manufacturing and scalingup of production has reviewedthe manufacturing facility ofthe Indian biotechnology firm.

Similarly, Serum Institutehad planned ramping up pro-duction to produce 100 milliondoses of Covishield by March2021.

The inter-Ministerial grouphad also visited Serum Instituteof India’s production manu-facturing plant in Pune onMarch 21 regarding theirramping up of production.

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Awanted gangster, who hadescaped from custody, was

killed on Sunday following anexchange of fire with a SpecialCell team at a flat in the Rohiniarea here, police said.

Several teams of the police’sSpecial Cell and Crime Branchwere working to trace and nabKuldeep alias Fajja, who hadescaped on March 25, theysaid.The operation at Rohiniwas conducted around 1.45am, police said. Kuldeep suf-fered injuries in the exchange offire at the flat in Rohini’s sector14, they said. The Special Cellgot a tip-off on Saturday thatKuldeep was hiding in the flatat Tulsi Apartments. Beforethe operation, it arrested one ofKuldeep’s associates BhupinderMann around 9:30 pm and herevealed that he was harbour-ing Kuldeep, police said.

“Police reached the areaand raided the flat. They askedKuldeep to surrender, but heopened fire at police. In retali-ation, police fired and Kuldeepsuffered injures.

He was rushed to the BabaSaheb Ambedkar Hospital atRohini where he was declaredbrought dead,” DeputyCommissioner of Police(Special Cell) Pramod SinghKushwah said. Police said thataround 20 rounds were fired -- eight by Kuldeep and around

10 by the Special Cell team --during the exchange of fire. Theflat belonged to YogenderDahiya, also an associate ofKuldeep. He has been arrested,they said. According to a seniorpolice officer, the escape planfor Kuldeep was hatched by hisassociates to revive the Gogigang.

On March 25 afternoon,Kuldeep escaped from custodyafter a gunfight broke out at agovernment hospital here. Atthe hospital, the assailants firstthrew chilli powder at thepolice team and then started fir-ing at them to which the secu-rity personnel retaliated with 12rounds of fire, killing one ofthem on the spot and injuringanother. The shootout tookplace when police were takingKuldeep, who is a member ofthe Gogi gang, to the hospitalfor treatment.

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The MaharashtraGovernment will in all like-

lihood appoint a Commission ofInquiry headed by retiredBombay High Court judge tolook into former Param BirSingh allegations against StateHome Minister and NCP leaderAnil Deshmukh.

Though Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayhas not formally made anannouncement about the settingup of a judicial enquiry,Deshmukh himself gave anindication to this effect onSunday. Talking to media per-sons in Nagpur, Deshmukhsaid, “At the last Cabinet meet-ing, I had asked the CM toinvestigate the allegations madeby Mumbai’s former PoliceCommissioner. He has agreed toit and the probe will be done bya retired high court judge. Thetruth in the entire matter willcome before the people”.

The three alliance partners– Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress– have held series of meetingsover the fallout of allegationsmade by Mumbai’s formerpolice commissioner Param BirSingh against Deshmukh thatthe latter had asked suspendedpolice officer Sachin Vaze lastmonth to “collect” a staggeringRs 100 crore per month frombars, restaurants and other

sources. The chief minister hadalso spoken to NCP supremoSharad Pawar, the chief architectof the MVA government. Itmay be recalled on March 20,Singh -- three days after he wasshunted and posted in a rela-tively insignificant post asCommandant General of HomeGuards – had dropped a bomb-shell on MVA government, inform of an eight-page sensa-tional letter written to chiefminister Uddhav Thackeray, inwhich he laid bare “misdeedsand malpractices” indulged inby the State Home Minister.

On his part, State Homeminister Deshmukh – in atweet put in the evening --debunked Singh’s charge andsaid: “The formerCommissioner of Police,Parambir Singh has made falseallegations in order to savehimself as involvement ofSachin Waze in MukeshAmbani & Mansukh Hiren’scase is becoming clearer fromthe investigation carried out sofar & threads are leading to Mr.Singh as well”.

The setting up of a judicialinquiry panel underCommission of Inquiry Actshould be seen in context of thefact that Singh has filed a peti-tion in Bombay High Court,challenging his transfer anddemanding a CBI probe intoallegations against Deshmukh.

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In a major breakthrough inthe twin SUV recovery-

businessman murder cases,the NIA on Sunday recoveredseveral pieces of evidence,including two CPUs of com-puters, two number plates ofa vehicle with the same regis-tration number, two DVRsand a laptop, from the bed ofMithi River in north-centralMumbai, which allegedly linkthe arrested police officer tothe two sensational crimes.

After interrogating himfor days on end, the the NIAtook Sachin Vaze — who is akey accused in both the explo-sive laden SUV planting andsubsequent alleged murder ofbusinessman Mansukh Hiranto the bank of the Mithi Riverthat flows off the Bandra-Kurla Complex, where thedivers recovered variouspieces of evidence from itsbed.

The NIA, which had beenlooking into the inputs it hadreceived that Vaze haddestroyed several pieces ofevidence in the twin cases it isinvestigating — deployed ateam of swimmers and diversto recover two CPUs of com-puters, two number plates ofa vehicle with the same regis-tration number that read MH-20FP 1539, two DVRs and alaptop from the Mithi riverbed, in the presence ofVaze.The NIA is expected to

send recovered articles toCentral Forensic ScienceLaboratory (CFSL) for exam-ination.The investigationshave among others revealedthat Vaze and Hiran had meton February 17, when thelatter handed over Vaze theSUV keys. On his part, Hiranhad lodged a compl;aint withthe police claiming the vehi-cle was stolen.

Hiran, a Thane-basedbusinessman whose “stolen”SUV with 20 gelatin sticks wasrecovered by the police nearIndustrialist MukeshAmbani’s skyscraper mansion“Antilia” in south Mumbai onFebruary 25, was found deadin mysterious circumstancesin the marshy Reti-Bundercreek Mumbra in the neigh-bouring Thane district onMarch 5. It may be recalled

that the police had recovered20 gelatin sticks and a threatletter were recovered fromwhat was later described asMahindra Scorpio that wasfound abandoned in the vicin-ity of Mukesh Ambani’s 27-storey residence “Antilia” onCarmichael Road in southMumbai.

Vaze, who was arrested onMarch 13 in connection withthe gelatine sticks ladenScorpion recovery case, wasearlier booked under sections120 (B) (criminal conspiracy)286 (negligent conduct withrespect to explosive sub-stance), 465 (forgery) 473(making or possessing coun-terfeit seal) and 506 -2 (crim-inal intimidation) of theIndian Penal Code (IPC) and4 (a)(b)(i) of the ExplosiveSubstances Act, 1908. The

NIA invoked the stringentUnlawful Activit iesPrevention Act (UAPA)against Vaze on March 24.Vaze has among other thingstold the investigators that hehad destroyed five of hismobile phones on March 6, aday after Hiran’s body wasrecovered from Mumbracreek. Vaze was reportedlyusing 13 mobile phones.

Maharashtra’s AntiTerrorism Squad (ATS),which was investigating theMansukh Hiran alleged mur-der case before the case hand-ed over to the NIA by a Thanecourt on March, had earlier onMarch 21 arrested convictedMumbai Police constableVinayak B. Shinde (51) and acricket bookie Naresh R. Gor(31) in connection withHiran’s alleged murder case.

Informed sources said thatthe NIA might summon apolice inspector and seniorpolice officer for questioningin connection with the twincrimes.The NIA is also look-ing into an unspecified num-ber of ammunition seized byit from Vaze’s residence. In all,62 bullets have been found inhis house, which are unac-counted for.

“Only 5 of the 30 bulletsgiven for his service revolverhave been found. The accusedis not telling where the restwent,” the NIA had told a spe-cial court in Mumbai onThursday last.

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With the BJP and theTrinamool Congress

engaged in a war of purport-ed audio tapes exposes againsteach other, senior BJP leaderand Union Home MinisterAmit Shah on Sunday assert-ed that it showed that phonesof Opposition leaders weretapped in West Bengal.

“Is this a democratic prac-tice,” he questioned even as heappealed to voters ofNandigram, where ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee islocked in a high-profile con-test with her former lieu-tenant and BJP candidateSuvendu Adhikari, to sup-port his party saying theycan bring about a change forbetter in the State by theirvotes.

He also claimed that theground feedback about thefirst-phase of polling receivedby the party provides clear-cutindications that it will sweep26 of the 30 Assembly seats in

West Bengal and similarly,win 37 of the 48 seats inAssam.Shah claimed that hisparty would win over 200seats in West Bengal to formthe Government ousting theMamata BanerjeeGovernment and improve itsperformance in Assam. Healso expressed confidence offorming Government inAssam and Puducherry.

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In what could give a majorsetback to the Trinamool

Congress’ electoral exercise inthe Jangalmahal areas theNational Investigation Agencyon Sunday arrested itsJangalmahal leaderChhatradhar Mahato in con-nection with a ten year oldmurder case and a train hijackcase.

Mahato a former leader ofthe Maoist-backed People’sCommittee Against PoliceAtrocities which then backedTMC against the BuddhadebBhattacharjee Governmentwas picked up from hisLalgarh residence in the weehours of Sunday, his wife saidalleging no arrest memo wasgiven to the family.NIA

sources however said that hiswife refused to accept thearrest memo adding Mahatohad given physical resistancewhile he was being arrested.The PCAPA leader who hadlater joined TMC was recent-ly given bail after more than10 years of incarceration.

Mahato had failed torespond to repeated NIAsummons in the case relatedto the murder of a CPI(M)leader and the hijacking ofRajdhani Express nearBanstala Railway Stationmore than a decadeago.Earlier on Thursday, theCalcutta high court haddirected Chhatradhar Mahatoto appear at the NIA officethrice a week in relation to hisalleged involvement in a mur-der case.

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The BJP and the TMC havegone all out in the high

stakes April 1 phase 2 pollsinvolving Nandigram whereChief Minister MamataBanerjee is pitted against herformer l ieutenant BJP’sSuvendu Adhikari .Roadshows and rallies byMithun and Amit Shah werelined up by the BJP, whileMamata extended her stay inNandigram. Mamata allegesSuvendu family was behindthe Nandigram firing whichled to fal l of the LeftGovernment.

Mamata on Sunday addedmore charge to an alreadyhigh-voltage batt le forNandigram where the ChiefMinister is taking on her BJPchallenger Suvendu Adhikari,a former spearhead-turned

saffron turncoat.So much sothat in a sharp and strategicshift from a long held out offi-cial narrative — blaming theMarxists for the Nandigrammayhem — Mamata onSunday accused former lieu-tenant-turned BJP nomineeSuvendu and his father SisirAdhikari for the loss of 14lives in the 2007 Nandigrampolice firing — that finallybrought the downfall of the

Buddhadeb BhattacharjeeGovernment. Sisir Adhikari aveteran leader, a formerUnion Minister and a sittingTMC MP recently joined theBJP.

“On that fateful day on2007 hundreds of policemen,and many private mercenar-ies dressed in police uni-forms had entered Nandigramand fired at the villagerskilling many of them … buttruth to be told those merce-naries in police uniform wear-ing sandals could not haveentered the village without thetacit support of this father andson duo,” Mamata said at apublic rally at Birulia Bazar inNandigram where she hurther knees on March 10 whilecampaigning.

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Over 470 children belowthe age of 10 have been

infected with Covid-19, sincethe beginning of this month inBengaluru, as the city is wit-nessing a spike in infections.

A total of 244 boys and 228girls have been infected from

March 1 to 26, official datashowed. The cases among chil-dren were limited to eight tonine daily during the earlydays of this month but theyhave steadily risen to 46 onMarch 26. An epidemiologistsaid, children in many casesmay also be spreaders amongfamily members.

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Attacking Home MinisterAmit Shah for claiming

that the BJP would win 26 outof 30 seats that went to pollsin the first phase of Assemblyelections on March 27, BengalChief Minister said a personhad the freedom to say what-ever one liked but thingswere finally in the hands ofthe voters and “I have left iton the ‘maanush’ (people)…they will decided thethings.”

Wondering as to why theHome Minister claimed only26 seats and why not theentire 30 of them she said, “aleader today said that the BJPwill win all 26 seats … I won-der why not the entire 30,”adding “have they kept theremaining 4 for the CPI(M)and the Congress who aretheir partners.” Banerjee who

was addressed two rallies atChandipur and Nandigramsaid “I will not predict any-thing … how can I predictcan I go inside the votingmachines … I can only putfaith on the people and I havefull faith in them … thingswill be known only the resultday,” adding “as

about 84 per cent voteswere polled, I can only hopethat things have gone in ourfavour.”She said that “do notsee who is contesting in yourarea … think that it is mewho is contesting as I havebrought all the developmentat your doorsteps.”

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In the past few years wetlandconservation has become an

overloaded buzzword when itcomes to environmental con-servation. In fact the govern-ment as well as communityhave begun realising that with-out resuscitating and replen-ishing our wetlands, allattempts to ensure sustainablewater supply in our cities willremain superficial.

So, conserving the existingrather ossifying wetlandsbecomes non negotiable, if weare to accord priority to eco-logical preservation in urban aswell as rural regions of India.This stimulates two relevantquestions. What are wetlandsand why are they so imperativeto the ecosystem? In anunadorned language, wetlandsare those areas of land that arecovered by water.

Not only are they floodedby water either seasonally orpermanently, but they alsosupport a unique ecosystem.Wetlands can be easily identi-fiable as marshes, bogs,swamps, lakes, ponds, floodplains or even the mangroveregions near rivers and sea.

These wetlands not onlyserve as a reservoir of water, butthey also support a wide vari-ety of flora and fauna. In fact

when situated near rivers andsea they act as natural barri-cades from floods, besidesbeing a site of ground water.They help filter contaminantsfrom water before it seeps intomajor water bodies and into theground water.

Their moderating impacton surrounding weather con-ditions is still being studied,with stronger evidence in theirfavour coming to light each day.No wonder it is appropriatelystated that while forests areconsidered the lungs of theearth, wetlands can be referredto as earth's kidneys.

However despite being adeterminant of a healthy ecol-ogy, it is interesting to note thatfor decades altogether, theimportance of wetlands wasacknowledged neither by soci-ety, nor by the government. Asa sardonic fact, any vacantmarsh land or hyacinth coveredwater body was labelled aswasteland. Thus a majority ofthe wetlands became victims ofproliferating human need forexpansion and lack of aware-ness about their importance. Awave of sensitisation appeared

in 1971, when the Conventionon Wetlands or the RamsarConvention came into being.This was an international treatywhich spoke about sustainableuses of wetlands around theworld. Since then several vul-nerable wetlands sites havebeen identified and enlistedunder this convention, whenfound to be of internationalimportance. It surprises littlethat by 2020 more than 2400international wetland sites havealready been enlisted.

Moreover zooming intothe Indian context- India hadbecome party to the RamsarConvention in 1982, and as oftoday around 42 wetlands inthe country have becomeRamsar sites.

This makes it the largest inthis context in the entire southeast Asia. While this may haveaccorded the much neededimportance to our wetlands,ignorance among populace atlarge continues to hauntprospects of wetland resusci-tation. An official estimatestates that we are losing ourwetlands at an alarming rate oftwo to three per cent each year.

Among the major anthro-pogenic causes of this wetlanderosion are overfishing, agri-culture, deforestation, landencroachment and urbandevelopment. While across thecountry these are the majorreasons behind wetland degra-dation, a microscopic analysisof Uttarakhand’s scenarioreveals two issues.

One is the fact that since itsattaining statehood back in2000, the pattern of urbanisa-tion has been unsystematicand the other is that untilrecently, not even one wetlandfrom the state had achievedrecognition under Ramsarconvention. Until recentlywhen the Asan ConservationReserve in Dehradun districtbecame the first wetland fromUttarakhand to be recognisedby Ramsar.

This is also rather para-doxical given that the NationalWetlands ConservationProgramme of India has beensupporting wetlands conser-vation throughout the countrysince 1987. Uttarakhand beinga mountainous terrain is anecologically sensitive territory.

This is also highlighted by thedecision of the government todeclare many more areas in thestate as Ecologically SensitiveZones. In the last ten years thegross percentage rise in the areaunder forest cover has beenabysmally low.

These factors when rolledinto one explain perfectly thedrying up of water bodies inthe hills, recurrent floodingnear rivers banks in cities,depletion of ground water andoverall change in the climate.

Almost every year duringthe monsoons several low lyingresidential settlements inDehradun, experience flood-ing. It is surprising that thishappens even in the yearswhen the density of rains islight or moderate. On the out-skirts of the city too, water log-ging persists for long periods oftime in the monsoon months.The cause behind this menacestems form how the wetlandssurrounding the river basinsand lakes have been used up for

construction. The excess watercannot seep into concrete sur-face increasing runoff andbringing floods. This not onlythreatens human habitat butalso exacerbates the risk ofmany water borne diseases inthe surroundings. Anotherneglected issue is how the con-struction upon lakes and pondsand their abuse as waste dump-ing sites, has led to groundwater contamination.

Since the microbes presentin wetlands absorb toxinsbefore the excess water isallowed to percolate under theground, the risk of groundwater toxicity also reduces. Sowhenever we see a ratherunpleasant smelling and mosscovered water body, instead ofcringing by assuming it aswaste site, we must acknowl-edge it as a wetland where awhole range of biodiversity isat work to purify our watertable. The case of missingmigratory birds from mostquags in the state is also asso-

ciated with disappearing wet-lands itself. Besides water fil-tration, nourishing flora faunaand preventing floods andrunoffs, wetlands also con-tribute to economic growth asthey offer charming tourismsights. Unique plants, reptilesand terrestrial species are anattraction to visitors and pho-tographers from around theworld.

No wonder many nationalwetlands have becomeUNESCO world heritage sitesas well. So we need to remem-ber that whenever a wetland isbeing exposed to garbage orconstruction debris, reclaimedor is intoxicated by factorychemicals, an integral organ ofour ecosystem is being violat-ed. The complete cycle of ecol-ogy is traumatised when wet-lands are not allowed to flour-ish and perpetuate.

(The writer is a retired civilservant) Pioneer, Dehradun0135 2673111

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Aday before Holi,Uttarakhand reported the

highest number of Covid-19positive cases in a single daythis year on Sunday. A total of366 positive cases were report-ed in the state while 42 personsrecovered from the disease onSunday.

There were no deaths ofCovid patients reported in thestate on the day. Before this, thehighest number of Covid pos-itive cases in a single day thisyear- 361 was reported onJanuary 1. According to infor-mation provided by the healthdepartment, of the 366 Covidpositive cases reported in the

state on Sunday, the highest-167 are from Dehradun dis-trict, 59 from Haridwar, 54from Tehri and 31 fromNainital. Among the other dis-tricts, three positive cases werereported from Almora, twofrom Bageshwar, 17 from Pauri,four from Rudraprayag, threefrom Pithoragarh, 20 fromUdham Singh Nagar and sixfrom Uttarkashi.

