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News Brief

VOL. 54 * NO. 135 * AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY * 2/12/2020

Gujarat slashes RT-PCRtest price to Rs 800

Gandhinagar,Following examples of Rajasthan and Delhi, the

Gujarat government on Tuesday slashed the costof RT-PCR tests for coronavirus at private laborato-ries from Rs 1,500 to Rs 800 each.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said the deci-sion will be effective from Tuesday itself. He said thatdue to the prevailing coronavirus situation in thestate, a core group meeting headed by Chief Min-ister Vijay Rupani decided to slash the cost of Re-verse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests in private laboratories.

"Earlier, there was limited supply of RT-PCR kitsbut now these are available due to increased pro-duction; hence the decision."

The Minister said that such tests at homes ofthose who wanted to get tested will cost Rs 1,100each. Gujarat reported 1,502 new coronavirus caseson Monday, taking its tally to 2,09,780. The deathtoll increased to 3,989. In November, 36,836 newcases were registered.

New Delhi, The Indian Railways has

got all the requisite wildlife,forestry and coastal regula-tion zone clearances inGujarat and Maharashtra forthe 508-km Ahmedabad-Mumbai High Speed RailCorridor, officials said onTuesday.

Addressing a virtualpress conference here, Rail-way Board Chairman andCEO, V.K. Yadav said, "Requi-site Wildlife, Forestry andCoastal Regulation Zoneclearances in the state ofGujarat and Maharashtrahave been obtained." Hesaid that out of 1,651 utili-ties, 1,070 have been shiftedfor the High Speed TrainCorridor. Yadav further saidthat railways have got 67per cent of the land requiredfor the Bullet train project.Giving the break up of landacquired in Gujarat, he said,825 hectare out of 956 hect-

Rlys got environmental clearancesfor Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet train

are have been acquired,which is 86 per cent.

While in Maharashtra,the 97 hectare out of the432 hectare of land hasbeen acquired, which is only22 per cent of the total landrequired and seven hectareout of eight hectare land hasbeen acquired in Dadra andNagar Haveli, Yadav said.Yadav further said that rail-ways has floated the tendersworth Rs 32,000 crore inGujarat for the ambitiousproject covering 325 kmlength of viaduct and fivestations.

Prime Minister NarendraModi and the then Japan'sPremier Shinzo Abe had onSeptember 14, 2017 laid thefoundation stone for theambitious Rs 1.08 lakh crore($17 billion) project.

The initial deadline tocomplete the ambitiousproject was December 2023.The bullet trains are ex-

pected to run at 350 km perhour covering the 508-kmstretch in about two hours.In comparison, trains cur-rently plying on the routetake over seven hours totravel the distance, whereasflights take about an hour.Commenting on theprogress of the DedicatedFreight Corridor, Yadav saidthat by June 2022 the DFCwill be complete.

The DFC is one of thelargest rail infrastructureprojects undertaken by thegovernment. The overallcost is pegged at Rs 81,459crore. DFCCIL has been setup as a special purpose ve-hicle to undertake planning,development, mobilisationof financial resources, con-struction, maintenance andoperation of the DedicatedFreight Corridors.

In the first phase, theorganisation is constructingthe Western DFC (1,504

route km) and Eastern DFC(1,856 route km) spanning atotal length of 3,360 routekm. Yadav said that in theEDFC the 353 km longKhurja-Bhaupur section isreaduy for commissioningwhile 48 km-long Khurja-Dadri section will be readyby June 2021, 401 km-longLudhiana-Khurja sectionand 402 km-long Bhaupur-Deen Dayal Upadhyay sec-tion will be ready by June2022 and 137 km long DeenDayal Upadhyay-Sonnagarsection will be ready by De-cember 2021.

He said on the WDFC,the 306 km-long Rewari-Madar section is ready forcommissioning while 335km-long Madar-Palanpursection will be ready byMarch 2021, 122 km-longRewari-Dadri by December2021 and 738 km-longPalanpur-Makarpura-JNPTsection by June 2022.

Meeting between farmers’ leaders, govt inconclusive; next round on Dec 3New Delhi,

The more than three-hour-long dialogue be-tween a group of more than32 farmer union leaders andthe government remainedinconclusive on Tuesday.The fourth round of talkswill be held on Thursday.

The farmers declaredthat they will continue theirprotest and the agitationwill be strengthened day byday until they do not get asolution to their demandsfrom the government.

Farmer leaders, however,said the meeting was peace-ful but the government wasnot ready to repeal its threefarm laws, and proposed toform a committee to studyand clarify law-related mis-conceptions to resolve theongoing deadlock.

Some of the farmersraised the issue that UnionHome Minister Amit Shahand Defence Minister

Rajnath Singh were notpresent in the meeting de-spite the government’spromise that they will bepart of the discussions.

At the end of meeting,which began at VigyanBhawan in Central Delhi,Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar said“The third round of meetinghas ended and the fourthround of meeting will beheld on Thursday (Decem-ber 3).” December 3 is alsothe date that was earlierdecided by the governmentto hold talks with farmers.

Bharatiya Kisan UnionGeneral Secretary (Punjab),Balwant Singh told IANS:“The meeting was inconclu-sive”. Punjab KisanSangathan Treasurer KarnalSingh told IANS that “Theprotest will continue untilthe farmers’ demands arenot met”.

“However, the talks with

the government would con-tinue,” Karnal Singh said.

The government’s pro-posal to form a committeeto study the three conten-tious farms laws was re-jected by the farmer unionsduring the ongoing talkscalled by the AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar on Tuesday to resolvethe issues of agitating farm-ers. Bharatiya Kisan Union(BKU) leader Roop SinghSanna told IANS that thegovernment proposed toform a committee to studyand discuss issues related tothe three farm laws enactedin September during theMonsoon Session of Parlia-ment. The leader said thegovernment had offered toselect four-five membersfrom farmers’ association toform the committee inwhich there will be somegovernment members.

He said that all the

“union leaders unanimouslyrejected” government’s of-fer.

“Forming a committeeis an attempt to postponethe issue. We are not readyto accept the government’soffer,” said Sanna.

The government is hold-ing on to its stance of notrolling back the three farmlaws which farmers allegeare “anti-farm” and “blacklaws”: The Farmers ProduceTrade and Commerce (Pro-motion and Facilitation) Act,2020, The Farmers (Empow-erment and Protection)Agreement of Price Assur-ance and Farm Services Act,2020, and The EssentialCommodities (Amend-ment) Act, 2020. The infor-mation comes from themeeting led by AgricultureMinister Tomar and PiyushGoyal, Union Minister forConsumer Affairs and Food& Public Distribution

New Delhi/Kannur(Kerala),

The Pinarayi Vijayangovernment on Tuesdaysuffered a huge setbackwhen the apex court upheldthe verdict of the KeralaHigh Court’s division benchto hand over the probe intothe murder of two YouthCongress workers to the CBI.

The Kerala High Court’ssingle judge bench andthen a division bench ruledin favour for a CBI probe andthis was contested by theVijayan government in the

Jolt for Kerala as SC allows CBIprobe into Cong workers’ murder

Supreme Court.The family members of

the victims and the Con-gress have been demand-ing a CBI probe from theoutset, saying that the po-lice had failed to arrest thereal accused, who, accordingto them, are senior CPI-Mleaders in Kasargode whohad conspired to eliminatethe two young Congressworkers.

The Vijayan governmenthad come under huge firefrom various quarters afterthey decided to approach

the division bench againstthe single judge bench ver-dict.

The gruesome murdertook place on February 17last year.

Youth Congress workersKrupesh, 19, and Sharath LalJoshy, 24, were attacked bythree motorcycle-bornemen while returning froman event. While Krupeshdied at the Kasargode dis-trict hospital, Joshy suc-cumbed to his injuries onhis way to a medical facilityin Mangaluru, Karnataka.

Chandigarh,A day after resigning as

the Haryana Livestock De-velopment Board Chairman,Independent legislatorSombir Sangwan on Tues-day withdrew his support tothe BJP-JJP coalition gov-ernment in the state owingto the farmers’ agitationagainst new farm laws.

In a statement, he saidatrocities are being un-

Sangwan withdraws support toHaryana govt over farmers’ protest

leashed on the farmers whoare on an agitation in sup-port of their demands.

“I cannot remain associ-ated with the governmentin the present circum-stances and decided to partways with the state govern-ment,” said Sangwan.

He was among seven In-dependent legislators whowon the assembly electionslast year. They backed the

government. One of the In-dependents, RanjitChautala, has been inductedinto the Cabinet, four othershave been appointed chair-men of boards and corpora-tions. The BJP had won 40 ofthe 90 Assembly seats in2019 and formed the gov-ernment with JannayakJanta Party’s support, whichhad won 10 seats. The Con-gress had won 31 seats.

New Delhi,Lieutenant General Rajeev Chaudhary on Tuesday took

over as the 27th Director General of Border RoadsOrganisation. The officer was commissioned into the Corpsof Engineers on December 17, 1983 and has attended all theprestigious courses of the Indian Army, including the StaffCourse at Defence Service Staff College, Wellington, HigherCommand Course at Army War College, Mhow, and the Na-tional Defence College, New Delhi. He is also an M-Tech (Struc-tures) from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.Chaudhary has held various staff, instructional and commandpositions in the past. Some of his important appointmentsinclude Command of an Independent Field Coy, Engineer Unitand Command of an Engineer Brigade. He has also tenantedthe appointment of Chief Engineer Southern Command. Hewas responsible for conceptualising and conducting the firstever and only Engineer Brigade Exercise with the US Engi-neer Brigade as part of Ex Yudh Abhyas.

Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudharytakes over as BRO chief

Mumbai,In Indian politics, prominent personalities or leaders

usually first join a party and then are rewarded with a ticketfor legislatures or parliament.

In what is said to be an unprecedented change fromthe norms, Bollywood actress Urmila Matondkar got a‘ticket’ first and then officially joined the Shiv Sena, in thepresence of senior leaders, here on Tuesday.

Shiv Sena President and Chief Minister UddhavThackeray accorded Matondkar a warm welcome to theparty fold while his wife Rashmi Uddhav Thackeray tiedher a thread, ‘Shiv Bandhan’ symbolizing her ties with thenew party.

Soon after that, she bowed with folded hands and paidher respects before a wall-portrait of the founder-patriarchof Shiv Sena, the late Balasaheb Thackeray and his wifeMeenatai Thackeray, at the Thackeray residence, ‘Matoshri’in Bandra east. The development came after Matondkarremained in a ‘denial mode’ for 14 months since she quitthe Congress in September 2019, and even after she got a‘ticket’ from the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to theMaharashtra Legislature’s upper house. In anticipation ofher joining, the MVA last month (Nov. 2020) recommendedMatondkar’s name - along with 11 others of MVA - to RajBhavan for a coveted nomination to the Maharashtra Leg-islative Council from the quota of Governor Bhagat SinghKoshyari. Matondkar quit the Congress in a huff on Sep-tember 10 last year, alleging party infighting, post-defeatin the 2019 Lok Sabha elections at the hands of BharatiyaJanata Party’s Gopal Shetty in Mumbai North constituency.

Earlier, prior to the October 2019 Maharashtra Assem-bly polls, there was intense speculation that she would joineither the Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist CongressParty or even Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena,but she had scoffed it as rumours.

An outspoken person known for her bold stand onvarious issues, a couple of months ago, she and actressKangana Ranaut were engaged in a verbal scuffle after thelatter made certain remarks targeting Matondkar on thesocial media.

After getting ‘ticket’ to legislature,Urmila Matondkar joins Shiv Sena

Former IAS officerSanthosh Babujoins KamalHaasan’s MNMparty

Chennai,Former IAS officer

Santhosh Babu on Tues-day joined Makkal NeedhiMaiam floated by actorturned politician KamalHaasan. Babu has beenmade the party’s GeneralSecretary-Headquarters.

Speaking to the mediahere, Kamal Haasan saidthat Babu — who hadtaken voluntary retire-ment after serving theTamil Nadu government— will handle the party’sinformation technology,data, research and otherissues.

Babu said he foreseesIT-enabled predictivegovernance, which wouldobviate the need forpeople to go to govern-ment offices for applyingfor documents.

Kamal Haasan said hewould seek Rajinikanth’ssupport in the 2021 TamilNadu Assembly polls. TheMNM founder said that ifRajinikanth enters politicshe too would contest.

Ayodhya saint has7 demands, wantsto end life

Ayodhya,In an unexpected de-

velopment, MahantParamhans Das of TapasviChhavni Ayodhya, haswritten a letter to Presi-dent Ram Nath Kovindlisting his seven demands.

He has sought permis-sion to end his life if thedemands are not met.

Copies of the letterhave been forwarded toPrime Minister NarendraModi, home minister AmitShah, chief minister YogiAdityanath and districtmagistrate of Ayodhya.

According to theMahant, his charter of de-mands is in national inter-est and ‘aims at prevent-ing another division of thecountry.’

The demands includea law for population con-trol, implementation ofthe uniform civil code, de-claring India as a HinduRashtra, free education forgirls, employment foryouth, declaring cow as aprotected national entityand declaring Ramayanaas a national epic andmaking it a part of all syl-labus.

Bhim Army chiefvisits Ghazipurborder to supportfarmers

Ghaziabad,Even as scores of farm-

ers owing allegiance tothe Bharatiya Kisan Unioncontinued to protest atthe Singhu border entrypoint on the Delhi-Ghaziabad route, BhimArmy chiefChandrashekhar Azad vis-ited them on Tuesday toextend his party’s supportto the cause.

“I have come to ex-tend support so that farm-ers don’t feel left alone.Farmers, Dalits andlabourers are all the same.If the farmer will not culti-vate his land, how will alabourer run his house-hold? I come from a fam-ily of labourers. How can Iabandon the farmerscause?” he said.

Azad asserted that hehad come just to extendmoral support and notlead the farmers’ protest,adding that farmers havenot come out on the roadshappily. “Why is the cen-tral government holdingtalks after six days? Thegovernment knows thestrength of the Dalits. Thegovernment should haveheld talk on the very firstday. In winter season,farmers are sitting onroads, facing tear-gasshells and water cannons.

Gandhinagar,A BJP legislator in

Gujarat has demanded a lawon the lines of the one en-forced in Uttar Pradeshagainst illegal religious con-versions to tackle what hecalled ‘love jihad’ cases inthe state.

Dabhoi MLA ShaileshMehta said in a public state-ment that he will shortlypropose to the Gujarat gov-ernment to bring forth astringent law against ‘lovejihad’.

“A stringent law against‘love jihad’ will be broughtin every state where the BJPis in power. Gujarat is thefirst state to believe inHindutva — so obviously alaw against ‘love jihad’ willbe brought forth here too.There are so many ‘lovejihad’ incidents happeningin Gujarat. So a strict lawshould be framed in Gujaratin all circumstances,” he told

Need law against ‘love jihad’in Gujarat also: BJP MLA

the media.Later, he told a local

news channel: “There are somany such incidents hap-pening across the country.The Yogi government in UPbrought a law regarding thisissue. Similarly, a stricter lawthan the one in UP shouldbe enacted in Gujarat.Shortly, I will meet ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani, hisdeputy Nitin Patel and Min-ister of State for HomePradeepsinh Jadeja and putforth the proposal in writ-ing.” “For some time, under-age Hindu girls have beenlured into the trap throughfake Hindu names... this hashappened in Vadodara cityand the district... I have notreceived any individualcomplaint as yet, but thereare so many complaints reg-istered with the police. Re-cently, a man named Taufiqimpregnated a 15-year-oldHindu girl. A complaint in

this regard was registeredwith the police,” addedMehta.

He said that the underthe proposed law, family ofyoung women who wish toconvert should be informedthree months in advance tothe inter-religion marriage.“The parents should gettime to convince theirdaughters, and if girls areunderage, the law shouldprovide for hanging of cul-prits,” the BJP MLA said.

On November 28, UttarPradesh GovernorAnandiben Patel gave hernod to the ordinance on re-ligious conversions promul-gated by the YogiAdityanath government,paving the way for its en-forcement across the statewith immediate effect.

The Uttar Pradesh Prohi-bition of Unlawful Conver-sion of Religion Ordinance,2020,

Jaipur,Bollywood star Salman

Khan on Tuesday wasgranted exemption frommarking attendance in thecourt in the Blackbuck hunt-ing and Arms Act case andthe next hearing date hasnow been set for January 16,his lawyer HastimalSaraswat told IANS.

Khan was supposed tomark his attendance duringthe hearing in the court ofDistrict and Sessions DistrictJudge RaghavendraKachwal on Tuesday, how-ever, Salman’s advocate sub-mitted an application forexempting him from at-tending the court, quotingCovid-19 spread, and hence,the plea was duly acceptedby the court.

Now, the next hearingon this matter will be heldon January 16 and the courthas ordered Salman to ap-pear in the court.

Salman’s advocateHastimal Saraswat submit-ted an application in thecourt explaining reasons for

Blackbuck poaching case: Court acceptsSalman’s plea, next hearing on Jan 16

his absence. In his petition,he said the respondent re-sides in Mumbai and asCovid-19 spread is quitehigh in Mumbai and Jodh-pur, his coming to Jodhpuris not free from danger.Therefore, the respondentshould be given an exemp-tion from attending thehearing.

The court accepted theplea of Salman, however, itfixed the next date of hear-ing on January 16 and or-dered Salman to appear incourt on the said date.

The District and Ses-sions Court in Jodhpur ishearing Salman Khan’s ap-peal against a verdict thatsentenced him to five years’in jail in the poaching casein April 2018. Later, Salmanappealed in the said Districtand Sessions Court againstthe punishment. At thesame time, the state govern-ment challenged the deci-sion to acquit Salman in theArms Act case. On Tuesday,both these cases were to beheard.

Indian Navy successfully test-fired 'BrahMos' an anti-ship supersonic cruise mis-sile in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory.

Leader of various farmer organisations on arrival at Vigyan Bhawan after the Cen-tral government invited them to hold talks, as they continue their agitation at Delhiborders against the new farmer bills, in New Delhi.

Ahmedabad, Page 2

Editorial2FromEditor’sDesk

AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 2/12/2020

RBI, drop thisrisky move

The risks associated with allowingcorporate ownership of banks are many

The proposal of an internal working committeeof the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow large cor-porate bodies and industrial houses to promotebanks in the country is a matter of serious concern.The committee was set up to examine the licensingand regulatory guidelines for private banks and itsproposal has attracted much opposition from variousquarters. The RBI has never been generous with bank-ing licences, and past licensing guidelines have al-lowed only a few private banks with no links to busi-ness and industry. There has even been an explicit baron large industrial houses entering the banking sec-tor. But there seems to be a rethink now, and that doesnot seem to be in the best interest of the bankingindustry and the financial system, and the economyin general. The concern has been aggravated by thefact that the economy is much more vulnerable nowthan in the past.

