12
N epal President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Thursday signed a Constitution amend- ment Bill to update the coun- try’s new political map which incorporated three strategical- ly important Indian areas, hours after the Parliament approved it, a move that could severely hit the bilateral ties with New Delhi. India has already termed as “untenable” the “artificial enlargement” of the territorial claims by Nepal after its Parliament unanimously approved the new political map of the country featuring Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas which India maintains belong to it. Continued on Page 2 T he Congress on Thursday staked claim to form the Government in Manipur a day after nine MLAs withdrew support to the BJP-led coalition Government of N Biren Singh. Now Congress has 20 MLAs of its own as one mem- ber has been disqualified and seven rebels barred from enter- ing the Assembly. With the help of nine MLAs who withdrew support from the BJP Government, the Congress will have the support of 29 MLAs in the House whose effective strength in case of a floor test will be 52. The magic number will thus be 27. Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Okaram Ibobi Singh met Governor Najma Heptulla seeking special Assembly session for no-con- fidence motion against the Biren Singh Government. Continued on Page 2 I ndia has been formally elect- ed as non-permanent mem- ber of the powerful UN Security Council for a two-year term. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply grate- ful” for the overwhelming sup- port from the international community. There were five vacant seats in the UNSC, out of which four were filled by the first round of voting on Wednesday. Along with India, Kenya, Ireland, Mexico and Norway obtained the requisite two-thirds majority in the General Assembly. The other non-permanent members are: Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam. Continued on Page 2 N ovel coronavirus that caus- es Covid-19 may spread more easily among people liv- ing together and family mem- bers than other virus like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or Middle East respi- ratory syndrome (MERS), as per a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal. The analysis, based on con- tact tracing data from 349 peo- ple with Covid-19 and 1,964 of their close contacts in Guangzhou in China, found people with Covid-19 were at least as infectious before they developed symptoms as during their actual illness, and that older person (aged 60 years or more) were most susceptible to household infection with coro- navirus. U nion Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday favoured a unified strategy for Delhi and NCR to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and said the suburbs like Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad can’t be separated from the national Capital in this battle. Shah conveyed this mes- sage at a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior officials to review the Covid-19 situation in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), amidst increas- ing number of COVID-19 cases in these urban centres. “In view of the structure of Delhi-NCR region, all con- cerned bodies need to unite and work on a common strat- egy against the coronavirus pandemic. In this context, I met with Delhi Chief Minister and senior officials of Center and Delhi-NCR today to discuss how to evolve a strategy as soon as possible,” Shah tweeted. Continued on Page 2 T he Supreme Court on Thursday stayed this year’s Puri Rath Yatra, which is attended by lakhs of people from across the world and was to start from June 23, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and said “Lord Jagannath won’t forgive us if we allow” it. A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices Dineesh Maheshwari and AS Bopanna said that in the interest of pub- lic health and safety of citizens, this year’s Rath Yatra at Puri in Odisha can’t be allowed. “Lord Jagannath won’t for- give us if we allow this year’s Rath Yatra to go on,” CJI Bobde said, adding that as such a huge gathering can’t take place dur- ing the pandemic. While the Rath Yatra festi- val, held over 10-12 days with lakhs of people participating, was scheduled for June 23, the “Bahuda Jatra” (return car fes- tival) was fixed for July 1. Three heavily built wood- en chariots of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra are traditionally pulled by thousands of devotees over a distance of three kilo- metres twice during the nine-day festival of the Trinity at Puri. Continued on Page 2 The talks between senior com- manders from India and China didn’t achieve any break- through on Thursday, even as India also took strong excep- tion to China claiming sover- eignty over the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh, saying its “exaggerated and untenable claims” are contrary to the understanding reached on the issue between the two sides. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said this after China claimed that the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh is a part of its territo- ry. “As we have conveyed ear- lier today, External Affairs Minister and the State Councillor and Foreign Minister of China had a phone conversation on recent devel- opments in Ladakh,” Srivastava said late on Wednesday. “Both sides have agreed the overall situation should be handled in a responsible man- ner and that the understand- ings reached between Senior Commanders on 6th June should be implemented sin- cerely. Making exaggerated and untenable claims is contrary to this understanding,” he said. Making New Delhi’s stand clear on Thursday, the MEA said, “India and China have been discussing through mili- tary and diplomatic channels the de-escalation of the situa- tion in the border area in Eastern Ladakh. “On 6th June 2020, the Corps Commanders of India and China held a meeting in the Chushul Moldo region where an agreement was reached on de-escalation and disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Ground Commanders were meeting regularly to imple- ment this consensus through- out last week. “While it was our expecta- tion that this would unfold smoothly, the Chinese side departed from the consensus to respect the LAC in the Galwan valley. On the late evening and night of June 15, a violent face-off happened when the Chinese side unilaterally attempted to change the status quo there. They took premed- itated and planned action that was directly responsible for the resulting violence and casu- alties suffered by both sides. This could have been avoided had the agreement at the high- er level been scrupulously fol- lowed by the Chinese side,” the Ministry said. Given its responsible approach to border manage- ment, India is very clear that all its activities are always within the Indian side of the LAC. We expect the Chinese side to also confine its activities to its side of the LAC, the Ministry said. “It was agreed that both sides would implement the dis-engagement understand- ing of 6th June sincerely. Neither side would take any action to escalate matters and instead, ensure peace and tran- quility as per bilateral agree- ments and protocols,” the Government said. The two sides are in regu- lar touch through their respec- tive embassies and foreign offices. At the ground level the two sides have maintained communication at the com- manders’ level. Meetings of other established diplomatic mechanisms such as Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on Border Affairs are under discussion. The External Affairs Ministry also asserted that “While we remain firmly con- vinced of the need for mainte- nance of peace and tranquility in the borders areas and the resolution of differences through dialogue, at the same time, as the Prime Minister stated yesterday, we are also strongly committed to ensuring India’s sovereignty and territo- rial integrity.” Meanwhile, the senior commanders from India and China held talks for third con- secutive day on Thursday. The main focus was to restore peace there and ensure that the mutu- ally agreed withdrawal of troops takes place unhindered. So far the Chinese have not shown any inclination to restore the status quo ante pre May 5 at the LAC in Ladakh. This is India’s main condition. New Delhi cannot accept any- thing short of it, because that would mean conceding Indian territory to China. Continued on Page 2 New Delhi: The Railways has decided to terminate the con- tract of a Chinese company due to “poor progress” on the sig- nalling and telecommunica- tion work on the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor’s 417-km section between Kanpur and Mughalsarai. The Railways had given the contract worth 471 crore to Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signal and Communication Group in 2016. The move comes after 20 Indian Army personnel were killed in a fierce clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh on Monday night, the biggest military confrontation in five decades that has significantly escalated the already volatile border standoff in the region. Continued on Page 2 A mid the continuing stand- off with China, India has decided to procure 21 MiG-29 and 12 Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia on a fast-track basis even as satellite imageries sug- gest China has yet again resort- ed to the tactic of weather war- fare to change the course of Galwan river in Ladakh. The decision to acquire the additional fighter jets has been taken to strengthen the air force’s reserves. The process for the acquisition of the fighters has been expedited as India and China are engaged in an intense stand-off in the Galwan valley and other points on the LAC for over a month now. With three decades of experience in weather war- fare, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has 10 divi- sions (one lakh personnel or the strength of a corps) dedi- cated for weather manipulation in the hinterland and warfare along the LAC. Besides, China, Israel is the only other country with such capabilities. China has in the past resorted to such tactics to con- trol the flow of the Brahmaputra river in Assam and Satlej river that flows into Himachal Pradesh from China. Analysis of the high reso- lution satellite imageries as also inputs gathered by the agencies suggest the PLA also used bulldozers to doze off a hillock in their bid to maximise casualties to the Indian troops during the skirmish earlier this week in which 20 Indian per- sonnel, including a Colonel rank officer, were killed. Intelligence estimates here also suggest China may resort to denying hydrological data on Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers to India during the monsoon season. The bulldozers were deployed by the PLA on their side of the LAC and could be intended to stop the flow of the water. Continued on Page 2 S ituation remained tense on Thursday on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh following reports that Chinese army men mutilated the bodies of Indian jawans after a clash at the Galwan val- ley on Monday night. While there was no official word on this, senior officers were making all efforts to keep the troops all along the border calm and not allow any more face-offs. The Army denied media reports that at least ten Indian soldiers were made captives by the Chinese. The clarification that no Indian soldier was missing in action came after reports that scores of Indian soldiers were captured in the free for all. As regards mutilation of some bodies, sources said this issue had led to rising anger amongst the troops deployed on the already volatile border. Reports said Colonel B Santosh Babu was reportedly ambushed in the initial stages itself and struck down in the hand to hand combat. Then more troops from both the sides rushed to the site. Reports indicated that at one point the Indian side was vastly outnumbered with not more than 100 Indians sur- rounded by nearly 800 Chinese. They were armed with clubs, barbed wires, batons and iron rods studded with nails. Sources also reiterated that the murderous attack took place on Indian soil. Sources said the Chinese army men brutalised the Indian soldiers after they fought bravely and fell prey to treach- ery. The Chinese reportedly mutilated the bodies of sever- al soldiers after they were killed with stones and sharp edged weapons and nail-studded batons and clubs. Continued on Page 2 E xternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said all Indian troops guarding the border with China carried arms, refuting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s questions as to why Army personnel in Galwan Valley were sent “unarmed to martyrdom”. Jaishankar pointed out that armies of the two sides do not use firearms as per provisions of two bilateral agreements sealed in 1996 and 2005. “Let us get the facts straight. All troops on border duty always carry arms, espe- cially when leaving the post. Those at Galwan on June 15 did so. Long-standing practice (as per 1996 & 2005 agree- ments) is not to use firearms during face-offs,” Jaishankar said in a tweet. The latest incident may see the Government revisiting the standard operating proce- dure at the LAC, officials said. Earlier in a video message Rahul Gandhi condemned China’s actions in eastern Ladakh that resulted in the death of 20 soldiers. Pointing out that Indian soldiers were unarmed, Rahul sought to know who is responsible for this situation. “China committed a crime by killing India’s unarmed sol- diers. I want to know who sent these unarmed soldiers in the harm’s way and why. Who is responsible,” said Rahul. Continued on Page 2 Beijing: Parrying questions about the brutal attack carried out by its troops on the Indian soldiers with iron rods and spikes on June 15, China on Thursday also declined to respond to queries on reports of it building a dam on the Galwan river at the Sino-Indian border to obstruct its flow. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian in his media briefing skirted ques- tions for a second consecutive day about the casualties suf- fered by the Chinese troops in their clash with the Indian soldiers at the Galwan Valley on Monday night. PTI Detailed report on P2 London: The chief scientist at the WHO says the agency hopes there will be about 2 bil- lion doses of a vaccine against Covid-19 by the end of next year that would be reserved for “priority populations.”

