12
T hree people were killed after police opened fire to quell a mob that went on a rampage in a locality Bengaluru rirked over a Facebook post put out by a Congress MLA’s rela- tive, with the Government terming the violence as a “well- planned act.” “Three people have died (in police firing),” Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant told PTI. Further, 110 people have been arrested in connection with the rioting at Pulakeshi Nagar here. Scores, including around 50 policemen, were injured in the violence that erupted on Tuesday night and continued till the wee hours of Wednesday, apparently trig- gered by the online post. SDPI leader Muzamil Pasha has been arrested by Bengaluru Police for his role in the mob violence. Curfew has been imposed in the affected areas in and around the affected areas, DJ Halli and KG Halli. Pulakeshi Nagar MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthys residence and a police station at DJ Halli were among those targeted by the angry mob. The house of the MLA, who was not at home at the time, was set on fire by the rioters. “The manner in which the riots were perpetrated shows that it was a well planned act and was intended to spread to other parts of the city. These are traitors,” Revenue Minister Ashoka told reporters after meeting Congress MLA in his office at Vidhana Soudha. The Minister said the MLA’s house was completely damaged, belongings, includ- ing Sarees and jewels, were looted and the rest, including vehicles, were set on fire “It is clear from the inten- sity of vandalism that the inten- tion was to attack and finish off Srinivasa Murthy. It has to be investigated whether any cor- porator or anti-social elements from within the state and out- side were involved,” Ashoka said. Tourism Minister CT Ravi said, “It is clear and evident that yesterday’s violent attack was carried out by a Muslim mob in a pre-planned manner.” Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said six companies of the Central Reserve Police Force are being dispatched to the violence-hit areas of Bengaluru. Three companies from Hyderabad and three from Chennai will be deployed in DG Halli and KG Halli police station limits, he told reporters at Udupi before leaving for Bengaluru. He said the situation is now under control and additional police forces are deployed in the area. Rapid action force and the “Garuda” force are also being deployed, the Minister added. Meanwhile, the State Government on Wednesday announced that a district mag- istrate would conduct an enquiry into the violence. The Government also decided to recover losses caused to public property dur- ing the violence from the riot- ers. BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje who visited Pulikeshinagar, in a tweet said, “PFI-SDPI con- spired this violence, they tar- geted only Hindu houses & burnt public properties. I strongly condemn this behaviour of a communal ele- ments & urge @CMofKarnataka to take strin- gent actions against the cul- prits.” Pant said Naveen, said to be a nephew of the legislator, who allegedly put out the social media post has been arrested. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said the “attack on the residence of the MLA, the police station and rioting are condemnable. T aking exception to its alleged “negative portrayal” in the film Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl made by Dharma Productions owned by Karan Johar, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has written to the Central Board of Film Certification in this regard. The IAF in its letter has complained that as per initial understanding the production house had agreed to depict the IAF authentically and make all efforts to ensure that the film helps to inspire the next gen- eration of IAF officers. However, the trailer of the movie showed that certain scenes and dialogues were found to portray the IAF in an “undue negative light,” the let- ter said. It also said in the aim to glorify the screen character of ‘Ex-Flt Lt Gunjan Saxena, M/s Dharma Productions present- ed some situations that are mis- leading and portray an inap- propriate work culture espe- cially against women in the IAF. The story of the movie is based on the first Indian Air Force woman pilot who was part of the 1999 Kargil war. Gunjan was the first woman helicopter pilot to fly in a com- bat zone and was involved in the evacuation of injured sol- diers. She was awarded the gal- lantry Shaurya Vir Award for displaying courage during the war. The IAF in its letter said the Service has always ensured an equal opportunity to both male and female personnel and the organisation is gender neutral. The IAF has also annexed the summary of the scenes and dialogues of the script, which are considered objectionable due to the pre- sentation of incorrect gender bias with the letter. It also said Dharma Productions was informed about the objectionable portion of the movie and was advised to delete/modify the same. However, the production house has not deleted the scenes but it proposed a media plan in the run-up to the release and inserted a disclaimer in the movie. The IAF stated that it feels that a mere media plan and dis- claimer would not be adequate to prevent the presentation of incorrect facts about the IAF. “In view of the above, the issue of grant of NOC for the release of the movie will be considered after deleting or suitably modifying the scenes in order to cater to the obser- vations mentioned,” the IAF stated. Incidentally, about a fort- night back, the Defence Ministry had written to the CBF, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, to advise production houses to obtain No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Defence Ministry before the telecast of any film, documentary or web series on military. F orgive, forget and move on,” this is how Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday tried to pacify his MLAs, some of whom are upset over the return of rebel legislators to the party-fold without facing any action. Talking to reporters in Jaisalmer, Gehlot said he had urged the MLAs to bear with the development, while acknowledging that it was “nat- ural” for them to be upset. “It is natural for them to be upset. The way this episode happened, they had to stay in hotels,” he said on Wednesday, in an apparent reference to the previous evening’s Congress Legislature Party meeting in Jaisalmer. “I have exhorted them that in the interest of the country, State, people of the State and for saving democracy, sometimes we have to bear this,” he said. “Forget and forgive and move on in the interest of the country, the State, the people of the State and democracy. Democracy in under threat. This was a fight to save democ- racy, in which our MLAS gave their support,” he said. He said more than 100 MLAs stayed together for such a long time, which is a big thing in itself and had never hap- pened in the history of the country. The CM said all MLAs, including those who have “returned” now, will work together to fulfil the commit- ments made to the people of the State. The MLAs in the Gehlot camp were on Wednesday flown back to Jaipur from Jaisalmer, where they were together at another hotel. They were taken straight from the airport to the Fairmont hotel on the outskirts of the city, where they had stayed before being moved to Jaisalmer. The MLAs — most- ly from the Congress and some allies — are expected to remain there till the Assembly meets on August 14. The Congress crisis in Rajasthan ended with the inter- vention of the top leadership of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who met rebel leader Pilot earlier this week Pilot had openly rebelled against Gehlot last month along with 18 other Congress MLAs. He was then sacked as Deputy Chief Minister and the party’s Rajasthan chief. At earlier Congress Legislature Party meetings, the loyalist MLAs had called for disciplinary action against the dissidents who defied party whips by demanding a change in the leadership in the State. In Jaipur, as the loyalist MLAs headed to the Fairmont hotel, Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas confirmed that they are not happy with the turn of events. “Yes, several MLAs said they are upset and saying this is their right,” he said, while reminding that a decision has already been taken by the party high command. I n a rare outburst, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday publicly debunked grand- nephew Parth Pawar’s demand to hand over the Sushant Singh Rajput case to the CBI, by say- ing that the latter’s demand “is not worth a nickel” and that he had 100 per cent confidence in the Maharashtra police. Talking to mediapersons here, the NCP chief strongly disapproved of Parth’s demand for a CBI probe into Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajpuit’s death. “His statement is not worth even a nickel. He is immature. I have 100 per cent confidence in the investigation skills of the Maharashtra police”. Parth is the son of Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar who inci- dentally is the nephew of the NCP chief. Sr Pawar’s disapproval of Parth’s demand came in the wake of the latter meeting State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and handing him over a letter demanding a CBI inquiry into the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. When asked to comment on the NCP chief’s comment, Parth said: “I have nothing to say on Pawar saheb’s com- ment”. The NCP chief’s disap- proval of Parth’s demand for CBI probe into the Sushant Singh Rajput case should be context of the Opposition BJP’s demand that the sensational case be handed over to the Central agency in view of the allegations linking the case to Maharashtra Minister Aaditya Thackeray, who is the son of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, in the case involv- ing the actor’s alleged suicide. On its part, the Maharashtra Government has opposed the transfer of the Sushant Kumar Singh suicide case to the CBI on the juris- diction issue. I n a major breankthrough for Indian-Americans in US politics, Joe Biden has picked Senator Kamala Devi Harris as his running mate to woo the Black voters and the influential Indian diaspora who could play a key role in his bid to defeat Donald Trump in the presidential election. Reacting to the nomination of Harris, President Trump said he was “a little surprised that he (Biden) picked her... She was very disrespectful to Joe Biden and it’s hard to pick somebody that’s that disre- spectful.” By naming the 55-year-old lawyer and moderate Democratic politician from California as his vice-presi- dential candidate in the November 3 election, Biden made history by selecting the first Black woman to compete on a major party’s presidential ticket. Harris, whose father is from Jamaica and mother an Indian, is currently the Senator from California. The 77-year-old former vice-president, made the announcement in a text mes- sage to his supporters on Tuesday, ending days of sus- pense. It came about a week ahead of his virtual Democratic National Convention that would formally nominate Biden as the party’s candidate for the presidential election, challenging incumbent President Trump, a Republican. “Joe Biden here. I’ve cho- sen Kamala Harris as my run- ning mate. Together, with you, we’re going to beat Trump. Add your name to welcome her to the team,” Biden said in his mes- sage. Biden said Harris will be the best partner for him to finally get the country back on track. He described her as “a fearless fighter” and “one of the country’s finest public ser- vants”. I ndia, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the 20 countries from Asia, Latin America and West Asia which have shown interest in Russian vaccine “Sputnik V” the first registered vaccine for coronavirus disease in the world. A Russian website dedi- cated to the “world’s first reg- istered Covid-19 vaccine” has claimed that India along with 20 other countries have shown interest in getting the vaccine. “At least 20 countries had expressed interest in obtaining the Sputnik V, including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brazil, Mexico and India,” the statement said. Dismissing experts con- cern over rapid approval of the coronavirus vaccine, Russia on Wednesday announced that the first batch of the Russian vaccine against coronavirus is expected to be released within two weeks. Russia also said it already received foreign requests for 1 billion doses. “Within two weeks, the first batch of the vaccine will be released,” Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko announced on Wednesday. Murashko said that vaccination against coronavirus will be voluntary for everybody, including healthcare workers. The vaccine that is being devel- oped by Gamaleya Center enjoys the support of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). RDIF plans to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials in differ- ent countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Brazil, India and the Philippines, and start mass production in other coun- tries in partnership with local sovereign wealth funds, includ- ing India, South Korea and Brazil, Saudi Arabia. T he condition of former President Pranab Mukherjee continues to be critical and he remains on ven- tilator support, the Army’s Research and Referral hospital said on Wednesday. He was admitted to the hospital in Delhi cantonment on August 10 and was operated for removal of a clot in the brain. The 84-year-old had also tested positive for Covid-19 prior to the surgery on Monday.

 · diers. She was awarded the gal-lantry Shaurya Vir Award for displaying courage during the war. The IAF in its letter said the Service has always ensured an equal opportunity to

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Page 1:  · diers. She was awarded the gal-lantry Shaurya Vir Award for displaying courage during the war. The IAF in its letter said the Service has always ensured an equal opportunity to

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Three people were killedafter police opened fire to

quell a mob that went on arampage in a locality Bengalururirked over a Facebook post putout by a Congress MLA’s rela-tive, with the Governmentterming the violence as a “well-planned act.”

“Three people have died(in police firing),” BengaluruPolice Commissioner KamalPant told PTI.

Further, 110 people havebeen arrested in connectionwith the rioting at PulakeshiNagar here. Scores, includingaround 50 policemen, wereinjured in the violence thaterupted on Tuesday night andcontinued till the wee hours ofWednesday, apparently trig-gered by the online post.

SDPI leader MuzamilPasha has been arrested byBengaluru Police for his role inthe mob violence.

Curfew has been imposedin the affected areas in andaround the affected areas, DJHalli and KG Halli.

Pulakeshi Nagar MLAAkhanda Srinivasa Murthys

residence and a police stationat DJ Halli were among thosetargeted by the angry mob. Thehouse of the MLA, who wasnot at home at the time, was seton fire by the rioters.

“The manner in which theriots were perpetrated showsthat it was a well planned actand was intended to spread toother parts of the city. Theseare traitors,” Revenue MinisterAshoka told reporters aftermeeting Congress MLA in hisoffice at Vidhana Soudha.

The Minister said the

MLA’s house was completelydamaged, belongings, includ-ing Sarees and jewels, werelooted and the rest, includingvehicles, were set on fire

“It is clear from the inten-sity of vandalism that the inten-tion was to attack and finish offSrinivasa Murthy. It has to beinvestigated whether any cor-porator or anti-social elementsfrom within the state and out-side were involved,” Ashokasaid.

Tourism Minister CT Ravisaid, “It is clear and evident thatyesterday’s violent attack wascarried out by a Muslim mobin a pre-planned manner.”

Home Minister BasavarajBommai said six companies ofthe Central Reserve PoliceForce are being dispatched tothe violence-hit areas ofBengaluru.

Three companies fromHyderabad and three fromChennai will be deployed inDG Halli and KG Halli policestation limits, he told reportersat Udupi before leaving forBengaluru.

He said the situation is nowunder control and additionalpolice forces are deployed in

the area. Rapid action force andthe “Garuda” force are alsobeing deployed, the Ministeradded.

Meanwhile, the StateGovernment on Wednesdayannounced that a district mag-istrate would conduct anenquiry into the violence.

The Government alsodecided to recover lossescaused to public property dur-ing the violence from the riot-ers.

BJP MP Shobha Karandlajewho visited Pulikeshinagar, ina tweet said, “PFI-SDPI con-spired this violence, they tar-geted only Hindu houses &burnt public properties.

I strongly condemn thisbehaviour of a communal ele-ments & urge@CMofKarnataka to take strin-gent actions against the cul-prits.”

Pant said Naveen, said tobe a nephew of the legislator,who allegedly put out the socialmedia post has been arrested.

Chief Minister BSYediyurappa said the “attack onthe residence of the MLA, thepolice station and rioting arecondemnable.

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Taking exception to itsalleged “negative portrayal”

in the film Gunjan Saxena: TheKargil Girl made by DharmaProductions owned by KaranJohar, the Indian Air Force(IAF) has written to the CentralBoard of Film Certification inthis regard.

The IAF in its letter hascomplained that as per initialunderstanding the productionhouse had agreed to depict theIAF authentically and make allefforts to ensure that the filmhelps to inspire the next gen-eration of IAF officers.

However, the trailer of themovie showed that certainscenes and dialogues werefound to portray the IAF in an“undue negative light,” the let-ter said.

It also said in the aim toglorify the screen character of‘Ex-Flt Lt Gunjan Saxena, M/sDharma Productions present-ed some situations that are mis-leading and portray an inap-propriate work culture espe-

cially against women in the IAF.The story of the movie is

based on the first Indian AirForce woman pilot who waspart of the 1999 Kargil war.Gunjan was the first womanhelicopter pilot to fly in a com-bat zone and was involved inthe evacuation of injured sol-diers. She was awarded the gal-lantry Shaurya Vir Award fordisplaying courage during thewar.

The IAF in its letter saidthe Service has always ensuredan equal opportunity to bothmale and female personneland the organisation is genderneutral. The IAF has alsoannexed the summary of thescenes and dialogues of thescript, which are consideredobjectionable due to the pre-sentation of incorrect gender

bias with the letter.It also said Dharma

Productions was informedabout the objectionable portionof the movie and was advisedto delete/modify the same.However, the production househas not deleted the scenes butit proposed a media plan in therun-up to the release andinserted a disclaimer in themovie.

The IAF stated that it feelsthat a mere media plan and dis-claimer would not be adequateto prevent the presentation ofincorrect facts about the IAF.

“In view of the above, theissue of grant of NOC for therelease of the movie will beconsidered after deleting orsuitably modifying the scenesin order to cater to the obser-vations mentioned,” the IAFstated.

Incidentally, about a fort-night back, the DefenceMinistry had written to theCBF, Ministry of Electronicsand Information Technology(MeITY) and Ministry ofInformation and Broadcasting,to advise production houses toobtain No Objection Certificate(NOC) from the DefenceMinistry before the telecast ofany film, documentary or webseries on military.

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Forgive, forget and move on,”this is how Rajasthan Chief

Minister Ashok Gehlot onWednesday tried to pacify hisMLAs, some of whom areupset over the return of rebellegislators to the party-foldwithout facing any action.

Talking to reporters inJaisalmer, Gehlot said he hadurged the MLAs to bear withthe development, whileacknowledging that it was “nat-ural” for them to be upset.

“It is natural for them to beupset. The way this episodehappened, they had to stay inhotels,” he said on Wednesday,in an apparent reference to theprevious evening’s CongressLegislature Party meeting inJaisalmer.

“I have exhorted them thatin the interest of the country,State, people of the State and forsaving democracy, sometimes

we have to bear this,” he said.“Forget and forgive and

move on in the interest of thecountry, the State, the people ofthe State and democracy.Democracy in under threat.This was a fight to save democ-racy, in which our MLAS gavetheir support,” he said.

He said more than 100MLAs stayed together for sucha long time, which is a big thingin itself and had never hap-pened in the history of thecountry.

The CM said all MLAs,including those who have“returned” now, will worktogether to fulfil the commit-ments made to the people ofthe State.

The MLAs in the Gehlotcamp were on Wednesdayflown back to Jaipur fromJaisalmer, where they weretogether at another hotel.

They were taken straightfrom the airport to theFairmont hotel on the outskirtsof the city, where they hadstayed before being moved toJaisalmer. The MLAs — most-ly from the Congress and someallies — are expected to remain

there till the Assembly meetson August 14.

The Congress crisis inRajasthan ended with the inter-vention of the top leadership ofSonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhiand Priyanka Gandhi Vadrawho met rebel leader Pilotearlier this week

Pilot had openly rebelledagainst Gehlot last month alongwith 18 other Congress MLAs.He was then sacked as DeputyChief Minister and the party’sRajasthan chief.

At earlier CongressLegislature Party meetings, theloyalist MLAs had called fordisciplinary action against thedissidents who defied partywhips by demanding a changein the leadership in the State.

In Jaipur, as the loyalistMLAs headed to the Fairmonthotel, Transport MinisterPratap Singh Khachariyawasconfirmed that they are nothappy with the turn of events.

“Yes, several MLAs saidthey are upset and saying thisis their right,” he said, whilereminding that a decision hasalready been taken by the partyhigh command.

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In a rare outburst, NCP chiefSharad Pawar on Wednesday

publicly debunked grand-nephew Parth Pawar’s demandto hand over the Sushant SinghRajput case to the CBI, by say-ing that the latter’s demand “isnot worth a nickel” and that hehad 100 per cent confidence inthe Maharashtra police.

Talking to mediapersonshere, the NCP chief stronglydisapproved of Parth’s demandfor a CBI probe into Bollywoodactor Sushant Singh Rajpuit’sdeath.

“His statement is notworth even a nickel. He isimmature. I have 100 per centconfidence in the investigationskills of the Maharashtrapolice”.

Parth is the son ofMaharashtra’s Deputy ChiefMinister Ajit Pawar who inci-dentally is the nephew of theNCP chief.

Sr Pawar’s disapproval ofParth’s demand came in the

wake of the latter meetingState Home Minister AnilDeshmukh and handing himover a letter demanding a CBIinquiry into the Sushant SinghRajput death case.

When asked to commenton the NCP chief ’s comment,Parth said: “I have nothing tosay on Pawar saheb’s com-ment”.

The NCP chief ’s disap-proval of Parth’s demand forCBI probe into the SushantSingh Rajput case should becontext of the Opposition BJP’sdemand that the sensationalcase be handed over to theCentral agency in view of theallegations linking the case toMaharashtra Minister AadityaThackeray, who is the son ofChief Minister UddhavThackeray, in the case involv-ing the actor’s alleged suicide.

On its part, theMaharashtra Government hasopposed the transfer of theSushant Kumar Singh suicidecase to the CBI on the juris-diction issue.

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In a major breankthroughfor Indian-Americans in US

politics, Joe Biden has pickedSenator Kamala Devi Harris ashis running mate to woo theBlack voters and the influentialIndian diaspora who couldplay a key role in his bid todefeat Donald Trump in thepresidential election.

Reacting to the nominationof Harris, President Trumpsaid he was “a little surprisedthat he (Biden) picked her... Shewas very disrespectful to JoeBiden and it’s hard to picksomebody that’s that disre-spectful.”

By naming the 55-year-oldlawyer and moderateDemocratic politician fromCalifornia as his vice-presi-

dential candidate in theNovember 3 election, Bidenmade history by selecting thefirst Black woman to competeon a major party’s presidentialticket.

Harris, whose father isfrom Jamaica and mother anIndian, is currently the Senatorfrom California.

The 77-year-old formervice-president, made theannouncement in a text mes-sage to his supporters onTuesday, ending days of sus-pense. It came about a weekahead of his virtual DemocraticNational Convention thatwould formally nominate

Biden as the party’s candidatefor the presidential election,challenging incumbentPresident Trump, a Republican.

“Joe Biden here. I’ve cho-sen Kamala Harris as my run-ning mate.

Together, with you, we’regoing to beat Trump. Add yourname to welcome her to theteam,” Biden said in his mes-sage.

Biden said Harris will bethe best partner for him tofinally get the country back ontrack. He described her as “afearless fighter” and “one of thecountry’s finest public ser-vants”.

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India, Brazil, Mexico, SaudiArabia and the United Arab

Emirates (UAE) are amongthe 20 countries from Asia,Latin America and West Asiawhich have shown interest inRussian vaccine “Sputnik V”the first registered vaccine forcoronavirus disease in theworld.

A Russian website dedi-cated to the “world’s first reg-istered Covid-19 vaccine” hasclaimed that India along with20 other countries have showninterest in getting the vaccine.

“At least 20 countries hadexpressed interest in obtainingthe Sputnik V, including UAE,Saudi Arabia, Indonesia,Philippines, Brazil, Mexico andIndia,” the statement said.