The risks associated with allowing corporate own-ership of banks are many. There is a possibility of de-positors’ money being diverted to corporate housesand businesses linked to them. The standards of cor-porate governance are not high in the country evenwith all the laws and regulations and oversight bymany bodies. Banks have also resorted to malprac-tices and favoured parties with dubious credentialswith loans, creating NPAs and endangering deposi-tors’ interest. The Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi experi-ences are only recent. When businesses themselvescontrol banks, this risk will be heightened. Risks likeinter-group lending and the contagion spreadingfrom corporate failures and defaults to the bankingsector will be very real. Industry and business are thebiggest clients of the banks now and the health ofthe sector depends to an extent on them. To givethem controlling interest in some banks is not advis-able at all. Overall, the proposal, if implemented, canlead to conflicts of interest in banks and concentra-tion of power and greater systemic risks. There arenot enough checks and balances in the financial sys-tem to minimise damage and avoid collapses. Fivebanks or major financial institutions have failed in thecountry in the past two years, the latest being LakshmiVilas Bank. Regulatory oversight is not always at itsbest. Very often, a failure or problem is detected onlyafter it has occurred. It should be noted that the work-ing committee's recommendation is not unanimousand three former RBI governors have opposed it.There is the need to expand banking in the country,which is even now largely unbanked. Private sectorbanks will have an important role in this. But the rec-ommendation which will introduce cronyism intobanking is not the solution and it should be droppedaltogether.

MUMBAI,Indian Hotels

Company’s (IHCL) iconicbrand, Taj, today announcedthe opening of its new ho-tel in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.Soaring over 18 storeys, TajSkyline will be an elegantaddition to Ahmedabad’shistoric and modern archi-tectural landmarks in thecity.

Mr. Puneet Chhatwal,Managing Director andChief Executive Officer, IHCL,said, “With Taj Skyline, IHCL’smarquee brand, Taj, stepsinto Ahmedabad, which isan extremely important in-dustrial and economic hubin India. This furtherstrengthens our aim to bepresent at all significantbusiness locations acrossthe country. We look for-ward to extending our un-paralleled service ethos,

IHCL announces the openingof Taj Skyline in Ahmedabad

which has defined us forover a century, to the city ofAhmedabad.”

Strategically located at acomfortable driving dis-tance from the airport, im-portant commercial centresas well as Gandhinagar – thestate capital, Taj Skyline is a315-room contemporaryluxury hotel offering pan-oramic views of the city’sskyline. The hotel’s designcaptures the evolving spiritof the city, drawing subtleinspirations from the localdesign and culture in its in-teriors. In line with its phi-losophy of raising the bar ofthe culinary landscape, TajSkyline introducesShamiana, the popular all-day diner, to Ahmedabad –its third outpost afterMumbai and Dubai. Guestscan also enjoy Pan Asian cui-sine at Nonya or relish inter-

national and local comfortfood at Emperor’s Lounge.Taj Skyline, with its tastefullydesigned banqueting andconferencing spaces withindependent access andbreakaway rooms, is perfectfor events and weddings.The hotel also features thesignature Jiva Spa and atemperature-controlled in-door swimming pool. “TajSkyline is the ideal venue fortravellers looking toseamlessly balance businessand leisure. We are lookingforward to welcomingguests to this new luxuryaddress in Ahmedabad.From sweeping vistas of thecity to authentic flavours atour restaurants, guests candelight in experiences thatreflect Ahmedabad’s vibrantdynamism,” said AveekSengupta, General Manager,Taj Skyline.

A digital museum to preserve India’s textile artsNew Delhi,

Erstwhile royal familiesand historic properties havecome together to pay trib-ute to Indias textile heritageby working with karigars (orlocal artisan designers) fromthree states of India(Mayurbhanj in Odisha,Jaisalmer in Rajasthan andGwalior in Madhya Pradesh)to launch a garment instal-lation ‘Karkhana Chroniclesfor virtual viewing.

The campaign viacurated installations inIndia’s palaces and forts forthree months aims to paytribute to its rich textile his-tory by working with its cus-todians- the local artisans.

Each royal house has setup a textile installation in-spired by local arts they liketo promote. Through thecampaign, they aim to start

a conversation on circular-ity, history and social equity,while striving to ensure rec-ognition and upliftment oflocal Indian artisans.

Alongside thecampaign’s attempt to re-vive slow fashion in Indiaand to breathe new life intoIndia’s textile arts, it alsoaims to preserve the dyingsustainable textile arts andpractices of local artisancommunities across Indiaby documenting and digi-tally preserving these prac-tices. Talking about thecampaign and its impact onartisans, Jema Akshita M.Bhanjdeo, the royal repre-sentative from the BelgadiaPalace, Mayurbhanj, Odishasaid: “Our local artformsshowcase our cultural heri-tage and through KarkhanaChronicles, we show our

pride and hope that the tra-ditional craft and textilepractices get the utmostlove and recognition thatthey deserve.”

Sharing his thoughts onthe sustainability of Indiantextile arts, Yuvraj ChaitanyaRaj Singh, the crown princeof the erstwhile Kingdom ofJaisalmer, said:“Sustainability has histori-cally been one of the keydriving forces for the localcommunities of Jaisalmer aswe have always had to cre-ate garments in harmonywith natural elements dueto the desert terrain.Jaisalmer has always been apoint where eastern andwestern cultural influencehas been reflected in ourrich textile trade as we wereon the silk route which usedto cut through this region.”

New Delhi, After farmers, the Indian

Medical Association (IMA)— which represents doc-tors practising modern sys-tem of medicine in thecountry — has now openeda front against the Centreand announced a series ofprotests and other steps tooppose government ac-tions and policies in the filedof health and medical edu-cation.

The apex association ofprivate practitioners ofmodern medicine plans tohold public demonstrationsby its members, nationwidewithdrawal of health ser-vices from non- emergencyand non-Covid areas and alegal recourse.

Its move comes after thegovernment brought aboutamendments and introduc-tion of policies in medicaleducation which it believeswould lead to “catastrophic”effect in the world of mod-ern medicine.

“Demonstrations insmall groups of 20 will beheld between noon and 2pm on on December 8 byfollowing Covid protocols.Withdrawal of all non-es-sential, non-Covid servicesbetween 6 am and 6 pm willbe done on December 11.Further operational guide-lines will follow soon,” anIMA document read.

IMA to protest against Centre’smedical reforms, policy decisions

The IMA directed itsmembers “to seek the helpand support of sister profes-sional organisations, gov-ernment doctors’ and hospi-tal associations, RDAs, medi-cal college teachers’ associa-tions, and medical studentsto participate in the protest.

The decisions weretaken in an emergencymeeting on Monday. IMAPresident Dr Rajan Sharmaconfirmed that protestdemonstrations wereplanned but did not divulgethe details. “The modalitiesare being worked out,” headded.

Commenting on theneed for such actions,Sharma said that the situa-tion has arisen wherein thedoctors have to fight to“save the honour of the pro-fession”.

“We represent the com-munity which provides 70%of the healthcare to this na-tion. The government is aim-ing to create a ‘mixopathy’ ofall the streams of medicine,which will finish off all ofthem. We cannot let thathappen. We will fightagainst it tooth and nail,” hetold IANS.

The IMA plans agitationover three issues whose re-percussions they plan tobring forth in the public do-main — latest amendmentby the Central Council of In-

dian Medicine (CCIM) thatallowed Ayurvedic post-graduate students to re-ceive formal training to per-form 66 types of medicalprocedures like general sur-gery, orthopaedic, ophthal-mology, ENT, and dental pro-cedures and surgeries.

Another issue is Na-tional Education Policy2020, which proposes tophase out all institutionsoffering single streamsand that all universitiesand colleges must aim tobecome multidisciplinaryby 2040. The IMA’s concernis that it will abolish dedi-cated health universitiesand blend modern medi-cine curriculum withAyurveda, Naturopathy,Unani, Homeopathy, Siddhaand vice versa by 2030which, if implemented, willend up polluting thestreams of both traditional/alternate and modern medi-cine systems. It is also envis-aged in ‘One Nation, OneSystem’ concept of the cen-tral government. NITI Aayoghas already formed fourcommittees to formulatepolicies on integrativemedical education, practice,public health and research.The IMA believes the moveis a ‘khichdi’ (rice porridge)which would produce‘khichdi’ doctors.

heavier and less mobile,which means viral clouds orviral particles will hovercloser to the ground, mak-ing it easier to get into one’slungs.

Prabhakaran Dorairaj,Professor, Epidemiology,

Public Health Foundation ofIndia, told IANS that thecombination of pollution,overcrowding and wintersproved as triple whammyfor the already worse Covidsituation in Delhi.

“The viral infectionsthrive in winters. They re-

Nasty Nov: 1/3rd of total Covid cases added to Delhi’s tallyNew Delhi,

November has turnedout to be the most precari-ous month for the nationalcapital in managing therage of Covid-19 pandemic.The month recorded an un-precedented number ofcases and fatalities since thepandemic struck.

In November alone, thecapital city reported 32.2per cent rise in the Covidtally, adding 1,83,665 infec-tions, while the fatalitiesrose by 29 per cent with theaddition of 2,663 deaths.

The month ended withan infection tally of 5,70,374cases while the death tollrose to 9,174.

The whole monthstruggled with the thirdsurge of the viral infectionwhich seems to be settlingdown given the infectionrate has been oscillating be-tween 7 and 9 per cent sincelast one week. This rate hasbeen over 11 per cent, as iteven crossed 15 per centwithin some days.

In September, when thecase tally wasn’t that alarm-ing, the positivity rate stoodat 6 per cent.

The third surge is be-

lieved to have startedaround October 28 whenthe sudden spike in casesstarted emerging daily.Delhi has witnessed a sud-den spike in coronaviruscases since October 28when the single-day tallybreached the5,000-mark for thefirst time andcrossed the 8,000-mark on Novem-ber 11.

On this day,Delhi had re-corded 8,593cases, its highest-single-day spiketill date. The low-est cases the na-tional capital hasrecorded on No-vember 30 was3,726.

However, mul-tiple reasonsplayed roles inleading the third surge. Thespike in cases had coincidedwith deepening winters, ris-ing pollution and busy fes-tival season where festivitiesof Karwa Chauth, Diwali andChath Puja had lined up.

Health experts had cau-tioned that cold air is

main suspended for alonger time in the air in coldweather conditions. The pol-lution aids the longevity tothe suspension of the virus.On the top of it, the lack ofsocial distancing during thefestivals instigated the

spread further,” he ex-plained.

The Indian Medical As-sociation had estimatedthat 13 per cent of the risein Covid cases occurred dueto severely bad air quality ofDelhi while adding that ithas increased severity of the

Covid-19 infection amongthe patients.

H.S. Chabbra, MedicalDirector, Indian spinal in-juries centre (ISIC) saidthat greater number ofinter and intra distr ictmovements and in-creased interactionamong people in additionto lack of adherence tohealth measures such asuse of masks and socialdistancing have majorlycontributed to the surge.

However, the third surgehas not just remained enor-mous in number, but in in-tensity as well. SandeepNayar, Sr. Director and Head,Centre for Chest and Respi-ratory Disease, BLK SuperSpeciality Hospital told IANSthat amid the latest surge,the patients got admittedwith greater complicationsand fatality among themprevailed.

“The severity among theCovid patients has definitelyincreased. We have seenmost of the cases being ad-mitted at severe stageswhile the mortality amongthem has also increasednow,” he said.

Meanwhile, the higher

fatality could be linked to anumber of reasons. Dr. Nayarstated that the virus hasmutated and created fur-ther complications in thepatients. Besides, anotherreason observed by themedical experts behind thehigh mortality is laxity toundergo the test despite thearrival of symptoms.

“In this month alone, wehave treated close to 30 pa-tients of Covid-19 inducedmoderate to major compli-cations with no test beingdone. Covid-19 antibodytests in all these patientswere found to be positive.These patients came withinvolvement of lungs, ner-vous system, heart andblood vessels.

Many patients who hadlung involvement requiredoxygen term supplementa-tion and a few special medi-cations,” said Atul Kakar,vice-chairperson, depart-ment of internal medicine,Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

As per the doctors, suchpatients could have avertedsevere stage of the illness ifthey had opted for earlytesting and the treatment ofthe disease.

Canada sees Covid surge,with nearly 6,000 daily cases

Ottawa, As November nears its end, Canada reported a to-

tal of 374,051 Covid-19 cases and 12,076 deaths as ofMonday afternoon, according to CTV.

Canada has been well into the second wave of theCovid-19 pandemic and new case numbers grow bythousands each day. The number of new cases re-ported daily across the country has increased by morethan 2,000 since the beginning of November and isclosing in on 6,000 daily, Xinhua reported.

The country is on track to have 4,000 coronaviruspatients in hospital by Christmas, a figure that wouldeclipse the peak of the first wave and put tremendouspressure on a health-care system already pushed tothe brink by nine months of battling the pandemic.

A new analysis conducted for The Globe and Mailby researchers at British Columbia’s Simon Fraser Uni-versity projects that the number of Canadians admit-ted to hospital for treatment of Covid-19 will continueto grow, with the steepest increases in the West, par-ticularly in Alberta province Over the past week, therehas been an average of just over 2,000 Covid-19 pa-tients being treated in Canadian hospitals, 420 of themin critical-care units, according to a Globe and Mail tallyof provincial data. Both figures have nearly doubledsince the end of October. The Canadian governmentannounced on Sunday to extend a series of travel re-strictions and rules meant to stem the Covid-19 spreadinto the new year as case counts continue their steadyrise across the country.

How would you defineKorean food?

Lee: Korean food hasbeen well preservedthrough its prototype and

tradition through its longhistory. It representswellbeing food in recenttime as well balancedhealthy food between tasteand nutrition. Five basic veg-etable ingredients with red,yellow, black, white, greencolour called “Oh Bang”colour represents harmonyof all creation and universe`senergy. It’s a philosophicalstory telling.

How was your experi-ence with Korean culinarychallenge 2020?

Lee: Participants’ under-standing of Korean foodwas quite high and their ba-sic skills in cooking processwere maintained. I could seethe efforts and contribu-tions of Korea food promo-tion in India through KoreanCultural Centre India orother organizations. How-ever, final plating skills canbe developed more. (For ex-ample, the plating forBibibbap, Korean traditionalmixed rice cuisine, was verymuch full on plate withoutextra space.)

What is the importanceof International Kimchi Day?

Lee: Kimchang culture(Kimchi making process)was designated as 8thUNESCO‘s Intangible Cul-tural Heritage of Humanityin 2013. Korean governmenthas designated every 22thNovember as Kimchi Day inlast year, so this year is 1stKimchi Day. It is very mean-ingful. However, it should bedeveloped more as interna-tional event with all effortsof government and otherorganization.

Have you ever tried In-dian food?

Lee: I have visited India

Algerian Prez dischargedfrom German hospital

after Covid-19 treatmentAlgiers,

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune hasbeen discharged from a specialized hospital in Ger-

many following his Covid-19 treat-ment and was currently recovering,the government said in a statement.

The President “reassures the Al-gerian people that he is recoveringand is due to return home in theforthcoming days”, Xinhua newsagency quoted the statement assaying on Monday. Late last month,Tebboune had been transferred toGermany for “in-depth physical ex-amination” on the recommendationof his doctors at a military hospitalin the capital Algiers. Tebboune be-

gan a self-imposed isolation on October 24 after he hadcome into contact of some senior officials who showedsymptoms of Covid-19.

Algeria has so far reported 83,199 confirmedcoronavirus cases and 2,431 deaths.

Indian food would be preferred cultureto all nations: Korean Food Master

Lee Yeon-soon, NationalFood Master (The Republicof Korea), says Indian foodwould be preferred cultureto all nations through itsconvenient cookingmethod and exclusive taste.

Lee, who is also Profes-sor, dept. of Global KoreanCuisine Culinary Arts, SuwonUniversity of Science andTechnology, has visited In-dia twice and loves theunique taste of our desi‘tandoori chicken’ and chai.

IANSlife spoke to Leewho was among the jurymembers at the Pan IndiaOnline Korean CulinaryChallenge 2020 held onlineto mark the first Interna-tional Kimchi Day.

Excerpts from the inter-view:

two times, and experiencedsome Indian local foods likenaan, curry, tandoorichicken. Unlike my pre-as-sumption which is that the

taste of spice would bevery strong, it was goodto me, and I enjoyeddrinking chai.

Tandoori chickenwas one of my favourite,it was crispy, spicy with-out oily. I could taste thepattern of Korean tradi-tional food from it.

How do you see Ko-rean food placed on aglobal platter? What areyour views of Indianfood?

Lee: Recently, Koreanfood has been pro-moted around the world

with Hallyu (Korean CultureWave) phenomenon, and ofcourse I am very glad andimpressive about it. It willbooster the image of thenation, so can lead to thecontribution of nation‘seconomy.

I can expect Indian foodwould be preferred cultureto all nations through itsconvenient cookingmethod and exclusive taste.

Have you ever triedcooking an Indian dish?

Lee: I used to cook andeat curry foods like curryrice, curry noodle, curry cut-let in Korea, but curry in Ko-rea is not exactly same curryin India.

How is Indian food per-ceived in Korea?

Lee: Some Indian foodswhich has strong taste ofspice cause pro and con likeforeigner‘s first responsewith Korean Kimchi orGochu-jang (red pepperpaste), but curry whichevokes India is very famousin Korea. And I thinkTandoori chicken can fasci-nate Korean people.

At a time when we arefighting a global battleagainst the pandemic, whatsuggestions do you give topeople in order to boosttheir immunity?

Lee: Korean traditionalfoods are quite well knownas high quality food whichcan strengthen human‘sconstitution and improveimmune system. There isKorean proverb, ‘Yak ShikDong Won’ means food ismedicine. Some traditionalfoods whose ingredients areherb medicines really help-ful to us especially in thispandemic situation.

Health workers collecting swab samples of passengers arriving at Anand Vihar bus terminal, in New Delhi.

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AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 2/12/2020

Mumbai,On a mission to

revolutionise corporatehealth insurance, Indianemployee insuranceprovider Plum has an-nounced fundraising ofUS$4.1 million, led bySequoia Capital India’sSurge and Tanglin Ven-ture Partners. Existinginvestors, including In-cubate Fund, also par-ticipated in the round.The funding will be usedto expand into newmarkets, build new dis-tribution channels, hiretop talent and further de-velop product and tech,which is the backbone ofPlum. The company is partof the fourth cohort ofSurge, a bi-annual scale-upprogram for startups in In-dia and Southeast Asia.

Launched in March2020, Plum is poised to rein-vent how group health in-surance works in India bymaking it affordable and ac-cessible for businesses of allsizes. India currently has oneof the lowest penetration

Plum raises US$4.1m to provide group healthinsurance to SMEs, starting from Rs.2/day

rates for health insurance inthe world, with only 18% ofurban employees and 14%of rural areas receiving cov-

erage of some kind. Over 50million Indians fall into pov-erty every year due to theirinability to finance healthissues. Plum’s easy-to-usehealth platform coupledwith transparent pricingaims to help more busi-nesses reap the benefits ofinsurance for their employ-ees. Plum provides coveragefor as little as $10 per yearper person.