English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · This is India’s main condition. New Delhi cannot accept any-thing short of it, because that would mean conceding

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Page 1: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · This is India’s main condition. New Delhi cannot accept any-thing short of it, because that would mean conceding

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Nepal President Bidya DeviBhandari on Thursday

signed a Constitution amend-ment Bill to update the coun-try’s new political map whichincorporated three strategical-ly important Indian areas,hours after the Parliamentapproved it, a move that couldseverely hit the bilateral tieswith New Delhi.

India has already termed as“untenable” the “artificialenlargement” of the territorialclaims by Nepal after itsParliament unanimouslyapproved the new politicalmap of the country featuringLipulekh, Kalapani andLimpiyadhura areas whichIndia maintains belong to it.

Continued on Page 2

���� �12�/13.*

The Congress on Thursdaystaked claim to form the

Government in Manipur a dayafter nine MLAs withdrewsupport to the BJP-led coalitionGovernment of N Biren Singh.

Now Congress has 20MLAs of its own as one mem-ber has been disqualified andseven rebels barred from enter-ing the Assembly. With the helpof nine MLAs who withdrewsupport from the BJPGovernment, the Congress willhave the support of 29 MLAsin the House whose effectivestrength in case of a floor testwill be 52. The magic numberwill thus be 27.

Senior Congress leader andformer Chief Minister OkaramIbobi Singh met GovernorNajma Heptulla seeking specialAssembly session for no-con-fidence motion against theBiren Singh Government.

Continued on Page 2

���� �12�/13.*

India has been formally elect-ed as non-permanent mem-

ber of the powerful UNSecurity Council for a two-yearterm. Prime Minister NarendraModi said he was “deeply grate-ful” for the overwhelming sup-port from the internationalcommunity.

There were five vacantseats in the UNSC, out ofwhich four were filled by thefirst round of voting onWednesday. Along with India,Kenya, Ireland, Mexico andNorway obtained the requisitetwo-thirds majority in theGeneral Assembly.

The other non-permanentmembers are: Estonia, Niger,Saint Vincent and theGrenadines, Tunisia andVietnam.

Continued on Page 2

���� �12�/13.*

Novel coronavirus that caus-es Covid-19 may spread

more easily among people liv-ing together and family mem-bers than other virus like severeacute respiratory syndrome(SARS) or Middle East respi-ratory syndrome (MERS), asper a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseasesjournal.

The analysis, based on con-tact tracing data from 349 peo-ple with Covid-19 and 1,964 oftheir close contacts inGuangzhou in China, foundpeople with Covid-19 were atleast as infectious before theydeveloped symptoms as duringtheir actual illness, and thatolder person (aged 60 years ormore) were most susceptible tohousehold infection with coro-navirus.

���������������� �12�/13.*

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Thursday

favoured a unified strategy forDelhi and NCR to tackle thecoronavirus pandemic and saidthe suburbs like Gurgaon,Noida and Ghaziabad can’t beseparated from the nationalCapital in this battle.

Shah conveyed this mes-sage at a meeting with DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwaland senior officials to reviewthe Covid-19 situation in Delhiand the National CapitalRegion (NCR), amidst increas-ing number of COVID-19cases in these urban centres.

“In view of the structure ofDelhi-NCR region, all con-cerned bodies need to uniteand work on a common strat-

egy against the coronaviruspandemic. In this context, I metwith Delhi Chief Minister andsenior officials of Center andDelhi-NCR today to discusshow to evolve a strategy as soonas possible,” Shah tweeted.

Continued on Page 2

����� �12�/13.*

The Supreme Court onThursday stayed this year’s

Puri Rath Yatra, which isattended by lakhs of peoplefrom across the world and wasto start from June 23, due to theCovid-19 pandemic and said“Lord Jagannath won’t forgiveus if we allow” it.

A bench of Chief Justice SABobde and Justices DineeshMaheshwari and AS Bopannasaid that in the interest of pub-lic health and safety of citizens,this year’s Rath Yatra at Puri inOdisha can’t be allowed.

“Lord Jagannath won’t for-give us if we allow this year’sRath Yatra to go on,” CJI Bobdesaid, adding that as such a hugegathering can’t take place dur-ing the pandemic.

While the Rath Yatra festi-val, held over 10-12 days with

lakhs of people participating,was scheduled for June 23, the“Bahuda Jatra” (return car fes-tival) was fixed for July 1.

Three heavily built wood-en chariots of Lord Jagannath,Lord Balabhadra and DeviSubhadra are traditionallypulled by thousands of devoteesover a distance of three kilo-metres twice during the nine-day festival of the Trinityat Puri.

Continued on Page 2

���� �12�/13.*

The talks between senior com-manders from India and Chinadidn’t achieve any break-through on Thursday, even asIndia also took strong excep-tion to China claiming sover-eignty over the Galwan valleyin eastern Ladakh, saying its“exaggerated and untenableclaims” are contrary to theunderstanding reached on theissue between the two sides.

Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) SpokespersonAnurag Srivastava said thisafter China claimed that theGalwan valley in easternLadakh is a part of its territo-ry. “As we have conveyed ear-lier today, External AffairsMinister and the StateCouncillor and ForeignMinister of China had a phoneconversation on recent devel-opments in Ladakh,” Srivastavasaid late on Wednesday.

“Both sides have agreed theoverall situation should behandled in a responsible man-ner and that the understand-ings reached between SeniorCommanders on 6th Juneshould be implemented sin-cerely. Making exaggerated anduntenable claims is contrary tothis understanding,” he said.

Making New Delhi’s standclear on Thursday, the MEAsaid, “India and China havebeen discussing through mili-tary and diplomatic channelsthe de-escalation of the situa-tion in the border area inEastern Ladakh. “On 6th June2020, the Corps Commandersof India and China held ameeting in the Chushul Moldoregion where an agreementwas reached on de-escalation

and disengagement along theLine of Actual Control (LAC).Ground Commanders weremeeting regularly to imple-ment this consensus through-out last week.

“While it was our expecta-tion that this would unfoldsmoothly, the Chinese sidedeparted from the consensus torespect the LAC in the Galwanvalley. On the late evening andnight of June 15, a violentface-off happened when theChinese side unilaterallyattempted to change the statusquo there. They took premed-itated and planned action thatwas directly responsible forthe resulting violence and casu-alties suffered by both sides.This could have been avoidedhad the agreement at the high-er level been scrupulously fol-lowed by the Chinese side,” theMinistry said.

Given its responsibleapproach to border manage-ment, India is very clear that all

its activities are always withinthe Indian side of the LAC. Weexpect the Chinese side to alsoconfine its activities to its sideof the LAC, the Ministry said.

“It was agreed that bothsides would implement thedis-engagement understand-ing of 6th June sincerely.Neither side would take anyaction to escalate matters andinstead, ensure peace and tran-quility as per bilateral agree-ments and protocols,” theGovernment said.

The two sides are in regu-lar touch through their respec-tive embassies and foreignoffices. At the ground level thetwo sides have maintainedcommunication at the com-manders’ level. Meetings ofother established diplomaticmechanisms such as WorkingMechanism for Consultationand Coordination on BorderAffairs are under discussion.

The External AffairsMinistry also asserted that

“While we remain firmly con-vinced of the need for mainte-nance of peace and tranquilityin the borders areas and theresolution of differencesthrough dialogue, at the sametime, as the Prime Ministerstated yesterday, we are alsostrongly committed to ensuringIndia’s sovereignty and territo-rial integrity.”

Meanwhile, the seniorcommanders from India andChina held talks for third con-secutive day on Thursday. Themain focus was to restore peacethere and ensure that the mutu-ally agreed withdrawal oftroops takes place unhindered.

So far the Chinese have notshown any inclination torestore the status quo ante preMay 5 at the LAC in Ladakh.This is India’s main condition.New Delhi cannot accept any-thing short of it, because thatwould mean conceding Indianterritory to China.

Continued on Page 2

���������������� ������������������������������������� ������������ ����������������� �� ���������� ���

New Delhi: The Railways hasdecided to terminate the con-tract of a Chinese company dueto “poor progress” on the sig-nalling and telecommunica-tion work on the EasternDedicated Freight Corridor’s417-km section betweenKanpur and Mughalsarai.

The Railways had given thecontract worth �471 crore toBeijing National RailwayResearch and Design Instituteof Signal and CommunicationGroup in 2016. The movecomes after 20 Indian Armypersonnel were killed in afierce clash with Chinese troopsin the Galwan Valley in Ladakhon Monday night, the biggestmilitary confrontation in fivedecades that has significantlyescalated the already volatileborder standoff in the region.

Continued on Page 2

��#����#������� �12�/13.*

Amid the continuing stand-off with China, India has

decided to procure 21 MiG-29and 12 Sukhoi fighter jets fromRussia on a fast-track basiseven as satellite imageries sug-gest China has yet again resort-ed to the tactic of weather war-fare to change the course ofGalwan river in Ladakh.

The decision to acquirethe additional fighter jets hasbeen taken to strengthen the airforce’s reserves. The process forthe acquisition of the fightershas been expedited as India andChina are engaged in anintense stand-off in the Galwanvalley and other points on theLAC for over a month now.