Dismissing experts con-cern over rapid approval of thecoronavirus vaccine, Russia onWednesday announced thatthe first batch of the Russianvaccine against coronavirus isexpected to be released withintwo weeks. Russia also said italready received foreignrequests for 1 billion doses.

“Within two weeks, thefirst batch of the vaccine will bereleased,” Russian HealthMinister Mikhail Murashkoannounced on Wednesday.Murashko said that vaccinationagainst coronavirus will be

voluntary for everybody,including healthcare workers.The vaccine that is being devel-oped by Gamaleya Centerenjoys the support of theRussian Direct InvestmentFund (RDIF).

RDIF plans to conductPhase 3 clinical trials in differ-ent countries, including SaudiArabia, the UAE, Brazil, Indiaand the Philippines, and startmass production in other coun-tries in partnership with localsovereign wealth funds, includ-ing India, South Korea andBrazil, Saudi Arabia.

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The condition of formerPresident Pranab

Mukherjee continues to becritical and he remains on ven-tilator support, the Army’sResearch and Referral hospitalsaid on Wednesday. He was

admitted to the hospital inDelhi cantonment on August 10 and was operated for removal of a clot in thebrain.

The 84-year-old had alsotested positive for Covid-19prior to the surgery onMonday.

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Himachal Chief Minister Jai RamThakur on Wednesday launched

Nutritional Immunity Boosting ‘HimHaldi Dudh (Turmeric Latte)’ manufac-tured by MILKFED and also distributedincentive to the Milk Producers of Mandi,Shimla and Kullu district under theNational Programme for DairyDevelopment and also interacted withthem through video conference fromShimla today.

Speaking on the occasion, the ChiefMinister said that the Him Haldi Dudh hasbeen developed by the Bio TechnologyDepartment of Punjabi University Patialaand the same has been patented. He saidthat this drink is a Detox drink which hasanti-hangover, anti-oxidant, anti-inflam-matory and immunity booster contents init. He expressed hope that this drink wouldbecome popular amongst the masses.

Thakur said under the National DairyDevelopment Programme MILKFED has

today transferred Rs 2000 into the accountsof 835 milk producers as incentive amountand also 5 litre stainless steel buckets to1000 mill producers for collection andtransportation of milk for marketing. He

said that MILK-FED today hastransferred Rs16.70lakh into theaccounts of themilk producers.

The CM saidthe StateGovernment hastwice enhanced theprocurement priceof milk to facilitatethe milk producers,adding thatpresently milk wasbeing procuredfrom the milk pro-ducers at the rate ofRs.27.80 per litre.He said MILKFEDwas providingrupees eight torupees nine croreper month to themilk producers forprocurement ofmilk as well as forproviding themcattle feed, addingthat capacity ofMILKFED plantsat Chakkar and

Duttnagar has been enhanced by spend-ing an amount of Rs 16 lakh each. He saidthat presently the MILKFED was manag-ing eleven milk plants in the State andabout 1011 Milk Cooperatives are asso-ciated with it.Thakur expressed happinessthat the annual turnover of the MILKFEDwas Rs 132 crore in the year 2019-20,which was 33 percent more than the pre-vious year's turnover.

CM INTERACTS WITH BENEFICIA-RIES OF VARIOUS SCHEMES OFSERAJ

Interacting with the beneficiaries ofvarious schemes of Seraj Vidhan Sabhaarea through video conferencing, thechief minister said that the StateGovernment has started several schemesfor social economic upliftment of the poorand downtrodden of the State. Thakur saidit was for the first time that the StateGovernment has set a target of construc-tion of 10,000 houses in the State underdifferent housing schemes and listed sev-eral schemes of the state and central gov-ernments for the betterment of the life ofthe people. He said the Covid-19 pan-demic and lockdown thereafter has result-ed in cumulative losses of about Rs. 15.77crore to floriculturists of the State duringthe month of March to May, 2020 due tonon-transportation of flowers, addingthat the State Government has decided toprovide financial assistance and reliefamount worth Rs. 4 crore to the affectedfloriculturists.

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The ChandigarhAdministration has notified

a compensation of �5 lakh fordeath or permanent incapaci-tation in case of human-wildlifeconflict in the union territory.

The compensation wouldalso be given in case of griev-ous and minor injury inhuman-wildlife conflict.

“Under the scheme of ex-gratia in human-wildlife con-flict cases in respect of unionterritory, Chandigarh, anamount of ex-gratia relief of �5 lakh for death or permanentincapacitation is hereby noti-fied. For grievous injury, �2lakh would be given to the vic-tim while in case of minorinjury, cost of treatment upto�25000 will be incurred by theAdministration,” stated a noti-

fication issued by Arun KumarGupta, Principal Secretary, UTForests.

UT Chief Conservator ofForests, Debendra Dalai saidthat the notification has beenissued in compliance with theorder of Union Ministry ofEnvironment, Forests andClimate Change.

The compensation wouldbe offered to victims in case ofdeath or injuries due to attackby snakes, monkeys and otherwildlife animals in the city, headded

Notably, the urban city ofChandigarh had recorded thehighest number of deaths dueto snake bites in 2018 among allunion territories in the coun-try.The city had recorded 829cases of snake bites and report-ed 14 deaths due to such casesin 2018 while 1294 cases of

snake bites and nine deaths dueto this was recorded in 2017, asper the National Health Profile2019.

According to the data withthe UT Forests and WildlifeDepartment, Spotted Deer(Chittal), Pangolin (ant eater),Wild Boar, Jackal, Small IndianCivet, Jungle Cat, Porcupine,Langur, Rhesus Monkey,Indian Hare, CommonMongoose among other mam-mals inhabits the SukhnaWildlife Sanctuary here.

Leopards are a frequentvisitor to the Sanctuary fromforest areas of neighboringHaryana. The varieties of rep-tiles including Snakes likeCobra, Rat Snake, CommonKrait, Russell’s Viper, IndianPython and Common Monitor(Gho), Freshwater Turtle alsoinhibits the Sanctuary.

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For his role in solving sever-al sensational cases includ-

ing those of targeted killingswhich had rocked the Stateduring 2015-17, Punjab’sDeputy Superintendent ofPolice (DSP) Bikramjit SinghBrar has been chosen for theHome Minister’s Medal forExcellence in Investigation.

Brar, currently posted asDSP Detective in SAS Nagar(Mohali) with the additionalcharge in the Organized CrimeControl Unit (OCCU), hasalso been instrumental in bust-ing of Billa Mandiala cross-border terror module leadingto recovery of one of biggestcaches of highly sophisticatedweapons.

“The officer had alsoplayed a key role in arrest ofgangster Sukhpreet Singh aliasBudha, besides solving sensa-tional murder of Amritsar for-mer sarpanch Gurdeep Singh,”said the state Director Generalof Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta.

Brar had also busted aracket of illegal diversion of 160firearms from gun houses toterrorists and gangsters, theDGP added.

Gupta said that Brar wasalso the pivot of a major policeoperation which led to thearrest of 23 persons involved inthe racket, including two gang-sters and gun house owners,and recovery of 36 illegallydiverted weapons. “This rack-et had supplied the illegalweapons used in the targetedkillings between 2015 and2017,” he added.

Congratulating the DSPfor his achievement, the statepolice chief termed it as an“honour for the whole force inacknowledgement of its pro-fessional integrity, sense of ser-vice and scientific ethos inservice of state and country”.

Gupta hoped the honourwould act as inspiration andmotivation to always put in ourbest to ensure safety and secu-rity of our people.

The Award was instituted

in 2018 for promoting highprofessional standards of inves-tigation of crime, and, to rec-ognize such investigations byinvestigating officers of variouspolice organizations in thecountry.

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Director General,Agriculture and Farmers

Welfare Department VijaySingh Dahiya on Wednesdaysaid that to stop farmers fromburning crop residue, HaryanaGovernment will provide themsubsidy on crop residue man-agement equipment. Farmerscan send their applications tillAugust, 21, 2020 on the portalwww.agriharyanacrm.com ofAgriculture and Farmers’Welfare Department.

Sharing more details,Dahiya said that under the 'InSitu Crop ResidueManagement' scheme of the

Central Government, for cropresidue management in variousdistricts of the State, subsidywill be given on super StrawManagement System, HappySeeder Machine, Paddy StrawChopper, Threader MulcherFor Crop Residue, ReversibleMB Plough, Super Seeder, ZeroTill Drill Machine and BailorRack Reaper (Tractor MountedReaper Binder, Self PropelledReaper Binder).

He said that if the numberof applications received is morethan expected, then selection ofthe beneficiaries will be donethrough draw/lottery system.A farmer beneficiary will be eli-gible for getting subsidy for a

maximum of three differenttypes of agricultural machinery(1 each).

The subsidy available oneach agricultural machine willbe 50 per cent of the maximumvalue fixed by the Governmentof India or the maximum sub-sidy amount fixed by theGovernment of India(whichever is less).

Dahiya said that it is com-pulsory to purchase theseequipments from agriculturalmachinery manufacturersauthorized and listed by theAgriculture and Farmers’Welfare Department,Haryana.

Besides this, for setting up

of Custom Hiring Centre, 80percent subsidy will be given toPanchayat, FPOs / RegisteredFarmer Societies / CooperativeSocieties for buying the abovementioned crop residue equip-ments and online applicationsfor the same has been invited.Detailed information aboutthis is available on the websiteof the department at www.agri-haryana.gov.in.

He said that for more infor-mation about this scheme,farmers can contact the officeof the concerned DeputyDirector Agriculture andAssistant Agriculture Engineer,or can call at toll-free number18001802117 / 0172-2521900.

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At least 1,113 fresh cases ofcoronavirus reported on

Wednesday, taking the tally inthe city to 1.48504 lakh, whilethe death toll from the diseaserose to 4,153.Twelve fatalitieshave been recorded in the last24 hours, according to theDelhi health department bul-letin. The active cases tallywas 10,946. According to thebulletin, out of the total num-ber of beds in Covid hospitals,10612 are vacant.The nationalcapital had reported the high-est single-day spike of 3,947cases on June 23. Also, 3620beds in Covid care centres areoccupied by persons underquarantine, including travellerswho have returned by ‘VandeBharat Mission’ and bubbleflights, it said.

Page 3:  · diers. She was awarded the gal-lantry Shaurya Vir Award for displaying courage during the war. The IAF in its letter said the Service has always ensured an equal opportunity to

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Amid the ongoing ego tus-sle between Punjab Chief

Minister Capt AmarinderSingh and Congress’ RajyaSabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa,the Congress party has asked itsleaders to air their grievancesat the “party forum only”.

“Everyone who has griev-ances against anybody shouldspeak to party leaders andraise the issue in party forums.Speaking to the press is notacceptable,” said the Congress’in-charge of Punjab partyaffairs Asha Kumari.

Notably, Bajwa has allalong been attacking his ownparty’s government in Punjabover the several issues, with lat-est being the recent hoochtragedy, which claimed morethan 100 lives.He, along withanother Rajya Sabha MPShamsher Singh Dullo, hadmet the Governor anddemanded a CBI inquiry or an

ED probe into the incidents. Hehas also sought the removal ofCapt Amarinder as the PunjabCM.Punjab Congress chiefSunil Jakhar has already writ-ten to the party leadership andsought Bajwa’s removal. It hasbeen learnt that the matter hasbeen referred to the discipli-nary committee headed by for-mer Defence Minister AKAntony.What further fueledtheir war of words is the PunjabGovernment’s recent decisionto withdraw Bajwa’s state policesecurity, which the MP hasalleged is out of vendetta.

“Security is given to a per-son for protection of his life andshould not be a tool to brow-beat into submission. In anycase, this trick will not workwith me,” he had stated.

Since 2013, the differencesbetween Bajwa and CaptAmarinder exist when hereplaced Patiala Royal aftertwo consecutive losses in thepolls.

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Taking a major digital leapforward, Punjab Chief

Minister Capt AmarinderSingh and his Cabinet col-leagues on Wednesday handedover smart phones to Class XIIstudents in the state-widelaunch of CongressGovernment’s Rs 92 crore‘Punjab Smart ConnectScheme’.

The Chief Minister per-sonally handed over smartphones to six Class XII studentsin a symbolic gesture at a sim-ple event at Punjab CivilSecretariat; while simultaneousdistribution of phones wasdone at 26 places by variousministers, MLAs, and othersacross the State to kickstart thescheme.

Each Minister personallyhanded over 20 phones each invarious districts to mark thelaunch of the scheme, whichmarked the fulfillment of

another major poll promise ofthe Congress Government inthe State.

The scheme, for which Rs100 crore was allocated in theState budget for 2017-18, isbenefitting a total of 1,74,015Class XII students of govern-ment schools in the first phase,to be completed by November2020.

Of these, 87,395 are boysand 86,620 girls, with majori-ty in the OBC and SC, ST cat-egories — thus bridging amajor divide that was obstruct-ing these students from afford-able access to online or digitaleducation. The bulk of thestudents – 1,11,857, are fromrural areas, and the remainingin urban government schools.

Capt Amarinder, wholaunched the scheme on theauspicious occasion ofJanmashtami and InternationalYouth Day through video con-ferencing at the Secretariat,said that people believe in thepromises listed in the electionmanifesto and it was, thus, hisduty to ensure the implemen-tation of each one of them.

“When the Congress listedsmart phones as a poll promise,it was to provide global con-nectivity and empower thepoor youth who could notafford them,” said CaptAmarinder, adding that in thepresent pandemic situation,these phones had assumed abigger importance as they hadbecome a necessity for educa-tion continuity.

“It is the money of the peo-ple of Punjab which theGovernment is spending onadvancement of the youth,” hesaid, adding that the phoneswere planned to be distributedin March but the process gotdelayed due to the COVID cri-sis.

The Chief Minister saidthat he wanted Punjab’s stu-dents to be abreast with the lat-est technology which they canuse effectively for their educa-tion, which leverages technol-ogy in a big way today.

“Gone are the days ofchalks and boards,” he said,adding that the Governmentschools, which had seen amajor transformation over the

past couple of years, needed tobe supported through techno-logical initiatives by the StateGovernment.

The smart phone beingdistributed under the schemewas a good functional phone,which also looks smart, hesaid, adding that it will becomea major tool for the educationof the students. CaptAmarinder congratulated thestudents on this occasion andalso greeted them on the occa-sion of the International YouthDay and Janmashtami.

Pointing out that the SmartConnect scheme was in linewith the Chief Minister’s vision,as manifest in the party’s pollmanifesto, Education MinisterVijay Inder Singla said that itwould help government schoolstudents download coursematerial and old papers etc toprepare for their Board exams.

Industry Minister SunderSham Arora said that hisdepartment, which wasentrusted with the task of pur-chase, had bought one of thebest smart phones in the mar-ket. “The scheme would prove

to be a boon to the needy stu-dents, in particular, in govern-ment schools which are at a dis-advantage vis-à-vis privateschools in terms of access totechnology, especially amidthe COVID pandemic, whichhas necessitated a shift toonline education,” he said.

Youth Affairs MinisterRana Gurmeet Singh Sodhisaid that after farm loan waiv-er and seamless procurement,among other things, the ChiefMinister had now fulfilledanother major promise of theState Government. “The gov-ernment has done this despitethe acute financial crisis in thestate,” he said, ridiculing theOpposition’s criticism on thiscount.

Punjab Congress presidentSunil Jakhar said that thescheme would break the barri-ers of poverty, with even SC/STand OBC students gettingaccess to online education.The smart phones had becomea necessity in these pandemictimes, he said, adding thatmaking youngsters tech-savvywas also a major step towards

making them employable.“SAD-BJP government of

the past had promised com-puters, laptops, tablets etc buthad failed to deliver on itspromise, as had the BJP-ledgovernment at the Centre,” hesaid.

Punjab Youth Congress(PYC) president BirenderDhillon said that the fulfilmentof this promise inspite of theprevailing economic crisis inthe State had once again shownthat Capt Amarinder believedin delivering on what he says –a characteristic which distin-guishes him from other politi-cians.

Going forward, theIndustry Department would beprocuring more phones,through Punjab Infotech, andthe distribution will be under-taken through M/s Lava, whichhas been selected as imple-mentation partner to deliverand distribute smart phones toyouth in the State. The depart-ment of Sports and YouthServices is the administrativedepartment.

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With the hospitals inChandigarh over-

whelmed by patients as Covid-19 cases are rapidly increasingin the city, the UTAdministration is roping inthree CITCO hotels, JamesHotel in Sector 17 and com-munity centres for mild tomoderate positive patients.Apart from this, theAdministration has also sent arequest to the Centre to pro-cure more ventilators.

Till Wednesday evening,the city had reported a total of1751 positive cases including700 active cases.

Manoj Parida, Adviser toUT Administrator told ThePioneer, “Keeping in view thesurge in COVID-19 cases, theAdministration has geared upto rope in three CITCO hotels,James Hotel and communitycentres as COVID care centresfor mild to moderate positivepatients. Earlier also, hotelswere listed as quarantine cen-tres in the city.”

“In our COVID-19 con-tingency plan, James Plazawith 270 beds was included asCOVID-care centre for con-firmed asymptomatic and mildcases and it will be utilizedaccordingly. CITCO hotels andJames Hotel will be providedon a payment basis to those

patients who can afford. As faras community centres are con-cerned, we will utilize the com-munity centres which are notsurrounded by residential areasas COVID care centres con-sidering the concerns raised byresidents earlier,” he said.

It is planned that eachCOVID care centre will have atleast one Ayush doctor and oneallopathic doctor 24X7 in threeshifts.

Parida further said, “TheCOVID-19 dedicated NHE,PGIMER is nearing full capac-ity as the critical care beds arealso occupied by patients fromother states. The Sector 48Hospital can accommodate 100critical patients and we aremaking arrangements for morefacilities in existing healthcare

centres for critical care.” TheNHE, PGIMER is a 200-bed-ded treatment facility for crit-ical COVID patients. Thepatients admitted in NHEbelong to Chandigarh, Punjab,Haryana, Himachal and UttarPradesh.

More than 150 COVID-19positive patients were under-going treatment at NHE,PGIMER till the evening. TheICU beds are already occupiedin the PGIMER. Apart fromthis, COVID patients wereadmitted in SoodDharamshala, DhanwantariHospital, GMCH-32 andSector 48 Hospital.

On the requirement ofventilators in the city, Paridasaid, we have requested theHealth Ministry to procuremore ventilators. The city witha population of over 12 lakh hasaround 250 ventilators. Ofthese, some are reserved forCOVID patients while othersare kept for critically-illpatients.

Notably, Chandigarh MPKirron Kher had onWednesday expressed concernover the surge of COVID casesand burden on existing health-care infrastructure in the city.In a Tweet tagging PMO,Home Minister Amit Shah,Union Health Minister HarshVardhan, Punjab Governor andUT Administrator VP Singh

Bandore, BJP president JPNadda, Kirron Kher had said,“#HelpMyCity PGI & otherhospitals are under immensepressure. If medical facilities arenot allowed in various parts ofthe city there will be fatalitiesdue to #nobeds. I urge theAdministration to take neces-sary action (sic).”

Estimating Chandigarh’spopulation as 12 lakh and apeak of COVID-19 pandemicin the future, a COVID-19contingency plan estimatingpreparations for managementof about 3600 active cases ofvirus on the worst day of thespread in the city, had been pre-pared by UT Administration.

With continuous surge inthe cases, the Administration isnow estimating the city toreach 2500 positive cases in thenext fortnight and putting inplace arrangements consider-ing the same. 700 cases havebeen reported in the month ofAugust so far.

The Administration’s con-tingency plan has listed out aprotocol to be followed forasymptomatic, mild cases andsevere positive cases, quaran-tine centres, logistic support forpatients, dedicated COVID-Hospital, dedicated Health cen-tre for moderate cases, COVIDcare centre, testing facilitiesamong other measures.

81 FRESH CASES INCHANDIGARH

The union territory ofChandigarh continued to wit-ness a surge in COVID-19cases with 81 fresh infectionsreported on Wednesday. Thetotal tally of positive casescrossed 1700-mark and stoodat 1751 till the evening. Therewere 700 active cases in the city.

In the month of August tillnow, the city has reported 700positive cases with the highestsingle-day spike of 89 casesreported on August 9.

“A 34 years old male, resi-dent of Sector 21 who hadcommitted suicide at home byhanging himself on August 19was tested COVID-19 positivepost death,” stated ChandigarhHealth Department’s eveningbulletin. “He was sampled afterhis demise for COVID-19 atGMSH-16. He was reportedpositive on August 11,” the bul-letin stated.

The positive cases werereported from Sector 7, 10, 12,15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 27, 23, 28, 30,35, 32, 37, 43, 44, 45, 47, 49,Dadumajra, Hallomajra,Ramdarbar, Dhanas, PGIMER,Manimajra, Mauli Jagran andRaipur Khurd. Four healthcareworkers and a student fromPGIMER, six healthcare work-ers and a student from GMCH-32 were tested positive forCOVID-19. Among others

tested positive included anemployee in BSNL Manimajra,an employee in IntelligenceBureau, an employee in Sector39 Meteorological Department,a person with travel history ofPunjab and contacts of already

tested positive patients, accord-ing to the bulletin.

The recovery rate ofCOVID-19 patients was 58percent in the city. With eightpatients recovering fromCOVID-19 on Wednesday, the

total recovered patients were1023, the bulletin added. 19141samples of city residents havebeen tested till date forCOVID-19. The city has so farreported 26 COVID-19 relatedfatalities.