Many Indian businessesfind the insurance purchas-ing process to be tedious,

opaque and costly, with theentire process takingmonths to set up. To addressthese issues, Plum has nego-

tiated and forged newunderwriting and frauddetection measureswith a wide range of in-surance companies. Thishelps Plum providebusinesses and theiremployees with moreflexibility, greatercustomisation and ahigh-quality health in-surance experience.

Going beyond tradi-tional insurance cover-

age, Plum has partneredwith best-in-classhealthcare providers in den-tal care, fitness, diet and nu-trition plans, yoga, virtualdoctor consultations andmental health care.

Focusing on delivering aseamless customer experi-ence, the startup providescompanies with a dash-board to easily manage em-ployees’ insurance and anemployee app with 24/7support for queries, claims,and other related issues.

Mumbai,As a part of all the excit-

ing new content that Zee TVis offering its viewers duringthis festive month, the chan-nel introduced a fictionshow- Apna Time BhiAayega. The show followsthe inspiring narrative ofRani, a young daughter of ahead staff in an affluent fam-ily of Jaipur, who refuses tobe tied down by her humbleroots.

The show will see herbreaking free from theshackles of her backgroundas she chooses to carve herown destiny and reach outfor her ambitious goals. Thefamily drama debunks thedeep-rooted class systemand questions its unwrittenrulebook of ‘aukaat’ in oursociety, which almost cur-tails the chances of thelower strata in taking chargeof their destiny and risingabove their means.

Apna Time Bhi Aayegahas been keeping its view-ers entertained with severalunpredictable twists and

Mame Khan and Swaroop Khan gave inputsfor a wedding song for Apna Time Bhi Aayega

turns and this week thepopular series is about towitness Veer (FahmaanKhan) and Rani’s (MeghaRay) wedding.

Celebrating the wed-

ding festivities on a sweetmusical note, the producerof the show, Ved Raj decidedto create a special weddingtrack that featuresRajasthani folk musicians asthe show is based on theRajawat family of Jaipur. De-picting an additional flavourof the region, the produceralong with music composer,Puneet also took help fromtwo of the biggest names ofthe Rajasthani Folk Musicgenre, Mame Khan andSwaroop Khan to bring

about the raw, rustic feel andflavour of Rajasthani folkmusic.

Producer and Writer,Ved Raj, Shoonya SquareProductions expressed,

“With thissong that isbeing createdfor the wed-ding of Veerand Rani, wewanted thatraw Rajasthanifolk music feel.Hence, we col-l a b o r a t e d

with big names associatedwith the genre like MameKhan and Swaroop Khan.Rajasthani folk is a very oldgenre of music and still sovery relevant and soothingto the soul.

We want to preserve thisgenre and give a platform tothe musicians who areworking extremely hard ev-ery day to help the genrereach the masses. We evengot the mantras of theKuldevi Aarti specially re-corded for this track.”

Waghi river on inflated tyretubes which was beingdone for several years. Theproject was challenging as itincluded working in toughhilly terrains, kudos to theproject team who overcameall the obstacles through ef-ficient planning and execu-tion”, said Mr. Srinivas Karri,Country Director of PNG,Essar Projects.

The 54 metre long and 6metre wide Bailey bridgewas prefabricated in the cityof Lae as “ready to fix” partscomprising 18 bays of 3metre length each. Thesewere then transported tothe site, in four 40 feet con-tainers, over a distance of416 km across rugged

Essar Projects completes constructionof Bailey bridge in Papua New Guinea

Mumbai,Essar Projects PNG

(EPPNG) today said it hadcompleted construction ofthe Bailey bridge on theWaghi River in AnglimpSouth Waghi district ofJiwaka Province in PapuaNew Guinea, thus providinga lifeline to about 6,000 resi-dents of Mugmamp whowill now be able to accessbasic government services.

The residents of the re-gion were almost cut-offfrom the rest of the countryafter the bridge was washedaway by Waghi river severalyears ago. The bridge, con-structed for the Anglimp-South Waghi District Devel-opment Authority, connectsMugmamp with Kendeng.

“We are delighted withthe completion of thisproject. Now all the resi-dents of Mugmamp will nolonger have to cross the

mountainous terrain knownfor frequent landslides andhindrances caused by fre-quent rain and floods.

On the site, the bridgewas assembled and thenslid over a gravel platformwith the help of pulleyserected for the purpose andfitted into desired positionon the prior constructedabutments.

In Papua New Guinea,Essar Projects has estab-lished its position as aprominent EPC player byexecuting challengingprojects such as Komo Air-port, Kapal Haus ProvincialHeadquarters, Jimi High Al-titude Road, MugmampBridge, only to name few.

George Clooney: I wasbad in ‘Batman & Robin’

Los Angeles, Hollywood star George Clooney has admitted that he

was bad in the 1997 superhero film Batman & Robin.“I was bad in it. It’s a bad film. But I was also being held

responsible for it, in a weird way. Then I realised if you’regonna be Batman in ‘Batman & Robin’, you’re gonna be heldresponsible. Which never occurred to me,” he said, reportsfemalefirst.co.uk. To him, he was still an actor getting a part.From that moment on, “I was like, ‘I have to pick the script,not the part’. So the next script I did was ‘Out Of Sight’ andthe next I did was ‘Three Kings’. After that, ‘O Brother, WhereArt Thou?’,” he shared.

“Everybody would say that ‘Batman’ was not the best.But the good news for me was I was able to take that as alesson, as opposed to a career-ended,” he added. Clooneysaid he didn’t even enjoy the experience of making the filmbecause everyone on set was having such a “tough time”.

“I did not enjoy that experience. I love (director) JoelSchumacher, love the actors. But everybody was having atough time. There was a lot of tension. It took, like, eightmonths to shoot,” he said. “I was doing ‘ER’ while I was do-ing it - four days a week on ‘Batman’, three days a week on‘ER’. Seven days a week. That one was just a slog,” he addedThere were a lot of problems with the film, he said.

“But, you know, one of the problems was that I wasn’tvery good in it. Fair enough! I can’t point fingers at every-body else and not point fingers at myself,” he added.

Bangalore:Toyota Kirloskar Motor

announced that the com-pany sold a total of 8508units in the month of No-vember 2020, thereby clock-ing a growth of 2.4% whencompared to its wholesalesin November 2019. For ref-erence, TKM had sold 8312units in the domestic mar-ket in November 2019.

Commenting on themonth’s performance, Mr.Naveen Soni, Sr. Vice Presi-dent, Sales & Service- TKMsaid, “ The company hasbeen witnessing a gradualyet steady recovery owingto factors such as pent up& festive season demandas well as consolidation ofthe market at the lowerend due to increasing pref-erence for personal mobil-ity amongst customers. Anarray of attractive offers

TKM sees a positive momentum in sales aswell as customer orders in the festive month

and finance schemes havealso helped us maintainour momentum, therebyhelping us achieve agrowth over wholesaleswhen compared to the cor-responding period lastyear.

In terms of festive sea-son demand & sales, TKMhas fared well registering a10-13% increase in cus-tomer orders & 12% in-crease in retail sales (salesfrom dealer to customer)when compared to the fes-tive period in 2019. How-ever, owing to the illegalstrike called upon by themembers of TKM union,TKM was forced to declare alockout at the factory whichhas impacted our produc-tion & wholesale numbers(sales from TKM to dealer).

Having said that, wehave been able to fulfill the

market demand with thestock available with us, bothat the factory as well as atthe dealer’s end, and we aretrying our best to ensurethat ‘Customer Orders’ areprioritized by channelizingthe available resources.

Moreover, we also intro-duced the newInnovaCrysta last monthand the new model has re-ceived a tremendous re-sponse from our customers.Its predecessor, the 1st gen-eration InnovaCrysta hassold close to 300,000 unitssince its launch in 2016 inIndia. We are very thankfulto our customers who haveappreciated theInnovaCrysta and cannotwait to welcome more newcustomers into the Toyotafamily with the all new 2ndgeneration InnovaCrysta”, heconcluded.

Mumbai,HDFC Life, one of India’s

leading life insurance compa-nies and HDFC Ergo, one ofIndia's leading non-life insur-ers, have joined hands tolaunch a combi product ‘Click2 Protect Corona Kavach’ toprovide a complete financialprotection package in thecurrent pandemic environ-ment, with HDFC Life’s Click 2Protect 3D Plus (C2P3D Plus)and HDFC Ergo’s CoronaKavach.

Speaking on the launchSrinivasan Parthasarathy,Chief Actuary & AppointedActuary - HDFC Life, said, “Thepandemic has impacted lives,created vulnerabilities in mul-tiple areas and there is a gen-eral sense of uncertainty. Onesuch area is the cost of treat-ment, in case one were to testpositive for COVID-19. Theexpenses could lead to a fi-nancial setback for the fam-ily, especially where there isonly one earning member.

Financial security is amust right now and consum-ers need to take concretesteps towards protectingtheir families’ financial future.Click 2 Protect Corona Kavachhas been designed to providecomprehensive financial pro-tection in the current pan-

HDFC Life & HDFC Ergo launchClick 2 Protect Corona Kavach

demic. In addition to offeringlife cover, the product also in-cludes a family floater facilitywhich offers options in termsof adding family membersinto the plan.”

HDFC Life's C2P3D Plus isone of the most flexible andcustomizable term plans inthe market. HDFC Ergo’s Co-rona Kavach is an indemnityhealth policy that waslaunched earlier this year tooffer cover against medicalexpenses incurred due tohospitalization of individualsseeking treatment for COVID-19, on a positive diagnosis forthe virus, in a governmentauthorized diagnostic centre.

· The policy will pro-vide all the benefits andfeatures of Click 2 Protect3D Plus and Corona Kavach.An individual can choosefrom the available optionsprovided by HDFC Life'sClick 2 Protect 3D Plus, in-cluding premium waiver forAccidental Total PermanentDisability or on diagnosis ofCritical Illness and can alsoavail of a COVID-19 healthcover that includes ambu-lance charges, home caretreatment charges, pre andpost hospitalizationcharges if diagnosed withCOVID-19.

Ahmedabad, Page 4

City-State4 AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 2/12/2020

Gandhinagar,Union home minister

Amit Shah on Monday pre-sided over the e-inaugura-tion of two new flyovers onSarkhej-Gandhinagar (SG)Road, one at Pakwan Cross-roads and the other at theSarkhej-Sanand crossroads.The two flyovers inaugu-rated on Monday are part ofthe Rs 867 croreAhmedabad-Gandhinagarhighway project connectingSarkhej in Ahmedabad toChiloda in Gandhinagar.Seven more flyovers will bebuild on the 44-km route toensure uninterruptedmovement of traffic.

Until now, people com-ing from Judges Bungalowsand Sindhu Bhavan werenot permitted to turn rightand left, respectively, on SGRoad, but this bridge will notonly ease traffic but will alsosave commuters from mak-ing U-turns during rushhours.

Rajesh Shah, a resident

Pakwan flyover operationalof the area, said, “The junc-tion was a busy one becauseof traffic heading towardsIskcon Crossroads but nowthose going to Iskcon orSarkhej can use the bridgewhich will be time-savingand will save us from stand-ing at the red light for long.”Similarly, the Sanand-Sarkhej crossroads was alsoa busy one and the newflyover will help peoplemove without traffic ob-structions.

Meanwhile, Amit Shahsaid he hopes the GDPgrowth rate will turn backinto positive territory in thenext quarter, after two con-secutive quarters of contrac-tion. PM Modi worked hardfor the economic recoveryand also announced a pack-age after the crisis due tothe coronavirus, Shah saidafter inaugurating twoflyovers in Ahmedabadthrough virtual mode.

He also praised Modi forrecord FII (foreign institu-

tional investors) inflows toIndia during the Covid-19pandemic period. “The PMused the time of the Covid-19 pandemic period. “ThePM used the time of theCovid-19 pandemic to visu-alize policy-making, keep-ing in mind its long-termimpact on the economy,”Shah said. “Without wastinga second, he worked on re-forms in many areas like thefarm sector, electricity, in-dustrial policy, to create asystem to maintain the paceof development,” he said.Towards this end, he offereda package of Rs 20 lakh crorefor the welfare of poorpeople and to give pace tothe economy. Shah said inhis address via video-conferencing. “As a result, interms of the recent GDP fig-ure, we are only six per centbehind, and I hope that inthe next quarter, the GDPgrowth will be in the plus,”Shah said. Shah also praisedGujarat for its progress in

terms of industrial develop-ment. “Gujarat has alwayscontinued its tradition ofprogress in terms of indus-trial development. As re-ported in newspapers, interms of FDI, Gujarat has re-mained on top with nearly50 per cent investment. Asreported in newspapers, interms of FDI, Gujarat has re-mained on top with nearly50 per cent investment,” hesaid. He added that Gujaratshould be applauded formaintaining the pace of in-frastructure developmentdespite the pandemic.

Addressing a gatheringon the occasion, Rupani saidthe inauguration or laying offoundation stones forprojects worth Rs 15,000crore were done during theCovid-19 period, and thegovernment did not let thepace of development be af-fected. “Now, there is no-body in Delhi to createhurdles. We now get what-ever we ask for,” he said.

Schools give Dec 15 deadlineto parents to pay fees

Ahmedabad,The Gujarat Self-Financed School Management Asso-

ciation, which has about 18,000 schools as its members, hasdecided to stop on-line education for those children whoseparents have not paid fees since June and show no intentin doing so in near future putting forth a valid reason.

This will not include parents who have in the past comeforward and explained their inability to pay on due to fi-nancial issues related to the Covid-19 situation.

About 30% of parents came to these schools and soughtmore time for payment of fees, said Jatin Bharad, vice-presi-dent of the Gujarat Self-financed School Management As-sociation.

“There are however many others who haven’t paid thefees since June and nor have they explained their reasonsto us. We would like to give such parents time till Decem-ber 15 to explain their stand to the school managements,failing which they will be forced to stop on-line educationfor their children,” said Bharad.

According to a state government resolution, parentsmust make a representation to the schools if they are un-able to pay the fees at present.

However, there are parents who have neither come per-sonally nor have they bothered to respond to phone callsmade to them from schools since June, he said.

Manan Choksi, president of Ahmedabad School Pro-gressive Management Association said that there is no suchplan for the schools in their association.

“We don’t have any such plans as majority of the par-ents in our schools have paid the fees,” said Chowksi.

Ahmedabad,To curb organized crime

and terrorism, Gujarat policehave registered eight of-fences under the GujaratControl of Terrorism and Or-ganized Crime Act(GujCTOC) against 97 per-sons. The latest being theone registered against 14members of one ‘AsifTameta Gang’ in Surat onNovember 27, 2020.

DGP Ashish Bhatia saidhe directed police acrossthe state to act strict againstorganized crime and thosewho terrorize people in anyway. “I also told them thatthey have to see that the lawis not misused in any way,”he added. Bhatia said theaim behind invokingGujCTOC is to contain crime

8 offences under GujCTOC against 97 accused: DGPand acts of terror by orga-nized gangs and terrorists.

According to sources,the first offence underGujCTOC was registered onMarch 9, 2020 bySavarkundla police ofAmreli in which SonuDangar and eight of hergang members werebooked. “Since then, eightoffences have been regis-tered under GujCTOCagainst 97 accused of vari-ous gangs,” said a seniorpolice official.

In Ahmedabad, the actwas invoked against gang-ster Vishal Goswami of UttarPradesh and five of his gangmembers for several armedrobberies and murders.

The second offence inAhmedabad was registered

against Sultankhan Pathanand 11 of his gang membersfrom Juhapura.

Another case was regis-tered in Jamnagar againstJayesh Ranpariya and 13 ofhis gang members for al-leged land grabbing, mur-der and extortion. Formerdeputy commissioner ofpolice of Ahmedabad crimebranch, Deepan Bhadran,was specially transferred toJamnagar to act against theJayesh Ranpariya gang.

Rajkot rural police haveinvoked this act against 11accused. Rajkot police in-voked the act against 12persons of the Nikhil Dongagang, Dhragandhra policeinvoked this act against 29members of the Gediyagang.

Ahmedabad,A trip to Dubai might as

well be futile if visiting BurjKhalifa, the world’s tallestbuilding, is not on the itin-erary. In fact, a consumercourt has acknowledgedthis grief of a Gandhinagar-based couple, who was lefthigh and dry when an on-line travel company did notarrange for a visit to BurjKhalifa.

The consumer court hasfined Make My Trip India PvtLtd and ordered it to returnthe fee of Rs 10,000 toG a n d h i n a g a r - r e s i d e n tGulam Mohiuddin Harsodiaand his wife. The court alsoordered payment of Rs5,000 as fine and Rs 15,000towards mental harass-

A Dubai tour sans visit to Burj Khalifa?ment.

The couple had optedfor a tour package for acruise of the Balkan Coun-tries including a stay inDubai to fulfil their wish tosee Burj Khalifa. Their book-ings were made in April2019 and the tour kicked offin June 2019.

Upon returning fromHamburg in Germany, thecouple were to stay in Dubai,where they had planned tovisit top tourist spots includ-ing the Burj Khalifa.

When the company de-clined them an opportunityto see the world’s tallestbuilding, a dejected and an-gry Harsodia filed a com-plaint with the GandhinagarDistrict Consumer DisputeRedressal Commission seek-ing compensation fromMake My Trip. Harsodia ar-gued that he had earlier vis-ited Dubai in 1997 and 2006and especially chose to visitDubai again to have a dekkoat Burj Khalifa which wasbuild in 2010. He had padRs 10,000 as fees towards

the visit, which was sched-uled for the last day inDubai. As the local travelagency could not change itsschedule, he and his wifemissed their visit to the Burj.

The travel company de-nied the charges andclaimed it merely acted as afacilitator for bookings andconfirmed package book-ings with the service provid-ers concerned such as air-lines, hotels and local travelagencies on behalf of thecustomer. It is not liable forany deficiency on the part ofservice providers.

“It was the customer’sduty to check the itineraryand he could have raisedthe issue of the schedulewhile accepting the termsand conditions,” the com-pany argued. After hearingthe case, the consumercourt concluded that thetourist missed an opportu-nity to visit the Burj Khalifabecause the travel companyplayed a trick and meted outa deficiency in service andunfair trade practice.

Ahmedabad,In a bid to up the convic-

tion rate in prohibitioncases, the Gujarat police willnow register stricter com-plaints against drunkardsand besides booking themunder prohibition laws, theaccused will also be chargedwith obscenity or indecentbehaviour in public.

The cops used to addthe charges for indecencyand obscenity in certaincases only, but now in everycase the charge of obscen-

Charges of obscenity to be added in prohibition casesity will added under Sec-tions 110 (behaving inde-cently in public) and 117(which has provision forpunishment for various in-decent public behaviour) ofthe Gujarat Police Act.

A police officer said thatthe state police will soon is-sue circular to all thecommissionerates, SP of-fices and police stations toslap charges of indecencyand obscenity against thoseaccused of prohibition vio-lations. “At present, a person

caught drunk is booked un-der Sections 66(1)(b) and85(1) of the Prohibition Actwhich deal with consumingor using liquor and creatinga nuisance and using foullanguage, respectively. Byadding the two sections ofthe Gujarat Police Act, theprosecution will be able toestablish that the conductof the accused was indecentwhich may help in gettingmore convictions,” added apolice officer.

