ˆ ˛ ˚ ˜ · 2/13/2021 · Hindu officer in Muslim-pop-ulated region, Shah said, “I am amazed that you people are now talking about secularism but what kind of secularism is

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Saturday

informed the Lok Sabha thatStatehood will be given “at anappropriate time” to Jammu &Kashmir even as he reiteratedthat the Centre’s commitmentis to bring peace and develop-ment “first” in the UnionTerritory.

Replying to the debate onJ&K Re-organisation(Amendment) Bill, whichincludes the AGMUT cadre inthe Jammu & Kashmir, Shahtold the Lok Sabha that theModi Government’s top prior-ity is nothing but the develop-ment of the region.

“You people are asking mewhat happened after scrap-ping Article 370 in 17 monthswhile forgetting how threefamilies ruled the State for 70years!” said the Home Ministerreiterating that the Statehoodwill be given in “appropriatetime”.

“You people don’t read theBill properly. This is just aboutAGMUT Cadre inclusion inJ&K and Ladakh. This Bill hasnothing to do with Statehood.You people during debate justtalk on Article 370. It is gone.It was only a temporary clausewhich you people kept for 70years and now asking me whenthe Statehood will be givenback. I am telling you theStatehood will be given on anappropriate time. The

Narendra Modi Government iscommitted to bringing peaceand development in the regionfirst,” said Shah.

Slamming the Oppositionfor objecting to the posting ofHindu officer in Muslim-pop-ulated region, Shah said, “I amamazed that you people arenow talking about secularismbut what kind of secularism isthis?”

He was replying to theobjections against the Billraised by Opposition leadersAdhir Ranjan Chaowdhury,Assaduddin Owaisi, ManishTewari and NK

Premachandran. The RajyaSabha has already passed theBill.

Taking a dig at Shah at onepoint, Chowdhury said, “Youclaim all development inJammu & Kashmir has beendone by Narendra Modi. Pleasealso claim Dal Lake was alsocreated by Modi,” saidChowdhury.

The Home Minister alsoslammed some Oppositionmembers for their claim thatthe proposed law negates thehopes of the region gettingback its erstwhile Statehood.This legislation has nothing to

do with Statehood, and Jammu& Kashmir will be accorded thestatus at an appropriate time,Shah reiterated.

He said the region’s UnionTerritory status is temporaryand then took a swipe at theCongress and other parties —which had backed Article 370of the Constitution that gavespecial status to Jammu &Kashmir — saying this was atemporary provision but theycontinued with it for over 70years before the ModiGovernment annulled it inAugust 2019.

Jammu & Kashmir has

been a top priority for the cur-rent Government since it cameto power in 2014, he said.Decentralisation and devolu-tion of power have taken placein the Union Territory follow-ing the revocation of Article370, Shah said, noting thatpanchayat elections saw over 51per cent voting. Panchayatshave been given administrativeand financial powers for localdevelopment, something theylacked earlier, he added.

Now people chosen by themasses will rule J&K, not thoseborn to “kings and queens”, hesaid, attacking dynastic partiesin the region. Even our rivalscould not allege any wrongdo-ing in these polls which wereconducted fairly and peaceful-ly, he said.

Work on two AIIMS in theregion has begun, and theKashmir valley will be con-nected to the railways by 2022,the Union Home Minister said.He also gave assurance to thepeople of Jammu & Kashmirthat “no one will lose theirland”. The Government hassufficient land for develop-ment works, Shah said.

The Bill seeks to replace theOrdinance to merge the J&Kcadre of civil services officerwith the Arunachal Pradesh,Goa, Mizoram Union Territory(AGMUT) cadre. Shah said theGovernment expects thataround 25,000 Governmentjobs will be created in J&K by2022.

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Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on

Saturday said the Union Budget2021-22 has set the pace foraatmanirbhar India and hithard at Congress leader RahulGandhi for his “hum do,humare do” barb saying he isbecoming a “doomsday man”for the country by constantlyinsulting Constitutional func-tionaries and creating fake nar-ratives.

Replying to a debate on theUnion Budget in the LokSabha, the Finance Ministersaid the challenges of the Covidpandemic did not deter theGovernment from undertakingreforms for maintaining long-term goals of the country.

“The reforms undertakenwill lay the path for India tobecome one of those fastest-growing economies in theworld, she said, adding theBudget has set the pace forIndia to become aatmanirbhar”,she said.

The Finance Minister saidthe Budget has laid emphasison increasing capital expendi-ture, raising allocation for

healthcare capacity buildingand development of agricultureinfrastructure, among others,which are expected to have amultiplier effect on the econo-my.

With regards to increasingallocation for rural job guar-antee scheme, Sitharaman saidthe Government will allocatemore funds for MahatmaGandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee(MGNREGA) scheme for2021-22, if needed, as againstBudget estimate of �73,000crore. Hitting out at theOpposition, she said theGovernment under PrimeMinister Narendra Modi“works for common peopleand not for crony capitalists.”

In her sharp riposte toRahul, she said the formerCongress chief was creatingfake narratives but does nothave patience to listen to replies

on allegations levelled againstthe Government.

“We need to recognisethese two tendencies of theCongress party... this makes itclear that their belief in ademocratically electedParliamentary system is com-pletely finished,” Sitharamansaid.

Responding to formerCongress president’s speechon Thursday, during which hespoke about farm laws but noton the Budget, she said, “He isprobably becoming a dooms-day man for India.”

The Minister said that theCongress leader laid the “foun-dation” but did not speak aboutthe Budget during the discus-sion on it.

“I wanted to know fromthe Congress why it took a U-turn on the farm laws but noreply came,” she said.

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India has one of the worstroad safety records in the

world with a total of 1,50,000fatalities and 4,50,000 injuriesin road accidents every year,resulting in social-economiclosses equivalent to a shocking3.14 per cent of GDP everyyear.

As per World Bank reportreleased by Union Ministerfor Road Transport andHighways Nitin Gadkari onSaturday, India has one per centof the world’s vehicles, but itaccounts for 10 per cent of allroad crash victims.

And more alarming is thefact that 70 per cent of the fatal-ities are in the age group of 18to 45 years.

With the National RoadSafety Month underway, theWorld Bank in association withthe SaveLIFE Foundation, anational non-Governmentalorganisation focused on roadsafety, released the compre-hensive report on “TrafficCrash Injuries and Disabilities:The Burden on Indian Society.”

The study, released byGadkari, reveals that morethan 75 per cent of poor house-holds in India reported adecline in their income as aresult of a road traffic crash.The financial loss for the pooramounted to more than sevenmonths’ household income,while it was equivalent to lessthan one month’s householdincome for rich households.

As per the Road AccidentReport, 4,49,002 accidents tookplace in the country during2019, leading to 1,51,113 deathsand 451,361 injuries. In per-

centage terms, the number ofaccidents decreased by 3.86 percent in 2019 as compared to2018, while accident-relateddeaths decreased by 0.20 percent and those injureddecreased by 3.86 per cent.

The World Bank reporthighlights the disproportionateimpact of a road crash onpoor households that pushesthem into a vicious cycle ofpoverty and debt. It sheds lighton the links between roadcrashes, poverty, inequality,and vulnerable road users inIndia.

The study interviewedaround 2,500 respondents,including 1,647 respondentsfrom low-income households,432 from high-income house-holds and 420 truck drivers inthe four selected States (UttarPradesh and Bihar representingLow-Capacity States and TamilNadu and Maharashtra repre-senting High-Capacity States)across urban and rural areas.The qualitative part of thestudy included focus groupdiscussions with road crashsurvivors and their familymembers and in-depth inter-views with adolescents aged 14-18 years.

“We have taken a numberof positive initiatives to reduceroad crash deaths in India.With the support of all stake-holders in our society, I amcommitted to reducing roadcrash deaths by 50 per cent by2025,” Gadkari said in hisaddress during the release ofthe report in the presence ofHartwig Schafer, World BankVice-President for the SouthAsia region.

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Protesting farmer unions onSaturday demanded a high-

level judicial enquiry into theviolence during the tractorrally in Delhi on January 26and the alleged “false” casesslapped on the peasants.

Addressing a press confer-ence at the Singhu border,Samyukta Kisan Morcha lead-ers asked farmers who are get-ting police notices not toappear before the force direct-ly and instead approach thelegal cell constituted by theunions for any assistance.

Kuldeep Singh, a memberof SKM’s legal cell, said that aretired judge of the SupremeCourt or high court shouldprobe the incidents to unravelthe “conspiracy” behind theJanuary 26 violence and thealleged “false cases” againstthe farmers.

According to SKM leaders,16 farmers who had partici-pated in the tractor parade areuntraceable. In the Republic

Day violence, over 500 policepersonnel had been injured,while a protester had died.

On January 26, thousandsof protesting farmers whoreached ITO from theGhazipur border clashed withthe police. Driving tractors,many of them reached the RedFort and hoisted a religious flagthere.

At the press conference,another leader Ravinder Singh

said that 122 farmers had so farbeen arrested by Delhi Police inconnection with 14 of the 44FIRs, adding that SKM willprovide legal and financial aidto all the arrested farmers.

The SKAM leaders claimedthat “false” cases were beingslapped on farmers chargingthem with serious offences likedacoity and attempt to murderto “harass” them.

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The right to protest cannotbe anytime and every-

where”, the Supreme Courtsaid as it dismissed a pleaseeking review of its verdictpassed last year in which it hadheld the occupation of publicways during the anti-CAAprotests at Shaheen Bagh herewas “not acceptable”

The top court said theremay be some spontaneousprotests but in case of pro-longed dissent or protest, therecannot be continued occupa-tion of public place affectingthe rights of others.

A bench of Justices SanjayKishan Kaul, Aniruddha Boseand Kirshna Murari said, “Wehave perused the review peti-tion and record of the civilappeal and are convinced thatthe order of which review hasbeen sought, does not sufferfrom any error apparent war-ranting its reconsideration”.

The bench, which haspassed the order recently, saidit has considered the earlierjudicial pronouncements and

recorded its opinion that “theConstitutional scheme comeswith a right to protest andexpress dissent but with anobligation to have certainduties”.

“The right to protest can-not be anytime and every-where. There may be somespontaneous protests but incase of prolonged dissent orprotest, there cannot be con-tinued occupation of publicplace affecting rights of others”,the bench said, while dismiss-ing a plea by one Shaheen Bagh

resident Kaniz Fatima and oth-ers seeking review of last year’sverdict of October 7.

The top court, which con-sidered the matter in the judges’chambers also rejected theprayer for open court hearingin the matter.

The apex court had onOctober 7, last year held thatpublic spaces cannot be occu-pied indefinitely and demon-strations expressing dissenthave to be in designated placesalone.

It had said occupation ofpublic ways in the anti-CAAprotests at Shaheen Bagh local-ity here was “not acceptable”.

Observing that democracyand dissent “go hand in hand”,the apex court had said con-stitutional scheme comes withthe right to protest and expressdissent, but with an obligationtowards certain duties.

It had said the mode andmanner of dissent against colo-nial rule during India’s freedomstruggle cannot be equatedwith dissent in a self-ruleddemocracy.

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Tha caracal, a medium sizewild cat with long black

tufted ears, which is found insome parts of Rajasthan andGujarat, has finally caught theattention of the Government.Fearing that this species mightnot survive for long, the UnionEnvironment Ministry hasnow brought it into the ambitof the critically endangeredspecies programme for takingup its conservation.

With the inclusion of thisspecies from the cat family,now there are a total 22 wildlifespecies, including snow leop-ard, bustard (including flori-cans), dolphin, hangul, nilgiritahr, marine turtles, dugongs toname a few under recoveryprogramme for critically-endangered species in thecountry.

Though the InternationalUnion for Conservation ofNature (ICUN) has not listedthese species as endangered asthere is a huge population ofcaracal cats present in theAfrican continent. In India,their number has gotten verylow and hence they are con-sidered endangered species.

They are a rare species ofthe cat protected underSchedule I of Wildlife( P rot e c t i on )Act, 1972 foundonly in Gujaratand Rajasthan.

In fact, duringthe 2018 tiger cen-sus conducted bythe National Tiger

Conservation Authority(NTCA) just one caracal wasphotocaptured only in onecamera trap from out of 150camera traps locations for theentire session inRanthambhore in Rajasthan.The location is situated in thenorth western part ofRanthambhore, this area isdominated with sparse vege-tation with thorny scrub, saidan official from the NTCA.

Similarly an incident ofcaracals attacking a man inMirzapur has been docu-mented by Bombay NaturalHistory Society in its book“Wild Animals of India”

published in 2004.The official said that the

National Board for Wildlife(NBWL) in a meeting in

January approved inclusionof the species in the recovery

programme which will ensurethe species to have a separateconservation programme.

“As per the programme, apopulation esti-

mation will be done and astudy on their habitat so thatconservation measures can betaken accordingly,” he said.

The semi-arid region ofKutch is one of only two homesof this cat species in India.According to a research report“Historical and current extentof occurrence of the Caracal inIndia” by DharmendraKhandal and Ishan Dhar fromTiger Watch and GoddillaViswanatha Reddy fromRajasthan Forest Department,the caracals’ presence has beennoted in only three States,with just two possible viablepopulations. These are in themarshy areas of Kutch district,the higher areas closer to Kalo

Dungar with grassy scrub-land; and in Rajasthan’s SawaiMadhopur, Karoli, andDholpur districts. In Gujarat 19sightings were reported, all inKutch district, and nine ofthese were authenticated byphotographs.

According to the earlierreports, there were around 18sub-species of caracals present.But, as per the study byKhandal and Dhar, there areonly 3 sub-species of caracalspresent. Historically, the cara-cal was reported in 13 IndianStates in nine out of 26 bioticprovinces. Since 2001, caracalspresence has been reported inonly three States and four biot-ic provinces, with only two pos-sible viable populations.

“It is possible that the cara-cal might still be present butunderreported in States likeMaharashtra, MadhyaPradesh, Uttar Pradesh, andthe eastern parts of India.Targeted surveys will berequired to further verify andadjust the putative reduction inrange size established by thisstudy.

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New Delhi: The Delhi Police’sCrime Branch on Saturdaytook actor-activist Deep Sidhuand another accused IqbalSingh to Red Fort to recreatethe scene of events that unfold-ed at the historic monument onRepublic Day during thefarmer’s tractor parade, a policeofficer said.

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New Delhi: Three more menhave been arrested in connec-tion with the violence duringthe farmers’ tractor parade innorth Delhi’s Burari area onRepublic day, police said onSaturday. The accused —Sukhmeet Singh (35), GundeepSingh (33) and HarvinderSingh (32) — were identifiedwith the help of CCTV footageand technical probe followingwhich raids were conducted.

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It is hereeby informed to the general public thatI, Anurag Shukla, S/o Vidya Prakash Shukla, R/o-Kamlabad, Badhauli, Bakshi Ka Talab, Lucknowis a registered owner of one four wheeler, XUV500, Vehicle reg.n.- UP 32 EY6066, Engine No.HJD4D24516. An agreement to sale of the abovementioned vehicle was executed by me withSaurabh Singh, S/o Vikram Siongh, R/o- villa no.790, Eldeco, I.I.M. Chauraha, Lucknow which hasbeen cancelled by me on 08-02-2021 due to nonpayment of money. Therefore between 04-07-2020to 25-01-2021 if any challan/case/accident hastaken place from the above vehicle than SaurabhSingh is wholesole responsible for the same.

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It is hereeby informed to the general public thatI, Ankit Kumar S/o Gyan Prakash R/o 5/3 VineetKhand Gomti Nagar, Lucknow was a registeredowner of one Two wheeler, Yamaha FZ16 Vehiclereg.n.- UP 32 EV8225, Engine No.ME121C054A2002266. The above mentionedVehicle has been sold in April 2015 to one VijayYadav. The sale deed regarding above mentionedVehicle has been misplaced.Therefore from2015 till date if any challan/case/accident hastaken place from the above vehicle than VijayYadav is wholesole responsible for the same.

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Lucknow (PNS): Six members of a family were killedwhen their car rammed into a stationary truck in Kannaujdistrict of Uttar Pradesh early on Saturday, police said. “Theaccident took place around 4 am when a car moving onthe Lucknow-Agra Expressway hit a stationary truck,”Inspector General, Kanpur range, Mohit Agarwal said.

There were six passengers in the car and all of themdied in the crash, which took place due to dense fog, hesaid. Police reached the spot immediately after learningabout the incident, Agarwal said. Station House Officer ofTalgram police station Krishna Lal Patel said the six mem-bers of a family from Gudhaulia village under Kakori policestation in Lucknow were going to Balaji temple in

Mehdipur in Dausa district of Rajasthan.“When the vehicle reached Talgram, it hit a stationary

truck. The accident took place as the driver was sleepy anddue to fog rammed the car into a stationary truck,” Patelsaid. He identified the deceased as Gyanendra Yadav (32),Sonu Yadav (31), Pramod Yadav (35), Satyendra Yadav (18),Suraj (15) and Mohit (36). The bodies have been sent forpost-mortem, he added. The state chief minister expressedgrief over the incident. “UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathhas expressed deep grief over the loss of lives in the acci-dent at Talgram in Kannauj on Agra Expressway. The ChiefMinister has directed that the injured should get adequatetreatment,” the Chief Minister’s Office tweeted.

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The Uttar Pradesh RealEstate Regulatory

Authority (RERA) has dereg-istered two Lucknow-basedprojects of Ansal API. Thedecision was taken after thedeveloper was not able toprovide any satisfactoryresponse to the deregistrationnotices before the authority.The two projects, deregis-tered under Section 7 of theRERA Act, are Ansal API,Pocket-2, Sector-P, SushantGolf City, and ‘Ansal API,Pocket-2, Sector-J, SushantGolf City.

RERA had found severefinancial irregularities, diver-sion and siphoning of fundsamounting to Rs 606 crore,which was diverted from theproject for other purposes.RERA had received a largenumber of complaints fromthe allottees of projects, such

as non-possession of units,non-refund of the amountdeposited by the allottees,violation of terms and condi-tions of the salescontract/allotment letter.

“The deregistration orderwas served based upon theinformation collected, siteinspections made, complaintsregistered in RERA and non-compliance of the provision ofRERA Act. While RERA hadalready issued stern warn-ings, the decision was takenafter we gave them ampletime to respond after repeat-ed notices were issued tothem. This step should be seenas a warning to others,” UPRERA chairman RajiveKumar said. The developerhas been asked to upload thecompletion certificate on theUP RERA website for anoth-er project of the developerlocated in Pocket-3, Sector-A,Sushant Golf City.

Lucknow (PNS): UttarPradesh Deputy Chief MinisterDinesh Sharma said thepanchyat elections will be com-pleted before the commence-ment of board exams of HighSchool and Intermediate, con-ducted by the UP Board ofSecondary Education. He saidthe panchyat elections will becompleted by April 24, and the

board examination will com-mence soon after that.

He said there will be noclash between the schedule ofthe panchyat elections andboard examinations. The gov-ernment has alreadyannounced the schedule of theHigh School and Intermediateexams. The deputy CM said thePanchayat department and the

State Election Commission areworking to hold the elections asscheduled. He said that thestate government has alsoapproved the reservation ofseats of chairman of districtpanchyats and block pramukh.The list of reserved seats of vil-lage panchayats and membervillage panchyats are to befinalised by March 15.

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The Uttar Pradesh governmentreacted sharply to the state-

ment of Rahul Gandhi andclaimed that the Congress leadercreated controversy with his“unsavoury” remarks for the stateand unjustified comparisons withKerala.

There has been a sharp reac-tion over the statement which sug-gests that Uttar Pradesh is marredby caste issues while in Kerala, thepolicies are well-directed and inplace. “In Uttar Pradesh, caste war,complete breakdown betweencommunities, no conversationsbetween communities, muchmore complex negotiations, muchharder to get things done, manymore fights...”, the Congress MPfrom Wayanad was seen com-menting in a video talk.

A spokesman of the UP gov-ernment said these views comingfrom a person whose family hailedfrom UP and his own politicalcareer also started from this place,anguished the natives of UttarPradesh. Cabinet minister andspokesperson of the state govern-ment Sidharth Nath Singh said itwas more shocking than any-thing else. “Rahul Gandhi must bea frustrated person after havingbeen rejected by the electorate ofAmethi, the constituency he rep-resented in the Lok Sabha for fourterms before losing it to SmritiIrani in 2019,” he said.

Singh said that the doubletalks have always been the main-stay of the Congress and Rahul isno exception. “Still, the way he hasdenounced the entire state andpainted a wrong picture of UP, its23 crore people are never going toforgive him,” he said, adding:“The recent development of UttarPradesh has put the entire oppo-sition in a fix, and the Congress isno exception.”

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath isleaving no stone unturned in

recognising and encouraging theimmense potential and talent of thestate. In this regard, the CM honouredthe five meritorious recipients of the‘Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya BalPuraskar 2021’ from the state onSaturday.

He acknowledged the achieve-ment of the five awardees as the hall-mark of UP’s brimming talent, poten-tial and uniqueness. He applaudedtheir accomplishment by honouringthem with a cash prize of Rs 51,000each, along with tablets and otherincentives. The honour bestowed uponall the recipients by the CM doubledtheir enthusiasm and filled their par-ents with pride.

Stating the examples of Vyom

Ahuja of Lucknow, Kunwar DivyanshSingh of Barabanki, Chirag Bhansali ofGautam Buddh Nagar, MohammadShadab of Aligarh and Mohammed ofPrayagraj, the CM urged others toderive inspiration from the achieve-ments of these children who, not onlyworked towards identifying their tal-ent but also with constant hard workdriven by positive intentions, achievedsuccessful results, making the entirestate and nation proud.

The CM also mentioned thatunder the guidance of PM NarendraModi, the process of selecting the win-ners of national awards has becomeextremely transparent and be it thePadma awards or National ChildAward, the distribution is solely basedon merit. While interacting with theguardians and children at the ceremo-ny, the CM emphasised on the impor-

tance of self-analysis and said everychild has something unique and spe-cial in them, and they just need to iden-tify their potential and work towardsrefining it.

The CM asked the children to fol-low the path of ‘Nishkam Karma’(selfless action), as stated in BhagavadGita, and urged the parents to moti-vate and encourage their children tofollow their dreams and passion withutmost dedication and an optimisticapproach, and always make completeuse of every chance they get, as anyopportunity might lead to great suc-cess. The CM’s gesture of honouringthe children filled them with excite-ment and joy. Yogi interacted with allthe awardees and encouraged all ofthem to share their inspirational tales.The children apprised the CM of theirhard work and future plans.

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Agroup of youths bludgeonedtheir rival to death in

Ashiyana on the suspicion ofstealing the pigs reared by them.Tension gripped the locality assupporters and kin of the victimstarted planning a revenge.While the police said that thevictim, who was also in the samebusiness, was killed while steal-ing the pigs, victim’s friend con-tested the claim and said that theattack was unprovoked. Thevictim was identified as MonuRawat of Usri village.

His friend Shiva Rawat ofUsri said that he, along withMonu and Sonu Rawat, hadgone to Bijnore to purchasefeed for pigs but had to returnempty-handed as the rate washigh. “While returning, we tookAurangabad Jageer road to reachAshiyana. On the way, SureshRawat, his brother MukeshRawat and their aide ShaniRawat surrounded us andattacked us. They were carryinglong sticks and trapping strings.Due to the sudden attack, wecould not defend ourselves andfell down. Sonu and I got scaredand fled the scene as the attack-ers turned their attention onMonu. I saw Suresh and his aidesthrashing Monu even though he

had sustained head injuries andwas crying for help. Theyattacked us in the same manneras they trap pigs roaming in thearea,” Shiva said. He said he andSonu reached home andinformed Monu’s family.“Residents of Aurangabad Jageervillage rushed Monu to LokBandhu Hospital. I reached thehospital and found Monu dead,”he said. A spokesman said thatthe police arrested two of theattackers — Suresh and hisbrother Mukesh..

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A 33-year-old e-rickshawdriver ended his life at his housein Talkatora on Saturday morn-ing. The deceased was identifiedas Shailendra Kumar Nigam ofRajajipuram (sector-F) inTalkatora. Reports said a womanrelative of Shailendra had dieda few days ago and a ‘terhavi’function was scheduled at herhouse on Campwell road. OnFriday, Shailendra’s motherManju and his younger brotherShailesh left the house to attendthe function while Shailendrastayed back. When Shailesh andhis mother Manju returned onSaturday, they found the doorslocked from inside whileShailendra was not responding

to repeated calls. Shaileshentered the house after scalingthe boundary wall and wasshocked to see Shailendra hang-ing from the ceiling with asaree tied around his neck. Heinformed the police and a teamreached the scene. The policesent the body for autopsy andstarted further investigation.

Meanwhile, four women,allegedly running a gang ofpick-pocketing, were nabbedby a police team in Naka onSaturday. Those arrested wereidentified as Sandhya of Kanpur,Payal, Soni and Sheshkala (all ofNagpur). The police recovereda purse, an Aadhaar card and Rs750 in cash. The arrest cameafter the police started investi-gation into a case in which fourwomen had stolen the purse ofa woman, identified as Sita Deviof Banthra on Friday. Sita, alongwith her husband Sonu Singh,was going to Charbagh by atempo for some work. Fourother women were also travel-ing by the tempo. When Sita gotdown from the tempo, shefound her purse missing. Sonulodged a case and a police teamscanned the CCTV footage, inwhich the accused women wereseen alighting from the tempo.The police later tracked themand they were nabbed.

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The Covid pandemic has failed to dampen theValentine fervour in the city. Bakeries, hotels and

florists said that the sales have been brisk, primar-ily for the reason that this is an occasion in whichno large gatherings are required and Covid proto-cols can be easily followed.

Jasjt Singh, proprietor of a bakery, said the salesof cakes have been brisk. “We are getting severalorders on a daily basis. The sales are also good giventhat Valentine’s Day is coinciding with the time whenthe Covid cases have largely decreased in the statecapital,” he pointed out.

The new items include piñata cakes, which havebecome a rage on social media. “These are heart-shaped cakes with a hard chocolate shell which needsto be broken with a hammer and then you find thecake inside. We provide the hammer as well. Thisis the latest trend across the globe. Besides orders,many are selling off the shelf too,” Singh said.

Among the other products are regular items butwith a different Valentine decoration. There are cup-cakes and cookies in radiant colours.

“The Covid pandemic does not appear to beaffecting the celebrations, because it is all about a fewpeople getting together, be it families or couples,” headded.

Yashi Mishra, spokesperson of a popular hotel,said they have always been getting a full house onthe occasion of Valentine’s Day and this year may beno different. “We have also opened our orientalrestaurant which was closed since lockdown, so thatthe there is ample room for social distancing,” shesaid. She also said that the coronavirus pandemic hasnot impacted the Valentine’s Day celebrationsbecause people do not come out in crowds on thisoccasion.

“Our oriental cuisine itself is a big attraction. Wealso have several attractive buffet packages. We haveseveral desserts in strawberries, chocolates and darkchocolates. We have all kinds of Valentine cakes andeven the break-up cakes,” she said.