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With 39 more succumbingto the deadly contagion

on Wednesday, Punjab hasregistered the highest single-day spike, pushing the state’sdeath toll to 675. The state alsoadded 1,020 fresh cases in thepast 24 hours, taking the state’sCOVID-19 tally to 26,909.

As many as 29 police per-sonnel — including 11 fromSangrur, eight from Ludhiana,four from Gurdaspur, threefrom Kapurthala, two fromFazilka, and one fromBathinda; besides 32 prisonersfrom Barnala have been testedpositive.

As all 22 districts havereported fresh cases with threedistricts reporting cases inthree-digit figure, 12 districtshave reported deaths.

Ludhiana with 13 deaths reg-istered the highest figure, withHoshiarpur reporting sixdeaths, four in Patiala, threeeach in Jalandhar andAmritsar, two each inGurdaspur, Mohali, andPathankot, and one each inBarnala, Bathinda, FatehgarhSahib, and Sangrur.

In just 12 days of August,the state has registered 10,790cases (about 40 percent of thestate’s total 26909), and 289deaths (43 percent of the totalcasualties). In fact, the state hasadded over 7,000 fresh coron-avirus cases to its tally in aweek since August 6.

Among the districts,Ludhiana continued to regis-ter the highest number ofcases. On Wednesday, the dis-trict reported 229 cases, fol-lowed by 130 in Jalandhar, 104

in SAS Nagar (Mohali), 85 inAmritsar, 70 in Patiala, 62 inBarnala, 39 in Gurdaspur, 36 inFaridkot, 34 in Kapurthala, 29in Ferozepur, 27 in Pathankot,24 in Ropar, 23 in Hoshiarpur,22 each in Sangrur andBathinda, 19 in Moga, 18 inFatehgarh Sahib, 13 each inFazilka and SBS Nagar(Nawanshahr), nine each inMuktsar and Tarn Taran, andthree in Mansa.A total of 422coronavirus patients were dis-charged after recovering fromthe infection, taking the totalnumber of recoveries to 17,212at the rate of 63.96 percent.

The state still has 9,022active cases — accounting for33.53 percent of the total cases— of which 10 patients are crit-ical and on ventilator supportwhile 142 are on oxygen sup-port.

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Due to ongoing Covid-19pandemic, the

Department of Forest andWildlife in Haryana took helpof social media to spread pub-lic awareness about the plightof elephants, share knowledgeand positive solutions for thebetter care and management ofcaptive and wild elephants, tomark the World Elephant Dayon Wednesday, PanchkulaDivisional Forest officer(Wildlife) Shyam SunderSharma said.

Talking to The Pioneerover the phone, he said “It isvery important to raise aware-ness among general masses,particularly students, about theproblems faced by pachydermsin the Country and the World,”

The DFO (Wildlife) officersaid that as per the direction ofthe Ministry of Home Affairs,Government of India, there hasbeen a ban on public gathering

to contain the outbreak ofCovid-19. In view of this, thedepartment of wildlife has notorganised any public awarenessprogramme on ‘WorldElephant Day’ but officialswere engaged in spreadingawareness about positive solu-tions for the better care andmanagement of captive andwild elephants through socialmedia.

Along with this, wildlifeofficials were imparted trainingabout improvements in thewelfare of wild animals andprevention on illegal poachingand trade in ivory, conservingelephant habitats, providingbetter treatment for captiveelephants and reintroducingcaptive elephants into sanctu-aries among others. “Last year,a public awareness programmewas held on cruelty against ele-phants to mark the ‘WorldElephant Day’. About 60 stu-dents of Navodaya Vidhyalaya,Yamunanagar had participated

in the programme and pledgednever to take joy rides on ele-phants. The students had plac-ards with various serious mes-sages about the immediatethreats to elephants. The pro-gramme also included a paint-ing, and slogan competition,and a quiz on the theme of ele-phant conservation in India,”he added.

Sharma said that the Statewildlife department has fourrescued female elephants,namely Chanchal, Junglee,Laxmi, and Lilly. These ele-phants were rescued from per-sons who had illegally pos-sessed them. Chanchal andLaxmi were rescued fromKarnal while Lilly from Sirsaand Junglee from Kurukshetra.In 2018, Delhi Forests andWildlife department rescued anelephant named Moti whichwas illegally possessed by a per-son, sent to Kalesar WildlifeSanctuary in Haryana.

The number of “migrant

wild elephants” is changingeach year. A couple of elephantsfrom the Rajaji National Parkhad been frequently visiting theKalesar National Park, spreadover 11570 acres every year.

The number of “migrant wildelephants” has gone to four.Wild Elephants roam Kalesarand adjoining Rajaji NationalPark and Tiger Reserve spreadacross Uttarakhand and

Himachal Pradesh. The KalesarWildlife Sanctuary wasdeclared a National Park inDecember, 2003.

The DFO further said thatthe elephant is loved, revered

and respected by people acrossIndia, yet the future of thespecies is threatened by theescalation of poaching, habitatloss, human-elephant conflictand mistreatment of elephantsin captivity. “Working towardsbetter protection for wild ele-phants, improving enforce-ment policies to prevent theillegal poaching and trade ofivory, and conserving elephanthabitats, are imperative forsaving the elephant. The aim ofthe day is to sensitise peopleabout better treatment of cap-tive elephants and against theillegal poaching and trade ofthe jumbos for ivory,’ he added.

Another Wildlife depart-ment officer said, “WorldElephant Day which wasobserved for the first time onAugust 12, 2012, is an annualglobal event celebrated acrossthe world, dedicated to thepreservation and protection ofelephants. On August 12,2016, India formally adopted

the “World Elephant Day” tohelp conserve and protect ele-phants in the country andimprove their welfare.”

He said that the Indian ele-phant has been a victim ofsevere habitat loss, cruelty inprivate custody and poachingfor its tusks. It is important thatit’s habitat is secured to mini-mize its conflict with people.“Strict enforcement of laws tostop poaching as well as coop-eration with other countries issought to reduce the demandfor ivory in national and inter-national markets. Elephantconservation in India needssupport of all stakeholders.The elephant has been accord-ed the highest possible protec-tion under the Indian wildlifelaw through its listing underSchedule I of the Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1972 of India.This means that hunting/trad-ing this species can attract rig-orous imprisonment of up toseven years and fine.”

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Haryana’s Covid-19 infec-tion tally on Wednesday

shot up to 44,024 with 797more people testing positive forthe virus, while the death tollrose to 503 with three morefatalities, according to an offi-cial bulletin.

On the day, 612 patients ofthe disease were dischargedfrom different hospitals of theState. With 113 fresh cases,Faridabad’s Covid-19 tally nowstood at 10,517, highest in theState, followed by Gurugram at9952 with 98 new cases on theday.

Out of three, two fatalitieswere reported from Faridabadwhile one from Gurugram.The number of active casesincreased to 6827, as per bul-letin.The districts that report-ed fresh cases included Sirsa(100), Rewari (57), Sonipat(31), Ambala (65),Mahindergarh (60), Panchkula(36) among others.

With recovery of 612 newpatients, a total of 36,694 havebeen discharged from differenthospitals of the State so far. Themaximum number of 162patients recovered fromFaridabad district onWednesday.

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Chandigarh: In view of risingcases of coronavirus in Punjab,the state Health and FamilyWelfare Minister Balbir SinghSidhu on Wednesday issuedorders for complete ban ondepartmental transfers andleave till September 30, 2020,with immediate effect.

Sidhu said that the decisionhas been taken keeping in viewthe present situation of Covid-19. “It has been observed thatall officers, medical or para-medical staff have to beremained present at their sta-tions to deal with fight againstcorona in a more efficientmanner.No leave will be given

to any officer or employeeduring this period and leavewill be given only in case ofmaternity leave and child careleave due to urgentreasons.Sidhu said that apartfrom the regular officers oremployees, this order would beapplicable to all the employeesworking on contract or out-sourcing basis in various wingsor institutions of Health andFamily Welfare Dept. PNS

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Haryana Deputy Chief MinisterDushyant Chautala on Wednesday

said that to create employment opportu-nities for one lakh youth, the Governmenthas set a target of investment of about Rs10,000 crore in seven ‘Special EconomicZones’ in the State.

He said that better infrastructure hasbeen prepared to promote industries in thestate, so that maximum foreign investmentcan be brought to Haryana. Discussionsregarding investment have been held withmany multinational companies includingEnterprise Singapore, Flipkart, GLS Films,IKEA, ATL Group, Sembcorp Singapore,and DCM Textiles among others through

webinarsd u r i n gCOVID-1 9 .

During thediscussions, representa-tives of the mentioned companiesevinced great interest, he added.

Dushyant said that the environmentfor setting up industries in Haryana withforeign investment is conducive. In termsof Ease of Doing Business, Haryana ranksfirst in North India and third in the coun-try and Haryana Government aims to take

the state to the top. He said that 34 indus-trial estates have been developed byHaryana State Industrial and InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation (HSIIDC) to setup industries in the state, including morethan 1100 different industrial plots areavailable at IMT Faridabad, Bawal,Manesar, Panipat, and Gurugram.

He said that Haryana is leading in thefield of Capital Goods Manufacturer in thecountry and for this Bawal and Manesarregion are playing an important role. Apartfrom this, main industrial corridors arebeing developed on Delhi-Mumbai andAmritsar-Kolkata Expressway and Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway which willcover the entire state and connect indus-trial units to hubs and ports.

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Page 4:  · diers. She was awarded the gal-lantry Shaurya Vir Award for displaying courage during the war. The IAF in its letter said the Service has always ensured an equal opportunity to

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In an effort to furtherstrengthen operational readi-

ness at the volatile Line ofActual Control(LAC)inLadakh, two indigenouslydesigned and produced lightcombat helicopter (LCH)arenow deployed in Leh. They willback up the IAF efforts tosecure the border and plug gapsif any at high altitude.

The helicopters manufac-tured by the HindustanAeronautics Limited(HAL) arethere to be pushed into serviceto support the IAF at any spotat the border at short notice,HAL officials said onWednesday.

“It is the lightest attack heli-copter in the world designedand developed by the HAL tomeet the specific and uniquerequirements of Indian ArmedForces reflecting the crucialrole of HAL in Atma NirbharBharat,” said R Madhavan,Chief Managing Director, HAL.

Last week, Vice Chief ofIAF, Air Marshal Harjit SinghArora took part in one suchoperation in Ladakh alongwith HAL test pilot, WingCommander Subash P John(Retired) by taking-off fromhigh altitude location to a for-ward area for a simulated attackon a high-altitude target.

This was followed by alanding at one of the mosttreacherous helipads in theregion. The LCH successfullydemonstrated its quick deploy-ment prowess to forward loca-tions in extreme temperatures,

the HAL said.The IAF and Army togeth-

er need around 160 LCHs andthe Defence AcquisitionCouncil (DAC) has approvedan initial batch of 15 LCHs. TheIAF has since issued theRequest for Proposal (RFP) for15 Limited Series Production(LSP) helicopters(10 for IAFand five for Army) and theHAL has submitted itsresponse.

Technical evaluation andthe price negotiations havebeen concluded and the orderis expected shortly, the HALsaid adding as a proactive mea-sure it has launched productionof LSPs in anticipation of ordersat its Bengaluru facility.

The indigenously manu-factured helicopter is a potentweapon platform with state-of-the-art systems and highlyaccurate weapons capable ofhitting any type of target by dayor night.

Other features of the LCHinclude its ability to operate inthe complete ‘Area ofResponsibility’ (AOR) and alti-tudes and has the ability tocarry adequate weapon load athigh altitudes under variedconditions.

The latest deploymentcomes in the backdrop of thefive newly arrived Rafale fight-er jets now undertaking prac-tice sorties in HimachalPradesh’s mountainous terrain.The state shares LAC withChina.

After the familiarisationsorties in the rugged mountainterrain of Himachal Pradesh,the Rafales are likely to conductpractice flights in Ladakh in thecoming weeks, sources said.The Rafales came to India fromFrance on July 29 and are nowundergoing paces in Indianconditions. The jets are sta-tioned at the Ambala air base.

Given the ongoing tensionat the LAC with more thanthree-month old stand-offs andthe Chinese increasing its mil-itary strength there, the IAF hasalso taken measures likedeploying most of its frontlinefighter jets at the forward basesall along the 4,000 km longLAC. They include SU-30s,Jaguars and MIG-29s.

The newly inductedApache attack helicopters alongwith Chinook heavy lift trans-port helicopters are also flyingregular sorties near the LAC inLadakh.

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Two of the biggest paramili-tary forces—CRPF and BSF

have surpassed the 5,000 markin terms of Covid infection withboth recording around 5,500cases each. The two forces haverecorded 42 deaths due to thepandemic.

Total Covid infection for thefive paramilitary forces—CRPF,BSF, CISF, ITBP and SSB— havetouched the 17,000 mark exclud-ing the tally of infected person-nel from the National SecurityGuards (NSG) and NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF), both of which are dep-utationist forces drawing per-sonnel from the paramilitaryranks. As per the last count ear-lier this month, the NSG hadreported around 500 cases ofCovid infection besides about100 in the NSG.

The combined death toll ofthe five paramilitary forces is 64and 7,287 patients in the fiveforces continue to be active outof a tally of 16,961 Covid-19infections. The combined deathtoll of the five paramilitary forcesis 64 and 7,204 patients in the fiveforces continue to be active.The five paramilitary forces haveadded over 4,000 new cases ofinfection in their ranks in the last10 days.

The Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) has recorded atally of 5,467 cases of which 2,846are active, which is the highestnumber of infected personnel ina paramilitary force. As many as

2,597 patients had recoveredand 24 personnel succumbed tothe infection in the CRPF. Thecasualty figures of the CRPF isalso highest among the para-military forces.

The Border Security Force(BSF) has reported 5,404 cases ofCovid-19 in its ranks till dateincluding 1,912 active patientsand 3,474 personnel who haverecovered from the viral infec-tion besides 18 deaths.

The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) has report-ed 2,763 cases of Covid-19 infec-tion. Out of th 2,763 cases, asmany as 774 continue to beactive and 1,974 have recovered.The paramilitary has sufferedcasualties of 15 personnel due tothe disease induced by novelcoronavirus.

The Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP) has reported 2,113cases of infection from the pan-demic including 1,170 activecases and 941 recoveries besidesthree deaths.

The Sashatra Seema Bal(SSB) has recorded 1,214 cases ofthe deadly disease out of which585 continue to be active and 625patients have recovered. Itincurred loss of lives of four per-sonnel due to the viral disease.

The CISF has reported 2,763cases including 14 deaths and theSSB has 1,214 cases and fourdeaths.

As on August 1, the para-military forces, including NDRFand NSG had reported around13,000 cases of Covid-19 infec-tion.

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The “Union Home Minister’sMedal for Excellence in

Investigation” for the year 2020has been awarded to 121 Policepersonnel. Among the per-sonnel receiving these awards,15 are from CBI, 10 each arefrom Madhya Pradesh andMaharashtra Police, eight arefrom Uttar Pradesh Police,seven each are from Kerala andWest Bengal Police. 21 womenpolice officers are also includ-ed in the medal list announcedby Ministry of Home Affairs.

This medal was constitut-ed in 2018 with the objectiveto promote high professionalstandards of investigation ofcrime and to recognise suchExcellence in Investigation byinvestigating officers. “A thor-ough Investigation plays apivotal role in delivering jus-

tice. I congratulate all therecipients of ‘Medal forExcellence in Investigation-2020’. This is recognition ofthe outstanding service andcommitment of our policepersonnel. India is proud ofthem!,” tweeted Home

Minister Amit Shah. The recipients are from

Constable to DeputyCommissioner of Police ranks.State Police, CBI, NIA per-sonnel involved in the inves-tigation duty are consideredfor this annual medal.

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Former Congress chief RahulGandhi on Wednesday took

a jibe at Prime MinisterNarendra Modi citing BJP’selection slogan “Modi hai tohmumkin hai” while attackingthe Government over reportedclaims that India’s GrossDomestic Product (GDP)growth may be lowest sinceIndependence.

Taking to Twitter, Rahulshared Infosys co-founder N.R.Narayana Murthy’s purportedremark that “GDP growth mayhit the lowest point since 1947”.“Modi hai toh mumkin hai,” hetweeted.

Last week, RBI GovernorShaktikanta Das said India’sreal GDP will contract in thefirst half of FY21 as well as fullfinancial year.

The former Congress chiefhas been vociferously targetingthe Prime Minister and BJP-ledgovernment over several issuesincluding the standoff withChina, economic distress, andCOVID-19 handling.

Flagging fears that thecountry’s GDP growth mayeven touch its lowest sinceindependence in the backdropof coronavirus pandemic,Murthy on Monday said theeconomy should be broughtback on track and peopleshould be prepared to live withthe pathogen. He also pitchedfor developing a new systemthat should allow every playerin every sector of the country’seconomy to operate at fullsteam with suitable precau-tions.

“India’s GDP is expected toshrink by at least five per cent.There is a fear that we may evenreach the lowest GDP (growth)since independence, since1947,” Murthy said.

Couple of days ago, Rahulhad hit out at the centre overthe unemployment issue accus-ing the Narendra Modi gov-ernment of failing to meet itspromises.

He accused the NarendraModi government of failing tomeet its promise of jobs for twocrore people every year, andthen enacting policies that“destroyed India’s economicstructure” and left crores with-out jobs. He launched the“Rozgar Do” campaign andurged young people withoutjobs to raise their voices, speakout and “awaken the govern-ment from its slumber”.

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Poverty, Government apathyand Covid-19 induced-

lockdown restricting travelproved fatal for little Kishan, a11-year-old boy suffering fromAplastic anemia, a life-threat-ening blood disorder conditionin which the bone marrowand stem cells do not produceenough blood cells

Facing severe financialconstraints and waiting timelymedical aid, first at SafdarjungHospital and then AIIMS, bothGovernment hospitals in Delhi,Kishan’s life was cut short inMarch this year amid Covid-19pandemic.

However, Kishan’s is not alone case. Dr NitaRadhakrishnan, paediatrichaemato-oncologist at SuperSpeciality Paediatric Hospital,Noida, Uttar Pradesh says thatas the deadly Coronavirus cap-tured the attention of thenation in the most unprece-

dented manner, the non-Covidpatients particularly those withthe Aplastic anemia have suf-fered the most in the crisis.

She gave instances of hertwo teenage patients who suc-cumbed to blood disorder inthe Covid catastrophe. “Manish(name change), a 17-year-oldwas suffering with on-and-offfever, gum bleeding, and mele-na for three months, he cameto us in December last year justwhen Coronavirus had startedspreading its tentacles fromChina to other parts of theworld.”

The boy was diagnosedwith severe Aplastic anemiaand was recommended requi-site treatment like regular hos-pital visit for red cell transfu-sion before he could be givenbone marrow transplant(BMT), a life saving treatment.

“However, while the fami-ly was not able to visit our hos-pital in Noida due to the covid-lockdown, no blood products

were available at the hospitalnear to the patient’s locality. Inwant of blood, Manish couldnot survive more days.

13-year-old Suresh (namechange) too faced similar fate.While Government fundscould not be sanctioned for hisBMT in time the boy could notvisit the Noida hospital for fur-ther follow-up due to travelrestrictions. Two weeks later,Suresh died due to hemorrhageat his native place, lamented thedoctor.

These are just two report-ed cases from the NCR hospi-tal located near the country’scapital. Several have gone unre-ported. The Government hasno policy nor any long-termplan for such patients.

“The prognosis of severeaplastic anemia in our countryis dismal. The incidence of 4–6per million population of child-hood aplastic anemia in Indiaand other Asian countries ishigher than what is observed inthe West,” explains Dr

Radhakrishnan. The scenario isgloomy for the patients afflict-ed with the disease as they needblood transfusion almost every20 days.

A significant proportion ofpatients of aplastic anemia(around 30 per cent) die beforeany definitive treatment is ini-tiated. A study by AIIMS basedon a recent series of patientsfollow-up showed that out of1501 patients diagnosed overlast seven years, only 303 ie 20per cent received the definitivetreatment modalities througheither BMT or IST with ATGand cyclosporine, says DrRadhakrishnan in her casereport “Aplastic anemia: Non-COVID casualties in theCovid-19 era,” published inthe latest edition of IndianJournal of Palliative Care.

The doctors have soughturgent intervention. DrRadhakrishnan says that “as weawait the peak of Covid-19 inour country and possibly sec-

ondary and tertiary wavesthereafter, patients with aplas-tic anemia who are the sickestamong all hematological ill-nesses would benefit greatlyfrom urgent intervention fromthe Government to ensuretimely treatment.”

“Those suffering withAplastic anemia, there ismostly delay in diagnosis,delay in initiation of treatmentdue to monetary constraints,non-inclusion of the diseaseunder government schemessuch as Ayushman Bharat andNHM and delay in sanction ofmoney from otherGovernment schemes such asRashtriya Arogya Nidhi, Chief

Minister and Prime Minister’srelief fund often due to lack ofproper documents, she added.

Delay means, risk of con-tracting fungal infections andincrease in drug-resistant bac-terial infections increasewhich further hamper thetreatment, point out Dr RaviShankar and Dr Savitri Singhin the study.

Though the Union HealthMinistry, after few days oflockdown period, issueddirections for continuingtreatment for essential healthservices including reproduc-tive and maternal health ser-vices, newborn care, severemalnutrition, and NCDs

including cancer care, pallia-tive care, dialysis, and care ofdisabled, unfortunately thosewith Aplastic anemia gotignored.