If a person is convicted

for being drunk and creat-ing a nuisance, he or she canbe jailed for up to threeyears. “Even though thestate government had intro-duced stricter prohibitionlaws, loopholes in the inves-tigation and prosecutionwork in the accused’s favour.Prosecution agencies find itdifficult to prove cases incourt but if more chargesare added there are greaterchanges of making a water-tight case against the ac-cused,” said the officer.

Ahmed Patel’s son, daughterrefuse to join active politics

Bharuch,The son and daughter of

deceased congress stalwartAhmed Patel on Mondaydismissed suggestions ofjoining active politics andemphasized that they willcontinue to carry forwardthe social work initiated bytheir father.

Patel, 71, died on No-vember 25 due to multipleorgan failure in Gurgaon’sMedanta Hospital where hewas admitted after beinginfected with Covid-19 inOctober.

He was laid to rest in hisnative Piraman village, 14km from Bharuch.

Political circles are ripewith the buzz that Congressmay ask Patel’s son Faisal ordaughter Mumtaz to con-test the Rajya Sabha seatfrom Gujarat left vacant af-ter the leader’s death.

On Monday, severalCongress leaders includingstate’s party president AmitChavda and others visitedPiraman and met the family.

“People from all walks oflife are visiting us to expresstheir condolences. They arenarrating stories about howour father helped them onvarious occasions. We were

overwhelmed with this ex-traordinary affection,” 43-year-old Faisal told report-ers.

“Many political leadersadvised us to join activepolitics, but we want to tellpeople that we don’t haveany such plan and continueour father’s legacy of socialwork,” they stressed.

Patel had set up HMPFoundation in Piraman tocarry out health and educa-tional programme in andaround the village. It runsIndustrial training Institute(ITI), a dispensary, three am-bulances and schools free ofcost for poor people.

Chavda said,“Ahmedbhai’s son anddaughter are not consider-ing to join politics but arekeen to carry forward theirfather’s social work. How-ever, we believe that if theypursue active politics, theCongress and both of themwill benefit fromAhmedbhai’s goodwill.”

“We want to focus onthe education and healththrough HMP Foundationand serve the poor. We willcontinue to visit our hometown and focus on welfareactivities,” they said.

On-line matchmaking fair for HIV+Surat,

Due to the global pandemic, a large number of mar-riages are being postponed while few are being organizedminus the grand celebrations following the current restric-tions. But amid the adversities around 250 HIV positive menand women, who are already living life with several limita-tion, will look for life partners on this World AIDS Day onTuesday, in the first of its kind on-line matchmaking fair forpositive people.

Gujarat State Network of People living with HIV AIDS(GSNP+), an NGO, has been organizing the matchmakingfair on a regular basis. “Earlier we used to invite partici-pants to the city and they met each other personally. Butin the current situation we have planned on-line events sothat positive people can get a chance to start a new lifeeven in this situation,” said Daksha Patel, secretary ofGSNP+. For the on-line event, the organizers have invitedapplications from HIV positive people. Based on their se-lection criteria a video meeting will be arranged betweenthe candidates. “Those matching requirements of eachother will be put on video meetings during the fair and ifthey are interested we will arrange their future on-linemeetings as well. Those expressing interest in specific can-didates will be put in touch even after the fair, if required,”said Rasik Bhuva, president of GSNP+. The NGO will alsoarrange meetings of family members of the positive peopleduring the fair. “I am excited about the fair since it will bemy first experience participating in an on-linematchmaking fair. I hope I will find a suitable partner,” saida candidate.

Ahmedabad,Following the decline in

gold prices in the interna-tional market, with growingoptimism over the Covid-19vaccine, the price of the yel-low metal dipped to Rs49,900 per 10g on Monday.

This is the first time infive months it has slippedbelow the Rs 50,000 mark.Analysts said clinical trials ofCovid-19 vaccines showingeffective results has led toan increase investors’ riskappetite, causing goldprices to fall.

Haresh Acharya, director,India Bullion and Jewellers’Association (IBJA), said, “Asspot gold prices in the inter-national market fell below$1,800 per ounce to$1,766.26 on Monday, thegold price in the Indian mar-ket dropped to below the Rs50,000-mark fort he firsttime in 160 days. There is arecessionary trend globallyand due to the economicslowdown, people are notinvesting in gold and arerather selling old gold dueto which prices are falling.”

Gold price dips belowRs 50k after 5 months

The second wave ofCovid-19 infections coin-cided with the peak of thewedding season and this isexpected to hurt jewellerydemand, according to in-dustry experts. “The typicalbig fat Indian wedding haschanged completely withsmall guest lists and eventsbeing limited to a day’s af-fair. The purchase of gold isalso getting limited in termsof quantity. Most transac-tions are being made by ex-changing old gold,” said acity-based jeweller.

Several gold jewelleryexhibitions have also beencancelled. Jigar Soni, presi-dent, Jewellers’ Associationof Ahmedabad (JAA), said,“The spurt in demand whichwas seen around Diwali hasagain taken a hit with thesecond wave of coronavirusinfections. With the cancel-lation of weddings, orderbooks are taking a hit. More-over, purchase sentimenthas weakened due to arecessionary trend visiblehere with the GDP shrinkingfor two quarters straight.”

Vadodara,The Gujarat Pollution

Control Board (GPCB) has is-sued a show cause notice tothe Vadodara Municipal Cor-poration (VMC) over dump-ing of construction waste inBhukhi Nullah, the tributaryof Vishwamitri river thatpasses through the heart ofthe city.

The state’s pollutionwatch dog has recently is-sued the show cause noticebased on inspection but itsteam last month on variouslocations of the BhukhiNullah stretch that fallswithin M S Universitycampus.A group of con-cerned citizens had lastmonth made representa-tions before all officials in-cluding MSU, VMC, GPCB,Central Pollution ControlBoard and Vadodara districtcollector against dumpingof all kinds of biodegradableand non-biodegradablewaste in Bhukhi Nullah.

The group of citizens ledby environment activistRohit Prajapati had warnedthat dumping in the tribu-tary was destroying the eco-system. It had also raisedalarm against MSU’s move

GPCB issues notice to VMC over choked Bhukhi Nullahof constructing retainingwall on the tributary.

The notice issued byGPCB to VMC states that thecivic body is ultimately re-sponsible for managementand handling of construc-tion and demolition wastegenerated from area underits jurisdiction.

It further states thatConstruction and Demoli-tion Waste ManagementRules 2016 published byGovernment of India areapplicable to VMC which isultimately responsible forcompliance of the rule. “Youare hereby directed to replywithin 15 days from the date

of service of this notice fail-ing which, it shall be pre-sumed that you have noth-ing to say in this matter andappropriate action will beinitiated against you underthe Environment (Protec-tion) Act-1986 and the Rulesmade there under,” thestrongly worded notice.

Woman plots theft at her father’shouse

Rajkot,A woman was booked on Monday for allegedly

hatching a conspiracy to commit theft at her father’shouse in Railnagar locality of Rajkot She had sent herboyfriend to commit the crime. Her boyfriend wasarrested on Monday.

Police said the accused, Riyansi Christian (22), hadsent her boyfriend Parth Bhatt (28) to commit theftat the house of her father Francis Christian, Bhatt hadstolen two gold biscuits, one gold chain, Rs 1.60 lakhcash, all worth Rs 7.34 lakh, from Francis’ house onNovember 25.

The theft was committed while Francis was awayto Delhi along with his family members between No-vember 24 and November 29. The theft was detectedafter Francis returned on November 29.

Woman accuses in-laws of gropingAhmedabad,

A 23-year-old woman has lodged a complaintagainst her father-in-law Ashokkumar Lachwani,younger brother-in-law, Vijay, sister-in-law RitaDayalani and husband Bhagyeshkumar Lachwani atSardarnagar police station for mentally and physicallytorturing her for giving birth to a girl child.

The complainant has also alleged in the complaintthat her father-in-law and younger brother-in-lawused to enter her room when she breast-fed herdaughter and used to touch her at inappropriateplaces and say it was like seeing a blue film. She hasalleged that on November 15, her husband hadbeaten her and thrown her out of house. Since thenshe has been living with her parents.

Sardarnagar police officials said that they haveregistered a case against the accused under Section498(A), 323, 204(b) and 114 and are verifying the de-tails mentioned in the FIR before acting.

According to the FIR, the complainant was mar-ried to Bhagyeshkumar in April 2016. She has allegedin the complaint that after giving birth to a girl child,her in-laws started harassing her on petty householdissues.

Colleges demand GTU holds exams inon-line format

Ahmedabad,The Association of Gujarat Engineering and Tech-

nological Diploma Colleges has demanded GujaratTechnological University (GTU) authorities reconsidertheir decision to hold winter examination in off-line(pen and paper) format. There are about 550 collegesthat are affiliated to GTU.

In a letter addressed to GTU vice-chancellor, theassociation said the state’s largest university shouldconsider holding the exam in on-line mode.

At a time when the government had to rethinkits decision of re-opening schools and colleges fromNovember and had to delay it indefinitely due toCovid-19 situation, it is not advisable to hold examsin physical classrooms, said a member of the asso-ciation.

Gujarat University, which has about 350 collegesaffiliated to it, has recently declared that it will holdterm exams for undergraduate and postgraduate stu-dents from December 8.

The varsity is now reconsidering its decision, saidsources in GTU.

“There is confusion on whether to delay the ex-amination process or hold it on-line. We expect toget some clarity on this in few days,” said sources.

Rape-accused kills self in jail as testconfirms his paternity

Rajkot,A 35-year-old undertrial prisoner who was ac-

cused of rape hanged himself to death in JunagadhCentral Jail on Sunday night after the paternity testconfirmed that he was father of the child born to theminor rape survivor.

Police said the deceased, Haresh Boghra, had beensuffering from depression ever since his DNA reportconfirmed his paternity. He hanged himself from theceiling of the lobby of the jail, using a muffler.

Boghra had been lodged in the jail for the pastsix months after he was booked for allegedly aping a16-year-old girl and who later became pregnant. Af-ter the girl delivered a baby girl recently, the DNA testsof the infant and Boghra were conducted, which con-firmed Boghra to be the father.

“The jail inmates said that Boghra had sunk intodepression and was expressing fear of getting a jailterm in the case. This drive him to commit suicide,”said Pradeepsinh Jadeja, Junagadh deputy superin-tendent of police.

Boghra had separated from his family after mar-rying a woman against the wishes of his family mem-bers a decade ago. No one from his family had ap-proached to bail him out, which caused him to sinkinto depression.

Prankster harassing people finallyarrested

Vadodara,People in Angadh, Ramgadh and Nandesari vil-

lages will now heave a sigh of relief as police nabbeda 24-year-old man who had gotten on everyone’snerves through his obscene messages and rank calls.

Praveen alias Ashwin Rawal, who was arrested inJanuary too for sending an ambulance to a woman’shome saying that her daughter is about to deliver ababy, had started making similar prank calls onceagain after he was released on bail after eight months.Police said that this time he had crossed all limits ashe must have sent ambulances dozens of times. “Hewould either say that a woman is about to deliver ababy or that a Covid-19 patient is to be taken to hos-pital,” said a cop.

In the case of pregnancy calls, the 108 emergencystaff would return, but the villagers faced a toughtime convincing them that there was no Covid-19patient. Rawal also used to send obscene photos andhurl abuses at men on WhatsApp. “There were alsocomplaints that he used to make comments on mar-ried women putting them in an embarrassing situa-tion,” the cop added.

Vapi doctor among two accused ofrape

Surat,A 45-year-old woman staying in Kamrej area has

accused two men including a doctor of raping her.The cops booked both the accused on Sunday andarrested one of them.

According to the complaint lodged by the woman,she met Dr Nilesh Shah, a former intern at New CivilHospital, during a train journey three years. They be-gan talking regularly and got into relationship. Shahthen told the woman that he needed Rs 3 lakh forpaying his academic fees following which she lenthim money.

But Shah later refused to marry the complainantfollowing which she broke off their relationship. Shesoon came in contact with her former neighbourPavan Kahar and the two got into relationship. Kaharpromised her that he will recover the money she gaveto Shah. He made videos of her in objectionable po-sitions and began blackmailing her.

ACB books 29 govtemployees in 11 months

Ahmedabad,The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Gujarat registered

cases for disproportionate assets (DA) against 29 employ-ees of the state government in the last 11 months. Theseinclude three class-1 officers, eight class-2 officers and 18class-3 employees, officials said on Monday.

The cumulative market value of the alleged DA, includ-ing land and residential properties, is estimated at Rs 40.47crore, the ACB said, adding that it has launched a specialdrive to unearth benami and ill-gotten properties.

Eight of the accused were earlier employed with now-defunct Gujarat Land Development Corporation (GLDC),the officer said.

Other accused were attached with departments of ur-ban development, revenue, panchayat, irrigation, PWD,Gujarat Pollution Control Board, police, education, forestand environment, health and mines and minerals, said of-ficers. They were booked under provisions of the Preven-tion of Corruption Act and under the Prohibition of BenamiProperty Transactions Act.

The ACB on Monday booked one Kalubhai Ram, a re-tired class-3 engineer of state irrigation department, forallegedly possessing disproportionate assets worth Rs 1.38crore, which are 97.71 per cent more than his knownsources of income.

Ram, who retired a few years back, had deposited Rs22 lakh in his bank accounts during his service between2005 and 2013, said officers.

Rajkot,Their wedding was

simple and frugal. Yet, whenShanta Makwana tied thenuptial knot with RameshDangar their marriage sol-emnized through a commu-nity function became talk ofthe town in Junagadh onMonday. For visually dis-abled Makwana is 5.5 feettall while Dangar is just 2.5feet. But for the duo whohad an age gap of sevenyears, it is a match made inheaven.

“I am happy with thismarriage. I am blind bybirth. My husband’s heightmight be less, but his heartis big. He is a good person.We are from the same com-munity and he is earning

Not height, but their hearts matchgood,” said Makwana, 29,who like her husband wantsto become a teacher.

“I also want to becomea teacher after completingmy education,” saidMakwana, a native of Rajesarvillage of Junagadh’sMendarda taluka, who ispursuing her B.Ed despitebeing blind by birth.

“I will everything to fol-low my wife’s dream and Iam happy that she is goingto join my profession soon,”said 38-year-old Dangar, anative of Butavadar villageof Junagadh’s Jamjodhpurtaluka, who is currently serv-ing as a primary schoolteacher.“They both arequalified, but they werestruggling to find a life

partner.It is an arrangedmarriage. Both belong tothe same community andheads of both the familieshave finalized the marriage,”said Groom’s brother RamDangar.The marriage func-tion was organized bySatyam Seva Mandal, thetrust that usually organizesmass marriages but has lim-ited its rule to organizingindividual marriages inCovid-19 era.“We organizemass marriages every year.We have to find a suitablematch for visually chal-lenged girls of our hostel.We are happy that one ofour daughters have foundher suitable match,” saidtrustee and advocate K PPandya.

Ahmedabad, Page 5

International 5AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 2/12/2020

Boris Johnson has failed to quell rising fury on his own benches about the draconian restrictions, which willleave 99 per cent of England under the toughest two levels from tomorrow. As many as 100 have been consideringgoing against the government in a crunch vote this evening, and were left livid when ministers finally released animpact assessment of the measures, only to find it did not feature any new detail. Rebel ringleader Mark Harper saidthe 'wheels were coming off' the policy. It is understood the government has another dossier that includes more'granular' information on 40 areas of the economy, although sources dismissed the idea it is 'secret', saying it onlycontains material already 'publicly available'. Mr Johnson has been left exposed after Sir Keir Starmer announcedthat Labour will abstain on the vote tonight, saying he was concerned the proposals are not tough enough and donot include sufficient compensation for businesses. The move means that the scale of the rebellion will not bemasked by Opposition support - but the government is still guaranteed victory as not enough will switch sides tooverturn Mr Johnson's huge majority. Around 30 MPs defied the whip in the last lockdown vote, and that numbercould double this time. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove was sent out on the airwaves to defend the government'sposition, warning that the renewed lockdown in Wales, just weeks after their 'firebreak' curbs, showed 'what hap-pens when you pulkl the restraints back too far'.

An Arcadia worker has today called on Sir Philip Green (pictured left with wifeTina) to sell his £100million superyacht (pictured inset) to help staff amid the collapseof his retail empire - which came days after he was pictured casually walking throughthe streets of Monaco (pictured right over the weekend). The group, which includeshigh street brands such as Topshop, Wallis and Dorothy Perkins, was plunged intoadministration last night, putting 13,000 jobs at risk. It has also reportedly triggeredthe breakdown of a deal to save struggling Debenhams. JD Sports is reportedly set topull out of a rescue deal for the department store after the collapse of Arcadia, put-ting another 12,000 jobs at risk. Today one customer assistant told the BBC that hethought Sir Philip, whose wife is the owner of the Arcadia group, should sell his £100mil-lion yacht to help his staff.

When old master John Constable set up his easel in 1804 in a rural Hampshirevillage, he considered the setting so inspirational he recreated it in watercolours. Butthere are now fears the picturesque landscape that he captured in his 'A View atHursley' (lower left inset) could soon look a little different - with three solar farms and5,000 new homes built. Proposals put forward earlier this week by developers wouldsee an entire town constructed on the downland (main picture) between the an-cient Hampshire village and the nearby cathedral city of Winchester. The plans forthe 'Royaldown' development include a new access road, two primary schools, a sec-ondary school, a park and ride, a health centre - all powered by the three solar farms.It has prompted fears that an area with a unique history including King Alfred's battlewith the Danes and the development of the Spitfire fighter plane could end up be-ing 'concreted over'.

Washington, US First Lady Melania

Trump on Monday unveiledthis year’s White Housedecorations for Christmasunder the theme “Americathe Great”. On Monday, theWhite House in a statementsaid that this year’s theme isa “tribute to the majesty ofour great Nation”.

“From coast to coast, ourcountry is blessed withboundless natural wonders.The timeless treasures rep-resented in this year’s holi-day showcase remind us ofthe true American spirit,” thestatement added. In a tweet,the First Lady shared a videoand captioned it: “Duringthis special time of the year,I am delighted to share‘America the Beautiful’ andpay tribute to the majesty ofour great Nation. Together,we celebrate this land weare all proud to call home.”

On Monday, PresidentDonald Trump also tweetedthe video, which showedthe First Lady in a virtual

Melania Trump unveils 2020White House Christmas decor

tour of the traditional deco-rations which feature manyChristmas trees with whitelights and red ornamentsadorning the halls and lin-ing the corridors.

On the entry to the EastWing, visitors will begreeted by the Gold StarFamily Tree, an annual tra-dition among the holidaydecorations, according tothe White House statement.“Draped in blue, the colourof perseverance and justice,it pays tribute to our Ameri-can heroes and their fami-lies who walk beside themin service.