Jameel Shamsi, a florist, said that the sales offlowers were brisk one the Valentine’s Day eve. “Wehad good sales of flowers on Saturday and we areexpecting the same on Sunday too. Red roses are sell-ing like hot cakes. We also have orders for marriagesand though there is no ‘lagan’ for weddings tomor-row, people have organised weddings and we havereceived orders for decoration of wedding venues,”he pointed out. “We are getting more orders frommarried couples in comparison to the young cou-ples,” he said, adding that the sales of fresh flowershave improved since January.

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Lucknow (PNS): The Nawab Wajid Ali ShahZoological Garden on Saturday sent four animals tothe Shaheed Ashfaqullah Khan Zoo, which will soonbe inaugurated in Gorakhpur.

Lucknow zoo director RK Singh said 7-year-oldtigress Mailani, 7-year-old leopardess Nanda and apair of porcupines have been sent to the Gorakhpurzoo. “The tigress and leopardess are being taken fromour zoo because the males are probably being pro-cured from other zoos,” he said.

Meanwhile, the condition of the female hip-popotamus continues to be the same as it has beenfor the last few days. She has not delivered despitethe fact that her amniotic sac had broken quite a fewdays ago. “We are still consulting doctors andexperts,” Singh said.

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Lucknow (PNS): The 109thFoundation Day of theGeneral Surgery Department,KGMU, was organised at theAtal Bihari ConventionCentre on Saturday. The chiefguest on the occasion wasKGMU Vice-Chancellor DrBipin Puri , who said that thedepartment played an impor-tant role in the Covid pandem-ic and has a very old and glo-rious history. A book writtenby Prof TC Goel Adhyant wasalso released on the occasion.The VC also felicitated thedoctors and the employees.

The present department ofGeneral Surgery is one of theoldest. It was established in1905. Col W Selby (1915-20)was the first head of thedepartment. The concept of a

composite department withits own building consisting ofoperation theatres with pre-and post-operative wards,research and project wards,clinical laboratories, servicesfor sterilisation, dressing mate-rial preparation, transfusion,stores, auditorium and officeswas developed by Prof SCMishra. This bore fruits whenthe New Surgical Block (NSB),which is currently the abode ofthe department, was inaugu-rated and dedicated for serviceon January 16, 1955 by thethen Chief Minister Chandra

Bhan Gupta. Meanwhile, tocelebrate International Oraland Maxillofacial Surgeons’Day, KGMU organised sever-al programmes on Saturday.

A senior faculty memberof the department said that apanel discussion with doctorsof primary health centres andcommunity health centres washeld to understand their dif-ficulties and offer them knowl-edge about the enhancementof opportunities in the depart-ment. A guest lecture wasorganised in which Dr RahulJayaram from the United

Kingdom spoke about the cur-rent trends in head and neckreconstruction. Later,Vyomesh Bhatt from the UK

guided the students on furtherhigher education options inUK after completing their MDhere.

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Antigen testing underfocused sampling in

Lucknow has shown no positivecases so far, according to districtimmunisation officer MKSingh. Antigen and RT-PCRtests are being conducted undertargeted sampling in the statecapital. “No sample has testedpositive in the antigen testswhile the reports of RT-PCRtests are still awaited,” he sad,adding that it is a clear indica-tion that the cases havedecreased in the district.

The focused sampling wasstarted on February 10 and itwill continue till February 23.The idea is to get an estimate ofthe ground reality in terms ofthe coronavirus infection. TheHealth department teams hadstarted the sampling onFebruary 10 for hotel andrestaurant employees. OnFebruary 11, the teams coveredroadside vendors and vegetableand fruit vendors in the mainmarkets.

Rickshaw-pullers and e-rickshaw and tempo driverswere covered on February 12while roadways and bus standson February 13. Sweet shopsand wholesale milk vendorswill be covered on February 14,old age homes, jails, nari nike-tans and child protection homeson February 15, closed campus-es such as the jails on February16, government & private officeson February 17, urban slums onFebruary 18, 19 & 20, grocery

shops, barbers & parlours onFebruary 21, clerical, receptionstaff, peons, bus drivers ofschools on February 22 andreligious places on February 23.

More than 8,000 tests arebeing carried out on a dailybasis, which include targetedsampling. In the Covid immu-nisation carried out on Friday,Lucknow saw vaccination of 54per cent of the frontline work-ers. Other districts which per-formed well includedMaharajganj (87.29 per cent),Shrawasti (81.62 per cent),Hathras (83.51 per cent),Mainpuri (82.46 per cent) andSiddharthnagar (80.42 per cent).Among the districts where theturnout of frontline workers wasless included Ballia (27.47 percent), Kanpur (15.34 per cent),Agra (32.84 per cent),Ghaziabad (32.10 per cent) andAligarh (34.38 per cent).

Meanwhile, KGMUspokesperson Dr Sudhir Singhsaid that the OPD facilities arebeing increased in a phased

manner. “Very soon, 100patients will be seen in thesuperspeciality departments and200 in other departments.Under the directions of thestate government, the medicaluniversity premises will bedivided into green and redzones, and those patients whohave fever and cough will alsohave to have Covid test reports.Green zone will have only thosewith no Covid symptoms butthey may also have to get them-selves tested for coronavirusinfection, if required,” he said

Meanwhile, OrganisedMedicine Academic Guild(OMAG) secretary IshwarGilada said they will hold ameeting of all the stakeholderson the evolving situation onCovid-19 vaccination and rec-ommendations will be forward-ed to Central government, espe-cially Niti Aayog and UnionMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare.

“Considering the 70% effi-cacy rate of the vaccines cur-

rently being used in immunisa-tion programmes, we need tovaccinate at least 80% of vulner-able as well as eligible popula-tion within less than a year togain a successful herd immuni-ty as the efficacy of the vaccineis not likely to last beyond oneyear. However, despite the bestpossible efforts with extra-ordi-nary preparations and free-of-cost Covid vaccines to the pri-ority population, the pace andcoverage of the vaccinationprocess is yet to reach a desir-able mark in the country. If onehas to equate between cost onvaccine versus speed of vaccina-tion, the latter gets priority.With the current pace of vacci-nation, it may take 4-5 years tocomplete one round. The entirepopulation of India isn’t expect-ing free vaccines, but there areno two opinions that thosebelow the poverty line should begiven vaccines free of cost.Frontliners just constitute 10%of the most vulnerable popula-tion. In one month, we havecovered 50% of healthcareworkers in the country andtheir second dose is yet to begiven, so in totality it’s only 25%achievement,” he explained.

Meanwhile, 16 people test-ed positive for coronavirus inthe city on Saturday while 26patients recovered. In the state,93 persons tested positive,included 15 in Kanpur, six eachin Ghaziabad and GautamBuddh Nagar, and four inVaranasi, pushing the total tallyto 6,02,089.

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Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav has accused

the BJP of subverting thedemocracy in the countrythrough its divisive policies. Hesaid that the freedom move-ment had given huge strengthto the Indian democracy andthat strength is being system-ically destroyed by the BJPregime.

The Samajwadi Party onSaturday celebrated the birthanniversary of Sarojini Naidu,the first Governor of UttarPradesh. Akhilesh Yadav gar-landed the portrait of SarojiniNaidu on the occasion.

Addressing the meeting,Yadav alleged that theNarendra Modi governmenthad made tall promises withthe farmers and other sectionsof society, but none were ful-

filled. He said his party is fullycommitted to fighting the bat-tle of the farmers against thethree farm laws.

“Prime Minister NarendraModi had promised to take theIndian economy to USD 5 tril-lion, but there was no mentionof this issue in the joint addressto both the houses of parlia-ment,” Yadav said.

He also attacked the UPgovernment over “corruption”and “lack of development”,

citing a ruling party MLA’sstatement. “On the one hand,metres are are being installedat the residence of the powerconsumers without electricityand on the other, a BJP MLAis saying that policemen arerunning spurious liquor facto-ries,” Yadav alleged.

He said that the poor vil-lagers are running from pillarto post with huge electricitybills who do not even have anelectricity connection. Healleged that there is corruptionand lack of development in thestate. The former UP chiefminister referred to the state-ment of BJP MLA SurendraSingh who had alleged thatillicit liquor trade was going onin Revati area of Ballia underthe police patronage. He hadalso complained about tosenior police officials, but to noavail.

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Actor Randeep Hooda metChief Minister Yogi

Adityanath on Saturday andcommended the tangible resultsof maintaining a healthy riverecosystem by conservation ofGangetic dolphins in the state.

Hooda, who is also a UNambassador for dolphins species,had a detailed conversation withthe chief minister on numerousawareness programmes that can

be adopted to conserve wildlifein a rich land of Uttar Pradesh.Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath,talking about the improvementand enumerating aquatic life inthe Ganga river, said,“Committed towards the cleanand vibrant Ganga, we havetaken innumerable efforts tosafeguard the wildlife. Theseefforts have resulted in some ofthe endangered and prominentspecies of the animals show aremarkable improvement, and

we will consistently work tomaintain a healthy aquaticecosystem.” Applauding the var-ious initiatives of the state gov-ernment on several measurestaken in consideration to con-serve and promote wildlife ani-mals, Hooda expressed a desireto contribute to raising awarenessof the conservation of dolphins.The cleaning of river Gangathrough ‘Namami Gange’ hasgiven a good impetus to the con-servation and flourishment of

Gangetic dolphins that weredeclared national aquatic animalsby Prime Minister NarendraModi.

Filmmaker Rahul Mittra,actress Urvashi Rautela anddirector Neeraj Pathak alsocalled on the chief minister athis official residence inLucknow on Saturday. The teamis in town for the shoot of JioStudios’ web series ‘InspectorAvinash’, based on the successstories of the UP STF.

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In a big relief for the people of the state,the UP government has decided to with-

draw all complaints which were registeredagainst them for flouting Covid-19 proto-cols during the lockdown. The complaintswere registered against more than 2.5 lakhpeople in various districts. The complaintswere registered under Section 188 of theIPC. Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi toldofficials that if the complaints are not of seri-ous nature, they should be withdrawn.

The decision will also serve as a warn-ing for the people to abide by the directionsof the government and take precautionsduring such situations in the future.

In a similar decision last month, thegovernment had also issued directions forwithdrawal of complaints registered againsttraders, farmers and others for breakingCovid-19 protocols. UP has also become thefirst state in the country to take back com-plaints registered during lockdown. Owingto the successful handling of Covid-19 pan-demic, the situation is getting back to nor-mal and the recovery rate of UP hastouched 98 per cent, which is higher than

that of many states. The pandemic has beeneffectively handled in the state through reg-ular sanitisation drives, Covid-19 protocols,contract tracing and testing.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has issued instructions to con-duct paddy purchase work under MSP. Hesaid all permissible facilities should be madeavailable to farmers at the paddy purchas-ing centres. Payment of farmers’ produceshould be ensured within 72 hours. Thechief minister was reviewing the works ofvarious departments at a high-level meet-ing at his official residence here on Saturday.

He said that the state government iscommitted to women empowerment. Forthis purpose, various programmes arebeing conducted in the state. He also direct-ed the officials to ensure effective imple-mentation of schemes related to welfare ofwomen.

The chief minister said that the stategovernment is committed to providing allpossible help to the victims of Uttarakhandtragedy. He directed the officials to help andprovide relief to the victims of theUttarakhand disaster while maintainingcommunication.

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Sugar mills in Uttar Pradeshhave produced 63 lakh MT

of sugar by crushing 611 lakhtonnes of sugarcane till date.The UP Sugar Mil lsAssociation (UPSMA), in astatement here on Saturday,said that the sugar season2020-2021 started around late(October, 2020) and 120 sugarmills, including private, co-operative and PSU, are oper-ating. By mid-November lastyear, almost all sugar millsstarted cane crushing andsugar production, as onFebruary 12, has been 63lakh tonnes, achieved bycrushing 611 lakh MT of sug-arcane. During the same peri-od last season, 584 lakh tonne

cane was crushed and 64 lakhtonne of sugar was produced.An average recovery of 10.29per cent has been recorded forthe current season as com-pared to 10.96 per cent dur-ing the same period last season.

The highlight of sugarseason 2020-2021 has beenthat sugar recovery this seasonhas been low with a result thatcost of production of sugarstands substantially increased.Industry experts estimate thatoverall the season could endwith a 0.50 per cent lowerrecovery as compared to thelast season.

UPSMA said on the mar-ket front, the demand forsugar has been sluggish. Themarriage season demand has

not taken off and with no fes-tivals close by, the purchase ofsugar has been down. Sugarcurrently is selling at less thanRs 3,150 per quintal ex-facto-ry, making a further dent inthe cane price paying ability ofthe sugar mills. Market ratesof sugar are also not helped bythe fact that sugar from otherstates is available at lowerthan MSP, in key markets.

UP sugar millers havebrought this to the knowledgeof the state and Central gov-ernments, seeking their sup-port. The industr y hasrequested that the minimumsale price of sugar beincreased so that the mills areable to meet their obligationstowards the sugarcane farmers.

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Lucknow (PNS): Just a day before Valentine’sDay, a couple were killed for getting marriedin Sant Kabir Nagar. Efforts were also madeto burn their bodies but some localsinformed police after which the bodies weresent for autopsy.

Reports said that some persons wereperforming the last rites of a youth and a girlon the banks of Kuhano river in Baridih areaof Mahuli in Sant Kabir Nagar on Saturdaymorning. However, the local police reachedthere after getting information and those per-forming the last rites fled the scene. Seniorofficers also reached the spot over reportsof ‘honour killing’.

With the help of locals, the victims wereidentified as Sagar and Kanchan, both ofMudhadih locality of Dhankata in Sant KabirNagar. SHO Ravindra Kumar Gautamclaimed that both Sagar and Kanchan were

having an affair for a long time but their fam-ilies were against it. On Friday evening,Kanchan reached Sagar’s residence andboth went to a temple where they got mar-ried. Locals claimed that as the families ofthe two learnt of the wedding, they reachedthere took both to a secluded place whereboth were battered to death by them.

Some residents also claimed that the twoconsumed poison to end their lives. Both thefamilies later took the bodies and tried toperform the last rites. The cops claimed bythe time they reached the spot, the bodieswere almost 90 per cent burnt. They some-how doused the fire and sent the bodies forautopsy. The police said that the investiga-tion also hinted at the role of the local prad-han apart from the family members. A casewas registered in this connection while fur-ther investigations were underway.

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Lucknow (PNS): The two-month-long drive called‘Varasat’, launched by ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onDecember 15 last year, is com-ing to an end with more than6.75 lakh matters related toland having been settled dur-ing this period. The drive waslaunched with a promise of‘Aapki zameen, aapka adhikar,sabko mile apna uttaradhikar’.It was aimed at resolving thelong-pending land disputes,especially in rural areas.

According to an officialcommuniqué released onSaturday, out of a total of7,11,426 complaints received sofar, 6,75,222 related to ‘Varasat’have been disposed of duringthe special drive, the first of itskind in Uttar Pradesh. Thecases were pending for yearsand all were disposed of by offi-cials of the revenue departmentunder the special campaignwithin two months. It will alsoput a check on land mafia whogenerally target disputed lands

in rural areas.About 10,000 matters are

being heard in various revenuecourts while remaining onesare being attended to, RevenueSecretary Sanjay Goyal said.

Azamgarh, Prayagraj,Hardoi, Jaunpur and Ghazipurhave been among the districtsin Uttar Pradesh where mostcases have been disposed of,followed by Ambedkarnagar,Ayodhya, Sultanpur Gonda,Ballia, Gorakhpur, Kaushambi,Pratapgarh, Unnao, LakhimpurKheri and Sitapur.

The ‘Varasat’ campaignhas been conducted in fivestages with as many as 24,000lekhpals and 2700 revenueinspectors having beendeployed to visit the villagesand gather information anddispose of the complaints,”according to an officialspokesman.

Besides, the government isalso giving the facility to peo-ple to apply from CustomerService Centres (CHCs).

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The weavers of Nagepur,Adarsh Sansad village of

Prime Minister Narendra Modiand other adjoining villages ofMirza Murad area held a meet-ing at Lok Samiti Ashram onSaturday and raised theirdemands for waiver of therevised electricity bills andpower supply at flat rate.

The weavers of Benipur,Usrapatti, Nevajakapura,Mehandiganj, Harsos, Kallipur,Saida, Ganespur, Kundaliyaand others were also present inthe meeting. They also stageda protest there in support oftheir demand.

They hailed the decision ofChief Minister Yogi Adityanathto withhold the recovery ofpower dues for the coron-avirus pandemic period fromthe weavers and said that thegovernment step gave them alot of relief because as per theold arrangement implementedin 2006, they had to pay Rs 70-75 per power loom per monthbut under the new tariff systemin force for the last manymonths, they were receivingpower bills which were sever-al times more than the old

ones.According to them, during

coronavirus pandemic period,in absence of work, they arealready facing starvation-likesituation and many of them arenot in position to use theirpower looms.

They urged the prime min-ister and the chief minister towaive their power bills tillMarch this year and providethem some assistance so thatthey could survive and over-

come the impact of the pan-demic.

Lok Samiti convenerNandlal Master said that sincelong, the weavers in Varanasiwere keeping their powerlooms closed demanding flatpower tariffs and on February3 last, on the instructions of thechief minister, Additional ChiefSecretary Navneet Sehgal hadannounced to stop recovery ofthe revised power bills.

According to him, weaving

is an important part of the richBanarasi culture and heritageand about 1.5 lakh people areengaged in weaving profes-sion and they are facing atough time during the pandem-ic. Prominent among thosewho took part in the protestincluded Etram Ali, Ramesh,Vinod, Krishnakant Gupta,Turab Ali, Ram Atar, RinkuMaurya, Ram Bilas, Vijay,Sohrab Ali, Tribhuvan, Toofaniand Jawahir.

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With the aim to corner theUP government particu-

larly on the issues related towomen and girls, theSamajwadi Party organised the‘Samajwadi Mahila Ghera’ onthe birth anniversary of free-dom fighter and first Governorof UP, Sarojini Naidu, onSaturday.

The birth anniversarySarojini Naidu is observed asRashtriya Mahila Diwas onFebruary 13.

On the directive of SPnational president AkhileshYadav, the Varanasi unit of theparty organised ‘SamajwadiMahila Ghera’ at ShastriGhat.

The SP leaders alleged thatthe women were in the worstever situation in the YogiAdityanath rule as crimeagainst women and girls hadincreased sharply in the state.They alleged that female teach-ers, and Asha and Anganwadiworkers were suffering due toirregularities in salary while thepoor dependent women werefacing the problem of pension.

The SP leaders alleged that

the negligence of women ineducation and politics was acause of concern. They addedthat the Akhilesh Yadav gov-ernment had set up womenhelpline number 181 to takewomen to hospital in case ofdelivery and women power

line number 1090 to checkcrime against women but theseservices were not functioningat present.

They said the governmentshould pay serious attention tothe problems being faced bywomen and girls.

Those who participated inthe Mahila Ghera included SPdistrict president Sujit Yadav,city president Vishnu Sharma,party women’s wing districtchief Rekha Pal, city presidentPuja Yadav and Arti Yadav,Kiran Jaiswal and Soni Seth.

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The students’ union elec-tion of Mahatma Gandhi

Kashi Vidyapith (MGKVP)will be held on February 25 andthe results will be announcedthe same day.

A notification regardingthe students’ union election hasbeen issued and the pollprocess will begin with onlinenomination on February 16,election officer Prof KS Jaiswalinformed newsmen.

He said the candidateswere required to get the regis-tration for the nominationonline from 6 am to 6 pm.

The candidates arerequired to furnish the originaldocuments such as receipt ofadmission fee, identity cardetc. before the competentauthority on February 17between 9 am and 1 pm, headded.

Approximately 8,300 stu-dents, including girls, will exer-cise their franchise to elect thestudents’ union president, vicepresident, general secretary,library secretary and repre-sentatives of faculties.

The candidates will have tofurnish certificate of their 75per cent attendance in the classto contest the election, ProfJaiswal informed.

The list of eligible and

non-eligible candidates will bepublished on February 17 at 2pm and the candidates canwithdraw their nominationson February 18 between 10 amand 1 pm, Prof Jaiswal dis-closed, adding that the final listof candidates will be publishedthe same day at 4 pm on theuniversity website.

The polling will be held onFebruary 25 between 9 amand 2 pm and the counting willbe taken up at 3 pm, and theresults will be declared thesame day, he added.

With the issuance of pollnotification, the model code ofconduct has come into effect.As per the model code of con-duct, no candidate can useprinted materials for election-eering.

The candidates can holdpublic meetings and take outprocessions with the conditionthat they will not affect theclasses.

A candidate can hold pub-lic meeting and take out pro-cession during electioneeringonly once and they can spenda maximum of Rs 5,000 for theelectioneering, the electionofficer informed.

It may be mentioned herethat the students’ leaders of theuniversity had on Friday creat-ed a ruckus and also disruptedthe on-going centenary year

celebrations for some timeafter the election officer toldthem that the district adminis-tration had suggested post-ponement of the students’union election till the panchay-at polls due to non-availabili-ty of police personnel.

The district administra-tion had also suggested that theuniversity administration couldgo ahead with the electionwithout the police personnelfor security at their own risk.But after the demonstration bythe students’ leaders, the dis-trict administration gave thegreen signal to the universityfor conducting the students’union election and thereafter,the university administrationissued the notification andannounced the schedule for thestudents’ union election.

MGKVP is the first univer-sity in the district that hasannounced the schedule for thestudents’ union election.

Meanwhile, head ofMGKVP education depart-ment, Dr Shailendra KumarVerma, said the candidateswho had passed entranceexamination and NEET/JRFwere required to submit theirresearch proposals (hard copyand soft copy) at the depart-ment by March 1 to come forthe admission to the PhDcourse.

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The Mindfulness webinar was organ-ised by Delhi Public School,

Varanasi on Saturday for sharing somecorrect mindfulness practices. Chieflearner and director of DPS at Varanasi,Nashik and Lava Nagpur, SiddharthRajgarhia, graced the one-hour tete-a-tete and spread awareness. The enthu-siastic parents and young learnersattended the webinar and were bene-fitted from some mindfulness practices.

The session commenced with abeautiful rendition and charged theaudience with a calm and serene mind.

“Maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of one’s thoughts,feelings, bodily sensations, and sur-rounding environment is all aboutmindfulness. It is the practice of pur-posely focusing attention on the presentmoment and accepting it withoutjudgement. It is a way to find one’s calmamongst the madness of modern life,”Rajgarhia said.

The session mainly focused on theimportance of being alert to one’sbreath. To feel and realise for being aliveis a must. The significance of not beingjudgmental was another highlight of thesession. The interactive webinar provid-ed some useful and easy tips to followto preserve mental peace. The tricksand techniques shared are well-knownto many yet are not been taken intoconsideration. Therefore, it was an eye-opening session for the attendees.

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Atwelve-day faculty developmentprogramme (FDP) on ‘Making

Self-Sufficient Entrepreneurs &Innovators’ began virtually at IndianInstitute of Information Technology,Allahabad on Saturday.

IIIT-A Director Prof PNagabhushan, inaugurated the FDP onthe Jhalwa campus. He gave a detailedinsight into the entrepreneurial journeythat needs to be implemented in theteaching-learning process for the whole-some development of the students.

He motivated the students to honeand showcase their entrepreneurialadroitness at an impressionable agewhen their high energies can be chan-

nelised to build a society reflectinggreater aspirations to achieve newerheights in the upcoming times.

Prof SP Mishra, observer,Department of Science and Technology,on the occasion laid a strong founda-tion by enrapturing the audience andsoliciting their attention on the essenceof entrepreneurship and the researchthat was conducted during the periodof 1960s on the topic of MakingSelf-Sufficient Entrepreneurs &Innovators.

He congratulated the well-organ-ised endeavours of the institute and thedirector’s vision to keep the institutededicated to serving and addressing thedire need for entrepreneurship in thepresent state of India.

Dr Vijayshri Tiwari, officiatingregistrar of IIIT-A, spoke on the rippleeffects of training young talents fromthe very beginning of education to helpin nation-building.

Dr Shailendra Kumar, head of theDepartment of Management Studies,IIIT-A, discussed the variability in therealm of entrepreneurship due to theCovid situation and how it had impact-ed the normal businesses which cameup with innovative ideas to deal with thesudden and sustaining changes in thebusiness environment.

Dr Pragya Singh, coordinator of theprogramme, said that the FDP was cur-rently hosting 50 participants from 13states across the country working in dif-ferent capacities.

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In the Magh Mela underwayin Prayagraj, where the

Ganga of the faith is flowing,awareness campaigns are alsogoing on. Devotees coming tothe Magh Mela are being madeaware of the coronavirus pan-demic.

In this series, an awarenessprogramme is being organ-ised by the Regional PublicRelations Bureau Prayagrajlocated in Sector 2 sinceJanuary 14.

A Chetna Rath (awarenesschariot) is also being run by theorganisation to keep peoplealert from coronavirus infec-tion in Magh Mela Area.People are also being asked tofollow the Covid protocol at thefair.

In the camp which startedfrom January 14, people arebeing informed through cultur-al programmes every day thatvaccination is completely safeand it is necessary to register toget its benefit on a prioritybasis.

In the 45-day Covid aware-ness is being spread in all sec-tors of the Mela Area by organ-ising various programmes in

collaboration with Prayagraj,Azamgarh, Jhansi Varanasi,Gorakhpur and Lucknowheadquarters.

Through awareness cam-paigns, the devotees from far-flung areas are being told thatthe Covid vaccine prepared inIndia is completely safe andthat the rumours being spreadabout the vaccination cam-paign are totally wrong. Thedevotees are being asked to

beware of those giving mislead-ing information about it.

Meanwhile, One more per-son tested positive for coron-avirus infection in the district,taking the tally of confirmedcases to 21,959 on Saturdayevening.

With no COVID-19 deathbeing reported in the last 24hours, the death toll remains at377.

As many as four COVID-

19 patients have been cured,one of them in home isolationand three in hospitals. So far,21,537 COVID-19 patientshave recovered in the district -18,566 in home isolation and2,971 in Covid hospital.

As present 45 active casesare under treatment in thedistrict.

The recovery rate in thedistrict is 98.03 per cent and themortality rate 1.71 per cent.

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The Yogi Adityanath govern-ment is determined to

increase the income of farmers.Under the One District OneProduct (ODOP) scheme, gen-eral facility centres will be setup in nine districts of UttarPradesh for agriculture-basedindustries at a cost of Rs 90crore. Six thousand farmers willget the benefit, along with theestablishment of clusters infour districts at a cost of Rs 15crore.

This information wastweeted by cabinet ministerSiddharth Nath Singh.

Another tweet by the min-ister said that due to the eco-nomic reforms and better poli-cies of the Narendra Modigovernment, India's exportshad increased by 5.37 per centthis January compared to lastJanuary. He said despite thecoronavirus pandemic, theincrease in exports was a proofof the country's strong econo-my.