This despite of the factthat these patients are at thehighest risk of death followinga break in the treatment of fewweeks, notes DrRadhakrishnan.

Because of the closure ofoffices and absence of staff,during the lockdown period,there was delay in sanction ofusual grants due to the lock-down of offices and inabilityin generating documents suchas income certificate from thetehsils.

“For instance, Suresh andManish, both our patientsreceived the Governmentgrant after around 3–4 monthsof applying for the same. Butboth had died before theycould reach the hospital fortreatment,” lamented thehematologist.

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India’s Covid-19 recovery ratecrossed past 70 per cent on

Wednesday with 16,39,599people having recovered fromthe disease so far in the coun-try, while active cases comprise27.64 pc of the total caseload,the Union Health Ministrysaid.

The case fatality rate hasfurther declined to 1.98 percent, it said.

The highest single-dayrecoveries at 56,110 are theresult of the successful imple-mentation of effective con-tainment strategy, aggressiveand comprehensive testing cou-pled with standardised clinicalmanagement of the criticalpatients based on holistic stan-dard of care approach, said theMinistry.

The coordinated efforts ofthe central, state and UT gov-ernments have resulted in con-tinuously increasing averagedaily recoveries, it said.

“In the first week of July,the daily average recoveredcases were at 15,000 whichjumped to more than 50,000 inthe first week of August,” it said.

“With more patients recov-ering and being dischargedfrom hospitals and home iso-lation (in case of mild andmoderate cases), the totalrecoveries have crossed the 16

lakh-mark and recovery ratehas reached another high of70.38 per cent,” it added.

There are 6,43,948 activecases of coronavirus which is“actual caseload” of COVID-19in the country and currentlycomprise 27.64 per cent of thetotal positive cases.

They are under active med-ical supervision.

With a consistent and sus-tained increase in recoveries,the gap between recoveredpatients and active COVID-19cases has reached nearly 10lakh, the Ministry stated.

Focus on improved andeffective clinical treatment inhospitals, use of non-invasive,improved and coordinated ser-vices of the ambulances for fer-rying patients for prompt andtimely treatment have resultedin seamless efficient patientmanagement of Covid-19patients.

India’s ‘test, track, treat’strategy has achieved anotherpeak with 7,33,449 tests donein 24 hours on Tuesday. Thishas taken the cumulative teststo more than 2.6 crore. Thetests per million has jumped to18,852, it stated.

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The national expert group onvaccine administration for

Covid-19 which met for thefirst time on Wednesday todeliberate on various issuespertaining to the procurementmechanisms for the vaccine hasadvised all the States not tochart separate pathways of pro-curement of the shots when-ever they are readied.

The suggestion came toensure the central control onthe distribution of the vaccineand the States do not start pur-chasing the vaccine at theirwhims and fancies as had hap-pened in the case of the pur-chase of rapid antigen testingkits, some of which were laterfound to be faulty.

“Some States had pur-chased the RT-PCR and rapidantigen kits which created lotsof confusion. In the matter ofvaccine, we want the process tobe smooth and distribution isas per requirements,” said asenior official who attended themeeting chaired by Niti AayogMember, Dr. V K Paul, withHealth Secretary RajeshBhushan as co-chair.

Three vaccine candidatesare in different stages of humanclinical trials in India -theCovid-19 vaccine candidatedeveloped by University ofOxford by Pune-based SerumInstitute of India, the inacti-vated virus vaccine by Bharat

Biotech and the DNA vaccineby Zydus Cadila.

In the meeting the groupdeliberated on conceptualisa-tion and implementationmechanisms for creation of adigital infrastructure for inven-tory management and deliverymechanism of the vaccine,including tracking of vaccina-tion process with particularfocus on last mile delivery.

The group also deliberatedon the procurement mecha-nisms for Covid-19 vaccine,including both indigenous andinternational manufacturingalong with guiding principlesfor prioritisation of populationgroups for vaccination.

They discussed broadparameters guiding the selec-tion of the Covid-19 vaccinecandidates for the country andsought inputs from theStanding Technical Sub-Committee of the NationalTechnical Advisory Group onImmunisation (NTAGI).

Besides this, it also dis-cussed the financial resourcesrequired for procurement of theCovid-19 vaccine and variousoptions of financing the same.Available options in terms ofdelivery platforms, cold chainand associated infrastructurefor roll out of Covid-19 vacci-nation were also taken up.

India’s support to its keyneighbours and developmentpartner countries for Covid-19vaccines was also taken up.

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Days after UnionEnvironment Minister

Prakash Javedekar said thatthe draft Environment ImpactAssessment notification is yetto be finalised, Congress leaderJairam Ramesh accused theGovernment of “misrepresent-ing” the implications of theDraft on the country’s envi-ronmental regulatory frame-work and its impact on envi-ronment calling it “fundamen-tally flawed.”

In a letter to Javadekar,Ramesh a former EnvironmentMinister, said the StandingCommittee met on August 7and was apprised by officials onthe Draft EIA Notification2020.

“I am compelled to say thatyou are misrepresenting theimplications of the Draft EIANotification, 2020, on ourcountry’s environmental regu-latory framework and itsimpact on the environment,”Ramesh said, adding that hehas read his reply in conjunc-tion with the presentationmade by the officials, alongwith the feedback receivedfrom various stakeholders.

He suggested theGovernment to keep theNotification in abeyance untilthe Standing Committee hasexamined it.

“The notification is fun-

damentally flawed and makesa mockery of the prime min-ister’s many statements on theneed to protect the environ-ment and India’s leadership inthis regard,” he said.

The Congress leader askedhow can a subordinate legisla-tion override the parent Actfrom which it is derived likethe Draft EIA Notification2020 does vis-a-vis theEnvironment Protection Act,1986.

“Your claim that the clear-ance is not an ex post facto oneas ‘it is prospective in nature,and previous actions will bepenalized’ is contrary to howit will actually play out inreality.

“If the clearance permitsthe illegally constructed por-tion of the project to remain orthe illegal operating part of theproject to continue, and thereis no direction for demolitionof the illegal portion or reduc-tion of the illegally enhancedcapacity -- then it is not aprospective clearance. It isbeing granted ex post facto,and it is regularizing the ille-gality committed by the projectproponent,” he said.

“It appears from theprocesses proposed in Clause22 of the Draft Notificationthat the government’s objectiveis to give all the violators anopportunity to regularize theirillegal activities,” he alleged.

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The Supreme Court hassought response from the

Centre on a PIL seeking animmediate ban on use, instal-lation, production and adver-tisement of disinfectant tunnelsset up to curb the spread ofcoronavirus.

A three-judge bench ofJustices Ashok Bhushan, RSubhash Reddy and M R Shahissued notices to the Ministry

of Health and Family Welfare,Ministry of Science andTechnology and Ministry ofAgriculture and FarmersWelfare while seeking theirreplies.

“Issue notice to respondentNos. 1 to 3...Counsel for thepetitioner may serve a copy ofthe petition in the office of the

Solicitor General, who mayobtain instructions. List thematter after two weeks,” thebench said.

The top court was hearinga PIL filed by law studentGursimran Singh Narula seek-ing ban on usage, installation,production, advertisement ofdisinfection tunnels involvingspraying or fumigation of organic disin-fectants for the purposes dis-infecting human beings.

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Page 5:  · diers. She was awarded the gal-lantry Shaurya Vir Award for displaying courage during the war. The IAF in its letter said the Service has always ensured an equal opportunity to

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The Health Department has transformedthe corona era into an opportunity for

corruption. The data operators posted hereare wrongly entering the name-address,mobile number after taking bribe from thepeople. ACM-2 Ranjit Singh has revealed thedata operators posted at Deendayal Hospitalto have a breach in records at the time of sam-pling of a jeweler's son. One month salaryof three operators has been withheld. Theyhave also been given notices. This action hascaused panic in the health department.

The case relates to a jewelers family run-ning a jewelery shop near Meenakshi Bridge.The family hails from Prayag MillCompound. Saraf and his wife and one sonunderwent antigen test at Deendayal Hospitalon August 4. In this test, husband and wifewere found to be infected, while the son wasfound to be negative. On this, the couple wassent on home isolation and the son's sam-ple was sent for RTPCR investigation. On

August 7, he was found positive with coro-na virus. It is said that on this, the adminis-tration tried to find him based on the records,but the mobile number written in therecord started going off. A person with thatname was also not found at the address. OnDM's order, ACM-2 Ranjit Singh startedinvestigation. This made the data operatorsnervous and corrected the young man's nameon the record. On 10 August, the young manwas caught. During interrogation of theyouth, it was revealed that the father had mis-named his son's name with the help of thedata operators. He was sent to grand moth-er's house when the report came positive.

According to ACM-2, one month'ssalary of accused data operators Shivam, Raviand Tarun has been withheld. The matter isvery serious. They have been given notices.All three are on contract. Along with this, twolab technicians Pushpendra and Omar havealso been found to be doing negligient workin registering name, address and mobilenumber. A warning has been given to themfor such negligience and carelessness in thename of bribe.

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Close on the heels of Prof EBalagurusamy, former

Vice-Chancellor, AnnaUniversity, who lambasted theTamil Nadu Government andthe Dravidian parties for theiropposition towards the three-language formula proposed bythe Centre in its NationalEducation Policy, more socialactivists, educationists and par-ents have come out question-ing the propriety behind theresistance to introduce otherlanguages in Tamil Nadu. Aneducationist has called for a ref-erendum on the issue of intro-ducing a three-language for-mula.

Vanathi Srinivasan, vice-president, Tamil Nadu BJPwho has been fighting to getthe impeded irrigation projects

in the State’s fertile Kongunaduregion going, charged theDravidian politicians who playwith the future of the children.“None of them send their chil-dren to Government Schoolsbut to public schools whichcharge exorbitant fees whereHindi, Sanskrit are all com-pulsory. But these politiciansmake sure that Hindi is nottaught in Government -runschools because they want tokeep students from poor andrural families in perpetualignorance,” said Srinivsan.

An apolitical person likeVijayashree Ramesh, lawyerand activist, pointed out thatChennai is the headquarters ofDakshin Bharat Hindi PracharSabha because the founder,Mahatma Gandhi, wanted stu-dents in Tamil Nadu as well asother South Indian States tolearn Hindi. “Interestingly, the

owners and proprietors of pri-vate schools which teach Hindias a compulsory subject are theones who oppose the intro-duction of Hindi or three-lan-guage formula in the State. It issad and shocking that stu-dents in Tamil Nadu do not getthe opportunity to learn inJawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya.The opposition to Hindi by theDravidian political parties arecausing havoc in the lives ofpoor students in Tamil Nadu,”said Ramesh.

Srinivasan said the oppo-sition of Chief MinisterEdappadi Palaniswai was onlybecause of DMK presidentStalin’s opposition to Hindi.“Palaniswami fears that if hesupports Hindi, he may loseout to Stalin in the race forChief Minister’s chair in thenext assembly election,” shesaid.

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Two serious allegations havebeen made by two promi-

nent Opposition leaders inKerala against the CPI(M)-ledGovernment. K Surendran, BJPState Chief alleged that theconsignment from UAEConuslate received by KT Jaleel,higher Education Minister whois also the former SIMI leader,were gold bars and not Qurans.

The Minister had claimedfrom day one onwards that theboxes contained Quran for dis-tribution in the State. But theUAE Embassy officials in NewDelhi had made it clear that theWest Asian country never sendsQuran to other countries as amatter of policy.

The Customs officials whoinspected the C APT (Centrefor Advanced Printing andTraining), a Government ofKerala organisation that comes

under the Higher EducationDepartment had found thatthe consignment was broughtto this office before it was sentto other places in the State inDepartment Vehicles.

Surendra said that the goldsmuggling through diplomaticchannel was the handiwork ofbig sharks and not small fish.“Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan knows who are the per-sons behind the massive goldsmuggling syndicate as manypeople in his office were asso-ciated with it,” said Surendranwhile addressing a virtual rallyat Palakkadu.

Ramesh Chennithala,leader of opposition, whileaddressing reporters at the Statecapital said that the situation inKerala due to Covid-19 waspathetic because the ChiefMinister and his council ofMinisters failed to tackle thespread of the pandemic.

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Kerala Government has managed to bring down thenumber of new coronavirus patients on

Wednesday to 1,212 according to Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan.

Briefing the media on Wednesday, the ChiefMinister said that 880 persons were cured of the pan-demic and discharged from hospitals. But out of the1,212 persons tested positive on Wednesday, 1,068 con-tracted Covid-19 through local contact. 45 personswho tested positive failed to give the details of thesource from where they contracted the pandemic,” hesaid.

The Chief Minister said that though some regionsshowed abatement of the pandemic, situation in mostdistricts remained critical.

“The superintendents of police in the districts aredevising strategies to counter the pandemic and it willdefinitely bring down the Covid-19 in the State,” saidVijayan.

He said 28, 664 samples were tested during the last24 hours while five persons succumbed to the pan-demic. Thiruvananthapuram which tested 266 posi-tive cases remained the district with the highest num-ber of covid-19 patients.

According to Vijayan, Kerala continued to be theState with the best Covid-19 management andadministration.

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Tamil Nadu on Wednesdaydiagnosed 5,871 new per-

sons with Covid-19 while 119patients succumbed to thepandemic during the 24 hoursthat ended at 6 pm onWednesday, said a medicalbulletin issued by theDepartment of Health.

There were 52, 929 activecases as on Wednesday eveningall over the State. Number ofpatients subjected to testing onWednesday saw an increase as69, 697 persons were testedacross the State thanks to the133 laboratories.

Till Wednesday, the Statehas tested 3.14 lakh positivecases while 2.56 lakh has beencured of the pandemic.

Number of Covid-19 patientsin the cluster involvingChennai, Chengalpet,Kancheepuram andThiruvallur districts remainedhigh compared to other dis-tricts.

Chennai had 993 patientsas on Wednesday whileChengalpet had 439 patients.Kancheepuram ( 371) andThiruvallur (407) did not showany signs of abatement of thepandemic.

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The Bengal Government onWednesday rescheduled

the bi-weekly lockdown datesfor the third time in the pasttwo weeks triggering strongcriticism from the Oppositionparties some of which called ita “Tughlaqi system at work”while others like the BJPattacked Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee for “planningcommunity-based politicallockdown.”

Under the new schemethere will be no lockdown onAugust 28. Earlier in order tobreak the corona chain theState Government had orderedlockdowns on August 20, 21,27, 28 and 31 which was inaddition to the two lock downsin the first week of thismonth.

A Government circularsaid, “Several communicationshave been received citing dif-

ficulty to conduct of business-es and banking operationsbecause of 2-days lockdownduring Thursday and Friday inthe last week of August 2020followed by one-day lockdownon the following Monday.”

This would lead to lock-downs for five consecutivedays which would hamperbanking services, officialssaid.

Hence “State Governmenthas considered the requestsfor relaxation of lockdown aswould be necessary and essen-tial. Lockdown on Friday 28August 2020...is hereby with-drawn and statewide completelockdown shall now beobserved on: Thursday 20August; Friday 21 August;Thursday 27 August andMonday 31 August,” the ordersaid.

Meanwhile, coming downheavily on the Governmentfor running a “Tughlaqi sys-

tem,” Congress leader in LokSabha Adhir Chowdhury said“it is difficult to understandhow an elected government canwork like this… The ChiefMinister herself sat severaloccasions with her officers toplan out things in the presenceof the media… in spite of somany qualified people includ-ing the Chief Minister workingon the days they could notdecide on the exact dates andhad to change the days fivetimes.

“It is ridiculous. More sobecause while the Governmentis struggling with schedulingand rescheduling the lock-down days the corona virus isattacking more and more peo-ple. The doctors are dying,nurses are doing, policemen aredying, the private hospitalshave been left to loot the peo-ple at will and they are sched-uling and rescheduling thelockdown days.”

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In the run up to theIndependence day celebrations

in Kashmir valley, terrorists onWednesday targeted a QuickReaction Team (QRT) of theIndian Army along the Srinagar-Baramulla National Highwayinjuring one soldier.

High alert has already beensounded along the vulnerablestretches of different highwaysand interior road links acrossJammu & Kashmir to prevent anymajor strike by terrorists or IEDattack on security convoys in thecoming days.

Quick reaction teams andsniffer dogs have been pressed intoservice along with road openingparties to thoroughly sanitise theroad networks ahead of the move-ment of security convoys.

Meanwhile, in another anti-

terrorist operation, the joint teamsof the security forces eliminated alocal commander of pro-Pakistanterror outfit Hizbul Mujahideenwhile one jawan of the IndianArmy sacrificed his life during theoperation in Kamrazipora area ofPulwama.

The terrorist killed in theoperation has been identified asHizb-ul-Mujahideen commanderAzaad Lalhari.

Police said, “Azaad Lalhariwas involved in the killing ofpolice head constable AnoopSingh on 22 May 2020 at PrichuPulwama where he fired at a nakaparty”.

At least six FIRs were regis-tered against him for different ter-rorist related incidents of vio-lence in the area.

According to Srinagar basedDefence Spokesman, Col RajeshKalia, “Terrorists fired at a Quick

Reaction Team (QRT) of IndianArmy on wednesday. The QRTwas moving from Baramullatowards Gulmarg on the Srinagar-Baramulla National Highway nearTrumgund Hygam crossing. OneArmy soldier was injured. Searchoperation in progress”.

Sharing details of OperationKamrazipora, Pulwama, Col Kaliasaid, “One terrorist was killed. 01AK along with grenades, pouches& other war like stores recovered.One soldier laid down his life inthe line of duty”.

He said the martyred armyjawan has been identified as 25years old Sowar Jilajeet Yadav ofJaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh.

Before dispatching his mortalremains to his native village, LtGen BS Raju, Chinar CorpsCommander and all ranks paidhomage to the braveheart.He issurvived by his wife, Punam Devi.

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Kohima: Nagaland onWednesday reported 87 NewCovid-19 cases while 129 peo-ple recovered from the virus inthe state, an official of theHeath department said.

With the 87 fresh cases, thestate's Covid-19 tally hasincreased to 3,118 of which1,991 are active cases as 1,113people have recovered from thedisease, eight have died and sixhave migrated to other states,the official said.

“87 new +ve cases ofCovid-19 have been detectedout of 614 samples tested. 48 inDimapur, 35 in Kohima, 3 inZunheboto & 1 in Wokha.Necessary contact tracing haveactivated. Wear Mask, KeepDistance, Stay Safe,” NagalandHealth minister S PangnyuPhom tweeted.

Additional Director, Healthand Family Welfare, Dr DenisHangsing said 129 Covid-19patients tested negative for thevirus on Wednesday, taking thetotal number of recovered peo-ple to 1,113.

This has improved therecovery rate of the state to35.69 per cent from Tuesdays32.49 per cent, he said.

On August 6 the state hadreported the highest number of134 recoveries. Nagalandreported the first three Covid-19 cases on May 25 while thehighest single-day spike wasrecorded on August 4 with 276cases. PTI

Aizawl: The Mizoram Government willPurchase 10,000 more rapid antigen kits toboost the states Covid-19 testing capaci-ty, Chief Minister Zoramthanga said onWednesday.

The Chief Minister made the announce-ment at a meeting with officials of the stategovernment, NGOs, churches and doctors,according to an official.

Every citizen should take precautionarymeasures as community transmission cantake place at any time.

The preventive measure is for our safe-ty against the pandemic. Testing should bedone in a massive way and more rapid anti-gen kits will be purchased, Zoramthanga was quoted as saying by theofficial.

It was agreed at the meeting that theexisting safety protocol will be enforcedmore strictly in the wake of the spurt incases, the official said.

Funerals with maximum 50 people willhenceforth be held either at church hallsor community halls but not in private res-idences to ensure that social distancing isstrictly followed, he said. PTI

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Kota: A five-year-old girl wasadmitted to hospital in a criti-cal condition after she wasraped allegedly by a 19-year-oldman in Rajasthan's Baran dis-trict, police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place inShahabad area on Tuesdayevening, they said. According toShahabad Circle OfficerKajodmal, the girl was pro-fusely bleeding after the incidentand was rushed to Baran districthospital on Tuesday night.

Later, she was referred to JayKay Lon hospital in Kota, the

officer said. The girl underwent one

surgery on Wednesday after-noon and there would be twomore surgeries, he said. Theaccused in the case has beendetained, said Shahabad SHOHariprasad Rana.

The girl, who belongs to atribal community, had goneoutside to attend nature's call ataround 5 pm on Tuesday whenthe suspect, who was in an ine-briated condition, allegedlyattacked her, the station houseofficer said. PTI

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Guwahati: Dhemaji, Baksa andMorigaon Districts of Assam con-tinued to remain submerged onWednesday, even as floodwatersreceded from most parts of the state,according to an official bulletin.

At present, 14,205 people aresuffering due to the deluge in thesethree districts while 7,009 hectarescropland is affected, according to thedaily flood bulletin of the Assam StateDisaster Management Authority(ASDMA).

Dhemaji is the worst-hit districtwith 12,908 people affected, followedby Baksa where 1,000 people are suf-fering, and Morigaon with 297 peo-ple hit by the calamity. On Tuesday,13,800 persons were reported to beaffected across the three districts.

The total number of people los-ing their lives in this year's flood andlandslide stands at 136 across the state.Of them, 110 persons were killed inflood-related incidents and 26 died inlandslides. PTI

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Breaching the 300-fatality mark on the thirdoccasion during the current month,

Covid-19 claimed 344 more lives and left12,712 others infected in various parts ofMaharashtra on Wednesday.