No new Covid positivecases were reported on Sundayfrom Chamoli and Champawatdistricts. The total cumulativepositive Covid-19 cases detect-ed in the state so far are 99,881with 95,025 patients beingcured and 1,709 patients dying.The mortality rate of the dis-ease in the state is currently1.71 per cent while the recov-ery percentage is 95.14 per cent.According to official data, ofthe total of 1,660 active Covid

cases in the state the highest-591 are in Dehradun districtfollowed by 494 in Haridwarand 133 in Nainital. The num-ber of active cases in the otherdistricts include 124 in Tehridistrict, 79 in Udham SinghNagar, 73 in Pauri, 39 inAlmora, 11 in Bageshwar, 19 inChamoli, 20 in Champawat, 19in Pithoragarh, 29 inRudraprayag and 29 also inUttarkashi.

Meanwhile, vaccinationhas also continued in the statewith 3,306 beneficiaries vacci-nated in 89 sessions in the stateon Sunday. So far, a total of1,21,441 beneficiaries havebeen fully vaccinated, 3,13,128beneficiaries aged 60 years andabove have received their firstdose and 23,288 beneficiariesaged 45-59 years with comor-bidity have been administeredtheir first dose.

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Amid the increasingCovid-19 cases in the

Dehradun district, the districtadministration declared twoareas of two cities as thecontainment zones onSunday.

After the administrationfound Covid-19 positivepatients in Nehru Colonyarea of Dehradun city and inGumaniwala area ofRishikesh, the district admin-istration declared the sites inthese localities as contain-ment zones and imposedlockdown in both areas underthe Uttarakhand EpidemicDisease COVID-19Regulation 2020 and the

Disaster Management Act2005. All the commercialestablishments includingbanks, shops and officeswould remain closed in bothcontainment zones till thefurther orders of the admin-istration.

According to the districtmagistrate, Ashish KumarSrivastava, the police depart-ment would barricade all theentry and exit points of thecontainment zones and wouldensure safety during the lock-down period.

He also directed all thedepartments concerned likethe district supply office,dairy department and therespective municipal corpo-rations to provide all the required items and services to the locals during this period.

According to Srivastava, onlyone person from a family isallowed to make purchasesfor products of daily use fromthe mobile shops provided bythe district administrationduring the lockdown periodin the area.

DM said that it is com-pulsory for everyone to abideby these rules in the contain-ment zones and if anyone isfound to be violating therules, legal actions will betaken against them undervarious relevant acts.

It will be recalled thatGolway Cottage, SaintGeorges School, Barlowganjin Mussoorie had beendeclared a containment zonein the past.

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Following the guidelinesissued on the weekend by

the Dehradun district admin-istration, the Jhanda Melaorganising committee has start-ed taking measures in accor-dance with the guidelines. Thecommittee has also conductedRT-PCR test of the devoteeswho arrived on foot here fromPunjab before the issuance ofthe guidelines by the adminis-tration. According to the guide-lines issued by the administra-tion, a negative report of RT-PCR test conducted within thelast 72 hours is compulsory fordevotees arriving here fromother States to participate inJhanda Mela.

The administration hasalso directed the Mela com-mittee to install banners andposters displaying informationlike Covid-19 guidelines, con-trol room number among othernecessary information besidesraising awareness on theCovid-19 contagion.

The district administra-tion has also suggested thatsenior citizens, people withcomorbidities and childrenbelow 10 years of age shouldnot participate in the eventconsidering them to be at high-

er risk of Covid-19 contagion.The administration has askedthe Mela organisers in theguidelines to limit the time ofthe event in order to avoid thehigher risk of contagion amongthe devotees and local resi-dents.

As stated by the addition-al district magistrate (ADM),Bir Singh Budiyal, it is theresponsibility of the Mela com-mittee to ensure the imple-mentation of the Covid-19guidelines among the devoteesarriving from other States andat the location of the event.

According to the K C Juyalof the Jhanda Mela organisingcommittee, a team of MahantIndiresh Hospital has takensamples of about 80 devoteesfor RT-PCR test who recentlyarrived in Dehradun before theadministration had issued any

guidelines related to the event.He said that lakhs of devoteesarrive every year for JhandaMela but the committee hasappealed to devotees to arrivein limited numbers this year.

Talking about limiting thetime and the magnitude of theevent as per the district admin-istration’s instructions, Juyalsaid that that the committee isstill in talks with the adminis-tration and will soon disclosethe set-up of the event.

He said that the commit-tee is following all the guide-lines so far and added that theyalso expect that the devoteeswould consider the appeal andunlike the past years, theywould arrive in limited num-bers only. It is pertinent tomention here that the histori-cal Jhanda Mela will be heldfrom April 2 in Dehradun.

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The Municipal Corporationof Dehradun (MCD) will

start imposing penalties onlocal residents and vendorsviolating the ban on single-useplastics from the first week ofApril.

The Dehradun municipalcommissioner, Vinay ShankarPandey stated that he hadconstituted five teams to raiseawareness in the five zones ofthe city in February after theMCD received orders from theState Government to reinstate

the plastic ban. The teams havebeen raising awareness againstthe use of single-use plasticsfor about a month now whichmust have provided enoughtime to local consumers, ven-dors, retailers and shopkeep-ers to stop the practice of usingbanned plastic products, stat-ed Pandey.

According to him, theteams would also execute raidson commercial establishmentsand plastic manufacturersbesides imposing penalties onthe locals found using single-use plastics from the first

week of the next month. Theofficials also informed that thecorporation can impose fineranging from Rs 100 to Rs fivelakh as per the violation by aconsumer or a commercialbody.

Besides single-use plas-tics, the officials informedthat various products madefrom polystyrene like dispos-able cups, plates and glassesand single-use polypropylenecarry bags are also banned bythe State Government and thecorporation would imposepenalties on their usage too.

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Governor Baby Rani Maurya,chief minister Tirath Singh

Rawat and others have greetedthe people on the occasion ofHoli. They have also appealedthe people to observe all neces-sary precautions in view ofCovid-19.

In her message to publicgovernor said, “May the festivalof Holi bring colours of happi-ness and prosperity in everyone’slife. This is an occasion to forgetbitterness and differences whileencouraging affection and coop-eration towards each other.”

She also appealed to peopleto observe all necessary precau-tions against Covid-19 whilecelebrating Holi. Similarly, theCM also wished people on occa-sion while also appealing tothem to observe Covid appro-priate behaviour.

Meanwhile, various HoliMilan programmes were held inthe provisional state capitalDehradun on Sunday. The BJPstate president Madan Kaushikplayed Holi with flower petals athis residence and BJP office. ThePradesh Congress Committeepresident Pritam Singh alsoattended a Holi Milan pro-gramme.

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Modernisation in the agri-culture sector is the need

of the hour as already a lot oftime has been lost, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi saidon Sunday. Asserting thatadopting modern practices inthe agriculture sector is imper-ative, Modi, in his monthlyradio programme ‘Mann KiBaat’ said, in every aspect of lifenewness, modernisation isessential.

"In India's agriculture sec-tor, modernisation is the needof the hour. It has been delayedand we have already lost a lotof time. In order to create newemployment opportunities inthe agriculture sector, toincrease farmers' income, it isequally important to adoptnew alternatives, innovationsalong with traditional agricul-tural practices," the PrimeMinister said.

The country has witnessedthis during the white revolutionand bee farming is also emerg-ing as one such alternative, saidModi. The Prime Minister's callfor embracing modern prac-tices in agriculture comes at atime when hundreds of farm-ers have been camping atDelhi's border points atGhazipur, Singhu and Tikrisince November last yeardemanding that the Centrerepeal the three contentiousfarm laws.

During his radio broadcast,Modi also recalled that inMarch last year the nation first

heard about the Janata curfew.The Janata curfew was imposedon March 22 last year on thePrime Minister's appeal. "Fromvery early on, the people ofIndia have put up a spiritedfight against COVID-19," heasserted.

Noting that around timelast year, the question waswhether there would be a vac-cine for COVID-19 and bywhen would it be rolled out,Modi said it was a matter ofpride that the world's largestvaccination drive is underwayin India. Modi also said thatIndia's 'Nari Shakti' is excellingin the sports field and laudedthe recent sporting feats ofcricketer Mithali Rajand shut-tler P V Sindhu.

On Mann Ki Baat com-

pleting 75 episodes, Modi saidit seems like just yesterdaywhen in 2014 "we began thisjourney" and thanked all thelisteners.

"During Mann Ki Baat, wehave discussed a wide range ofsubjects. We all have learnt somuch. Diverse topics have beencovered," he said.

Mann Ki Baat completes 75episodes at a time when Indiais looking forward to markingour 'Amrut Mahotsav', Modisaid underlining the impor-tance of the celebrations of 75years of Independence."Thesacrifices of our great freedomfighters must inspire us tothink about our duties as a cit-izen. This is somethingMahatma Gandhi talked aboutextensively," he said.

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The National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI)

on Sunday said it has sus-pended key personnel of devel-oper Larsen & Toubro andsupervision consultantAECOM after a portion of anunder-construction elevatedroad on Dwarka expresswaycollapsed this morning.

It said the personnel were

suspended pending the out-come of investigation by anexpert committee being con-stituted to probe the incident.

A portion of an under-con-struction elevated road on theDwarka Expressway collapsedhere on Sunday morning, injur-ing three workers.

"Authority has viewed theincident seriously and pendingthe outcome of the investiga-tion by the committee, the

concerned key personnel of theContractor M/s L&T andSupervision Consultant M/sAECOM have been suspendedas per Standard OperatingProcedure (SOP) of NHAI," theNHAI said in a statement.

The accident site is beingsecured with necessary pre-cautions taken to prevent anyfurther damages, the state-ment said.

It said: "An unfortunate

incident happened in Gurgaonwherein under erection spanand adjoining span (betweenpier no. 107-108 and Pier No.108-109) of under constructionflyover of package-III DwarkaExpressway collapsed duringthe early hours of 28.03.2021around 7:30 AM." No casualtieswere reported and three work-ers suffered minor injuries,who have been dischargedfrom hospital after receiving

first-aid.Earlier, a team of officials

from the National HighwaysAuthority of India, includingthe regional officer and the pro-ject director also visited the site.

Union Road and TransportMinister Nitin Gadkari hadearlier this month visited theexpressway to inspect progressof the 30-kilometre projectwhich is being built at the costof Rs 10,000 crore.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt has sentenced a man tothree months'' imprisonmentfor contempt of court after hedid not pay an outstanding ofRs 2.60 crore along with Rs 1.75lakh monthly maintenance tohis estranged wife.

The top court said the hus-band has already been given along rope and he has notutilised the chances given tohim to pay the maintenance tohis estranged wife.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices A SBopanna and VRamasubramanian said in arecent order, "We have alreadygiven (the respondent) a longrope. The respondent (hus-band) has not utilised the

chances so given. Therefore, we punish the

contemnor/respondent forcommitting contempt of thiscourt and sentence him toimprisonment for a period ofthree months in civil prison."

The top court noted thatthe husband has not compliedwith its order of February 19,giving him a last opportunity topay the entire outstandingmaintenance amount alongwith the monthly sum fixedearlier by the court.

On February 19, the topcourt had said a husband can-not abdicate the responsibilityof paying maintenance to hisestranged wife and gave a lastopportunity to the husband,failing which he would be

imprisoned.The man, who claimed to

have been working on a projectof national security in the tele-com sector, had said that hehad no money and sought twoyears'' time to pay the entireamount.

The top court had said thatthe man has lost credibility byfailing repeatedly to follow thecourt''s order and wonderedhow a person with this kind ofcase was associated with a pro-ject of national security.

It had told the man, aTamil Nadu resident, that "hus-band cannot abdicate from hisresponsibility to provide main-tenance to his wife and it is hisduty to provide the mainte-nance".

It had noted that the manhas been directed by the trialcourt and the decision upheld

by the top court and the highcourt to pay money to his wifeunder two heads which include

monthly maintenance of Rs1.75 lakh and the other is thepast arrears of maintenance from 2009 whichamounts to approximately Rs2.60 crore.

The top court had said tohis counsel that the husbandhas not complied with even asingle order of courts and if hedoes not make the paymentswithin two-three weeks, hewill be sent to jail.

The wife had filed a caseunder the Protection ofWomen from DomesticViolence Act before the met-ropolitan magistrate court inChennai in 2009.

The court had allowed thewife to share the house until thehusband made alternative

arrangements for her perma-nent residence.

It had directed the husbandto pay Rs 2 crore as mainte-nance to the wife; Rs 50 lakhcompensation for desertingher for 12 years; Rs 50 lakh forliving in extra marital life; Rs50 lakh for leaving his wife toface the court cases; Rs 50 lakhfor forcing her to take a job ina media company; Rs 50 lakhfor mental torture and agony byopenly living with foreignwomen, and Rs 50 lakh for notpaying rent to the sharedhousehold. PTI

On the appeal filed by thehusband against the order, thesessions court directed him topay Rs 1 lakh per monthtowards maintenance from the

date of filing the petition whichis January 6, 2009 and Rs75,000 per month for residen-tial accommodation from thesaid date.

The high court upheld theorder of the sessions court onDecember 2, 2016, after whichthe husband filed the appeal inthe top court, which was dis-missed by the top court onOctober 26, 2017 with a direc-tion that within six months hewould pay the maintenanceand arrears.

Thereafter a review peti-tion was filed in 2018 by thewife and the husband wasdirected to clear the arrears ofmaintenance Rs 1.75 lakh bythe 10th day of every month.

PTI

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The CBI on Sunday said ithas arrested an absconding

accused (Economic Offender),who was deported fromRiyadh, Saudi Arabia, at Delhi.

The accused, SudeerMuhammed CheriyaVannarakkal, was involved infive cases registered by theCBI at its Chennai office.

The CBI had managed toget a Red Corner Notice issuedthrough Interpol against theaccused who was located inSaudi Arabia and with theclose assistance and coordina-tion with the authorities therethrough Interpol channels, hewas deported to India, theagency said.

It said the accused is beingproduced before theCompetent Court atErnakulam (Kerala).

The CBI had registeredfive cases on the orders ofKerala High Court and takenover the investigation of thecases, earlier registered at PoliceStation Kasargod (Kerala).

“In four cases, it wasalleged that the accused andothers floated a private com-pany based at Kasargod(Kerala), made false promisesand representations/ declara-tions to the public at large withthe assurance to return ofinvestment with higher/exor-bitant rate of interest after 61days of their investments andalso promised to pay commis-sion of 2 per cent per month tothe agents who had mobilizedthe investments for the saidcompany,” it said in a statement.

During investigation, itwas found that in 2009-11, all

the seven accused includingVannarakkal of the accused pri-vate company floated a fraud-ulent scheme called Forex trade(trading with foreign curren-cies), promised a monthlyreturns of seven percent on theprincipal to the depositors andtwo percent to the agents formobilizing the depositors.

Through the scheme, theaccused persons collected hugedeposits in cash to the tune ofaround Rs 9,93,68,000 from thedepositors and cheated themby not repaying the assuredreturns as well as the principalamount, thereby caused hugeloss to the depositors, it said.

After investigation, achargesheet was filed in thecourt of chief judicial magis-trate, Ernakulam. The accusedwere declared as ProclaimedOffenders by the Court.

The fifth case was regis-tered on the allegations that theaccused induced the petition-er/complainant to arrange Rs50 lakh as deposit andpromised to give monthlyreturns arising out of his‘Business’ to the depositors.

The complainant allegedlyinvested Rs 19 lakh in 2011 inthe accused Company and theaccused did not pay returns aswell as the principal amount tothe complainant.

After investigation,chargesheet was filed in theCourt of Chief JudicialMagistrate, Ernakulam.

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Apassenger onboard a NewDelhi to Varanasi SpiceJet

flight tried to open the emer-gency exit doorof the aircraftmid-air onSaturday, butwas restrainedby the f lightcrew with co-passengers helptill the aircraft landed safely andhanded over to the police inVaranasi.The crew immediate-ly informed the Captain whorequested the Air TrafficController (ATC) for a priori-ty landing.

SpiceJet issued a statementon the incident saying, "On27th March 2021, a passengertravelling on SpiceJet flightSG-2003 (Delhi-Varanasi) triedto open the emergency door ofthe aircraft in an abusive andaggressive state while the air-craft was airborne." The airlinesaid that the passenger wasbrought under control by theflight crew with co-passen-gers' help.

The SpiceJet flight SG-2003 landed safely in Varanasiwhere the said passenger washanded over to the local policeby the CISF and airline's secu-rity staff.

According to sources, thepassenger was seated at 1C andwas roaming around in the air-craft after take-off and sud-denly tried to open the exitdoor.

The entire incident wasreported to the aviation regu-latory body Director General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA) by theairline. The airline company isyet to decide to put the abovepassenger on a no-fly-list.

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Three more Rafale fighterjets, made according to

Indian specifications, will jointhe IAF in the next few days,thereby, bolstering the fleetstrength to 15. In all the IAFwill get 36 Rafale jets in thenext two years.

India and France had inkeda government to governmentdeal in 2016 worth over Rs 60,000 crores. The first batch offour jets arrived at the Ambalabase in September last year andsince then two to three planeslanded here from France in thefollowing months.

The next two months willsee ten Rafale jets includingthree in the next three to fourdays, sources said here onSunday. The total of 36 jets willform two squadrons with onebased at Ambala in northernIndia and the other inHashimara in the east.

With its capabilities forlong range strikes, the jets will

add to the IAF muscle to guardthe entire 4,000 km long Lineof Actual Control(LAC)facingChina. In fact, the present 11jets at Ambala are also involvedin active flying sorties includ-ing patrolling the LAC, theysaid.

Like the earlier lot of Rafalejets, the three jets will flystraight from France toAmbala covering a distance ofmore than 7,000 km with mid-air refueling.

The twin-engine Rafalemedium multi-role combat air-craft are capable of carrying outa variety of missions groundand sea attack, air defence andair superiority, reconnaissance,and nuclear strike deterrence.

They are manufacturedaviation conglomerateDassault.

The India specific Rafaleunderwent at least 13 modifi-cations as per the IAF require-ments. Besides state of the artweaponry, it is also equippedwith long-range Meteor air toair missiles.

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Months after holding theMalabar series of naval

exercises involving four Quadcountries India, US, Japanand Australia off the Indiancoast, India and the US onSunday commenced a two-day naval exercise in the east-ern Indian Ocean Region.

This exercise reflected thegrowing congruence in the USand India defence and mili-tary partnership, officials saidhere on Sunday. The IndianNavy deployed its warshipShivalik and long-range mar-itime patrol aircraft P8I in the'PASSEX' exercise while theUS Navy wa represented by

the USS Theodore Roseveltcarrier strike group, they said.

A carrier battle group orcarrier strike group is a meganaval fleet comprising an air-craft carrier, accompanied bya large number of destroyers,frigates and other ships.