With three decades ofexperience in weather war-fare, the Chinese People’sLiberation Army has 10 divi-sions (one lakh personnel orthe strength of a corps) dedi-cated for weather manipulationin the hinterland and warfarealong the LAC. Besides, China,Israel is the only other countrywith such capabilities.

China has in the pastresorted to such tactics to con-trol the f low of theBrahmaputra river in Assamand Satlej river that flows intoHimachal Pradesh from China.

Analysis of the high reso-lution satellite imageries asalso inputs gathered by theagencies suggest the PLA alsoused bulldozers to doze off ahillock in their bid to maximisecasualties to the Indian troopsduring the skirmish earlier thisweek in which 20 Indian per-sonnel, including a Colonelrank officer, were killed.

Intelligence estimates herealso suggest China may resortto denying hydrological data onBrahmaputra and Sutlej riversto India during the monsoonseason. The bulldozers weredeployed by the PLA on their side of the LAC andcould be intended to stop theflow of the water.

Continued on Page 2

���� �12�/13.*

Situation remained tense onThursday on the Line of

Actual Control (LAC) inLadakh following reports thatChinese army men mutilatedthe bodies of Indian jawansafter a clash at the Galwan val-ley on Monday night.

While there was no officialword on this, senior officerswere making all efforts to keepthe troops all along the bordercalm and not allow any moreface-offs.

The Army denied mediareports that at least ten Indiansoldiers were made captives bythe Chinese. The clarificationthat no Indian soldier wasmissing in action came afterreports that scores of Indiansoldiers were captured in thefree for all.

As regards mutilation ofsome bodies, sources said thisissue had led to rising angeramongst the troops deployedon the already volatile border.Reports said Colonel B SantoshBabu was reportedly ambushedin the initial stages itself andstruck down in the hand tohand combat. Then moretroops from both the sidesrushed to the site.

Reports indicated that atone point the Indian side wasvastly outnumbered with notmore than 100 Indians sur-rounded by nearly 800 Chinese.They were armed with clubs,barbed wires, batons and ironrods studded with nails.Sources also reiterated that themurderous attack took place onIndian soil.

Sources said the Chinesearmy men brutalised the Indian

soldiers after they foughtbravely and fell prey to treach-ery. The Chinese reportedlymutilated the bodies of sever-al soldiers after they were killedwith stones and sharp edgedweapons and nail-studdedbatons and clubs.

Continued on Page 2

���� �12�/13.*

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar on Thursday

said all Indian troops guardingthe border with China carriedarms, refuting Congress leaderRahul Gandhi’s questions as towhy Army personnel inGalwan Valley were sent“unarmed to martyrdom”.

Jaishankar pointed out thatarmies of the two sides do notuse firearms as per provisionsof two bilateral agreementssealed in 1996 and 2005.

“Let us get the facts

straight. All troops on borderduty always carry arms, espe-cially when leaving the post.Those at Galwan on June 15did so. Long-standing practice(as per 1996 & 2005 agree-ments) is not to use firearmsduring face-offs,” Jaishankarsaid in a tweet.

The latest incident maysee the Government revisitingthe standard operating proce-dure at the LAC, officials said.

Earlier in a video messageRahul Gandhi condemnedChina’s actions in easternLadakh that resulted in thedeath of 20 soldiers. Pointingout that Indian soldiers wereunarmed, Rahul sought toknow who is responsible forthis situation.

“China committed a crimeby killing India’s unarmed sol-diers. I want to know who sentthese unarmed soldiers in theharm’s way and why. Who isresponsible,” said Rahul.

Continued on Page 2

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Beijing: Parrying questionsabout the brutal attack carriedout by its troops on the Indiansoldiers with iron rods andspikes on June 15, China onThursday also declined torespond to queries on reportsof it building a dam on theGalwan river at the Sino-Indianborder to obstruct its flow.

Foreign Ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian in hismedia briefing skirted ques-tions for a second consecutiveday about the casualties suf-fered by the Chinese troops intheir clash with the Indiansoldiers at the Galwan Valleyon Monday night. PTI

Detailed report on P2

London: The chief scientist atthe WHO says the agencyhopes there will be about 2 bil-lion doses of a vaccine againstCovid-19 by the end of nextyear that would be reserved for“priority populations.”

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New Delhi: Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu on Thursday expressed delightover India's unopposed election to theUN Security Council as a non-permanentmember, saying it reflected the goodwillenjoyed by New Delhi.

"Delighted that India is elected unop-posed as a non-permanent member ofthe UN Security Council. The supportfrom 184 out of 192 members reflects thegoodwill India enjoys in the world com-munity," the Vice President's Secretariattweeted.

India garnered 184 votes out of the192 ballots cast in the General Assemblyto win the election for the non-perma-nent seat in the powerful SecurityCouncil. India's two-year term will beginon January 1, 2021.

This is the eighth time that India willsit at the UN high-table, which comprisesfive permanent members and 10 non-permanent members.

"India has always been a voice forpeace and non-violence and will continueto do so," Naidu said. PTI

Beijing: Parrying questionsabout the brutal attack carriedout by its troops on the Indiansoldiers with iron rods andspikes on June 15, China onThursday also declined torespond to queries on reports ofit building a dam on the Galwanriver at the Sino-Indian borderto obstruct its flow.

Foreign Ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian in hismedia briefing skirted questionsfor a second consecutive dayabout the casualties suffered bythe Chinese troops in theirclash with the Indian soldiers atthe Galwan Valley on Mondaynight.

Asked about allegations thatCol Santosh Babu and otherIndian soldiers were brutallyattacked with iron rods and

spikes by Chinese soldiers andwhether the confrontation start-ed when the Indian troopsarrive to demolish structures setup by China along the Line ofActual Control (LAC), Zhaoreiterated China's allegation,squarely blaming the Indiantroops for the incident.

"The right and wrong of thiscase is very clear and responsi-bility doesn't lie with theChinese side," he said, addingthat China has provided thedetails of the case.

India has trashed China'sclaim of sovereignty over theGalwan Valley, saying such"exaggerated" and "untenable"claims are contrary to theunderstanding reached duringa high-level military dialogue onJune 6.

China's foreign ministry aswell as the military this weekclaimed that the Galwan Valleyhas always been a part of thecountry. In a sharp reaction tothe claim by China's People's

Liberation Army (PLA),Spokesperson in the Ministry ofExternal Affairs AnuragSrivastava referred to an agree-ment reached between theChinese and Indian militarieson "disengagement" during theLt General-level talks on June 6.

"Making exaggerated anduntenable claims is contrary tothis understanding," he said ina statement in New Delhi earlyon Thursday.

The Galwan Valley was thesite of the violent clash betweenthe two militaries on Mondaynight in which a Colonel and 19other Indian Army personnelwere killed. China's officialmedia has acknowledged casu-alties on the Chinese side with-out mentioning numbers.

To a question about satellitephotos taken on June 16 show-ing China building a dam on theGalwan river blocking its waterflow and whether it violated anyagreement with India, Zhaosaid, “I am not aware of the

specifics you mentioned”.During Thursday's press

briefing, Zhao referred toWednesday's telephone talksbetween External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar and hisChinese counterpart Wang Yiduring which, he pointed outthat, "both sides agreed to dealwith the serious situation causedby the conflict in a just mannerand jointly observe the con-sensus reached at the com-mander level meeting, de-esca-late tensions as soon as possible”.

The two ministers havealso agreed based on the agree-ments reached by the two coun-tries reached so far to maintainthe peace and tranquillity in theborder areas, he said.

"I would like to stress theIndian troops at the western sec-tion of the boundary and someother areas crossed LAC andtried to unilaterally change thestatus quo," he alleged.

"The Chinese troops arecommitted to uphold peace

and tranquillity along the bor-der areas. They have been exer-cising restraint. They are deter-mined to safeguard our nation-al sovereignty and security”, hesaid.

"We urge the Indian side toimmediately withdraw theirpersonnel crossing the line,strictly restrain its troops andobserve consensus reached bythe leaders of two countries andagreements existing so far andjointly work with us to upholdpeace tranquillity in the borderarea," he said.

After this incident, bothsides are in communicationand coordination on the matterthrough diplomatic and militarychannels, he said.

"Both sides agreed to dealwith the serious matter causedby the conflict at the valley in ajust manner, jointly observethe commander level talks con-sensus and deescalate the ten-sions as soon as possible andsafeguard the peace and tran-

quillity," he said."Currently the overall situ-

ation is stable and controllable.We believe under the guidanceof the important consensusreached by the leaders of the twocountries the two sides candeal with the relevant matterjointly safeguard peace and sta-bility at the border areas andwork for the sound develop-ment of bilateral relations”, hesaid. During the briefing, thespokesman read out the wholepress statement issued by theChinese Foreign Ministry onWednesday on the telephonicconversation between Wangand Jaishankar.

A large number of Indianand Chinese troops have beenengaged in an eyeball-to-eyeballsituation in Galwan Valley andcertain other areas of easternLadakh for the last five weeks,including in Pangong Tso,Galwan Valley, Demchok andDaulat Beg Oldie in easternLadakh. PTI

Islamabad: Pakistan onThursday refused to felicitateIndia after it was elected as anon-permanent member of thepowerful UN Security Council,accusing it of violating the UNresolutions on Kashmir.

India was overwhelminglyelected as a non-permanentmember of the powerful UN

Security Council on Wednesdayfor a two-year term.

India, the endorsed candi-date from the Asia-Pacific States,won 184 votes out of the 192 bal-lots cast in the elections for thefive non-permanent seats of theSecurity Council, the worldorganisation's most powerfulorgan.

Pakistan Foreign Officespokesperson Aisha Farooquisaid at a regular media briefingthat the General Assembly elect-ed four non-permanent mem-bers to the Security Council fora two-year term commencingfrom 1 January 2021.

“We congratulate Ireland,Norway and Mexico on theirelection to the Council. Theelection of India, however, rais-es fundamental questions,” shesaid.