“This year, families whodecorated the tree placedthe name of their fallenfamily member on ribbonthat will adorn the tree,” itsaid. The 2020 display alsofeatured a “Be Best” orna-ment and a Christmas vil-lage hospital figurine in theRed Room, a nod tohealthcare workers andother essential workersduring the pandemic.

“We salute America’s ev-eryday heroes who serve asfirst responders and front-line workers. Handmade or-naments highlight themany professionals andvolunteers who serve theircommunities with a spirit ofgenerosity,” the First Lady’soffice said in a statement.

Other details of thedecorations seen in thevideo included a “WhiteHouse Express” train withthe words “America theBeautiful” inscribed on thecarriages, and a Christmastree in the White House Li-brary decorated with a rib-bon celebrating the 100thanniversary of the ratifica-tion of the 19th Amend-ment, which grantedwomen the right to vote.

For the first time, the an-nual gingerbread replica ofthe White House this yearincluded not only the Eastand West wings and the Ex-ecutive Residence, but alsothe Rose Garden and theFirst Ladies’ Garden.

Washington, The US Federal Reserve Board has approved the exten-

sion of four of its emergency Covid-19 lending facilities untilMarch 31, 2021.

“The extension, which has also been approved by theTreasury Department, will facilitate planning by potentialfacility participants and provide certainty that the facilitieswill continue to be available through the first quarter of2021 to help the economy recover from the Covid-19 pan-demic,” Xinhua news agency quoted the Fed as saying in astatement on Monday.

The extensions apply to the Commercial Paper Fund-ing Facility, the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facil-ity, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, and the Paycheck Pro-tection Program Liquidity Facility, which are set to expire atthe end of the year, according to the Fed.

“The emergency lending facilities established to pro-vide liquidity to the financial system and stabilize creditmarkets have been successful. Financial conditions haveresponded and the use of these facilities has been limited,”Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a separate state-ment.

“In an abundance of caution, however, I requested thatthe facilities to which Treasury has provided funds from thepre-existing Exchange Stabilization Fund, and the facilitiesthat did not require Treasury funding, be extended untilMarch 31,” he added. The move came after Mnuchin askedthe Fed to end five emergency Covid-19 lending facilitiesand return $455 billion of unused funds more than a weekago. Mnuchin said that these emergency lending facilities“have clearly achieved their objective”.

US Fed approves extension of 4emergency Covid-19 lending facilities

By Arul LouisNew York,

Ajit Pai, one of the se-nior-most Indian-Americanofficials appointed by USPresident Donald Trump,announced that he wasquitting the Chairmanshipof the Federal Communica-tions Commission (FCC) onJanuary 20, when Joe Bidentakes over as President.

Pai, who announced hisresignation plan on Monday,had worked with Trump toban the use of telecom infra-structure equipment madeby Chinese manufacturersHuawei and ZTE in thw USbecause of the national se-curity risks.

He also campaigned forother democracies to shutout those companies.

Pai said in the statementabout leaving office that hewas proud of “aggressivelyprotecting our communica-tions networks from na-tional security threats athome and abroad”.

The Chairmanship of theFCC is one of the most pow-erful jobs in the US becausethe federal authority regu-lates the cellphone spec-trum and services, phone,internet and satellite and

One of senior-most Indian-AmericanTrump appointee Ajit Pai to quit

cable services.Its powers even extend

to setting and enforcing cer-tain content norms like ob-scenity in TV and radio andconditions like the amountof local news content sta-tions must carry.

“To be the first Asian-American to chair the FCChas been a particular privi-lege. As I often say: only inAmerica,” he said.

Another senior Trumpappointee at just below thecabinet level, Seema Vermawho heads the Centers forMedicare and Medicaid Ser-vices, the agency for govern-ment health insuranceprogrammes, and is a keymember of the White HouseCoronavirus Task Force isalso expected to quit whenBiden becomes President.

What drew the most at-tention during Pai’s tenurewas his controversial plan toend net neutrality, a deci-sion that faced strong oppo-sition from many andplayed into the nationalpolarisation to the extent ofgetting death threatsagainst his children.

Net neutrality preventedinternet service providersfrom giving special prefer-

ences to certain web sites orpriority or better access toweb sites in exchange forpayment.

Biden’s administration isexpected to reinstate netneutrality.

About ending net neu-trality and pursuing deregu-lation, Pai said that under hisleadership “this FCC has notshied away from makingtough choices. As a result,our nation’s communica-tions networks are nowfaster, stronger, and morewidely deployed than everbefore”.

He was first appointed aCommissioner of the FCC bythen President BarackObama in 2012 to representthe Republican Party andmade chairman by Trump in2017.

The five-member com-mission has representativesfrom both parties, with thePresident appointing itschair and Pai’s resignationwill facilitate Biden exercis-ing the prerogative.

The rush to work fromhome during the Covid-19pandemic saw an unprec-edented increase in the useof the internet for businessand work.

Mexico unveils $11.4bn infrastructureinvestment plan

Mexico City, The Mexican government has unveiled a second

infrastructure investment plan, in collaboration withthe private sector, that calls for 228 billion pesos($11.4 billion) in spending on 29 public worksprojects. Addressing a press conference here onMonday, Finance Minister Arturo Herrera said thegoal was to kick-start jobs creation by immediatelyspending in such sectors as communications, energy,tourism and the environment, among others, reportsXinhua news agency.

The new package comes in the wake of an initialinfrastructure investment plan launched in October,for a total of 68 projects at a cost of 525 billion pesos,or 2.3 per cent of Mexico’s GDP.

Brazil Covid-19 death toll tops173,000

Brasilia, With 287 new coronavirus fatalities reported in

Brazil in the last 24 hours, the country’s death toll hasincreased to 173,120, the second highest in the worldafter the US, according to the Health Ministry.

Besides the new fatalities on Monday, the coun-try also registered 21,138 new cases, which took theoverall tally to 6,335,878, Xinhua news agency.

Brazil’s caseload is the third highest after the USand India. Also on Monday, the World Health Organi-zation (WHO) voiced deep concern over a sharp in-crease in infection and fatality rates in Brazil. “I thinkBrazil has to be very, very serious,” said WHO Direc-tor-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a pressconference in Geneva.

Italy reports drop in active Covid-19cases

Rome, Active coronavirus infections in Italy has de-

creased by 7,300 on a daily average, as the incum-bent restrictions in the country have led to the slow-ing down of the second wave of the pandemic, ac-cording to health officials.

On Monday, the country reported 16,377 newcases, taking the overall infection tally to 1,601,554,Xinhua news agency quoted the Health Ministry assaying. However, active coronavirus infections were788,471 on Monday, down from 795,771 on Sunday,the latest statistics revealed. The large majority of allthose actively infected were isolated at home withmild symptoms, the Ministry said. Another 33,187are currently hospitalized (up from 32,879 on Sun-day), and 3,744 are in intensive care (down from 3,753on Sunday).

‘Covid-19 vaccine’s success relies onability to address mistrust, misinfo’

United Nations, Francesco Rocca, President of the International

Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies(IFRC), warned that efforts to roll out a potentialCovid-19 vaccine could fail unless equally ambitiousefforts to counteract rapidly rising levels of mistrustand misinformation were put in place.

Speaking ahead of a high-level UN special ses-sion on the pandemic to be held this week in NewYork, Rocca, told reporters at a virtual press confer-ence on Monday that “we welcome the news that aviable Covid-19 vaccine may be imminent”, Xinhuanews agency reported. “However, we caution that avaccine in-and-of-itself will not be enough to end thispandemic,” he added.

Biden, Harris greet Sikhs onGurupurab

New York, US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-

elect Kamala Harris have greeted Sikhs on the occa-sion of Gurupurab commemorating the birth anni-versary of Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru.

“On this day, let us all remind ourselves that GuruNanak’s timeless and universal message of compas-sion and unity can inspire and help us heal as peopleand as a nation,” they said in a joint statement onMonday. They said that “Guru Nanak’s teachings onspiritual enlightenment, service to humanity, andmoral integrity have endured and are embodiedeach day by Sikhs in America and around the world,as we have seen during this challenging year”.

Washington Guv announces Covidexposure notification tool

Washington, The Governor of the US state of Washington Jay

Inslee on has announced the launch of WA Notify, a“simple, anonymous exposure notification tool” tohelp stop the spread of Covid-19.

By adding WA Notify to their smartphones, Wash-ington residents will be alerted if they spent timenear another WA Notify user who later tests positivefor Covid-19, the announcement said on Monday,Xinhua reported. WA Notify uses privacy-preservingtechnology jointly developed by Google and Appleand works without collecting or revealing any loca-tion or personal data, according to the announce-ment. “Secure, private and anonymous exposure no-tification technology is an important tool for Wash-ington,” Inslee said. “We’ve deployed WA Notify in 29languages so as many Washington residents as pos-sible can protect themselves, their loved ones andtheir communities.”

Ankara, Turkish President Recep

Tayyip Erdogan has an-nounced a series of newmeasures, including fullweekend lockdown, to curbthe spread of the ongoingcoronavirus pandemic.

The weekend curfewwill start at 9 p.m. on Fridaysand end at 5 a.m. on Mon-days, while the overnightlockdown will be imposedfrom 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. everyweekday, Xinhua newsagency quoted Erdogan assaying at a press conferenceon Monday after a cabinetmeeting.

“We take our steps care-fully not to turn it into socialor economic crisis,” thePresident told reporters,noting the new measureswill take effect on Tuesday.

Some businesses, in-cluding supply chain, pro-

Turkey announces series of new measuresduction, health and agricul-ture services, will be exemptfrom the curfew, he said.

Groceries, slaughterhouses and supermarketswill offer delivery serviceswithin the limited timeframe, while cafes and res-taurants will continue to berestricted to takeaway ser-vices, according to the Presi-dent.

The kindergartens willbe closed, Erdogan noted.Turkey has already intro-duced distance learning forhigher-grade students untilthe end of the year.

Turkey has been impos-ing a partial lockdown forpeople aged over 65 andunder 20, but the Presidenton Monday added they willalso not be able to use pub-lic transportation.

The citizens will beasked for their HES (Life Fits

into Home) codes, a manda-tory application introducedby the Ministry of Health toshow citizen’s health status,when entering shoppingmalls.

The number of peopleparticipating in weddings orfunerals will be limited to 30.

Erdogan said that thecountry will begin freeCovid-19 vaccinations forTurkish citizens in Decem-ber as the government haspurchased 50 million dosesfor the initial phase.

In mid-November, theTurkish government reim-posed partial lockdowns onweekends; closed and al-lowed only delivery for res-taurants and cafes; intro-duced new working hoursfor businesses; and sus-pended all activities of gam-ing halls, clubs and footballfields across the country.

The new restrictionscome in the wake of a sharpescalation in new Covid-19cases and fatalities.

On Monday, an addi-tional 31,219 people testedpositive for the virus, raisingthe country’s overallcaseload to 638,847.

The death toll rose by188 to 13,746.

Rome, Italian Prime Minister

Giuseppe Conte’s cabinetannounced that it haspassed a decree toprovidenew stimulus andrelief measures to busi-nesses and worker catego-ries affected by the latestseries of restrictions againstthe Covid-19 pandemic.

Overall, the provisionwas worth some 8 billioneuros ($9.6 billion), Xinhuanews agency quoted thecabinet as saying in its an-nouncement on Monday.

According to the an-nouncement, the provisionalso included various taxdelays and tax exemptions

Italy passes decree for newstimulus, relief measures

for firms, and a singletranche of economic aid, upto 1,000 euros for workerssuch as those employed inthe show business and tour-ism sectors, among othermeasures.

The announcementcomes as active coronavirusinfections in Italy has de-creased by 7,300 on a dailyaverage, as the incumbentrestrictions in the countryhave led to the slowingdown of the second wave ofthe pandemic, according tohealth officials.

On Monday, the countryreported 16,377 new cases,taking the overall infectiontally to 1,601,554, the HealthMinistry said.

However, activecoronavirus infections were788,471 on Monday, downfrom 795,771 on Sunday, thelatest statistics revealed.

Meanwhile, thecountry’s death toll rose by672 to 55,576.

Earlier this month, thegovernment had intro-duced a three-tiered systemthat split the country intothree zones (red for thehighest risk, orange for me-dium risk, and yellow for lowrisk) according to the levelof virus transmission andthe situation of the publichealth system in each re-gion.

Khartoum, Sudan Sovereign Coun-

cil Chairman Abdel FattahAl-Burhan and US Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo dis-cussed arrangements aboutremoving the northeast Af-rican country from the list ofstates sponsoring terrorismin the coming weeks.

During a phone call withPompeo on Monday, theyalso discussed the develop-ments in Ethiopia and theneed for a peaceful settle-ment to the conflict in amanner that achieves re-gional peace and enhancessecurity in the region,Xinhua news agencyquoted the Council as say-

Arrangements discussed for Sudan’sremoval from terror sponsors list

ing in a statement.On October 23, US Presi-

dent Donald Trump an-nounced his intention of re-moving Sudan from thestate sponsor of terrorismlist once the African countrydeposits a $335 millionsettlement amount for vic-tims of the 1998 twin bomb-ings at the two AmericanEmbassies in Tanzania andKenya.

The decision was set tobe effective on December11.

Sudan had been listed asa state sponsor of terrorismsince 1993. The other threenations on the list are Iran,North Korea and Syria, ac-

cording to a CNN report.Due to the designation,

Sudan faces a series of re-strictions including a ban ondefence exports and salesand restrictions on US for-eign assistance.

The August 7, 1998, si-multaneous truck bomb ex-plosions that took place atthe American Embassies inDar es Salaam, Tanzania, andNairobi, Kenya, killed at least224 people.

The attacks, which werelinked to local members ofthe Egyptian Islamic Jihad,brought the Al Qaeda to theattention of the interna-tional community for thefirst time.

London, UK Health Secretary

Matt Hancock said that thecoronavirus situation is“back under control” as themonth-long lockdown inEngland, the second of itskind since the onset of thepandemic, is due to end onWednesday. “We’ve got thisvirus back under control,”Xinhua news agencyquoted Hancock as sayingduring a virtual press brief-ing at the Downing Streeton Monday.

According to the latest

UK Covid-19 situation ‘back under control’ after 2nd lockdownofficial figures, the UK’scoronavirus reproductionnumber, known as the Rnumber, has fallen to be-tween 0.9 and 1.

If the R number is aboveone, it means the number ofcases will increase exponen-tially. Hancock said that thelockdown brought theCovid-19 situation undercontrol in England, whichmeans that people couldhave greater freedoms intiers from Wednesday.

However, the HealthSecretary warned that con-

tinued vigilance is neededas a tougher tiered systemis set to replace thelockdown once it ends.

“We don’t have muchheadroom. We can’t risk let-ting cases rise again, espe-cially into Christmas andwith the flu season aroundthe corner,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, PrimeMinister Boris Johnson de-fended the new tiered sys-tem ahead of a vote in theHouse of Commons (LowerHouse of Parliament) on themeasures on Tuesday.

“We can’t afford to takeour foot off the throat of thebeast, to take our foot off thegas. We can’t afford to let itout of control again.

“The tiering system istough, but it’s designed tobe tough and to keep it un-der control,” he added.

Another 12,330 peoplethe country tested positivefor the virus in the last 24hours, bringing the totalnumber of coronaviruscases in the country to1,633,733, according to offi-cial figures.

Ahmedabad Page 6

6 SportAHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 2/12/2020

Lewis Hamilton has tested positive for coronavirus just days after winning the Bahrain Grand Prix (main image).The seven-time Formula One world champion is confined to a hotel room for 10 days in isolation after his positiveresult was announced on Tuesday morning and will miss the upcoming Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain this weekend.Hamilton wrapped up his seventh world crown in Turkey, the race before Bahrain, on November 15 and returnedhome to Monaco the following day. He posted a picture on social media of him running (top right), the day after theTurkish GP and was at home (bottom right, playing tennis with his dad ) later the same week before heading toBahrain. The 35-year-old Hamilton came down with mild symptoms yesterday morning and has returned two posi-tive tests since.

The Villains attempted to muster a fightback after Jarrod Bowen put the hostsahead at the start of the second half with a deft header but were unable to score theall-important leveller. Grealish, 25, had evened the scores in the first half with a fineindividual goal after Angelo Ogbonna opened the scoring with a powerful header injust the second minute of the game.

Cavani (left) 'sincerely apologised', saying the post 'was intended as an affec-tionate greeting to a friend,' but may yet be hit with a minimum three-game banafter the FA launched an investigation. But former United defender Neville Inset)insists the game itself must also take the blame for Cavani's post for not having sub-jected him to appropriate training after arriving on a free transfer in the summer,and believes repeat incidents will follow until it is implemented. Asked who is re-sponsible for the implantation of such training, Neville said the FA, Richard Masters(top right) and the Premier League and Rick Parry (bottom right) and the EFL mustall be involved to set up necessary protocols and processes.

Beijing, After table tennis made

a return to the internationalstage amid the Covid-19pandemic, ITTF CEO SteveDainton has expressed hisfull confidence in the sport’sbright future.

“We showed the worldthat table tennis is well andtruly alive and has a verybright future,” Daintonwrote in a letter posted onthe ITTF’s website, reportsXinhua news agency.

The ITTF #RESTART se-ries, comprised of the ITTFWomen’s and Men’s WorldCups and the Finals, wasstaged in China in Novem-ber, signaling the return ofinternational table tennisfollowing an eight-monthhiatus due to the Covid-19pandemic. The series wasfollowed by an innovativeWTT Macao tournamentwhich concluded on Sun-day.

“We gave sport and thetable tennis world hope thateven in a crisis we can pre-vail. When the majority ofOlympic Sports around theworld are still trying to re-turn to international compe-tition - table tennis did it,”said Dainton.

Dainton showed his ap-preciation towards every-one that was involved inbringing table tennis back,including “amazing” players

ITTF CEO confident in table tennis’ bright futurefor their sacrifice.

“The work, the sweat, thetears and the absolute joy ofwatching our favorite play-ers competing for the topprizes in our #RESTART se-ries will go down in historyas one of the most impor-tant things that the ITTF andtable tennis has everachieved.”

“Without you it wouldhave been impossible. Formost of 2020 we have sim-ply been fighting to survive,but in the past few monthswe did not only survive - wedid more - we showed theworld that table tennis is

well and truly alive and witha very bright future,”Dainton noted.

Dainton also thankedChina and the Chinese TableTennis Association (CTTA)for their full support for thesport.

“We move quickly ourattention to 2021 that nowwith the confidence of #RE-START we will make evenbigger and better eventsand get all our activitiesback up and running,” wroteDainton, who said lookedforward to the World TableTennis Championships inBusan, South Korea.

New Delhi, The Knight Riders

Group, which already ownsKolkata Knight Riders in theIndian Premier League andthe Trinbago Knight Ridersin the Caribbean PremierLeague, will be making a “asignificant long-term in-vestment” in the future ofAmerican cricket as theyhave become stakeholdersin the US-based MajorLeague Cricket (MLC), themulti-million dollar T20tournament expected tostart in 2022.