"In a first, enhancingjointmanship, Indian AirForce fighters were alsoincluded in the exerciseaffording the IAF an oppor-tunity to practice air inter-ception and air defence withthe US Navy," the IndianNavy spokesperson said.

The exercise came a weekafter US Defence SecretaryLloyd Austin flew into Indiaas part of his three-nation firstoverseas tour that signalledthe Joe Biden administra-tion's strong commitment toits relations with its closeallies and partners in theIndo-Pacific region.

During the visit, bothsides resolved to further con-solidate their robust defencecooperation through deepermilitary-to-military engage-ment with Austin describingthe partnership as a "strong-hold" of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The officials said the exer-cise began on Sunday and willconclude on Monday. Thespokesperson said the exerciseis aimed at consolidating thesynergy and interoperabilityachieved during the Malabar

exercise that took place inNovember last.

Besides the Indian Navy,the Malabar naval exercisewas participated by the naviesof the US, Australia and Japan.The four countries are part ofthe Quad or Quadrilateralcoalition.

China has been suspi-cious about the purpose of theMalabar exercise as it feels thatthe annual war game is aneffort to contain its influencein the Indo-Pacific region.

In July last, the IndianNavy carried out a militaryexercise with a US Navy car-rier strike group led by thenuclear-powered aircraft car-rier USS Nimitz off the coastof the Andaman and NicobarIslands. The USS Nimitz isthe world's largest warship.

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KOCHI: With hardly eight daysto go for the April 6 Assemblyelection, the political landscapeof Kerala has become murkier asthe Congress and the BJP accus-ing the ruling CPI(M) ofunleashing violence against theircandidates and their electionmaterials in many constituen-cies.

C K Padmanabhan, formerBJP State president who is tak-ing on Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan at Dharmadam inKannur district is living in fearbecause of the threats issued bythe CPI(M) cadre. “Theydestroyed the flex boards andpublicity materials. My elec-tion committee office too cameunder attack. I don’t know thereason behind the attacksthough there was no provoca-tion of any kind from our side,”Padmanabhan told The Pioneer.

Sobha Surendran, the BJPcandidate at Kazhakoottam inThiruvananthapuram is facingthe wrath of the CPI(M) cadrefor challenging KatakampalliSurendran, Kerala Minister fortourism and Temple adminis-tration.

“Our candidates atKazhakuutam, Kattakkada andMuvattupuzha are beingattacked by the Marxists with-out any provocation. We are notsurprised by the CPI(M)’s atti-tude because they are known forintolerance towards their rivals,”said C P Radhakrishnan, formerLok Sabha member who is incharge of the party’s Keralaaffairs.

Radhakrishnan said thatCPI(M) cadre tried to disruptthe election rally of SobhaSurendran. “They drove theirbikes into the rally being led bySobha with the sole intention ofpreventing the candidate fromholding any rallies or cam-paigns. This is because thy wereupset over the unprecedentedsupport Sobha is getting fromthe voters. The fear of losing theelection is discernible among theCPI(M), particularly in theircandidate KatakampalliSurendran,” said the BJP leader.

The media, especially thevernacular media have beenprojecting the ruling LeftDemocratic Front led by theCPI(M) as winners in this elec-tion much against the prece-dence in Kerala. The rulingfront used to get voted out in allelections and the oppositioncome to power for the next fiveyears. Media reports forecast thatthe Pinarayi Vijayan led LDFGovernment, facing a series ofgraft charges, would come backto power in this election.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tion, Kerala saw the Congress-led UDF walking away with 19out of the 20 seats at stake fromthe State. There are enoughindications that the LDF is wag-ing an electoral battle with itsback to the wall as the CentralGovernment agencies come outon a daily basis with reports ofscams, corruption and nepotism

charges.“The fact that Sabarimala

and inclusion of more than 4.5lakh fake voters in the electoralrole are the main narrative of thiselection would make it difficultfor the LDF to realize theirdreams of retaining power,” saidP Rajan, veteran commentator.He said though there wereattempts by the media to belit-tle the Sabarimala issue, it hasnot succeeded. The BJP and theUDF are on record telling thatthey would bring legislation topreserve and safeguard customsand traditions.

But Valsa Mani, editor ofKala Kaumudi, a popular news-paper, is of the view that the LDFhas an edge over the UDF in thiselection. “It is not because of thestrength of the CPI(M) but dueto the failure of the Congressleadership to present a cohesiveforce against the LDF.

The Congress is at its low-est ebb while the BJP is yet tomature as a fighting force,” saidValsa. She said the BJP’s onlyoption lies in aligning withMuslim League and projectingits leader P K Kunhalikutty aschief minister.

She does not rule out thepossibility of a hung assemblytoo. “Things would take aninteresting turn if both thefronts fail to touch the magicnumber of 71 on their own.Then we will see some interest-ing action,” said Valsa.

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Regular recovery of US made M4carbine from the encounter sites

in Kashmir valley continue to hauntthe officers of the counter terrorismgrid in Jammu and Kashmir.

During the gunfight in Shopianlate Saturday night another M4 car-bine was recovered along with oneAK-47 rifle and other ammunition.

Two categorized terrorists , oneeach belonging to pro-PakistanHizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit, were eliminated whileone Indian army jawan sacrificed hislife in the initial exchange of firing.

As per available records, it was onNovember 7, 2017 for the first timea US made M4 carbine was recoveredfrom an encounter site in SouthKashmir's Pulwama district .

Three Jaish-e-Mohammad ter-rorists including Talha Rashid,nephew of JeM Chief MaulanaMasood Azhar was gunned down inthe fierce gunfight alerting the secu-rity grid about the revival of JeM inthe region.

The recovery of M4 carbine hadalso established the complicity of thePakistan army with the terrorist out-fits operating in Kashmir valley as thesophisticated weapon was procuredfrom the US to arm soldiers of thePakistan army.

At that point of time, one of thesenior army officers of the rank ofGoC, Victor Force had maintainedthat a consignment of 5-10 weaponscould have been ferried to Kashmirvalley for distribution among the ter-rorist cadres by the infiltrating ter-rorists.

In June 2020, one M4 carbine wasairdropped by a drone brought down

by the BSF in the Hiranagar sector ofKathua district. More than one dozensuch weapons have been recoveredfrom the encounter sites in the lastone year. Sources in the police depart-ment claimed, in several past encoun-ters M4 carbine has been recoveredwhich clearly indicated terrorist han-dlers have been regularly smugglingthese weapons via road link to theKashmir valley.

Sharing details of the Shopianencounter a police spokesman said,"Anaytullah Sheikh son of MohdAmin Sheikh resident of RamnagriShopian affiliated with proscribed ter-ror outfit HM and Adil AhmadMalik son of Nazir Ahmad Malik res-ident of Danwathpora Kokernag,affiliated with proscribed terror out-fit LeT (TRF) were eliminated in theencounter while Havaldar PinkuKumar, hailing from Baghpat districtof Uttar Pradesh made a supreme sac-rifice during the operation.

According to a Defence

Spokesman, "Havildar Pinku Kumarwas part of an Operation WANGAM.At around 07:00 pm, a cordon andsearch operation was launched in thevillage and at around 08:15 pm, theterrorists fired indiscriminately on thesearch party. Late Havildar PinkuKumar showed highest level ofcourage and valour by returningeffective fire, in which he sustaineda gunshot wound in head and wasgrievously injured. His Bleeding wascontrolled with combat first aid andhe was immediately evacuated to 92Base Hospital for treatment where hesuccumbed to his injuries on 27March 2021".

As per police records, terroristAnaytullah Sheikh was active since2018 and has recently infiltratedback from Pakistan and another ter-rorist Adil Ahmed Malik was activesince 01/09/2020. They were involvedin several terror crime cases includ-ing attacks on security forces andcivilian atrocities.

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Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh): A major fire erupt-ed in the cardiology institute in Kanpur onSunday morning.

Patients in the ICU were immediatelyevacuated. There were no reports of any casu-alties. The cause of the fire is also not known.

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Theelectricity supply was cut off and patients andtheir attendants were brought out from the stais

Kanpur police commissioner Aseem Arunsaid that the fire had been brought under con-trol. He said that prima facie, it appeared thatthe fire was caused by short-circuit.

"The Chief Minister has taken cognizanceof the incident and has directed the district offi-cials to arrange for treatment of patients inother hospitals. He has also set up a high-levelcommittee comprising Principal Secretary(health) and DG Fire services to probe the inci-dent. The committee will visit the site of theincident and submit its report. The ChiefMinister has further directed all hospitals andmedical facilities in the state to strengthen theirfirefighting equipment," said Additional ChiefSecretary (home) Avanish Awasth. IANS

�E��;/��5 ��;��(�/;2��E;�� Amaravati: Eight pilgrims from Tamil Nadu were killed

in a road accident in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore districtin the early hours of Sunday, police said.

A tempo, carrying the pilgrims, rammed into a sta-tionary truck near a petrol bunk at Damaramadugu inBucchireddipalem mandal.

Seven others were injured in the accident and wereadmitted to a hospital in Nellore.

According to the police, the accident occurredaround 2 a.m. when a group of people from Tamil Naduwere returning home after pilgrimage to Srisailam tem-ple and other shrines.

Front portion of the tempo was badly mangled inthe collision. Police rushed to the scene and extricat-ed the bodies and shifted the injured to the hospital.

Tempo driver and five others seated in front seatsdied on the spot. Two others succumbed while beingshifted to hospital.

The deceased included three women. A total of 15people were travelling in the tempo.

Police suspect that the tempo driver might haveslept at the wheel, leading to the accident. Poor visi-bility in the area is also believed to be the reason forthe collision.

Police said they have registered a case for furtherinvestigations. IANS

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Jammu: A special police officer(SPO) shot and killed a colleaguein Jammu and Kashmir'sUdhampur district.

Police sources said SPO,Manohar Lal fired at selectiongrade constable, Kaka Ram inUdhampur market around 10.50p.m. on Saturday with his servicerifle.

"The injured policeman wasshifted to hospital where he suc-cumbed to critical injuries.

"While the exact circumstancesof the incident are being investi-gated, preliminary inquiry suggeststhat there had been an altercationbetween the two," sources said.

SPOs are engaged in J&K tocombat militancy by depleting therecruitment pools of militant out-fits.They are paid a fixed monthlypacket and in most cases, noweapons training is given to them . IANS

:�)�.��>K(C��%��/; Farrukhabad (Uttar Pradesh): A

man has been booked for issuingdeath threats to former UttarPradesh Chief Minister and formerRajasthan Governor KalyanSingh.

The accused, Gautam, hadissued the threat through a videothat reached former MLA UrmilaRajput, who then lodged a com-plaint with the police.

Police said that Rajput's hus-band had received the video recent-ly.

In the video, Gautam can beseen making derogatory remarksand issuing threats to kill KalyanSingh.

Inspector FarrukhabadKotwali, Ved Prakash Pandey, toldreporters, "Urmila Rajput filed acomplaint with FarrukhabadKotwali police demanding that anFIR be lodged and inquiry beinstituted into the video clip beingshared on WhatsApp showing

Gautam threatening formerRajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh."

A case has been registeredagainst Gautam under relevantsections of the Indian Penal Codeincluding 507 (criminal intimida-tion by an anonymous communi-cation), 153 A (promoting enmitybetween different groups ongrounds of religion, race, place ofbirth, residence, language, etc. anddoing acts prejudicial to mainte-nance of harmony), Pandey furthersaid.

"Investigations are underwayand the content of the video is alsobeing examined. Besides, separateteams have been formed and raidsare underway to arrest theaccused," he added.

Rajput has also urged the stategovernment to probe the videowhere 'highly derogatory remarks'have been made against KalyanSingh. IANS

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Chennai: The BJP's central leadershipis eyeing to garner power in Puducherryas the BJP, AINRC and AIADMKalliance is sitting pretty in the UnionTerritory.

With several opinion polls predict-ing a landslide victory for the NDAcoalition in the upcoming Assemblyelections, the BJP's national leadershiphas exuded confidence that the combinewill emerge victorious at the hustings.

Single phase polling to 30 seats inPuducherry is slated for April 6. The AllIndia N.R. Congress (AINRC) is con-testing 16 seats, Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) 9 seats and the remaining 5 seatsby All India Anna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (AIADMK).

The NDA had announcedN.Rangaswami, former Chief Ministerand President of AINRC, as the ChiefMinisterial candidate and ever since theBJP alliance has been hitting the rightchord.

In the 30-member Assembly, thesaffron party has hardly a member buthas always been backed by 3 nominat-ed members.

The election manifesto of the NDAalliance was released by the UnionMinister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Meanwhile, a galaxy of senior partyleaders including Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Union MinisterNitin Gadkari will be attending the elec-tioneering in Puducherry.

Union Ministers Amit Shah andIrani are the two senior leaders who willbe attending the public programmes inthe UT.

Prime minister Narendra Modi willbe attending the NDA public pro-gramme at 5pm on Tuesday at theAnglo- French stadium.

BJP leader in-charge of Puducherry,Nirmal Kumar Surana told IANS, "TheNDA alliance is led by former ChiefMinister N Rangaswamy of the AINRCand he knows the in-and-out of the state.We are leaving no stone unturned andthe NDA combine is heading for a com-fortable majority. With the arrival ofsenior national leaders of the party, theBJP campaign will gain momentum andwe are in course of a huge electoral vic-tory in this assembly elections."IANS

Agra: The main accused who allegedly shotdead Sub-Inspector Prashant Yadav on March24 in Agra's Khajauli was arrested by the UttarPradesh Police in the Jaitpur area.

The accused was arrested after a briefencounter with the police in which he wasinjured.The sub-inspector was shot deadwhile trying to resolve a dispute between twobrothers over harvesting of crops.

Superintendent of Police (city) BotreRohan Pramod said acting on a tip-off, apolice team barricaded the area in Jaitpur forchecking vehicles on Saturday evening.

The suspect, Vishwanath, was spottedcoming towards the police team. When hewas asked to stop, he whipped out a countrymade pistol and fired at the police party. Thepolice returned fire and the accused wasinjured in both legs.

He has been admitted to a primary healthcentre for treatment.

The SP said that the police have seizedtwo country made weapons and a bike fromhis possession. IANS

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Patna: At least 5 persons were killed and 10 oth-ers injured after a speeding truck rammed into aroadside eatery in Bihar's Nalanda district onSunday, police said.

"The incident tokk place at around 3 pm whena truck going towards Nalanda from Jahanabad dis-trict, rammed into a eatery, leaving 5 persons,including the owner of the shop, dead on the spot.Prime facie it appears that the driver might havelost his control over the wheels," said Shri KrishnaMurari Prasad, SDPO Hilsa Nalanda.

During the mishap, over 20 persons were pre-sent at the eatery. About 5 persons were seriouslyinjured.Police added that the toll may rise later.

The injured are being treated at private clinicand Sadar hospital. Sources, however, said that 3more lives were lost during the treatment.

Following the mishap, locals resorted to vio-lence, pelting stones at police team who then triedto pacify the crowd. An Assistant Sub-inspector rankofficer was injured in the incident.

"We have impounded the truck and search ison for the errant driver. An FIR was registered underrash and negligence driving amounting to murderin Telhara police station. Further investigation is on,"the officer added. IANS

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Chennai: A Keralite couple, who did not taketreatment for Covid-19 despite their deteri-orating health, succumbed after finally beingtaken to a hospital, by their neighbours.

The couple were identified as Ravindran, 62, from Kollangode in Palakkaddistrict and working as the public relationsofficer in a private company, while his wifeVandana, 56, was the Vice Principal of a pri-vate educational institution. The couple didnot have any children and were living alonein their flat.

Their relatives and friends used to keepin contact over telephone but even after thecouple complained of weakness and fatigue,they did not consult a doctor.

Talking to IANS, neighbour RajeshMenon said: "After we could not see themoutside the flat for a couple of days, wesearched inside and found them in a criticalcondition. We immediately took them to thehospital but unfortunately we could not savethem."

The couple tested positive for coronavirusat the hospital but could not be saved.

Their last rites were held at a crematori-um on Sunday evening .IANS

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Bengaluru: Riding on the secondwave, new Covid cases in Karnatakacrossed the 3,000-mark after fourmonths, increasing its positivity ratefor the day to 2.89 per cent, said thestate health bulletin on Sunday.

"With 3,082 new cases registeredon Saturday, the state's Covid tally roseto 9,87,012, including 23,037 activecases, while 9,51,452 recovered so far,with 1,285 during the last 24 hours,"said the daily bulletin.

The infection claimed 12 livesacross the state during the day, includ-ing seven in Bengaluru, two in Mysuruand one each in Kalaburagi, Tumakurand Udupi.

As the epi-centre of the pandem-ic, Bengaluru reported 2,004 freshcases, taking its Covid tally to 4,28,173,including 15,882 active cases, whilerecoveries rose to 4,07,709, with 786discharged in the day.

Of the 204 patients in the inten-sive care units (ICUs), 79 are inBengaluru hospitals, 17 in Kalaburagi,14 in Tumakur and 10 in Mandya,with the rest spread in the remaining27 districts across the southern state.

Out of 1,06,328 tests conductedduring the day, 6,575 were throughrapid antigen detection and 99,753through RT-PCR method.

Case fatality rate was 0.38 per centon Saturday across the state.

Meanwhile, only 3,806 peoplewere vaccinated across the state dur-ing the day. Among them were 2,457seniors above 60 years of age, 1,123comorbid in the 45-59 age group, 106healthcare workers and 120 frontlineworkers.

Cumulatively, 33,83,872 benefici-aires received the jab since the vaccinedrive was launched across the state onJanuary 16. IANS

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Patna: The Bihar police headquartershas written to the superintendents' ofall the police distrcits, seeking where-abouts of the 211 dismissed cops, whowere involved in illegal liquor tradesacross the state.

The liquor prohibition cell ofBihar dismissed 211 police personnelincluding constables, inspectors, sub-inspectors, home guard personnel,Bihar Special Armed Force (BSAP)and chowkidars, since the enforce-ment of the liquor ban in the state inApril 2016.

The unit has asked SP, SSP, of alldistricts, commandants of homeguard and BSAP to submit theirreports by April 6.

"We have asked all the 43 policedistricts to provide details includingaddresses, phone numbers, presentoccupations of the dismissed policepersonnel. The reason is to ascertainwhether they are living normal livesor involved in any criminal activitylike smuggling of liquor," said asenior police officer.

The officer added that the initia-tive comes after an inspector has beenrecently arrested for his allegedinvolvement in liquor smuggling inMuzaffarpur district. He was dis-missed from the service three yearsago for his alleged connection with theliquor mafia, when he was the SHOof Kajra police station. IANS

Jammu: Covid-19 situation inJammu and Kashmir continuesto get worse as 309 new casesand four deaths were reportedin the last 24 hours and thetotal number of active caseshere on Sunday crossed the2,000-mark.

According to the healthdepartment officials, out of309 new cases, 63 were report-ed from Jammu division while246 from Kashmir.