She said that the UNCharter has entrusted theSecurity Council with primaryresponsibility for the mainte-nance of international peaceand security. “India stands inflagrant violation of several res-olutions of the Security Councilthat prescribed a UN-super-vised plebiscite to enable thepeople of J&K to exercise theirfundamental right to self-deter-mination,” she said.

Pakistan will be workingwith the rest of the members ofthe Council in advancing theobjectives of global peace andsecurity in South Asia andbeyond, she added. PTI

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New Delhi: The US on Thursday congratulated Indiaon the successful election to the UN Security Counciland said it looks forward to working with New Delhifor a more stable, secure, and prosperous world.

"Hearty congratulations to India's successful elec-tion to the @UN Security Council. The United Stateslooks forward to working with India for a more stable,secure, and prosperous world," US Ambassador to IndiaKenneth Juster tweeted.

His remarks came hours after India's overwhelm-ing election as a non-permanent member for a two-yearterm, beginning January 1, 2021. In an unprecedentedelection where envoys from the 192 member-states votedwearing masks and in adherence to the strict social-dis-tancing norms due to the COVID-19 pandemic, India,the endorsed candidate from the Asia-Pacific States, won184 votes out of the 192 ballots cast in the election forthe five non-permanent seats of the Security Council,the world organisation's most powerful organ. PTI

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From Page 1Sensing the anger among

the Indian troopers, mood,the commanders haveincreased their vigil on all thestand-off sites along the LACin Eastern Ladakh.

Meanwhile, four personnelcritically injured are now sta-ble. In addition there are 18injured in Leh military hospi-tal are also now stable, sourcessaid. Another 58 personnelwith minor injuries should bejoining work within few days,they added.

On the fracas whichclaimed 20 Indian lives,sources said it appeared thatthe Chinese had planned theattack in advance by usingdrones to monitor thepatrolling pattern of the Indianarmy.

This is the first time since 1975 that Indian soldiers were killed on the4,000 km long LAC. InOctober 1975, a patrol wasambushed and at least fiveIndian jawans were killed. Inthis backdrop, sources admit-ted the current situation isextremely serious.

From Page 1The 15-member Security

Council has five permanentmembers - the US, the UK,France, Russia and China - and10 non-permanent members.

There were 192 MemberStates present for voting and thetwo-thirds required majoritywas 128. India garnered 184votes. Canada lost the elections.

New Delhi’s candidaturewas unanimously endorsed bythe 55-member Asia-Pacificgrouping, including China andPakistan, in June last year.Previously, India has been elect-ed as a non-permanent mem-ber of the Council for the years1950-1951, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985,1991-1992 and most recently in2011-2012.

From Page 1Ibobi Singh handed over let-

ter of support from the TMC,NPP and Independent MLAs.These parties have formed a newcoalition, the Secular ProgressiveFront (SPF).

In a related development, 12Congress MLAs have given anotice to the secretary of theManipur Legislative Assemblyfor removal of Speaker YumnamKhemchand. The notice chal-lenged Speaker Khemchand’sdecision to advance the date fordeciding disqualification ofseven Congress MLAs to June18 from previously fixed date ofJune 22.

This relates to disqualifica-tion of seven Congress MLAswho had pledged support to theBJP-led Government while stay-ing as the Congress members.The Manipur High Court hadlast week banned their entry intothe Vidhan Sabha until dis-qualification matter is decidedby the Speaker. Congress leaderMeghchandra Singh, who sub-mitted the notice, cited Article179 (C) of the Constitution toassert that Speaker Khemchandcan no longer decide the dis-qualification matter. Singh saidtill removal is pending, theSpeaker is powerless in dis-qualifying MLAs.

From Page 1However, the Dedicated

Freight Corridor CorporationLimited (DFCCIL), the imple-menting agency of the project,made it clear that there was nolink between the border face-off and the contract’s termina-tion, the process for which hadstarted as early as January2019.

Officials said the Chinesefirm was supposed to completethe work by 2019, but only 20percent of the work has beencompleted so far.

“We were in discussionwith the World Bank on theissue since January this year astheir progress was very slow.We approached them in Apriltelling them of our decision toterminate the contract. Wehave decided to terminate thecontract and if the World Bankdisagrees, then we willapproach the Railways to fundthe section.

“There is no link betweenthe termination of this contractand what is happening at theborders. It is purely coinci-dental,” said Anurag Sachan,Managing Director, DFCCIL.

From Page 1There has not been any

breakthrough in this regardand the all official commentsfrom both sides have remainedmired in the jargon of disen-gagement and de-escalation.

The agreement to pull backtroops from all the four face-offsites was arrived at on June 6during the talks between LtGeneral Harinder Singh andMajor General Liu Lin. Indiahas maintained that Chinaagreed to withdraw troopsfrom the operational areas andshift them back to peacetimelocations. It was also reported-ly agreed between the twosides to remove heavy weaponsalso from forward areas.

However, the entire sce-nario changed after the violentclashes on Monday in theGalwan valley leaving 20Indian soldiers including theircommanding officer Colonel BSantosh Babu dead.

Since Monday night MajorGeneral level officers of boththe armies are holding talks atPatrol Point 14 but failed tomake any breakthrough tillWednesday. On Thursday, thetwo officers met again at theLAC and agreed to continuethe dialogue to find ways tocool down tempers at the bor-der. Incidentally, the troopsfrom both the sides had disen-gaged from the brawl site, offi-cials said.

From Page 1The Congress party in a

statement also asked whetherthe huge mistake in under-standing the intention ofChina, not a symbol of thegross failure of the CentralGovernment and their leader-ship.

Experts are also askingwhy the Indian jawans were notasked to use firearms in self-defence when the Chineseassaulted them with such dead-ly weapons and the bloodshedcontinued for hours.

Congress leader KCVenugopal and partyspokesperson Randeep SinghSurjewala said that today thereis anguish in every mind. Theentire country is suffering notonly because of the inexplica-ble suffering that theRanbankurs were shamelessly

martyred, as well as the resent-ment as to why they were sentunarmed to meet China offi-cials, they said.

Army sources said that theIndian Army patrols are strict-ly prohibited from openingfire at the LAC and as a pre-caution, they do not carryguns. This confidence buildingagreement was inked betweenthe two countries in 1996. Itbinds both the countries thatneither side shall open fire orconduct blast operations with-in two km of the LAC.

The 1996 agreement sawboth the sides refraining frombrandishing weapons at eachother. The face-offs used to seepushing and jostling. TheChinese of late started peltingstones and now graduated tomore lethal weapons like clubswith barbed wires and nails.

From Page 1Also to subsequently release

the collected water with muchmore kinetic energy to hit theIndian Army’s paraphernaliaon the base of the valley, sourcessaid. The PLA has intensified itsactivities and presence in theregion for over a year and hun-dreds of vehicles includingtrucks, armoured military car-riers and bulldozers are esti-mated to be deployed along thebanks of the Galwan river acrossthe LAC. The imageries alsosuggest pre-fabricated huts foraccommodating the PLA troopshave been erected in their sideof the LAC.

From Page 1Nepal last month released the

revised political and administrativemap of the country laying claim over thestrategically important areas, morethan six months after India publisheda new map in November 2019.

The bill was authenticated byPresident Bhandari on Thursday after-noon as per the constitutional provision,according to a notice issued by heroffice.

Earlier in the day, the NationalAssembly, or the upper house of theNepalese parliament, unanimouslypassed the Constitution amendment billproviding for the inclusion of the coun-try’s new political map in its nationalemblem. The bill to amend theConstitution to update the new map wastabled in the National Assembly, theupper house on Sunday, a day after theHouse of Representatives unanimous-ly endorsed it.

From Page 1“Having regard to the danger pre-

sented by such a large gathering of peo-ple for the Rath Yatra, we consider itappropriate in the interests of publichealth and safety of citizens who aredevotees to restrain the respondentsfrom holding the Rath Yatra this year,”the bench said.

It said Article 25(1) of theConstitution itself confers the right tofreely profess and propagate religion sub-ject to health. “We accordingly direct thatthere shall be no Rath Yatra anywherein the temple town of Odisha or in anyother part of the State this year. We fur-ther direct that there shall be no activi-ties secular or religious associated withthe Rath Yatra during this period,” it said.During the hearing, senior advocateMukul Rohatgi, appearing for the peti-tioner, an NGO, said that if Rath Yatrais allowed huge congregation of peoplewill take place, exposing them to high-er risk of infection by coronavirus.

The bench observed that it is a seri-ous matter. Solicitor General Tushar

Mehta, appearing for the Centre, saidthat it needs time till Friday to file thereply. A counsel appearing for an inter-venor said the Odisha Government hasissued a notification that there shall beno public gathering till June 30.

However, the bench said that it isrestraining the respondents from hold-ing the festival starting from June 23 andissuing notice on the plea and replies befiled in four weeks.

The Chief Justice said he came toknow recently that the word juggernautis related to Lord Jagannath whichmeans a force that cannot be stopped.Mehta said, “But, you stopped it today”.

The top court noted in its order thatit is not disputed that the number of peo-ple, likely to gather for the annual RathYatra scheduled to be held from June 23,2020, is going to be about 10 to 12 lakhsand the festivities normally continue fora period of 10 to 12 days.

The top court’s order came on a PILfiled by the Odisha-based NGO seekingcancellation or postponement of thisyear’s Rath Yatra.

From Page 1Authorities in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh

and Delhi imposed border restrictions ondifferent times during the Covid-19 lock-down, leading to inconvenience to manyand complaints about difficulty in access-ing medical services during the pandem-ic.

According to a Home Ministry source,Shah said all authorities concerned inDelhi-NCR need to come together in thisfight given how closely these cities arelinked. “The home minister favoured a uni-fied strategy for Delhi-NCR to tackle thecoronavirus,” the source said.

Shah said there is a need to scale-uptesting for COVID-19 and provide treat-ment to those found positive. The HomeMinister also suggested that the NCR dis-tricts can consider adopting Rs 2,400charge fixed for Covid-19 test in Delhi,besides the new rapid antigen methodol-ogy being implemented in the nationalCapital from Thursday.