The investment by theKnight Riders Group, whichis led by Bollywood actorShah Rukh Khan along withJuhi Chawla & her husbandJay Mehta, is part of a stra-tegic long-term investmentto help USA Cricket run thesix-team T20 league.

“For several years now,we have been expandingthe Knight Riders brand glo-bally and closely watchingthe potential for T20 cricketin the USA. We are con-vinced that Major LeagueCricket has all the pieces inplace to execute on its plans

Knight Riders to invest in US-based Major League Cricket

and we look forward tomaking our partnership anenormous success in thecoming years,” said ShahRukh Khan in a statement.

American Cricket Enter-prises (ACE), USA Cricket’spartner in developing a pro-fessional T20 league inAmerica, had invited theKnight Riders Group.

Venky Mysore, the CEOof KKR and Red Chillies En-tertainment said, “We havehad a keen interest in thedevelopments in the UnitedStates and our expansioninto the US is consistentwith our long-term strat-egy.” “We look forward to thenew challenge of buildingcricket in the world’s mostsophisticated sports andmedia market and we be-lieve that we can bring ahuge amount of expertise tohelp make Major LeagueCricket realise the potentialthat it undoubtedly has,” headded.

MLC will be the first pro-fessional T20 league inAmerica if and when it islaunched. The tournamentwas slated to take place over

the span of nine weeks start-ing from July 4 in 2021 butwas postponed followingthe outbreak of coronavirus.

San Francisco, Chicago,Boston, Seattle, Houston,Dallas, Atlanta and Washing-ton, D.C. were among the 22locations touted for thetournament when theleague was announced inFebruary this year.

Sameer Mehta andVijay Srinivasan of ACE andMLC said, “By adding theKnight Riders Group to ourfamily of world-class anddiverse investors, this in-vestment into the future ofMajor League Cricket is ahuge validation of our vi-sion for the new league,and we are particularly ex-cited to have such aniconic cricketing brandonboard with us.

“As USA Cricket’s offi-cial partner in developinga professional T20 leaguein America, we have ashared vision to bringworld-class professionalcricket to the world’s larg-est sports market,” headded.

Canberra, Team India batsman

Shreyas Iyer has said thatgetting acclimatised to Aus-tralian conditions fromthose in the United ArabEmirates (UAE) — wherethey played the Indian Pre-mier League — was made abit tough with the kind ofpractice wicket they weregiven to train during thequarantine period.

Team India was grantedexemption from the NewSouth Wales government totrain at the Blacktown Inter-national Sports Park beforethe ODI series started fromNovember 27. “We had just

Practice wickets were different fromthe one in the match, says Iyer

arrived from Dubai. In Dubai,there was not as muchbounce as it is in Australia.And where we were practic-ing that was a very differentwicket than from the one inthe match — it was a com-pletely different wicket,”said Iyer during a media in-teraction a day ahead of thethird and final ODI to beplayed at the Manuka Oval.

“Getting acclimatised toconditions as a batsmantakes some amount of time.It is like a challenge. Youhave to adjust as quickly aspossible, irrespective of theconditions and atmospherein the ground,” he added.

India lost the first twoODIs by 66 runs and 51 runsrespectively at the SydneyCricket Ground, after con-ceding record totals to Aus-tralia.

Iyer also said that the 14-day quarantine was reallytough, although he addedthat as professionals theyhave to adjust.

“Quarantine was reallytough when we came in.Staying in the room for 14days and only going forpractice and coming back.At the same time we are pro-fessionals and are gettingsome games to play, so wecan’t complain,” added Iyer.

Canberra, Australia head coach

Justin Langer has statedthat he’s not “holding hisbreath” that opener DavidWarner will be fit for the firstTest of the upcoming Bor-der-Gavaskar Trophyagainst India.

Warner has been ruledout of the remaining white-ball matches against Indiaafter injuring his groin dur-ing the second ODI of theongoing three-match series.He suffered a groin strain inAustralia’s 51-run win onSunday night at the SydneyCricket Ground and re-turned home to begin hisrehab in the hope to be fitfor the first Test to be played

Not holding my breath: Langer uncertainof Warner’s fitness for Adelaide Test

at the Adelaide Oval be-tween December 17-21.

“He’s strained his abduc-tor in his groins and they tellme it’s a very painful injury.It looked like he got shot bya gun. He was in incrediblepain in the change-roomsafter. We’ve just arrived inCanberra, so we won’t seehim again for probably fiveor six days until we get backto Sydney,” Langer toldSEN’s Sportsday WA.

“I’m not holding mybreath that he’ll be ready forthe first Test match, but withthat said he’s the sort of eliteprofessional who will bedoing literally everythingpossible to be ready for it.We’ll see what happens, but

he’s going to be a loss that’sfor sure,” he added.

If Warner isn’t fit for thepink-ball Test, Joe Burns andWill Puchoski will in all like-lihood open the innings forthe hosts.

“It takes a bit of pressureoff, doesn’t it?” Langer saidwith a laugh. “No wonder I’ma bit more relaxed. We’vewon a few games and I don’thave to worry about whowe’re going to pick for theTest side,” he added.

Australia have alreadysealed the ODI series andwill aim to go for a cleansweep when they take onthe Men in Blue in the finalmatch at the Manuka Ovalon Wednesday.

Sydney, Sydney Sixers have

signed West Indies Test cap-tain Jason Holder on athree-game deal for the up-coming edition of the BigBash League (BBL).

Holder, who is currentlyin New Zealand preparingto lead the West Indies in atwo-match Test series, willjoin the Sixers in Hobartlater this month.

The 29-year-old will beavailable for the Sixers fortheir December 20 clashwith the Adelaide Strikers inHobart, before moving tothe Gold Coast with the menin magenta for a December26 fixture against theMelbourne Stars and theDecember 29 matchup withthe Melbourne Renegades.

“I’m really excited to becoming to the BBL and inparticular the Sydney Sixers.I’ve wanted to for a fewyears now and this year Ihave the opportunity tocome in and make someappearances and hopefullydo a bit for the Sixers,” saidHolder.

The all-rounder said hehad watched the strength ofthe BBL from a distance inthe past and fondly remem-bers playing with Sixersskipper Moises Henriquesfor SunRisers Hyderabad inthe IPL in 2014 and 2015.

“BBL cricket is an interestfor me and the Sixers havebeen successful over the

Jason Holder signs up withSydney Sixers for BBL 10

past few years. Moises and Iplayed together at Sunrisersand I really enjoyed that. Itwill be good to do it again.”

The signing takes thenumber of internationalplayers in the Sixers squadto four, alongside CarlosBrathwaite, Tom Curran andJames Vince. Curran will jointhe squad from interna-tional duties after Christ-mas.

Sydney Sixers squad forBBL 2020-21: Sean Abbott,Justin Avendano, JacksonBird, Carlos Brathwaite, DanChristian, Tom Curran, BenDwarshuis, Jack Edwards,Moises Henriques (c), JasonHolder, Daniel Hughes,Hayden Kerr, Nathan Lyon,Ben Manenti, StephenO’Keefe, Josh Philippe, LloydPope, Jordan Silk, MitchellStarc, James Vince

Pacer Dilbar Hussain returns toMelbourne Stars for BBL 10

Melbourne, Fast bowler Dilbar Hussain has signed up with

Melbourne Stars for the upcoming Big Bash League (BBL).Hussain, who was born in Faisalabad in north eastern Paki-stan, will be available for the full season.

He returns to the Stars through the club’s ongoing re-lationship with the Lahore Qalandars - a successful con-nection that led to Haris Rauf’s involvement with the Starsin BBL 9.

Hussain made one appearance for the Stars last sea-son, taking the wicket of AB de Villiers at the MelbourneCricket Ground (MCG) and said he was pleased to returnto the Melbourne Stars.

“I’m very happy to be coming back to the MelbourneStars for the Big Bash. In the short time I was with the clublast season I learnt so much. I’d like to thank David Husseywho was incredibly supportive and encouraged me to keepworking on my craft.” Hussain said.

Stars head coach David Hussey said Hussain brings aunique benefit to the bowling lineup.

“I’m looking forward to working with Dilbar again thisseason and supporting his development together with ourwider bowling group. His Stars debut was a whirlwind lastyear - it was his first senior T20 match and he effectivelycame down to Melbourne at very short notice and endedup bowling to AB de Villiers at the MCG,” Hussey said.

Sri Lanka WC winner AsankaGurusinha to coach Nigeria

Abuja (Nigeria), Asanka Gurusinha, who was part of the 1996 World Cup

winning Sri Lanka team, has been appointed as Nigeria’shead coach and high-performance director.

Gurusinha had an 11-year international career in whichhe played 41 Tests and 147 ODIs for Sri Lanka. The special-ist left-handed batsman is famous for his 65-run knock inthe finals against Australia at the 1996 World Cup.

He subsequently moved to Melbourne and qualifiedas a level 3 coach. He has worked as cricket manager for SriLanka since 2017, and consulted for Cricket Australia as aregional cricket coach.

The new coach, who has assumed the role from Tues-day, is expected to head the high performance unit of theNigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) and also act as coachtrainer and mentor to their indigenous coaches.

NCF president Prof. Yahaya Adam Ukwenya highlightedthe ambitions of Nigerian cricket:

Knight Riders to invest in US-basedMajor League Cricket

New Delhi, The Knight Riders Group, which already owns

Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier Leagueand the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Pre-mier League, will be investing in the US-based MajorLeague Cricket (MLC), the multi-million dollar T20tournament expected to start in 2022.

As per ESPNcricinfo, the investment in the MLCby the Knight Riders group will be strategic and seethem playing the role of “consultant” to help USACricket run the six-team T20 league and they will holda “significant” stake in the tournament.

American Cricket Enterprises (ACE), USA Cricket’spartner in developing a professional T20 league inAmerica, had invited the Knight Riders Group, re-vealed Venky Mysore, CEO and managing director.

“When they invited us, we said we want to take adeep dive into this, and not just have a short-termoutlook,” Mysore told ESPNcricinfo. “So they see us asa consultant in many ways, apart from being a big partof the league. They want us to play a very broad role,to help and assist them with all aspects of cricket inthe US.

“USA Cricket are looking at a bigger nationalcricket set-up, academies, develop talent, and all thatis complementary to what the T20 league will do aswell. In addition, we will be working hard to build in-frastructure there, six world-class stadiums in the nextfew years,” he added.

Mohammed Awal to lead GokulamKerala FC, Ubaid named his deputy

Kozhikode, Ghana’s Mohammed Awal will lead Gokulam

Kerala FC in the upcoming season of the I-Leaguestarting January 9 next year. Goalkeeper CK Ubaid,who is from Kannur in Kerala, will serve as his deputy.

Awal and Ubaid were selected by the players byvoting for their respective roles, the club said in astatement. Awal has experience in playing for Ghananational team and is a veteran defender.

“It is an honour to lead Malabarians in the upcom-ing season. I will do my job sincerely and the squadhas already the belief that they can bring the titlehome,” said the 33-year-old.

Ubaid, on the other hand, has been withMalabarians since last season. He was the first-choicekeeper last year and played a pivotal role to helpMalabarians’ win the Durand Cup.

“I congratulate both Awal and Ubaid. Awal is themost experienced player in the county. He has astrong personality and everybody in the team wantedhim to the captain. I believe this is the right choice bythe players,” said Vincenzo Alberto Annese, headcoach of Gokulam Kerala FC.

Malabarians are all set to play in the IFA Shield setto start on December 6. The team will leave for Kolkataon December 2 and will continue in Kolkata for the I-League.

Hope to continue IPL momentum forSouth Africa: Rabada

New Delhi, South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, who had

an exceptional Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 ashe emerged as the Purple Cap holder, is looking for-ward to carry that momentum while playing for thenational side against England.

Rabada picked up 30 wickets for Delhi Capitals inIPL 13, a season where the Delhi-based franchisemade it to their maiden final.

“This is an exciting series (against England). I amhoping to continue the momentum that I deliveredin the IPL for the national team,” said Rabada whilespeaking on Star Sports.

The Proteas are currently involved in a three-match T20I series against England. They have alreadylost the first two matches and Rabada has been ableto pick just one wicket so far.

“The team looks promising after excellent perfor-mances in the IPL and our pacers will continue to workin the same direction to win each game. Jos Buttler,Bairstow, Ben stokes and Eoin Morgan are fresh outof the IPL as well and seem to be in good form andwe are up for the challenge,” he added.

Skipper Quinton de Kock, who was part of the IPLwinning Mumbai Indians team, is elated as interna-tional cricket has returned to South Africa amid theCovid-19 pandemic.

“I am extremely happy with the return of interna-tional cricket to the country. England is one of theleading sides and Jofra Archer and Sam Curran are intop form,” said de Kock.

After the T20I series which ends on Tuesdayevening in Cape Town, South Africa and England willcompete in a three-match ODI series as well.

NZ add Conway as cover for Watlingfor 1st Test against WI

Hamilton, New Zealand have added Devon Conway in their

squad as an injury cover for regular wicketkeeper-batsman BJ Watling, who has picked up a hamstringniggle ahead of the two-match Test series againstWest Indies team which begins Thursday at theSeddon Park.

Watling picked up the injury in the opening roundof the Ford Trophy, New Zealand Cricket informed onTuesday.

“We have another injury cover. Devon Conway ishere as cover for BJ Watling, who has a slight ham-string niggle that he picked up the day before (Sun-day) in his last Ford Trophy match. What that wouldmean is that Tom Blundell would take the gloves if BJis ruled out, and bat in the middle order. So that iswhy we had Conway at training today,” New Zealandhead coach Gary Stead said.

Have learned a lot from Rupinder PalSingh, says Harmanpreet

Bengaluru, Three years ago, on December 1, the Indian men’s

hockey team took to the field at the Kalinga Stadiumin Bhubaneswar for their opening match of the WorldLeague Final 2017 against eventual winners Austra-lia in a match which ended in a 1-1 draw.

It was a tournament which saw Indian defenderHarmanpreet Singh stake his claim in the team, withsome fine performances as India claimed the bronzemedal in front of their home support.

“It was definitely one of the biggest tournamentsfor me, and especially with the senior team. Havingwon the FIH Junior Men’s World Cup in 2016, theOdisha Men’s Hockey World League Final 2017 gaveme the chance to experience the thrills of playing thehighest form of hockey at the grandest of stages,”recalled Harmanpreet. “We did not have the best ofstarts in our pool matches, but I think we finished thetournament really strongly. However, what I reallylearned from that tournament was the fact that if youkeep pushing hard, you’ll eventually achieve yourgoals, regardless of which or how big an opponentyou’re facing,” added the drag-flicker, whose team lost2-3 to England, 0-2 to Germany after their first poolmatch against Australia.The 24-year-old was India’sjoint highest scorer in the tournament, along withfellow drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh with two goalseach, and believes playing with the veteran hashelped him immensely in his career.

Bengal T20 Challenge: Goswami’s tonhelp East Bengal beat Calcutta Customs

Kolkata, Sreevats Goswami scored the first century of the on-

going Bengal T20 Challenge as East Bengal defeatedCalcutta Customs by 54 runs in their latest encounter atthe Eden Gardens.

On Monday evening, Customs won the toss and electedto field, a move that backfired big time. East Bengal, ridingon Goswami’s hundred, posted 175/6 in reply to whichCustoms could manage 121/6 in their allotted 20 overs.

Goswami was in imperious form as he middled the ballright from the word go. He scored 12 boundaries and twosixes in his 71-ball knock. Apart from him, Ranjot Khaira andSayan Mandal helped East Bengal build the highest totalof the tournament so far.

East Bengal carried the momentum during their de-fence as well with Sujit Yadav (3/24) and Akash Pandey (2/12) never letting the Customs batters settle. A late rush fromKaran Lal (unbeaten 30 of 26) and Abhilash Semiwal (un-beaten 24 of 21) though provided some entertainment butthat was not enough to take the team across the line.

“We needed to win this match cause we have lost pre-vious four matches.

Ahmedabad, Page 7

Business Brief

Business 7New Delhi,

Leading private life in-surer Bharti AXA Life Insur-ance Monday said the com-pany registered 10 per centgrowth in its renewal pre-mium to Rs 594 core in thefirst half of the financial year2020-21 from Rs 541 crore inthe corresponding fiscalperiod a year ago.

The ongoing pandemicnotwithstanding, the com-pany recorded a surge of 25per cent in its asset undermanagement at Rs 7,987crore in the first half of 2020-21 against Rs 6,404 crore inthe corresponding period ofthe last fiscal.

The Covid-19 crisis andsubsequent disruptions hitthe company’s new busi-ness premium incomewhich stood at Rs 318 crorein the half-year ended Sep-tember 30, 2020, as com-pared to Rs 415 crore in thesame period during 2019-20. Its annualized new busi-ness premium was Rs 207

Bharti AXA Life post 10% growth inrenewal income at Rs 594 cr in H1 FY21

crore in the first six monthsof the financial year 2020-21.

Total premium incomefell moderately to Rs 912crore in the April-Septem-ber period of this fiscal fromRs 956 crore in the first sixmonths of the last financialyear.

Commenting on thecompany’s business perfor-mance in the first of this fis-cal, Bharti AXA Life Insur-ance Managing Directorand Chief Executive OfficerParag Raja said, “The spreadof Covid-19 pandemic hasimpacted the economy andthe business sentiment inthe short-term. Despite thechallenging macro-environ-ment affecting the newbusiness adversely, we reg-istered steady performanceon many parameters andachieved double-digitgrowth in the renewal pre-mium collection in the firstsix months of the current fi-nancial year. Further, our as-

set under management sawa strong growth amid theslowdown triggered by theCovid uncertainty. With theeconomic activities pickingup after the easing of restric-tions, we are confidentabout our business recoveryand growth in the secondhalf of this fiscal.

Bharti AXA Life Insur-ance, which has 261branches and 36,526 advi-sors, plans to expand its dis-tribution footprints acrossthe country and strengthenits multi-channel architec-ture. The company is focus-ing on digital innovationwithin its distribution band-width to meet the rising barof higher service standardsand growing customer ex-pectations. It maintainedbusiness momentum amiduncertainties by embracingnew digital tools and capa-bilities and enhanced expe-riences of customers, em-ployees, partners and otherstakeholders.

Moto G 5G smartphonelaunched in India for Rs 20,999

New Delhi, Motorola on Monday

launched its new mid-pricerange smartphone ‘Moto G5G’ for Rs 20,999 in the Indiamarket.

The smartphone will beavailable in two colours, vol-canic grey and frosted silver,starting December 7 exclu-sively on Flipkart, the com-pany said.

The device can be pur-chased at an effective priceof Rs 19,999 with the Rs1000 instant discount onHDFC Bank credit and debit

cards.“The new Moto G 5G is

yet another powerful testi-mony to the brand’s com-mitment to making future-ready technology accessibleto all”.

The device comespacked with a 6.7-inch MaxVision HDR10 display with20:9 aspect ratio.