Out of four deaths, one wasfrom Jammu and three fromKashmir division as the deathtoll reached 1,989.

117 recoveries were also

reported taking the total recov-eries to 126,003.

Out of total 2,001 activecases, 513 are from Jammu and1,488 are from Kashmir divi-sion. IANS

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Nearly 100 teachers and scholars onSunday called for preserving the hoary

oral tradition of reciting the Vedas and theShastras.

"As Vedas encompass science and knowl-edge, the power of chanting them takes awaycalamities, violence and other negative influ-ences to create harmony and friendliness ineveryone's hearts," said Art of Living's (AOL)Veda Pathshala Principal, VishwajeetChinamani Gokarna Ghanapathi here.

Inaugurating the second Karnataka VedaVidwat Sammelan at AOL's international cen-tre here, he said the oral tradition of Vedicmantras preserved the four Vedas and theirbranches over the centuries.

Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the fourVedas -- Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda andAtharvaveda are the oldest scriptures ofHinduism and Indian literature.

The conclave, organised by AOL's VedVignan Maha Vidya Peeth Trust in collabo-ration with the Ujjain-based MaharshiSandipani Veda Vidya Pratishthan, dis-cussed the ways and means to preserve theVedic tradition through ChaturvedaPrayanam.

"The Prayanam initiative is to ensure theoral Vedic tradition is not lost, as the vibra-tions of the chants will help increase pros-perity and bring peace in society," saidGhanapathi.Maharishi Sandipani Veda VidyaPratishthan Principal Sandipani said duringthe Vedic era, there were nearly 1,130shakhas (stanzas), including 21 in Rigveda,100 in Yajurveda, 1,000 in Samaveda and ninein Atharvaveda.

"Unfortunately, we lost the tradition ofthe most shakhas barring 9-10 of them... themost precious words of our heritage," he said.

The 100 Vedic scholars are from Mysuruand Bengaluru as well as Gokarna,Swarnavalli, Honnavar in the state.

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Chennai: Superstar-turned-politi-cian Kamal Haasan has said that the"tough stand" taken by CPI-MGeneral Secretary Sitaram Yechuryhad led to the failure of an alliancebetween his Makkal Needhi Maiam(MNM) and the Left Front.

Charging the Communist Partyof India-Marxist, and Yechury in par-ticular, with "not knowing aboutchanging times", he said that the CPI-M General sScretary had certain pre-conceived notions on MNM and himwhich were wrong.Talking to a pri-vate Tamil channel, Kamal also notedthat the DMK had given Rs 15 croreto the Communist Party of India, andRs 10 crore to the CPI-M during the

2019 general elections, as per its affi-davit to Election Commission, and asthis became a major controversy, theLeft parties claimed that the moneywas accepted to pay for the expens-es of DMK workers in the con-stituencies where they were contest-ing as alliance partners.Reacting toKamal's comments, CPI-M Politburomember G. Ramakrishna said that hedoes not know anything about leftpolitics.Talking to IANS,Ramakrishna, who hails from thestate, said: "Kamal Haasan does notunderstand the importance of leftpolitics and how we work. His state-ment does not merit a response fromme and the party." IANS

@� ��3��(��-7�� $�;��+��Chennai: All India BJP Mahila Morcha

president Vanathi Srinivasan has said thatthe DMK does not respect women andthe recent statement by its leader A Rajaagainst Chief Minister K Palaniswami andhis mother, shows his disrespect towardswomen.

Vanathi, the NDA candidate fromCoimbatore South Assembly seat led aprotest march of women party activistsat Coimbatore city and condemned theDMK leaders, saying that they havealways disrespected women.

The former Union Minister, Raja, hassaid in a public speech that while DMKleader M.K. Stalin had come the hard wayup in the party, Palaniswami on the otherhand touched the feet of V.K. Sasikala tobecome what he is today. IANS

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settlers from “outside” to wina majority vote.

In 1947, MA Jinnah near-ly convinced the British rulersthat Assam was a Muslim-majority province and, there-fore, should go to Pakistan.Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, inhis book Eastern Pakistan,stated that the tribals were notonly not Hindus but also unfitfor civilised life. The general-ly vague conclusion of thesympathisers for Pakistan wasthat Eastern Bengal and Assamshould be combined into oneprovince. Similar was the casemade under the first partitionof Bengal by Viceroy LordCurzon in 1905. Fortunately, itwas undone by 1911. LordPethic Lawrence, the Secretaryof State for India in the RichardClement Attlee Government of1945-49, also swallowed thistheory about an amalgamationof the two.

The deception was almostdone when Gopinath Bordolai,an Assam Congress leader,rushed out to persuade thosein the positions of power andinfluence that the Jinnah con-tention was untrue. As a result,Assam was saved for Indiaexcept for Sylhet district,which had a Muslim majori-ty. Any wonder then that theAssamese are afraid of allow-

ing illegal migrants to settledown there? Incidentally, until1874, Assam was a part of theBengal Presidency. It was thenseparated and placed underthe rule of a ChiefCommissioner. To makeAssam a viable separateprovince, three Bengali-speak-ing districts of the Presidency,namely, Goalpara, Sylhet andCachar, were merged into thenew province. That is howAssam began to host Bengalisas well as Muslims. The goingof Sylhet to East Pakistan in1947 relieved this pressure toan extent.

Assam, however, can illafford to host more immi-grants; the Assamese popula-tion is so small. The recentCitizenship (Amendment) Actis a major irritant for them,especially since what was dis-covered in 1979. Some youngmen discovered in the electoralrolls of the MangaldaiAssembly constituency thatmany a voter was an obviousinfiltrator. In order to spreadthe protest and try and stopsuch distortion of the electoralrolls of the State, the All AssamStudents Union (AASU) wasformed. Some members alsowent on to establish the AssamGanatantra Parishad (AGP), amajor political party. A few

members took to terrorismunder the name of the UnitedLiberation Front of Assam(ULFA).

The solution to a poten-tially very serious nationalproblem would lie in makingthe Cachar region a separateUnion Territory having nospecial political connectionwith Assam. Cachar has apopulation of nearly 40 lakhpeople, of whom a little overhalf are Hindu. Under two percent are Christian and the restare Muslims. More or less, allspeak and write Bengali. Itseconomy is viable, especiallywith the help of over 100 teagardens which produce fivecrore kilograms, worth around�800 crore, annually.

That would separate about16 per cent of Assam’s totalpopulation and virtually all ofthem are Bengali, whetherMuslim or Hindu, a greatrelief to the Assamese. This isa surefire way to bring happi-ness to the Assamese peopleafter at least a century. In anycase, the Cacharis would bepleased at being demi-inde-pendent, with Silchar becom-ing a mini rajdhani.

(The writer is a well-known columnist and anauthor. The views expressed arepersonal.)

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The Citizenship(Amendment) Actbrings nightmares to theAssamese people for fear

of further arrival of Bengali-speaking people fromBangladesh. The immigrantsmay be legal but the dilution ofthe local culture and the threat tothe political voice of theAssamese would be about thesame, regardless of how good thenewcomers may be.

Before offering the remedy,two points need to be made. One,the Assamese, whether adivasis ormore especially the modernisedAssamese, are dead scared ofbeing outnumbered by theBengali-speaking people,whether Hindu or Muslim.Merely assuring people that pro-tecting their culture is as muchthe Centre’s concern as securingthe culture of the entire country,would not satisfy them.

Unless one has lived in or fre-quently travelled to Assam, it isdifficult to appreciate what night-mares the Assamese have whenthey think of infiltration, whetherlegal or otherwise. They are agentle people with a soft, peace-loving nature. They have theirown festivals. They were gifted bynature with plenty of land andeven more water and rivers.They do not have to work stupen-dously hard for survival. The cli-mate is mostly warm and humid;it does not make itself congenialfor hard work. They are not com-petitive by nature and, under-standably, shudder at the fear ofthis ethos being disturbed by theoutsiders.

Believe it not, until twodecades ago, it was popularimpression that the Congress’strategy for winning elections inAssam was “Ali, Coolie andBengali”. Coolie implied the teagarden workers and their fami-lies. Ali and Bengali are self-explanatory; they are mostlypeople who had over the yearsimmigrated to Assam. Even thetea garden workers were adiva-sis brought from Jharkhand andother neighbouring areas to plantand pluck the bushes. To this day,it is difficult to find an originalAssamese who is a plucker in atea garden. In sum and substance,the Congress depended on the

SOUNDBITE�� Sir —The recent incident like the ground-ing of a huge container ship in the SuezCanal exposes the weaknesses of the mar-itime system. High-velocity winds havebeen blamed for the container ship block-ing the narrow strait that connects theMediterranean and the Red Sea. Maritimetransport carries over 90 per cent of glob-al merchandise trade, digitalising the sec-tor would bring wide-ranging economicbenefits and contribute to strengthening thesector.

In the recent years, the global maritimeindustry has embarked on an intensive jour-ney of digital transformation. Associatedwith this has been the extensive embrace-ment of ship automation. Further, there isthe technological developments linked tothe design and development of unmannedvessels. Also, there is a need to strengthenthe railway network in India, particularlythe safety standards. Ships carrying cargoand other items should also be protectedfrom sea robbers and pirates. All the coun-tries must reach an agreement and come upwith a comprehensive solution with respectto it.

Similarly, the Indian Railways is thelifeblood of the country’s economy, mov-ing people and goods at affordable pricesevery day. The Indian Railways employ-ees value their jobs. And they are under-standably worried about what privatisationwould entail. The Government must notprivatise it. The Government must try tomodernise the railways without privatisingit. However, it can choose to work on aPublic-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

P Senthil | Mumbai

�� Sir — As the fears of a second wave ofCoronavirus continue to loom overMaharashtra, the Government has said thata night curfew would be imposed across theState starting March 28. The situation hasarisen because the people were careless andnot following the rule of social distancing,nor wearing the masks properly.Maharashtra recorded 36,902 Coronavirus

infections on Friday, the highest one-dayrise since the pandemic began, along with112 deaths.

The cases have spiked across sever-al States in since late February, follow-ing a near-full reopening of the econo-my and flouting of safety measures. Onthe other hand, Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan has said that night cur-few and weekend lockdowns won’t havemuch effect on Coronavirus transmissionbut public health measures, such as thevaccination drive, could slow India’ssecond COVID wave. We must under-stand that wearing masks and maintain-ing social distancing are essential to keepCoronavirus at bay.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

� �� Sir — The efficacy rate of different vaccinesnotwithstanding, the immunity conferred

may not last very long, which in otherwords means that those who have beenadministered the vaccines could still be vul-nerable to COVID-19. Even if the vacci-nation drive is increased manifold, itwould take years to vaccinate the entirepopulation .

Therefore, vaccines are not foolproofand even a little bit of laxity on the part ofthose vaccinated will render them vulner-able again. So, a second course may be amust after every year until 70 per cent ofthe population is inoculated. For now, theGovernment has to accelerate the vaccina-tion drive. In places such as Mumbai, theyounger generation, which moves about alot, should be vaccinated en masse to con-tain the spread.

Nitesh Mandwariya | Neemuch

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On November 12, 2009, The New YorkTimes (TNYT) ran a video report on itswebsite. In it, the reporter Adam B Ellick

interviewed some Pakistani pop stars to gaugehow lifestyle liberals were being affected by thespectre of so-called ‘Talibanisation’ in Pakistan.To his surprise, almost every single pop artistethat he managed to engage, refused to believethat there were men willing to blow themselvesup in public in the name of faith. It wasn’t anoutright denial, as such, but the interviewed popacts went to great lengths to “prove” that theattacks were being carried out at the behest ofthe US, and that those who were being called“terrorists” were simply fighting for their rights.Ellick’s surprise was understandable. Between2007 and 2009, hundreds of people had alreadybeen killed in Pakistan by suicide bombers.

But it wasn’t just these “confused” lifestyleliberals who chose to look elsewhere foranswers when the answer was right in front ofthem. Unregulated talk shows on TV news chan-nels were constantly providing space to menwho would spin the most ludicrous narrativesthat presented the terrorists as “misunderstoodbrothers.”

From 2007 till 2014, terrorist attacks andassassinations were a daily occurrence. Securitypersonnel, politicians, men, women and chil-dren were slaughtered. Within hours, thecacophony of inarticulate noises on the electron-ic media would drown out these tragedies. Thebottom-line of almost every such “debate” wasalways, “Ye hum mein se nahin (these terroristsare not from among us).” In fact, there was alsoa song released with this as its title and “mes-sage.”

The perpetrators of the attacks were turnedinto intangible, invisible entities, like charactersof urban myths that belong to a different realm.The fact was that they were very much amongus, for all to see, even though most Pakistanischose not to. Just before the 2013 elections, thewebsite of an English daily ran a poll on the fore-most problems facing Pakistan. The poll men-tioned unemployment, corruption, inflation andstreet crimes, but there was no mention of ter-rorism even though, by 2013, thousands hadbeen killed in terrorist attacks.

So how does one explain this curiousrefusal to acknowledge a terrifying reality thatwas operating in plain sight? In an August 3,2018 essay for The Guardian, Keith Kahn-Harriswrites that individual self-deception becomesa problem when it turns into “public dogma.”It then becomes what is called “denialism.”

The American science journalist and authorMichael Specter, in his book ‘Denialism’,explains it to mean an entire segment of soci-ety, when struggling with trauma, turningaway from reality in favour of a more comfort-able lie. Psychologists have often explaineddenial as a coping mechanism that humans usein times of stress. But they also warn that ifdenial establishes itself as a constant dispositionin an individual or society, it starts to inhibit theability to resolve the source of the stress.

“Denialism”, as a social condition, is under-stood by sociologists as an undeclared “ism”,adhered to by certain segments of a society

whose rhetoric and actions in thiscontext can impact a country’spolitical, social and even eco-nomic fortunes.

In the January 2009 issue ofthe ‘European Journal of PublicHealth’, Pascal Diethelm andMartin McKee write that the“denialism” process employs fivemain characteristics. Even thoughDiethelm and McKee were morefocused on the emergence of“denialism” in the face of evidencein scientific fields of research, I willparaphrase four out of the fivestated characteristics to explore“denialism” in the context ofextremist violence in Pakistanfrom 2007 till 2017.

The first characteristic is theidentification of conspiracies.When the overwhelming body ofevidence points to a truth, it isargued that this is not the truthbecause those presenting the evi-dence have engaged in a complexconspiracy.

The deniers have their owninterpretation of the same evi-dence. In early 2013, when astudy showed that 1,652 peoplehad been killed in 2012 alone inPakistan because of terrorism, an“analyst” on a news channel false-ly claimed that these figuresincluded those killed during streetcrimes and revenge murders.Another gentleman insisted that

the figures were concocted by for-eign-funded NGOs “to givePakistan and Islam a bad name.”

This brings us to “denialism’s”second characteristic: The use offake experts. These are individu-als who purport to be experts ina particular area but whose viewsare entirely inconsistent withestablished knowledge. Duringthe peak years of terrorist activi-ty in the country, self-appointedpolitical experts and religiousscholars were a common sight onTV channels.

Their “expert opinions” wereheavily tilted towards presentingthe terrorists as either “misunder-stood brothers” or people fightingto impose a truly Islamic systemin Pakistan. Many such “experts”suddenly vanished from TVscreens after the intensification ofthe military operation againstmilitants in 2015. Some wereeven booked for hate speech.

The third characteristic isabout selectivity, drawing on iso-lated opinions or highlightingflaws in the weakest opinions todiscredit entire facts. In October2012, when extremists attemptedto assassinate a teenaged schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai, a sympa-thiser of the extremists on TV jus-tified the assassination attempt bymentioning “similar incidents”that he discovered in some

obscure books of religious tradi-tions. Within months Malalabecame the villain, even amongsome of the most educatedPakistanis. When the nuclearphysicist and intellectual DrPervez Hoodbhoy exhibited hisdisgust over this, he was not onlyaccused of being “anti-Islam”, buthis credibility as a scientist, too,was questioned.

The fourth characteristic isabout misrepresenting the oppos-ing argument to make it easier torefute. For example, when terror-ists were wreaking havoc inPakistan, the arguments of thoseseeking to investigate the issuebeyond conspiracy theories andunabashed apologias, were delib-erately misconstrued as beingcriticisms of religious faith.

Today we are seeing all thisreturning. But this time, “experts”are appearing on TV pointing outconspiracies and twisting factsabout the COVID-19 pandemicand vaccines. They are also offer-ing their expert opinions on eventssuch as the Aurat march (women’smarch) and, in the process, whip-ping up a dangerous moral panic.

It seems, not much waslearned by society’s collective dis-position during the peak years ofterrorism and how it delayed atimely response that might havesaved hundreds of innocent lives.

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In the early decades of theCold War, this was theseason when the North

Atlantic Treaty Organisation(NATO) defence chiefswould announce their spend-ing plans for the next yearand they would almostalways “discover” some newthreat from the erstwhileSoviet Union to justify themoney. In the US, forinstance, the Intelligence ser-vices traditionally found aSoviet armoured brigade hid-ing in Cuba every Februaryor March.

After a prolongedabsence, the tradition is back,though now it’s a Chinesethreat in the Pacific ratherthan a Russian threat in theCaribbean. Last week,Admiral Philip Davidson ofthe US Navy told the SenateArmed Services Committeethat the Chinese were gettingready to invade Taiwan with-

in the next six years. “I worrythat they’re accelerating theirambitions to supplant theUS and our leadership role inthe rules-based internation-al order...by 2050,” said theAdmiral. “Taiwan is one oftheir ambitions before that,and I think the threat ismanifest during this decade— in fact, in the next sixyears.”

Then, should we expect awar with China by the 2027?Since the US Navy could notstop a Chinese amphibiousinvasion of Taiwan by con-ventional weapons alone —it’s too far from the US, tooclose to China and Beijinghas lots of ship-killing mis-siles — it would necessarilybe a nuclear war, or elseAmerica would just have toabandon its not-quite-ally.

Of course, AdmiralDavidson didn’t go into thoseawkward details. He was just

trying to frighten the senatorsinto giving the Navy moreships. And he couldn’t holda candle to General LordRichards, former head of theBritish armed forces, whowent to bat at the weekend toargue against cuts to theBritish army (down 10,000soldiers to only 72,000).

“I’m thinking Russia andChina,” said GeneralRichards. “I don’t necessari-ly buy that they’re about tostart World War-III with us,but they still possess largenumbers. If all we’ve got ishigh-tech stuff, and they’vegot half a million troops thatcan come across the borderat you, then high-tech capa-bilities aren’t going to be ofmuch good.”

But what border is that?Russia’s western border isalmost 2,000 km away andBritain is an island. Thenearest Chinese territory is

some 3,500 km away. Butthen the British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson shutsRichard by explaining thatsoldiers won’t matter somuch because the UK is get-ting more nuclear weapons.

Johnson is cancellingBritain’s pledge to possess nomore than 180 nuclearweapons (enough for everycity of over a million peoplein both Russia and China)and raising its declared limit

by 40 per cent to 260 war-heads. The UK will also“reserve the right” to usenuclear weapons againstunspecified “emerging tech-nologies” that are not neces-sarily nuclear, including“cyber-threats.”