A Home Ministry statement said Shah

also told the meeting that an expert com-mittee decided the rates for Covid-19beds and treatment in Delhi, and thesecould be applied to hospitals in the NCRcities after consultations.

He said it would be better to conductCovid-19 testing through the new rapidantigen methodology approved by theIndian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) which will ramp up the testingcapacity and help in early diagnosis andtreatment.

He directed officials from UttarPradesh and Haryana Governments to sub-mit information about COVID-19 beds,ventilators, oxygen cylinders, ICU andambulances available with them and theirplan to augment these resources by July 15to the Union Home Ministry so that a com-mon strategy can be devised in the NCRin the battle against the virus, the statementsaid. Shah assured the NCR districts thatthe central government will provide all sup-port to them in their fight against the coro-navirus pandemic, another source said.

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After a brief exchange of fire,the Special Cell of Delhi

Police nabbed a 27-year-oldman wanted in several robberyand dacoity from UttarPradesh's Moradabad district.

The accused, identified asAjay, was carrying a reward of�50,000. Police said that duringthe brief encounter, the accusedsuffered injuries in his right leg.

According to PramodSingh Kushwaha, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Special Cell, the arrestwas made on Wednesday nightafter police received informa-tion that Ajay would comenear Moradabad's university

area on a bike."Accordingly a trap was

laid and the Crime Branchteam of UP's Moradabad policealso assisted the Delhi Police inthis regard. A .315 single shotpistol with two live cartridgeswas also recovered from Ajay,who was wanted in 10 cases,including robbery, dacoity andarms act," said the DCP.

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The Delhi Police has arrest-ed three men for allegedly

killing a man and injuring hiswife and a relative following aquarrel over a minor dispute.

The accused were identifiedas Nazar (22), Sakir (30) andAftab (19), all residents of PulPrahladpur in southeast Delhi.

According to RP Meena,DCP, Southeast district, theincident took place on June 15and after receiving police con-trol room (PCR) call regardingthe quarrel, a police teamreached the spot where, theyfound Dilshad (35), his wifeNagma (30) and his relativeNajeem (23) injured and rushedthem to a trauma centre fortreatment. "However, two days

later, Najeem succumbed to hisinjuries. Dilshad told the policethat on the day of incident, Sakirfirst started abusing his broth-er-in-law Mujeeb and later camewith another person namedSahid and beat him with ironrod and sticks," said the DCP.

"After some time, two othermen, associates of Sakir, cameand attacked Najeem and otherfamily members with knives,following which they fled. Thethree accused were identifiedand arrested from Tuglakabadon Wednesday," said the DCP.

"During interrogation, theaccused disclosed that on June15, after a quarrel over aminor dispute, Nazar stabbedNajeem with a knife whileSakir and Aftab beat Mujeebwith sticks, he said.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and Deputy Chief

Minister Manish Sisodia onThursday visited the RadhaSoami Satsang Beas Centre atChhatarpur to take stock of thepreparations being done inDelhi to ramp up medicalinfrastructure in the wake ofcoronavirus pandemic.

Notably, Radha SoamiSatsang Beas center has tem-porarily been converted intothe world's largest Covid carefacility with 10,000 beds, tohelp the city deal with the surg-ing coronavirus cases.

Kejriwal said, "RadhaSoami Satsang Beas has givenus space where we are settingup a 10,000-bed isolation cen-ter. Patients with mild symp-toms or asymptomatic patientswill be admitted here.Generally, such patients can betreated at home but in manycases, people do not have muchspace in their homes. There areno separate toilets in the homesof poor people, and so it wouldserve them better if we keepthem in isolation centers. TheDelhi Government follows upwith the people who stay in

home isolation every dayregarding their health situa-tion."

“Inspected Delhi Govt'supcoming 10,000-bed CovidCare Centre at the RadhaSoami Satsang Beas grounds atChhatarpur. A small section of

the beds will also have oxygensupport,” Kejriwal tweeted soonafter his visit to the Centre.

"We are also arrangingdoctors, nurses, and medicalstaff for this accommodation.We are hopeful that by the firstweek of July, this place will be

fully prepared. By June 30, wewill need 15,000 beds and byJuly 15, we will need 30,000beds, therefore, we are prepar-ing these accommodations,"he added.

Adding further on arrang-ing the beds for Corona

patients, he, said that the DelhiGovernment has taken overvarious hotels and banquethalls to arrange more beds forthe treatment of Covid patients.He said, "Some of the hotelsappealed to the court for a stayorder, but we have won the caseand the work of converting thehotels into isolation centers isin process. All hotels are con-nected with a hospital, we willshift a patient directly to theattached hospital if he/sheneeds immediate medical treat-ment or becomes critical. ButI think, we may need moreICUs in the coming days, I amin talks with doctors and theauthorities to figure out howthis can be done."

Sharing details of his meet-ing with the Union HomeMinister Amit Shah, he said, "Ihad a meeting with the Hon'bleHome Minister today, where hediscussed that the whole NCRshould work together in thebattle against Covid-19. We dis-cussed that NCR cannot beseparated, and we have to fightCorona together. District offi-cials from Noida, Gurugram,Faridabad, etc were also presentand we discussed issues relat-ed to Corona."

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Delhi Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia on

Thursday took over the chargeof Health, PWD, Power andother departments which werehandled by Health MinisterSatyendar Jain who has testedpositive for Covid-19.

Jain was admitted in RajivGandhi Super Speciality

Hospital early Tuesday afterrunning high fever and a sud-den drop in oxygen level, histest result came positive onWednesday evening after asecond test.

Meanwhile, Jain willremain the cabinet ministerwithout any portfolio in theArvind Kejriwal governmentuntil he recovers, he said,adding, "The deputy chief min-

ister has been given the chargeof health, public works depart-ment, power and other depart-ments."

It may be recalled, onSunday, Jain attended a high-level meeting on the corona sit-uation in Delhi, chaired byUnion home minister AmitShah with Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal, Sisodia andlieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.

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Lieutenant Governor AnilBaijal has directed all offi-

cials concerned to prepare acomprehensive roadmap toclosely monitor emerging situ-ations by ramping up testing,house to house survey in con-tainment zones, aggressive con-tact tracing and treatment.

“To increase testing capac-ity, 169 Antigen Testing Center(ATC) are being established inDelhi for Rapid AntigenTesting Procedure with 341teams,” Baijal tweeted.

The direction came in themeeting chaired by Baijal thatwas attended by the ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal,Deputy Chief Minister, minis-ter (revenue), Chief Secretary,Commissioner of Police,Director (AIIMS) RandeepGuleria and other senior offi-cers.

Delhi DisasterManagement Authority(DDMA) has approved rec-ommendations of a high levelexpert committee for fixingCovid-19 testing rate in Delhiat �2400 for all facilities

whether government or private.“DDMA Members were

informed that the report pre-pared by the committee con-stituted under theChairmanship of Dr Vinod KPaul, Member, NITI Aayog onthe directions of Hon’ble UnionHome Minister on the issue offixing the rates for the COVIDRT PCR Test, has beenreceived,” he said.

The DDMA approved rec-ommendations of the HighLevel Expert Committee forfixing Covid testing rate at�2400 for all facilities includingprivate and Government.

Baijal advised that thehealth department shouldensure that the labs adhere toquality and provide a robust

patient feedback and griev-ance redressal system for theusers.

In the meeting, it was alsoinformed that ‘AntigenDetection Tests’ (ADT) havecommenced with effect fromtoday at about 169 locationswith 341 teams, according tothe statement released by L-Goffice.

“ICMR has already con-ducted training for the con-cerned health professionals.During the ADT, all socialdistancing norms will beobserved. The Medical teams atthe centers will ensure that allCovid positive cases should befollowed up for treatment asper the guidelines and protocolissued by the ICMR,” it said.

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Delhi’s peak power demandclocked 5,985 MW on

Wednesday night that is thehighest in the season till now.

A senior BSES official saidthat because of the weather,Delhi’s peak power demandhad been a bit muted since thelast few days but it has beensteadily increasing for the pastfew days.

On their part, BRPL andBYPL successfully met the peakpower demand of 2720MWand 1341 MW respectively. Lastyear, Delhi’s peak power demandhad clocked 7,409 MW. InBRPL’s area, it was 3211 MWand 1686 MW respectively.

The official further saidthat after the end of lock-downon May 17 and the easing ofrestrictions, Delhi’s peak powerhas started increasing and thegap narrowed. Since easing ofrestrictions on May 18, powerdemand has increased by over44 per cent.

“If we compare the peakpower demand of April 2020

with that of June 2020, Delhi’speak power demand has alreadyincreased by over 78 per cent.Peak power demand in Aprilwas 3362 MW and in June(June 15) 5,805 MW,” he said.

Since June 1this year, powerdemand has increased by over57 per cent. It was 3,807 MWon June 1.

The official said that ensur-ing reliable supply in any seasonis as much the function of prop-er power arrangements as alsoaccurate demand forecast androbust distribution network. Onall these aspects, BSES discomsare fully geared to ensure ade-quate power availability duringthe summer months, he said.

Arrangements have beenfirmed up by BSES discoms tosource adequate electricity tomeet the power demand of over44 lakhs consumers, he said,adding that these arrangementsinclude long term PPAs andbanking arrangements of up to800 MW with other states.

In case of unforeseen con-tingencies because of low gen-eration and outages in power

plants, the discoms will purchaseshort-term power from theexchange, he said.

Meanwhile, Tata PowerDelhi Distribution (Tata Power-DDL) successfully met the peakpower demand of 1,713 MW inits areas on Thursday after-noon, highest for this season,without any network constraintand power outage.

As per India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), Delhi is wit-nessing a severe heat wave withtemperatures in the range of 44-46 degrees. The Department hasalready declared a Red Alert inthe city so that the serviceproviders and the Governmentagencies can plan things inadvance for the overall publicgood. A senior Tata Power-DDL official said that it hasmade adequate arrangements ofpower of up to 2,500 MW alongwith contingency planning,through long-term tie-ups, bilat-eral imports and power bankingarrangements with other statesand upgraded network to ensureregular supply in its area of dis-tribution.