Recently, during his stay inPrayagraj, the minister hadsaid that facilities should be

increased for the common peo-ple. H said care was being takento ensure that the people gotemployment opportunities andfor this self-help groups werealso being strengthened.

In the context of the farm-ers' movement, he said thatwhat was going on was a con-spiracy. He said farmers werebeing misled and confused onthe farm laws. He said the gov-ernment was ready to discusseach point, yet the agitatorswere not ready for talk.

The only demand of thefarmers is roll back the laws.The agitation is being runspontaneously even though thefarmers are being assured thattheir lands will not be take. Infact, true farmers are just work-ing hard in their fields. Theyalso have faith in PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

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Allahabad (PNS): A five-day training programme formaster trainers to identify chil-dren affected by dyslexia andattention deficit hyperactivitydisorder/syndrome will beorganised under the auspices ofthe Department of DisabilityEmpowerment at AmravatiPurushottam StateMultipurpose Divyang VikasSansthan, Khushipur here fromFebruary 17 to 21 (daily 10 amto 4 pm).

District DisabilityEmpowerment Officer Rajesh

Kumar said that in this pro-gramme, special teachersworking in various schools,speech therapists and psychol-ogists would be trained aboutdyslexia and attention deficithyperactivity disorder/syn-drome and their types, identi-fication, treatment, education-al method etc. After this train-ing, the instructors receivingthis master training wouldwork in various schools toidentify and create awarenessabout dyslexia and attentiondeficit hyperactivity, he added.

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The police on Saturdayclaimed to have arrested a

fraudster wanted in abouthalf a dozen cases of cheatingbut his wife, also wanted inthe same cases, is still abscond-ing.

According to information,the fraudster, identified asManish Pandey of GaneshMahal in Dashashwamedh andhis wife Seema Pandey arewanted in about half a dozencheating cases.

The Gangster Act was alsoslapped on Manish and theChetganj police were searchinghim in a case of fraud.

Both had cheated somepersons by making deals oflands claiming to be the owner.The buyers came to knowabout the fraud when theyreached the site to take posses-sion on the land.

The Chetganj police got atip-off about the presence ofManish in Pahadia area andraided the place and succeed-ed in nabbing him.

A police team was consti-tuted to apprehend his wife.

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Allahabad (PNS):Passengers traveling on trainswill now be able to enjoy deli-cious cuisine. Even if there is nopantry car or side vendingfacility, the passengers willnow have food packets deliv-ered to their seats. For this,after about 11 months, theIndian Railway Catering andTourism Corporation (IRCTC)has once again started e-cater-ing service.

The IRCTC facility will befurther expanded at 58 railwaystations, including Prayagraj.For this, the IRCTC has tied upwith local restaurants to deliv-er food packets in trains on get-ting calls. So far around 80orders have been supplied.

Currently, the IRCTC's e-catering service will be limitedto trains passing through sta-tions by 10 pm and there areplans to provide 24-hour ser-vice in future. At present, theIRCTC has contracts with tworestaurants in the city and twomore restaurants would beadded to the list next week.

During journey in thetrain, passengers wanting to geta packet of favorite food at thestation would have to place anorder on e-catering number1323 or website www.ecater-ing.irctc.co.in about half anhour before arrival of the trainat the station.

Along with this, orderscan also be placed by down-loading the Food on Trackapplication.

IRCTC station officerRitesh Mishra said that e-cater-ing service had started at thejunction too.

Allahabad (PNS): In a sensa-tional incident, a 38-year-old armyofficer was killed by some unidenti-fied persons in Dhoomanganj area ofPrayagraj late Friday night.

The killers crushed the armyhavaldar with brick and stone.

Police are conducting raids atmany places in search for the killersHowever, they are still absconding.

Ashutosh Kumar Singh, wholived in Mahendra Nagar localityunder Dhoomanganj police station,was posted as havaldar in the Armyand deployed in Udhampur in the

Union Territory of Jammu andKashmir. He had come home onleave about two months ago. OnFriday, he was to return to his unit.

The army man’s father AshokKumar told the police that at around10 O'clock in the night a womancalled his daughter-in-law on phoneand told her that some boys had hitAshutosh with brick and stone andhe was injured. On getting thisinformation, Ashok rushed toKanhaipur locality with some peopleand found Ashutosh lying in a crit-ical condition on the back seat of the

car. They took him to the MilitaryHospital where the doctor pro-nounced him dead. TheDhoomanganj police also reachedthe spot and started investigation.Ashok has filed a complaint againsta woman alleging a conspiracy in themurder of his son. He alleged that thewoman was with Ashutosh duringthe incident. The woman said shehad gone out with Ashutosh for hav-ing momos when the youths on theway had an argument over honkingthe car's horn and attacked Ashutoshwith brick and stone.

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Allahabad (PNS): Maj Gen AnupinderBevli took over the command of Red EagleDivision from Maj Gen Ravindra Singh. Theoccasion was marked by the laying of wreath bythe General Officer at Red Eagle War Memorialin Old Cantonment at Prayagraj. The general,an alumnus of NDA Khadakvasla, is a third gen-eration army officer and has excelled in all facetsof his distinguished military career. Red EagleDivision, the oldest division of the Indian Army,has the singular honour of participating in WorldWar-II, India-China War of 1962, India-PakistanWars of 1965 and 1971, Operation Pawan in SriLanka and Operation Vijay in 1999.

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DM Praveen Kumar Laxkar has directed theNagar Palika to carry out sanitation work

properly. These views were expressed by himduring the inspection of Nagar Palika Parishad(NPP) Mirzapur office at Lal Diggi on Friday.Inspecting the tax section he found no updatedrecords related with recovery, dues, rented build-ings, detail of properties etc. Besides, list of 20 big

defaulters toowas not there.He instruct-ed the taxdepartmentto cancelallotment ofthose allotteeswho were notpaying the

rent since long. In construction section the DMsought report about contractors who did not com-plete works on time. He was informed that againsttwo notices were ready but they had not been servedyet. He directed for action against a JE found neg-ligent in clearing payment against completed works.In licence section he expressed discontent over lack ofrecords along with contradictory version of twoclerks about number of hotels. He directed the sec-

tion to show files to the ADM(F&R) with updat-ed information. In the rent section the DMdirected for action against a clerk concerned whofailed to provide proper information about rentof buildings. About the sanitation staff the EOapprised the DM that there were 171 depart-mental staff and 508 through outsourcing. Aboutvehicles engaged in sanitation the DM directedthe ADM to verify fuel consumption. The DMinspected its health and sanitation sections locat-ed at Ghantaghar and the attendance registers.

BODY FOUND: The body of a missing per-son, Dharmendra Dubey (35), was found in awell in Newadhia village under Padari police sta-tion on Friday. On Friday some children saw thebody in a well and informed others. The policegot the body out with the help of locals and sentit for the post-mortem examination.

ARRESTED: Chilh police arrested twoaccused along with 50 litres of adulterated liquor.Incharge of Chetganj police outpost Ashok Singhwas patrolling along with his team when he spot-ted two suspects during checking. During inter-rogation they were identified as Rajaram andHarilal, residents of Majhalipatti village under theChilh police station who confessed their involve-ment in the illicit trade of liquor. Fifty litres ofliquor was recovered from them. After lodging acase under Excise Act the police sent them to jail.

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General Manager of North Eastern Railway(NER) Vinay Kumar Tripathi honoured 105

railway officers and employees of variousdepartments for their notable and outstandingservice by presenting them citations, medals andcash award during the Railway Week prize dis-tribution ceremony held at Syed Modi RailwayStadium here on Friday on the occasion of 65thRailway Week function. Among the award recip-ients were track maintainer, pointsman, tech-nician, station master, loco pilot, inspectors ofvarious departments besides section engineer ofvarious engineeringdepartments, officersetc whose dedicatedand excellent servicehas significantlyimproved the func-tioning of the rail-ways and increasedproductivity. Whilecongratulating every-one on the occasion of65th Railway Week,GM said there is noshortage of dedicatedand efficient railwaypersonnel on NER but due to limited numberof awards it is not possible to reward all.Therefore, every year only a few officers andemployees are awarded and honoured due towhose notable working and dedicated efforts theworking of the railways has improved significantly. “The year 2019 has been the safest year in rail-way history till date, which is the result of the con-certed efforts of all of you,” he said. In the year2019-20 NER has made good progress in every field,he added. Performance in the field of safety will begood in the year 2020-21, the GM said. The NERhas made progress in every field. The passenger-oriented NER through its three divisions —Izzatnagar, Lucknow and Varanasi, is constantlymaking efforts to provide safe, secure and com-fortable travel facilities to its passengers. “We areconstantly making efforts to modernise the infra-structure and functioning of the NER so that pas-sengers can be provided with more advanced andfaster travel facilities. Excellent work has been donein all divisions, workshops and constructiondepartments. Due to the combined efforts of all ofyou, we have succeeded in achieving many accom-plishments. We had achieved expected success insafety, security, cleanliness, expansion and improve-ment in passenger amenities and strengthening ofrailway infrastructure,” he said. The GM further saidbetween Lucknow Jn-New Delhi the run of firstcorporate train of the country Tejas Express hasstarted. Besides the Bhojipura-Tanakpur, Chhapra-Thawe and Bamiana-Kasganj rail sections havebeen declared as green corridors. Keeping envi-

ronmental protection in mind, three green nurs-eries each had been developed in each division.For energy conservation in all stations, servicebuildings and railway colonies provision for 100per cent LED lights had been made. Along withthe provision of lights, for the use of solar ener-gy, a non-conventional source of energy solar pan-els had been installed on a large scale. Allunmanned level crossings on broad gauge havebeen eliminated and the process of closingmanned level crossings by constructing limitedheight subways (LHS) and road overbridges is alsounderway. On this railway many projects of dou-bling, gauge conversion, new railway line con-

struction and elec-trification have beensuccessfully com-pleted by ensuringquality. Good workhas also been done inmany areas such asloading of goods,income, mainte-nance of railwaytrack and energyc o n s e r v a t i o n .Keeping in mind theconvenience of pas-sengers along with

the running of many new trains and the frequencyof many others has been increased. “All theseachievements are the result of dedication andwork efficiency of all of you, for which I con-gratulate all officers and employees of NER,”Tripathi said. While expressing confidence thatrailway personnel in the year 2020-21 too underthe commitment to take NER to new heights willcomplete all the projects on time and play animportant role in the safe, secure, comfortable andpunctual running of trains. The GM congratu-lated all the shield and award winners. On theoccasion he also thanked the family members fortheir cooperation due to which the railway per-sonnel are able to focus on their work area. Thecontribution of Rail Madad App is good in help-ing the railway passengers. Meanwhile prior tothe prize distribution artistes of NER Kala Samitipresented an attractive cultural programme. Onthe occasion chairperson of NER Women’sWelfare Organisation (NERWWO) MeenaTripathi and members, Additional GeneralManager (AGM) Amit Kumar Agarwal, all theheads of departments, senior railway officers ofdivisions along with headquarters, employees andmembers of their families were present. DeputyChief Personnel Officer/IR SV Singh welcomedthe GM and all senior railway officials, employ-ees and award recipients, The function was suc-cessfully conducted by Chief Public RelationsOfficer (CPRO) Pankaj Kumar Singh while thevote of thanks was proposed by Senior PersonnelOfficer (SPO) Basant Lal.

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Manduadih railway station, which has beendeveloped and upgraded remarkably with-

in a short span of time in this parliamentary con-stituency of PM Narendra Modi, has got twoshields as ‘best organised’ and ‘best clean’ stationamong all the A-1 and A category stations of NER.This was announced bythe NER GM VinayKumar Tripathi at the65th Railway Week func-tion through video con-ferencing from Syed ModiRailway Stadium,Gorakhpur on Friday. InVaranasi Division of NER,the function was held at Bharatendu conferenceroom of DRM office. Overall as many as 20 employ-ees of Varanasi Division were awarded for their dis-tinguished and outstanding service by DRM VijayKumar Panjiar by presenting them with citations,medals and cash prizes. Varanasi Division also

received Inter-divisional Medical Efficiency Shield,Inter-divisional Engineering Efficiency Shield andInter-divisional Mechanical (Carriage/Wagon) Efficiency Shield and it got Inter-divisional Signal and Telecom EfficiencyShield jointly with Lucknow Division. Theaward recipients of Varanasi division includeKanhaiya Singh Yadav, Anand Kumar Singh,

Vijay Bahadur Yadav,Brij Mohan Yadav,Neeraj Srivastava,Mukesh Singh, RahulBhatt (all posted atVaranasi), KamleshSingh, ChandraketuNarayan, AvinashKumar Rai, Sandeep

Kumar Mishra (all Manduadih), Vidhan ChandraPandey, Jitendra Chaudhary, Mahesh Kumar (allKaptanganj), Santosh Kumar Rawat, UpendraSingh (both Ballia), Hiralal (Ghazipur), PankajKumar Singh (Chhapra), Abhimanyu Yadav(Mau) and Satish Tiwari (Allahabad City).

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National Productivity Weekwas inaugurated at

Northern Coalfields Limited(NCL) on the occasion ofNational Productivity Day onFriday. Productivity Week beingobserved there from February 12 to18 aimed at creating awareness about productivityso that maximum output with optimum utilisationof resources can be planned and achieved. In the inau-gural ceremony at the headquarters, CMD NCL PKSinha and its functional directors were present throughvideo conferencing. Addressing the gathering Sinhaexpressed confidence that the company will crossits production targets. He said with a dedicatedand committed workforce, NCL is achieving all

production and productivitytargets. The company willleave no stone unturned in coalproduction with quality safe-ty and maximum productivi-ty. All GMs, JCC members,HoDs and employees were pre-sent during the programme.GM Industrial Engineering

department Rajendra Rai unfurled the flag duringthe ceremony. Employees took a productivity pledgeto ensure growth of production and productivity withsafety at workplace. They also pledged to encouragetheir co-workers for growth of the company and pros-perity of the nation. The company’s IndustrialEngineering Department (IED) team will be organ-ising various awareness programmes during theProductivity Week in all the coal projects and units.

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Director General, UPAdministrative and

Management Academy, Dr LVenkateshwar Lu, while chair-ing a workshop on ChiefMinister Abhyudaya Scheme atMerchants Chamber Hall onSaturday, said the scheme wasthe best opportunity for thepoor and underprivileged chil-dren to grab the opportunityand become forerunners insociety.

He said the UP govern-ment was of the firm belief thatpoor children on account oftheir intellectual capacity mustget an opportunity for all-round development.

He said the rural youth andpoor who were economicallyweak and did not have anyproper career guidance wereunable to prepare for compet-itive examinations althoughthey had great potential andacademic talent.

He said for such youth,under the CM's scheme specialonline and offline coachingwould be imparted so thatwith proper guidance theseyouth could emerge successfulin their competitive examina-tions.

Dr Venkateshwar Lu saidthis was a big opportunity andone needs to avail oneself ofsuch opportunity to join themainstream of society and con-tribute in nation building. Hesaid these online and offlinecoaching would provide effec-tive guidance and they wouldalso be provided with ade-quate study material. He saidspecial guidance for properand effective preparations

would be provided to them. Hesaid this project was beingintroduced in 18 divisions inthe first phase.

The DG said this schemewould be launched by ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onFebruary 15. He said this pro-ject would introduce a positiveacademic ambience in UttarPradesh and give a big push toeducation. He said in futureother competitive examina-tions may be included in thescheme.

He said all the universityfaculty and teaching profes-sionals would be given all pos-sible material for groomingthe students for competitiveexaminations. He said helpwas sought from all such peo-ple who could help students inthis direction.

Dr Venkateshwar Lu said

very soon the project slabswould be set up and a generalcalendar would be prepared.He said it had also been decid-ed to take the help of the top-pers so that on account of theirpersonal experience they couldguide these youths.

He said with this schemethere shall be substantialimprovement in the mentalcapacities of the students tak-ing up the course so that afteracquisition of knowledge theycould improve themselves.

He made a fervent appealto the teaching fraternity toextend all possible help in thisdirection. He said invitationshad been extended to academiato give their suggestions in thisdirection.

Kanpur DivisionalCommissioner Raj Shekhar,while addressing the function,

said Chief Minister'sAbhyudaya Scheme was verygood and on account of thedetermination of the chief min-ister the children from theweaker sections and poor fam-ilies could also be successfuland clear the civil services andother state and national levelexaminations.

He said such youths wouldbe able to clear all the com-petitive examinations and bebenefitted through AbhyudayaScheme.

He said it had also beendecided that the student wouldnot run to other cities butwould get the benefit in theirhome town. He said Kanpurhad immense potential.

The online coaching regis-tration has already started onFebruary 10 and one can applyon abhyuday.up.gov.in.

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Deputy Director, Micro, Smalland Medium Enterprises Ajay

Bajpai, while chairing the trainingprogramme for youth to set up theirown business and become entre-preneurs, said a special camp wasbeing run since February 11 and itwould continue till March 22.

He said it was a matter of con-cern that the youth of the currenttimes after completing their degreeslooked toward the government fora job. He said it was ironic that theyouth had immense talent and couldbecome successful entrepreneursand provide jobs to others as well.

He said food processing was onesuch area which had potential andthus the objective was to train youthto take food processing in a big way.He said the PM Kisan SampadaYojana along with its related schemeslike Mega Food Park, Cold Chain,Expansion of Food Processing andcreation of forward and backward

linkages and food safety and quali-ty assurance infrastructure were acomprehensive package whichwould result in creation of moderninfrastructure with efficient supplychain management from farm gateto retail outlet.

He said this would not only pro-vide a big boost to the growth offood processing sector in the coun-try but also help in providing betterreturns to farmers and was a big steptoward doubling of farmers’ income,creating huge employment oppor-tunities, especially in the rural areas,reducing wastage of agriculturalproduce, increasing the processinglevel and enhancing the export of theprocessed foods. He said the needwas to bring velocity in the imple-mentation of such schemes at thegrass roots level.

Shukla said India had the oppor-tunity to reap the so-called ‘demo-graphic dividend’. He said organisa-tions like Food Industry Capacity &Skill Initiative (FICSI) were working

to ensure that the food processingindustry was able to grow withskilled manpower, increase produc-tivity and profitability.

He added that ample awarenessof such schemes at rural level wasrequired so that more and morerural populations could take the ben-efit of these schemes and upgradetheir standard of living.

He said the food processingindustry was not only the need of thehour but also had the potential tobring prosperity in the rural econ-omy and contribute to the socio-eco-nomic development of the countryand was certainly the pathway of anew future for India.

He said the Indian youth wereturning away from agriculturebecause of low profitability andthus the food processing industrywas perhaps the best way to seize theopportunity of demographic divi-dend and it could give a new gen-eration of progressive rural entre-preneurs.

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Devapratim Mishra, a stu-dent of Class IV at the

Campus School, IIT Kanpur,was awarded national levelsecond prize in the ScienceOlympiad organised by SarvaSeva Kendra of the Ministry ofElectronics and InformationTechnology (MEIT).

The award consists of atablet (worth Rs 30,000) and anational level merit certificate.The award ceremony was heldin the Campus School onSaturday in presence of MEITsenior officials Atulet Rai,Shashi Shukla and Rabin Singhwho handed over the prize toDevapratim. Principal AchlaJosan welcomed the officials.

Devapratim has been par-ticipating in several nationallevel Olympiads right fromGrade I. In 2020, he won acash award of Rs 50,000 anda gold medal for securing firstinternational rank in SOFScience Olympiad. He hasreceived over 15 gold medalsso far.

His sister Devarati, a stu-dent of Class VIII of KendriyaVidyalaya, IIT Kanpur, wasthe winner of Manak InspireAward– 2021 awarded by theDepartment of Science andTechnology, Government ofIndia. Devapratim’s father DrSubhas Chandra Mishra is aprofessor of Industrial andManagement EngineeringDepartment at IIT Kanpur.His mother Sulagna Mishra isa post-graduate in literatureand takes care of the children’seducation efficiently.

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Afour-day Plants & Painting Exhibition organ-ised by the 'Environest' was inaugurated at

Ratan Orbit Apartments, Indira Nagar, onSaturday.

Organiser Ankita Pandey said the eventaimed at spreading awareness among peopleabout the environment and greenery.

A large number of people, including residentsof the apartment, visited the exhibition and appre-ciated the work of Ankita Pandey who wishedthem to make their dream home environment-friendly.

The exhibition showcased the attractiveand creative entryway makeovers, a peacefulZen-corner representation, fairy garden andterrariums with miniatures and succulents, resinand metal planters, exquisite balcony makeoverwith poly resin figurines, terracotta potterydirectly from Aurangabad, Madhubani,Gond, Kalighat, Abstract etc, handmade paint-ings by different artists and elegant Valentine'sDay gifts.

Prominent persons present on the occasionwere Mayank Pandey, Sanjay Agarwal, VNAwasthi, Ashok Bansal, Arun Srivastava and fam-ily members of Ankit Pandey.

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Awoman was found hanging at her in-laws’ house in the Nazirabad police sta-

tion area on Friday night.Her parents alleged that she was killed

by the in-laws for failing to fulfill thedowry demand and lodged FIR against fivepersons. The police have arrested three ofthem. According to reports, the marriage ofAwadhesh Jha of Laxmiratan Colony washeld with Jyoti (32) of Keshav Puram,Rawatpur, on April 30, 2015. The couple hadtwo children - a son and a daughter.

Jyoti’s father Vinod said he was told onFriday night that his daughter had com-mitted suicide and on reaching there, hefound her hanging with the folded foot onthe bed. He alleged that she was killed andhanged by her in-laws to make it look a sui-cide case.

He alleged that Jyoti was often humili-ated and beaten up by the in-laws and herhusband for dowry. He said on Friday morn-ing, Jyoti had informed him that she wasbeing harassed and humiliated.

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Registrar of Chhatrapati Shahu JiMaharaj University, Kanpur, Dr

AK Yadav, while inaugurating a muralfibre sculpting camp at the universi-ty, said murals helped in bringing artinto the public sphere.

He said each mural took aroundsix months for creation but the stu-dents of the university had madeimpressive mythological murals in justtwo days. He said it showed how theyhad been groomed by their teachersand their latent talent was also dis-played. He hoped they would contin-ue to excel in fibre mural sculpture infuture which would bring in name andfame.

Addressing the students, head ofdepartment, Dr Brajesh Katiyar, saidfor artists, their work got a wide audi-ence who otherwise might not stepinside an art gallery.

He said it was the city which wasbenefited by the beauty of a work ofart. He said fibre murals could be a rel-atively effective tool of social eman-cipation. He said often rural towns

start using murals to create touristattractions in order to boost economicincome. He said mythological townsused this art form and all such worksadorned the walls of historical struc-tures. He said the students had put intheir best efforts to bring out religious

sentiments in their creations. Hecongratulated them for their hardwork in a short time.

Prominent among those whotook part were Dr Sanjay Swarankar,Dr Draupati Yadav, Dr Prahlad Singh,Dr Surabhi Tripathi and Deepshikha.

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Noted diabetologist CaptDr Nandini Rastogi while

addressing a ContinuingMedical Education pro-gramme on ‘DifferentialDiagnosis and Acute FeverManagement’ organised bythe Indian MedicalAssociation-Kanpur, onSaturday said a differentialdiagnosis meant that therewas more than one possibili-

ty for diagnosis. She said the doctor must

differentiate between thesepossibilities to determine theactual diagnosis and appro-priate treatment plan.

She said the differentialdiagnosis of fever was large asit could occur in many diseasesbut its occurrence with othersymptoms included chills,sweating, cough or sore throatswhich could help narrowdown the differential, and the

majority of the time its causewas due to everyday diseases.She said fever was a manifes-tation of such a wide variety ofconditions that it posed achallenge to the physician.

Dr Rastogi said fever ofunknown origin had clinicalhallmarks, for example, usuallymalignant, neoplastic disor-ders were associated with earlyanorexia and significantweight loss. She said withinfectious fevers of unknown

origin, chills were common,but weight loss less pro-nounced and anorexia late. Sheadvised that one needs todetermine the pattern of organinvolvement as each disorderhad a characteristic pattern oforgan involvement that sug-gested diagnostic possibilities.Discussing diet, she said it wasessential to manage fever withgood nutrition to ease thesymptoms and promote fasterconvalesce as the body need-

ed more calories to functionproperly in fever than itrequired in normal times.

She said a well-balanceddiet regimen in fever wasimportant to build a robustimmune system. She said asmore calories were burnt bythe body during a fever it wasimportant to give energy-dense foods. Dr Rastogi said ahigh calorie, protein, low fatand fluid diet was recom-mended during fever.

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The parliamentary standingcommittee on defence

intends to visit the GalwanValley and the Pangong lake inthe eastern Ladakh regionwhich has been witness to aviolent stand-off between thetroops of India and China,sources said.

However, it may seek thepermission of the Governmentbefore visiting the strategical-ly-located areas, they said.

The 30-member commit-tee, chaired by senior BJPleader and former UnionMinister Jual Oram and ofwhich Congress leader RahulGandhi is a member, intends tovisit the eastern Ladakh regionin the last week of May or June,the sources said on Friday.

The decision to visit theseareas was taken in the panel’’slatest meeting, they said.Gandhi did not attend it.

The panel’’s visit to the Lineof Actual Control (LAC)depends on the approval fromthe government, the sourcesadded.

After a nine-month stand-

off, militaries of Indian andChina reached an agreementon disengagement in the northand south banks of Pangonglake that mandates both sidesto cease forward deployment oftroops in a “phased, coordi-nated and verifiable” manner.

On Thursday, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh madea detailed statement inParliament on the disengage-ment pact.

According to the agree-ment, China has to pull back itstroops to east of Finger 8 areasin the northern bank while theIndian personnel will be basedat their permanent base atDhan Singh Thapa Post nearFinger 3 in the region.

Similar action will takeplace on the south bank of thelake as well, Singh said.

India has not “conceded”any territory to China by firm-ing up an agreement on the dis-engagement process inPangong Tso in easternLadakh, and other outstanding“problems” including inDepsang, Hot Springs ad Gograwill be taken up at the upcom-ing talks between military com-

manders of the two countries,the defence ministry said onFriday.

The statement by the min-istry came hours after Congressleader Rahul Gandhi allegedthat the Government has“ceded” Indian territory toChina and raised questionsover the agreement on the dis-engagement process.

The ministry also dubbedas “categorically false” the asser-tion that Indian territory is upto Finger 4 in the Pangong Tsoarea, adding the permanentposts of both sides in the areaare “longstanding and well-established”.

“India has not concededany territory as a result of thisagreement. On the contrary, ithas enforced observance andrespect for LAC and prevent-ed any unilateral change in thestatus quo,” the ministry said inthe strongly-worded statement.

The MEA also said the twocountries have agreed to con-vene the 10th round of seniorcommanders meeting within48 hours after complete disen-gagement in the Pangong Lakearea to address the remainingissues, and added that no datehas been set for WorkingMechanism for Consultationand Coordination (WMCC) onIndia-China border affairs.