Davidson and Richardsare just reviving a tradition-al spring ritual and treatingthe public like fools. We’resliding into a new Cold War,and this is what is expectedof them by the institutionsthey have devoted their livesto. The British PrimeMinister is both foolish andcareless, but he is not plan-ning to drop actual ther-monuclear bombs on sever-al hundred million humanbeings.

Johnson just doesn’tunderstand that declaringhis willingness to use nukesfirst against a non-nuclearthreat — or sounding like

that’s what he means — is aprofound breach with thedoctrine of nuclear deter-rence that has kept great-power war at bay for three-quarters of a century. Itsounds all right to him!

By the final stage of theCold War the political andmilitary establishments onboth sides had sobered upand were very careful intheir choice of words. Theydidn’t make idle threats, theystopped fabricating “springsurprises”, and they did notassume that the other sidewould know when they werejust chest-thumping fordomestic political purposes.

That generation, whicheventually managed to turnthe monstrous doomsdaymachine off, is gone now. Intheir place is a generation ofsenior politicians and mili-tary officers who don’t trulyfear major war. It hasn’t hap-

pened within living memory,and they do not really believeit still could. Their counter-parts in China and Russia areless vocal, but almost certain-ly the same.

Compared to those whoheld their jobs on both sidesat the end of the Cold War,they are little boys at play, butit’s the same old game. Warbetween nuclear-armed pow-ers would be insane, but it isnot impossible. And they aredoing this in the midst of aglobal pandemic.

Moreover, they are talk-ing like this in the openingphase of a huge climate andenvironmental crisis that willrequire a high level of glob-al cooperation to survive.There is a cycle of learningand forgetting again in bothmilitary and political affairsand we are hitting the “for-getting” phase at just thewrong time.

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Lawmakers reached an agree-ment late Saturday to

legalise recreational marijuanasales in New York.

At least 14 other statesalready allow residents to buymarijuana for recreational andnot just medical use, and NewYork's past efforts to pass mar-ijuana have failed in recentyears.

Democrats who now wielda veto-proof majority in thestate Legislature have madepassing it a priority this year,and Democratic Gov. AndrewCuomo's administration hasestimated legalization couldeventually bring the state aboutUSD 350 million annually.

“My goal in carrying thislegislation has always been toend the racially disparateenforcement of marijuana pro-hibition that has taken such atoll on communities of colouracross our state, and to use theeconomic windfall of legalisa-tion to help heal and repairthose same communities,” Sen.Liz Krueger, Senate sponsor ofthe bill and chair of the Senate'sfinance committee, said.

The legislation would allowrecreational marijuana sales toadults over the age of 21, and setup a licensing process for thedelivery of cannabis products to

customers. Individual NewYorkers could grow up to threemature and three immatureplants for personal consump-tion, and local governmentscould opt out of retail sales.

The legislation would takeeffect immediately if passed,though sales wouldn't startimmediately as New York setsup rules and a proposedcannabis board.

Assembly Majority LeaderCrystal Peoples-Stokes estimat-ed Friday it could take 18 monthsto two years for sales to start.

Adam Goers, a vice presi-dent of Columbia Care, a NewYork medical marijuana providerthat's interested in getting intothe recreational market, saidNew York's proposed systemwould “ensure newcomers havea crack at the marketplace”alongside the state's existingmedical marijuana providers.

“There's a big pie in whicha lot of different folks are goingto be able to be a part of it,”Goers said.New York would seta 9 per cent sales tax oncannabis, plus an additional 4per cent tax split between thecounty and local government.

It would also impose anadditional tax based on thelevel of THC, the active ingre-dient in marijuana, rangingfrom 0.5 cents per milligramfor flower to 3 cents per mil-

ligram for edibles.New York would elimi-

nate penalties for possession ofless than three ounces ofcannabis, and automaticallyexpunge records of people withpast convictions for marijuana-related offenses that would nolonger be criminalised.

That's a step beyond a2019 law that expunged manypast convictions for marijuanapossession and reduced thepenalty for possessing smallamounts.

And New York would pro-vide loans, grants and incuba-tor programme to encourageparticipation in the cannabisindustry by people fromminority communities, as wellas small farmers, women anddisabled veterans.

Proponents have said themove could create thousands ofjobs and begin to address theracial injustice of a decades-long drug war that dispropor-tionately targeted minority andpoor communities.

“Police, prosecutors, childservices and ICE have usedcriminalisation as a weaponagainst them, and the impactthis bill will have on the livesof our oversurveiled clientscannot be overstated,” AliceFontier, managing director ofNeighbourhood DefenderService of Harlem, said

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Two additional tugboats sped Sundayto Egypt's Suez Canal to aid efforts

to free a skyscraper-sized container shipwedged for days across the crucialwaterway, even as major shippersincreasingly divert their boats out of fearthe vessel may take even longer to free.

The massive Ever Given, a Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned ship that car-ries cargo between Asia and Europe, gotstuck Tuesday in a single-lane stretch ofthe canal.

In the time since, authorities havebeen unable to remove the vessel andtraffic through the canal — valued at overUSD 9 billion a day — has been halted,further disrupting a global shippingnetwork already strained by the coron-avirus pandemic.

The Dutch-flagged Alp Guard andthe Italian-flagged Carlo Magno, calledin to help tugboats already there, reachedthe Red Sea near the city of Suez earlySunday, satellite data fromMarineTraffic.Com showed. The tug-boats will nudge the 400-meter-long(quarter-mile-long) Ever Given asdredgers continue to vacuum up sandfrom underneath the vessel and mudcaked to its port side, said BernhardSchulte Shipmanagement, which man-ages the Ever Given.

Workers planned to make twoattempts Sunday to free the vessel coin-

ciding with high tides, a top pilot withthe canal authority said.

“Sunday is very critical," the pilotsaid. “It will determine the next step,which highly likely involves at least thepartial offloading of the vessel.”

Taking containers off the ship like-ly would add even more days to thecanal's closure, something authoritieshave been desperately trying to avoid. Italso would require a crane and otherequipment that have yet to arrive.

The pilot spoke to The AssociatedPress on condition of anonymity as hewasn't authorised to brief journalists.

On Saturday, the head of the SuezCanal Authority told journalists thatstrong winds were “not the only cause”for the Ever Given running aground,appearing to push back against con-flicting assessments offered by others. Lt.Gen. Osama Rabei said an investigationwas ongoing but did not rule out humanor technical error.

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Variant forms of the novelcoronavirus which were

first reported in South Africaand Brazil are less efficientlyinhibited by antibodies fromrecovered patients and vacci-nated individuals, a new studyconfirms.

According to the research,published in the journal Cell,recovery from COVID-19 aswell as vaccination may offeronly incomplete protectionagainst these mutant virusforms.

"This is worrisomebecause the rapid spread ofvariants that might not beefficiently inhibited by anti-bodies could undermine ourcurrent vaccination strategy,"said Stefan Pohlmann, a co-author of the study from theGerman Primate Center inGottingen.

These virus variants havemutations in the spike protein-- the structure on the surfaceof the virus that is responsi-ble for attachment to hostcells -- the researchers said.

In order for the virus toenter a cell, they said it mustfirst attach to the host cell sur-face using its spike protein,which is located on the viralenvelope.

The spike protein is alsothe target for antibody ther-apies and vaccines aimed atpreventing the virus fromreplicating in the body, theyresearchers added.

Based on the research,the scientists said an antibodyused for COVID-19 therapydid not inhibit the SouthAfrican and Brazilian coron-avirus variants -- B.1.351 andP.1.

"Moreover, these variantswere less well inhibited byantibodies from convalescentor vaccinated individuals,they partially bypassed theneutralising effect of the anti-bodies," said Jan Munch,another co-author of thestudy.

The study noted thatvaccination or recovery fromCOVID-19 may offer reducedprotection from SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.351 and P.1.

"Our findings show thatit is important to limit thespread of the virus as much aspossible until widespread vac-cination is feasible.Otherwise, we risk the emer-gence of new variants thatcannot be effectively con-trolled by the currently avail-able vaccines," said MarkusHoffmann, first author of thestudy.

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Two attackers blew them-selves up outside a packed

Roman Catholic cathedral dur-ing a Palm Sunday Mass onIndonesia's Sulawesi island,wounding at least 14 people,police said.

A video obtained by TheAssociated Press showed bodyparts scattered near a burningmotorbike at the gates of theSacred Heart of Jesus Cathedralin Makassar, the capital ofSouth Sulawesi province.

Rev. Wilhelmus Tulak, apriest at the church, said he hadjust finished celebrating PalmSunday Mass when a loudbang shocked his congregation.He said the blast went off atabout 10:30 am as a first batchof churchgoers was walking outof the church and anothergroup was coming in.

He said security guards atthe church were suspicious oftwo men on a motorcycle whowanted to enter the buildingand when they went to con-front them, one of the men det-onated his explosives.

Police later said bothattackers were killed instantlyand evidence collected at thescene indicated one of the twowas a woman. The woundedincluded four guards and sev-eral churchgoers, police said.

The attack a week beforeEaster in the world's mostpopulous Muslim-majoritynation came as the country wason high alert followingDecember's arrest of the leader

of the Southeast Asian militantgroup, Jemaah Islamiyah,which has been designated aterror group by many nations.

Indonesia has been battlingmilitants since bombings onthe resort island of Bali in 2002killed 202 people, mostly for-eign tourists. Attacks aimed atforeigners have been largelyreplaced in recent years bysmaller, less deadly strikes tar-geting the government, policeand anti-terrorism forces andpeople militants consider asinfidels.

President Joko Widodocondemned Sunday's attackand said it has nothing to dowith any religion as all religionswould not tolerate any kind ofterrorism.

“I call on people to remaincalm while worshippingbecause the state guaranteesyou can worship without fear,”Widodo said in a televisedaddress.

He offered his prayers tothose injured and said the gov-ernment would cover all costsof medical treatment. He saidhe had ordered the nationalpolice chief to investigate theattack and crack down on anymilitant network that may beinvolved.

At the end of Palm SundayMass in St Peter's Basilica,which opened Holy Week cer-emonies at the Vatican, PopeFrancis invited prayers for thevictims of violence. He cited inparticular “those of the attackthat took place this morning inIndonesia, in front of the

Cathedral of Makassar".Indonesia's National Police

spokesperson Argo Yuwonotold a news conference in thecapital, Jakarta, that policewere still trying to identify thetwo attackers on the motorbikeand whether they were linkedto a local affiliate of the bannedJemaah Islamiyah network orwere acting independently.

Indonesian forces inDecember arrested the group'sleader Aris Sumarsono, alsoknown as Zulkarnaen. Over thepast month the country's coun-terterrorism squad has arrest-ed about 64 suspects, including19 in Makassar, following atipoff about possible attacksagainst police and places ofworship.

While Jemaah Islamiyahhas been weakened over thepast decade by a sustainedcrackdown, in recent years anew threat has emerged inmilitants who fought with theIslamic State group in Iraqand Syria and returned toIndonesia or those inspired bythe group's attacks abroad.

Indonesia's last majorattack was in May 2018, whentwo families carried out aseries of suicide bombings onchurches in the second-largestcity of Surabaya, killing adozen people including twoyoung girls whose parents hadinvolved them in one of theattacks. Police said the fatherwas the leader of a local affil-iate of the Islamic State groupknown as Jemaah AnshorutDaulah.

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Protesters in Myanmarreturned to the streets

Sunday to press their demandsfor a return to democracy, justa day after security forces killedmore than 100 people in thebloodiest day since last month'smilitary coup.

Protests were held inYangon and Mandalay, thecountry's two biggest cities, aswell as elsewhere. Some of thedemonstrations were again metwith police force.

At least 114 people werekilled Saturday as securityforces cracked down onprotests against the February 1coup that ousted Aung San SuuKyi's elected government,according to the online newsservice Myanmar Now. Thereported fatalities included sev-eral children under 16 yearsold.

Similar tallies of the deathtoll were issued by otherMyanmar media andresearchers, far exceeding theprevious highest death toll onMarch 14. The number ofkillings since the coup is nowmore than 420, according tomultiple counts.

The coup reversed years ofprogress toward democracyafter five decades of militaryrule and has again madeMyanmar the focus of inter-national scrutiny.

The Saturday killings bypolice and soldiers took placethroughout the country asMyanmar's military celebratedthe annual Armed Forces Dayholiday with a parade in thecountry's capital, Naypyitaw.

The bloodshed quickly drewinternational condemnation,both from diplomatic missionswithin Myanmar and fromabroad.

UN Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres said he wasshocked by the killings of civil-ians, including children.

“The continuing militarycrackdown is unacceptable anddemands a firm, unified &resolute internationalresponse,” he wrote on Twitter.

In the United States,Secretary of State AntonyBlinken said in a tweet that hiscountry was “horrified by thebloodshed perpetrated byBurmese security forces, show-ing that the junta will sacrificethe lives of the people to servethe few.”

The military chiefs of 12

nations issued a joint statementcondemning the use of forceagainst unarmed people.

“A professional militaryfollows international standardsfor conduct and is responsiblefor protecting — not harming— the people it serves,” it said.“We urge the Myanmar ArmedForces to cease violence andwork to restore respect andcredibility with the people ofMyanmar that it has lostthrough its actions."

The statement was issuedby the defence chiefs ofAustralia, Canada, Germany,Greece, Italy, Japan, Denmark,the Netherlands, New Zealand,South Korea, the UnitedKingdom and the UnitedStates.

The human rights groupAmnesty International revived

criticism that the internation-al community was not doingenough to end the state vio-lence in Myanmar.

“UN Security Councilmember states' continuedrefusal to meaningfully actagainst this never-ending hor-ror is contemptible,” said MingYu Hah, the organisation'sdeputy regional director forcampaigns.

The Security Council hascondemned the violence butnot advocated concertedaction against the junta, suchas a ban on selling it arms.China and Russia are bothmajor arms suppliers toMyanmar's military as well aspolitically sympathetic, andas members of the councilwould almost certainly vetoany such move.

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan on Sunday

greeted the Hindu communi-ty on the occasion of Holi.

The festival is being cele-brated in Pakistan on Sundayand Monday.

"Wishing all our Hinducommunity a very happy Holi,the festival of colours," theprime minister tweeted.

Several other leaders,including National AssemblySpeaker Asad Qaiser, alsowished the Hindu parliamen-tarians and the community atlarge on their special occasion.

"This festival of light andcolours provides an opportu-nity to spread happiness," hesaid, praising the role of theHindu community in theupliftment of Pakistan.

Qaiser said all minoritycommunities have the right toopenly celebrate their religiousfestivals in Pakistan.

Hindus form the biggestminority community inPakistan. According to officialestimates, 75 lakh Hindus livein Pakistan.

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In one of Mexico's most noto-rious cities for organised

crime, migrants are expelledfrom the United Statesthroughout the night, exhaust-ed from the journey, disillu-sioned about not getting achance to seek asylum and at acrossroads about where to gonext.

Marisela Ramirez, who wasreturned to Reynosa about 4a.M. Thursday, brought her 14-year-old son and left five otherchildren — one only 8 monthsold — in Guatemala becauseshe couldn't afford to paysmugglers more money. Now,facing another agonizingchoice, she leaned toward send-ing her son across the borderalone to settle with a sister inMissouri, aware that the UnitedStates is allowing unaccompa-nied children to pursue asylum.

“We're in God's hands,”Ramirez, 30, said in a barrenpark with dying grass and alarge gazebo in the center thatserves as shelter for migrants.

Lesdny Suyapa Castillo,35, said through tears that shewould return to Honduras withher 8-year-old daughter, who

lay under the gazebo breathingheavily with her eyes partlyopen and flies circling her face.After not getting paid for threemonths' work as a nurse inHonduras during the pan-demic, she wants steady workin the U.S. To send an olderdaughter to medical school. Afriend in New York encouragedher to try again.

“I would love to go, but amother doesn't want to see herchild in this condition,” she saidafter being dropped in Reynosaat 10 p.M. The deci-sions unfold amid what BorderPatrol officials say is an extra-ordinarily high 30-day averageof 5,000 daily encounters withmigrants. Children travelingalone are allowed to remain inthe U.S. To pursue asylumwhile nearly all single adults areexpelled to Mexico under pan-demic-era rules that deny thema chance to seek humanitarianprotection.

Families with childrenyounger than 7 are beingallowed to remain in the U.S.To pursue asylum, according toa Border Patrol official speak-ing to reporters Friday on con-dition of anonymity. Others infamilies — only 300 out of2,200 on Thursday — are

expelled.Reynosa, a city of 700,000

people, is where many migrantsare returned after beingexpelled from Texas' RioGrande Valley, the busiest cor-ridor for illegal crossings. TheBorder Patrol has said the vastmajority of migrants areexpelled to Mexico after lessthan two hours in the UnitedStates to limit the spread ofCOVID-19, which meansmany arrive when it's dark.

In normal times, migrantsare returned to Mexico underbilateral agreements that limitdeportations to daytime hoursand the largest crossings. Butunder pandemic authority,Mexicans and citizens ofGuatemala, El Salvador andHonduras can be expelled toMexico throughout the nightand in smaller towns.

Border Patrol ChiefRodney Scott acknowledged inan interview last year thatagreements limiting hours andlocations for deportations aresuspended “on paper” but saidU.S. Authorities try to accom-modate wishes of Mexican offi-cials. The U.S. Also coordinateswith nongovernmental organ-isations.

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Mexico's Governmentacknowledged Saturday

that the country's true deathtoll from the coronavirus pan-demic now stands above321,000, almost 60 per centmore than the official test-con-firmed number of 201,429.

Mexico does little testing,and because hospitals wereoverwhelmed, many Mexicansdied at home without getting atest. The only way to get a clearpicture is to review “excessdeaths” and review death cer-tificates.

On Saturday, the govern-ment quietly published such areport, which found there were294,287 deaths linked toCOVID-19 from the start ofthe pandemic through Feb 14.Since Feb. 15 there have beenan additional 26,772 test-con-firmed deaths.

The higher toll would rivalthat of Brazil, which currentlyhas the world's second-highestnumber of deaths after theUnited States. But Mexico'spopulation of 126 million is farsmaller than either of thosecountries.

The new report also con-firms just how deadly Mexico's

second wave in January was. Asof the end of December, excessdeath estimates suggested atotal of about 220,000 deathsrelated to COVID-19 inMexico. That number jumpedby around 75,000 in just amonth and a half.

Also suggestive were theoverall number of “excessdeaths” since the pandemicbegan, around 417,000. Excessdeaths are determined by com-paring the deaths in a givenyear to those that would beexpected based on data fromprevious years.

A review of death certifi-cates found about 70.5% of theexcess deaths were COVID-19related, often because it waslisted on the certificates as asuspected or contributing causeof death. But some experts sayCOVID-19 may have con-tributed to many of the otherexcess deaths because manypeople couldn't get treatmentfor other diseases because hos-pitals were overwhelmed.