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The Gurugram district found129 more Covid-19 positive

cases on Thursday. The situationis alarming now as the tally haszoomed up to 3,991.

One more patient infectedwith coronavirus died onThursday in Gurugram. Withthis, a total of 52 persons havelost their lives in Gurugram cityand 48 of them died in the lasttwo weeks.

The figures of Covid activepatients are 1,775. A total of2,164 have been cured and dis-charged including 215 onThursday.

Meanwhile, in a meetingorganized by Union HomeMinister Amit Shah onThursday through video con-ferencing on Covid-19. TheUnion Health Secretary praisedthe arrangements made inGurugram and said thatGurugram's Covid Helpline is auser friendly and the model ofisolation centre being created byResident welfare association(RWA) for Covid infected

patients are exemplary.According to officials in the

district administration, allarrangements, be it isolationfacilities or sample testing andadmission of severely infectedpatients have been ensured. Nocorona infected patient willhave difficulty in getting treat-ment, they added.

Claiming medical pre-paredness to tackle the presentCovid-19 situation in the districtGurugram, DeputyCommissioner Amit Khatri saidthat a provision of about 4000beds and 350 ventilators inboth private and governmenthospitals have been made.

Apart from these, another1000 beds are being arranged, sothere will be no shortage oftreatment facilities for theCovid-19 patients in the district.

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The Gurugram police hasarrested all the four

accused who had assaultedand stabbed a manager and atoll attendant at the KherkiDaula toll plaza on Wednesdaynight.

The culprits confessedbefore the police that they hadattacked the victims for just �5.The police have recovered aknife and a car used in thecrime from their possession.

Those arrested have beenidentified as Jitu aka Jatin,Nikhil, Mohit and Deepak, allresidents of Ballabgarh inFaridabad district. Nikhil andMohit were nabbed by the tollstaff on the spot while Jatinand Deepak were arrested bythe city police on Thursday

from Gurugram andFaridabad. A preliminaryprobe suggests the accusedwere drunk.

According to the police,the incident occurred around9 pm in lane number 14.Officials at the plaza said thecommuters were travellingfrom the direction ofGuruguram towards Manesarin a Swift Dzire car.

“An argument broke outbetween toll operator Sukhbir

and the four men in the carover toll payment. While hand-ing out the change to one of themen, Sukhbir dropped a Rs 5coin. The men in the car start-ed abusing Sukhbir after whichhe handed them another Rs 5coin and asked them to leaveand not block the lane.

"In the meantime, one ofthem came out with a knifeand attacked Sukhbir. His tar-get was to stab him in thestomach but Sukhbir defend-ed himself but was injuredbadly. When another staffer,Pankaj, tired to intervene andsave Sukhbir, he was attackedtoo. Both of them startedbleeding profusely and weretaken to a nearby hospital.Sukhbir suffered two cutwounds on his left arm," saidRS Bhati, project head atSkylark, the toll operator.

“During questioning, theabove accused has admitted tocommitting the incident. Acrime weapon and a car havealso been recovered from theirpossession. The culprits wereproduced before a local courton Thursday which sent themjudicial custody,” said Preet PalSingh, ACP (crime).

An FIR has been registeredat the Kherki Daula toll plazaagainst the culprits under rel-evant sections of the IndianPenal Code (IPC).

The entire incident wascaptured in the CCTV camerasinstalled on the toll plaza. “Thefootage shows an argumentbreaking out, although the stab-bing has not been captured asfar as we can tell. However, weare procuring the footage andconducting further investiga-tions in the matter,” he said.

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The Ministry of Railwaysclaimed to have success-

fully concluded the world’s“largest” recruitment exerciseto fill up critical safety andoperational posts.

Railway RecruitmentBoards (RRBs) had invitedonline applications for a total64,371 combined vacancies ofAssistant Loco Pilots (ALPs)and Technicians and receiveda total of 47,45,176 applica-tions, the Ministry said in astatement.

“Panel of selected candi-dates has been approved for56,378 candidates (26,968ALPs, 28,410 Technicians) outof 64,371 vacancies (27,795ALPs, 64,371 Technicians),” itsaid, adding that appointmentletters have been issued to40,420 candidates and training

of newly recruited 19,120 can-didates will resume as soon asCovid lock down related mea-sures ease out.

Joining letters were issuedto candidates before lockdownwas announced but some can-

didates could not join due toCorona outbreak and lock-down, it said.

“All newly recruitedemployees will be givenappointment in Railway as perthe due procedure in a phased

manner. The training of freshappointees is required becauseRailway is an operationaldepartment and safety of trainoperations is paramount.” Itsaid.

The ministry further saidthat training includes classroom training followed by fieldtraining followed by testing ofthe competence before deploy-ment on working post. “Sincetraining is given batch wiseconsidering the capacity con-straints of class room, hostel,library, instructors, etc. It has tobe done in a phased manner byoptimum utilization of trainingresources,” it added.

Indian Railways is formu-lating a viable strategy to con-duct massive examination of1.25 crore applicants andscheduling of all the processesetc while observing all normsin Covid-19 scenario.

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New Delhi: The nationalCapital sweltered under the sti-fling heat with the mercurycrossing the 46 degrees Celsius-mark in some parts onThursday.

The SafdarjungObservatory, which providesrepresentative figures for thecity, recorded a maximum of42.5 degrees Celsius, threenotches above normal.

At 46.4 degrees Celsius, theweather stations at Ayanagarrecorded the maximum tem-perature in the city.

The Pusa Observatoryrecorded a high of 45.1 degreesCelsius.

Humidity levels oscillatedbetween 38 and 81 per cent inthe city.

The MeT department haspredicted a partly cloudy sky on

Friday. The maximum and min-imum temperatures are expect-ed to settle at 43 degrees and 30degrees Celsius, respectively.

On Wednesday, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) said monsoon is likely toreach the national capital threeto four days earlier than theusual date of June 27.

Kuldeep Srivastava, thehead of the regional forecastingcentre of the IMD, said acyclonic circulation over WestBengal and the neighborhoodwill move towards southwestUttar Pradesh by June 19 andJune 20. "It will help in furtheradvancement of the monsoon inwestern Uttar Pradesh, someparts of Uttarakhand, northeastRajasthan and eastern Haryanabetween June 22 and June 24,"he said. PTI

New Delhi: Four men werearrested for allegedly stealing27 mobile phones from thevehicle of a courier delivery boyin southeast Delhi's Badarpurarea, police said on Thursday.

The suspects have beenidentified as Vikas Tiwari (21),Mohit (20), Tarun (19) andRahul (22), and all four are res-idents of Faridabad, they said.

The courier delivery boy,Govinda, had lodged a com-plaint in this regard atBadarpur police station onJune 4, police said.

He told police that on June2 at 12.30 pm, some unidenti-fied persons stole a parcel con-taining 27 mobile phones from

his vehicle parked near MohanCo-operative Estate, an officialsaid.

The package was stolenfrom the three-wheeler whenhe had gone to have lunch withhis colleague Tiwari, now a sus-pect in the case, police said.

During investigation,police apprehended Rahul onWednesday and recovered oneof the stolen mobile phonesfrom his possession, saidDeputy Commissioner ofPolice (southeast) R P Meena.

Rahul told police that he,along with Mohit and Tarun,stole the mobile phones fromGovinda's three-wheeler, theDCP said. PTI

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Page 4: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · This is India’s main condition. New Delhi cannot accept any-thing short of it, because that would mean conceding

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Having faced flak, the BJPon Thursday cancelled

all its political programmes forthe coming two days as a markof tribute to the fallen soldiersat the Galwan Valley. At thesame time, while it slammedCongress leader Rahul Gandhifor making irresponsible”statements showing lack offaith in the Indian Army, itasserted that India shouldreduce imports from othercountries, specifically fromChina.

“The soldiers who diedwhile fighting for the countryin Ladakh’s Galwan valley willbe remembered forever.Nation is indebted to them. Ipay my tribute to the soldiers.BJP has decided to cancel allits political programmes andvirtual rallies for two days”,BJP president JP Nadda saidin a tweet.

BJP spokesperson SambitPatra described as “irrespon-

sible” Congress leader RahulGandhi’s tweet asking whyIndian soldiers at the Galwanvalley in Ladakh wereunarmed, and accused him ofquestioning Indian Army andits professionalism.

“You are the most irre-sponsible politician India hasever seen” Patra said adding“impatient” Rahul should havewaited for the all-party meet-ing which Prime MinisterNarandra Modi has called tobrief the Opposition about thesituation on India-China bor-der on Friday.

Patra said that Rahulshould not use words like“PM dara hua hai” (PM Modiis scared) as he is theConstitutional head of theGovernment and the PrimeMinister of everyone includ-ing Rahul and Sonia Gandhi”.

He said Rahul should beaware of the treaties andagreements made during theCongress regime. “You shouldknow about 1993, 1996, 2003

and 2013 agreements withChina and you should haveread that.”

“Today, I will read outthese agreements and willmake you realise about yourresponsibilities. In 1996, thisagreement was signed whenDeve Gowda Ji was the PrimeMinister. I won’t read out thewhole document and I wantyou to read it at home as yourhomework. The agreement, inbrief, says, “Neither side shallopen fire, cause biodegrada-tion, use hazardous chemicals,conduct blast operations orguns or explosives within twokilometres from the Line ofActual Control”.

For his part, asserting thatIndia should reduce imports,specifically from China, BJPleader Ram Madhav empha-sised that India has the poten-tial to manufacture chemicals,mobile phone parts and but-tons.

“We import chemicals,mobile phone parts and but-

tons. Are they so essential tobe imported? They can bemanufactured in India. Weshould reduce imports fromother countries but specifi-cally from China,” said MrMadhav while speaking to

news agency ANI.The BJP leader further

said that if people want to“boycott Chinese products”then their sentiments are to berespected.