The agreement on disen-gagement in the north andsouth banks of Pangong lakemandates both Chinese andIndian sides to “cease” for-ward deployment of troops ina “phased, coordinated andverifiable” manner.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on

Saturday filed a supplemen-tary chargesheet against Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terroristNaveed Mushtaq Shah, aliasNaveed Babu, before theSpecial NIA Court, Jammuunder various Ranbir PenalCode sections and ExplosiveSubstances Act besidesKashmir Public Property(Prevention of Damage) Actand Unlawful Activit ies(Prevention) Act.

The case relates to anattack on the CRPF convoy atTethar, Banihal, Ramban dis-trict in Jammu and Kashmirby a terrorist who had explod-ed an explosive-laden Santrocar on March 30, 2019 withthe intention of killing secu-rity personnel and wagingwar against the Governmentof India.

In this regard, a case FIRNo 39/2019 dated March 30,2019 was registered at PoliceStation Banihal, Ramban. TheNIA re-registered the case asRC-3/2019/NIA/JMU onApril 15, 2019 and took overthe investigation of the case.

The agency had earlier

filed chargesheet against sixHizb-ul-Mujahideen terror-ists for their role in thisattack.

The accused NaveedMushtaq Shah alias NaveedBabu is a former constable ofJammu and Kashmir police.He had decamped with armsand ammunition in 2017,when he was posted as aguard in FCI, Budgam. Afterdeserting the force he hadjoined the terrorist groupHizb-ul-Mujahideen andbecame an active terrorist, theNIA said.

“Investigation has estab-lished that accused NaveedMushtaq Shah was activelyinvolved in the planning andexecution of the attack on theCRPF convoy in Banihalalong with other terroristsRiyaz Ahmed Naikoo, RayeesAhmed Khan and Dr.Saifullah Mir who were sub-sequently killed in encounterswith security forces,” it said.

The deceased terroristsSahil Abdullah Bhat, AdilBashir Sheikh and ZubairAhmed Wani were activelyinvolved in preparation ofthe explosives that went intothe making of the IED.Charges have been abatedagainst the deceased terroristsinvolved in the conspiracy.

Charges have beenframed by the NIA Courtagainst the six accusedchargesheeted earlier.

Further trial is continu-ing, it added.

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After holding meetings witha number of stakeholders

engaged in the agriculture sec-tor including Amul, ITC andFarmer ProducerOrganisations (FPOs), theSupreme Court-appointedexpert committee is likely toreach out to protesting farmerunions to take their viewpointsover the three farm legislations.Top sources said that the com-mittee is expected to invite agi-tating farmers for discussionafter next week. The protestingfarmers under the banner ofSanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM)- has refused to talk to the com-mittee -continue to protest atDelhi’s borders - Tikri, Singhu,and Ghazipur for over 80 days.

On the other hand, BJPMP Subramanian Swamy tookto Twitter on Saturday to crit-icise the Centre’s treatment ofthe farmers’ agitation saying thefarmers’ agitation may soonbecome an international issueas human rights groups plan toapproach the InternationalLabour Organisation of theUnited Nations. He furtheralleged that Chinese media aredistorting the farmers’ agita-tion. “Our I&B Ministry shouldsee that it is effectively coun-tered since Chinese mediainfluence in our neighbour-hood is considerable now,” hetweeted.

“The agitating farmersgroups have been given invita-tions in the past but theyrefused. Now, the committeewill again try to reach out theagitating farmers to seek theirview points, “sources said. Thecommittee has held meeting

with 12 farmers’ unions andFarm Produce Organisations’(FPOs) and representatives of18 State and Union Territoriesof agriculture departments andsought their feedback over thefarm legislations in the past twodays.

The three-member panelhas interacted with a largenumber of farmer unions,farmer producer organisations(FPOs) as well as senior offi-cials of state agriculture mar-keting boards and private man-dis to understand their pointsof view on the contentiousfarm laws. According to theagriculture ministry, duringdiscussion, they not only gavetheir frank views about the

agrarian laws but also gave sug-gestions to improve the imple-mentation of the laws.

The Committee has heldnine rounds of deliberationswith stakeholders engageddirectly or indirectly in theagriculture sector so far. Thethree-member committee hasbeen holding consultationswith stakeholders, both onlineand in person.

The SKM has planned sixmahapanchayats or mega gath-erings of farmers over twoweeks as part of its efforts toadd more numbers to theprotest sites. On Friday, maha-panchayats were held inMoradabad in UP andBahadurgarh in Haryana.Three mahapanchayats will beorganised in Sri Ganganagar,Hanumangarh and Seeker inRajasthan on February 18, 19and 23 respectively. Besides,one mahapanchayat will beorganised in Sirsa in Haryanaon February 22 to decide thefurther course of the agitation.At present, the talks betweenthe Union Government and thefarmers’ unions have come toa standstill.

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Over 80 per cent of Indiansconsider the consumption

of smokeless tobacco to be a veryserious problem and 88 percent strongly support thestrengthening of the currenttobacco control law to addressthis menace, as per a recentstudy conducted by ConsumerVOICE, an NGO engaged increating awareness on consumerrights and laws.

The survey conducted ontobacco use and its impact in 10States in the country also foundthat 72 per cent of people believepassive smoking poses a serioushealth hazard.

“The majority of the respon-dents supported banning smok-ing in all public places, elimi-nating special smoking areas inairports, hotels, and restaurants,banning the sale of loose ciga-rettes and bidis and advertisingtobacco products at sellingpoints,” said the survey which

was conducted in the backdropof Government’s proposal toamend the tobacco control act.

The survey noted that a least82 percent of the respondentsbelieve smokeless tobacco use isa profoundly serious problem;80 percent say so about smok-ing cigarettes while 77 per centhave the same notion on smok-ing of bidis.

The study found that morethan nine in ten Indians are ofthe opinion that the Centreshould strengthen the existingtobacco law and ensure its strictimplementation across thecountry.

Support for the law is highacross all demographic and geo-graphic areas irrespective ofage-group and gender, with

even tobacco users supporting it.The interview was con-

ducted in 10 languages (Hindi,Gujarati, Punjabi, Oriya,Marathi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu,Malayalam, and Kannada)across the country.

“It is very encouraging to seethe overwhelming support frompeople for strengthening thecurrent tobacco control law.The Government has started theamendment process of tobaccocontrol law COTPA 2003 whichis an important step towardsimproving public health.

“It is looking to strengthenthe provisions for prohibitingsmoking in public places and aban on point-of-sale advertisingdisplays besides ban on sale ofloose cigarettes and have high-er penalties,” said Ashim Sanyal,Chief Operating Officer,Consumer VOICE.

Tobacco use is the leadingpreventable cause of diseaseand premature deaths globallyand in India more than 10Lakhs people are losing lifeevery year due to tobacco relat-ed diseases.

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In a big relief, at least 17 Statesand Union Territories have

not reported any new Covid-19fatality, while 13 States andUTs have reported between 1and 5 new deaths due to theinfections in the last 24 hours onFriday, indicating a significantdecline in the spread of the dis-ease which has swept the worl-dover for more than a year.

India’s total Covid-19 activecaseload currently stands at1.36 lakh (1,36,571) comprisingjust 1.25 per cent of the totalinfections while a total of1,06,00,625 people have recov-ered so far with 11,395 patientsgetting discharged in a day.

The Ministry said 81.93per cent of the new recoveredcases are observed to be con-centrated in six states withKerala reporting the maximumnumber of single-day recover-ies, with 5,332 newly-recov-ered cases. A total o f2,422 peo-ple recovered in Maharashtra in

the past 24 hours, followed by486 in Tamil Nadu.

A total 12,143 daily newcases registered in a span of 24hours, it said, adding that 86.01per cent of the new cases arefrom six states.

Kerala continues to reportthe highest daily new cases at5,397, followed by Maharashtrawith 3,670, while Tamil Nadureported 483 new cases.

Further, 103 deaths were

recorded in a span of 24 hours.Six states account for 80.58 percent of the new deaths.Maharashtra saw the maximumof 36 casualties. Kerala followswith 18 daily deaths, whileKarnataka and Punjab report-ed 8 deaths each.

For over two weeks, thecountry has recorded less than15,000 new infections daily.Also, the daily Covid-19 deathtoll has been below the 200-

mark for more than a monthnow.

On February 9, India hadreported 9,110 new cases, thelowest this year so far. Last year,the lowest 9,633 cases wererecorded on June 3.

The recovery rate hasincreased to 97.32 per cent,while the fatality rate is down to1.43 per cent. The ministryalso informed that 7,43,614samples were tested on Friday.

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The first phase of BudgetSession of Parliament,

which commenced with theAddress of the President ofIndia on January 29, conclud-ed on Saturday. The overallproductivity of the Lok Sabharemained at 99.5%, accordingto Lok Sabha Speaker OmBirla.

Birla, while interactingwith the media in ParliamentHouse said that the BudgetSession of Parliament ransmoothly and transactedimportant business evenbeyond midnight.

The first part of the BudgetSession, 2021 has been highlyproductive, the Speaker said.

The Speaker thanked theLeader of the House the PrimeMinister, Leaders of all politi-cal parties, Members ofParliament, media and officersand staff of the Lok SabhaSecretariat for the smoothconduct of the Lok Sabha.

Birla Said that during thefirst part of the Budget Session2021, Lok Sabha sat for 49hours and 17 minutes againstthe stipulated time of 50 hours.The Discussion on the Motionof Thanks on President’sAddress took place for 16hours and 39 minutes and 130Members participated in theDiscussion.

Lok Sabha Speaker alsoinformed that whereas 10

hours was allocated forGeneral Discussion on UnionBudget 2021-2022, the Housedebated for 14 hours and 40minutes. As many as 117Members took part in theGeneral Discussion on UnionBudget 2021-2022. 173Members participated in ZeroHour discussions. Several mat-ters of urgent public impor-tance were raised by theMembers during Zero Hour.

House lost an effectivetime of 43 minutes due to dis-ruptions.

49 women MPs partici-pated in the discussion onMotion of Thanks onPresident’s Address andBudget.

He said, despite the Housesitting late beyond midnight, alarge number of womenMembers remained present andparticipated in the proceed-ings, raising many importantissues.

Responding to questionsregarding disruptions in theHouse, Lok Sabha Speaker saidthat the ultimate objective is tostrengthen democracy. So, it isthe responsibility of allMembers to ensure that demo-cratic and ethical standards aremaintained in the House andrules are followed scrupulous-ly.

The Speaker said that thetime lost due to disruptions hasbeen compensated by the Houseby sitting beyond schedule time.

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Punjab has become the 13thState in the country to suc-

cessfully undertake “OneNation One Ration Card sys-tem” reform. The State hasbecome eligible to mobiliseadditional financial resources of�1,516 crore rupees throughOpen Market Borrowings.According to the Ministry ofFinance, permission for thesame was issued by theDepartment of Expenditure.

The other 12 States whichhave completed this reform areAndhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat,Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala,Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Tripuraand Uttar Pradesh.

Till now, 17 States have car-

ried out at least one of the fourstipulated reforms and havebeen granted reform linkedborrowing permissions. Oncompletion of One Nation OneRation Card system reform,these 13 states have been grant-ed additional borrowing per-mission of Rs 34,956 crore bythe Department of Expenditure.

Out of these, 13 states haveimplemented the one nationone ration card system, 12states have done ease of doingbusiness reforms, 6 states havedone local body reforms and 2states have undertaken powersector reforms.

Total reform linked addi-tional borrowing permissionissued so far to the states standsat Rs 76,512 crore.

The implementation of

One Nation One Ration CardSystem ensures availability ofration to beneficiaries underNational Food Security Actand other welfare schemes atany Fair Price Shop across thecountry.

The reform especiallyempowers the migratory pop-ulation who frequently changetheir place of dwelling to be self-reliant in food security. OneNation One Ration CardSystem is an important citizen-centric reform. Its implemen-tation ensures availability ofration to beneficiaries underNational Food Security Act(NFSA) and other welfareschemes, especially the migrantworkers and their families, atany Fair Price Shop (FPS)across the country.

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The All India MuslimPersonal Law Board (AIM-

PLB) has moved the SupremeCourt against a plea seeking“uniform grounds of divorce”for all citizens of the country,keeping with the spirit of theConstitution and internation-al conventions.

The AIMPLB has opposedthe plea filed by advocate andBJP leader Ashwini Kumar

Upadhyay seeking uniformgrounds of divorce on the basisthat personal laws cannot betested on the anvil of Articles14, 15, 21 and 44 of theConstitution.

“The applicant would liketo submit that the expressionand ‘Custom and Usage’ inArticle 13 of the Constitutiondoes not include faith of a reli-gious denomination embeddedin personal laws,” the plea saidwhile seeking impleadment inthe petition filed by Upadhyay.

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The Union Health Ministryon Saturday said that no

case of serious or severeAdverse event following immu-nization (AEFI) or death hasbeen attributable to vaccinationtill date even as it said that thesecond dose of the vaccinationhave kicked off for the benefi-ciaries who have completed 28days after receiving the firstdose of vaccine.

Deaths reported so far incases where vaccination hasbeen conducted to date is 27.There are 3 deaths reported inthe past 24 hours who hadtaken vaccination at some pointin time in the recent past,Health Ministry added.

On Saturday alone, 84,807vaccinations (provisional fig-ure) were completed till 6 pm.

Meanwhile, India has vac-cinated close to 80 lakh bene-ficiaries against COVID-19,the ministry said. Till 8 AM onFebruary 13, a total of79,67,647 beneficiaries havebeen administered shots underthe countrywide COVID-19vaccination exercise.

Out of these, 5,909,136 arehealthcare workers and2,058,511 are frontline workers.A total of 1,64,781 sessionshave been conducted so far.

On day 28 (February 12) ofthe vaccination drive, 4,62,637beneficiaries (healthcare work-ers- 94,160 and frontline work-ers- 3,68,477) were vaccinatedacross 10,411 sessions, theministry said.

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Congress on Saturdayslammed Union Finance

Minister Nirmala Sitharamanover her remarks on formerCongress chief Rahul Gandhi,describing him as a “dooms-day man” for India. The partysaid that she is an angryMinister who has ruined theeconomy.

Speaking to the mediaafter Sitharaman’s speech inLok Sabh, Congress leader inLok Sabha Adhir RanjanChowdhury said, “She is notFinance Minister but is anangry minister. She is dan-gerous for the Indian econo-my. She along with PrimeMinister (Narendra Modi)has ruined the economy of thecountry and their only mottois ‘Hum do, hamare do’.

Lashing out at the FinanceMinister, Chowdhury saidthat the allegations made by

the Congress are not baseless.Quoting a report by Oxfam,Chowdhury said, “ We wantto ask the Finance Ministerhow does she explain that thelockdown made India’s bil-lionaires 35 per cent richer,while 84 per cent of house-holds income suffered a lossand 1.7 lakh people lost theirjobs every hour in April, 2020alone.”

“How does she explainthat income increase forIndia’s top 100 billionairessince March 2020, which wasenough to give each of the13.8 crore poorest people acheque of over �94,000 eachFinance Minister’s misplacedpriorities include tax conces-sion for corporates in finan-cial year 2019-20 thatamounted to over �1.4 lakhcrores. Instead of creatingjobs, they used money fortrimming up their balancesheets.”

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The CPI(M) which came topower in Kerala winning

the 2016 Assembly electionshad promised the people of theState that the Left DemocraticFront of which the party was theleader would form aGovernment that would care.

Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan had told the people thatthis would be an administrationwith a humane face. But at thefag end of its tenure, the Vijayanregime is being projected as themost corrupt government theState has ever seen by formerChief Minister OommenChandi, leader of theOpposition RameshChennithala and PKKunhalikutty, leader of theMuslim League.

The appointment ofNinitha Kanicheri, wife of M BRajesh, former CPI(M) MP, inSree Sankaracharya SanskritUniversity as assistant professor,violating all norms associatedwith the recruitment process isbeing seen as the tip of the ice-berg. Wife of A Vijayaraghavan,CPI(M) State Secretary, hasbeen appointed as deputy prin-cipal of Sree Kerala VarmaCollege at Thrissur in gross vio-lation of all laws in the land.

Appointing close relatives ofparty MPs, MLAs and otherleaders has become the order ofthe day, a Sree SankaracharyaSanskrit University professortold The Pioneer on condition

of anonymity. “The rank listprepared by the Kerala PublicService Commission forappointment to various uni-versities in the State has beenthrown to the winds by theCPI(M). Wife of higher educa-tion minister K T Jaleel too fig-ures in the list of relatives whohave been appointed as assistantprofessors in Universities inthe State,” said the professor.Details given by the KeralaGovernment to a query underthe right to information (RTI)has disclosed that these appoint-ments are nothing new. Personswithout qualifications speci-fied by the University havebeen appointed as associateprofessors ignoring qualifiedcandidates.

Sunil P Elayidom, anemployee working with a partypublication was appointed asassistant professor though hedid not possess the minimumqualifications as mandated bythe University.

The interview board mem-bers, all CPI(M) activists, gavefirst rank to Elayidom super-seding 211 qualified candi-dates. “I had the unfortunateexperience of approaching theSree Sankaracharya SanskritUniversity to pursue a Ph Dprogramme in Ayurveda. Theresponse from the authoritieswas painful. It has degeneratedinto an employment agency torecruit CPI(M) members and itsfellow travellers,” said DrRajeeve, Ayurvedic physician in

Ernakulam district.The Sanskrit university may

be the only institution of its kindto appoint persons with noknowledge in Sanskrit as itsvice-chancellors. “Though RRamachandran Nair, formerchief secretary of Kerala and aSanskrit scholar himself, took allthe pains to get this Universityestablished as an institutionfor research studies in Sanskrit,what is happening in theUniversity is not at allSanskritised,” said Dr Rajeeve.

R Ananthanarayanan, hon-orary secretary, Bharatiya VidyaBhavan, said he too had a dis-appointing experience from theSanskrit University.

“We had sent special invi-tations to the University invit-ing them for the NationalSanskrit Seminar on Vedas,Vedangas and Darshanas heldat Puthucode in Kerala inFebruary 2020. They did noteven acknowledge the invitationletters which is strange becauseit is the one and only institutionof its kind in Kerala,” saidAnanthanarayanan.

He was of the view that theUnion Government or theUniversity Grants Commissionshould order a thorough probeinto the functioning of theUniversity and the credentialsof the academic staff should besubjected to an audit. SreeSankaracharya SanskritUniversity needs to beSanskritised, said both DrRajeeve and Ananthanarayanan.

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There was an attempt on the lifeof a top customs officer in

Kerala who heads the investiga-tion into the gold smugglingcases that had rocked the PinarayiVijayan-led Kerala Government.Sources in Customs Departmentsaid the attack on the official hadpolitical patronage.

Sumith Kumar, PreventiveCommissioner, Customs, whoheads the team of investigatorsprobing the gold smuggling scamin which officials from the ChiefMinister’s Office too figure, wason his way to Kozhikode afterinaugurating the Customs Houseat Kalpetta in Wayanad district onFriday when a group of strangersin a car and four bikes tried towaylaid the former.

The PreventiveCommissioner told reporters thatthe car and bike-borne assailantsgave him a chase for almost 25 kmand tried to force his car to theside of the road. “Many times theysucceeded in overtaking my car

and tried to block my car. The driver of my car was told

by the security officer not to stopthe car which he obliged. Whenwe entered the suburb ofKozhikode, the vehicles whichwere chasing us took a differentroute and sped away,” said SumitKumar.

The official, later went to thepolice station and filed a report ofwhat happened during his jour-ney from Kalpetta to Kozhikode.The Police have registered a caseunder 279, 283 of the IPC and120(B) of the Kerala Police Act.

The incident sent shockwavesacross the State as this was the firstincident of this kind on the life ofan investigating officer, memberof the highly sensitive IndianRevenue Service.

The Customs offcials atThiruvananthapuram airport whohad brought to light the goldsmuggling through diplomaticchannels had faced threats fromsome people and had been pro-vided with security cover by theCRPF cops.

M Sivsankar, former principalsecretary to chief ministerPinarayi Vijayan, C MRaveendran , additional specialsecretary, and K T Jaleel, minis-ter for higher education had beeninterrogated by the Customs andother investigating agencies inconnection with the gold smug-gling. Sivsankar was in jail for 98days on charges of hawala trans-action and alleged connivancewith persons who were arrestedin connection with gold smug-gling through diplomatic chan-nels.

Sources of Customs told ThePioneer that there has been anincrease in gold smugglingthrough airports inThiruvananthapuram, Kochi andKozhikode during the last oneyear.

“But we have successfullyseized a large portion of goldwhich was being smuggled intothe country. These smugglersenjoy political patronage and thattoo from the State’s highest politi-cians,” said the officials.

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Adreaded terrorist involved in the killingof three BJP workers in Kulgam last year

was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmirpolice in a late night swoop down on a ter-rorist hideout near Bari Brahmana in theSamba district.

The operation was led by the Anantnagpolice while jawans of Samba police assistedthem during the operation.

The arrested terrorist has been identifiedas Zahoor Ahmad Rather, alias Khalid a ter-rorist of TRF or The Resistance Front, a frontalname for Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Zahoor had killed three BJP workersin Vessu, Kulgam district last year in Octoberand one policeman at Furrah in the same dis-trict. The terrorist is the second-in-commandat TRF after Abbas Sheikh.

Official sources claimed Zahoor wascamping in Samba to collect a weapons’ con-signment which was to be routed via Pakistan

through a drone.In recent weeks several incidents of

weapons dropping via drones have come tolight along the border belt of Samba andKathua districts.

Soon after his arrest the TRF terrorist wasshifted to police station in Bari Brahmanafrom where he was later shifted to a JointInterrogation centre.

Last week, Hidayatullah Malik, a cate-gorised terrorist from Shopian district, wascaught alive in a daring operation near a shop-ping mall in the Kunjwani area. Hidayatullahis the chief of Lashkar-e-Mustafa, a front forPakistani terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad inKashmir valley.Police is currently interrogat-ing his wife Seeba, a LLM student in KashmirUniversity. Her involvement in the terror relat-ed incidents has also surfaced during her pre-liminary interrogation in the case. She alongwith her husband was tasked to conduct recceof vital security installations in and aroundJammu before launching fresh terror strikes.

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Jaipur: The Rajasthan HousingBoard organized a state-levelworkshop on the topic“Rajasthan RERA Challengesand Solutions” at BhagwatSingh Mehta Auditorium.While addressing this work-shop as the chief guest, theChairman of RERA RajasthanShri NC Goyal said that he ishappy that Rajasthan HousingBoard is the first institute in thecountry to comply withthe100% RERA provisions. Hesaid that private builders andgovernment institutions shouldlearn from the Housing Board.Today Rajasthan HousingBoard has become a role modelin the country in terms of com-pliance of RERA provisions.

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The Opposition BJP onSaturday upped the ante

over the alleged suicide of a 22-year-old Tik-Tok star PoojaChavan, by rooting for the arrestof Maharashtra’s Forest MinisterSanjay Rathod of the Shiv Sena,who was reportedly in love withthe deceased woman.

Five days after she alleged-ly committed suicide by jump-ing off off the Heaven Park

building in Pune’;s Wanwadilocality, BJP leadersRadhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, KiritSomaiya and party’s womanleader Chitra Wagh said that theminister hadc no moral right tocontinue in the office. “In fact,he should be booked abettingPooja’s alleged suicide and arrest-ed immediately,” Wagh said.Afour-time Shiv Sena MLA fromYavatmal, Rathod is a prominentleader of the Banjara commu-nity.

Amid a controversy over thecontroversy over the circum-stances leading to Pooja’s death,the BJP leaders alleged that theTik-Tok star had committedsuicide due to her reported loveaffair with the minister.

Maharashtra’s former chiefminister and senior BJPDevensra Fadnavis demandedthat Pooja’s death be investigat-ed in view of the fact that thetelephonic conversationsbetween her and the minister

had gone viral on societymedia.

The Opposition leadersalleged that Pooja was pregnantat the time of death and thatthere were reasons to believe thatthe minister was responsiblefor her pregnancy.

Meanwhile, Maharashtrachief minister UddhavThackeray downplayed theOpposition’s demand forRathod;’s arrest, by saying thatan inquiry had been ordered

into the circumstances leadingto Pooja’s death. “Truth willemerge in the investigations,” hesaid.

Official sources said that thechief minister had sought areport from PoliceCommissioner Amitabh Guptaon the death. On his port,Rathod could not be reached allthrough the day.

On Friday, Leader ofOpposition Devendra Fadnavishad written a letter to the

Director-General of PoliceHemant Nagrale requesting fora probe. Along with the letter,Fadnavis had submitted 14 pur-ported audio-clips allegedlylinked with Chavan’s death.

Senior Shiv Sena MinisterEknath Shinde defended theaccused minister saying that itwas not proper to make allega-tions against a minister’s namebefore the completion of theinvestigations by the police.

Another Minister Uday

Samant said it was improper forhim to comment on the issue,since the chief minister hadAlready asked for a report fromthe Pune Police Commissioner.

Preliminary reports saidthat Pooja, hailing from Beeddistrict in Mar Marathwadaregion, had gone to Pune a weekprior to her death last week. Shewas attending an English-speak-ing course and was living withtwo youths, said to be brotherand his friend

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With no let up in the con-tinued crackdown by the

security agencies g on the drugpeddlers operating in themetropolis and surroundingareas, the Mumbai Policesleuths have arrested two drugpeddlers and seized Charasworth �1.59 crore from them.

Identifying one of the thearrested drug peddlers as oneKisan H. Gaud alias Sathe (24),the police said that a policeteam had caught him fromParekh Nagar in Malad eastearlier, but he managed toescape from the clutches of thepolice. However, the policearrested him on Saturday alongwith a plastic bag with 3.20 kgsCharas worth Rs.1.02 crore.

Earlier on Thursday, thepolice had arrested anotheridentified as one SurajVijaybahadur Yadav alias Potya(21) and seized Charas worthRs.57 lakh from him.

Both the arrested drugpeddlers were produced beforea magistrate court which hasremanded them in police cus-tody till February 16.Saturday's was the secondmajor action by Mumbai Policein the past 24 hours.

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Three sailors went missingand one injured sailor was

rescued, as a major fireengulfed an offshore supplyvessel “Greatship Rohini”, 170kms off Mumbai coast in theArabian Sea, on Saturday.

An Indian Coast Guard(ICG) spokesperson said thatthe fire broke out on theGreatship Rohin around in themorning, when it was close tothe ONGC’s Bombay HighNQO platform.

On receiving informationabout the mishap, the ICGdiverted an offshore patrolvessel Samarth to the location,while an ICG Dornier aircraft

flew to the spot for an aerialassessment of the emergency.

The ICG ship reached thevicinity of fire-ravaged vesselaround 13.30 hrs, whileanother ship MV Albatross-5pulled out the GreatshipRohini to a safe distance fromthe NQO ONGC platform rig.