Former President FelipeCalderon wrote in his Twitteraccount Saturday that “morethan 400,000 Mexicans havedied, above the average for pre-vious years ... Probably thehighest figure in the world.”

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AGOP lawyer who advisedformer President Donald

Trump on his campaign tooverturn the 2020 electionresults is now playing a centralrole coordinating theRepublican effort to tightenvoting laws around the coun-try.

Cleta Mitchell, a longtimeRepublican lawyer and advo-cate for conservative causes,was among the Trump adviserson a January phone call inwhich Trump asked Georgiaelection officials to “find”enough votes to declare him,and not Democrat Joe Biden,the winner of the battlegroundstate.

Now Mitchell has takenthe helm of two separateefforts to push for tighter statevoting laws and to fightDemocratic efforts to expandaccess to the ballot at the fed-eral level. She is also advisingstate lawmakers crafting thevoting restriction proposals.And, she said Friday, she is inregular contact with Trump.“People are actually interestedin getting involved and wehave to harness all this ener-gy,” Mitchell said in an inter-view.

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Aman went on a stabbingspree inside and around a

library, killing one woman andinjuring six other people inNorth Vancouver, BritishColumbia, authorities said.

Sgt Frank Jang of theIntegrated HomicideInvestigation Team said a sus-pect was in custody. He said theman is in his 20s and has hadinteractions with police in thepast. Jang said officials didn'thave any information yet abouta motive.

One witness, SteveMossop, said he and his part-ner stopped in traffic when theysaw a bloodied woman whotold them she had just beenstabbed. They then saw sever-al victims within about 100meters of each other, he said.

“There was a man, therewas an older woman, there wasa younger woman, a mom — arandom group of individuals inthe wrong place at the wrongtime," Mossop said.

"It seemed like he was justrunning in a direction, who-ever was in his path happenedto be victimized,? Mossop saidof the attacker.

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Police in the capital of Belarus arrestedmore than 100 people who assembled for

a protest march Saturday to call for the res-ignation of the country's authoritarian pres-ident.

The planned event in Minsk indicatedthat supporters of the political opposition seekto revive the wave of mass protests thatgripped Belarus for months last year but weredormant during the winter.

During the first sizable anti-governmentprotests of 2021, more than 200 people weredetained Thursday.

At least five journalists were among thosearrested; it was not immediately clear whatcharges they could face, but some journalistsarrested while covering last year's protestswere sentenced to two years in prison.

Protests broke out in August after a dis-puted election that gave President AlexanderLukashenko a sixth term in office.

Lukashenko, who has been characterizedas Europe's last dictator, has strongly repressedopposition and independent news media dur-ing 26 years in power.

The post-election protests were thelargest and most persistent show of opposi-tion the former Soviet republic has seen inthat time, with some of them attracting asmany as 200,000 people.

More than 33,000 people were arrestedduring the protests, and many of them werebeaten by police.

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Banks will conduct specialclearing operations for

annual closure of governmentaccounts on March 31, whichis the last day of the current fis-cal year, the RBI has said.

The Reserve Bank hasissued directions to the banksfor smooth clearing operationand asked them to mandatori-ly participate in it.

With regard to annualclosing of accounts relatedtransactions of the central andstate governments, special mea-sures are put in place for 2020-21, the RBI has instructed allthe member banks to maintainsufficient balance in their clear-ing settlement account.

Normal clearing timings asapplicable to any workingWednesday shall be followedon March 31, 2021, the RBIsaid in a notification addressedto the member banks, urbanand state cooperative banks,payments banks, small financebanks as well as the NPCI.

To facilitate accounting ofall the government transactionsfor the current financial year2020-21 by March 31, 2021, ithas been decided to conductspecial clearing exclusively forgovernment cheques acrossthe three CTS grids on March31, 2021, the RBI said.

Under this, presentation

clearing will take place between1700 to 1730 hrs and returnclearing will take place between1900 and 1930 hrs at the threeCTS (cheque truncation sys-tem) grids located in NewDelhi, Chennai and Mumbai.

"It is mandatory for allbanks to participate in thespecial clearing operations onMarch 31, 2021. All the mem-ber banks under the respectiveCTS grids are required to keeptheir inward clearing process-ing infrastructure open duringthe special clearing hours andmaintain sufficient balance intheir clearing settlementaccount to meet settlementobligations arising out of thespecial clearing," said the reg-ulator. Besides, it has asked thebanks under the respectiveCTS grids to adhere to theinstructions issued to them bythe President of the respectiveCTS grid.

Under the CTS system,there is no need to present acheque physically for clear-ance, instead an electronicimage is being transmitted tothe paying branch through the

clearing house, with the rele-vant data. This eliminates thecost of movement of the phys-ical cheques and reduces timefor collection and clearance ofcheques.

All government transac-tions done by agency banks for2020-21 must be accounted forwithin the same financial year,the RBI said.

The central bank said allagency banks should keep theirdesignated branches open forover the counter transactionsrelated to government trans-actions up to the normal work-ing hours on March 31, 2021.

"Transactions throughNational Electronic FundsTransfer (NEFT) and RealTime Gross Settlement (RTGS)System will continue up to2400 hours as hitherto onMarch 31, 2021. "Special clear-ing will be conducted for col-lection of government chequeson March 31, 2021 for whichthe Department of Paymentand Settlement Systems(DPSS), RBI will issue neces-sary instructions," it said.

With regard to reportingof and state government trans-actions to RBI, includinguploading of GST/e-receiptsluggage files, the reportingwindow of March 31, 2021 willbe extended and kept open till1200 hours on April 1, 2021,the RBI said.

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World's largest miner CoalIndia Is likely to post

marginal contraction of itsoutput for the year 2020-21 by5-6 million tonne in 2020-21 asits production will below the600 million mark, sources saidon Sunday.

In 2019-20, the miner pro-duced 602 million tonne downfrom 606.9 million in 2018-19when it registered its highestproduction.

It will be the second year ina row when the miner will reg-ister degrowth. The miner hadprojected a 660 million tonneproduction target and by mid-year the company had beenexpecting to attain 630-640million tonne of output.

Officials attributed Covid-19 disruptions as the key fac-tor behind lower demandresulting in a stockpile build-ing up, compelling the mininggiant to moderate output.

"Till March 27, the pro-duction was 585 million tonneand 11 million tonne is expect-ed to be added in the remain-

ing days of the month. So, total production could

be between 596- 597 milliontonne," sources told PTI.

Offtake for the year isexpected to be around 577million tonne.

Inventory with Coal Indiastood at around 77.8 milliontonne as of February-end, upfrom 66.8 million tonne at theend of January 2021.

Domestic power plants arewell stocked with coal supplies.Coal stocks at power plantsstood at 31.9 million tonne atthe end of February, enough tolast 17 days. This has resultedin a fall in coal offtake for thethird straight month. Coal off-take fell by 7 per cent year onyear during February 2021.

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Amid uncertainty createdby surge in coronavirus

cases, the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) is likely to maintainstatus quo at its next monetarypolicy review and wait forsome more time before takingany action to spur growth.

The RBI is slated toannounce its first bi-monthlymonetary policy of the 2021-22fiscal on April 7, 2021 after athree-day meeting of theMonetary Policy Committee(MPC) headed by RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Das. OnFebruary 5, after the last MPCmeet, the central bank had keptthe key interest rate (repo)unchanged citing inflationaryconcerns.

According to experts, theRBI is likely to continue withthe accomodative monetarypolicy stance and wait for anopportune time to announcemonetary action with a view toensure the best possible out-come in terms of pushinggrowth without sacrificing themain objective of containinginflation.

In a report, Dun &Bradstreet said the recent surgein the COVID-19 cases and the

restrictions imposed by sever-al states will impose furtheruncertainty and hurdles to thepace of revival of industrialproduction.

Dun & Bradstreet GlobalChief Economist Arun Singhsaid long-term yields are hard-ening, leading to rise in bor-rowing costs.

"In this context, theReserve Bank of India faces thedifficult task of managing theinflationary pressures whilepreventing a rise in the bor-rowing cost.

"Despite the rising infla-tionary pressures, we expect theRBI to keep the policy repo rateunchanged in the forthcomingmonetary policy review in viewof the uncertainty posed by thesharp rise in COVID-19 cases,"he said.

When asked about hisexpectations from the nextMPC, ANAROCK PropertyConsultants Chairman AnujPuri said that with consumerinflation fluctuating and not yetstable and the policy repo ratealso being substantially reducedby 115 basis points sinceFebruary 2020, the RBI mayconsider keeping the rates onhold.

"It is likely to keep an eye

on how the inflation and theeconomic recovery pans out inthe coming months amid therising COVID-19 cases in thecountry.

"India is witnessing a sec-ond wave with partial lock-downs being imposed acrossdifferent states and cities. Insuch a scenario, it is only like-ly that the RBI will maintainstatus quo," he said.

Moreover, Puri added thateven while the real estate indus-try's perennial hope is fixed onlower interest rates, the pre-vailing lowest-best home loanrates starting as low as 6.70 percent are enticing enough forhomebuyers. In a recent report,UBS Securities India economistTanvee Gupta Jain expected theRBI to maintain comfortableliquidity in the near term toensure least disruption to thegovernment's borrowing pro-gramme and support the eco-nomic recovery at a time whenCOVID-19 cases are resurgingin India.

"We continue to expect thecentral bank to pursue policynormalisation in the secondhalf of FY22 to keep inflation-ary pressures contained andpreserve financial stability,"Jain said.

�� !�"#$

TRAI has written to keyministries, associations like

COAI and Nasscom and nodalagencies like NIC in a massiveinformation outreach as it pullsout all stops to ensure smoothimplementation of its new reg-ulations on bulk messages afterMarch 31.

Sources in the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(TRAI) said NIC has assuredthe regulator that it is in a stateof readiness to assist govern-ment organisations and agen-cies, and resolve any issues, asnew rules for commercial mes-sages come into force.

The National InformaticsCentre (NIC) provides tech-nology support to governanceservices.

The regulator has writtento key stakeholders across sec-tors informing them at lengthabout the rules, and urgingthem to advise entities andorganisations under their juris-diction to "strictly comply withthe new regulatory requirementwithout further delay".

As part of this outreachprogram, TRAI also soundedout industry associations CII,FICCI, Assocham, Nasscomand COAI, urging them toinform their member organi-sations about new regulatoryrequirements, the sources said.

TRAI has also written toentities such as NIC, CDAC aswell as all government organ-isations that are availing ben-efits of concessional SMSes.

This is in addition to out-reach to key central ministries,and chief secretaries of states onthe issue.

TRAI's new regulatoryrequirement for commercialmessages, based on blockchaintechnology, aims to curb unso-licited and fraudulent mes-sages.

The norms requirebonafide entities sending com-mercial text messages to regis-ter message headers and tem-plates with telecom operators.

The SMSes and OTPs,when sent by user entities(banks, payment companiesand others), are checkedagainst the templates regis-tered on the blockchain plat-form -- a process called SMSscrubbing.

The allotment of header,registration of template, andvarious others checks and bal-ances would allow the verifi-cation of identity and purposeof communication by genuineentities.

Earlier this month, how-ever, transactions, includingbanking, credit card paymentand certain other services thatinvolve SMSes and OTP gen-eration, had faced a major out-

age when telcos implementedthe TRAI norms without thebalancing measures in place byprincipal entities (which sendout bonafide bulk, commercialmessages).

Following the disruption,TRAI had given a temporarybreather to such companies,but had insisted that they takeimmediate measures to complywith the norms.

The telecom regulator,this Friday, released a list of 40"defaulter" principal entities,including large banks likeHDFC Bank, State Bank ofIndia and ICICI Bank, thatwere not fulfilling its regulato-ry norms on bulk commercialmessages, despite repeatedreminders.

Toughening its stance onthe issue, TRAI warned thatdefaulting entities should com-ply with the stipulated require-ments by March 31, 2021 "toavoid any disruption in thecommunication with cus-tomers" from April 1, 2021.

"As sufficient opportuni-ty has been given to principalentities/ telemarketers to com-ply with the regulatory require-ments and that the consumerscannot be deprived of the ben-efits of the regulatory provi-sions any further, therefore ithas been decided that fromApril 1, 2021, any messagefailing in the scrubbing processdue to non-compliance of reg-ulatory requirements will berejected" by the system, TRAIhad said in a statement recent-ly.

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Seven of the 10 most valueddomestic companies wit-

nessed a combined erosion ofRs 1,07,566.64 crore from theirmarket valuation last week,with Reliance Industriesaccounting for around half ofthe losses.

Last week, the 30-shareBSE benchmark Sensexdeclined 849.74 points or 1.70per cent.

Only Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS), HindustanUnilever Limited and HDFCfrom the top-10 list saw a risein their market capitalisa-tion.

The valuation of indexmajor Reliance IndustriesLimited (RIL) tumbled Rs55,565.21 crore to reach Rs12,64,243.20 crore.

The market capitalisationof Bajaj Finance plunged Rs16,197.55 crore to Rs3,12,327.04 crore and that ofState Bank of India (SBI) wentlower by Rs 12,494.45 crore toRs 3,18,697.88 crore.

Kotak Mahindra Bank'svaluation dipped Rs 11,681.66crore to Rs 3,51,272.18 croreand that of ICICI Bankdeclined Rs 5,467.63 crore to Rs4,00,093.61 crore.

The market capitalisationof Infosys tumbled Rs 3,751.92

crore to Rs 5,69,352.11 crore.HDFC Bank's valuation

eroded by Rs 2,408.22 crore toreach Rs 8,22,616.51 crore.

In contrast, TataConsultancy Services addedRs 1,812.54 crore to take itsvaluation to Rs 11,34,924.45crore.

Hindustan Unilever's val-uation climbed Rs 364.19 croreto Rs 5,43,924.22 crore and thatof HDFC rose Rs 62.77 crore toRs 4,56,741.20 crore.

In the ranking of top-10most valued firms, RelianceIndustries ruled the chart, fol-lowed by TCS, HDFC Bank,Infosys, Hindustan Unilever,HDFC, ICICI Bank, KotakMahindra Bank, SBI and BajajFinance.

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UK's Cairn Energy Plc plansto bring lawsuits in the US

and other countries to piercethe corporate veil between theIndian government and itsowned companies such as in oiland gas, shipping, airline andbanking sectors, to seize theiroverseas assets to recover USD1.2 billion ordered by an inter-national arbitration tribunal.

The firm has movedcourts in the US, UK, Canada,France, Singapore, theNetherlands and three othercountries to register theDecember 2020 arbitration tri-bunal ruling that overturnedthe Indian government's Rs10,247 crore demand in backtaxes and ordered New Delhi toreturn USD 1.2 billion in valueof shares it had sold, divi-dends seized and tax refundswithheld to recover the taxdemand.

With the government sofar refusing to honour the arbi-tration award and insteadchoosing to challenge it, Cairnis looking to enforce it by seiz-ing overseas Indian assets,Dennis Hranitzky, head of thesovereign litigation practice atQuinn Emanuel Urquhart &Sullivan, a law firm represent-ing the company, told PTI.

These assets can poten-

tially be non-diplomatic onesand those owned by entities orcompanies controlled by theIndian government in thosenine countries.

"Cairn plans to bring law-suits in the coming weeks topierce the corporate veil toestablish that (certain) state-owned entities are India's alterego under Bancec" for enforc-ing the arbitration award, hesaid.

The Bancec guidelinesdeal with determining when ajudgment against a foreignstate is enforceable against itsagencies.

The lawsuit will be simi-lar to the one brought byCrystallex International Corpto attach property of Petroleosde Venezuela, S.A (PDVSA),the state-owned oil company ofVenezuela, in Delaware coupleof years back after the LatinAmerican country failed topay the firm USD 1.2 billionthat an arbitration tribunalhad ordered to pay in lieu of the2011 seizing gold deposits heldand developed by the firm.

"Indian assets across sev-eral jurisdictions have beenidentified that Cairn will beseeking to seize to enforce theaward," he said, refusing toname the assets the firm maybe looking to attach to recov-

er the USD 1.2 billion plusinterest and cost that the arbi-tration tribunal had ordered.

"Until we have com-menced proceedings to seizethe assets, this information isproprietary," he said.

Cairn is pulling out allstops to recover the damagesaward, including hiring a teamof asset recovery experts.

Sources said the assets thatcan be attached could rangefrom airplanes to ships, to oiland gas cargoes and bankaccounts of state-owned enti-ties.

"Cairn is moving forwardwith its enforcement planswith all deliberate speed. Thetimetable for proceedings toseize assets varies from coun-try to country. Under the lawsof some countries, these pro-ceedings can begin right away,whereas in others we will haveto wait until after the award isrecognised," he said withoutgiving details.

Cairn had previously saidthe money ultimately belongsto its shareholders -- whichinclude large investors such asBlackRock, Fidelity andFranklin Templeton, and theramifications of India not hon-ouring the award will "runacross the international invest-ment community more wide-ly".

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The government is unlikelyto take zero-coupon bond

route to further recapitalisepublic sector banks after theReserve Bank expressed someconcerns in this regard, sourcessaid.

The government, they said,would resort back to recapital-isation bonds bearing a couponrate for capital infusion inthese banks.

To save interest burdenand ease the fiscal pressure, thegovernment last year decidedto issue zero-coupon bonds formeeting the capital needs of thebanks.

The first test case of thenew mechanism was a capitalinfusion of Rs 5,500 crore intoPunjab and Sind Bank by issu-ing zero-coupon bonds of sixdifferent maturities last year.These special securities withtenure of 10-15 years are non-interest bearing and valued atpar.

However, the RBI raisedsome concerns with regard tocalculation of an effective cap-ital infusion made in any bankthrough this instrument issuedat par, sources said.

Since such bonds usuallyare non-interest bearing butissued at a deep discount to theface value, it is difficult to

ascertain net present value,they added.

As a result, sources said, ithas been concluded to do awaywith zero-coupon bond forrecapitalisation.

These special bonds arenon-interest bearing and issuedat par to a bank, they saidadding that it would be aninvestment that would not earnany return and rather depreci-ate with each passing year.

This innovative mecha-nism was adopted to ease thefinancial burden as the gov-ernment has already spent Rs22,086.54 crore as interest pay-ment towards the recapitalisa-tion bonds for PSBs in the lasttwo financial years.

During FY 2018-19, thegovernment paid Rs 5,800.55crore as interest on such bondsissued to public sector banksfor pumping in the capital sothat they could meet the regu-latory norms under the Basel-III guidelines.

In the subsequent year,according to the official docu-ment, the interest payment bythe government surged threetimes to Rs 16,285.99 crore toPSBs as they have been hold-ing these papers.

For the current financialyear, interest payment for recapbonds have been reduced to Rs19,292.77 crore from Rs25,239.4 crore pegged in theBudget estimate.