The smartphone is pow-ered by Qualcomm’s Snap-dragon 750G chipset pairedwith 6B RAM and 128GB ofinternal storage that can beexpanded via a microSD

card slot.The smartphone has a

triple camera setup that in-cludes a 48MP primary cam-era, an 8MP secondary wide-angle shooter, and a 2MPprimary camera. The devicehas a 16MP front camera forselfies and video calls. Thesmartphone houses a5000mAh battery, whichclaims a long life on a singlecharge. “Fuel up fast withTurboPower 20W chargingthat gives you 10 hours ofpower in just 15 minutes,”the company said.

Edtech startup Kyt raises Rs 18crto scale extracurricular learning

Bengaluru, Edtech platform Kyt on

Monday said it has received$2.5 million (approximatelyRs 18.4 crore) in a fundinground led by SequoiaCapital Indias Surge to ex-pand its online-first, globalacademy for extracurricularlearning. Titan Capital, alongwith other angel investorsincluding Kunal Shah,Amrish Rau, Jitender Gupta,Allen Penn and Martin Li,also participated in thefunding round. Kyt is part ofthe fourth cohort of Surge,a bi-annual rapid scale-upprogramme run by SequoiaCapital India for startupsacross Southeast Asia and

India. With head offices in In-dia and Singapore, Kyt wasfounded by husband-wifeduo Bhavik Rathod andTripti Ahuja in June 2020.The platform leveragestechnology to provideonline-only, live lessons tochildren aged between fiveand 15 years. “The future ofeducation is a hybrid ofonline and offline learning,and the market size for pri-mary and secondary extra-curricular learning is esti-mated to be $10bn in Indiaalone, and around $200bnglobally,” Rathod said in astatement. “While mostlearning used to happen inphysical spaces, there will be

rapid adoption of onlinelearning even beyondCovid-19, as these well-structured curriculums willbuild strong global commu-nities, encouraging childrento remain engaged overtime.” Kyt said that so farmore than a thousand stu-dents have taken a course orattended workshops withthe platform which hasmore than 20 teachersonboard, with plans to in-crease this to 500 over thenext 12 months. Kyt plans toadd more courses, includingchess, various musical in-struments, public speaking,creative writing, and how tobe a content creator.

AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 2/12/2020

Castrol India launches the all-newCastrol POWER1 ULTIMATE

Mumbai,Castrol, India’s leading automotive lubricants

company, has announced the launch of CastrolPOWER1 ULTIMATE, the newest addition to Castrol’srange of cutting-edge and full synthetic motorcycleengine oils. This all-new variant anchors on a unique5-in-1 formula that is engineered to equip the bikefor outstanding performance. Designed and formu-lated for motorcycle and performance enthusiasts,the Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE offers a broader rangeof choices for those who are not only passionateabout riding but also particular about the care oftheir 2-wheelers.

Commenting on the launch, Sandeep Sangwan,Managing Director, Castrol India Limited, said, “Sinceits inception, Castrol has always come up with uniqueways to anticipate and stay ahead of ever-evolvingconsumer preferences through advanced technolo-gies. It is with this pioneering spirit to delight ourcustomers that the Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE rangehas been crafted.

Renowned MotoGP racer Cal Crutchlow unveiledthe new livery on his bike with Castrol POWER1 UL-TIMATE at the Valencia Moto GP race. Speaking aboutthe crucial role of lubricants and oils in bikes, CalCrutchlow said"The biking landscape is continuouslyevolving in India and there is a heightened enthusi-asm for better performance from bikes. Lubricantsplay a critical role in performance delivery and long-running of the bike.

Instagram Live now allows 3 moreusers in India

New Delhi, Instagram on Tuesday announced that its ‘Live

Rooms’ feature, now has an ability to go Live with upto three additional people in India which help cre-ators grow their audiences by going live with mul-tiple guests.

The early tests for this feature were done in Indiaand now India is one of the first countries to roll itout more broadly, the social media platform said.

Instagram Live gives people the ability to go liveand create and connect virtually, and hence has seendiverse use cases this year.

“From the launch of Reels, to the testing androllout of Live Rooms, India is playing a crucial rolein the way products are being designed for the fu-ture,” Ajit Mohan, Vice President and Managing Di-rector, Facebook India, said in a statement.

In March, Instagram Live views in India grew 60per cent in a week-on-week basis.

Now with the ability to go Live with up to threeguests, creators have more opportunities have con-versations with their communities, and to expandtheir reach and use cases for Live, such as starting atalk show or a podcast, hosting a jam session etc.

“While Live Rooms will facilitate greater audienceengagement, safety continues to be a focus and theexisting safety measures will work on Live Rooms aswell. There are built-in controls to keep the commu-nity safe,” the company said.

Indebtedness of states may hitdecade-high 36% this fiscal: CrisilRatings

Mumbai, The pandemic-induced lockdown and conse-

quent slump in economic activity will increase states’indebtedness to atleast 36 per cent this fiscal - thehighest in a decade, said ratings agency Crisil Rat-ings.

“This is mainly attributable to falling goods andservices tax (GST) collections and sticky revenue ex-penditure of states,” the ratings agency said in a re-port.

The report is based on a Crisil’s study of the top18 states, which account for 90 per cent of the ag-gregate gross state domestic product (GSDP).

The ratings agency said that states’ overall rev-enues are estimated to decline almost 15 per centon-year this fiscal in line with a shrinking economy.

It pointed out that all revenue sources of thestates will take a hit, with almost 65 per cent of thedecline attributable to a fall in State GST collections,GST compensation payments, and tax devolutionsto the states from the centre’s own tax pool, whichtogether form nearly 50 per cent of states’ revenuereceipts.

According to Manish Gupta, Senior Director,CRISIL Ratings: “Amid falling revenue receipts, states’revenue expenditures would remain largely stickydue to high committed expenditures and essentialdevelopmental expenditures.”

“These cumulatively contribute to about 75-80per cent of the total revenue expenditure and willbe difficult to cut down.”

Last week, official data showed that India’s bud-getary fiscal deficit for the April-October 2020-21period stood at Rs 9.53 lakh crore, or 119.7 per centof the budget estimates (BE).

The 2020-21 deficit — the difference betweenrevenue and expenditure — had been pegged at Rs7.96 lakh crore, as compared to the revised deficit ofRs 7.66 lakh crore for the last fiscal.

More than one-third Covid kids showno symptoms: Study

Toronto, More than one-third of kids who have Covid-19

are asymptomatic, say researchers, adding thatyoungsters diagnosed with the disease may repre-sent just a fraction of those infected.

“The concern from a public health perspective isthat there is probably a lot of Covid-19 circulating inthe community that people don’t even realize,” saidstudy author Finlay McAlister from the University ofAlberta in Canada.

For the study, published in the journal CMAJ, theresearch team analysed results for 2,463 childrenwho were tested during the first wave of the pan-demic—March to September—for Covid-19 infec-tion. All told, 1,987 children had a positive test resultfor Covid-19 and 476 had a negative result. Of chil-dren who tested positive, 35.9 per cent—reportedbeing asymptomatic.

IL&FS Group gets Justice D.K. Jain’snod for sale of road asset ‘JSEL’

New Delhi, The IL&FS Group has received the approval of

Justice D.K. Jain for the sale of the road asset ‘JorabatShillong Expressway Ltd’ (JSEL) to Sekura Road Ltd.

Sekura has put in a bid worth Rs 916 crore forthe entire 100 per cent stake in JSEL, a companystatement said. The transaction would address debtoff over Rs 1,600 crore of IL&FS.

JSEL is a wholly owned subsidiary of IL&FS Trans-portation Networks Limited (ITNL), which along itsnominees holds 100 per cent equity of JSEL and ithas been classified as an amber company.

The company will now seek approvals from theNational Company Law Tribunal and National High-ways Authority of India (NHAI) to complete the trans-action.

San Francisco, Facebook has acquired

Kustomer, a startupspecialising in customer-ser-vice platforms and chatbots,for a reported sum of $1 bil-lion.

Kustomer was last val-ued at $710 million in a pri-vate funding round.

Facebook said late onMonday that Kustomer busi-nesses will continue to ownthe data that comes from in-teractions with their cus-tomers.

“Facebook eventuallyexpects to host Kustomerdata on secure Facebook in-frastructure,” said Dan Levy,VP of Ads and Business Prod-ucts.

In doing so, Facebookwill act as a service providerat the instruction of busi-ness customers.

Facebook acquires customerservice platform Kustomer for $1bn

While Facebook will notautomatically use Kustomerdata to inform the ads that auser sees, businesses willhave the option to use theirdata at Kustomer for theirown marketing purposes,which may include separateadvertising services onFacebook. “Our goal withKustomer is simple: to givebusinesses access to best-in-class tools that deliver excel-lent service and support,”said Matt Idema, COO,WhatsApp.

Some 50 million busi-nesses and 175 millionpeople message aWhatsApp Business accountevery day. This number is

growing because messag-ing provides a better over-all customer experience anddrives sales for businesses.

“To that end, we recentlyannounced several API up-dates for WhatsApp andMessenger, allowing for fur-ther integration into ourpartners’ tools and fasteronboarding to help busi-nesses manage their com-munications with custom-ers,” Idema said in a state-ment.

Kustomer is anomnichannel CRM platformthat brings customer con-versations from variouschannels together into asingle-screen view.

Bengaluru, Lenovo on Tuesday

launched a new gaminglaptop titled Legion 5 in In-dia that is powered by thepremium AMD Ryzen 54600H mobile processor.

The laptop in PhantomBlack colour comes for astarting price of Rs 75,990,along with one year of freepremium care and oneyear of accidental damageprotection worth Rs 3,900.

The machine features a15.6-inch IPS 1080p displaywith a smooth 120Hz re-fresh rate to reduce screentearing and in-game lag.

With latest generationprocessors and latest GPUs

Lenovo introduces Legion 5 gaming laptop in Indiaby NVIDIA, this laptop prom-ises to further redefine thegaming experience for Indi-ans, the company said in astatement.

“With the AMD poweredLegion 5, we expand thishigh-performance range todeliver superior gaming ex-perience by offering animmersive visual experienceand a style that fulfils therequirement of a modernday gamer,” said ShailendraKatyal, Executive Director,Consumer PCSD, Lenovo In-dia.

With the AMD “Zen 2”core architecture combinedwith 7nm process technol-ogy, available for laptops,AMD Ryzen 4000 H-Serieslets users do more, fasterthan ever before.

Weighing 2.3 kg, the

gaming laptop provides upt o  N V I D I A  G e Fo r c eGT X 1650t i discretegraphics, that offers greatervisual fidelity in the latestgames.

The AMD-powered de-vice is equipped withLenovo Legion ‘TrueStrikek e y b o a r d ’  w i t hb a c k l i g h t ,  ’ Co l d f r ont2.0' for thermal efficiency,and an improved battery life(up to 8 hours) usingsmarter power features.

This includes HybridMode by Lenovo Vantageto extend batterylife, Rapid Charge Pro forfast charging,and Lenovo Q-Control3.0 to control the systemvoltage and fan speed, thecompany informed.

“Our Zen2 core archi-

tecture combined withthe industry-leading 7 nmprocess deliver a signifi-cant boost in performanceand power efficiency, let-ting users push theirboundaries across gam-ing, content creation, pro-ductivity workloads andentertainment,” said VinaySinha, ManagingDirector–India Sales,AMD.

Power unit failure hits NASA’sdeep-space capsule: Report

District Water and SanitationUnit Patan

Notice No. 21 of 2020-21UNIT Manager, DWSU (WASMO)-Patan, 1st Floor,

Jal Bhavan, Opp. Pareva Hills, B/H. Honda ShowroomNr. T.B. Circle, Patan - 384 265. District: Patan (E-mail:patan.cmsu@gmail.com) invites tender for belowmentioned work by On-Line ‘E-Tendering system onbehalf of Pani samiti Muna And Chandrumana of Nal SeJal (Jal Jivan Mission) Programme.(1) Name of work :- Designing verification &

Construction RCC ESR 1.50 & 1.20 Lakh LiterCapacity 12 meter Ht. No. 2 & As per WASMO TypeDesign and Drawing Construction R.C.C. U/G sump1.50/1.00 Lakh Liter capacity No. 2, Pump Room No.2, Water Distribution PVC/GI Pipeline work, PumpingMachinery for Existing & Proposed sump No. 3,Repairing work of Existing U/G SUMP 1.50 Lakh.Liter No. 1, House hold Tap Connection andProviding & Making VAP & W.Q. Board & Wall sloganand Letters painting work at Below Mention Villages.Total Estimated cost Rs.-85.86 Lakh.

(2) Village :- Muna, Ta:- Saraswati, Dist:- Patan,Estimated cost Rs.4289990.00, ID No:- 437066

(3) Village :- Chandrumana, Ta:- Patan, Dist:- Patan,Estimated cost Rs.4296108.00, ID No:- 437068

(4) Eligibility of contractor :- Bidders havingRegistration in R. & B. and other Deptt. of GOG. ‘E-1’ And above class Works.

(5) Bid down loading start date 05.12.20220 and Lastdate of receipt of Tender Date : 19.12.2020 up to18.00 Hrs. Submission of supporting documents byRPAD/Speed Post / Hand Delivery last date is21.12.2020 Up to 15.00 Hrs. Details regarding tenderare available on notice board of this office & webssite www.nprocure.com. Tender fees & necessarydocuments are as prescribed in detailed tendernotice. Pani Samiti Muna And Chandrumanareserves rite to accept/reject any tenders is bindingto bidder. Any amendment shall be viewable onwebsite.

Drinking water supply Complain tollFree Helpline No:- 1916

No.DDI/PATAN/330/20

Gandhidham Development AuthorityNear Gandhidham Co-Op Bank

Adipur Kutch5GDA(5)/2020/1464 Dt: 24.11.2020

ADVERTISEMENTThe Gandhidham Development Authority, in exercise of powersconferred by Section 6 of the Gandhidham (Development &Control on Erection of Buildings) Act, 1957 proposes to issueAmendment No. 5 to the Gandhidham (Development & Controlon Erection of Buildings) Directions-2016. Notice & DraftDirections of which have been got published in GujaratGovernment Gazette Part IV-C dt. 19.10.2020 at page Nos.274 to 274-3. Any person desiring to see the Draft Directionsof the proposed Amendment may do so during office hourson any working day at office of the GDA at the aforementionedaddress.Notice is hereby given that any person, who is likely to beaffected, may communicate, in writing objections/ suggestionsso as to reach the undersigned on or before 05.01.2021 forconsideration by the Authority.

By Order and in theName of the Authority

Sd/-(Dr. V.K. Joshi)

SecretaryGandhidham Development Authority

DDI/KUTCH/898/2020

Ankleshwar NagarpalikaNotice for Inviting Tender

Ankleshwar Nagarpalika invites Request for Proposalfor Biomining of Legacy Waste at Existing Sukavali

Dumpsite Using Scientific Method(2nd Attempt)

The Bidders shall have to submit their Bids on-line and uploadthe relevant documents forms as per time schedule. Thebidder shall also have to submit hard copy in closed coversaddressed to Additional Assistant Engineer, Electrical (SWMin-charge) consisting of all the documents of technicalsubmission through reg. AD / Speed post / in person ataddress. Ankleshwar Nagarpalika, Hashot Road, SH-6,Piraman Naka, Shyam Nagar, Ankleshwar, Gujarat 393001on or before 16:00 hrs. 16.12.2020. Financial offer shouldbe submitted on-line only.No. Description Date and Time1 Website for On-line Bid From 05.12.2020,16:00hrs.

Downloading onwardswww.nprocure.comhttp://www.ankleshwarnagarpalika.com; www.statetenders.com

2 Pre-Bid Meeting (On-line) Date The tenderer whointend to raise theirqueries can do sothrough e-mail addressnp_ankleshwar@yahoo.co.in on or before07.12.2020 up to 16.00hrs. No. queries will beaccepted in hard copy.

3 On-line Bid Submission End Date 13.12.20204 Hard Copy of Technical 16.12.2020

Submission end date and Address : Nagarpalikaaddress Office

5 Technical Proposal Open Date 17.12.2020and address Address : Nagarpalika

Office

Keshavlal M. Koldiya Dekshaben D. ShahChief Officer President

Ankleshwar Nagarpalika Ankleshwar Nagarpalika

Chaitaniya B GorwalaChairman

Ankleshwar Nagarpalika

(INF/BCH/525/20-21)

NOTIFIED AREA AUTHORITYGIDC-VAPI.

TENDER NOTICE NO. 04/2020-21Tender for fifteen (15) works having estimated cost fromRs.4.20 Lakhs to 483.33 Lakhs are invited by the Chief Officer,Notified Area, GIDC-VAPI.For off-line tender Sr. No. 1 to 4 the intending bidder isrequested to kindly go through the details tender noticethoroughly before obtaining blank tender copies from theconcerned offices.Date of issue : 03.12.2020 to 11.12.2020.Date of receipt: 23.12.2020 up to 16:00 Hrs (only throughR.P.A.D. / Speed Post / courier)Date of opening : 24.12.2020 at 12:00 Hrs.For on-line tender Sr.No. 5 to 15 the procedure for bidding,relevant details viz. Last date of receipt, submission ofdocuments and details, EMD, tender fee etc. & date of openingof Bid is given in the detailed tender notice on websitewww.nprocure.com. The intending bidder is requested tokindly go through the detailed tender notice thoroughly beforebidding and which will form a part of tender agreement.Date of Downloading & Submission of Tender Documents:03.12.2020 to 21.12.2020Date of Submission in Physical Form : 22.12.2020 to23.12.2020Opening of Tender :24.12.2020 at 12:00 hrs by CHIEFOFFICER, Notified Area, GIDC-VAPI.The detailed tender notice can be seen from the office NoticeBoard. For any further details if desire, can be available inthe office of the Chief Officer, Notified Area, GIDC-VAPI (PhoneNo. 0260-2421596) during the office hours.

Sd/-CHIEF OFFICER (NA)

GIDC-VAPINo. INF/VALSAD/502/2020

CHANGE OF NAMEI have changed my name from

MAHAMMEDSAHALAHMEDHUSEN MANSURI to

new nameMAHAMMADSAHAL

AHMEDHUSEN MANSURIAdd.: 2998, Marwadini Chali,

Pagama Kapad Bazar,Dhalgarwad, Ahmedabad-1

2301

CHANGE OF NAMEI have changed my name fromOZA YAKSHA PRADEEP to

new name OZA YAKSHPRADEEP Add.: 4-283,

Bhavna Hospital, Vadnagar,Mehsana-384355

2300

DisclaimerA d v e r s t i s e m e n tappeared in this NewsPaper have not beenverified factually and“WESTERNTIMES” doesnot stand responsible forthe sales proposition.

Washington, Engineers are trying to

find a way to repair a failedpower unit on NASA’s Orionspacecraft that is designedto take astronauts to deepspace in the future, a mediareport said.