ICGS Samarth along withanother OSV Priya-27launched the fire-fightingoperations with its advancedExterna Fire Fighting Systemand created a boundary cool-ing to control the spread of theblaze.

Owing to excessive heat,the Greatship Rohini crewmembers could not enter the

engine room where the firehad broken out. However, anICGS Samarth team boardedthe ship for further assessmentof the situation.

The ICG said that whilethree sailors are still missingand were believed to havebeen trapped in the ship’sblazing engine room, theinjured sailor was airlifted byan ONGC helicopter toMumbai for treatment.

Till 2000 hrs on Saturday,the fire-fighting operationswere continuing on boardGreatship Rohini. The ICGSalso dispatched a pollutioncontrol vessel to the location,and further details are await-ed on the mishap.

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Amaravati: The second phaseof polling for 2,786 panchayatsin Andhra Pradesh endedpeacefully with 81. 61 per centvoter turnout.

The State ElectionCommission (SEC), in a state-ment here on Saturday, how-ever, did not provide the totalnumber of eligible voters. TheAndhra Pradesh DirectorGeneral of Police GautamSawang, in a statement, said thesecond phase of polls endedpeacefully.

According to the figuresprovided by the SEC, Prakasamdistrict witnessed the highestturnout with 86.60 whileSrikakulam saw 72.87 per cent.Polling began at 6.30 AM and

ended at 3.30 PM. The count-ing of votes began at 4 PM, apoll official said. Elections werealso held to elect 20,817wardmembers. With two phasesbeing over, the polls would beconducted in another twophases till February 21.

Though the elections wereto be held for 3,328panchayatsarpanchs, 539have been unan-imously elected while no nom-inations were filed forthreevil-lages, an official press releasehad said on Friday.

As many as 7,507 candi-dates contested for sarpanchposts and 44. 876 werein fray for ward members.

The elections were heldusing ballot paper and without

any political party symbols.Totally, 29,304 polling sta-

tions were set up out of which5,480 have been identified assensitive and 4,181 as hyper-sensitive, the release had said.

All necessary precautionswere in place as per COVID-19protocols amid tight security.Meanwhile, the SEC issuedorders directing the Krishna(rural) district police to regis-ter a case against state CivilSupplies Minister KodaliVenkateswara Rao for hisalleged derogatory remarksagainst the poll body undersection 504 (intentionallyinsulting)and 506 (criminali n t i m i d a t i o n ) , a m o n g others. PTI

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Bengaluru: Amid growingclamour for reservation in gov-ernment jobs and other sectorsby various communities,Karnataka Chief Minister B SYediyurappa on Saturday saidhe has been making a sincereeffort towards justice for all.

“Being the Chief Ministerof the state, it's my responsi-bility to provide justice to all.I am making a sincere effort forjustice to all sections of society,”the Chief Minister toldreporters at the Mysuru airport.To a question whether therewas pressure on him with thegrowing demand for reserva-tion, he said it gave him hap-piness when such challengescame before him as theystrengthened him to face them.He said raising such demandswas the right of the people. TheChief Minister's statementcame as the seers of variouscommunities such asPanchamasali Lingayat,Valmiki, Kuruba and Idigacommunities intensified thedemand for more reservation.

The Panchamasali secthas been demanding category2A status within the category ofOther Backward Communities,the Kurubas for ScheduledTribe status and Idigas forScheduled Caste status. The

Valmiki community wantedtheir reservation to beincreased from three per centto 7.5 per cent.

These agitations were ledby the seers of the communi-ties posing a challenge to theYediyurappa government.

The KudalasangamaPanchamasali seer Basava JayaMrutyunjaya Swami has takenout a march to Bengaluru topress for his demand to givebenefits of 2A category to 72sub- sects of the Lingayat com-munities, includingPanchamasali.

Swami Pranavananda,the seer of SharanaBasaveshwara Math in Haveri,said the Idigas, who constituteabout 90 lakh people, should becategorised as Scheduled Caste.

At a press conference inHaveri, he even threatened tostage protests if the demand toincorporate all the 26 sub-sects of Idigas in the SC cate-gory was not met. Meanwhile,the BJP state vice-presidentand Yediyurappa's son BYVijayendra said remindedthose agitating for reservationthat his father is the only onewho respects all the commu-nities and such importantissues should not be deliberat-ed on the streets. PTI

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Kerala recorded 5,471 newCOVID-19 cases and 16

fatalities on Saturday, taking thecaseload to 9,99,523 and thedeath toll to 3,970.

Health minister K KShailaja said the state tested85,969 samples in the last 24hours and the test positivityrate was 6.36 per cent.

“Till now, the state hastested 1,05,26,236 samples,”the minister said. Shailaja said5,835 patients got cured of thedisease today, taking the totalrecoveries to 9,31,706.

“Currently, there are 63,581persons under treatment...,”Shailaja said in a release.

According to the release,there are 2,44,085 people underobservation in the state out of

which 10,134 are in isolationwards of various hospitals inthe state. Kozhikode reported750 fresh cases today,the high-est, followed by Ernakulam746, Thrissur 553, Alappuzha506 and Pathanamthitta 480.

Out of those who werefound infected today, 77reached the state from outside,while 5,027 contracted the dis-ease from their contacts.

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Ahmedabad: Gujarat's tally of coronavirus pos-itive cases rose to 2,64,997 on Saturday with theaddition of 279 fresh infections, the state Healthdepartment said.

No new COVID-19 fatality was reportedduring the day, it said, adding the overall deathtoll remained at 4,400. A total of 283 patientswere discharged during the day, taking the totalnumber of recoveries in Gujarat to 2,58,834, thedepartment said in a release.With this, Gujarat'scase recovery rate has improved to 97.67 percent. The count of beneficiaries of COVID-19vaccines in the state rose to 7,84,619 with 17,008more inoculations happening at 630 centresduring the day, it said.

At 60, Ahmedabad reported the highestnumber of new cases in the state in the day, fol-lowed by 56 cases in Vadodara, 53 in Surat, and38 in Rajkot. Gandhinagar reported nine new

cases, Bhavnagar eight, Anand seven, while GirSomnath and Mehsana each saw five new infec-tions, the department added.

As per the update released by AhmedabadMunicipal Corporation on Saturday after-noon, the city is left with 250 active cases.Thecumulative count of COVID-19 cases inAhmedabad is 57,655 while the death toll is2,248, the release said. In the Union Territoryof Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli,no new cases or recoveries was reported onSaturday. The UT has so far reported3,372 casesand 3,368 recoveries, leaving it with two activecases. The death toll remains two, officialssaid.Gujarat's COVID-19 figures are as follows:Positive cases 2,64,997, new cases 279, death toll4,400, discharged 2,58,834, active cases 1,763, people tested so far - figures notreleased. PTI

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Bengaluru: Karnataka onSaturday clocked 419 freshcoronavirus infections andfour deaths, taking the infec-tion count and fatalities to9,44,856 and 12,263 respec-tively, the health departmentsaid.

According to the depart-ment bulletin, 430 patientswere cured of the disease today,taking the total recoveries to9,26,664. Active cases stood at5,910. Bengaluru urban districtreported 258 infections whilethree fatalities were reported inthe city. Mysuru logged 22infections, followed byTumakuru with 20, DakshinaKannada 18, Kalaburagi 17and Chitradurga 10.

Cases were also reported inBelagavi, Bengaluru Rural,C h a m a r a j a n a g a r ,Chikkaballapura, Davangere,Dharwad, Hassan, Kodagu,Mandya, Shivamogga, Udupiand Uttara Kannada. Therewas one death in Tumakuru.

Bagalkote, Haveri andYadgir reported nil infectionand fatality whereas Ballari,Bidar, Gadag, Raichur andRamanagara logged one infec-tion and nil fatality. Therewere as many as 66,050 tests

conducted on Saturday includ-ing 62,303 using the RT PCRand other methods, taking thetotal tests done so far to 1.79crore. The department said4,380 out of 51,764 targetedCOVID warriors were inocu-lated, which is 8 per cent of thetarget, on Saturday. There wasone case of Adverse EventsFollowing Immunisation(AEFI) today, the bulletin said.

Cumulatively, 5,17,185 outof 11,08,558 targeted coronawarriors comprising healthcareworkers and frontline workershave been vaccinated. PTI

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Donald Trump’s insurrec-tion incitement charge is a

“monstrous lie” and theimpeachment proceedingsagainst the former president a“politically motivated witchhunt” by the Democrats, hislawyers said as they presentedevidence in the US Senate.

Trump, a Republican, isaccused of inciting riots in theUS Capitol on January 6 whichleft five people, including apolice officer, dead.

Trump’s lawyers BruceCastor, David Schoen andMichael van der Veen eachtook turns addressing theSenate members on Friday,day four of Trump’s impeach-ment trial, to describe Trumpas a staunch supporter of lawand order, not someone who incited the chaos at theCapitol.

His attorneys had up to 16hours over the course of twodays to push back on Houseimpeachment managers casethat Trump should be convict-ed and barred from running forfuture office for inciting theattack on the Capitol to try tostop Joe Biden’s presidentialelection victory being certified.

There is a complete lack ofevidence on the article ofimpeachment against DonaldTrump, his lawyers told theUnited States Senate.

“We have a complete lackof evidence for the article ofimpeachment presented by theHouse managers,” Trump’slawyer Castor said.

The impeachment by theHouse, the case for which waslaid out by the House managersin the Senate during the lasttwo days, was political.

“Their goal is to eliminatea political opponent, to substi-tute their judgment for the willof the voters,” he said as heshowed clips of variousDemocratic leaders.

Castor said that the criticalissue in this case is the verynarrow issue that is chargedagainst the 45th president.“That issue is did the 45th pres-ident engage in incitement of -- they continue to say -- insur-rection. Clearly there was noinsurrection,” he said.

Trump’s lawyer van derVeen used his opening remarksto dispute the Democrats’ casethat the former president hadincited violence during hisspeech to supporters onJanuary 6.

Trump had made allega-tions of voter fraud and urgedhis supporters to converge atthe Capitol building a shortwhile before the riot broke out.

“To claim that the presi-dent in any way wished, desiredor encouraged lawless or vio-lent behaviour is a preposter-ous and monstrous lie. In fact,the first two messages the pres-ident sent via Twitter once theincursion at the Capitol beganwere ‘Stay Peaceful’ and “Noviolence because we are theparty of law and order,’” thelawyer said.

“The article of impeach-ment now before the Senate isan unjust and blatantly uncon-stitutional act of politicalvengeance,” Trump attorneyvan der Veen argued.

“Like every other politicallymotivated witch hunt the lefthas engaged in over the pastfour years, this impeachment iscompletely divorced from thefacts, the evidence and theinterests of the American peo-ple,” he added.

Citing reports from theFBI, the Department of Justice,and several former and presentofficials, Trump’s lawyersargued that the riots were pre-planned.

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Seldom has Mitch McConnellsignalled so little about such

a consequential vote.Many expect the Senate’s

top Republican will backacquitting former PresidentDonald Trump of a charge ofinciting rioters who assaultedthe Capitol last month, but noone is really sure howMcConnell will vote.

The Washington politicaluniverse and the world beyondwill hold their collective breathwhen the Senate impeachmenttrial roll call reaches theKentuckian’s name.

Over 36 years in the Senate,the measured McConnell hasearned a reputation for inex-pressiveness in the service ofcaution.

This time, the suspenseover how he’ll vote under-scores how much is at stake forMcConnell and his party,though it seems extremelyunlikely that 17 GOP senatorswill join all 50 Democrats toconvict Trump.

“The overwhelming num-ber of Republican voters don’twant Trump convicted, so thatmeans any political leader hasto tread carefully,” said JohnFeehery, a former top congres-sional GOP aide.

While Feehery noted thatMcConnell was clearly out-raged over the attack, he saidthe senator is “trying to keephis party together.”

McConnell is the cham-ber’s most influentialRepublican and the longest-serving GOP leader ever, anda vote to acquit would leave theparty locked in its struggle todefine itself in the post-Trumppresidency.

A guilty vote could domore to roil GOP waters by sig-naling an attempt to yank theparty away from a figure stillrevered by most of its voters.

Either way, McConnell’sdecision could influence theparty’s short- and long-termelection prospects and affectthe political clout and legacy ofboth Trump and the Senateminority leader.

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Most every senator haspledged to listen to the

evidence in Donald Trump’shistoric second impeachmenttrial, but most minds werelikely made up before the trialbegan. Democrats would needa minimum of 17 Republicansto vote with them to convictTrump of incitement of insur-rection, and that appearsunlikely.

Still, Democrats say theyare holding out hope they willwin over enough Republicansto convict the former presidentfor his role in the Jan. 6 Capitolriot, in which five people died.If Trump were convicted, theSenate could take a second voteto ban him from running foroffice again. A final vote is like-ly on Saturday.

A look at the Republicanswhom Democrats are eyeing asthey make final arguments in

the case: THE FREQUENTTRUMP CRITICS

Republican Sens. LisaMurkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasseof Nebraska, Mitt Romney ofUtah and Susan Collins ofMaine have been clear thatthey believe Trump incited theriot. While none of them is alock to vote for conviction,they have joined withDemocrats twice to vote againstGOP efforts to dismiss the trial.

Collins said after the siegethat Trump does “bear respon-sibility for working up thecrowd and inciting this mob.”Murkowski called on Trump toresign after the attack on theCapitol, telling a local paperthree days later that “I wanthim out. He has caused enoughdamage.”

Romney tweeted on Jan. 6:“What happened at the U.S.Capitol today was an insurrec-tion, incited by the President ofthe United States.”

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Mass street demonstrationsin Myanmar entered their

second week Saturday, withneither protesters nor the mil-itary government they seek tounseat showing any signs ofbacking down from con-frontations. Protesters inYangon, the country’s biggestcity, again congregated atHleden intersection, a keycrossroads from which groupsfanned out to other points,including the embassies of theUnited States and China.

They marched despite anorder banning gatherings offive or more people.

The U.S., especially afterPresident Joe Biden announcedsanctions against the militaryregime, is regarded as an ally inthe protesters’ struggle againstthe February 1 coup.

China is detested as an allyof the ruling generals, whosesupport is crucial to themkeeping their grip on power.

Demonstrations alsoresumed in Myanmar’s sec-ond-biggest city, Mandalay,with lawyers making up onelarge contingent.

The military ousted thecountry’s leader, Aung San SuuKyi, and her government andprevented recently elected law-makers from opening a new

session of Parliament. Suu Kyi and other senior

members of her governmentand party remain in detention.

The junta, led by SeniorGen. Min Aung Hlaing, said itwas forced to act because SuuKyi’s government failed toproperly investigate allegationsof fraud in last year’s election,which her National League forDemocracy party won in alandslide. The election com-mission said there is no evi-dence to support the military’sclaims. Saturday’s protestscoincided with the birthday ofGen. Aung San, the country’sindependence leader and fatherof Suu Kyi.

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Afuel tanker explodedSaturday at the Islam Qala

crossing in Afghanistan’s west-ern Herat province on theIranian border, injuring at leastseven people and causing amassive fire that consumedmore than 500 trucks carryingnatural gas and fuel, accordingto Afghan officials and Iranianstate media.

It wasn’t immediately clearwhat caused the blast. WahidQatali, Herat’s provincial gov-ernor, said Afghan first respon-ders did not have the means toput out the fire and hadrequested support from Iran in

the form of fire fighting aircraft.“For the time being, we

can’t even talk about the casu-alties,” Qatali told TheAssociated Press.

The intensity of the flamesmeant ambulances were havingtrouble reaching the woundedor getting close to the site of theblast, said Mohammad RafiqShirzy, spokesman for theHerat regional hospital.

Seven people injured by thefire have been admitted to the hospital in Herat so far,he said.

The fire has forcedAfghanistan to shut down itselectrical supply from Iran,leaving Herat in the dark, said

Wahidullah Tawhidi,spokesman for the Ministry ofPower Supply.

Iran’s state-run IRNA newsagency reported that followingthe request from Herat’s gov-ernor, Iranian “rescue forcesand fire fighters are underwayto extinguish the fire insideAfghanistan,” according toMohsen Nejat, director-gener-al of crisis management inIran’s Khorasan Razaviprovince.

Iran’s semi-official ISNAnews agency quoted truck dri-vers as saying more than 500trucks carrying natural gas and fuel have been burnt sofar.

Mogadishu: Police say a sui-cide bomber died and sevencivilians were wounded whena vehicle exploded near acheckpoint outside the presi-dential palace in Somalia’s cap-ital, Mogadishu. Policespokesman Sadiq Ali Adansays the driver defied orders tostop on Saturday morning, andpolice opened fire as passers-by ran for their lives. He saysmore than a dozen vehicleswere destroyed in the blast.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group basedin Somalia often targets high-profile areas of Mogadishu. Ithas threatened to attack thepolls. AP

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Mario Draghi, the mancredited with largely sav-

ing the euro currency, onSaturday formally took thehelm as Italy’s premier, aftercrafting a government that bal-ances economic experts andother technocrats with careerpoliticians from across thespectrum to guide the pan-demic-devastated nationtoward recovery.

Ending weeks of politicalcrisis, Draghi and his Cabinetministers took their oaths ofoffice in a ceremony at the

Quirinal presidential palace infront of President SergioMattarella. It was Mattarellawho tasked Draghi, a formerchief of the European CentralBank as well as of Italy’s centralbank, with trying to form agovernment up to managingthe Covid-19 health, econom-ic and social crises.

Perhaps in a sign of Draghi’sintent to get quickly to work inhealing Italy, the swearing-inceremony began three minutesearly. In deference to coron-avirus precautions, all partici-pants in the ceremony weremasked, and a palace aide pro-vided each minister with a fresh

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The FM added that Rahul did not tell theHouse why Congress Governments inRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarhdid not waive farm loans promised in their man-ifesto.

Sitharaman further said the Congress leaderdid not talk about the farmers issue in Punjabwhere the Congress is in power and the stepsbeing taken by the Government with regard tostubble burning.

He also did not refer to any clause in threefarm laws which was against the farmers, shesaid.

Congress party is only concerned about“hum do, humare do,” Sitharaman said addingthat she expected Rahul to return the land which“Damadji” had taken from farmers at pittance.

“For those who are constantly accusing usof dealing with cronies PM SVANidhi doesn’tgo to cronies. Damads get land in States whichwere governed by some parties in Rajasthan,Haryana once upon a time,” she said.

The Finance Minister said the Congressleader did not say anything about the statementof former Prime Minister Manmohan Singhwho had advocated reform of the AgricultureProduce Marketing Committees.

The Finance Minister also accused Rahul ofinsulting constitutional authorities recalling theincidence when the Congress leader tore anOrdinance promulgated by its own Governmentled by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Regretting that the Congress has joined thebreak India fringe group and continuously cre-ating false narrative to demean India, she saidsome members have questioned whether allo-cation for minority affairs, allocation for SC &ST has been reduced.

“No, they have not. Total allocation forminority affairs is Rs 4,811 crores in 2021-22which is an 8.6% increase for the Ministry, high-er than actual expenditure,” she asserted.

“This Budget draws from the experience ofthe PM when he was CM - on the ground inGujarat, seen so many revivals happening at atime when the license quota raj was going awaypost-1991 and then based on that experience,commitment to reform was blended into thisBudget,” said Sitharaman.

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“Ten farmers have been granted bail so farand five bail applications have been filed. Priorityis being given to those farmers who are notbooked under Section 307 of the IPC or otherserious offences,” the SKM said in a statementlater.

Ravinder Singh said that the Morcha willprovide Rs 2,000 to every arrested farmer for

spending in the prison canteen. A legal team ofSKM had on Friday visited the Tihar jail where112 farmers were currently lodged, he said.

The union leaders have requested Delhi JalBoard Vice Chairman and senior Aam AadmiParty leader Raghav Chadha to ensure thatfarmers are kept in one jail.

In the statement, the SKM demanded thatits legal panel be allowed to meet the arrestedfarmers without any restrictions and its mon-etary help be disbursed to them.

“The SKM legal panel has strongly con-demned the Delhi government and the policefor issuing notice under section 160 CrPC to thefarmers in order to rope them in false cases,” itstated.

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“However, while appreciating the existenceof the right to peaceful protest against a legis-lation...We have to make it unequivocally clearthat public ways and public spaces cannot beoccupied in such a manner and that too indef-initely,” the top court had said.

The apex court’s verdict had come on a pleaby lawyer Amit Sahni against blockade of a roadin Shaheen Bagh area by those protesting againstthe Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), whichaimed to provide Indian citizenship to perse-cuted minorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan andBangladesh.

It had held that the protest at Shaheen Baghwas a blockage of a public way which causedgrave inconvenience to commuters.

The top court had said such kind of occu-pation of public ways, whether at the site inquestion or anywhere else for protests, is notacceptable and “the administration ought to takeaction to keep the areas clear of encroachmentsor obstructions”.

“Democracy and dissent go hand in hand,but then the demonstrations expressing dissenthave to be in designated places alone,” it had said,adding, “We cannot accept the plea of the appli-cants that an indeterminable number of peoplecan assemble whenever they choose to protest”.

Restrictions were imposed on the KaindiKunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch and the Okhlaunderpass, which were closed on December 15,2019 due to the protests.

Later, due to COVID-19 pandemic, the areawas cleared.

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“This report highlights the link betweenpoverty and impact of road crashes. I urge allState Governments to effectively implement theMotor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 andwork together to mitigate the effects of roadcrashes on poor and disadvantaged sections ofthe population,” Gadkari added.

Following the alarming report, the Centreurged vehicle manufacturers to provide basicsafety features in vehicles at minimum afford-able price.

Gadkari said his Ministry has been takingseveral measures to reduce road accidentdeaths by strengthening what he termed the“4Es” of improving road safety - Engineering,Education, Enforcement and Emergency careservices.

Pointing out that one of the key findings ofthe report is that number of accident deaths isdouble in poor families as compared to richones, Gadkari said that, for the Government,each death is precious, whether it is from a poorfamily or a rich family.

The report also brings out the sharp rural-urban divide and the disproportionate impacton women. The survey shows that the incomedecline for low-income rural households (56 percent) was the most severe compared to low-income urban (29.5 per cent) and high-incomerural households (39.5 per cent). Women borethe burden of crashes across poor and richhouseholds, often taking up extra work, assum-ing greater responsibilities, and performing care-giving activities after a crash.

About 50 per cent of women were severe-ly affected by the decline in their householdincome after a crash. About 40 per cent ofwomen reported a change in their working pat-terns post-crash, while around 11 per centreported taking up extra work to deal with thefinancial crisis.

The study also documented low rates ofaccess to insurance coverage and poor aware-ness related to legal compensation amongtruck drivers. Two-thirds of truck driversinterviewed for the survey were not aware ofthird-party liability insurance. None of the dri-vers had applied for or benefited from cashlesstreatment at hospitals, Solatium Fund for hit andrun cases or ex-gratia schemes.

“Road crashes can have a devastating anddisproportionate impact on the poor, thrustinga family into deep poverty. The World Bank iscommitted to supporting the IndianGovernment in creating safety nets for poorhouseholds to ease their financial burden andhelp them cope with the sudden emergencylinked to road crashes,” said Hartwig.

In addition to the financial losses, the reporthighlights the social impact of road trafficinjuries. About 64 per cent of low-income house-holds reported deterioration in their standardof living (more than twice reported by high-income households), while more than 50 percent reported mental depression post-crash.

“The findings of the report identify the areasthat require immediate improvements such asefforts towards post-crash emergency care andprotocols, insurance and compensation systems.It also presents an opportunity for developmentagencies, policymakers and respective state gov-ernments to prioritize a complete policy over-haul of the existing system and implement sus-tainable solution-oriented, inclusive measuresto improve their performance on road safety,”said Piyush Tewari, CEO and founder ofSaveLIFE Foundation.

&�� 1��*��MADRID (AP): Victòria Martínezcontinues to sign official documentswith the name that she, her partnerand their two daughters ditchedfour years ago. Barring any surpris-es, she expects the Spanish govern-ment to recognize her as Victòria byMay, closing a patience-wearingchapter familiar to transgender peo-ple around the world.

Changing her legal identity at acivil registry office in Barcelona willallow Martínez to update her pass-port and driver’s license and tocarry a health card that correctlystates she is a woman. But theprocess, which the pandemic pro-longed, has been, in her words,“humiliating” — requiring a psychi-atric diagnosis, reports from threedoctors and a court’s approval.

“Did I want to be stigmatized bybeing labeled as crazy? Did I want tovoluntarily apply for a shrink’s reportthat says so, to have a judge decidewhether I can be what I already am?”Martínez, 44, recalls asking herself.“The whole thing has been emo-tionally exhausting.”

A new law proposed by the far-left party in Spain’s coalition gov-ernment would make it easier for res-idents to change genders for officialpurposes. A bill sponsored byEquality Minister Irene Monteroaims to make gender self-determi-nation — no diagnosis, medicaltreatment or judge required — the

norm, with eligibility starting at age16. Nearly 20 countries, eight of themin the European Union, alreadyhave similar laws.

Factions of the Catholic Churchand the far-right have focused theiropposition to the bill on the fact thatit also would allow children under 16to bypass parental objections andseek a judge’s assistance in accessingtreatment for gender dysphoria, themedical term for the psychologicaldistress that results from a conflictbetween an individual’s identity andbirth-assigned sex.

Less expected has been the fierceresistance from some feminists andfrom within Spain’s Socialist-ledgovernment.

“I’m fundamentally worried bythe idea that if gender can be cho-sen with no more than one’s will ordesire, that could put at risk the iden-tity criteria for 47 million Spaniards,”Deputy Prime Minister CarmenCalvo, a veteran Socialist andwomen’s rights advocate, said lastweek.

Opponents argue that allowingpeople to choose their gender even-tually would lead to “erasing” womenfrom the public sphere: if moreSpaniards registered male at birthswitch to female, they say, it wouldskew national statistics and createmore competition among women foreverything from jobs to sports tro-phies.

The divide in Spain mirrors adebate between a branch of feministtheorists and LGBTQ rights move-ments around the globe. At one end,activists often derogatorily referredto as TERFs (trans-exclusionaryradical feminists) posit that theadvancement of transgender rightscould undercut efforts to root outsexism and misogyny by negating theexistence of biological sexes.

The State Federation of Lesbian,Gay, Transgender and Bisexual peo-ple says that if passed in its currentform, the law would help end dis-crimination against transgender peo-ple and leapfrog Spain to theEuropean vanguard of protectingLGBTQ rights.

Montero’s bill nonetheless hasprovoked unusual fury on onlineplatforms, where critics expressalarm over provisions that wouldassign public toilets and prisonsaccording to “registered gender.”Confluencia Feminista, an alliance ofdozens of women’s rights organiza-tions, also has come out against anychanges to Spain’s existing law.