His response comes in

the backdrop of the Galwanvalley clash in Ladakh whichclaimed lives of at least 20Indian Army personnel,including a Colonel rank offi-cer.

Commenting on the cur-

rent situation, Mr Madhavsaid that the Government'sfirst priority is to guard thefrontiers with utmost alertnessand strength to ensure nofurther violence and loss oflife takes place on the border.

“Our first priority is toguard our border with utmostalertness and strength and tomake sure that there is no fur-ther violence and loss of lifeon the border. We will also usediplomatic channels”, he said.

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The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) on

Thursday urged Bollywoodactors Amitabh Bachchan,Aamir Khan, DeepikePadukone, Katrina Kaif,Akshay Kumar, Shilpa Shettyand Madhuri Dixit, as well ascricketers Mahendra SinghDhoni, Virat Kohli and SachinTendulkar to join the campaignto boycott Chinese products.

After India-China LACclash leading to martyrdom of

20 soldiers and anti Chinesesentiments across India, theCAIT has launched a nation-wide campaign called‘Bharatiya Saaman-HamaraAbhiman’ to boycott Chineseproducts, in which it has askedcelebrities from Bollywoodand sporting fraternities toalso join.

In an open letteraddressed to Indian celebritiesreleased on Thursday, CAIThas appealed to Bollywoodand sports stars endorsingChinese brands such as AamirKhan, Deepika Padukone,

Katrina Kaif, Virat Kohli &others to stop endorsingChinese products.

The open letter of CAITfurther states that from theinformation available in pub-lic domain, traders of thecountry particularly requestAamir Khan, Sara Ali Khan,Virat Kohli, DeepikaPadukone, Katrina Kaif,Badshah, Sidharth Malhotra,Ranbir Kapoor, RanveerSingh, Salman Khan,Ayushman Khurana, ShradhaKapoor and all others who areendorsing any Chinese prod-

uct to stop endorsing thesebrands as a mark of respectfor Indian soldiers, and at thesame time invited them tojoin the campaign of CAIT.

“We appeal Indiancelebrities to shake handswith CAIT and exert theirinfluence on citizens to sup-port the government andIndian forces at this crucialjuncture with a motto of"nation before self " and topropagate the feeling of buy-ing Indian goods. The nationwill always remember theirservices rendered at this point

when the entire nation iscommitted to give a stronglesson to China," said CAITnational president BC Bhartiaand secretary general PraveenKhandelwal in an open letter.

The CAIT has set a targetof reducing imports fromChina by a value of 13 billiondollars i.e approximately�1lakh crore by December2021 with the cooperation oftraders & citizens of India.Currently, the annual importfrom China in India stands for70 billion dollars or 5.25 lakhcrore of rupees.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday urged

people to observe the sixthInternational Day of Yoga onJune 21 from the confines oftheir homes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Noting that this year’s themeis “Yoga at home” and “Yogawith family”, he said due to thepandemic, it has to be observedindoors.

“I’m happy to note thegrowing popularity of yoga inthe last few years, especiallyamong the youth. We are mark-ing 6th Yoga Day in extraordi-nary times,” he said in a videomessage.

Though yoga day celebra-tions are an occasion of massgatherings, due to extraordinarytimes, this year people shouldobserve the day at their homes,he said adding the pandemiccould have affected the mobili-ty, but not enthusiasm

In the post Covid-19 era, thefocus on preventive healthcarewill get stronger and that is whyI am confident that yoga willbecome even more popular, hemaintained.

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As the Centre works on theimplementation of its ambi-

tious ‘One Nation, One RationCard’, several States and UnionTerritories like ArunachalPradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland,Uttarakhand, Jammu andKashmir, Ladakh and Andamanand Nicobar on Thursday com-plained that they are facingslow internet connection andpoor mobile data for use of bio-metric system-based point ofsales (POS) machines in allration shops as the main hurdlefor implementation of thescheme.

Union Food Minister RamVilas Paswan, who chaired thereview meeting, said that net-work connectivity related chal-lenges would be taken up withDepartment ofTelecommunications to resolvethe matter at the earliest.

Arunachal Pradesh,Meghalaya and West Bengalindicated a tentative timeline forcomplete implementation beforeDecember 2020 while most ofthe remaining states/UTs sharedtheir action plans and strategy tocomplete this activity by the endof September 2020.

So far, 20 States have joinedthe Centre’s ‘One Nation OneRation Card’ initiative, underwhich eligible beneficiarieswould be able to avail their enti-tled foodgrains under theNational Food Security Act(NFSA) from any fair priceshop in the country using thesame ration card. Three moreStates are expected to come onboard by August 1.

Meghalaya said the slowInternet connectivity issue is amajor problem in implementa-tion of ration card portability inthe State. Nagaland, which isproviding portability service in75 ration shops at present,expressed similar concern.Chhattisgarh said it would bedifficult to cover 3,000 rationsshops located in Naxal-hit areasin the State.

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After much dilly-dallyingand following the Supreme

Court order, the Union HealthMinistry on Thursday directedthe States and the UnionTerritories to ensure that thesalary of doctors and healthworkers doing Covid-19 dutyis released on time.

The Ministry in its orderwarned of strict action againstthe defaulting hospitals andauthorities under the DisasterManagement Act read withthe Indian Penal Code if pay-ment is not made as directed.

“A violation of this direc-tive will be treated as anoffence under the DisasterManagement Act 2005 readwith the Indian Penal Code,”said the order which comes aday after Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta informed theSupreme Court that an appro-priate order in this regardshall be issued by the Centre.

A three-judge SC benchcomprising Justices AshokBhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul

and MR Shah passed an orderon Wednesday on Dr.ArushiJain's petition challenging theCentre's new SOP for front-line COVID-19 workers.

During the hearing, thepetitioner's counsel submittedthat doctors and health work-ers are not receiving theirsalary regularly.

He argued that a directionto the concerned authoritiesis necessary so that frontlineworkers are paid on time.

The Apex court agreedwith this contention and list-ed the matter for hearingafter 4 weeks.

“Hopeful ly, now the

salaries will be released intime. In Delhi, resident doc-tors as well as senior doctorsof two MCD Hospitals havenot got their salaries for thepast three months.

The issue was taken up inthe Delhi High court. It is avery sad affair that frontlinehealthcare workers are beingmade to suffer for issues likesalary which is their rights,”said Shivaji Dev Barman,President of Federation ofResident Doctors Association(FORDA) which had beentaking up the issue of non-payment of salary of doctorson various platforms.

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Initiating a major reform inthe coal sector, which will

also give boost to many sectorsincluding power and steel andusher in development in east-ern and Central India, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onThursday launched the auctionprocess of 41 coal blocks forcommercial mining.

Terming this move as a wayto become a self reliant coun-try, Atmanirbhar Bharat, Modisaid that the Government hasset a target to gasify around100-million-ton coal by 2030and four projects have beenidentified for this purpose witharound �20,000 crore of invest-ment.

The auctioning of 41 coalmines is expected to garner �33,000 crore of capital invest-ment in the country over thenext five to seven years. Theprocess is likely to contribute �20,000 crore in revenues annu-ally to State Governments.

The Prime Minister saidthat these coal sector reformswill make our eastern and cen-tral India tribal belt pillars ofdevelopment. He added that

these areas have a big numberof “aspirational districts” andhave not been able to reach thedesired level of progress andprosperity. He said that 16aspirational districts in thecountry have a huge stock ofcoal but people of these areashave not got adequate benefit

of this. People from theseplaces have to migrate to far-flung cities for employment.

The Prime Minister saidthat the steps taken towardscommercial mining will bevery helpful to eastern and cen-tral India by providing thelocal population with employ-

ment near their homes. He said that the

Government has taken a deci-sion to spend �50,000 crore oncreating infrastructure for coalextraction and transportation,which will also create employ-ment opportunities.

Speaking on the occasionthrough video conferencing,Modi said that India will over-come the COVID -19 pan-demic and the nation will turnthis crisis into an opportunity.

PM said, these reformswill not only benefit the coalsector but other sectors such asSteel, Aluminium, Fertilizersand Cement as well. It will alsohelp in increasing the powergeneration.

and this auction process, 41coal mines are on offer whichincludes fully explored andpartially explored mines. Theseinclude 4 coking coal mineswhich are fully explored mines.These coal mines are located instates of Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra and Odisha. Theauction process will be a two-stage tender process with tech-nical and financial bidding.

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Owing to current travelrestrictions in the times of

Covid-19, Inter-UniversityCentre for Astronomy andAstrophysics (IUCAA), Pune isorganising a series of onlineprogrammes to celebrate themajor astronomical event,annular solar eclipse (ASE) oncoming Sunday.

“The ASE which is goingto be seen in some regions ofNorthern India on June 21 isa spectacle that everyoneshould witness. At places otherthan in the “annularity belt” wecan see a nice Partial SolarEclipse all over the country.

“However, the current trav-el restrictions due to COVID-19 combined with various mis-conceptions and pseudo-sci-entific rumours, may makemost people, even enthusiasts,miss this event. It is also pos-sible that despite their interestpeople may be disappointed bycloudy skies,” said SamirDhurde, Scientific Officer(Outreach), IUCAA a state-ment from the IUCAA.

To reachout to such astron-omy buff, the IUCAA’s scien-tific public outreach pro-gramme (SciPOP) will hostthese events on their YouTubec h a n n e lhttps://www.youtube.com/user/IUCAASciPOP

In Pune, the eclipse willbegin at 10:02 am and isexpected to reach its maximumphase around 11:40 am. It willend around 1:30 pm here.Across India however, differentphases of it should be visibleanytime between 10 am and 2pm depending on your longi-tude.

To pass on such informa-tion, to discuss the real factsbehind eclipses as well as toinform people how to see theeclipse safely IUCAA SciPOPwill host two-day two sessionsfrom June 18, said Dhurde.

On Sunday, the 21st June,the live online session willcombine feeds from all over thecountry and will host an arrayof experts from IUCAA andthe scientific community onthe subject of Eclipses,Astronomy and related careersetc, said the IUCAA.