Maharashtra, which had witnessed 334pandemic deaths on August 5 and 390 deathson August 9, recorded 344 deaths onWednesday, thus taking the total number ofdeaths to 18650.

With 12,712 fresh infections, the totalnumber of infections in the state jumped to5,48,313. Of the 344 deaths reported onWednesday, Mumbai accounted for 50 deaths,followed by 41 deaths in Pune and 33 in Thanedistrict.

Apart from deaths reported in Mumbai,Pune and Thane, there were 29 deaths inNagpur, 28 deaths in Nashik, 19 in Kolhapur,16 each in Jalgaon and Latur, 14 in Sangli, 13in Palghar, 11 in Solapur, and 10 in Nanded,8 deaths in Satara, 7 each in Parbhani andOsmanabad, 6 in Ahmednagar, 4 each inNandurbar and Amravati, 3 each in Raigad,Dhule, Aurangabad and Jalna, 2 each inRatnagiri, Beed, Akola and Gondiya and deatheach in Hingoli, Yavatmal, Buldhana, Washim,

Bhandara and Chandrapur. In addition, twopersons from other states died in Maharashtra.

With 50 fresh deaths, Mumbai’s Covid-19toll rose from 6,893 to 6,943, while the the totalnumber of infected cases rose by 1,132 totouch 126,356 now.

In a related development, as many as13408 patients were discharged from hospi-tals in the state after full recovery, taking thetotal number of patients discharged from var-ious hospitals after full recovery since the sec-ond week of March this year to 3,81,843. Therecovery rate went up to 69.64 per cent. Themortality rate in the state is 3.4 per cent. Thestate health authorities pegged the number of“active cases” in the state at 1,47,513

Pune, which has emerged as the secondworst-affected district in terms of spread ofthe pandemic, has recorded 1,19,628 infectionsand 2865 deaths till now.

With 108399 infected cases and 3125deaths, Thane continued to be the third-worsthit district in Maharashtra.

Out of 29,08,887 samples sent to labora-tories, 5,48,313 have tested positive (18.84 percent) for COVID-19 until Wednesday.

Currently, 10,15,115 people are in homequarantine while 35,880 people are in insti-tutional quarantine.

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Page 6:  · diers. She was awarded the gal-lantry Shaurya Vir Award for displaying courage during the war. The IAF in its letter said the Service has always ensured an equal opportunity to

One can easily recallumpteen instances ofMLAs changing their ide-ological and political loy-alties for reasons best

known to them. Leaders who defect jus-tify it as “the wish of the people.” Whenthe floor-crossing happened for the firsttime in Haryana, when an MLAswitched party thrice in a day, the term,Aaya Ram Gaya Ram (party-switching)gained prominence in the politicaldiscourse — right from the chaupals tothe Central Hall of Parliament — butwas brushed aside as an “aberration.”Slowly but steadily, the practice gainedground. Who can forget Bhajan Lal, theformer Chief Minister of Haryana, whomigrated to the then newly-elected rul-ing party at the Centre, lock, stock andbarrel and retained his position?

The practice was subsequently pol-ished and upgraded by leaders of allhues. One could go on counting thenumber of luxury hotels that have beenused by parties to house their MLAs onnumerous occasions. What happenedin Rajasthan says it all. The MLAs, whoenjoyed a comfortable stay in hotels atdifferent locations in Haryana,Rajasthan and Gujarat, were convincedthat if they went to their home State andtheir constituencies, they would not beable to resist the temptation of lucra-tive offers that would be waiting out-side to change hands.

What normally should be consid-ered as a humiliating slur by any dig-nified individual is now taking shapeas an “unwritten” but “acceptable” codeacross the board and has become a par-liamentary practice in Indian democ-racy. Every major political party hastried this on several occasions. Onewonders how these MLAs would reactif Mahatma Gandhi walked into theirroom and asked them, “kaise hain aap?(How are you?)” The Rajasthan episodeis almost over and nobody condemnedthe happenings, not even those whohave risen on several occasions toexpress their concern regarding theattack on constitutional values. I findtheir silence amazing.

What’s even more surprising is thatthose, who usually come up with jointstatements expressing concerns aboutwhat they consider “Constitutionalimpropriety, an attack on secular val-ues and ethical lapses”, never come upto denigrate this unethical and immoralpractice that makes fun of democracyand lowers the esteem of the electedrepresentatives themselves. It is ashameless strategy that should notfind a place in a vibrant, functionaldemocracy.

Why isn’t there all-round con-demnation of the Rajasthan drama of

MLAs being herded from onehotel to the other — under strictState security — as unconstitu-tional, unethical and immoral?Even known groups of retiredbureaucrats — who suddenlyappear on the scene to showcasetheir concerns about the erosionof social cohesion, religiousamity and constitutional propri-ety — never thought it fit tocondemn this derogatory prac-tice of herding of elected repre-sentatives. Do they find thispractice to be in sync with theConstitutional framework andin consonance with moral andethical considerations?

In 1922, Gandhiji had writ-ten in a letter that Swaraj wouldnot bring happiness to his peo-ple. He had said that four thingswould weigh heavily against it.Three of them were injustice,burden of administration andtreachery of the rich. Thefourth, that surprised me themost when I came to knowabout it, related to “defects ofelections.” How could he writeabout defections in 1922? I wastold the Mahatma had studiedthe British election system verythoroughly. Gifted with aprophetic futuristic vision, hecould anticipate the shape ofthings so accurately.

I often wonder whether theMLAs in Rajasthan, whoenjoyed a comfortable all-expenses-paid stay in luxuryhotels, even remember thatthey are inheritors of the lega-cy of Mahatma Gandhi, Lal

Bahadur Shastri, RajendraPrasad and other stalwarts of thefreedom struggle. These worthyelected representatives are, infact, panch parmeshwars ofdemocracy. They are occupyinga seat, the incumbent of whichis bound to the Constitution byan oath of affirmation.

One wonders how many ofthem are aware of that eternaleye-opener sentence byMahatma Gandhi: “If, instead ofinsisting on rights, everyonedoes his duty, there will imme-diately be the rule of orderestablished among mankind.”Are such herded stays part ofthe duty of the elected represen-tatives? Do they not realise thatthey are being presented inpublic as weaklings, who wouldnot be able to resist monetarytemptations if allowed to moveout of the hotel?

If these worthies could sittogether with their family mem-bers, including their children,and seek their opinion on beingmade a part of the “pliablegroup”, one is confident theywould get the right advice. Nochild would like his parent to betreated as a saleable commodi-ty. Many of them may have reador attended speeches where ref-erences were made to a queryput before Mahatma Gandhi:What is your message to thepeople? He replied, “My life ismy message.” Would our MLAsbe in a position to tell their chil-dren that they could derivestrength from their experi-

ences? It appears that everyone— right from the ChiefMinister to the Speakers; theparty in power to those in theOpposition; and all others whomatter — have their interpreta-tions of the Constitution andConstitutional propriety. It isworthwhile to recall that underthe Government of India Act of1935, elections were held in1936-37 in various provincesand provincial Governmentswere formed. All Ministers ofthe then Congress Governmenthad resigned in November1939. Gandhiji was ever vigilant,he consistently expressed hisopinion on how legislators andMinisters should be performingtheir new duties and theyshould always think about thewelfare of the people. He was, ina way, educating the legislatorsand Ministers in those dayswhen his overarching presenceon the scene itself was a deter-rent against anyone breaking thenorms: “The holding of anyoffice in the CongressGovernment must be in thespirit of service, without theslightest expectation of person-al gains.”

Our distinguished legisla-tors can ponder over Gandhianthoughts: “There is a beauty andan art in simplicity which hewho runs may see. It does notrequire money to be neat, cleanand dignified. Pomp andpageantry are often synony-mous with vulgarity.” It is indeeda pity that our young ones are

witnessing a political world inwhich — exceptions apart —elected representatives,Ministers and legislators haveforsaken the Gandhian philos-ophy, ideas and dreams. Theyare doing all this knowing itfully well that it would hurt theMahatma’s memory.

When reports emerge oflegislators’ assets multiplyingby a factor of say 500, the com-mon man’s reaction is obvious— it would definitely be devoidof respect, confidence or a con-nect. In 1937-39, those whobecame legislators and Ministerswere men and women whohad entered the freedom strug-gle — not a political party buta national movement thatoffered only sacrifice, toil, suf-ferings and jail terms. Electionsand legislative positions camejust by chance. But allurementswere still there and senior lead-ers were alert to guide and to“examine the utility value of thelegislators.”

And for the Ministers, theguidelines were: “The Ministersare [the people’s] servants. Theycan do nothing against theexpress wishes of the people.They will not stay in office a daylonger than the people wish.”There is much more for theChief Ministers, Ministers andthe legislators to ponder over.Are the Gandhian ideas totallyout of bounds for those who stillswear to be the inheritors of hislegacy? If not, how could theyignore Gandhiji’s words anddeeds? “This office-holding is astep towards either greater pres-tige or its total loss. If it is notto be a total loss, the Ministersand the legislators have to bewatchful of their own personaland public conduct. They haveto be, like Caesar’s wife, abovesuspicion in everything. Theymay not make private gains forthemselves or their relatives orfriends.”

The least people expectfrom their legislators is that theydo not surrender courage ofconviction that a citizen can beproud of, particularly thosewho are in public life and areexpected to enjoy the trust andconfidence of their electors.They must ultimately be true tothe people. They must not sub-jugate themselves to the whimsand fancies of those who wishto retain power or gain powerat any cost.

There is a lot for the elect-ed representatives to whomGandhiji advised not to “arro-gate to themselves greaterknowledge than those experi-enced men who do not happento occupy the ministerial chairs.”Obviously, this applies equallyto every elected person.

(The writer works in education and social cohesion)

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Sir — There are huge amounts inunclaimed deposits at post-officesand many of these account hold-ers may have even died. There arechances of fraud happening, withunscrupulous persons stakingclaim to such deposits. TheDepartment of Posts should sendletters to account holders whohave not operated their accountsin, say, the last three years andgive them reasonable time toeither renew or close them. If noresponse is received, all suchunclaimed money may be frozenin some fixed account, which maybe allowed to be withdrawn bylegal heirs after careful verifica-tion.

Madhu AgrawalNew Delhi

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Atmanirbhar raksha”(August 11). With a view toboost defence manufacturing inIndia, Defence Minister RajnathSingh announced a ban on arange of defence imports.Defence manufacturing underthe Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme

is estimated to save about fourlakh crore rupees. No matterhow lofty the goals appear, thefact is that India’s defence sectorsuffers from a few drawbacks.

Already, projects worth �3.5

lakh crore under the Make inIndia scheme are stuck in thepipeline. Projects are often notcompleted on time. Recently,India became a global exporterof arms but we ranked 23rd in

the list of major arms exportersfor 2015-2019 and 19th for 2019.

Another grey area is thequality of products. The ammu-nition supplied by the OrdinanceFactory had damaged tanks,

field guns and caused fatalities.The French company that man-ufactures Rafale fighter planeshad expressed doubts about themanufacturing quality ofHindustan Aeronautics (HAL)during the defence deal. HAL-made Jaguar and Mirage-2000shave caused many fatalities.While defence manufacturingunder Atmanirbhar Bharat looksambitious to make India self-reliant in defence manufacturing,there’s a long way to go. TheGovernment must overcomeexisting challenges.

Venu GS Kollam

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Sir — Back-to-back fire cases atCOVID-19 facility centres are awake-up call for theGovernment. All such tragicevents have proved that thosebearing the responsibility ofsafety regulations have paid lipservice. Exemplary action is theneed of the hour, or else suchcases will continue to occur.

AmanVia email

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The Delhi Government recently announced itselectric vehicle (EV) policy aimed at fasteradoption of cleaner vehicles in the national

Capital. This policy is on the same lines as theCentre’s Faster Adoption and Manufacturing ofElectric Vehicles or FAME-II scheme, 2019. UnderDelhi’s EV policy, purchase incentives will be givenworth �30,000 for e-autos, e-rickshaws, goods car-riers and up to �30,000 and �1.5 lakh for e-two-wheelers and e-cars respectively, depending on theirbattery capacity. This will be in addition to the exist-ing incentives provided by the Centre.

The good thing about Delhi’s EV policy is itsdetailing but it falls apart when it comes to fund allo-cation. FAME-II offers an incentive of �1.5 lakh toelectric four-wheelers with an ex-factory price capof �15 lakh and it also has a provision for an incen-tive of �50,000 for three-wheelers, including e-rick-shaws and �20,000 for e-two-wheelers. E-buses canclaim subsidy up to �50 lakh at a rate of �20,000KWH battery capacity.

Given the incentives being offered, two ques-tions should be considered. First, are EVs environ-mentally sustainable? Second, are they viableoptions for the Indian economy in the long-run?The answers to both these questions are debatable.

To produce an Internal Combustion Engine(ICE) vehicle, 10 metric tonnes of CO2 are releasedin the atmosphere and it is the same for an EV with-out the battery. Manufacturing of a 30 KWH bat-tery releases 5.3 metric tonnes of CO2 while man-ufacturing a 100 KWH battery releases 17.5 met-ric tonnes of CO2. A petrol/diesel car emits an aver-age of 5.2 metric tonnes of CO2 in a year whereasthe average usage emission from EV is 2.02 metrictonnes per year. EVs are non-polluting (at the levelof the vehicle), and by design, if and only if, renew-ables are used as the power source. This is an unlike-ly phenomenon in the near future as a wide spec-trum of allied infrastructure needs to be built aroundEVs to ensure renewable use for charging.

More than 90 per cent incentives (especially fortwo-wheelers and three-wheelers) are availed bylead-acid type batteries and they are environmen-tally hazardous. These batteries were already in highdemand and competitive against the fossil fuel atleast for slow vehicles. Even e-rickshaws were a hitmuch before the FAME scheme was announced.Over-incentivising lead acid batteries can signifi-cantly harm the environment.

Coming back to the economics of EVs, FAMEcorrectly identified that the cost of batteries is amajor price differential but failed to investigate intri-cate details behind such a difference. It is a com-mon mistake often made while evaluating eco-friendly solutions. EVs should not be compared withICEVs or regular car engines in totality. EVs are acombination of an engine and life-time fuel where-as ICEVs are valued only for the engine. Anyonebuying an EV is essentially pre-owning fuel for alifetime. Both EV and ICEV engines are compara-ble and cost the same. Providing an incentive to EVsis against fair competition norms and gives an undueadvantage to the EV producer, which ultimately isgoing to hurt the technological advancement of theautomobile industry as a whole.

Plus, about 40-50 per cent of the cost of man-ufacturing an EV accounts for reliable fuel storagei.e. the Li-ion batteries. These are the best storageoptions available but highly unsustainable. The rawmaterial required for manufacturing is limited andconcentrated in a very few countries. Not only that,

a significant tendency is observed to cap-ture such reserves through mergers andacquisitions. The raw material compris-es approximately 60 per cent of the totalcost of manufacturing Li-ion batteries. So,the price is not likely to decline if we usemore of these batteries, unlike what wehad observed for other electronic itemslike computers, solar panels and LEDs.The price of these batteries will increasein future if demand exceeds a certain limitas the price of raw materials will rise. Forinstance, the price of lithium increasedfrom $8,500 per tonne in 2015 to $17,000per tonne in 2018. Similarly, the price ofcobalt rose from $30,000 per tonne to$95,000 per tonne between 2015 and 2018.These increases were in anticipation of agrowing EV market but later their pricedropped on its dismal performance. Indiadoes not have any lithium reserves, sup-ply chain or an ecosystem to manufactureLi-ion batteries in order to ensure a steadysupply. So EVs are not an economically-viable option for the country.

Both FAME and the Delhi EV poli-cy talk about setting up public EV charg-ing stations around Delhi’s congestedroads. This would require vast swathes ofpublic land to serve a handful of wealthyowners and violates the basic principlesof public good. Plus, parking is a majorissue in Delhi, so allowing public charg-ing is only going to legitimise capture ofsidewalks. Also, charging an EV in theblazing summer sun in Delhi is neitheradvisable nor safe.

The China factor: Li-ion batteriesaccount for almost 50 per cent of the costof an EV. While China has a thriving lithi-um chemical, battery cathode, battery celland EV supply chain, India has none.China dominates the battery supply chainand around three-quarters of the globalbattery cell manufacturing capacity is inour neighbouring country. On top of that,

Chinese companies have unparallel con-trol over battery raw materials and pro-cessing facilities. At present, almost all Li-ion batteries used for EVs are importedfrom China. This means incentives aimedat Indian manufacturers are directlygoing to Chinese battery producers. Forexample, buying a �15 lakh EV (with Li-ion batteries) in India means a transfer of�7.5 lakh to China, including �3 lakh ofthe taxpayers’ money. The amount couldgo up to �1 crore for an e-bus. Strategically,too, over-dependence on China is danger-ous and given the current geo-political sce-nario, it is not advisable to take such riskysteps.

The way forward: FAME or otherState Government clean vehicle schemesare an excellent platform to promoteindigenous production of EVs. Theyshould stick to the principles ofAtmanirbhar (self-reliant) Bharat to pro-mote localised production at global stan-dards and stop incentivising unsustainablemeans of storage technologies.

Unbundling of EVs: Separating thevehicle from its fuel, i.e. batteries, is a nec-essary condition for the development ofthe EV market in India. At present, EVshave a low-capacity engine with super-expensive fuel options. This is an absurdarrangement and makes a mockery of faircompetition. It is like British Petroleumselling cars for their oil or Ford diggingoil wells for their car, leading to inefficien-cy in both the segments.

Make it consumer-centric: At pre-sent, EVs are policy-centric. They hard-ly consider consumers as end-users andrather aim to cater to the needs of devel-opment activists. Consumers need flex-ibility in choosing a fuel source, mileage,durability and so on. Their mobilityrequirement also varies from a few kilo-metres to hundreds of kilometres in onerun. They possess varied tastes, concerns

and limitations. Unless consumers aregiven such flexibility and choices, EV salesin India won’t pick up. For a typical mid-dle class/upper middle class family, a caris an aspiration and an investment withreasonable resale value. At present EVshave no resale value, hence, it is unjusti-fied to expect a customer to invest hard-earned money in an untested, risky tech-nology in the name of pollution controlwhile there is no definite proof that it isa cleaner energy option.

Competing alternatives: The FAMEpolicy is biased towards EVs, whichmight be discriminatory against otherenvironment-friendly mobility optionslike hydrogen fuel cell buses. We alreadyhave experience in running CNG busesand we can run hydrogen cell variants, too.These buses can be manufactured in Indiawithout any fuel constraint as hydrogenis the most abundant element in the uni-verse and multiple renewable sources caneasily be used to generate it. Apart frombeing zero-emission, it does not have toface logistical challenges like EVs. In a nut-shell, FAME is pumping �10,000 crore ofthe taxpayers’ money into an industrywhich is strategically counterproductiveand not even environment-friendly. Thispolicy should immediately be replacedwith a guideline which uses a broader def-inition of e-mobility, encourages innova-tions in sustainable storage that rely on theAtmanirbhar Bharat ethos.

The worst is the increasing tenden-cy to use public money for the elite. If pol-lution is a concern, then why not giveinduction cookers to the poor or ban dieselgenerators? Automobiles do not requireState backing, consumers will automati-cally adapt to EVs if they fit in with theirrequirements.

(The writer is Fellow, IndiaDevelopment Foundation. Views expressedare personal)

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If the Centre’s biggest agenda is therevival of the economy, then it canonly be achieved by implement-

ing the Atmanirbhar BharatAbhiyaan. We may get some idea ifwe analyse the progress of our neigh-bouring nation, China. In 1987, itsGross Domestic Product (GDP) wasalmost equal to India’s GDP at $279billion. Then, in December 1978,Deng Xiaoping announced the“Open Door Policy” and it was amajor turning point for the Chineseeconomy. Beijing experienced 15per cent growth year on year at a timethe global economy was not evengrowing, dipping to a rate of three percent.

This brought China from the

32nd position in global exports tofirst position in 2013. The ChineseGovernment checked all the rightboxes, whether it was a lower taxregime, industry-friendly wage rules,cheap capital, free land or evenallowing the misuse of patent andknowledge laws.

When multinational corpora-tions (MNCs) realised that manufac-turing costs in the US and Europewere skyrocketing due to the highcost of manpower, land and theirstringent pollution norms, they beganlooking for alternative locations andevaluated a few South Asian countrieslike Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand,China, Indonesia and many more.

They ignored India due to theLicence Raj, stiff labour laws, unclearpolicy on land acquisition, poorpower supply, lack of skilled man-power, a closed foreign trade policyand many more such hurdles. Wewere one of the lowest-ranked nationson the Ease of Doing Business index.

Upon the evaluation of all SouthAsian countries, it was found thatChina was best suited for movingmanufacturing business from the

US and Europe, as it had a huge pop-ulation which could be skilled andbrought into the workforce. It hadhuge tracts of land, too, for setting upmanufacturing bases.

Now, given the global angeragainst Beijing due to the spread ofthe Coronavirus contagion, nationsare looking to shift their manufactur-ing businesses and supply chains outof China. This is another opportuni-ty for India to attract global business.But we need to check all the rightboxes like Beijing did.

It might take time, maybe five-sixyears minimum to savour the fruitsof an atmanirbhar (self-reliant) Bharatinstead of the very next quarter likemany people are hoping. If we wantto act on self-reliance, we need tofocus on all segments of manufactur-ing, starting from big manufacturingcompanies to the Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises (MSME), whichcan feed the former.