The concern of AlexandraPaniagua, one of the new platform’sactivists, pivots around the idea thatby eliminating the opinions of doc-tors and judges, state-subsidizedhormones and gender reassignmentsurgery would become more avail-able, ultimately “promoting” moredysphoria among young people.

Tokyo: A strong earthquake hit off thecoast of northeastern Japan lateSaturday, shaking Fukushima, Miyagiand other areas, but there was nothreat of a tsunami, officials said.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclearplant, which had meltdowns following amassive quake and tsunami 10 years ago,was checking to see whether there were anyproblems following the magnitude 7.1quake. There were no immediate reportsof irregularities from other nuclear plantsin the area, such as Onagawa or FukushimaDai-ni, government spokespersonKatsunobu Kato told reporters.

There were no immediate reportsof injuries. Tokyo Electric Power Co.Said that some 860,000 homes werewithout power as a result of the quake,according to Kato.

Kato said there was no danger of atsunami from the quake. He said thatsome trains in northeastern Japan hadstopped running, and that other dam-age was still being checked.

Video from public broadcasterNHK TV showed some pieces of abuilding wall had broken off and fall-en to the ground. Items fell off shelvesbecause of the shaking, NHK said.

The Japan Meteorological Agencysaid the quake was centered about 60kilometers (37 miles) beneath the oceanbed.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Sugaheaded into his office immediatelyafter reports of the quake, where a cri-sis center has been set up.

The shaking was felt in Tokyo, tothe southwest.

�What is your role in Kyun Utthe DilChod Aaye?

I play Uday Sahani, a Punjabi whostays with his family in Lahore. He is apassionate hockey player and is aemotional person. He has grown upwithout his mother and his father has beenvery rude to him. But he still manages tokeep everyone happy. He is sensitive andintelligent, but probably less confident thanVashma, his childhood friend andneighbour, who is the only one tounderstand him. �How hard was it to get into the skin ofthe character?

Whenever you play a new character itis definitely hard to get into the skin of thecharacter. You have have to get intocharacter’s boundary. Uday is someonewho doesn’t express much and isemotionally vulnerable. One hasto understand all this and thencultivate a character. I havetaken a lot of workshopsand sittings with thedirector and thewriters. It took me alot of efforts tounderstand hispersonality and gethold on the way heconverses witheveryone. I had tolearn to playhockey as well.�You are alsoshooting for amusic video.How are youj u g g l i n gbetween both?

Yes, I wasshooting amusic video forT-Series. It isalways good towork. I wasshooting back to backwithout sleeping for six days. Wetravelled to Srinagar and shot there in-18°Celsius. It is difficult, but this iswhat I wanted to do in my life. So Ishould not complain and rather enjoywhat I am doing.�What kind of roles attract you?

I like to play characters whichhave a say and give you scope toperform. In my last show ShubhArambh, I played a character whowas stylish and had an attitude, butnow I am playing a completelyopposite character. But having saidthat I make sure that my characterscry. It is not only the females who cry,males can too and we should not bejudging emotions on the basis ofgender. So the characters which areexpressive and have emotions interestme.�A role that comes close to yourheart.

All the characters that Ihave played are close to myheart. I put in a lot of hardwork and efforts in whateverrole I play. I spend so muchtime with every character,hence they all are close tomy heart. But to name oneit will be Atharv Bapat in

Tujhse Hai Raabta. Thereare some roles that earn you

recognition and for me it isAtharv. But having said that all

the characters that I have playedare my babies and I love them all

equally.�You once told me that you wouldwant to see scripts that give enoughexposure to all the characters. Hasanything changed now?

Yes, I like scripts where all thecharacters are given equal

importance. I doubt when only twoactors — a male and femaleprotagonist — pulling the showand the story keeps on revolving

around them. People shouldunderstand the actors who playantagonists are accomplished actorsbecause they convince people thatthey are bad. I don’t think that theIndian audience has stillunderstood that negativecharacters are just actors playingtheir part. But with that being said,if the actors receive hate it meansthat they are doing justice totheir role.

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This is based on true happenings at adowntown LA hotel — the infamous HotelCecil. Behind its doors is a story of over

80 deaths since its inception back in 1924. Drugs,violence, abuse, rape and murders kept this hotelin the news as late as 2013 when a 21-year-oldCanadian student vanished!

The series gives you a background about thishotel, the people living around the 56 blocks—Skid Row— home to over 4000 homelesspeople. People were made to live in theseconditions so that the crime was limited to anarea. And here is hotel in the midst of this all.Infamous because it attracted the wrong kind ofpeople to its fold, infamous because of the deathshere, infamous because its permanent residentswere people who didn’t want to found and live

under the shadows, infamous because of NightStalker’s connections to Hotel Cecil.

And then in 2013 throws more spanners thathad web sleuths question how the police missedvital clues. How the hotel owners were behindher disappearance and all because of a video ofthe girl in the elevator — the last place where shewas seen alive.

The four-part series unfolds in a manner thatis supposed to spook and create fear psychosisin the minds of people due to the shadyhappenings. Unfortunately all it manages to dois evoke a sense of helplessness and sadness ofa young death that could have been avoided withtimely intervention.

The story tells you that just because there areway too many coincidences, the truth was so farremoved from what was suspected — and thatat the end of the day policing should be left tothose who know how to do their job becauseunknowingly one ruined a life from where therewas no coming back.

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It appears we will have yetanother Valentine’s Daywhere love is missing when

movies are concerned even onthe OTT platform. Extremelysad and unfortunate giventhat Hollywood has some ofthe best love stories that makesone’s heart do somersaults.You have got Mail, PrettyWoman, Casablanca are some

of the few movies from a listof hundreds that are ingrainedin our minds and will remainthere forever.

However not all is lost withSquared Love . It has all theingredients of a love story; aCasanova man, a pretty woman,the two meet and that’s it.There is no spark, no chemistrybetween the lead. The story iscliched. The acting is nothingto rave about.

The only thing here thatwill keep one’s interest are thefancy cars and great locales, itis a Polish rom-com. Anotherplus is that it is in English. Thegood part is that the cars andlocales will manage to holdinterest of both girls and boys.Not a bad movie to watch onValentine’s Day. —��

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Over 85 per cent of dis-tricts in Uttarakhand,home to over ninecrore people, arehotspots of extreme

floods and its associated events.According to an analysis by theCouncil on Energy, Environmentand Water (CEEW), frequency andintensity of extreme flood events inthe State have increased four-foldsince 1970. Associated flood eventslike landslides, cloud bursts andglacial lake outbursts have alsoincreased four-fold during this peri-od.

Abinash Mohanty, programmelead at CEEW, tells you that therecent devastating flash flood inUttarakhand is a proof that the cli-mate crisis can no longer be ignored.“In the last 20 years, the State haslost more than 50,000 hectares offorest cover, leading to micro climat-ic changes in the region. This in turnhas triggered a rise in extreme cli-mate events. A focus on land use-based forest restoration could notonly reverse the climate imbalancebut also help promote sustainabletourism in the State. Equally impor-tant would be climate proofing ofinfrastructure, investments, andpolicies,” Mohanty says.

The tragedy in Uttarakhandreiterates the need for detailed dis-trict-level climate risk assessmentsand enhancing adaptive andresilience capacities. With the risingfrequency of extreme climate events,India needs to urgently develop anationwide but decentralised andstructured, real-time digital emer-gency surveillance and manage-ment system.

What happened during theearly hours of February 7, 2021 thathas left 26 dead and 171 missing?

Dr Mohd Farooq Azam, assis-tant professor, Glaciology &Hydrology, IIT Indore tells youthat the earlier observation made bythe team that he is a part of, has tobe revisited.

“What took place is far more

complex; it was a combination oflandslide and ice avalanche on ahanging glacier. This brought downa lot of debris with it. This kind ofphenomenon is commonplace andhappens on a small scale. Ourteam, composed of two dozen sci-entists from across the globe, to ourbest understanding have an expla-nation; it is the failure of a bedrockof a hanging glacier. At present, itis too early to predict how that watercame to be inside the glacier,” Azamsays.

He tells you that the source ofthe water of this flash flood that car-ried with it lots of debris had a con-centrated mixture of everything.“Where this water came from can’tbe ascertained for now. There wasfriction and due to the heat pro-duced the ice melted and mass of itfell from 5,000-6,000 feet. But webelieve that there is another reasonfor this water,” Azam and his teammembers opine.

Even though this slide hap-pened on a hanging glacier, notuncommon, there are reasons to beworried. With global warming andclimate change, such events willincrease even though it is a natur-al phenomenon. Snow accumulat-ing at high altitude, after a periodof time becomes too heavy to holdand it comes down in the form ofsnow avalanche. Global warmingmakes such occurrences frequent.Second, it is worrisome for peopleliving at high attitudes.

“There are settlements belowhanging glaciers, below water bod-ies, glacier lakes and below steepslopes that are unstable. We have tothink of ways to mitigate disastersfrom taking place. We have hadmany wake-up calls in the past, thisis yet another one,” Azam says.

This means that the develop-ment that is taking place in thisregion needs a fresh pair of eyes.While one can’t turn away from con-struction of roads, there is a sustain-able development that takes intoconsideration the vulnerability of

this region. “Economic growth andenvironment needs to be balancedand worked at with care,” one is told.

Deforestation, Azam says worksin two ways. “When trees are cut,that particular area absorbs moreheat, this is a local phenomenon.When there is local heating, it willdissipate in the environment. Therewill be immediate local effect lead-ing to global warming,” he says.

Other contributors to such dis-asters in the region points to the factthat the Himalayas are young moun-tains and continue to grow. “InDecember 2020, when the height ofMt Everest was taken it has grownby 0.86 metres. There are bound tobe tectonic activities. The possibil-ity of landslides increases even withno global warming. The phenome-na at work here are complex andwork together,” Azam says.

Arun Krishnamurthy ofEnvironmentalist Foundation ofIndia believes that in an era of cli-mate change, abnormal and suddennature events are becoming frequentrather than rare.

“As one of the most vulnerableeco-systems, the Himalayas andthe upper glaciers are threatened.Therefore, more than being worried,one has to be prepared. We have tobe prepared for such an anomaly.We are still unclear on what is instore to even identify the problemto its full extent. Destruction ofhabitats, unplanned urbanisationand exploitation of natural resourcesshould be heavily curtailed to pre-vent the worsening of the situation,”Krishnamurthy says.

According to him, one couldnot have stopped this nor preventfuture occurrences. “The currentemission levels globally do not giveus a sign of recovery. The short livedlockdown restrictions and the ensu-ing industrial normalcy clearly indi-cates that we are not looking at cut-ting down on emissions in a man-ner that would positively impact theclimate,” Krishnamurhty tells you.

According to a report released

by the Ministry of Earth Sciences ,the Hindu Kush Himalayas experi-enced a temperature rise of about1.3°C during 1951-2014. Theincrease in temperature has led tomicro-climatic changes and fasterglacial retreat in Uttarakhand, there-by triggering frequent and recurrentflash floods. In the coming years,this could also impact 32 majorongoing infrastructure projects inthe State.

The CEEW analysis also high-lighted that droughts had increasedtwo-fold in Uttarakhand since 1970and more than 69 per cent of dis-tricts were vulnerable to it.

Dr Anjal Prakash, researchdirector and adjunct associateProfessor at the Indian School ofBusiness, Hyderabad tells you thatthere is no denying that globalwarming has impacted glacier melt-ing according to IPCC SpecialReport on Oceans & Cryosphere in2018. The Himalayan AssessmentReport by International Centre forIntegrated Mountain Developmentin 2019 also corroborated the same.

The IPCC Special Report onOceans & Cryosphere, Chapter 2says: Glacier retreat and permafrostthaw are projected to decrease thestability of mountain slopes andincrease the number and area ofglacier lakes. Resulting landslides,floods, and cascading events, willemerge where there is no record ofprevious events. There is also highconfidence that the number andarea of glacier lakes will continue toincrease in most regions in the com-ing decades and new lakes willdevelop closer to steep and poten-tially unstable mountain walls wherelake outbursts can be more easilytriggered by the impact of land-slides.

“There are a few take aways.These kind of climate-led events willincrease in magnitude and fre-quency. The problem with climate-led events lies in its unpredictabil-ity. All one can say is that the eventwill take place. But when would be

difficult to monitor; the time can’tbe pinpointed. One can say thatcyclones in Odisha will increase butcan’t say when they will occur. Thesame holds true for glaciers,”Prakash says.

The Hindu Kush Himalayashas 54,000-plus glaciers spreadacross eight countries with 10,000-plus in India and 1495 inUttarakhand alone. “However, onlya few are being monitored especial-ly in Nanda Devi region. There isneed for closer monitoring becausesuch events will only rise,” Prakashtells you.

Eastern and Western Himalayasare vulnerable because this moun-tain range are young fold moun-tains. The landforms have not solid-ified. What makes Uttrakhand’sposition more precarious as com-pared to other regions along theHimalayas is the rampant con-struction, population increasing50-fold and 640 km of river flowbeing diverted for more than 70dams.

“One needs a different trajecto-ry of development and understandthe eco-system of the region. Oneis cutting trees to construct hydropower stations. Trees are first line ofdefense against any disaster. Lowermountain regions need to be forest-ed,” Prakash says and cites an exam-ple of a tunnel construction. He tellsyou how a tunneling in Sikkim haddisturbed the flow of a local waterbody. Due to the construction, thestream had started drying up.

“The present nature of con-struction across the country is mas-culine — the need to control andcapture as much as possible — hasto be changed. What is needed is afeminine approach. Go along withNature; work with it. Protect theNature, it will protect you. Lack ofresilience is another cause for thisdisaster. There is need to have aresilient development approach. Allthe planning has to take environ-ment and climate change into con-sideration even before one breaks

the ground. Second, the infrastruc-ture has to be resilient to any disas-ters. The climate in hill regions frag-ile. For every one degree of rise intemperatures in plains, it is equiv-alent to 1.5 degree C rise in themountains due to elevation-depen-dent warming,” Prakash says.

Dr DP Dobhal, former scientistat the Wadia Institute of HimalayanGeology in Dehra Dun corrobateswhat Azam says that says that it wasa snow avalanche that triggered thedisaster on the early morning ofFebraury 7, 2021.

“It brought with it a lot of mar-iane debris downstream causing lossof lives and loss of property that itwas in its path. Since it was a verti-cal fall, the force was high andflowed into the gorge. With it tooktwo hydel power stations as well,”Dobhal explains.

This phenomenon is commonin the region that takes place at over5,000 feet altitude; such hangingglaciers are commonly found at thisheight, near main glaciers.

“Any movement will lead to itsbreakage. The reason for such massdestruction was due to the intensi-ty of the fall. Global warming isleading to glacier melting leading tosmall lake formation. Snow cover isreducing. It is important to look atthe topography and look at the fre-quency of landslides and avalanch-es. Unfortunately, hanging glaciersare difficult to monitor. Every aspectneeds to be looked at before anyconstruction is done,” Dobhal says.

One main reason to be alarmedis that we have lost a source of freshwater. “With such a large chunk ofice breaking away, we should bealarmed, but we can take heart thatevents are rare. There is a possibil-ity that where the breakage hastaken place, the main glacier is thereonly. Next year, when it snows, whatis broken will get replenished evenif it takes time. If the depression isdeep and wide, there is a chance forthis glacier will mend itself over aperiod of time,” Dobhal says.

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Rohit Sharma oozed class with an aestheti-cally pleasing 161 on a challenging track,helping India seize the initiative with a solid

opening day score of 300 for 6 against England inthe second Test here on Saturday.

Ajinkya Rahane looked equally attractive dur-ing his knock of 67 off 149 balls and the twoMumbaikars added 162 runs for the fourth wick-et, making it worth the effort for the 12,000 whoflocked the Chepauk as Indian cricket welcomedits fans back in the stadium amid the Covid-19pandemic.

A score of 350 plus in the first innings will beequivalent to 550 plus on any other track andRishabh Pant’s (33 batting) dangerous presencecould also take India well beyond the magic fig-ure on this track. At stumps, he had debutant AxarPatel (5) for company.

Rohit had scored six Test hundreds prior tothis knock but he will be the first to admit that interms of conditions on offer and the quality ofattack he faced, the seventh one would be at thetop of the list.

On a hot Saturday, Rohit did two things at onego.

Firstly, he put India in a commanding posi-tion on a track which was way more difficult forbatting than he made it look with 18 fours and twosixes in his 231-ball knock.

Secondly, he put all the naysayers in their placeby scoring runs when it mattered the most.

Joe Root was marvellous with his sweep shotduring the first Test but Rohit was simply mag-nificent with his execution on a doubly difficulttrack on which he gave England spinner MoeenAli (26-3-112-3) a lesson in controlled aggression.

The way Rohit put a big front-foot stride out-side the off-stump to sweep deliveries off bothMoeen and Jack Leach (26-2-78-2) will not be for-gotten by all who were fortunate to witness theinnings.

Rohit’s defence was spectacularly solid andoffence as assured as a safe house.

Knowing fully well that the track would startcrumbling with the passage of play, Rohit attackedat the first go, picking 80 runs in the first session,something that will perhaps play the biggest rolein the final context of the game.

It started with a cover drive off Stuart Broadand then there was a pulled six over mid-wicketoff Ben Stokes.

While skipper Virat Kohli (0) was done in by

a classical off-spinner’s delivery from Moeen —flighted outside the off-stump and enticing himto go for a cover drive only to find his defencebreached.

If Rohit played those sweeps in a regal man-ner, Rahane was no less classy in his drives — thefront and back-foot punches off the pacers andthose lovely cut shots off the spinners were delight-ful to watch.

Call it irony, Rahane chose a wrong deliveryfrom Moeen for playing the sweep andwas bowled in the process.

He hit nine boundaries in a half-century that came after a barren runof seven innings. This was after he sur-vived an umpiring howler from Anil Chaudhary.

But then, he was destined to be in Rohit’sshadow on a day when determination became hisprimary capital.

It wasn’t the easiest of conditions but forIndia’s Hit-Man, difficult has always been the easiest route.

�� 5877��

India opener RohitSharma is very clear

in his mind that even aniota of doubt while play-ing the sweep shot on arank turner could lead toinevitable trouble.

With one of the bestexhibitions of sweep shots

played at the Chepauk sinceSachin Tendulkar’s valiant 136against Pakistan in 1999, Rohit hasput his team in a commanding posi-tion on a track that is deterioratingpretty fast.

England know a tough taskawait them in the second Test,which started here on Saturday.

“Before it’s too late, you startdoing what you want to do and youcan’t be tentative. If you want tosweep, you sweep it,” Rohit’s state-ment had a touch of Mexican ban-dit Tuco Ramirez’s famous punchline — “When you have to shoot,shoot, don’t talk” from theHollywood classic ‘The Good TheBad The Ugly’.

Having watched Joe Root slaythe Indian spinners in the first Test,it was like a ready reckoner forRohit, who had prepared well dur-ing the last two training sessions.

“We knew how the pitch wasprepared and we knew that it wouldturn. So we had a good few train-ing sessions before today andtrained according to what were sup-posed to expect today,” he said.

“When you play on turningpitches where you have to be pro-active and you can’t be reactive.Getting on top of the bowler andmaking sure you are ahead of him.Little adjustment based on that.

“If it’s turning, then how muchof it... Things like that before mak-ing decisions on shot selection,” thewhite ball vice-captain said.

Moeen Ali had troubled the

Indian batsmen in the past and forRohit, it was imperative thatEngland’s senior off-spinner need-ed to be swept from the rough tonegate any chance of a leg beforedecision.

“What helped me was prepara-tion I had before the game.Understanding the line that MoeenAli was bowling. He was bowlinginto the rough, so there is a slightchance of getting leg before deci-sion,” he explained.

“Also I saw the deep square legwas pushed back, so even if I top-edged it wouldn’t carry and land insafe place. Those were my ideas andthoughts.”

According to Rohit, sweep is apercentage shot, which takes thecondition of the pitch out of theequation. “Sweep shot is somethingthat you know can frustrate a bowlerif you are playing that very well. Ifyou play that shot, there is not muchthat the bowler can do from there orpitch can do from there.

“It was a percentage shot to playas he was bowling outside off-stump and lbw doesn’t come to play.Only an odd ball he was bowling onthe wicket where I wanted to use my

feet and cover the spin while reach-ing towards the ball.”

In the case of left-arm spinnerJack Leach, it was about presentinga straight bat.

“Leach was bowling stump-to-stump, so it was important that Iplay with the turn. It was importantto play with a straight bat as the turnwas slightly angled. I was makingsure that I push the ball betweencover and point and rotate the strike.

“Once you rotate strike, its noteasy for a bowler to bowl to a dif-ferent batter every time. I wanted tobat as long as possible since the pitchis going to show a lot of wear andtear from days two and three.”

The Hit-Man didn’t want to rateany of his hundreds even though hewould know in his heart that thiswould be the top most among hisseven three-figure marks.

“I am not going to rate any ofmy knocks because every knockcomes under different kind of pres-sure and this came under differentcircumstances.

“I am not the person to rate anyof my knocks. Little disappointed toget out like that but happy that teamis in a good position,” he said.

�� 5877��

Ajinkya Rahane has alwaysmade himself counted

when the team has been intesting situation which is a tes-timony to his class as a bats-man, feels second Test centu-rion Rohit Sharma.

Rohit and vice-captainRahane added 162 runs for thefourth wickets as India scored300 for 6 at stumps on the firstday of the second Test.

“Ajinkya, he is one of ourtop players. He has doneextremely well and playedsome crucial knocks (overthe years). He has time andagain shown that when theteam needs a batsman to standup, he has done that manytimes,” Rohit was all praise forhis fellow Mumbaikar, whoscored 67 on the day.

No doubt their stand wascrucial in the context of thematch and Rohit acknowl-edged that.

“Three wickets had fellbefore lunch and at the timehe came to bat, it was crucialfor us to build a partnership.We have seen many times,when the team need runs, he(Rahane) has shown his bats-manship and made runs indifficult times,” added Rohit.

Rohit was sl ightlyannoyed that there were eventalks about Rahane’s formsince he didn’t get runs inseven successive innings.

“I don’t understand whythese talks take place? But,anyway, his knock was veryimportant for the team atthat point and our partnershipwas also necessary for theteam and we took the team toa comfortable position tilltea, because I believe 350 willbe a good score on this wick-et,” added Rohit.

Rohit expects RishabhPant and Axar Patel to bat aslong as possible.

“We still have four wick-ets left and we hope that the

batsmen who are currentlybatting (Rishabh) Pant andAxar (Patel), make as many

runs because already therough patches have been cre-ated.”

�� 5877��

England spinner Jack Leach, whofound himself at the receiving end

of a third umpiring error on the open-ing day of the second Test, comparedthe DRS to football’s Video AssistantReferee (VAR), saying it is “still contro-versial”.

England were on Saturday left frus-trated and their captain Joe Root miffedafter a blunder by Anil Chaudharydenied them the wicket of India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane after a DRSreview.

“We were trying to get the thirdumpire to roll it through, they werechecking the LBW, we knew that wouldhave been not out. We were just tryingto get them looking at what happenedafter the ball hit the pad.

“It is a bit like the VAR today, stillcontroversial, (but) it is what it is,” Leachtold reporters at the end of the day’s play.

The Decision Review System (DRS)referral, which they had lost afterRahane was adjudged not out by thethird umpire, was later restored toEngland as per ICC playing conditions.

Leach added, “They said they werechecking it, then the LBW picturecame up, we were saying no, no. Wewanted to check the other one. I got theimpression that they hadn’t checked it.

“There is nothing I can do about it,at that time I was angry but to getRahane’s wicket in the next over madethings little easier.”

The incident took place in the 75th

over of the day when a Leach deliverykissed Rahane’s gloves on the way to theforward short-leg fielder Ollie Pope.

As England appealed for a catch offthe gloves, it was turned down by theon-field umpire before Chaudhary alsorejected the review thinking that the ballhad landed outside the leg-stump andthat the visitors had appealed for anLBW.

However, the visitors appeared toclarify that they were appealing for acatch off the glove and not the bat.

Seeing the replays on the big screen,Root was left unimpressed and the skip-per also raised the matter with the on-field umpires. Chaudhary turned downthat too.

Rahane was, however, dismissed byMoeen Ali before he could capitalise onthe lifeline.

On the stumping decision againstRohit Sharma, which also did not go intheir favour, Leach said it was touch andgo.

“Well Ben (Foakes) didn’t say it’sdefinitely out, he wasn’t sure about thatone. And then when we saw, we werehoping... It was touch and go,” he said.

Asked about his thoughts on howthe day panned out, Leach said it wasa hard outing but felt they were still inthe game.

“It was a hard-fought day, we hadto be patient throughout. We got a cou-ple of wickets towards the end and it wasgood. With the new ball tomorrowmorning, we can get a couple of wick-ets quickly and get back.

�� 5877��

The strategy was to makeEngland bowl to India’s

strengths, said home vice-cap-tain Ajinkya Rahane onSaturday, quite pleased thathis and Rohit Sharma’s plan ofusing the sweep shot to goodeffect worked out just as theyhad envisioned on day one ofthe second Test.

Having registered 1 and 0in the series-opener, Rahanefound form with a 67-runknock, while Rohit shone thebrightest among Indians withan effort of 161, which includ-ed some mesmerising stroke-play.

The two added 162 runsfor the fourth wicket.

“We knew that it was goingto turn from day one, obvious-ly (it was) good to win the toss.Rohit said it was important tobe positive on this wicket...Iwanted to be positive, back

myself on this wicket. The keywas to use good footwork,”Rahane said after the openingday’s play.

“We had the strategy (onthe sweep), we did discuss thegame plan on this, and want-ed to make them bowl to ourstrengths, good that the planscame off.

“I thought the first 20-30balls were important. Thenyou get an idea on the pace andthe bounce, you’re never in onthis wicket, so it was importantto be positive,” he added.

At stumps, Rishabh Pantwas batting on 33 and givinghim company at the other endwas debutant Axar Patel on 5.

Rahane felt anything above350 in the first innings on thistrack will be a challenging taskfor the opposition batsmen.

“Another 50-60 runs fromhere will be good, Rishabh isstill there, another partnershipor two will be good,” he said.

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Bangladesh’s spinners sharedthe early wickets to stop

West Indies taking completecontrol of the second andfinal Test on Saturday.

West Indies reached 41-3in its second innings at stumpson day three for a lead of 154runs.

Nkrumah Bonner (8) andnightwatchman JomelWarrican (2) are at the crease.

Offspinner RahkeemCornwall earlier helped WestIndies take a 113-run firstinnings lead, claiming 5-74 asBangladesh was bowled out for296 in reply to West Indies’409. It was Cornwall’s secondfive-for in Test cricket.

“The wicket gave me somebounce, some of the ball spun.I just had to work with that,”Cornwall said.

“I think we are slightly inthe driver’s seat ... We have tobe in a reasonable position at

lunch so that we can set a rea-sonable target for Bangladesh.”

Fast bowlers ShannonGabriel (3-70) and AlzarriJoseph (2-60) also made animpact.