In early November, engi-neers at Orion’s primarycontractor, Lockheed Mar-tin, found that a power com-ponent inside the space-craft had failed, The Vergereported on Monday, citinga review of an internal emailand an internal PowerPointpresentation. Repairing thecomponent may take“months”, said the report asit is not easy to repair theunit which is within one ofthe vehicle’s eight powerand data units, or PDUs.How the engineers handlethe issue to the satisfactionof NASA may play a role in

determining if the capsulebecomes ready for its firstflight atop the SpaceLaunch System, or SLS,rocket scheduled for No-vember 2021. “While thePDU is still fully operationalwithout this redundantchannel we are swiftlytrouble shooting the cardwhile also continuing close-out activities on Orion,” TheVerge quoted a representa-tive for Lockheed Martin assaying. “We are fully com-mitted to seeing Orionlaunch next year on its his-toric Artemis I mission to theMoon.”

News in a Nutshell

Ahmedabad Page 8 CMYK

CMYK

8 NationalAHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 2/12/2020

Delhi Police file case for violentprotests at Singhu border

New Delhi, The Delhi Police have lodged an FIR against unknown

people at the Alipur police station after clashes were re-ported last Friday between farmers and police teams atSinghu border in which public properties were damaged.

On November 27, in view of the protests organised bydifferent farmers’ unions against the recently passed farmlaws, police force was deployed at Singhu border to main-tain law and order.

According to the police, at about 12:15 p.m., the pro-testers became violent and tried to enter into Delhi in largenumbers. Delhi Police later resorted to firing tear gas shellsto deter a group of farmers which had reached the Singhuborder.

Multiple tear gas shells were fired as the farmers ap-proached the barbed barricades set up by the Delhi Policeat the Singhu border that connects Narela to Sonepat inHaryana. The police said that necessary minimum force wasused by the staff to resist the protesters from entering Delhi,as large public gatherings are prohibited due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Four police personnel were injured whilecontrolling the violent protesters, while two governmentvehicles and one private bus were also damaged. A casefor destruction of public property has been registered,” saidGaurav Sharma, DCP, Outer North Delhi.

Lucknow, Polling to 11 Uttar

Pradesh Legislative Coun-cil seats began on Tuesdayin 72 districts of UttarPradesh.

Teachers and gradu-ates will elect candidatesto these seats — five be-longing to the graduateconstituency and six to theteachers’ constituency.

Counting of votes willtake place onucation Min-ister, said, “We w December3.

Nearly five lakh sec-ondary and higher second-ary teachers are expectedto participate in the teach-ers’ elections.

A total of 199 candi-dates, including 114 forgraduates and 85 forteachers’ constituencies,are in the fray.

Majority of them arecontesting as indepen-dents.

Meanwhile, the BJP,which never really activelycontested the teachers’polls so far, has, for the firsttime now, decided to sup-port candidates on theseseats.

Polling begins in 11 UPlegislative council seats

The BJP’s keenness be-came evident when theparty inducted MLC(teachers’ quota) UmeshDwivedi,ucation Minister,said, “We w who is also thestate chief of secondaryteachers’ body, along withAjay Singh, the state gen-eral secretary of the un-aided teachers’ body.

Deputy Chief MinisterDinesh Sharma, who is alsothe state’s Education Min-ister, said, “We will contestall the elections andemerge victorious.”

In these teachers’ bodypolls, the electorate com-prises teachers from sev-eral districts.

For instance, the elec-torate for the Lucknowseat is spread acrossLucknow, Rae Bareli andPratapgarh.

Asked why the BJP hasdecided to participate soactively in these teachers’quota polls, state BJPspokesman RakeshTripathi said, “Teachers arecrucial for shaping thesociety’s mindset. It is withthis intention, we are sup-porting the teachers. Be-

sides, as far as elections go,we will contest all becausewe believe in democracy.”

The Election Commis-sion officials said that inview of thucation Minister,said, “We we pandemic,each voter will have to un-dergo thermal scanningbefore he or she is allowedto cast the vote.

The number of votersat each polling booth hasbeen restrucation Minister,said, “We wicted to 1,000PPE kits, sanitizers, faceshields and face maskshave been provided to thepolling staff.

It is noteworthy that inthe 100-member UttarPradesh Legislative Coun-cil, the Samajwadi Partyhas 52 MLCs, BJP has 19,BSP has eight, Congresstwo and Apna Dal (Sonelal)has one MLC.

The teachers’ have oneMLC, while there are threeIndependents. Fourteenseats are vacant. The termof office of the 11 seatsgoing to polls had endedin May this year but elec-tions were deferred due tothe pandemic.

Prayagraj (UttarPradesh),

The Akhil BharatiyaAkhara Parishad (ABAP), theapex body of saints, hascome out in support of thesuggestion for a change ofname of Hyderabad.

ABAP Chairman MahantNarendra Giri has sup-ported the suggestionmade by Uttar PradeshChief Minister YogiAdityanath during his re-cent visit to Hyderabad andsaid that it might be pos-sible that a new namechanges the city’s “bhagya”(fate) too.

Yogi Adityanath, whilecampaigning in Hyderabadfor municipal polls lastweek, had said that thename of the Telangana capi-tal should be changed toBhagyanagar.

“We renamed Faizabadas Ayodhya and Allahabadas Prayagraj after the BJPcame to power in UP,” hehad said.

Mahant Narendra Girisaid on Tuesday, “ABAP ex-tends its support to YogiAdityanath on this issue.Mughals had ruled thecountry for centuries and

Akhara Parishad supportschange of name for Hyderabad

changed the names ofmany old and traditional cit-ies. “As the name ofAllahabad and Faizabadhave already been changed,Hyderabad should also berenamed. I think no one, in-cluding the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chiefAsaduddin Owaisi, shouldhave any objection ifHyderabad’s name ischanged to Bhagyanagar.”

“Ho sakta hai kiHyderabad ka naambadalkar Bhagyanagar kiyejane se Hyderabad ka bhibhagya badal jaye (It mightbe possible thatHyderabad’s fate changes

once it is renamed asBhagyanagar). The peopleof Hyderabad should alsosupport any such change inthe name,” he said.

The ABAP had recentlypraised the Adityanath gov-ernment for bringing a strictlaw against unlawful reli-gious conversions.

The ABAP, of late, hasbeen taking keen interest inissues related to politics,particularly those related toHindutva.

The ABAP had slammedactor Pooja Bedi for compar-ing Naga sadhus with actorMilind Soman’s nude photo-graph.

Hyderabad, Telangana Rashtra

Samithi (TRS) working presi-dent K.T. Rama Rao, UnionMinister of State G. KishanReddy and MIM chiefAsaduddin Owaisi wereamong the leaders who casttheir vote in the first hour inGreater Hyderabad Munici-pal Corporation (GHMC)elections on Tuesday.

Rama Rao, who led theruling party in the campaignand his wife exercised theirfranchise at Nandinagarpolling station in BanjaraHills.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the state municipal ad-ministration minister ap-pealed to all voters to casttheir votes.

“In a democracy onlythose who cast their voteswill have the right to ques-tion,” he said and appealedto voters to come out andvote.

Rama Rao, who is son ofChief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao, urgedvoters to participate in vot-ing. “Think before votingwhat kind of public repre-sentatives you want for thedevelopment ofHyderabad,” he said.

Kishan Reddy and hiswife cast their votes at apolling booth in Kachiguda.The union minister ap-pealed to all voters to exer-cise their right to franchise.

“In the Constitutiondrafted by Dr B. R. Ambedkar,

GHMC polls: KTR, Owaisi,Kishan Reddy cast votes

from President of the coun-try to an ordinary citizeneverybody has a right tovote. Everyone should usethis important weapon.People should not merelycomplain about govern-ments not working properlybut should use their consti-tutional right to ensure thatthey elect good public rep-resentatives,” said KishanReddy, who is a member ofParliament fromSecunderabad.

BJP OBC Morcha presi-dent K. Laxman came to apolling centre inChikkadpalli to cast his vote.

Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen (MIM) presidentand Hyderabad MPAsaduddin Owaisi cast hisvote at Shastrippuram in theold city. “I exercised my rightto vote. I am appealing tovoters to come out and usetheir voting right for the de-velopment of the city, espe-cially old city and for pro-tecting the city’s compositeculture, heritage and lan-guage,” he said.

Owaisi urged to votersto come out and vote to in-crease the polling percent-age and strengthen democ-racy.

With 31K new Covid cases, India’stally nears 95L

New Delhi, With 31,118 new coronavirus cases and 482

deaths in the past 24 hours, India’s overall tally stoodat 94,62,809 on Tuesday, as the fatality toll touched1,37,621, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfaresaid.

Currently, there are 4,35,603 active cases, whereas88,89,585 patients have been cured and dischargedso far.

The recovery rate stands at 93.94 per cent, and thefatality rate is 1.45 as per cent, the Ministry said.

Maharashtra continued to be the worst-hit statewith 18,23,896 cases till date. There are 91,623 activecases and 47,151 Covid-19 deaths.

According to the Ministry, over 70 per cent of thedaily new cases are contributed by eight States andUT, i.e. Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, West Bengal,Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Chhattisgarh.

The overall number of global coronavirus caseshas surpassed the 63 million mark, while the deathshave surged to more than 1.46 million, according toJohns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Tuesday, the University’sCenter for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE)revealed that the current global caseload and deathtoll stood at 6,31,89,103 and 14,66,762, respectively.

Modi, Shah greet BSF on its 56thRaising Day

New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday

greeted the troopers of the Border Security Force(BSF) on its 56th Raising Day saying it has distin-guished itself as a valorous force, committed to pro-tect the nation and assist citizens during natural ca-lamities.

“Best wishes to all BSF personnel and their fami-lies on the special occasion of their Raising Day. BSFhas distinguished itself as a valorous force, unwaver-ing in their commitment to protect the nation andassist citizens during natural calamities. India is proudof BSF,” Modi said in a tweet.

BSF, ‘India’s first line of defence’ was officially raisedin accordance with an Act of Parliament on Decem-ber 1, 1965, soon after the India-Pakistan War of 1965.

Keep arrogance aside and givefarmers their rights: Rahul

New Delhi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday again

took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi withouttaking his name, saying he needs to shun arroganceand give the rights to the protesting farmers.

“Farmers are protesting on the streets and a ‘lie’giving speeches on television. We all are indebted tothe farmers for their hard work. And we can repay theirdebt by giving them justice and their rights, not bydisrespecting them or by hitting them with lathis ortear-gas shells. Wake up, get down from a position ofarrogance and think, and give the farmers their rights,”the Wayanad MP tweeted.

New Delhi, Union Agriculture Min-

ister Narendra Singh Tomaris expected to hold a meet-ing on Tuesday with theleaders of farmer groupsthat are protesting since lastweek against the newlypassed farm laws by theCentral government.

A release issued by theAgriculture Ministry onMonday stated that theleaders and representativesof farmer groups have beeninvited to attend a high-level meeting on Tuesdayaround 3 p.m.

Sources said the govern-ment has decided to con-vene a meeting at the earli-est considering the cold

Tomar proposes to meet farmer leaders on Tuesdayweather, and the Covid-19pandemic.

The farmers’ protestalong the border of the na-tional capital since Novem-ber 26 has entered fifth dayon Monday.

Tomar had earlier in-vited the farmers leaders onDecember 3, but now, theyhave been called two daysearlier on December 1.

The leaders and repre-sentatives of farmerorganisations have been in-vited by Tomar, for talks atVigyan Bhawan.

Earlier, on November 13,talks were held between therepresentatives of the farm-ers’ organisations and UnionMinisters at Vigyan Bhavan

in which Tomar and RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal werepresent. Even as that meet-ing was inconclusive, bothsides agreed to continue thediscussion on the problemsfaced by the farmers.

The three new agricul-tural laws implemented bythe Narendra Modi-led gov-

ernment include the Farm-ers Produce Trade and Com-merce (Promotion and Sim-plification) Act 2020, theFarmers (Empowermentand Protection) Price Assur-ance and Agreement on Ag-ricultural Services Act 2020and Essential Commodities(Amendment) Act 2020.

Balrampur (UttarPradesh),

Three persons havebeen arrested in connectionwith the murder of a 35-year-old journalist and hisfriend, who died in a fire inhis house. The accused hadused alcohol-based sani-tizer to burn the house sothat the murder could looklike an accident.

Superintendent of Po-lice (SP), Balrampur, DevRanjan Verma said that thearrested persons were LalitMishra, Keshvanand Mishraand Akram Ali.

They were arrested onMonday from a jungle nearBahadurpur crossing.

The trio have confessedto their crime, he added.

The SP said thatKeshvanand’s mother was avillage head and RakeshSingh had exposed corrup-tion in her working.

The accused held agrudge against the victimover it.

“They went to his houseon the pretext of some talks.They made Rakesh Singhand his friend consume al-cohol and later set thehouse on fire,” the SP said.

UP journalist murder: Accusedused sanitiser to set house on fire

“To burn the house us-ing the chemical, LalitMishra and KeshvanandMishra took the help ofAkram Ali a.k.a Abdul Qadir,who is an expert in execut-ing incidents like these,” thepolice officer said.

Rakesh Singh, 35, whowas working for a localnewspaper, and his friendPintu Sahu, 32, had sufferedserious burns in the fire atthe house in Kalwari villageon Saturday.

Sahu died on the spotand Rakesh Singh, with 90per cent burns, was referredto a Lucknow hospitalwhere he died during treat-ment.

According to the police,Rakesh Singh’s wife and chil-dren had gone to a relative’shouse two days before theincident.

In the intervening nightof Friday/Saturday, therewas an explosion in thehouse after which one of thewalls collapsed and one ofthe rooms caught fire, policesaid.

The Balrampur districtadministration has given acompensation of Rs five lakhto the wife of the journalist.

UP district officials authorisedto impose night curfew

Lucknow, The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has

authorised the district officials to impose local restrictions,including night curfews, depending on the assessment andrequirement of the situation in a bid to contain the spreadof Covid-19.

According to a circular issued by Chief SecretaryRajendra Kumar Tiwari, the District Magistrates (DMs) canassess the situation and take action accordingly.

Tiwari said depending on their assessment of the situ-ation and the requirement, the DMs could clamp downnight curfews and impose Section 144 of the Criminal Pro-cedure Code (CrPC) even outside a containment zone tocontain the spread of the virus.

He also asked the DMs to ensure demarcation of con-tainment zones at the micro-level in line with the Centre’scall for “dynamic containment zones”.

The Chief Secretary has, however, clarified that nolockdown outside the containment zones could be im-posed without prior permission from the Central govern-ment. The guidelines applicable to social and other gath-erings, including marriage parties, outside containmentzones would remain the same as issued by the state gov-ernment on November 23.

“It has to be ensured that no movement of people in orout of these zones, except medical emergencies and thesupply of essential goods and services is allowed,” Tiwaridirected the officials.

The Chief Secretary said though the number of posi-tive Covid cases had declined in most places, the positivityrate had increased in some cities, he added, calling for ex-treme caution and alertness since the virus might furtherspread due to festive gatherings and the cold weather.

“The surveillance teams formed for this purpose willnecessarily do intensive monitoring of each house underthe containment zones and quick isolation of Covid-19patients will be ensured,” he added.

New Delhi, Farmer leaders belong-

ing to more than 30 unionson Tuesday called for an ur-gent meeting to take a de-cision on the invitation fortalks from the Central gov-ernment to discuss the is-sues on which they havebeen protesting for the lastfive days.

The farmers meetingwill happen at the Singhuborder in which theBharatiya Kisan Union alongwith 30 other major farmerunions will participate.

As the protest enteredits sixth day on Tuesday andAgriculture Minister

Farmer leaders call meetingbefore talks with Centre

Narendra Singh Tomar in-vited the farm leaders to dis-cuss the issues here atVigyan Bhavan in the after-noon, the farm leaders willfirst discuss the inviteamong themselves.

Thousands of farmersfrom Punjab, Haryana, UttarPradesh have been protest-ing at the Delhi bordersince November 26.

Currently, these farmershave been protesting atDelhi’s Singhu, Tikri andGhazipur borders on Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Haryanaand Delhi-Uttar Pradeshroutes respectively de-manding from the Centre

to repeal three farm lawsenacted in September byParliament.

The Agriculture Minis-ter in a late Mondayevening decision invitedfarmer leaders to talk ontheir issues on Tuesdaywhile the meeting was ear-lier decided to be held onDecember 3.

The move comes after ameeting held by HomeMinister Amit Shah at hisresidence earlier on Mon-day in which the Agricul-ture Minister and severalother senior BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) leaderswere present.

Hyderabad, Poor voter turnout was

witnessed in the first fourhours in the GreaterHyderabad municipal elec-tions on Tuesday as only 8.9per cent voters had casttheir votes till 11 am.

Polling stations in manydivisions of GreaterHyderabad Municipal Cor-poration (GHMC) were al-most deserted in the firstcouple of hours due to chillyweather.

Polling began on a dullnote earlier but gatheredsome momentum as votersqueued up at polling sta-tions after 8 am.

State Election Commis-sioner C Parthasarthy said

Only 8.9% polling in GHMC polls in first four hoursthat polling was peaceful.“The polling process is be-ing observed throughwebcasts and micro-observ-ers and all steps are beingtaken to ensure that no un-toward incident takesplace,” he said after castinghis vote. Polling wasstopped in five pollingbooths in Old Malakpet af-ter complaints that partysymbols of two parties werechanged in the ballot paper.Communist Party of India(CPI) demanded halt to thepolling as its symbol wasprinted as the symbol ofCommunist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). State Elec-tion Commission (SEC)stopped the polling till fur-

ther orders.Sporadic incidents of

clashes between rival par-ties were reported fromsome divisions.

There was slight tensionin Chaitanya Nagar colony inPatancheru due to clash be-tween TRS and BJP workers.TRS MLA Mahipal Reddy’sson allegedly attacked ayouth for wearing ‘khandva’of another party. Police in-tervened to control the situ-ation. Voters at some placesin Ziaguda andChandrayangutta com-plained that their nameswere missing from the vot-ers’ lists. They alleged thattheir votes were deletedwithout verification.

AAP activists burning the effigy of PM Narendra Modi during a protest againstfarmer bills, in Patna.

Jammu, Voters were queuing up

to cast their votes in the sec-

Voters queue up despitesevere cold in J&K DDC polls

ond phase of District Devel-opment Council elections inJammu and Kashmir on

T u e s d a ydespite se-vere coldconditionsprevailingin Kashmirand hillyareas ofJammu.

T h em a i d e nelectionswill helprepresen-tatives tothe DistrictDevelop-m e n tC o u n c i l s

as part of the local self gov-ernment.

People in 43 constituen-cies will vote in the secondphase of DDC elections, in-cluding 25 in Kashmir divi-sion and 18 in Jammu divi-sion.

Kashmir division’s over-all polling percentage till 9am was 3.23 and Jammudivision’s 10.36. Overall, 6.61per cent voters had casttheir votes by 9 am.

In Kashmir division,Kupwara recorded a pollingpercentage of 3.54,Bandipora 15.56, Baramulla1.88, Ganderbal 2.44,Srinagar 8.33, Budgam 2.09,Pulwama 0.71, Shopian 2.11,Kulgam 1.89, and Anantnag4.47 till 9 am.

Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Dinesh Sharma after casting his vote in Legislative Council election forgraduate and teachers Constituency in Lucknow.