However, unless we invest inResearch and Development (R&D),unless we create products that are bet-ter and more economical than prod-ucts made around the world and in

China, we can’t sell them in internalor global markets. If we want to makeAtmanirbhar Bharat more than a slo-gan, then we need to provide capital-rich global players an equal footingfor their investment and have an openand consistent trade policy; an easyland acquisition policy; cheap andskilled labour and a consistent powersupply.

According to the Government,the five pillars of the AtmanirbharBharat Abhiyaan focus on the econ-omy, infrastructure, the system, avibrant demography and the creationof internal demand. An economy isthe sum total of many small compo-nents of business, starting from theconsumer, markets, traders, banks,utility companies, manufacturers,Government policies and institu-tions. Hence, any leakage of resourceswill not bring about effective use ofthe same.

Infrastructure always remains atalking point in our country but noone has ever worked seriouslytowards developing it. As a result ofthis, many infrastructure projectshave been delayed by as much as 20-

25 years. It is difficult to believe thatprojects conceptualised at a cost of�20 crore in 1968 cost �200 crore in2010 and are still pending. If we arereally interested in an AtmanirbharBharat, then fiscal self-discipline ismandatory and it must start fromGovernment departments. Plus, weneed to fix responsibility for time andcost overruns in order to get workdone on time. India still lacks goodinfrastructure and AtmanirbharBharat will not be possible if we don’tconnect all the dots.

Consistent Government policieson trade and taxation are key to cre-ating any manufacturing base as ittakes time to reap the benefits of thesame. The Government mustannounce policies for 15-20 yearswhich can’t be changed by any newGovernment of the future. Projects ofnational importance must not bescrapped or altered by a new set ofMinisters.

Another key component thatmust be aligned is demography.Though India is a democratic coun-try and everyone has the right to fol-low their own free will, if we want

to make India atmanirbhar, then weneed to have a “India First” policy.

Self-reliance is not a short race,rather it is a marathon and can becompleted only when all engines startfiring in the desired direction and insynchronisation with each other.Start-ups can act as a catalyst and bestakeholders in manufacturing, ser-vice delivery and a support elementin creating a consensus among themasses for this mega project.

The Government will act as theagent to expedite and bind the entireprocess by easing policies around it.Involve all stakeholders and giveadequate compensation to them. Ifthis is implemented, then it can be thebiggest employment generator, forexearner and a huge support to theIndian economy.

To achieve a $5 trillion economyfrom a $2.8 trillion one in about fiveyears, we need to achieve a growthrate of more than 15 per cent perannum. It can be done only by firingall engines of growth, includingMSME and big industries.

(The writer is Associate Professor,JNU)

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Beijing: China on Wednesdayofficially declined to react to USDemocratic presidential candidateJoe Biden’s move to pick Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris ashis running mate but the officialmedia here said that her nomi-nation will add “fuel to fire” to thecurrent conflict between the twosides given her strong stand onhuman rights issues relating toXinjiang and Hong Kong.

Biden on Tuesday pickedHarris as his running mate, recog-nising the crucial role Black vot-ers and Indian-Americans couldplay in his bid to defeat Trump inthe US presidential election in

November.Harris in the past called for

increasing pressure on China forhuman rights violations againstUygur Muslims of Xinjiang andthe crackdown against the pro-democracy movement in HongKong.

But she also rejected PresidentDonald Trump’s tariff war onChina, saying that it would hurtthe business of California forwhich she was the Senator andincrease the prices of consumergoods.

Asked for his reaction at amedia briefing here onWednesday to Biden nominating

Harris to be his vice-presidentialnominee, Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman Zhao Lijiandeclined to comment.

“The Presidential election inthe US is an internal affair. Wedon’t have the interest to interfere,”he said, apparently referring to USofficial’s allegations that China,Russia and Iran may try to influ-ence the US Presidential poll inNovember this year.

William Evanina, head of theNational Counterintelligence andSecurity Centre (NCSC), in astatement last week said China“prefers that President Trump -whom Beijing sees as unpre-

dictable - does not win re-elec-tion” and has been “expanding itsinfluence efforts” ahead of thevote.

While Zhao was guarded inhis reaction, state-run GlobalTimes quoted Chinese observersas saying that Harris’ nominationwon’t help end the two parties’playing of the China card.

Harris once gave herself aChinese name, He Jinli, whichtranslates to “intricate and beau-tiful,” while the surname means“celebrate,” according to theGlobal Times report. But thisshould not be misinterpreted asgoodwill toward China. PTI

Washington: US President DonaldTrump said he is surprised that hisDemocratic Party challenger for thepresidential elections Joe Biden hasnamed Indian-origin Senator KamalaHarris as his running mate despiteknowing how “nasty” and “disre-spectful” she has been towards him.

Harris, 55, whose father is anAfrican from Jamaica and mother anIndian, is currently the US Senatorfrom California.

“We’ll see how she works out. Shedid very, very poorly in the pri-maries as you know. She was expect-ed to do well. She ended up at rightaround two per cent,” Trump toldreporters at a White House news con-ference.

“She had a lot of things happen-ing and so I was a little surprised thathe (Biden) picked her. I’ve beenwatching her for a long time, and I wasa little surprised,” Trump said, offer-ing his first reaction to Biden’s pick ofHarris.

Harris had launched her presi-dential campaign in January 2019. Hercampaign could not take off and bythe end of the year, she withdrew fromthe race.

Harris is the first person of colourto be selected as a vice presidentialcandidate and also only the fourthwoman and f irst-ever AfricanAmerican and Indian American to berunning for the second highest polit-ical position in the country.

Responding to questions, Trumptold reporters that Harris has beennasty to Biden.

“As far as Kamala is concerned,she’s a big tax raiser. She’s a big slash-er of funds for our military. And she’sgot a lot of difficult things that she’sgoing to have to explain. Plus she wasvery, very nasty — one of the reasonsit surprised me — she was probablynastier than even Pocahontas (SenatorElizabeth Warren) to Joe Biden. Shewas very disrespectful to Joe Biden,”Trump said, referring to theDemocratic Party debates. PTI

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Washington: “Don’t sit around andcomplain about things, do something.”

This was the mantra given toKamala Harris by her mother, ShyamalaGopalan, who was born in Chennai andimmigrated to the US to attend a doc-toral programme at UC Berkeley.

And today the 55-year-old Indian-orign Senator from California who onTuesday became the running mate ofDemocratic Party’s presidenital nom-inee Joe Biden, says, her mother’sadvice is what drives her every singleday.

Her father, Donald Harris, a retiredprofessor of Stanford University, immi-grated to the US from Jamaica to studyeconomics.

Her mother told her growing up,“Don’t sit around and complain aboutthings, do something,” which is whatdrives Kamala every single day, accord-ing to the Biden-Harris joint campaignwebsite.

“The first Black and Indian-American woman to representCalifornia in the United States Senate,Kamala Harris grew up believing in the

promise of America and fighting tomake sure that promise is fulfilled forall Americans,” it says.

She graduated from HowardUniversity and earned a law degreefrom the University of California,Hastings College of Law.

Kamala has been married to herhusband Douglas Emhoff, a lawyer, forthe past six years. She is the stepmotherof two children, Ella and Cole who areher “endless source of love and pure joy,”the website says. PTI

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Washington: Former US presidentBarack Obama has joined topDemocrats, including Hillary Clinton,to praise Indian-American SenatorKamala Harris’ selection as the party’svice presidential candidate in theNovember election, saying Joe Bidenhas “nailed this decision”.

Presumptive Democratic partypresidential nominee Biden on Tuesdaynamed 55-year-old Harris as his vicepresidential running mate, makinghistory by selecting the first blackwoman to compete on a major party’s

presidential ticket.Harris, whose father is from

Jamaica and mother an Indian, is cur-rently the US Senator from California.

“Choosing a vice president is thefirst important decision a presidentmakes. When you’re in the Oval Office,weighing the toughest issues, and thechoice you make will affect the livesand livelihoods of the entire country— you need someone with you who’sgot the judgment and the character tomake the right call,” Obama said in astatement. PTI

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Minsk: Police detained over 1,000 peoplein Belarus during the latest protestsagainst the results of the country’s presi-dential election, officials said Wednesday.

Rallies took place in 25 Belarusiancities on Tuesday and overnight, InteriorMinistry spokeswoman OlgaChemodanova told The Associated Press.Thousands have demonstrated in the cap-ital of Minsk and several other cities forthree nights to contest the election results.

The Central Election Commissionreported that President AlexanderLukashenko won a sixth term in Sunday’selection with 80% of the vote. Top opposition candidate SviatlanaTsikhanouskaya, who had attracted mas-sive crowds at campaign events where vot-ers expressed frustration with the author-itarian Lukashenko’s 26-year rule, got just10%.

Police deployed to break up the post-election protests used batons, stungrenades, tear gas and rubber bullets. Oneprotester died Monday amid the crackdownin Minsk, and scores were injured. AP

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Johannesburg: An outcry is ris-ing in Somalia as parliamentconsiders a bill that would allowchild marriage once a girl’s sex-ual organs mature and wouldallow forced marriage as long asthe family gives their consent.

The bill is a dramaticreworking of years of efforts bycivil society to bring forward aproposed law to give moreprotections to women in one ofthe world’s most conservativecountries.

The new SexualIntercourse Related CrimesBill “would represent a majorsetback in the fight against sex-ual violence in Somalia andacross the globe” and should bewithdrawn immediately, theUnited Nations special repre-sentative on sexual violence inconflict, Pramila Patten, said in

a statement Tuesday.The bill also weakens pro-

tections for victims of sexualviolence, she said.

Already more than 45 percent of young women inSomalia were married or “inunion” before age 18, accord-ing to a United Nations analy-sis in 2014-15.

Somalia in 2013 agreedwith the UN to improve its sex-ual violence laws, and after fiveyears of work a sexual offens-es bill was approved by theCouncil of Ministers and sentto parliament.

But last year the speaker ofthe House of the People sentthe bill back “in a process thatmay have deviated from estab-lished law” asking for “sub-stantive amendments,” the UNspecial representative said. AP

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Wellington: Health authoritiesin New Zealand were scram-bling on Wednesday to tracethe source of a new outbreak ofthe coronavirus as the nation’slargest city went back intolockdown.

Authorities had confirmedfour cases of the virus in oneAuckland household from anunknown source and wereawaiting the test results of fourmore people they suspect haveinfections — two work col-leagues and two relatives ofthose in the house.

The cases this week werethe first known local trans-mission of the virus in NewZealand in 102 days.

Prime Minister JacindaArdern said more than 200people with connections tothose in the house were con-tacted Wednesday. AP

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Beijing: A Chinese official lashedout at US Health and HumanServices Secretary Alex Azar onWednesday for visiting Taiwanamid an ongoing pandemic backhome, accusing him of puttingpolitics ahead of the lives of theAmerican people.

The comments came a dayafter Azar accused China of fail-ing to warn the rest of the worldabout the coronavirus.

“He abandoned the millionsof people who are struggling withillness and visited Taiwan insteadto stage a political show,” Foreign

ministry spokesperson ZhaoLijian said at a daily briefing.

“We don’t know how he hasthe confidence and courage toshamelessly criticise China’s anti-epidemic achievements.” SpeakingTuesday in Taiwan, Azar saidthat China’s ruling CommunistParty “had the chance to warn theworld and work with the world onbattling the virus.” “But theychose not to, and the costs of thatchoice mount higher every day,”he said.

The Trump administrationhas repeatedly accused China of

withholding information fromthe World Health Organizationand the international communi-ty as the virus began to take hold.China denies the charge, saying itcommunicated information assoon as it had it.

Azar’s trip to Taiwan angeredChina because it considers theself-governing island part of itsterritory. He is the highest-rank-ing official to visit since the U.S.Cut formal diplomatic ties in1979, switching recognition toBeijing as the government ofChina. AP

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Tehran: Iranianhard-liners in parlia-ment on Wednesdayvoted againstPresident HassanRouhani’s nomineefor trade minister inthe first showdownbetween the rivalcamps since the house resumed work inMay despite the struggles to curb thespread of the coronavirus.

According to the parliament’s website,lawmakers rejected Hossein ModaresKhiabani’s nomination for minister oftrade and industries.

Parliament Speaker MohammadBagher Ghalibaf said the vote was 140-104against the nominee. There were 254 law-makers at the session and 10 abstained.The parliament has 290 seats.

The vote marked the first serious con-frontation between the newly electedhouse, dominated by conservatives and thebloc of supporters of the relatively mod-erate Rouhani. Under the law, Rouhanimust introduce new nominees to hisCabinet in the next three months. AP

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Tehran: Iran’s president andforeign minister lashed out onWednesday at a revised proposalby the US that would extend aUN arms embargo on Iranindefinitely, the latest in theTrump administration’s maxi-mum pressure policy againstIran.

The US on Tuesday circu-lated the revised draft at the UN,seeking to gain more support inthe 15-member SecurityCouncil where veto-wieldingRussia and China have voicedstrong opposition.

The revised draft, whicheliminated some provisionsfrom the earlier version thatdiplomats said went beyond theextension of the arms embargo,may be put to a vote as early asFriday. Still, with Russia andChina sharply critical of the USeffort to indefinitely extend thearms embargo, the two will

likely use their veto powerseven if the draft got the mini-mum nine “yes” votes in thecouncil, which appears unlike-ly. The US push to make thearms embargo permanent fol-lows President Donald Trump’s2018 withdrawal from the 2015nuclear deal between majorworld powers and Tehran,aimed at preventing Iran fromdeveloping nuclear weapons.

Tehran has repeatedlyinsisted it does not seek to pro-duce a nuclear bomb. Thenuclear deal, endorsed by theSecurity Council, includes aprovision lifting the armsembargo on Iran on October 18.

Rouhani lambasted therevised draft, saying its “initia-tors will be responsible for theconsequences” if the SecurityCouncil adopts the new resolu-tion. He did not elaborate onwhat steps Iran could take. AP

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Bharat Forge on Wednesdayreported a consoldiated loss

of 127.3 crore for the quarterended June 30.

The company had posteda consolidated profit of �171.9crore in April-June period ofthe previous fiscal, BharatForge said in a filing to the BSE.The company’s income duringApril-June period declined to�1,199.2 crore from �2,372.7crore in the year-ago period.

The spread of Covid-19has severely impacted busi-ness in many countries, includ-ing India, and there has beensevere disruption to regularbusiness operations due tolockdown and other emer-gency measures, Bharat Forgesaid.

The group has madeassessment of liquidity, recov-erable values of its financial andnon-financial assets, includ-ing carrying value of its sub-sidiaries, and has concludedthat there are no materialadjustments required in theinterim financial results.

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Vodafone India Foundation,the CSR arm of mobile ser-

vice provider Vodafone Idea,on Wednesday launched a por-tal to help marginalised com-munities become digital liter-ate and self-reliant. The portal,Digisakshar.Org, which hasbeen developed in partnershipwith IT and business consult-ing services firm CGI andNASSCOM Foundation, waslaunched at a virtual event.

In addition to offering dig-ital literacy to communities,Vodafone India Foundationsaid that the self-learning por-tal also drives them towardsbetter job and entrepreneurshipopportunities helping thembecome self-reliant.

The free to use portalprovides over 40 courses inboth Hindi and English,designed for all age groups andcurated to cover basic.

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Tata Power on Wednesdaysaid itsconsolidated net

profit rose by 10 per cent to Rs268 crore for quarter endedJune on the back of reducedexpenses.

The company had posteda net profit of � 243 crore dur-ing the same period a year ago,Tata Power said in a BSE filing.During April-June, the com-pany reported a total income of�6,540 crore as compared to�7,874 crore in the year-agoquarter. Total expenses duringthe quarter under review stoodat� 6,555 crore as against�7,228 crore in the year-agoperiod.In a separate statement,the company said, it was able tomaintain stable performancedespite lower profits from SolarEPC businesses mainly onaccount of lower financingcost and stable performanceacross all clusters.

“All our business clustershave reported robust perfor-m a n c edespite thec h a l l e n g e s

presented by the ongoing pan-demic. We aim to continue ourprogress in our low carbonjourney by achieving 50 percent generation from cleanand green sources by 2025 andset new benchmarks in opera-tional efficiencies,” Tata PowerCEO and MD Praveer Sinhasaid.

“The proposed renewableInvIT (investment trust), willbe the growth engine and weintend to grow this to be India’slargest renewable InvIT. Atpresent, it has about 2.6 GW(gigawatt) of operating plantsand 1.5 GW of capacity in thepipeline taking the total capac-ity to 4.1 GW. This InvIT pro-vides the option to recyclecapital once the assets are oper-ational.” Besides addingcapacity in the renewable gen-eration space in the next fiveyears, the company will also bescaling the solar cells and mod-ules manufacturing businessalong with the solar EPC busi-ness.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday will

unveil the next phase of directtax reforms aimed at easingcompliance and rewardinghonest taxpayers, as the gov-ernment looks to rebuild thepandemic-hit economy.

“The Prime Minister willlaunch the platform for‘Transparent Taxation –Honoring the Honest’ via videoconference on August 13,2020,” an official statementsaid on Wednesday.

While the statement didnot give details of the reformsto be unveiled, the launch of theplatform is expected to furthercarry forward the journey ofdirect tax reforms undertakenduring last six years.

The reforms includereduction in corporate tax lastyear to 22 per cent from 30 percent for existing companiesand 15 per cent for new man-ufacturing units, scraping ofdividend distribution tax andfaceless assessment.

“The focus of the taxreforms has been on reductionin tax rates and on simplifica-tion of direct tax laws. Severalinitiatives have been taken bythe CBDT for bringing in effi-ciency and transparency in thefunctioning of the I-TDepartment,” it said.

The Budget for 2020-21 fis-cal unveiled on February 1, hadannounced a ‘taxpayer charter’,which is expected to havestatutory status and willempower citizens by ensuringtime-bound services by theIncome Tax department.

The charter will ensuretrust between a taxpayer andthe administration and reduceharassment, as well as increaseefficiency of the department,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharman had said her Budgetspeech.

The Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT), which isthe apex decision making bodyin direct tax matters, adminis-ters personal income tax andcorporate tax.

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The rupee declined by 5paise to close at 74.83

against the US dollar onWednesday due to losses inequity markets and weakindustrial production data.

Forex traders said therupee traded in a narrow rangeas muted domestic equitiesand weak industrial outputdata weighed on investor sen-timent while sustained foreignfund inflows supported theunit. The local unitopened flat at 74.78 at theinterbank forex market butlater lost ground to settle at74.83 against the US dollar,down 5 paise over its last closeof 74.78. During the session,the domestic unit witnessed anintra-day high of 74.77 and alow of 74.93 against the green-back. The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’s strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, fell 0.03 per cent to 93.59.

India’s industrial pro-duction declined 16.6 per centin June on account of disrup-tion in normal business activ-ity following the outbreak of

coronavirus pandemic.The decline in fac-

tory output was widespreadacross the sectors, includingmanufacturing, mining, powergeneration, capital goods andconsumer durables, accordingto the data released by theMinistry of Statistics andProgramme Implementation.The BSE Sensex snapped itsfour-session winning run toclose marginally lower due toprofit booking. Sensex endeddown 37.38 points or 0.10 percent at 38,369.63. The NSENifty slipped 14.10 points or0.12 per cent to close at11,308.40. Foreign institution-al investors were net buyers inthe capital market as they pur-chased shares worth Rs1,013.66 crore on Tuesday,according to provisionalexchange data. Brent crudefutures, the global oil bench-mark, rose 0.99 per cent toUSD 44.94 per barrel.Meanwhile, the number ofcases around the world linkedto COVID-19 has crossed 2.02crore, and in India, the num-ber of infections topped the 23-lakh mark.

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With the Reserve Bankallowing restructuring of

loans that are facing stress dueto the Covid-19 pandemic,non-banking finance compa-nies are likely to see an increasein their refinancing require-ments, says a report.

Last week, RBI gave per-mission to lenders to go forone-time restructuring of cor-porate and personal loans fac-ing stress due to the disruptionscaused by coronavirus.

“The Reserve Bank ofIndia’s decision allowinglenders to restructure loanswould increase their refinanc-ing requirements, especiallyfor non-banking banking com-panies (NBFCs),” India Ratingsand Research said in a report.

“This is in view of theirlarge contractual debt repay-

ments, as scheduled cash inflowgets deferred, though the sever-ity of the same would dependupon the proportion of loanportfolio restructured andterms of restructuring (i.Ecomplete moratorium vs par-tial payments),” it added.

A higher quantum ofrestructured assets would clear-ly reflect higher asset qualitychallenges for NBFCs and canrestrict their ability to mobilisefunds from banks and capitalmarkets, it said.

At the end of June 2020, asubstantial portion of loanbook of NBFCs was undermoratorium. Housing loanshad the least portion of thebook under moratorium, whilewholesale lenders had the max-imum portion of their loansunder moratorium, the reportsaid. Collection efficiency,reflecting the repayment

behaviour of customers, hasimproved since April 2020 witheasing of lockdown restric-tions.

However, regional lock-downs did impact collectionsduring July 2020. Collectionlevels across asset classes/seg-ments were far below pre-COVID levels.

Businesses still did notgenerate cash flows sufficientenough to make their timelydebt repayment, the agencysaid. “We believe a high pro-portion of loans to certain seg-ments such as real estate devel-opers, commercial vehicleowners and micro small medi-um enterprises will be restruc-tured, given the weakness inthese sectors,” it said.