Liton Das was the top-scorer for Bangladesh with 71while Mehidy Hasan, freshfrom his first century in thefirst test, hit 57. MushfiqurRahim contributed 54.

Liton and Mehidy shareda 126-run stand for the sev-enth wicket to reduce thefirst-innings deficit.

Cornwall strengthenedWest Indies’ position by dis-missing both of the overnightbatsmen, Mushfiqur andMohammad Mithun, afterBangladesh resumed on 105-4.

Cornwall had Mithuncaught by captain KraiggBrathwaite on 15. Mushfiqurbrought up his 22nd Test 50,pushing Cornwall’s deliverytoward mid-on for a single.But he was dismissed byCornwall soon after while try-ing to play a reverse sweepshot.

West Indies appeared setfor a big lead but Liton andMehidy resisted.

Liton brought up his sev-enth test 50 with a fierce cutpast point for a boundary, andhas reached 1,000 Test runs in22 matches.

Cornwall broke through

with the wicket of Liton, andBangladesh collapsed after hisdismissal, losing its last fourwickets for 15 runs.

But the spinners broughtthe hosts back on track, bowl-ing with a tight line and length.

Offspinner Nayeem Hasanbroke through in the fourthover, dismissing West Indiescaptain Kraigg Brathwaite (6)after video review.

Offspinner Mehidy Hasanthen spun one sharply toremove Shayne Moseley (7) forhis 100th test wicket. Left-armspinner Taijul Islam grabbedthe wicket of John Campbell,who scored 18 off 48.

“I think if we can dismissthem for 150-200, we can cre-ate the opportunity of winningthe match,” Mehidy Hasansaid.

“Still anything closer to300 will be tougher in (the)fourth innings.”

West Indies won the firstTest by three wickets.

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Red-hot Russians DaniilMedvedev and AndreyRublev moved closer to a

quarter-final showdown withcontrasting wins at theAustralian Open on Saturdaywhile top-10 seeds StefanosTsitsipas and Matteo Berrettiniset up a fourth-round clash.

Rafael Nadal also accelerat-ed his pursuit of a record 21stGrand Slam title with a testingvictory over Cameron Norrie ina battle of the left-handers.

The Spanish second seedhas altered his service motiondue to lower-back tightness,but it didn’t stop him emphati-cally demolishing his first twoopponents in straight sets.Britain’s 69th-ranked Norrieproved a tougher assignment,with Nadal pressed much hard-er before emerging a 7-5, 6-2, 7-5 winner.

Daniil Medvedev overcamebuttock pain and a walk-out byhis coach as he withstood a five-set test from Filip Krajinovic. Thefourth seed blew a two-set leadand needed treatment to his leftglute before finally moving pastthe Serb 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-0and into the fourth round,extending his win streak to 17.

He will play MackenzieMcDonald for a berth in thequarter-finals after the unseed-

ed American cruised past SouthAfrican Lloyd Harris in straightsets.

Medvedev has now gone 17matches unbeaten, dating backto November and includingtitle wins at the Paris 1000, theATP Finals in London and theATP Cup.

Rublev, the seventh seedcontinued his red hot form andcrushed veteran SpaniardFeliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 inone hour and 32 minutes toreach the fourth round.

The Russian plays 24th seedCasper Ruud next and remainson a collision course to meetfourth seed Medvedev with theyoung guns aiming to breaktheir country’s 16-year drought

in Slams. The last Russianman to win a Grand Slam wasMarat Safin at MelbournePark in 2005.

Fifth seed Tsitsipas putfriendship aside to crushMikael Ymer the Swede 6-4,6-1, 6-1 on John Cain Arena.He will now play big-hittingninth seed Matteo Berrettiniwho beat 19th-seeded RussianKaren Khachanov -6(1), 7-6(5), 7-6(5) despite a longmedical timeout.

Casper Ruud became onlythe second Norwegian to makethe last 16 of a Grand Slam,emulating his father Christianwho made the grade at the

Australian Open in 1997.The 22-year-old outlasted

Radu Albot 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 tobook a fourth-round MelbournePark clash with Russian AndreyRublev and said he was proudto match his dad’s achievement.

�� Former world No 1

Karolina Pliskova was docked apoint for smashing her racquetoff the court and then slumpedout of the Australian Open toKarolina Muchova while cur-rent world No 1 Ashleigh Bartymade light work of Russia’sEkaterina Alexandrova.

Croatia’s 28th seed DonnaVekic had a battle on her handsbut got past Kaia Kanepi, who

had beaten defending champi-on Sofia Kenin, 5-7, 7-6 (7/2),6-4.

Barty’s all-round prowessfrustrated the big-hitting 29thseed in the 6-2, 6-4 third-roundclash in an empty MargaretCourt Arena on the first day ofMelbourne’s snap, five-day lock-down. She will face ShelbyRogers in the fourth roundafter the American dispatchedEstonian 21st seed AnettKontaveit 6-4, 6-3.

Frustrated sixth seedPliskova was out of sortsthroughout and fell 7-5, 7-5 inone hour and 54 minutes in theall-Czech third-round clash.

After Pliskova lost a tightfirst set, she took her frustrationout on her racquet which costher a code violation. She thenwalked into the players’ tunnelto inflict further damage, but itwas seen by an official whoinformed chair umpire AlisonHughes resulting in a dockedpoint for a second code viola-tion.

Muchova will play either11th seed Belinda Bencic or18th seed Elise Mertens onMonday for a place in the quar-ter-finals.

Ukraine’s Svitolina made itthree straight-sets wins in asmany matches through the firstweek after a 6-4, 6-0 win over26th seed Yulia Putintseva.

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Liverpool crashed to a dismal3-1 defeat at Leicester to

leave their top four hopes injeopardy after Alisson Becker’slatest blunder sparked a stun-ning collapse from the troubledPremier League champions onSaturday.

Jurgen Klopp’s side endureda third successive defeat toeffectively end any chance ofretaining the title.

The calamitous nature of

Liverpool’s late meltdown rais-es serious questions about theirbid to qualify for next season’sChampions League.

Mohamed Salah had giventhe Reds the lead in the secondhalf at the King Power Stadium.

But James Maddison trig-gered a remarkable burst ofthree goals in seven minutesfrom the hosts.

Maddison’s VAR-assistedequaliser was followed by ahowler from away keeperAlisson, whose miscued clear-

ance was converted by JamieVardy.

It was another miserableafternoon for Alisson followinghis two costly mistakes in lastweekend’s 4-1 defeat againstManchester City.

Harvey Barnes put the sealon Leicester’s superb comeback,leaving fourth placed Liverpoollanguishing 10 points behindleaders City, who have twogames in hand including oneagainst Tottenham later onSaturday.

While Klopp would pri-vately concede that Liverpoolwon’t win the title, it is their topfour place that he will be moreworried about after the Redswere left with just two wins fromtheir last 10 league games.

They could be as low assixth place by Monday if Chelseaand West Ham win their gamesin hand.

Leicester climbed aboveManchester United into secondplace after feasting onLiverpool’s problems.

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Atletico Madrid swerved a second consecutive slip in La Ligaon Saturday by squeezing past Granada 2-1 to move eight points

clear at the top of the table.After drawing at home to Celta Vigo on Monday, Diego

Simeone’s side got back on track with a narrow victory at LosCarmenes, secured by Angel Correa’s fortuitous winner in the sec-ond half.

There was a hint of luck in Granada’s equaliser too, YangelHerrera’s shot deflecting off Marcos Llorente, who had himself put

Atletico in front only three minutes earlier.Suarez had scored in six of the previous seven games but for

once the 34-year-old was not the matchwinner, with Llorente andCorrea — two unsung heroes this season — instead proving thedifference.

Meanwhuile, Celta's first win in seven rounds on Friday lift-ed it into ninth place. Elche was left second-to-last in the rele-gation zone.

Mina opened the scoring in the 45th minute after he receivedan exquisite pass by Nolito, who used a skillful touch to redi-rect a ball from Iago Aspas that left Mina with only the goal-keeper to beat.

�� D�� 2��!�3� � ��Melbourne: Veteran RohanBopanna crashed out of themixed doubles event with astraight-set loss in the openinground to draw curtains on India’scampaign at this year’s AustralianOpen here on Saturday. Bopannaand his Chinese partnerYingying Duan lost 4-6, 4-6 tothe pair of American BethanieMattek-Sands and UnitedKingdom’s Jamie Murray in afirst round match that lasted anhour and three minutes. PTI

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Paddy procurement hasincreased 16 per cent so far

this kharif marketing season at638.57 lakh tonne, valued at Rs1,20,562 crore, amid ongoingfarmers’ protest at borders of thenational capital.

Kharif marketing year startsfrom October. “In the ongoingKharif Marketing Season (KMS)2020-21, Government continuesto procure Kharif 2020-21 cropsat MSP from farmers as perexisting MSP schemes, as wasdone in previous seasons,” an

official statement said.The government has pur-

chased 638.57 lakh tonne tillFebruary 12, up 16.25 per centfrom 549.30 lakh tonne in thecorresponding period of theprevious marketing year.

“About 91.69 lakh farmershave already been benefittedfrom the ongoing KMS procure-ment Operations with MSPvalue of Rs 1,20,562.19 crore,”the statement said.

Out of the total purchase of638.57 lakh tonne, Punjab hascontributed 202.82 lakh tonne.Procurement operations of seed

cotton (Kapas) under MSP aregoing on smoothly across manystates. “Till February 12, a quan-tity of 91,35,211 cotton balesvaluing Rs 26,643.55 crore hasbeen procured benefitting18,90,736 farmers,” it said.

Thousands of farmers, espe-cially from Punjab, Haryana andparts of Uttar Pradesh, areprotesting at Delhi’s bordersfor over two months seekingrepeal of the three new farm leg-islations, introduced by theCentre last year, saying those arepro-corporate and can weakenthe mandi system.

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The University of Oxfordhas launched the first study

to assess the safety and immuneresponses in children andyoung adults of its coronavirusvaccine. The university saidthat previous trials of itsChAdOx1 nCoV-19 jabs,

which are being produced byAstraZeneca and also have atie-up with the Serum Instituteof India, have shown that it issafe, produces strong immunesystem responses and has highefficacy in all adults.

“While most children arerelatively unaffected by coron-avirus and are unlikely to become

unwell with the infection, it isimportant to establish the safetyand immune response to the vac-cine in children and young peo-ple as some children may bene-fit from vaccination,” saidAndrew Pollard, Professor ofPaediatric Infection andImmunity, and Chief Investigatoron the Oxford vaccine trial.

�� 789�)8�5�

The Ministry of SkillDevelopment and

Entrepreneurship on Saturdaysaid it is rolling out theMahatma Gandhi NationalFellowship (MGNF) pro-gramme in all the districts ofthe country.

So far the programmewas working across 69 districts,and the ministry “is nowexpanding MGNF to allremaining districts in the

country,” the ministry saidin a statement.

Fellows under MGNF will

acquire academic expertise andtechnical competency inunderstanding the overall skillecosystem along with beingattached to District SkillCommittees, it added.

The ministry has alsopartnered with Kerala Instituteof Local Administration toconduct capacity building pro-grammes for district officialsfrom Kerala, Tamil Nadu,Puducherry and Lakshadweep.

“Our partnerships goingforward will be more focusedon strengthening the overallquality of skill training. Withthe recent launch of Pradhan

Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana3.0 and today’s academic part-nerships with IIMs, IITs, GIZ-IGVET, KILA under ourSANKALP scheme, togetherwe will empower the districtsensuring demand-drivenskilling,” Skill Developmentand Entrepreneurship MinisterMahendra Nath Pandey said.

SANKALP (SkillsAcquisition and KnowledgeAwareness for Livelihood

Promotion) is a WorldBank loan assisted programmeto strengthen the district skilladministration and the DistrictSkill Committees (DSCs).

New Delhi:Petrol price in Mumbai neared record �95 per litre markon Saturday as its rate as well as diesel prices were hiked for the fifthday in a row. Petrol price was increased by 30 paise per litre and dieselby 36 paise a litre, according to a price notification of state-ownedfuel retailers.This took petrol price to an all-time high of �88.414 alitre in Delhi while diesel rate climbed to �78.74.In Mumbai, petrolprice soared to �94.93 per litre and diesel price jumped to record�85.70 a litre.In 5 days this week, price has gone up by �1.51 per litrefor petrol while diesel rate has risen by �1.56 a litre.The relentlesshike in prices has been criticised by the opposition parties, includ-ing Congress that has demanded an immediate cut in taxes to easethe burden on the common man.

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Facebook’s Oversight Boardhas taken up a new case

related to a user’s post that wasshared from a Punjabi-lan-guage online platform andcontained insinuations againstRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

While the post was initial-ly taken down for violatingFacebook’s community guide-lines, the social media compa-ny later restored the content.

The Oversight Board is anindependent body set up byFacebook last year to look intohate speech and other undesir-able content on the platform.

Previously, the OversightBoard had undertaken fivecases, including one from Indiawherein a user had called forviolence against FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronover a cartoon of Prophet.

In that particular case, theBoard has overturnedFacebook’s decision to removethe content.

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Bhubaneswar:National Aluminium CompanyLimited (NALCO), the Navratna PSU, underMinistry of Mines, Govt. of India and country'sleading manufacturer and exporter of aluminaand aluminium, clocked a net profit of �240 crfor the 3rd quarter ended Dec 2020. The netprofit has jumped by 123% over the previousquarter of current fiscal, which was �107cr.The net profit for the nine months ended Dec2020 has grown more than ten-fold to �364crore as against �35 cr in corresponding peri-od of last year. The total income in Q3 of FY21witnessed substantial growth, clocking �2,415cr compared to �2,137 cr in Q3 of FY20.

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Air India’s regional subsidiary Alliance Air willresume its flight services to Pantnagar, in

Uttarakhand from Delhi via Dehradun fromFebruary 16, the airline has said.

According to the airline, its flight 9I-645 willdepart Delhi at 9.50 am and arrive in Dehradunat 10.55 am, from where it will depart forPantnagar at 11.45 am and arrive there at 12.30pm. The return flight 9I-646 will departPantnagar at 1 pm for Dehradun, where it willarrive at 1.50 pm.

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� How does it feel to be back on TVscreens with the promo film on&Prive HD?

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experience the joy offamily viewing with

these films because thesame film will be showed at

9 pm every day in a week. Hence, itwill be convenient for people to set atime and watch that movie within thatweek. Then the film will change thenext week and people can see anoth-er film in another language and per-haps another genre. It will be excitingand entertaining for the whole fami-ly, that’s the best part of it.� What keeps you so grounded?

It’s the kind of upbringing that Ihave that keeps me grounded. I am anextremely simple person and luckilyI have got a partner who is as simpleas I am. We keep our work out of ourhomes because at the end of the daywe are just husband and wife. Also, thefact that both Rana ji and I are bal-anced about the way that we look atourselves. We don’t give ourselves thatmuch importance. It is just that we area part of a profession that is glam-orous, but otherwise we are simple.� If one talks about Renuka, thereis no way of not talking about HumAapke Hain Koun. Some memoriesfrom the sets of the film?

There are so many memoriesfrom the sets. The whole shooting ofthat film was once in a lifetime expe-rience to get. It’s rare to get produc-ers like Rajshri Productions and direc-

tor like Sooraj Barjatya. I am gratefulto them for casting me in the film andcreating characters that continue tostay with people. I am known as Pooja.I haven’t done too much work inHindi cinema but my calling card isHum Aapke Hain Koun. I owe my suc-cess and popularity to Sooraj ji and thefilm. And of course there are somany things. I remember when wewere shooting Dhik Tana in Ootie andbetween takes we used to play dumbchirades and there was a lot of cama-raderie. The kind of atmosphere yousaw in the film was exactly like we hadon the sets. A lot of credit goes toMadhuri and Salman, they were sodown to earth and respectful toeveryone on the sets. There was a lotto learn from them. We had shot for150 days and through the making ofthe film we had become a really tightunit.� There is always a learning withevery film one does and the charac-ter one plays. What was it withPooja?

With Pooja, what stayed with meis her grace and resilience. She had aclear point of view which was seen inthe way she treated Lallu and Chameliand how she loved them as much as

she loved every other family memberof the family. She was not a doormatby any standards. � How do you see your journey inall these years?

It has been incredible. When Istarted out, I didn’t have any ambi-tions. I never practiced my award win-ning speeches. There was nothing asdramatic. It was a process of learningon the job. I was not formally trainedand yet the amount of love I havereceived over years is overwhelming. � You were also a part of the fan-tastic series What The Folks. Howdid that happen?

It was something that just droppedinto my lap out of the blue. It was thefirst series that I have acted in for adigital platform. I heard of the seriesfrom my close friend DeepikaDeshpande Amin. She was in Season1 and she plays Eisha Chopra’s moth-er. So, when I got the offer for Season2, I was excited to be a part of it. Alsothe character that I was offered to playwas cute. She was a modern motherand had a different relationship withher daughter-in-law. It was refreshingto see such relationships. I enjoyedmyself and that association has beenwonderful.

�What is your latest song about?The song — Jannayak — is on the Late Chief Minister of

Bihar Karpoori Thakurji. He is considered to be a people’s politi-cian. He never took advantage of his position as a politician inhis entire life. I went to his village, spoke to the people thereand felt that there was a need to write a song about his life. Wereleased the song on his birth anniversary this year in Patna. Ilove to talk about people who have contributed to the progressof our country. I felt that his work needed to be introduced tothe youth.�How tough is it to write a song for a particular situation?

The tougher the situation, the easier it is to pen words. Takethe example of this song; in the song I penned the song on thework that Thakurji had done. I just described his work and strungit into a song using my words. This gives a new angle and makesit easy for me to write. But one has to be careful while attempt-ing such songs. I take care that I don’t hurt the sentiments ofpeople who were close to him. Nor belittle the work done bythe person.�How has music impacted your life?

I always wanted to write. I didn’t want to do anything else.I have got so much love here. From the time I came to Mumbaiin 2006, it has totally changed my life. I look at things with aserious outlook. I am a lot more sensitive and emotional.�How much does it help to write when you find a connec-tion with a subject close to your heart?

It is important to find a connection with the subject on whichone is writing. Without this it will not be possible to write. Onehas to find everything there is to know about the subject. Themore you understand, the better you write. The better you write,the better the audience will understand and appreciate your work.�How does this work while writing for Bollywood?

You read the script time and again till you understand thecharacters and the situation which requires the song. In the indiespace, here, you do things for yourself so the artist is more openabout what he wants to say and one can be truer to himself.�Many songs today lack lyrics of yesteryears. Why?

Things keep changing; patterns change. There are manysongs made today that are meaningful and in tune with songsof yesteryears. But the younger generation may not subscribeto them. They are looking for songs that fast-paced and playedin clubs and can be danced on. Times change, tastes change.�Is it important for an artist to do work in the indie spaceand not just bank on Bollywood?

I believe that one should not be dependent on only oneindustry. It is not possible for everyone to hitch a ride on onemedium. Bollywood makes a certain number of films but artistsand talent is huge. Even a boy sitting in a village can record asong and put it up on YouTube. It is important to widen one’sscope. Indie space gives one independence to do work accord-ing to what he wants to do.�What is the scope for lyricists in this space?

There is scope for growth here if one is good. We can endup writing a film, like I am doing at present. When I came intothe industry only a handful of good movies were being made.Today, this number is in hundreds. The more the work thereis, the better it is for lyricists. After all, a singer or composerwon’t write songs, it has to be a lyricist.

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From your living room to office, inyour handbag and in the glovebox ofyour car; and on every journey youcan remember — there has alwaysbeen an omnipresent companion —

your favourite snack. Snacking has always been a part of our

culture. Those hunger pangs before lunch...That little something with chai... And withthe passage of time, we have only addedmore snacking occasions to our busy lives.Can study or work be complete without apack by your side? And what fun is the latestNetflix show if there isn’t something chatpatato match the histrionics on screen!

To speak numbers, all of this translatesinto a snacking industry that’s worth INR 1Billion which continues to expand at scorch-ing double digit growth rates.

The pandemic has only enhanced ourlove for snacks. A recent survey by theFMCG giant Mondelez revealed that 88% ofIndians were snacking more than before thepandemic with a large majority of millennialsand those working extended hours fromhome preferring snacking over meals. Withentertaining also becoming a home-boundactivity, snacks have also proved to be a con-venient and hygienic replacement to a restau-rant starter.

Our fascinating love for snacks hasprompted many surveys and the findings aretelling. When we see a snack, we don’t justsee a packet. We see comfort in that wrapper.We see snack time as our break from the rou-tine. A source of momentary happiness. Wealso see snacks as a complement or substitutefor nourishment. These findings are direct orobvious. And therefore, they are very signifi-cant insights into the changingnature of our lives. Evidently, weexpect a lot more from our snacksthan just flavour!

While our snacking habits mayseem like evolution, our snackingchoices are undergoing a revolution.To someone born in the 80s, snack-ing typically meant munching onchips or namkeen — rememberthat transparent plastic wrapperfilled with salted potato chips orpeanuts or a local mixture? If it was abranded snack picked at a store, it would bePepsico Lays chips or Haldirams Bhujia.

My earliest recollection of the first inno-vation in snacking as a consumer came alongwith the launch of Kurkure back in 1999 — anew flavour and a new form. Unfortunately,very little has changed in offline retail todayas these legacy brands and products continueto dominate shelf space. Retailers have alsomade no effort at innovation or disruptionbut have launched private labels with thesame legacy products.

For the mass-affluent and beyond, food ismore than just nutrition. It’s also a way ofenjoying life, a treat for the senses. But whereis that joy when you get served the same foodagain and again?

It’s only thanks to brave entrepreneurswho have chosen to tread the difficult path ofdisrupting their industry enabled by e-com-merce that we have seen our snack choicesreally explode in the last few years.

�� The evolution of snacking is oddly simi-

lar to the evolution of marriage. For thelongest time, marriage decisions were madebetween a few choices. You made your peacewith that and made it work. But today, youcan swipe right and left, you can date andflirt, you can cohabitate and then eventually

you can choose to settle down with yourchoice. This is precisely how our approach tosnacking has also evolved. Today, we demandand have access to far more choices than everbefore!

As Indians, we started travelling a lotmore in the last decade. And the more wetravelled, we exposed our taste buds to morecuisines. India is home to 4,635 communitiesspread across its geographical expanse andeach region has its own snacking culture andtaste profile. For example, the snacks inKerala have a distinct aroma of coconut oil,those of Punjab and UP are more hearty, themixtures of the East have more jhal (spice)while the Kathiyawadi style is intense in itssweet-savoury combination. In comparison,the snacks of the Chettinad are more mildlyflavoured.

Each of these microcultures also has itsown repertoire of snacks. For example, haveyou tried the Kolhapuri Bhadang that is madein Jaysinghpur of Maharashtra? Or the SatturSev of Tamil Nadu? How about the kachorisof Jamnagar? Or the Bhakarwadi of Pune?That sense of adventure and that joy of tast-ing and liking something new — all thoseexperiences added up to the fun of travellingacross the country. Today, thanks to e-com-merce, all these unique local foods are avail-able to us through a few brands and e-retail-ers who are challenging the status quo foistedupon us by big FMCG companies over theyears.

On a national level, Postcard(www.thePostcard.in) helps in discoveringlocal flavours of snacks, sweets and picklesacross geographies with a promise of authen-ticity, quality and service. There are region-

focussed options such asGujaratisnacks.in (Gujarat),Pettikadai.in/Nativespecial (TamilNadu),Indorinamkeen.com/TasteofIndore etcwhich bring out the specialities of their

respective regions. Consumers too appear to enjoy

this journey of discovering newfoods. It’s not uncommon to hearpeople in Gurgaon talk about how

they enjoy the Bihari thekua as a desicookie. Or consumers in the Guwahati who

are getting to try South Indian flavours likeMurukku, Thattai, etc. Local food discoverieshave become a conversation starter, a badgeof pride for the adventurous and a commonjoy to share within the family.

��Today, health and wellbeing are an

important consideration and this aspect isbeing reflected in snacking choices too. Wesee a wave of snack brands focused on super-foods — from kale-based snacks by GreenSnack Co to the millet based Soulful andHealthy Cravings Co. These brands usesuperfoods as ingredients to create familiarsnacks and flavours with enhanced nutrientprofiles (such as higher fibre). Imagine howcomforting it would be to not feel any pangof guilt while snacking! The challenge ofcourse lies in adoption of new ingredients bythe palate.

Trail Mixes of nuts and seeds are anothersuperfood-packed snack choice. A fewbrands have tried to popularise these optionsalthough they have faced headwinds in viewof the higher price points involved.

Besides superfoods, there is also a trendof clean eating. For the longest time peoplewere unaware of the ingredients going intotheir food choices. But today, we see a lotmore awareness and brands are doing their

best torespond

to this need. Forexample, there is an emphasis on

avoiding the use of colouring addi-tives or preservatives as much as possibleeven though these are permitted by law (withthe necessary safeguards, of course). Smallerlocal brands such as Pure & Sure Phaladahave introduced snacks made with organicingredients!

�� Alongside the typical snack forms of

chips, namkeen and extruded snacks, we seebars emerge as a snack of choice for theyounger generations. The younger generationthat works odd hours or seeks convenienceprefer the range of energy bars while proteinbars are preferred by consumers who seektargetted nutrition.

Energy bars first made an appearance inthe 1960s when the American FMCG giantPillsbury introduced them as “Space FoodSticks” claiming that the bars had a balanceof all nutrients. It has taken the bar form 50years to reach its current popularity.

Bars have caught on in India over the lasttwo to three years. There are a number ofbrands vying for this space with Yoga Barshaving the first mover advantage. Insurgentbrands such as The Whole Truth are success-fully disrupting this space with a disarminglyhonest approach to clean eating with a func-tional focus.

� ��As the pandemic fear recedes and we

emerge into a new normal, it will be interest-ing to see how our snack choices evolve withour lifestyle and the impact of these changeson business. While I’m no soothsayer, hereare three ideas for the common good:● It’s high time that retailers adopted a cus-tomer-centric approach by understandingtheir changing needs and aspirations. Fromfood preferences to food allergies, the Indian

cus-tomer has

distinct needsand these need to

reflect on the shopshelf. For the consumer who

seeks diversity, the shelf must incor-porate local flavours which change in syncwith the seasons. Similarly, the health foodsection must have options for vegans, gluten-allergies, calorie-conscious folks, elders, chil-dren, office-goers etc. The one generic“healthy” option would not cut it. ● With their scale and expertise, the legacyFMCG companies have a responsibility toadapt and assist the ecosystem. There aremany brands with unique food products thatemerge only to fade away due to the lack offinancial or operational muscle-power that iscritical to survive in the offline channel. Cana partnership model evolve between the bigand small that is mutually beneficial?