Under this mechanism,the government issues recapi-talisation bonds to a public sec-tor bank which needs capital.The said bank subscribes to thepaper against which the gov-ernment receives the money.Now, the money received goesas equity capital of the bank.

So the government does-n't have to pay anything fromits pocket. However, the moneyinvested by banks in recapital-isation bonds is classified as aninvestment which earns theman interest.

In all, the government hasissued about Rs 2.5 lakh crorerecapitalisation in the last threefinancial years. In the firstyear, the government issued Rs80,000 crore recapitalisationbonds, followed by Rs 1.06 lakhcrore in 2018-19. During thelast financial year, the capitalinfusion through bonds was Rs65,443 crore.

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The Indian Railway FinanceCorporation (IRFC), the

dedicated financing arm ofthe Indian Railways, onFriday, raised Rs 1,375 crorethrough issuance of domesticbonds.

The fund has been raisedat 6.80 percent coupon ratewith 20-year maturity, whichis about 18 basis points lowerthan the benchmark par yieldGovernment security as peryesterday's close in CCIL.This is one of the rare occa-sions when a top-rated gov-ernment issuer has piercedthe sovereign curve in thedomestic market with such ahuge margin. This shows theconfidence reposed by thelarge debt investors in thecountry for IRFC papersscotching the speculations incertain quarters about risingcost and heightened risk per-ception post IPO and dilutionof Government stake.

"The bond issuancereceived a very good responsefrom the investors comprisinglong term / ultra-long-terminvestors including primarilythe provident funds. The issuewas oversubscribed by sixtimes as compared to thebase issue size of Rs 500

crore," said a company state-ment.

The company has decid-ed to retain a sum of Rs.1375crore, based on the borrowingtarget mandated by the min-istry of Railways for the cur-rent fiscal, it further said.

With the current issuance,the cumulative fund raisingthrough 20-year bondissuance in the domestic cap-ital market during the currentfiscal has touched aroundRs.13,970 Crore. The corpo-rate bonds in the domesticmarket are liquid for tenor upto 10 years. Such largeissuances by IRFC has deep-ened the corporate bond mar-ket for long / ultra-long tenorsand has set a new benchmarkyield curve for pricing simi-lar issuances in the future.

IRFC has been playing acritical role in the growth,expansion and moderniza-tion of Indian Railways.

The company wasassigned an annual borrowingtarget in excess of Rs. 1 tril-lion during the current fiscal.The CAGR of yearly dis-bursements by IRFC to IndianRailways over the last 6 yearshas logged a level of around45.70%.

The annual borrowingtarget has been successfully

met through borrowing fromdiversified sources both fromdomestic and overseas marketincluding highest single yearexternal commercial borrow-ings of around USD 4.08 bil-lion. The external commercialborrowings include USD 750Mil l ion overseas bondissuances for a tenor of 10years in the Reg-S / 144A for-mat under the Company'sGlobal Medium Term NoteProgramme (GMTN) andborrowing of USD 3 Billionthrough foreign currency loanfrom a leading public sectorbank for tenor ranging from7 to 10 years. The 10 yearUSD 750 Mil l ion bondissuance got overwhelmingresponse with oversubscrip-tion by almost 4 times.Despite the fact that theCompany's bond issuancesare not eligible for inclusionin the EMBI Index post IPO,it managed to get the tightestpricing possible of 2.80%(167.5 bps over 10 year UST).The pricing obtained by IRFCis a departure from the usualmarket convention of premi-um over the secondary mar-ket yield. Bonds issued byIRFC were priced at 7 to 10bps lower than its secondarymarket yields of its own list-ed papers.

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Public sector CochinShipyard is expected to

operationalise a Rs 170 croremodern shipbuilding facilitythat it is building in WestBengal by June 2021.

The state-owned compa-ny, under the administrativecontrol of the Ministry of Ports,Shipping and Waterways,recently emerged as the lowestbidder for a Rs 10,000-crorecontract by the Indian Navy tobuild next generation missilevessels.

Cochin Shipyard Limited,through its wholly-owned sub-sidiary Hooghly CochinShipyard Limited (HCSL), iscurrently setting up a modernshipbuilding facility atNazirgunge, West Bengal at anestimated project cost of Rs169.76 crore, as per a documentof the Ministry of Shipping.

"The facility is expected tobe operationalised in the firstquarter of the financial year2021-22," the document said.

HCSL targets to constructvarious types of vessels like Ro-Ro vessels, river-sea cargo ves-sels for bulk, liquids, contain-ers, passenger vessels and otherwatercraft for the inland water-ways.

Cochin Shipyard has alsocommissioned a new marineengineering training institute'Vigyana Sagar', which wasdedicated to the nation byPrime Minister Narendra Modion February 14, 2021.

The company recentlyinked a pact with DredgingCorporation and IHC HollandBV to locally build world-classdredgers in India.

Currently, India dependson foreign dredgers for dredg-ing work worth about Rs 2,000crore per annum.

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The hit reality franchise takes up residence inBeverly Hills, where well-heeled frenemies fight, drinkand primp their way to maximum drama. Starring LisaVanderpump, Kyle Richards and Kim Richards, itreleases on Netflix on April 15.

��In the 1970s, merciless killer Charles Sobhraj preys

on travellers exploring the ‘hippie trail’ of South Asia.Based on shocking true events. Starring Tahar Rahim,Jenna Coleman and Billy Howle, it releases on Netflix onApril 2.

��Four shorts explore the surprising ways in which unex-

pected catalysts inflame the uncomfortable emotions sim-mering under fractured relationships. Starring Fatima SanaShaikh, Jaideep Ahlawat and Armaan Ralhan, it releases onNetflix on April 16.

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They say, cultural and religiousdiversity is the very essence ofIndia. And hence, the term:

Unity in diversity. It also somewherereflects in the way various regions ofthe country celebrate Holi. Cities, vil-lages and tribal communities acrossthe country engage in the festivitieseach with its own peculiarity. On theoccasion, let’s check out some differ-ent ways people play the festival.

SHIMGA OR RANGPANCHAMIUsually, at this time bright

colours fill the air. Holi is celebrat-ed with much pomp and splendourin Maharashtra. Lasting for fivedays to a week, this festival ofcolours is popularly known asShimga or Rangpanchami. The trib-als such as Andh, Arakh, Gond,Kathodi, Bhaniya, Dhodia consti-tute 8.61 per cent of the population.Even though they are a marginalcommunity, they are deeply-rootedin their heritage and culture andhave retained many of their nativecustoms. The traditions and cus-toms of every tribe are differentfrom each other but the significanceof Holi is paramount for all thetribes. The festival lasts from the fullmoon to the new moon in someareas and until the next full moonin others. The festival has manyunique facets. For some groups, itis associated with the worship ofnature and for others, with fertili-ty or agriculture or prosperity or

forging new relationships.

LATHMAR HOLIIt takes place days before the

actual Holi in the neighbouringtowns of Barsana and Nandgaon nearMathura in Uttar Pradesh. But whatis this tradition where women beatmen with sticks during this peculiarcelebration? Well, according to a leg-end, it’s because Lord Krishna usedto visit his beloved Radha’s town,Barsana. Krishna teased Radha andher friends, who were offended by hisadvances and drove him out ofBarsana. And that is why men ofNandgaon visit Barsana every yearand are greeted by women hurlingsticks (aka lathi) at them. They try toprotect themselves but those who failare captured by these women whothen dress them in female apparel andmake them dance in public. The fes-tivities take place at the Radha Ranitemple in Barsana, which is said to bethe only temple in the country thatis dedicated to Radha.

PHOOLON WALI HOLIOn Ekadashi, prior to the festi-

val, the Banke Bihari temple at

Vrindavan celebrates the festivalwhere only flowers are used andhence, the name Phoolon Wali Holi.The ambience, filled with fragranceand flowers, takes you to a differentworld altogether.

HOLA MOHALLAThe Guru Granth Sahib contains

passages prescribing the celebrationof Holi by serving god. The coloursof the festival are manifest in the lord’slove. As Holi starts with HolikaDahan on the full moon night ofPhagan or Phalgan, it is referred to asthe festival of Phalgun even thoughthe actual day of Holi falls on the firstday of the lunar month of Chett. Shri

Guru Gobind Singh Ji added a mar-tial element to this celebration bycreating Hola Mohalla which falls aday after Holi. Paying tribute to themettle and valour of the Sikh men,it is celebrated as an event thatexhibits martial arts, stunts, andmock fights followed by the usualtradition of playing with colours.According to Guru Gobind Singh’scourt poet Bhai Nand Lal, colourswere thrown by the participants aftercompletion of the mock battles.Rosewater, amber, musk and saffron-coloured water was used.

DOL JATRA OR BASANT UTSAVHoli is celebrated as Basant

Utsav or Dol Jatra in West Bengal.It welcomes the blooming seasonwith great enthusiasm and happi-ness. Women here dress mainly inyellow, which signifies abundance.There are recitals of RabindranathTagore’s poetry as well as tradition-al song and dance programmes. Theday after Holi is celebrated as DolJatra. On this day, a grand proces-sion of Lord Krishna is takenthrough the streets of Bengal accom-panied by singing and dancing rev-ellers.

PYRE ASHESDid you know that people also

celebrate the festival with pyre ashes?Well, devotees of Lord Shiva atManikarnika Ghat in Varanasi revelin the festivities by picking ashesfrom cremation grounds. Althoughit may sound strange but this tradi-tion, known as chita-bhasma Holi,has been observed for many cen-turies. It is celebrated in the hope ofattaining moksh (salvation).

One festival and so many diverseways to celebrate it... However, whatis common is the spirit of joy whichremains intact everywhere.

What’s Holi without new Holisongs? Bollywood filmmakers

have churned out songs about the fes-tival of colours down the decades. Thisyear may have seen no new film songowing to the complete shutdown ofBollywood through most of 2020, butmany singers have come out with newnon-film songs for Holi.

Here are a few brand-new Holitracks for your playlist:

Tera Suit by Tony KakkarPop singer Tony Kakkar, broth-

er of singer Neha Kakkar, came outwith an eclectic music video featur-ing Bigg Boss fame Jasmin Bhasinand Aly Goni. The song dropped onMarch 8 and currently has49,569,107 views on YouTube. Thebest part about the peppy musicvideo is the usage of colours and thechemistry of the two actors.

Vilaayati Sharaab by DarshanRaval and Neeti Mohan

The number by singers DarshanRaval and Neeti Mohan is pic-turised on television by HeliDaruwala and Telugu star AlluSirish. After Rashmika Mandana,Sirish is the latest star from theSouth actor to feature in a Hindi sin-gle. The number has become aninstant hit. Neeti calls it a properdance and a fun number. “It wasreleased around Holi, and wealways look to, you know, dance onsuch kinds of songs. It was a real-ly nice song, which took us abouttwo months, to record and shootfor,” she said.

Rangi Sari Gulabi Chunariya byJashan Bhumkar

Indie singer Jashan Bhumkarhas come up with a new song RangiSari Gulabi Chunariya on the occa-sion of Holi. The song, which wasreleased on YouTube on March 25,currently has 1,036,752 views. It’s asemi-classical composition, drawnfrom the Thumri and Dadra. “I havesung my own version of a very tra-ditional and celebrated semi-classi-cal composition, from theThumri/Dadra genre,” Bhumkar said.

Holi Hain by Vipin MishraNational Award-winning singer

Vipin Mishra, who has composedmusic for films like Aurangzeb andAloo Chaat, has come out with HoliHain, featuring singer KeerthiSagathia. It is penned and composedby the Indie artiste The Vipin MishraProject. Mishra said, “Since Holiwon’t be the usual due to COVID, wethought let’s celebrate it with musicand a groovy song echoes the spirit ofHoli — of love, togetherness and fun.”

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Actor-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonasis understandably on cloud nine

with The White Tiger making an impactin the awards circuit this season. The film,co-starring and executive-produced byPriyanka, is in contention for an Oscarand two BAFTAS.

“It means a lot to me, I am so proudof the whole team. We believed in thestory collectively and, importantly, thestory needed to be translated into a filmthat would connect with a wider audi-ence,” Priyanka says.

At the forthcoming Oscars, TheWhite Tiger, based on Arvind Adiga’sbook of the same name, has a nomina-tion in the Best Adapted Screenplay cat-egory for writer-director Ramin Bahrani.At the BAFTAS, actor Adarsh Gourav isnominated alongside Anthony Hopkinsand the late Chadwick Boseman, amongothers, in the Leading Actor category,while Bahrani is in the race for a BestAdapted Screenplay trophy.

As soon as nominations for sundryawards ceremonies were announced thisyear, a section of social media began com-paring it with Danny Boyle’s SlumdogMillionaire, which belongs to the samegenre as Bahrani’s film. Boyle’s film woneight Oscars and six BAFTAs in 2009, andturned its lead duo Dev Patel and FreidaPinto into overnight global stars.

At 38, Priyanka had achieved inter-national fame long before she got downwith making and acting in The WhileTiger'. Her lead actor Adarsh Gouravstands to gain tremendously of course, ifhe manages to score a win at the BAFTAs,though that could be a challenge in a yearwhen the late Boseman has been winninghearts with his role in Ma Rainey’s BlackBottom.

While the nominations are an hon-our, Priyanka says her involvement withthe project is not necessarily about theawards.

“We had already done the hard workby the time the awards rolled by, so I don’tthink it affected my role as an actor orproducer in any way for this film. For me,as an actor and a producer, the audiencehas always been my end goal.Nominations and wins — especiallyawards like the Oscars and Baftas — aretruly amazing but it’s not why I pick pro-jects,” she asserts.

Priyanka lists “content stories, onesthat resonate, ones that need to be told,ones that entertain a wide global audi-ence” as her primary intent when it comesto filmmaking.

“You will never be true to content ifyou make it to win at the awards,” shesays.

For her, the biggest boost that suchnominations bring is that they pushIndia, Indian cinema and Indian artistestowards the right direction when itcomes to the conversation of inclusivityand diversity.

“I think the nominations are anoth-er step towards what we have all beenworking so hard for — equal opportuni-ty and a seat at every table. We deserveit, not because of some quota that needsto be filled but because we prove everyday that we can deliver what is needed.This applies to every industry and notjust entertainment,” she says.

“I’m just proud to be in such augustcompany, with women (from) across theworld, working hard, breaking barriers,driving innovation, every day,” she signsoff.

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In the last few decades, with the advancementin science and technology and with urbanisa-

tion and expansion of cities, man’s capacity to dogood or bad, particularly bad, has increased man-ifold. Under such a scenario, there is an urgentneed to impart values in education, which if notdone, may lead to disastrous results. This educa-tion is needed for another reason as well. Sincewe live in social relationships, we have both rightsas well as duties and everyone has to learn to dotheir part and to respect the rights of others; thenonly we can have a just society. These rights andduties are actually interwoven with values. Hence,values in education become essential to establisha better world. The state, in defending the rightsof its members, can enforce certain duties throughlegislation and can make possible the realisationof certain rights. But it cannot deal effectively withthe motives and attitudes of a person nor is it ableto enforce finer qualities such as mutual helpful-ness, cooperation and sympathy. That can be doneonly through teaching values.

Again, in themodern world,because of theincreasing com-plexity of society,life has become anetwork of sec-ondary and insti-t u t i o n a l i s e dgroups and spe-cialised profes-sionals. This hasproduced incon-sistency betweenwhat a man pro-fesses and whathe does. On onehand, he wishesto follow a profes-sional code ofconduct and, on the other, he wants material gainseven against his conscience. Similarly, he has loy-alty to some group which may go against the well-being of society as a whole. So, education in moralvalues is necessary so that he may keep widerinterests in his mind, else, there is always the like-lihood of conflict on the basis of class, caste, race,ethnicity, profession, etc.

Man, wearing the mask of loyalty, may domuch harm to the well-being of society as a whole,if he is not cultured in proper values. It can, thus,be understood that all our present-day problems,be it group rivalry, jingoism, hypocrisy, doublestandards, various kinds of wrong-doings and anti-social acts, are due to the fact that even thoughwe have education in various disciplines, we donot have education in spiritual discipline.

The failure of a European country to preventthe excesses under the dictatory regime was dueprecisely to this reason. Throughout the nine-teenth century, this country had rapid develop-ment of specialisation in science and technologybut value education was pushed aside or that alsobecame technical and the concern of specialistsonly. As a result, it became a nation of highlytrained specialists interested in facts in theirrespective fields but unconcerned with the largeproblems of life and the world, which resulted inmoral paralysis of the people in that country. Iftherefore, we wish to avoid moral paralysis in theworld, we will have to do something to impartvalue education.

One can’t really say that value education willguarantee the right conduct. However, it will def-initely give an understanding of what is right andwhat is wrong to the people and will create a ten-dency within them to have the right conduct. Also,it will give a man a moral outlook on life, and eth-ical purpose, and meaning of life. It will alsoenlighten him about the purity of means andmotives. He will understand that not only we musthave high ideals but we must also adopt the rightmeans to attain those ideals. Also, it will explainto us that our motives must be genuine, for onlygoodness of goals is not enough.

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Last year, on March 24, theCentral Government

imposed India’s first nationwidelockdown to contain the spreadof COVID-19 virus. Theserestrictions brought everythingto a halt — industries wereshut, trains and flights weresuspended, schools and officesclosed. India’s economy, like restof the world, was threatened bythe pandemic. The worst affect-ed in this situation were the peo-ple who had migrated to othercities from their native villages,who were already finding ithard to survive and with the sud-den lockdown, their vulnerabil-ities were further exposed. Thisled to a migrant crisis that is saidto be the biggest human exodussince the partition of the coun-try in 1947. Lakhs of migrants,left stranded in unknown cities,decided to take long journeys toreturn to their villages on foot.Millions walked hundreds, thou-sands of kilometers — manydied on their way. A year later,their struggle continues.

The inevitable dilemma After the five-month long

lockdown, when both state andcentral governments started touplift restrictions in a phasedmanner, labourers, who hadexhausted all the little moneythey had, started looking forwork again. Forced by extremepoverty and hunger, they workedfor extremely low wages in andaround their villages. Withwounds of the lockdown stillfresh, they were determined tonot return to the cities that hadabandoned them but as soon asthe roads were opened and rail-ways announced special trains,they started having secondthoughts. The limited prospectsand resources in their villagesstarted to create pressure in thecommunity. Thinking about sur-vival, and calculating the risks,these helpless labourers have

started to return to the cities. One such state where the

labourers have started migratingto the cities again is the centralIndian state of Chhattisgarh.Most of the labourers ofBaijanpuri village and its sur-rounding areas inBhanupratappur Block inKanker district have already

moved or are planning tomigrate to other states in searchof work opportunities.

A month before the lock-down, Gajendra Rawate, a resi-dent of Baijanpuri, had travelled300 km to Maharashtra to workas a construction labourer. “I hadto face several challenges whilereturning to my village after the

lockdown was suddenlyimposed. After my return, Istarted doing work that offeredvery little to survive,” he shared.Echoing his thoughts wereDaleshwar Koratia, Suresh Yadavand Makhan Koratiya of thesame village who were also inMaharashtra at the time of thelockdown. With no promising

jobs here, all of them are plan-ning to return to Maharashtra.