The report said 70-80 percent of real estate loans wereunder moratorium at end-June2020.

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The BSE Sensex snapped itsfour-session winning run

to close marginally lower onWednesday as investors pock-eted gains in finance, bankingand consumption stocks amidmixed global cues.

After touching a low of38,125.81 during the day, the30-share BSE Sensex paredmost losses to end 37.38 pointsor 0.10 per cent lower at38,369.63.

On similar lines, the NSENifty slipped 14.10 points or0.12 per cent to close at11,308.40. Kotak Bank was thetop loser in the Sensex pack,skidding 2.10 per cent, followedby Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finserv,L&T, Bajaj Finance, TCS andTitan.

On the other hand, HCLTech, SBI, Tech Mahindra,Maruti, M&M and UltraTechCement were among the gain-ers, climbing as much as 4.86per cent.

According to traders, mar-ket sentiment was weak fol-lowing lacklustre macroeco-

nomic data and concerns overrising coronavirus cases.

India’s industrial produc-tion declined by 16.6 per centin June on account of disrup-tion in normal business activ-ity following the outbreak ofcoronavirus pandemic, gov-ernment data showed onTuesday.

The number of casesaround the world linked toCovid-19 has crossed 2.02crore, with India breachingthe 23-lakh mark.

“The encouragingresponse to the fundraising bythe lending firms has boostedthe investors’ sentimenttowards the banking stocks...Helping the benchmark to sus-tain at the higher levels whileother sectors are taking abreather after a substantialrally.

“Since we’re largely mir-roring the global markets, fur-ther developments on the stim-ulus package announcementand US-China trade tensionwould be actively tracked bythe participants for cues.Traders should maintain their

focus on the selection of stocksas we’re still seeing enoughopportunities across the board,”said Ajit Mishra, VP - Research,Religare Broking.

BSE healthcare, consumerdurables, metal, realty, tele-com and FMCG indices fell upto 1.46 per cent, while auto,utilities, power, IT and teckclosed higher.

Broader BSE mid-cap andsmall-cap indices slipped up to0.29 per cent. Global equitieswere largely positive despitedeadlock over fresh stimulus inthe US and the UK slippinginto its deepest recession in theJune quarter.

Bourses in Hong Kong,Tokyo and Seoul ended withgains, while Shanghai settled inthe red.

Most stock exchanges inEurope were trading on a pos-itive note in early deals.

Global oil benchmarkBrent crude was trading 1.48per cent higher at USD 45.16per barrel. In the forex market,the rupee slipped 5 paise toclose at 74.83 against the USdollar.

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The Indian equity marketclosed marginally lower on

Wednesday after six consecu-tive sessions of gains.

Analysts opined that prof-it booking, along with negativeglobal cues, depressed the mar-ket. Sector-wise, the top gain-ers included BSE Auto, Powerand IT indices, whereas BSEHealthcare, CD, Metal andRealty indices lost ground.

Globally, major Asian mar-kets have closed on a mixednote.However, Europeanindices like the FTSE and CACended higher.

Index-wise, the NSENifty50 closed at 11,308.40,down by 14.10 points, or 0.12per cent, from its previousclose. The Sensex closed at38,369.63, lower by 37.38points, or 0.10 per cent, fromthe previous close of 38,407.01.

It had opened at 38,321.13and touched an intra-day highof 38,414.37 and a low of38,125.81 points.

“Technically, while theNifty has ended lower, theunderlying short term trendremains up. The uptrend couldaccelerate once the immediatehighs of 11,322 are cleared,”said Deepak Jasani, Head ofRetail Research at HDFCSecurities.

“Crucial supports to watchfor any trend reversal are at11,130.”According to VinodNair, Head of Research atGeojit Financial Services:“Indian benchmark indicesclosed out a volatile day, flat,with a negative bias. Globalcues added to the uncertaintywith doubts emerging aboutthe expected US stimulus mea-sures and continuing US-Chinatensions.”

“Profit booking continuedin the Pharma sector. Marketsare reacting uncertainly toglobal cues and this uncertaintyis expected to continue.Downside looks limited butinvestors are advised to remaincautious, considering the val-uations of some of the stocks.”

New Delhi: Under theWomens Global Developmentand Prosperity (W-GDP)Initiative, a new partnershipbetween the US Agency forInternational Development(USAID) and RelianceFoundation will bridge thegender and digital divide inIndia.The partnership wasannounced at a W-GDP eventon Tuesday, hosted by USDeputy Secretary of StateStephen Biegun along withspecial guest, Ivanka Trump,Advisor to the US President,and Deputy USAIDAdministrator Bonnie Glick.

Ivanka Trump said: “TheW-GDP Fund was created tosource and scale the mostinnovative programs toadvance women’s economicempowerment. We are lever-aging the resources and exper-tise of the U.S. Govt and theprivate sector so that activitieshave enduring, deep effects onthe communities they reach.”

Varanasi: Under the leadership of GeneralManager YP Singh, Thirty One electric loco-motives have been produced by DieselLocomotive Works, Varanasi in July, 2020.Despite low progress at the beginning of monthdue to restrictions imposed to contain spread ofCovid-19, DLW achieved record production of31 Electric Locomotives in the month of July,2020. The achievement becomes more signifi-cant because same was achieved after followingall guidelines of Central and State Governmentto contain spread of Covid-19. During the pro-duction, all steps like regular sanitization of workplace, social distancing were taken to safeguardstaff against spread of Covid-19.

On this occasion, General Manager Shri Y.P.Singh congratulated all the Heads ofDepartments and their staff.

Due to the lockdown announced by theGovernment of India, to contain spread ofCovid-19, production of DLW has also beenaffected like other industries. But DLW is leav-ing no stone unturned to make up the deficit inproduction caused by lockdown. In the currentfinancial year 2020-21, DLW has manufactured28 electric locomotives till June, 2020. The pro-duction of 31 locomotives, in July alone, is a mile-stone in itself.

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Elon Musk-run Tesla hasannounced a five-for-one

split of its common stockthat goes into effect on August21.

The move that couldhelp smaller investors affordTesla stock resulted in Teslastock surging 7 per cent inthe extended session onTuesday.

“The Board of Directorshas approved and declared afive-for-one split of Tesla’scommon stock in the form ofa stock dividend to makestock ownership more acces-sible to employees andinvestors,” Tesla said in astatement.

Each stockholder ofrecord on August 21 will

receive a dividend of fouradditional shares of commonstock for each then-held share,to be distributed after close oftrading on August 28.

“Trading will begin on astock split-adjusted basis onAugust 31, 2020,” said Tesla.

Tesla shares have gained229 per cent this year.

Apple has also announceda 4-for-1 stock split aftershares of the iPhone makersurged more than 80 per centin the past year.

Tesla reported profits forthe fourth straight quarter lastmonth

Making $6 billion in rev-enue and $104 million in netincome in its June quartereven as the Covid-19 pan-demic shut its factories.

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In the list of major events and peo-ple of 2020, a new name has beenadded — Binod— which has become

the buzzword for netizens and socialmedia users. The trend began after avideo by the YouTube channel, SlayyPoint, in which its creators AbhyudayaMohan and Gautami Kawale are seenroasting the comments section of pop-ular videos, went viral. Titled, WhyIndian Comments Section is Garbage, ithighlighted how even asinine and sillyentries get hits and “likes”. In this case,a user called Binod had simply typed inhis name in the commentary chat andhad still elicited seven likes. And thenBinod trolled several notable socialmedia handles with what can best bedescribed as mumbo jumbo but still gotnoticed. So much so that it generatedmemes.

The #Binod memes so hogged thelimelight that even brands like Airtel,Paytm, Netflix and Tinder didn’t leaveany stone unturned in making it theirnew marketing word. While the datingapp tweeted, “Yes, Binod is on Tinder,”the digital payment app changed itsTwitter username from Paytm to Binodfor a short period. Food-ordering appSwiggy tweeted, “We think Binod willbe the first person to call and wish usat 12 tonight,” celebrating its birthday.Reality show Bigg Boss’ Twitter handlealso posted, “Now who’s saying Binodis a contestant this year?” Other handlessuch as Mumbai Police, Nagpur Policeand Jaipur Police used the word forawareness of traffic rules and safety.

Well, it isn’t the first time a bizarretrend has got unprecedented attentionfrom netizens. Who wouldn’t remem-ber the viral “Selfie Maine Le Li Aaj” byDhinchak Pooja or “Hello friends, chaipeelo!” or even trends like #IHaveAJokeand #MyQuarantineInSixWords! Butwhy does such content grab attention?

“Yes, there have been bizarre trendsin the past. However, I think thatthings that strike a chord among theaudience grabs their attention. Forinstance, Binod has just a 30-secondpresence in our video. Even then, notthe rest of the video but ‘Binod’ grabbedeyeballs. It completely depends on theviewers. We present a platter but it couldbe just one thing that grabs their atten-tion or it could be the entire video aswell,” says Abhyudaya, who neverthought that after this video, rappers likethat DJ Snake and Honey Singh wouldbe using the term for comments.

With Coronavirus being the perma-nent trending hashtag on social mediaover the past few months, hashtagBinod certainly came as a clutter break-er and social disruptor. For Gautami,Binod became an “emotion” for peoplein lockdown, a byword for an alternateuniverse, or a flighty fun exercise to de-stress themselves. Says she, “If one is sad,s/he is using Binod. One is typing Binodto wish someone good morning! There’sabsolutely no head or toe to this. Thishas really been a clutter breaker asbrands and celebrities too accepted‘Binod’ to communicate. Personally,we really liked Airtel India’s tweet,

“Receive every call with ‘Haan #Binodbol’.”

The YouTube video also took a digat the outlandish comments to showhow trashy they are, with the creativeteam pressing all the keys of the key-board at once so that it typed randomalphabets. The 100-word paragraph ofalphabets was then posted in comments

of a video, which, in turn, surprisinglygrabbed even more bizarre comments.

Is this, then, the new theatre of theabsurd? Says Gautami, “There’s no for-mula or tutorial about how to go viralor how to start a trend. It depends onthe audience, their preferences andlikes and when we see the audience talk-ing about it constantly, that’s when the

content trends. I think platforms likeTwitter and YouTube play a huge role inspurring the growth of such trendsamong the masses.”

So why is it important to note whatcomments are being posted? Is it anykind of marketing strategy? Abhyudayarefuses. He says, “Well, no! It’s not anykind of marketing strategy. Binod’s

comments were solely for entertainmentbecause there is no such thing as trendmarketing.”

Binod even raided the PrimeMinister’s Twitter handle. What did thedisruption mean? He adds, “We heardabout it and checked PM’s Live. Peoplewere commenting ‘Binod’ everywhere.We could then say that’s the power ofBinod (laughs). I think Binod for themcame as a voice of licentiousness in thesetimes of lockdown. We are overwhelmedthat it’s a trend and people are commu-nicating through Binod rightfully,meaning that it’s in the ‘Janta’s hands’(in hands of the citizens). We are justthe medium.”

Well, the #Binod raids have evenreached the comments section of someinternational artists and Nasa Live ses-sions! But beyond grabbing eyeballs, afew laughs and generating some revenuefor creators, is there any point to thisdumbed down pursuit of time-kills?

Gearing up for a more diaboli-cal season two of the series,

The Boys, it is all set to introducean intriguing character —Lamplighter, into the Supes’ uni-verse. A former superstar andone of the original members ofThe Seven, Lamplighter will beplayed by X-Men fame Canadiantelevision and film actor, ShawnAshmore.

Speaking on roping in Shawn,showrunner and executive pro-ducer, Eric Kripke said, “We werethrilled that Shawn, who is, let’s behonest, an OG superhero, wantedto play the crucial part ofLamplighter. He brings so muchdepth, menace, and world-wearyhumanity to this former memberof The Seven. Shawn is a reallygood guy. We’re grateful to havehim join our bloody little family.”

Having mysteriously beenreplaced by our very own Starlight(played by Erin Moriarty) in sea-son one, the new season willunravel what truly happened withthe fire inducing Supe and TheBoys previously. Their tragic his-tory will be in shambles asLamplighter enters again anddredges up painful memories,poke at their raw nerves andchange everything.

The Boys 2 will premiere onAmazon Prime Video with thefirst three episodes on September4. New episodes will be available

each Friday, culminating in an epicseason finale on October 9. Thisseason, the series will also have anafter-show titled, Prime Rewind:Inside The Boys hosted by AishaTyler, which will debut on August28.

For choreographer, AshleyLobo, there is no energy as

that of youth on his dance floor.He loves their moves, theirhope, and the vibrancy theybring to any class. OnInternational Youth Day, Ashleystressed that it is the youthwhich is embracing the ‘newnormal’ and helping the not-so-savvy world adjust to the digi-tal age, which has swamped allof us.

He says, “Being at home andnot with their peer group is nothow the youth would have everimagined their lives but giventheir proximity to gadgets andthe online world, they are doinga pretty good job. I miss theirvibrancy in my studio sinceoffline classes are stopped. Butwhen youngsters dance, it isobvious that they like to be freeand that spirit is visible in what-ever they do.”

The pandemic has affectedyoungsters profoundly, for bet-ter or for worse. Through videosand virtual means, youth across

the country have been express-ing themselves in unique waysand it is believed that the per-forming arts are only helping toliberate them even more. ForAshley, in the art form of dance,there is, after all, no perfection,only being one with the self andrealising one’s true emotions andpassion by dancing from theheart. “I have seen studentsover the years feel relaxed andhappy after a dance session. Thisis because during the class,stress levels drop and the endor-phins take over. This, in turn,makes the mind calm. It can bean extremely therapeutic andspiritual experience. When onedances, one connects to themusic and to the self. In that onemoment, you become one withyourself and the universe andthat strain is the best mantra toget over the pandemic blues,”adds he.

Ashley, who has choreo-graphed for Bollywood filmssuch as Dhoom, Jab We Met,Cocktail, and many others, feelsit is important for the youngstersto be guided properly and theimportance of discipline shouldbe instilled early. “And then, beit a crisis, pandemic, or anyother trouble, you will alwayssee the young rise above andshow the discipline in everyfacet of life,” he says.

The current imbrogliowhich has stopped dancersworldwide from running riot onthe dance floor and forced tochannelise their energy online isseeing quite a bit of heft in theyouth. Despite being confined totheir homes and missing theirfriends, the youngsters are doingwonders with dance and thearts. “They will become strongeronce this is all behind us becauseeven now the youth in myonline classes can find balancein dance through the turbulenceof the global pandemic. That isthe power of the young and rest-less,” says Ashley.

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Literature has alwaysacted as a torchbearer

for the society. Whether itbe the intellectual renais-sance or the dark phaseswhen everything seems togo haywire, literature hasbeen the soothing soul. Atthis juncture when literaryfraternity needs fresh voic-es who can act as a doyen,literary agency, LiteriaInsight signs a two book

deal with IRS Officer, NehaChakravarthy.

A science graduate,Chakravarthy has an insa-tiable passion for writingand considers it as a medi-um to connect with innersoul. Her passion hasincreased manifold since

she started to scribble. Sheis now ready to make amark with her two poetrycollections, Impressions andReflections.

In the words of NitishRaj, Co-Founder; LiteriaInsight, “We are delightedto sign Chakravarthy who

brings a huge amount oftalent and unparalleled cre-ativity in her writings. Sheis surely going to be one ofthe doyens of the literaryfraternity in future and weare more than happy topitch her masterpieces withBig Foot Publications.”

To encourage continuation ofrisk cover in the current circum-

stances of high risk, LIC brings anopportunity for its policyholders torevive their lapsed policies. It hasdecided to launch a Special RevivalCampaign from August 10 toOctober 9 for its customers to revivetheir individual lapsed LIC policies.

In view of the prevailing circum-stances, no concessions are being

offered in medical requirementsand the same are limited to late feeonly; under plans other than termassurance and other high risk plans.

Under this campaign, policiesof specific eligible plans can berevived within five years from dateof the first unpaid premium subjectto certain terms and conditions.Policies which are in lapsed condi-tion during the premium paying

term and not completed policyterm as on the date of revival areeligible to be revived in this cam-paign.

The campaign is launched tobenefit those policy holders whowere not able to pay premiums dueto unavoidable circumstances andtheir policy lapsed. It always makesbetter sense to revive an old poli-cy to restore insurance cover.

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Manohar Lal Khattar,Chief Minister of

Haryana & SantoshKumar Gangwar, Ministerof State (IndependentCharge) for Labour &Employment, Govt ofIndia inaugurated plas-ma bank at ESIC MedicalCollege and Hospital,Faridabad (Haryana)through video conferencefrom Haryana Bhawan onFriday.

Heera Lal Samariya,Secretary, Govt of India,Anuradha Prasad,Director General, ESICand officers of MoLE,ESIC & Govt of Haryanaalso graced the occasion.

Khattar informedabout the efforts ofHaryana Govt in com-bating COVID-19 pan-demic. He also briefedabout the starting of plas-ma therapy at three differ-ent locations —Panchkula, Rohtak andGurugram. At the end, hemade an appeal to theCOVID recoveredpatients to come forwardand donate their plasmasto save the lives of others.

During his address,Gangwar informed thatthe ESIC has been work-ing to provide social secu-rity to its insured persons.In the last 67 years of jour-ney, that day, the servicesof ESIC have expanded toabout 566 districts out of722 and about 12 crorebeneficiaries are receivingESI facilities.

In this crisis situa-tion, 21 ESIC hospitalshave been converted intodedicated COVID hospi-tals. More than 2,400 iso-lation beds, 550ICU/HDU beds with 200ventilators have beenmade available.Quarantine facility (1300Beds) has been made

functional in four ESIChospitals at Alwar(Rajasthan), Bihta, Patna(Bihar), Gulbarga(Karnataka) and Korba(Chhattisgarh). Besides,Covid-19 testing facilityhas been made available atESIC hospital, Faridabad(Haryana), Basaidarapur(New Delhi) andS a n a t h n a g a r(Hyderabad). Plasmatherapy is also being pro-vided at ESIC Hospitals,Faridabad andSanathnagar for the treat-ment of serious COVIDpatients. Gangwar com-mended the efforts beingmade by ESIC, an organ-isation under his Ministry,to combat COVID-19.

Max Bupa — one of thestandalone health insurers,

has introduced ‘ReAssure’ — acomprehensive health insur-ance plan that provides unlim-ited sum insured for any type ofhospitalisation including theones related to COVID-19. Thisallows consumers to make asmany claims as required forthemselves or for family mem-bers covered in the same poli-cy, for same or different illnessin a year, at no additional cost.A single claim under ReAssurebenefit will be payable up to thebase sum insured amount. In anutshell, the customers willnever fall short of coveragewhich is critical to protectagainst unforeseen medicalexpenditure towards all kinds ofdiseases, including COVID.Even in case of critical illnesseslike kidney dialysis or cancer,when patients often need hos-pitalisation multiple times in thesame year, unlimited coverage inthe product will prove to beextremely useful.

For instance, a family of fourare insured with Max BupaReAssure policy with �10 lakhfloater sum insured. In case oneof them gets diagnosed withCOVID or any other diseasecovered in the policy and needshospitalisation, then s/he can

claim coverage up to �10 lakhalong with the ReAssure bene-fit getting triggered. Next claimonwards an additional amountof �10 lakh per claim for asmany number of claims as need-ed will be available for anyinsured or any illness in thesame year. The benefit will betriggered from the first claim,even if two family members gethospitalised at the same time.

The product comes with a‘Booster Benefit’ that doublesthe sum insured in just twoclaim free years. If no claim wasmade during the year, then forthe next year the sum insuredwill increase by 50 percent. If inthe second year also there is noclaim, then there will be anoth-er 50 percent increase in suminsured which amounts to a total100 per cent increase in suminsured in just two years.Moreover, in case a claim is

made only for COVID in a year,there will be no impact onBooster Benefit which meanssum insured will not be impact-ed and will still increase by 50percent; up to a maximum of100 percent.

Commenting on thelaunch of ReAssure HealthInsurance Plan, KrishnanRamachandran, MD & CEO,Max Bupa Health Insurancesaid, “ReAssure HealthInsurance promises our cus-tomers three things which arerelevant in times of COVID —Assurance in the form of mul-tiple customer benefits;Accessibility through our qual-ity network across the countryand Affordability through thevarious financial benefits avail-able under the product. TheMax Bupa Covid-19 surveyshows that 71 percent peoplenow realise the benefits of

health insurance and 57 percenthave a strong preference forcomprehensive health insur-ance plans for protection againstany unforeseen medical emer-gencies.”

Dr Bhabatosh Mishra,Director – Products,Underwriting & Claims, MaxBupa Health Insurance said,“India is one of the most underpenetrated health insurancemarkets globally, with peopleeither having no health insur-ance cover being inadequatelycovered. Considering this, wehave launched ReAssure whichhas the potential to revolu-tionise how people perceiveand utilise health insurance inthe country. Each product ben-efit has been conceptualisedwith the intent that every cus-tomer is adequately covered atany given point in time. At MaxBupa, we acknowledge thatpeople want to be financiallysecured in these difficult times,hence we have designed a trulycashless product that will ensurethere is no financial burden onthem once they opt for this pol-icy.’’

The ReAssure plan is avail-able on individual and familyfloater basis, with sum insuredranging from �3 lakh up to �1crore.