While the benefits to the small brands areobvious, big brands will also get an insightinto how smaller companies are able to domore with less. We see this happen in thepersonal care space. Take the example of theBombay Shaving Company, a homegrownbrand of mens personal care that hasreceived investment from global FMCGmajors Colgate Palmolive & ReckittBenckiser. It’s time that Indian FMCG brandsentered such partnerships so that new-agecompanies have an option other than VCinvestments. ● Fresh fruit is one of the most under-servedsnack options. It is easily available on streetcorners but hygiene is a concern. Can eitherbrands or retailers work on models thattransform the vending of cut fruit as nutri-tious snacks? That would be a genuinehealthy clean snacking option that benefitscustomers, retailers and farmers.

The beauty about the snacking industryis that there is space for everyone.

Each of us have a few fixed slots forsnacks in our day. And there is a preferenceof a kind of snack for each of those slots.With multiple brands providing accessibleoptions for each of these preferences andslots, we are spoilt for choice. A golden age ofchoice has dawned.

The writer is an entrepreneurin the Indian Food industry and

a local food enthusiast

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In 2005, India facilitated the his-toric Peace Agreement betweenthe Maoists and the Seven PartyAlliance in Nepal, ending adecade-long war waged against

Nepal’s centuries-old monarchy. Adecade and a half later, Nepal andIndia hit the lowest point despite thetwo countries share close socio-cultur-al, political, economic, and strategicties. Similarly, Karan Singh, who hadsuccessfully convinced KingGyanendra to accept the people’sdemand and pave the way for democ-racy in 2006; visit by the ForeignSecretary S. Jaishankar to Kathmanduat the eleventh hour to convince theNepal Government to accommodatethe demands of Madhesis, was termedas the ‘wrong advice.’ What led Nepalto shift from ‘special relations’ withIndia to ‘conditional relations’ andforge strategic ties with China?

Many such questions seek ananswer as one begins to unfurl theRoti-Beti relations between India andNepal amidst ongoing India-Nepalfiasco.

The book entitled The Backfire inNepal: How India Lost Plot to China byUS-based Nepali journalist SanjayUpadhya helps find these answers. Thebook provides a detailed account ofNepal-India relations in the last fifteenyears. In his previous books, Nepal andthe Geo-Strategic Rivalry BetweenChina and India from Routledge in2012, and The Raj Lives: India in Nepalfrom Vitasta in 2008, Upadhya hadcarried ground-breaking works onIndia’s colonial past and its impact onNepal, and Nepal’s geo-strategic loca-tion between two Asian giants. Unlikehis previous research works, TheBackfire in Nepal is a journalisticaccount of Nepal-India relations focus-ing on China’s diplomatic and strategicsuccess in Nepal in recent years.

Divided into seven chapters, thebook provides a timeline of events inIndia-Nepal relations beginning withthe 2006 peace-building process inNepal which was officially overlookedby the United Nations Mission inNepal to facilitate inclusion of the for-mer Maoist fighters into the NepalArmy, their arms surrender and peace-ful conduct of first ConstituentAssembly elections in 2008. In the sec-ond chapter Provisional Posturing, theauthor has beautifully portrayed thefree-Tibet movement of 2008, whichgot China worried as it hosted worldathletes for the Beijing Olympics. Theunconditional support from a newMaoist Prime Minister Pushpa KamalaDahal alias Prachanda in crackingdown on the protesters and arrest ofTibetan refugees amidst global criti-

cism was a beneficial ‘New Nepal’China.

Between 2005 to 2020, Nepal hasforged new transit, trade, security andstrategic ties including Belt and RoadInitiative and first-ever Joint-Militaryexercises with China. Chinese invest-ment in Nepal accounts for more thansixty per cent of the total ForeignDirect Investment in Nepal, which wasonce topped by India until 2014.China’s annual aid to Nepal had alsoreached USD 128 from a meagre USD20-24 million in the past decade. Thenumber of high-level visits from Chinato Nepal including President Xi’s inOctober 2019 amidst border rowbetween India and Nepal overKalapani and Lipulekh, have providedChina with an ultra-edge in the politi-cal and foreign affairs of Nepal. Mostimportantly, the Chinese Ambassadorto Nepal has direct hotlines with the

President, Prime Minister, and Chief ofthe Nepal Army, allowing the formerto make public appearances in theseoffices and advise on administrativeand political matters. Millions of mili-tary assistance from China have helpedBeijing buy diplomatic immunity to itscitizens involved in scamming, phish-ing, and trafficking in Nepal.

While previous administrations inNepal strike a balance between Indiaand China including Prachanda whostood as a staunch critic of allegedIndian ‘expansionism’ since 1950, KPOli has used India’s 2015 unofficialborder blockade to his advantage inevoking ultra-nationalism based onanti-India manoeuvrings. Oli alsoholds India accountable for his ousterin 2016 from the Government, andwith his present tenure, he continuesto be revengeful. Meanwhile, post-December 13 dissolution of the

Parliament, Oli was seen taking amoderate view of India. However, itchanged very soon after he reiteratedKalapani, Lipulekh as Nepalese territo-ries, and relocated Ayodhya in Nepal.

On the other hand, despite a tur-bulent relationship, India’s humanitari-an assistance to Nepal helps ease thetensions. Noteworthy, India was thefirst country to reach on the groundafter a major earthquake had hit Nepalin 2015. India has also supplied a mil-lion doses of Covid-19 vaccine andother medical assistance includingmedicines, ambulances, and medicalappliances. However, India continuesto misread Nepal’s political develop-ments.

Prime Minister Modi’s 2014 visitafter seventeen years gap by an IndianPrime Minister to Nepal helped India“dispel many traditional Nepalese mis-givings about India policy”, but the

hidden push for a Hindu Rashtra inNepal backfired on India. India cannotdeny that its shortfalls are due toshort-sighted strategic interests andlack of promised deliveries to Nepal.For instance, in 2016, the EminentPersons Group (EPG) was formed torevise the 1950 Treaty and smoothenborder management. Still, five yearssince its formation, the final report ofthe EPG continues to dust in thePrime Minister’s Office. Nepal alsowaits for India to exchange the demon-etised Indian currency stuck with theNepal Rashtra Bank.

In contrast, the “Chinese haveacted purely on national interest”.There has been no compromise onChina’s security concerns loomingfrom a critical border between Tibetand Nepal. From cracking down the2008 free-Tibet movement to the sign-ing of Mutual Assistance Treaty inCriminal Matters in 2019, and Nepal’sunequivocal support to ‘One ChinaPolicy’, China has shown an uncom-promised bargain in Nepal. On theother hand, India continues to misreadhow Beijing sees Nepal — both interms of China’s visions of the past andthe future. This complicates the coretrilateral challenge: ensuring thatNepal is not sucked deeper into theSino-Indian vortex, only to be scornedfor aggravating the Asian giants’ rivalry.

As the events unfold between Indiaand Nepal, the book could not havebeen timelier. The book becomes amust-read for policymakers, journal-ists, researchers intending to knowrecent developments in India-Nepalrelations as it covers history and themost recent events. That said, the bookfalls short on the analytical front. Theauthor has also avoided dealing withdates which makes the reader seek dig-ital support that breaks the rhythm.Overall, unlike history books, thebooks’ language keeps the momentumfor a reader until a few scattered pagesof the last chapter: All in Mind, oftenrepeating the arguments. The book ispocket friendly and most recentadditions to the literature in India-Nepal relations with a focus on Chinafactor.

The reviewer is ICSSR DoctoralFellow, School of International Studies,

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)

Bani Basu’s Shwet Patharer Thala (APlate of White Marble) has in itsthree decades since publication got

deeply embedded within the Bengalireader’s psyche. One would like to thinkthat books such as this, a story of theyoung widow Bandana, in post-indepen-dence Calcutta, and her relentless battlesagainst orthodoxy, where a son and alover play nuanced and memorableroles, fortify the winds of liberalismwhich are on retreat in our troubledtimes.

So it is definitely good news that thismuch-admired novel has now beenmade available to readers in English in apitch-perfect translation by NandiniGuha. Many who would have beenintroduced to this story through themovie featuring a sterling performanceby Aparna Sen as the widowed Bandana,would nonetheless do well to read thebook because the layers of the story withits depths and nuances are not alwayscaptured in the language of celluloid.

Bandana is married to the elder sonAbhimanyu of the well-to-doBhattacharjee family of Shyambazar innorth Kolkata but early in the plot thehusband dies of heart attack. It is inter-esting to note that in the movie it is a caraccident which kills him and there areother such departures from Basu’s origi-nal plot. Immediately after the husband’sdeath the weight of patriarchy, personi-fied here by the father-in-law and theacquiescing members of the joint familyof her in-laws, come to bear upon her.Bandana is pushed into a life of forcedausterity and abnegation where she hasto wear white saris, live like an asceticand have frugal meals on the floor froma plate of white marble.

The customs of this prejudicedhousehold are revealed at the beginningwhen the author writes, ‘The men of thehouse, the ruler class that is, did not

have to bother about any restriction.They were reserved for the women andwomen alone.’

The first knock on the edifice ofthis stultifying tradition comes fromher son Abhiroop, still a child, whosuffers convulsions and the doctormakes it clear that his mother’s suddentransformation into a white-sari cladascetic is the cause. Despite their reluc-tance, her in-laws have to relent andmake some concessions in allowing herto wear a coloured sari but soon newsituations bring the clash with ortho-doxy out in the open.

In the carefully woven plot appearother characters like Mili and Koli, twosisters-in-law of which the formerbecomes a conduit for the widow’soppression while Koli is more of a confi-

dante who eventually raises her voice inBandana’s support. But there is no easyresolution of Bandana’s woes at her in-laws’ till the appearance of an uncle, thenomad-like Somnath babu, who takesher away from the Bhattacharjees.

Still, back at her own home, thingswon’t be easy as with the kindly uncle’spassing and Abhiroop’s coming of age,new tensions begin to simmer whichmight very well tear her apart. Bani Basudevelops her characters with love and akind of academic rigour which wouldappeal to students of literature whilepleasing the seeker of a good story. It isalso not difficult to draw a line connect-ing Tagore’s powerful protagonist Mrinalof Streer Patra (A Wife’s Letter),Saratchandra’s equally uncompromisingheroine Kamal in Sesh Prosno (The Final

Question) and the nonconformistBandana of this novel, and examine howthese portraits of liberated womenreflect each other across the corridors ofBengali fiction.

Calcutta, from the decaying splen-dour of the ‘north’ to a ‘south’ ofHindustani classical music concerts andbusy flowing streets is also a character inthe background of this finely craftednovel and often you want to linger andenjoy the passing scenery — the passageof time itself, as the river of the narrativedraws you along:

‘The concert came to an end afterthe Bhairavi Thumri. It was past mid-night. The roads were empty but well-Iit.The sky above was full of stars. Bandanahad never seen Kolkata looking so beau-tiful. The huge silhouette of the Victoria

Memorial could be seen like some mys-terious, celestial presence in the dis-tance.’

But most of all you read this book tomarvel at the many roles a strongwoman like Bandana plays as she jugglesbetween mother, daughter-in-law,oppressed widow, and finally an emo-tional connect with her son’s art teacherSudipto Sarkar. Which of these willredeem which will break her apart or isit some totally new calling, a wider streetthat will finally let her discover herselfbehind many masks? This engagingnovel has some answers which speak toour time as it did to the one it so bril-liantly evokes.

The writer is the author of TheButterfly Effect (Niyogi) and other works

of fiction and translation

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:��;�� ;�� Xinjiang has become an

Achilles hill for China.The indigenous Uighur peopleof this western province, thelargest of the administrativeregions of the People’s Republicof China (PRC), have had thehistory of discord with theauthorities in Beijing as thestrategically located Xinjiangborders with eight countries -Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,Afghanistan, Pakistan andIndia.

Uighurs are the Turkic-speaking Muslims and Islam isan important part of their lifeand identity. Importantly, theyregard themselves as cultural-ly and ethnically closer to thepeople of Central Asia than thepeople of mainland China andare one of largely persecutedMuslim minorities in Xinjiang,including Kazakhs, Uzbeks,Kyrgyz, and Hui. Thoughadministratively, the region,known as Xinjiang UighurAutonomous Region (XUAR),is autonomous like the TibetAutonomous Region (TAR), itsadministrative control is pure-ly in the hands of the CentralGovernment. There are Uighurminorities also in China’sneighbouring countries such asUzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan andKazakhstan. And some ofUighurs are living in Australia.

The historic ties betweenXinjiang and Beijing have beentroublesome since the begin-ning of its accession to thePRC. The region had inter-mittent autonomy and occa-sional independence before itbecame an integral part ofChina in 1949. However, anEast Turkistan State wasdeclared before 1949, but itcould not sustain and finally,the region had to be mergedwith the PRC, then under theiron rule of legendary MaoZedong. But then a major fil-lip to the separatist movementcame after the breakdown ofthe Union of Soviet SocialistRepublics (USSR) in the 1990s.

Also, these movementsreceived an indirect supportfrom the rise of independentMuslim States across theCentral Asian region. Withmassive crackdown from theChinese State, the separatistmovement and its leaders couldhardly make an impact on thestatus of the province.

Why the XUAR is againturning into a boiling point forChina?

Today, the Chinese state isall out to prevent the growth of

Islamic terror in this restiveprovince. In the name of fight-ing terror, the CommunistState is creating complete para-noia among the locals. Butmany say that the ethnic ten-sion brewing in Xinjiang is dueto economic and cultural fac-tors long aided by the author-ities in the mainland.

The gargantuan develop-ment projects propelled byBeijing, both to eradicatepoverty and to attract huge for-eign direct investment (FDI),have brought a bunch of youngand technically qualified Hanmigrants from eastern parts ofChina to the XUAR. And thecentral administrative author-ities have specifically promot-ed the Hans so as to attractmore of them to the Xinjiangprovince. This has fast changedthe demographic scenario ofthe region. At the same time,the commercial and culturalactivities of the Uighurs havebeen systematically curtailed bythe Chinese State. This hasfuelled tension between thelocal Uighurs and the Hanmigrants. Further the author-ities have gradually increasedsurveillance and control overreligious activities by imposingdraconian restrictions on

Islamic practices like fewermosques and religious schools.Even the Government depart-ments in Xinjiang have bannedthe Muslim civil servants fromobserving fasting duringRamzan. A report published bythe Amnesty International stat-ed that the authorities crimi-nalised what they labelled “ille-gal religious” and “separatistactivities” and clamped downon “peaceful expressions ofcultural identity”.

This aptly demonstrateshow Beijing has come up withsevere measures both to controlthe assertion of the Uighuridentity and to change thedemographic structure of theprovince.

With the coming of XiJinping to power in 2012, thestate agencies in connivancewith Chinese CommunistParty (CCP) officials are fastmaking the province a fortress.In this process, the centralgovernment is making severalvocational training centres inthe name of maintaining skilledworkshops for the localUighurs. But many activistsacross the globe say these arelike concentration camps fortorturing the Uighurs and pun-ishing the erring elements.

And China, denies all such alle-gations raised either by foreigngovernments or prominenthuman rights groups. Chinahas often blamed the EastTurkestan Islamic Movement(ETIM) and its followers for allsorts of violence and sepa-ratist activities carried out bothin Xinjiang and in other partsof China. In 2013, a carploughed into a crowd andburst into flames in the historicTiananmen Square in Beijing.Even incidents of mass stab-bing in Kunming and YunnanProvince in the past accompa-nied by killing of dozens bysuspected Uighur separatistsand their agents have alertedBeijing to spread a reign of ter-ror over Xinjiang.

In fact, the separatists’killing spree has spilled out ofXinjiang today. And this hasfast becoming a serious con-cern for both the CCP and theChinese state.

Therefore, this provinceof China is on the top agendaof both the domestic and for-eign security agencies. Thereasons are: first, the constantresistance coming from thelocal Uighurs; second, Islamicextremism that is gainingground around the region;

third, stability in the region iscritical to the safe rolling out ofthe signature project of Xi’sprestigious Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI) or One BeltOne Road (OBOR); strategiccrossroad for trade and invest-ment in Central and SouthAsia, West Asia and further toentire Europe.

However, much more thanall these, at the moment andeven for future, Xinjiang is sit-uated on the border areas ofIndia’s Ladakh region. Theeastern part of Ladakh becamea disputed area between bothIndia and China since theoccupation of Aksai Chin in1962 by the latter. And today,India’s border conflict withChina that has been continu-ing in eastern Ladakh almostfor a year has made the XUARmore strategically important,than the TAR, for Beijing.

So from this, it can safelybe said that the political boss-es in the Communist Party maytighten the security and mobil-ity of people in Xinjiang morethan ever.

Interestingly, China hasbeen trying to impose strictsecurity control acrossXinjiang. Since 2016, ChenQuanguo, the Party Secretary

for the XUAR, has dramatical-ly enhanced the security appa-ratus of the province.

There has been a wide-ranging international cam-paign against Beijing for mas-sive violations of human rightsof the Uighur Muslims in thiswestern province. Washingtonhas officially declared thatChina is committing genocideand crime against humanity onthe Uighur Muslims.

Just before Joe Biden tookup the reins of the Presidentialoffice, then Secretary of StateMike Pompeo said, “This geno-cide is going on…and we arewitnessing the systematicattempt to destroy Uighurs bythe Chinese Party State. Sinceat least March 2017, the localauthorities dramatically esca-lated their decades long cam-paign of repression againstUighur Muslims and mem-bers of other ethnic and reli-gious minority groups, includ-ing ethnic Kazakhs and ethnicKyrgyz.”

The veracity and the scaleof these intensive atrocitieshave confirmed as reported bythe locals and some of theresearch organisations of glob-al repute. In a report called“Sterilizations, IUDs, and

Mandatory Birth Control: TheCCP’s Campaign to SuppressUighur Birth Rates in Xinjiang”released by the JamestownFoundation, based inWashington in June 2020, says,“Natural population growth inXinjiang has declined dramat-ically; growth rates fell by 84per cent in the two largestUighur prefectures between2015 and 2018 and declinedfurther in several minorityregions in 2019. In 2020, oneUighur region set an unprece-dented near-zero birth-ratetarget: a mere 1.05 per mile,compared to 19.66 per mile in2018. This was intended to beachieved through family plan-ning work.”

It has been found thatintrauterine contraceptivedevices (IUD), sterilisationsand forced family separationscame into force since a sweep-ing crackdown started in theregion in the later part of 2016.

Thus, Xinjiang has becomea draconian police state. Thelocal witnesses account ofintrusive state interference ofthe state into the reproductiveautonomy of the Uighurs andother minority groups in theXUAR. And this kind of a prac-tice has become ubiquitousacross the region. The Uighursfeel that one fine day all will beexterminated from their home-land.

Recently, a legal opinionhas been published in Britain.And it has also clearly claimedthat Beijing is carrying out thecrime of genocide against theUighur Muslim people. Thusinternational pressure ismounting against China today.Will Xi regime listen to allthese? Of course not, for now.However, the best such con-certed effort must come frominternational organisationssuch as the UN, top humanrights agencies and all the bigWestern nations.

China’s growth is not detri-mental to the global economy,but it must be ensured that itstays in the international arenaa law-abiding nation. TheUighurs must be saved fromphysical elimination at best bythe Chinese state. They allhave the right to live the waythey want. Their basic rightsand freedoms must be restoredand respected by Beijing. Elsemore resistance will grow forsure from the Uighur commu-nity.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

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��G��* ��>��Muslims’ political behav-

iour varies across India. Itcustomarily consolidates itselfwith the “secular” parties wher-ever the political race is direct-ly between the secular andnon-secular narratives.However, in States with moremultifaceted political compe-tition, they appear dividedamong political parties for avariety of local or class interests.

As far as the Muslims ofWest Bengal are concerned,they have always played aninstrumental and significantrole as voters. The Congress,the Communist parties and theTMC have always earned con-siderable political and uprightsupport of Muslims.

Since Muslims’ conditionwas quite backward economi-cally, politically and educa-tionally, they expected consid-erable sustenance from theestablishment of all time.

According to the SacharCommittee report in 2006 onthe social, economic and edu-cational status of Muslims inthe country Bengal was placedin the category of “worst” per-forming States. Muslims arelargely deprived of the processof economic development andits benefits.

Furthermore, according tothe post-Sachar EvaluationCommittee Report, Muslimsare lagging behind theScheduled Castes and the

Scheduled Tribes in all spheresof developmental programmes.

In fact, both theCommunists and the TMC,though hesitantly and mutely,tried to work on the Muslim’supliftment to some extent so asnot to be accused of “Muslimappeasement” from theOpposition like the BJP, etc.The minority upliftment pro-grammes for the betterment of

the minorities either in Bengalor anywhere else in the coun-try, initiated by any ruling par-ties, have been termed asMuslim appeasement.

For the deteriorated con-dition of Muslims not only inBengal but also in other Statesappears to be the lack of unityand cohesion in its leadership.Furthermore, the personalrivalry or disputes, division

among themselves due to per-sonal and political interestshave resulted in creating anatmosphere of fear amongMuslims that paved the way forthe political parties to treatthem as mere vote bank.

In the present scenario,the proliferation of Muslimparties in Bengal politics is cer-tainly going to make Muslimsprone to be used as vote banks

once again as AsaduddinOwaisi and prominent BengaliMuslim leader Abbas Siddiquihave established an under-standing to go together in theState elections.

It is noteworthy that theMuslim vote bank played aninstrumental role in the land-slide victory of MamataBanerjee over the CPI(M)-ledLeft Front.

The entry of the damaging-duo Owaisi and Abbas Siddiquiwill surely create confusionamong Muslim voters whohave significant influence onnear about 100-110 seatstogether in the State. Mostextensive districts areMurshidabad, Malda, Birbhum,24 Parganas, Dinajpur,Bardawan and Nadia.

This is worth noting thatNadia is the place chosen by theBJP to launch its StatewideRath Yatra to gather public sup-port. They perhaps know theimportance of the regionswhere minority votes can sub-stantially help Mamata’s TMC.

Muslims constitute 27 percent of the population in theState and division of Muslimvotes will consequently help theBJP. On the other hand,AIMIM’s aggressive minoritypolitics will certainly suit theBJP’s aggressive Hindutva nar-rative. This is why some so-called secular parties accuseOwaisi of being “agent of BJP”and “vote katua”. The presenceof the damaging-duo is morelikely to prove the politicalstrategist Prashant Kishore’santicipation wrong where hestrongly emphasised to retrainthe BJP to less than three-digitnumbers.

Bengal had been a verysensitive region for communalviolence but no major com-munal violence has been

reported after Independence.The two-and-a-half croreMuslims of West Bengal, whoseancestors happily rejected twonations theory and chose to livein India, have equally andadmirably contributed tonation building.

Therefore, it is the pru-dential and democratic respon-sibility of every ruling party, beit in the State or at the Centre,to ensure the safety and secu-rity of the Muslims of theState, as they have been doingfor so long. Owaisi’s foray, firstin Maharashtra, then Biharand now in Bengal, has worriedthe Opposition heavily as hepaved the way for the BJP bydividing minority votes inMaharashtra and Bihar.

On the other hand, quittingthe AIMIM to join the TMC,Sheik Abdul Kalam, formerWest Bengal acting president ofAIMIM, shows the beginningof the confusions amongMuslims of Bengal.

This is just the beginning.In fact, Bengal is most likely towitness a fierce battle in theAssembly elections due inApril-May 2021. Additionally,Muslim votes will certainly bedecisive in the formation ofGovernment in West Bengal.

(The writer is a facultymember of King Abdul AzizUniversity, Jeddah, SaudiArabia)

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So long as the indwelling soul isthere, one is alive. And, whenwithdrawn, the gross body turns

into a dead matter. Here again, mindand the element of consciousness shallnot be outplaying in full strength, norwould it be possible to effortlessly fol-low the process.

Accordingly, it would, be desirableto subject oneself to Yoga-asana, whichis a set of physical exercises set in tunewith breathing cycle, as laid down bysage Patanjali. Following the process,through regulated body movementsand increased supply of oxygen, thejoints remain supple, softness of mus-cles is secured, bodily agility gets tonedup, and one remains physically fit. Theprocess, however, should not be pur-sued unguided. For, only a trainedexpert would know as to what exerciseswould suit the individual, based onone’s individualistic health vulnerabili-ties. Unguided, it could have adversebearing on one’s health mechanism.

Next in line comes Pranayama,preparatory to dhyana. Pranayama, inapparent terms seems to be just abreath regulating exercise, but actuallyit is more than that. Our breath cycle

holds the key to healthy living andlongevity. For, it does not simply bringin fresh oxygen supply. At subtle level itcarries life forces (Prana as is termed inIndian context). So long as we arebreathing, we are in receipt of life forcesthat keep us alive, animate all ourdynamic functionalities, including ourbody organs, which, when stops, thegross body becomes a dead matter. Theway we breathe defines the quality ofour bodily and mental health as well astheir agility, and hence the need forcorrect breathing.

Pursuing Pranayama process, itbecomes possible to slow down thebreathing cycle. Consequently, in thefirst place, the ageing process getsretarded. For, as many times the breathcount comes down, the run of vitalinternal organs do also get correspond-ingly get reduced, as they are tuned tothe breath cycle. This way the runningtime of the vital organs comes down,and thereby their servicing abilitiesincrease in terms of time frame, with-out compromising with the oxygenintake level, vital to a healthy living.The beauty of the process is that ithelps augmenting oxygenation of the

brain, thus, vitalising its dynamism fur-ther.

It will not be out of place to men-tion here that an elephant supposedlybreathes 10 to 12 times a minute, andlives for around 100 years. A tortoise isbelieved to breathe 3 to 4 times aminute and survives up to 300 years.But a dog which keeps breathing brisklyhas an average life of around 12 yearsonly. So, as we slow down our breathingcycle, our aging process slows down,and lifespan would expand.

Breathing cycle relates to our stateof mind as well. It will be interesting tonote here that a human being ordinarilybreathes 18 counts per minute. Butwhen in an agitated state, the breathcount goes up to somewhere between30 and 36. So, by reducing our breathcount, even the mental agitation getscalmed down.

Pranayama too, is a delicateprocess, not difficult though. Therefore,the process needs to be pursued underguidance of a trained expert. Theprocess as such is not being discussed,as it should be learnt from a trainedexpert. But in a passing reference, itneeds to be mentioned here that the

process involves holding the breath fora while (Kumbhaka as is termed inIndian terminology) in between everyinhalation and exhalation. One is sup-posed to dwell on space in between theinhalation and exhalation. For, thisspace is at rest. Not simply that, one’sattention is straightaway on the elementof consciousness available there. So,dwelling on this space, for a smallstretch of time though, but it virtuallyputs us in a state of meditation. As oneprogresses in the process, one has directrealisation of the life forces driving us.In this sense, pranayama can be said tobe the beginning of meditation process.

Following the above two processes— Asana and Pranayama — helpensure body-mind coordination, apartfrom toning up the body, mind, as wellas nerves. This is vital for proper func-tioning of our internal communicationmechanism. With this, the third andfourth steps of eightfold path get cov-ered, and the ground is now laid downfor pursuing the dhyana process proper.

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