All the labourers from vil-lage Jampara in Kanchur GramPanchayat have again migrateddue to lack of work. MukeshKumar who belongs to the samegroup of migrants, informedthat after the end of paddy har-vesting season, there is no workleft in this area. “We migrate tobig cities like Bangalore. Till nextsowing season, we work in citiesearning fair wages and thenreturn to work in the fields inour villages,” informed Mukesh.

High expectations from MGN-REGA

Ever since its inception in2006, the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (MNREGA) hasserved as a credible lifeline formillions of vulnerable rural peo-ple. In the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown, MNREGA wasexpected to play a crucial roleand support the returning work-ers. However, it has not been ableto meet the employment demandof rural workers over the past fewyears, couldn’t serve to this newlycreated gap of unemployment.

In cities, the labourers wouldget anything between �300 to 400for a day’s work while underMGNREGA, they are paid only�190 for the same work. Forlabour work other than underMGNREGA, the per capita wagein Baijanpuri region varies from�150 to 200 per day.Comparative high wages in cities

is one of the major reasons whyvillagers choose to migrate.

Also, after working for a fewmonths in big cities, labourersreturn to their villages with alump sum amount that allowsthem to meet the needs of theirfamilies in a smooth manner.The labourers informed thattheir families are usually not inthe favour of them migrating tothese big cities but for money,they leave their villages againsttheir wishes.

Claims vs reality While commenting on the

current situation, as the labour-ers have started to migrate backto the cities, Pankaj Brijpuria,District Labour Officer, said“About 3,700 labourers hadreturned to the district duringthe lockdown. The efforts havebeen to provide them ampleemployment opportunities underMGNREGA. Even then, if vil-lagers want to go out for work,we cannot stop them.” This iscontrary to the lived experi-ences narrated by the labourers.

In several areas, work underMGNREGA has started whilemany other areas are still wait-ing for its execution. In moderntimes, a lot of labour work hasbeen replaced by machines andthat has decreased job opportu-nities for labours at local level.Migration, they say, is the onlyoption despite the horrid expe-rience they had to suffer duringthe lockdown last year.

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Indian festivals make for greatphoto opportunities and Holi, thefestival of colours is certainly one

of them. While everyone should betaking extra care during the celebra-tions this year, there will be specialmoments that deserve to be capturedforever in pictures. Whether it is totake a slow-motion video of you inyour favourite outfit or a close-up ofan intricate flower arrangement athome, you will need a good camera tomake the memories last forever.Flipkart shares the following tips andtricks to help you take great-lookingpictures.

EXPLORE THE PORTRAIT MODEPortrait mode blurs the back-

ground and keeps the focus on thesubject. Photos clicked with this modelook classy and professional and willdefinitely up your Instagram game. Ifyou are looking for phones that offerthis option, you can try the POCOM3. It is a budget-friendly option andis loaded with top-notch features like48 MP Ultra HD Mode, PanoramaMode, Google Lens, Pro Colour andmuch more. Its secondary camera akaselfie camera is also equipped withbest-in-class features like AI Beautify,Movie Frame, Time Lapse, and more.

GO FOR A NATURAL LIGHT SET-TING

Photos taken under natural sun-

light are clearer and sharper than oth-ers. In the absence of proper lighting,photos become noisy and unclear.Using the ‘flash’ can sometimes affectphoto quality. iPhone cameras aregreat for taking pictures in naturallight. The iPhone 12 is equippedwith Smart HDR 3 technology thatautomatically adjusts white balanceand contrast in low light. The iPhone11 is another option that offers SmartHDR technology. Both these productshave impeccable night modes forboth front and rear cameras. iPhone12 also comes with the IP 68 water-resistant technology that can with-

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SELFIES AND FRONT CAMERAPREFERENCES

Like all pictures, the quality ofselfies is determined by the sensor res-olution (for detailed pictures) andcamera aperture (the lower, the bet-ter). If you wish to purchase a phonethat is pre-equipped with selfie modes,you can go for the realme X7 Pro 5Gwhich comes with AI Beauty, SuperNightscape, AI Portrait and more, tohelp you take breathtaking selfies. Ifyou often shake the camera whileclicking selfies, go for ViVO X60 Pro.This piece of technology is builtusing a Gimbal module that preventscamera shakes by moving in theopposite direction.

STAY IN FOCUSA good camera should be able to

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HAVE A SOLID POWER BACKUPIf you intend to go on a picture-

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An unbeaten 92 from DevonConway and a four-wick-

et burst from Ish Sodhi ensuredNew Zealand romped to victo-ry by 66 runs in the openingT20 against Bangladesh inHamilton on Sunday.

Conway, whose rollickinginnings included 11 fours andthree sixes, shared in a 105-runstand with debutant Will Young(53), as New Zealand posted animpressive 210 after winningthe toss and electing to bat.

Mohammad Naim madean enterprising start to theBangladesh reply with twoboundaries off the openingover from Tim Southee.

But once the touristsreached 39 in the fifth over theinnings fell apart as first LockieFerguson removed Naim for 27and then Sodhi suffocated themomentum with his four wick-ets in eight deliveries.

At the end of their 20overs Bangladesh were 144 foreight and Sodhi had theimpressive figures of four for28.

New Zealand went intothe match without six frontlineplayers including Kane

Williamson and Trent Boultand stand-in captain TimSouthee said it was pleasing tosee the new blood performwith the bat.

“Devon is just carrying onwhat he’s done at this level,making it look extremely easy,”Southee said with Conway nowhaving four fifties and a 65.42average from 12 T20s.

“It’s great to be able to seeguys come in and perform. Ifyou had five or six guys out afew years ago we would bescratching around but there’s anumber of guys now knocking

on the door.”A disappointed Bangladesh

skipper Mahmadullah pointedthe finger at a mediocre battingdisplay from his side and calledfor a big improvement beforegame two in Napier onTuesday.

“We have let ourselvesdown in our batting depart-ment,” he said.

“Ish (Sodhi) is an experi-enced campaigner, he usesconditions really well, the ballwas gripping a little bit here butwe can’t make the same mis-takes again and again.”

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The Indian pair ofKrishna Prasad Garaga

and Vishnu Vardhan Goudlet slip a strong start to godown to England’s Ben Laneand Sean Vendy in the men’sdoubles finals of the OrleansMasters badminton tour-nament on Sunday.

The unheraldedIndians, the only ones left incontention from the coun-try on the final day, lost 21-19, 14-21, 19-21 in a 56-minute battle with thefourth seeds.

Krishna and Vishnuhad paired for the first timein this event and would bepleased with the results theymanaged.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddyand Chirag Shetty were thefirst Indian pair to win asuper 100 event at

Hyderabad in 2018.The duo also went on to

win Thailand Open 500and reaching the finals ofFrench Open 750 event.

Krishna had earlierpaired with ShlokRamchandran, while for the20-year-old Vishnu, it’s hisfirst International tourna-ment at the senior level.

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India pulled the curtainsdown on its best-ever ISSF

World Cup campaign with twomore Gold medals here onSunday, somewhat making upfor missing out on the chanceto swell its unprecedented tallyof 15 Olympic quotas.

Dominating the event fromstart to end, hosts India toppedthe chart with an incredibletally of 30 medals, half of thembeing Gold.

The country also baggednine Silver and six Bronzemedals in what could be thelast major international outingfor rifle and pistol shootersbefore this summer’s TokyoOlympics.

On the last competitionday, shotgun shooters PrithvirajTondaiman, Lakshay Sheoranand Kynan Chenai endedIndia’s campaign with a Goldmedal in the men’s trap teamevent.

Before that, the trio ofShreyasi Singh, Rajeshwari

Kumari and Manisha Keerclaimed the Gold medal in thewomen’s trap team final afterblanking Kazakhstan 6-0.

Vijayveer Sidhu, GurpreetSingh and Adarsh Singh looked

off colour and settled for theSilver medal in the men’s 25mrapid fire pistol team event.

“I had hoped that thehome range would help me getmy 16th quota... The cookie

crumbled. But that boy(Vijayveer), he is very youngand he shot very well... In thelong run you will see a lot ofgood things from him,”National Rifle Association ofIndia (NRAI) presidentRaninder Singh said after thetournament.

The national shooting

body’s chief was satisfied withthe performance of his athletes.

“Athletes morale is high,but, as I had said earlier this isnot a marker for Olympics. Butit’s important that we havedone well, because it leaves usmorally high, these thingsmatter, psychologically it’simportant for us.

“We have also set an exam-ple for rest of the shootingcommunity so that they don’tshy away from not hostingtournaments because of Covid-19. We are making sure that wewill have regular internation-al engagements that’s why I wasasked to conduct this first,”Raninder said.

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The head of Indian shootingbody Raninder Singh on

Sunday said the team forTokyo Olympics will beannounced on April 3 or 4 andit will include two reserves perevent owing to the threatposed by Covid-19 pandemic.

Indian shooters havesecured an unprecedented 15Olympic quota places for thecountry but, as per the feder-ation’s selection policy, the

final team will be picked tak-ing into the account the scoresin all tournaments and trialsleading up to the Games.

“I plan to call it on the 3rdor 4th (April) but subject toavailability of people becauseI would like to do it in personrather than on zoom,”Raninder said after the end ofthe ISSF World Cup.

“But if we have to do it onzoom, we will do it on zoom.I want to close this now so thatthey can get on with their

preparation and it’s already toolate. Although we will onlyknow the ranking quotas fromthe 6th of June, I can’t wait tillthen,” he added.

“NRAI will also announcetwo reserves per event whenannouncing the Olympic teamin case some contracts thevirus before Olympics or fallsill...”

The federation is also try-ing to keep the Olympic squadin bio bubble till the TokyoGames.

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World No 1 Ashleigh Bartylooked sharp in a straight-

sets victory over JelenaOstapenko on Saturday at theMiami Open, where men’s sec-ond seed Stefanos Tsitsipascruised past lucky loser DamirDzumhur.

Defending champion Bartydefeated the former FrenchOpen champion 6-3, 6-2 to setup a fourth-round clash withformer world number oneVictoria Azarenka.

Azarenka beat 24th seedAngelique Kerber 7-5, 6-2 in abattle of former world numberones.

Tsitsipas — ranked fifth inthe world but seeded secondbehind world No 2 DaniilMedvedev in the Masters 1000event was untroubled in a 6-1,6-4 over lucky loser DamirDzumhur.

The three-time Grand Slamsemi-finalist next faces 28thseed Kei Nishikori, who outlast-ed Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene 7-6(8/6), 5-7, 6-4.

Rain was the only thing that

slowed down men’s fourth seedAndrey Rublev in a 6-1, 6-2 vic-tory over American TennysSandgren.

Rublev, up 6-1, 5-2, wasunable to convert three matchpoints before the players had toleave the court for the second oftwo rain delays, but he wasted notime in closing out the matchwhen play resumed.

Canadian Denis Shapovalovalso had to wait out the delay tofinish off a hard-fought 6-7(5/7), 6-4, 6-4 victory over IlyaIvashka.

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Having got injured while bat-ting in Australia, senior

India pacer Mohammad Shamisays he is back to full fitness andlooking forward to makinganother signification contribu-tion for Punjab Kings in the IPL,beginning April 9.

Shami fractured his wristafter being hit by a short ballfrom Australian pacer PatCummins in the first Test inAdelaide.

For someone who has nothad any fitness issues for a longtime, the 30-year-old said hecould not do much about thatinjury and just focussed on hisrecovery at the NCA, fromwhere he got released on March20 ahead of the IPL.

“I am absolutely fine andread to go. The injury while bat-ting was unfortunate as I havenot had an fitness issues for along time but this was some-thing I couldn’t do anythingabout but it is part of the game,”Shami said.

“I always look at the posi-

tives. The last season was goodfor me and hope I can carry thatform into the IPL. Because of theinjury, I got more time be readyfor a big tournament like theIPL.

Shami had the best season

of his IPL career last year whenhe took 20 wickets at an econ-omy of 8.57 but did not getmuch support from the otherpacers, who leaked runs in thedeath overs, eventually costingthe team a play-off berth in amixed campaign. The team hasroped in Jhye Richardson, RileyMeredith and Moises Henriquesto plug that gap.

“We can’t change the past. Itried my best last season and alsohelp the fellow pacers whenev-er I could. We got good overseasplayers now. It is a strongersquad so we should do betterthis time,” said Shami of theteam which won five games ina row but also lost matches theyshould have won, dashing theirplayoff prospects.

“Your mind has to beabsolutely clear in the shortestformat. As a unit we did goodwork but lost close matches weshould have won. The supportstaff and players were frankwith each other about that.

“Our death bowling seemsbetter compared to last year, sowe should do better.”

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Cristiano Ronaldo threwhis captain’s armband to

the ground in anger afterbeing controversially deniedan injury-time winner asPortugal blew a two-goal leadagainst Serbia in World Cupqualifying on Saturday, whileRomelu Lukaku’s 59thInternational goal salvagedBelgium a 1-1 draw with theCzech Republic.

The Netherlands saw offLatvia 2-0 after their openingGroup G defeat by Turkey,who backed up that perfor-mance with an impressive 3-0 victory over Norway.

Portugal drew 2-2 inBelgrade, despite Ronaldobelieving he had scored thewinner in the third minute ofstoppage time when the ballappeared to cross the goallinebefore Stefan Mitrovic cleared.

But without technology inuse, the goal was not awardedand a fuming Ronaldo wasthen booked for his protests.

At the final whistle hestormed from the pitch,throwing his captain’s arm-band to the ground.

“I always give and will giveeverything for my country,that will never change,”Ronaldo later posted on hisInstagram page.

“But there are difficulttimes to deal with, especial-ly when we feel that anentire nation is beingharmed.”

Portugal coachFernando Santos toldRTP: “We scored a goalthat was not given whenthe ball went in. In amatch of this level,that isn’t possible.”

Portugal hadappeared to be cruis-ing to three pointsin Belgrade when2-0 up throughLiverpool strikerDiogo Jota’s first-half double.

But NemanjaRadonjic’s half-time

introduction proved crucial forSerbia as he set up AleksandarMitrovic and Filip Kostic tonet in the first 15 minutes ofthe second period.

Belgium, the world num-ber one-ranked side, sit behindthe Czech Republic on goaldifference in the early GroupE standings.

Lukas Provod put theCzechs ahead shortly afterhalf-time in Prague with amagnificent long-range strike,his first International goal.

Ten minutes later, Lukakucollected Kevin De Bruyne’spass, turned his marker anddrilled the ball under goal-keeper Tomas Vaclik for his19th goal in his last 16 gamesfor Belgium.

Roberto Martinez’s menalmost took the lead 14 min-utes from time, but afterLukaku teed up De Bruyne,the Manchester City midfield-er smashed a low shot againstthe post.

In the other Group Agame, Luxembourg pulled off

a shock 1-0win over alacklustreRepublicof Irelandin Dublin.

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The Indian cricket teamcompleted one of itsbest four-month spells

across formats, pippingEngland by a mere 7 runs inthe third and final ODI aftersurviving Sam Curran’s deter-mined assault in an excitingcontest for a well-deservedhat-trick of series victories.

For India, near domina-tion of England in all threeformats at home comesstraight after humblingAustralia in their own back-yard earlier this year during agruelling tour.

The 2-1 triumph againstthe reigning world championsin 50-over cricket will certain-ly please Virat Kohli but hewill not at all be amused bythe fact that India nearly letthe game slip away with someunimaginative bowling andpoor fielding at the death.

Rishabh Pant and HardikPandya hit stroke-filled half-centuries but Indian lower-order also caved in meekly tosettle for a below-par 329 ona great batting track.

But Bhuvneshwar Kumar(3/42) and new all-rounder inmaking Shardul Thakur (4/67and 30 runs) got the break-throughs at just the righttimes before Curran (95 notout off 83 balls) almostchanged the result single-handedly.

England finished on 322for 9.

Yorker specialistThangarasu Natarajan bowleda brilliant final over withEngland needing 14 butCurran could manage only sixruns because the Indianbowled mostly in the block-hole.

It was a gettable total ona flat pitch but Kohli’s ploy toattack with predominantly

pace attack paid off for thebetter part of the game beforeCurran launched a swiftcounter-assault.

Bhuvneshwar brought inhis nearly decade long expe-rience with a beautifulinswinger that castled JasonRoy (14).

He then bowled anotherin-cutter which left JonnyBairstow (1) on the wrong sideof the Decision Review System

after the opener was forced toremain inside the crease whenPant came up to the stumps.

Ben Stokes (35, 39 balls)got a reprieve when he lookedall but out with Pandya drop-ping a dolly at mid-off.

And when it looked thatStokes will dispatch Natarajaninto the deep square legstands, he managed to hit thefull toss straight to ShikharDhawan, who did his famous

thigh slap celebration.Jos Buttler (15 off 18 balls)

was then trapped leg before byThakur as England stareddown the barrel at 95 for 4when Liam Livingstone (36)and Dawid Malan (50) joinedforces for a 60-run stand.

Livingstone’s on-drive anda pull off Thakur were classyshots and once he was set, helofted Krunal Pandya for a sixover long-on.

However, Livingstone hada lapse of concentration whiletrying to check his shot off aninnocuous full-toss fromThakur which ended in thesimplest of return catches.

With half of the teamgone for 155, the matchbecame a no-contest whenThakur had Malan pullingstraight to Rohit Sharma atshort mid-wicket.

But then Curran, first

with Adil Rashid and thenwith Mark Wood, nearlychanged the game beforeIndia prevailed.

Earlier, Pant’s sparklingknock of 78 off 62 balls waswell supported by Hardik (64off 44 balls) but India losttheir last four wickets for amere eight runs to finish atleast 30 short of a competitivetotal on another belter.

Pant, during his career-best knock plundered, fourmaximums and five bound-aries, while Hardik had fivefours and four sixes duringtheir 99-run stand for thefifth wicket.

However, Krunal Pandya’s(25 off 34 balls) serious limi-tations while facing expresspace were exposed by Wood(3/34) as India lost themomentum during the final10 overs despite a brilliant 103run opening stand inside 15overs between Rohit Sharma(37; 6x4) and Shikhar Dhawan(67 off 56; 10x4).

It was a day when India’stop order was troubled byEnglish spinners with AdilRashid’s (2/81 in 10 overs)googlies in successive oversremoving Rohit and Dhawan.

Skipper Virat Kohli (7)tried to rock back and play acut shot only to be bowled bya Moeen Ali off-break.

However, Pant started offfrom where he had left in thelast game and ditto for Hardikas they took apart Rashid byreading wrong runs well.

Hardik smashed threesixes off Ali which forced thecaptain to take him out ofattack as 200 came in the 30thover.

Once both were dismissedin quick succession, itrequired a 30 off 21 ballsfrom ‘new all-rounder’Thakur for a total in excess of325 on the board.

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