Rajiv Chaudhry, GeneralManager Northern &

North Central Railways held aperformance review meetingwith the departmental heads ofNorthern Railway throughvideo conferencing. Amongother things special emphasiswas given on train operationsduring the rainy season. Therunning of trains has its ownchallenges in the monsoonswhich includes water logging,inundation and collection ofmud and pebbles on the tracks.He advised everyone to beactive and vigilant to maintaintop operational capabilities.He also added that intensivechecking of tracks, major andminor bridges and crossings

should be thoroughly checkedby increasing patrolling.

He also called upon theconcerned department to clearvegetation from the embank-ments of the track. Due to therainy season, the fast growth invegetation, infringing thetracks and overhead electricwires is another major issue.The divisions have taken per-mission from the civil author-ities and the ForestDepartment for tree choppingwherever required.

Indian Railways is focusingon increasing the mobility ofthe passenger and freight trainsunder the project ‘Raftaar.’Sections have been defined inall zones where infrastructure

is to be upgraded to facilitaterunning of trains upto 160kmph. GM emphasised on theneed of periodic overhaulingof the rolling stock i.e. loco-motives, coaches and wagonsto increase their working abil-ities. Doubling and electrifi-cation of high density routesare to be taken up, for thisDetailed Project Reports(DPR) should be preparedand submitted on priority.

Taking note of the work-ing of the BusinessDevelopment Units of thefive divisions, GM laudedtheir efforts. He stated thatfreight transportation, bothinter and intra state, should betargeted upon.

Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee,founder of the Bharatiya JanaSangh (predecessor of the pre-

sent day Bharatiya Janata Party), sac-rificed his life spearheading a nation-wide Satyagrah (non-violent agitation)demanding complete integration ofthe state of Jammu & Kashmir into theIndian Union. Dr Mookerjee haddefied the entry-permit order of thegovernment on the J&K border onMay 10, 1953 and courted arrestchanting: Ek desh mein do vidhan, dopradhan aur do nishan nahin chalenge(There can’t be two constitutions, twoprime ministers and two flags in onenation).

He was taken to Srinagar jail,where he died under mysterious cir-cumstances on June 23, 1953. Littlewould have Dr Mookerjee thenrealised that his mission would beaccomplished when a second gener-ation party leader from Gujarat willlead the party.

The NDA government of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on August 5,2019, revoked the special status grant-ed to the state of Jammu & Kashmirunder Article 370 of the IndianConstitution. It enabled people of thestate to access all central governmentprogrammes and laws including rightto reservation for disempowered,right to education and right to infor-mation, besides Minimum WagesAct and Minority Act.

The historic presidential ordernullifying all the provisions of auton-omy granted to the state was followed

by another landmark and strategical-ly significant State Reorganisation Act,2019, dividing the state into twoUnion Territories — Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh.

Since then the NDA government,over the last one year, has been grap-pling with a series of challenges onvarious fronts, including border secu-rity, constructive engagement withinternational community on the J&Kissue and domestic political resistanceto converting the state into two unionterritories. And then there was stupen-dous challenge of fast-tracking allround development ensuring peace,prosperity and welfare of the peopleand providing corruption free gover-nance in all the three regions.

The central government convert-ed these challenges into an opportu-nity to undo the betrayal inflictedupon the people of J&K as well asLadakh in the name of Article 370 bythe family-run political parties whoruled the state for most of the lastseven decades.

PM’s personal appeal to the youthin the region, particularly the misguid-ed elements in the Kashmir valley, “tobe a part of this historic journey andwalk together for a greater cause” hasshown tangible results on the ground.

With both J&K and Ladakh asunion territories (Jammu & Kashmirnot permanently) directly under thecentre, the Modi government unfold-ed an ambitious roadmap of peace andprogress ushering in a new era ofinclusive development and transpar-

ent governance in the entire region.The Team-Modi adopted an inte-

grated approach to build a state-of-the-art infrastructure and unleashedfast-track social welfare and employ-ment generation schemes, especiallyamong the Small, Medium & MicroEnterprises,(MSME), including cot-tage, handicraft, handloom and hor-ticulture enterprises.

Good quality all-weather roadsand national highways enhancing thehitherto lacking inter-region andintra-region connectivity has gone along way in promoting and creatingfresh employment opportunities in thepost-bifurcation period.

A region-wise performance auditof the promises made, over the last

one year, gives a fairly good account.Although a complete transforma-tion in the landscape of this beauti-ful region will be on canvas once allthe ongoing projects, especially sev-eral strategically important nationalhighways, including tunnels in thetough terrains, become operationalcapable of coping with extremeweather conditions.

KASHMIRThe Road Transport and

Highways Ministry, with its arms likethe NHAI and NHIDCL, in concertwith the BRO and the state PWD, arecurrently engaged in completing aseries of projects which will giveimpetus to growth and help thestart-ups in establishing producercompanies with focus on furtherdevelopment of sericulture, coldwater fisheries, woodwork, cricketbats, saffron, handicrafts and horti-culture produce.

The ongoing projects includeSrinagar-Jammu-Lakhanpur high-way, the Qazigund-Banihal tunneland Srinagar ring road.

JAMMUJammu, with rapidly growing

rail and road connectivity, includingthe Jammu ring road, is getting a hugeboost to its economy with flourish-ing religious tourism and start-ups inbusinesses like wood grain work,mills, basmati rice trade, rice mills,carpets, electronic items and electricgoods.

LADAKHLadakh is witnessing an unprece-

dented boost to the infrastructuredevelopment with all-weather roadsand highway network coming up ina big way in difficult terrains andstrategic locations. Domestic andinternational tourism promotion hasbeen given a big push.

Sky seems to be the limit of cen-tral financial packages to Ladakhresulting in a phenomenal growth inits farm-based economy throughenhanced agriculture and livestockactivities. An augmented irrigationfacility for horticulture and cashcrops has improved productivityputting additional money in farmers’pocket.

Last but not the least, the abroga-tion of Article 370 and bifurcation ofthe state into two union territories hasgiven the local communities in allthree regions greater sense of partic-ipation in public discourse. It is dis-cernible with the youth in the valleyjoining security forces and civil ser-vices and excelling in the field of edu-cation and sports.

Today there is greater awarenessabout women rights and girls educa-tion in Kashmir as well as in Ladakh.People are coming forward to joinhands with local administration in iso-lating anti-social elements and expos-ing Pakistan-sponsored attempts atradicalisation of youth.

(The author is a senior journalistand a member of Prasar BharatiBoard.)

As a part of the obser-vance of the ‘Atma

Nirbhar Week’, three facili-ties of Ordnance FactoryBoard were dedicated to thenation by the Minister ofDefence. They are: � Manufacturing facilityfor sighting devices for T-90 Tanks at the OptoElectronics Factory,Dehradun.

The facility comprisesISO-6: Class 1,000 andISO-7: Class 10,000 levelclear environment roomsfor the production of var-

ious high end OptoElectronics and electronicsassemblies/sub-assembliesof T-90 systems andStabilised RemoteControlled Gun (SRCG)project. � The automated assem-bly line for the productionof Pinaka Rockets at theOrdnance Factory,Chandrapur.

The system has beenconceptualised and devel-

oped indigenously by OFChanda with M/s Godrejand Boyce, Mumbai. Theautomated assembly willnot only enhance the pro-duction capacity but wouldalso be more efficient as itseeks to do away with mostof the manual operations.The assembly line has auto-mated safety features andfacilities for monitoringthe quality of production.� The assembly and test-

ing facility of SRCG at theOrdnance Factory,Tiruchirappalli.

The SRCG is a 12.7mm M2 NATO standardMachine Gun for marineapplications. The modernfacility with specialisedbuildings and equipment isfor the assembly and forconducting factory accep-tance tests of this gun.

These modern, indige-nously conceptualised facil-ities will go a long way inenhancing productivity,quality and efficiency.

..-� ����� ����In order to facilitate the pub-

lic interface, Land Disposaldepartment of DelhiDevelopment Authority (DDA)is successfully implementing e-mutation (Online MutationApplication System) under thecomputerisation project “IDLISystem” for plotted properties.

Now, they are introducingtwo more public services name-ly e-conversion (online systemfor conversion from leaseholdto freehold of plotted proper-ties) and e-EOT (online appli-cation for extension of time).

In order to contain thespread of novel Coronavirus,this initiative will also help inapplying and monitoring DDA’sonline public services withoutvisiting offices. This servicewould be inaugurated andopened to public today byAnurag Jain, Vice Chairman,DDA. It will reduce the time ofprocessing and bring in trans-parency. It will be easy to apply,process and monitor the prop-erty conversion and extensionof time application online fromanytime and anywhere.

No offline application forconversion and EOT (extensionof time) of plotted properties

will be entertained. It is the firstend to end public service inter-face of DDA, which is concep-tualised and executed by SubuR Commissioner (LandDisposal) of DDA.

All the three services canbe availed through single user-name and password.

For applying online con-version application, applicanthave to register with DDApublic services portal of LDdepartment. An one time pass-word will be sent on the regis-tered email and mobile of theapplicant for login. After that,applicant will fill applicant’sdetail, relation with allottee,property detail, uploading thescanned copy of requisite doc-uments and making onlinepayment of initially conversioncharges/processing fee. A reg-istration ID of e-conversionand e-EOT will be sent throughan auto generated e-mail forfuture reference. Stage-wisealerts will be sent to applicant.

IDLI System is also work-ing on e-restoration (restora-tion of cancelled lease of plot-ted properties) and e-appoint-ment (online public appoint-ment).

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Chennai Super Kings CEOKasi Vishwanathan feels

their talisman Mahendra SinghDhoni, who has not played anycompetitive cricket since lastyear’s World Cup semifinal, willbe part of the franchise in2021 and 2022 IPLs.

The 39-year-oldDhoni is set for a returnto competitive cricket inthe upcoming IPL, to beplayed in the UAE fromSeptember 19 toNovember 10.

“We can expectMS Dhoni to be partof both (IPL 2020and 2021) andprobably foreven thenext year

— 2022,” Viswanathan wasquoted as saying byindiatoday.in.

“I am getting updatesthrough the media only,saying he has been train-ing in Jharkhand inindoor nets. But we don’thave to worry about theskipper, boss. We don’tworry about him at all.

“He knows hisresponsibilities and hewill take care of himself

and the team.”N Srinivasan,

the vice-chairmanand managingdirector of IndiaCements, own-

ers of the CSKfranchise, in January saidthat Dhoni would beretained by the team for

the 2021 IPL mega-auction.CSK have planned a short

training camp at their basefrom August 16 to 20.

While CSK are hoping toleave for the UAE on August21, Vishwanathan confirmed

that all the players will assem-ble in Chennai on August 14.

“It will be a skill-based plustraining camp. It can’t immedi-ately start off with skills becausethey are coming back after along off,” he said.

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The Indian football teamwill not see any action

this year with the Asianqualifying matches for the2022 FIFA World Cup onWednesday getting post-poned to 2021 owing to theCovid-19 pandemic.

The Asian FootballConfederation post-poned all men’s qualifiersscheduled in Octoberand November for the2022 World Cup and the2023 Asian Cup. India’slast international matchwas the joint qualifyinground match againstOman in Muscat inNovember last year,which they had lost 0-1.

Though out of con-tention for a place in thenext round of World Cupqualifiers, India are still inthe reckoning for a spot inthe 2023 Asian Cup. Theywere scheduled to playQatar at home on October

8 followed by matchesagainst Afghanistan(home) and Bangladesh(away) in November.

A third-place finishin the group will helpIndia get a direct berth inthe third round of thequalifiers for the 2023Asian Cup.

Both FIFA and AFCstated that the decisionwas taken keeping inmind the safety of all par-ticipants during theCovid-19 pandemic.

The games will berescheduled in 2021.

India are currentlyfourth in Group E withthree points from fivegames. Qatar top thetable with 13 points withOman a point behindthem in second.

Eight group winnersand four best runners-upwill progress to the con-tinent’s 12-team finalqualifying stage for theWorld Cup.

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The training camps for India’snational hockey teams will

go ahead as scheduled fromAugust 19 in Bengaluru despitehalf a dozen men’s team players,including skipper ManpreetSingh, being hospitalised aftertesting positive for Covid-19.

Both the men’s and women’steams will resume training at theSports Authority of India (SAI)South Centre in Bengaluru.

“...The Indian men’s andIndian women’s hockey teamsare scheduled to resume sportsactivities from, Wednesday 19thAugust 2020, following the com-pletion of their 14-day quaran-tine period,” the SAI said in astatement on Wednesday.

The decision was takenafter a discussion with thegame’s stakeholders, includingHockey India officials and chiefcoaches of both the teams.

“...After giving the utmostpriority to the safety and well-being of all the athletes, it hasbeen decided that the sportingactivities will be resumed atSAI’s National Centre ofExcellence in Bengaluru, asscheduled earlier.”

The camp for male hockeyplayers was uncertain after sixof them tested positive forCovid-19. The women’s camp,however, was never in doubt

after all of them tested negativefor the dreaded virus.

Currently, 33 male and 24female players are in Bengalurufor the camp.

The light intensity nation-al camp is expected to contin-ue till September 30.

Men’s hockey team chiefcoach Graham Reid said thehealth and wellbeing of theplayers and support staff will bethe top priority during thecamp.

The six Covid positive play-ers will be integrated into the

group once they recover fromthe virus.

“They are in good spirits,and are looking forward to aquick recovery. Once recov-ered and after following proto-col of quarantine, we look for-ward to have them back withus,” Reid said.

��$� ��� & Sri Lanka andUnited Arab Emirates are thetwo back-up countries beingzeroed in on by the ICC, incase India is unable to hostnext year’s T20 World Cup.

While there is still oneyear to go before the megaevent which was set to be heldin Australia this year but gotpostponed due to Covid-19.

According to a report inESPN Cricinfo, “Sri Lanka andthe UAE are among the back-up venues for the 2021 men’s

T20 World Cup, should theCovid-19 pandemic makeIndia an untenable host.”

The ICC confirmed lastweek that India will host nextyear’s tournament as sched-uled in the original FTP whilethis year’s postponed editionin Australia goes ahead in2022.

However it is a standardprotocol to have back-upvenues listed for any globalevent.

“Identifying potential back-up venues is standard practicefor every ICC event, but it takeson extra significance in thistime because of the nature ofthe pandemic. PTI

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Serena Williams had to fightfor a winning return from

her six-month coronavirus lay-off on Tuesday, defeating lowlyranked Bernarda Pera in threesets at the WTA Top SeedOpen tournament in Kentucky.

Serena, who beforeTuesday had not played acompetitive game since a FedCup appearance in February,came from behind to defeatAmerican world number 60Pera 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in two hoursand 15 minutes at the TopSeed Tennis Club inLexington.

Venus Williams startedher campaign with a straightsets wins over VictoriaAzarenka in a a battle of for-mer World No 1 players.The 40-year-old Americanwon 6-3, 6-2 and set upan exciting encounterbetween the Williamssisters in the secondround.

Rising Americanstar Coco Gauff hadto work hard for herstraight-set win overqualifier CarolineDolehide, winning7-5, 7-5 whileCanadian quali-fier LeylahF e r n a n d e zknocked outseventh seed

Sloane Stephens in their open-er.

This week’s tournament— the first WTA event in theUS since the Covid-19 pan-demic — is taking place with-out spectators.

Williams, 38, later revealedthat the sedate surroundingshad suited her game.

“It was a really calm atmos-phere, it was really chill,”Williams said. “I can’t say I dis-liked it. I didn’t mind it at all. I’vebeen through so many things inmy career and this was totallydifferent. I think I won todaybecause I was calm for once inmy career. Kind of reminds meof junior days. Something nos-

talgic about that. I kind ofenjoyed it.”

The 23-timeGrand Slam singleschampion lookedto be flirting withan early exit inthe second set,but recovered

from 0-40 down at4-4 before holding

and eventually win-ning the set.

“I just knew Icould do better,”Williams said. “It

was an interestinggame. I just hadto get used toher game a littlebit. She playedreally well.”

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Education technology com-pany Unacademy, which is

already one of IPL’s sponsors,is eyeing the league’s titlesponsorship rights now and isset to submit its bid to replaceChinese mobilephone companyVivo this season.

A BCCI offi-cial confirmed thatUnacademy has picked up thebid papers but refrained frommaking any commentsbeyond that.

“I can confirm thatUnacademy has shown inter-est and picked the bid papers.I have heard they will be sub-mitting a bid and are prettyserious. So Patanjali if they

bid, will have competition,”the senior official told PTI.

Vivo, which annually paid�440 crore, dropped out astitle sponsor this year due tothe Sino-India border stand-off.

The BCCI is now lookingat a lesservalue —between �300to 350 crore

— for a period of four monthsand 13 days.

The off icial saidUnacademy is a part of IPL’scentral sponsorship pool withother companies like Dream11and Paytm.

“Yes, Unacademy isalready in IPL’s central spon-sors’ pool from 2020 to 2023,”the BCCI official said.

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The Pakistan Cricket Boardis is furious at former cap-

tain Mohammad Hafeez for hisapparent breach of the biosecu-rity protocol imposed by theEngland and Wales CricketBoard for the ongoing awayseries.

The former skipper, who isnot a part of the Test squad isthere for the limited overs leg.

On Wednesday, Hafeeztweeted a picture of himselfwith an elderly lady from thegolf course adjacent to theteam hotel despite strict instruc-tions that they shouldn’t inter-act with anyone outside the

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Sevilla qualified for thesemi-f inals of theEuropa League on

Tuesday after LucasOcampos’ late header brokeWolverhampton Wanderers’hearts, while ShakhtarDonetsk thumped Basel 4-1to join the Spaniards in thelast four.

Five-time competitionwinners Sevil la faceManchester United inCologne on Sunday thanksto a brilliant header fromArgentine Ocampos withless than two minutes left onthe clock which gave them adeserved 1-0 win, whileShakhtar take on Inter Milanon Monday in anotherintriguing tie.

Sevilla dominated theirEnglish opponents over thecourse of the match, as atired-looking Wolves’

dreams of European gloryended with a whimper.

“I am very proud of myplayers. We needed to havelots of patience against avery good team,” said Sevillacoach Julen Lopetegui,whose team are now unbeat-en in 19 matches in all com-petitions, to BT Sport.

“We have ambition wework very hard... but we aregoing to play againstManchester United... thebiggest team in world foot-ball.”

Premier League outfitWolves thought they wereset to make the perfect startin the 11th minute when

Adam Traore set off on asensational surge towardsgoal from his own half andwas chopped down in thearea by Diego Carlos.

However, RaulJimenez, who hadscored all of his pre-vious eight penaltiesfor Wolves, sent aweak spot-kicktowards YassineBounou, who couldhardly believe hisluck as he batted theMexican’s tame shot aside.

There were claims thatBounou had left his linewhile Sevilla players seemedto enter the area before the

penalty was taken, but in anycase, that was to be Wolves’last shot on target of thematch as chances becamehard to come by.

In Gelsenkirchen,Shakhtar booked theirspot in the last fourwith a commandingwin over Basel thatwill give Inter Milansomething to thinkabout ahead of theirsemi-final clash on

Monday.“I’m feeling amazing

because we have workedhard and we trust we canreach the f inal,” saidgoalscorer Junior Moraes.

“If you want to test your-self, you have to play againstteams at this high level.”

The Ukrainian side gotoff to a flyer thanks toBrazil-born Moraes, whoheaded home Marlos’ cornerwith less than two minuteson the clock, and they neverlooked back from that pointon.

Taison put Shakhtar twoahead 20 minutes later whenhis deflected shot flashedpast Basel’s bamboozledgoalkeeper Dorde Nikolic.

Alan Patrick put theresult beyond doubt fromthe penalty spot with 14minutes left after Taison’sburst into the box was endedby a clumsy challenge fromBasel defender YannickMarchand.

Shakhtar rounded off afine display in the 88thminute when right-backDodo combined with Tetebefore smashing home asuperb finish.

Ricky van Wolfswinkel’sclose-range strike for Basel aminute into stoppage timemade no difference to athumping defeat for theSwiss.

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Rajasthan Royals’ fieldingcoach Dishant Yagnik has

tested positive for Covid-19,the IPL team announced onWednesday, making it the firstsuch case among the leaguefranchises ahead of their depar-ture next week to this year’stournament venue, the UAE.

Yagnik is currently in hishometown Udaipur and has

been advised to get admitted tohospital for his 14-day quaran-tine.

“Post 14 days, Dishant willbe undergoing two tests as perthe protocols of BCCI. Onreturn of two negative reports,he will be allowed to join theteam after self isolating for 6days and receiving 3 furthernegative tests upon his arrivalin the UAE,” said Royals in astatement.

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&������������ ������������ �� ����"�43$���6���������� �������������������&�Five Covid-19 pos-itive hockey players have beenshifted to a hospital inBengaluru as a precautionarymeasure after striker MandeepSingh was transferred to thefacility following a dip in hisblood oxygen level, the SportsAuthority of India (SAI) said onWednesday.

“...The Sports Authority ofIndia decided to shift the otherfive players, to SS Sparsh Multi-speciality hospital in Bengaluruon Tuesday afternoon, as aprecautionary measure,” theSAI said.

“The decision to hospi-talise them was taken so as toensure that the players wereattended to at all times andcould be given the best possi-ble treatment. All six athletes arein good health and recoveringwell.” PTI

���:����-��$9�������*�����������5=5.���5= ��� 8��� �1�����6���� � bubble.A source close to the

Pakistan team said Hafeez’sbreach of protocol had upseteveryone as all players hadbeen told specifically to avoidinteraction with anyone outsidethe bio secure bubble, since thecourse is open to the public inSouthampton. Hafeez put him-self in trouble when he posteda tweet of himself and the ladyterming her as inspirational.