This major event is beingundertaken in collaborationwith The Public Outreach &Education Committee of theAstronomical Society of India(ASI-POEC).

The combined efforts willdraw in experts from theIndian Astronomy communi-ty and may include Prof.Somak Raychaudhury(IUCAA), Prof. DipankarBannerjee (ARIES), Dr.Durgesh Tripathi (IUCAA)etc, said the IUCAA.

���� �12�/13.*

The Centre is considering aproposal to increase the

minimum selling price (MSP)of sugar from �31 per kg inorder to help millers clearcane dues of about � 22,000crore to farmers.

The increase is also likelybecause the Commission forAgricultural Costs and Priceshas recommended raising thefair and remunerative price(FRP) of sugarcane by �10 aquintal to �285 for 2020-21. Atask force constituted by NitiAayog on sugarcane and sugarindustry has recommended aone-time increase of �2 per kg.

Union Food SecretarySudhanshu Pandey said onThursday that the measuresbeing taken by theGovernment will ensure earlyclearance of substantial canearrears to farmers. “We have received views fromState Governments on thematter. Even Niti Aayog hasrecommended a hike. We arelooking into the matter. Wewill take a balanced approachin the interest of both farmers and consumers,”P a n d e ytold reporters. But the official

did not say by how much theMSP will be increased.

Last year, theGovernment increased theprice at which mills sell sugarto bulk buyers by �2/kg to�31/kg.

The minimum sellingprice of sugar is f ixed taking into account the com-ponents of FRP and mini-mum conversion cost of themost efficient mills.

As per the official data,mills have to pay total �72,000crore for sugarcane purchasedfrom farmers during the2019-20 season (October-September). Maximum hasbeen paid and the arrearsleft are about �22,000 crore.

Arrears comprise pay-ments to be made on the basisof FRP fixed by the Centre,and State Advisory Price(SAP) determined by States.

Of the �22,000 crorearrears, about �17,683 crore isbased on the FRP rate, while the rest is based on SAPrates. Mil ls have produced 27 million tonnes of sugar so farin the ongoing 2019-20 sea-son, lower than 33.1 milliontonnes achieved last year, asper the official data.

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Page 5: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · This is India’s main condition. New Delhi cannot accept any-thing short of it, because that would mean conceding

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Situation in Tamil Nadu continued tobe critical even on Thursday as 2,141

persons tested positive for coronavirusdisease (Covid-19) and 49 patientsbreathed their last taking the death tolltill date to 625.

A medical bulletin issued by theGovernment of Tamil Nadu said the totalnumber of coronavirus cases in the Statehas reached 52, 334 while there were 23,065 active cases as on date.

As four districts including capitalChennai were on a lockdown mode ( fourdistricts are being shut down from mid-night of Friday till June 30) under theDisaster Management Act, the State hasmade the testing of samples aggressive.On Thursday, 26, 736 samples were test-ed in 81 laboratories across Tamil Nadu,said the bulletin.

The numbery of persons tested onThursday were 25, 719 while the num-ber of persons tested till date reached 7.63lakh. On Thursday, a total of 1,017patients were discharged from the hos-pitals across the State and this made thenumber of patients who have been cured

to 28,641.Out of the 49 persons who suc-

cumbed to the pandemic on Thursday, 42had co-morbidities while seven had nocomorbid history. Six patients among thedead were in the 30-49 age group, threepersons were in their 50s an the restbelonged to the 60 to 90 age group.

Chennai remained in the top of theleague with highest number of covid-19cases, 1,373. An interesting point to noteis that districts like Pudukottai,Dharmapuri, Erode, Karur succeeded inkeeping the coronavirus at bay by tradi-tional preventive measures.

“I am not in the field and I do notknow what the ground reality is. But themedical bulletin confirms what ThePioneer has reported earlier. Districts likePudukottai, Dharmapuri have been con-sistently following methods advised byour traditional physicians and native tech-niques. And this has been found to bequite successful. It is time we thought ofreturning to traditional measures,” saidDr C V Krishnaswamy, octogenarian dia-betologist and physician who is a strongproponent of the Indian system of med-icine.

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As 97 persons tested positive forcoronavirus in Kerala on

Thursday, Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan blamed the people and theCentral Government for the resur-gence of the pandemic in the State.

He said out of the 97 persons tested positive on Thursday, 65 wereexpatriates who returned to the Stateand 29 were people from other placesin the country. Three persons got theinfection through contacts.

Addressing reporters as part of hisdaily media briefing, the ChiefMinister said a young person breathedhis last on Thursday and it took thefatalities till date to 21. He also said thatthe number of hotspots in the Statestood at 108.

Vijayan blamed some of the WestAsian countries for the arrival ofCovid-19 patients to Kerala. “Most ofthe West Asian countries do not haveproper testing facilities and that’s thereason why the covid infected persons

reach Keraala. Countries like SaudiArabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman etc donot have coronavirus testing facilities,”said the Chief Minister. He said theState was not getting any help from theCentre.

He offered to make Truenat BetaCov Test system available to thesecountries in consultation with theIndian embassies in the respectivecountries so that expatriate Keralitescould get the tests held free of costbefore emplaning to Kerala.

Taking strong objection to the atti-tude of the people in the State for theirscant disregard to norms prescribed bythe Government, Vijayan said it hascome to his notice that many personsare blatantly violating orders to wearface masks and maintain social dis-tancing. “They think that Covid -19has nothing to do with them. This isa serious offence and I am certain thata sense of complacency has set in theState. I have been observing that theuse of soap and sanitizers to wash thehands have come down,” said Vijayan.

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People of Bengal toodescended on the streets —

alongside political parties com-peting hard to claim national-istic credentials a year ahead ofthe State polls — protesting inlarge numbers against theChinese aggression in Ladakhwhere the People’s LiberationArmy butchered 20 braveIndian soldiers with medievalbrutality before being paidback with interest on June 15.

In capital Kolkata peoplecame down on the roadssmashing Chinese productsand shouting slogans to boycottthat came from the dragoncountry. At Manicktalla innorth Kolkata a spontaneouscrowd tended to surpass apolitical gathering nearby rais-ing slogans against PresidentShi Jin Ping.

A furlong away two groupsof BJP and TMC supporters tooraised slogans against Chinabut in that bid desperatelytried to shout the other partydown.

The group of people atManicktalla even drafted a let-ter appealing to the Tollywoodartists not to endorse Chineseproducts besides asking themto pass a similar message totheir Bollywood counterparts.

At the colonial TerritaBazar a hub of electronic goodshowever the protesting mer-chants were more realistic evenas they demanded immediatereplacement of the Chinesegoods with the ones of theIndian make.

“We also want to sell Indiaitems even for less profit. Butyou have to replace the Chinesegoods in the first place. At pre-sent there is no alternative forthe cheap Chinese electronic

items from chandeliers to astand lamp to a torch … sowhat do we do now? We wantto stand by the nation buthow? We know that sellingIndian products will help Indiagrow. But where is the replace-ment? At present we have noother alternative. We too haveto take care of our families’financial needs,” said a traderwho sold his items wearing ablack badge.

Away at Chinsurah inHooghly district a local TMCMLA organized a gathering ofprotesters who destroyed anumber of mobile phones andappealed to the people not tobuy Chinese products.

Her party supremo andBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee is scheduled to jointhe virtual all-party meetingcalled by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Fridayevening.

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Kadukkaloor village in TamilNadu’s Ramanathapuram

district on Thursday badefarewell to its son K Palani, asoldier of the Indian Armywho laid his life at the altar ofduty at Ladakh’s Galwan area.Palani, a hawaldar, was amongthe 20 Indian soldiers whowere martyred in an ambush bythe Peoples Liberation Army ofChina.

The mortal remains ofPalani(40) was flown intoMadurai by a special IndianArmy aircraft accompanied byofficers and jawans of the Army.The cavalcade of cars drovestraight to Kadukkaloor villagecarrying the mortal remains ofHawaldar Palani in a flowerbedecked vehicle. Officials fromthe armed forces, the district

Collector, police personnel andelected representatives paidtributes and placed wreathsbefore the casket carrying themortal remains of Palani.

The entire village turned upin front of the residence ofHawaldar Palani to have a lastglimpse of the martyr as theparents, wife and children of thesoldier were uncontrollable intheir grief. The martyr wasaccorded full military honourswith service personnel playingLast Post as the casket con-taining the mortal remains wasburied in his family compound.Palani's son performed the lastrites.

The story of Palani hasbecome a local folklore and hewas an inspiration to the vil-lagers, mainly small time farm-ers and casual labourers. “It waspoverty and hunger at homethat made Palani join the armed

forces while he was just 18,” saidKannan Karthikeyan, a localyouth. Karthikeyan said Palaniwas the lone breadwinner ofthe family and saw to it that hissister was married off, youngerbrother educated and he builta house of his own, brick bybrick. “Even as he was workingin the Army, he graduatedthrough distance education.He encouraged his wife Vanathitoo continue her education andshe too graduated,” he said.

But what upset the vil-lagers was Palani could notspent even one night in hisnewly built home, the housewarming of which was com-pleted some months ago. “Forhim duty was top priority. Hehad told us that he would beretiring from Army in anothertwo years and would comeback to settle down in the vil-lage,” said a close relation.

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Ayodhya: The proposed'Bhumi Pujan' programme ofRam temple, scheduled to beheld on July 2, has been putoff in view of the escalationof tension between Indiaand China.

In a statement issued bythe Shri Ram JanmabhoomiTeerth Kshetra Trust, SecretaryChampat Rai, said that thesecurity of the nation wassupreme and the proposed'bhumi pujan' was being put offin view of the prevailing situ-ation.

He said that a fresh datewould be announced afterkeeping all aspects in mind.

UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath also cancelled hisscheduled visit to Ayodhya onThursday. His office had earli-er tweeted that the ChiefMinister would visit Ayodhya

on Thursday to oversee thearrangements for the 'BhumiPujan' programme.

The trust, meanwhile,offered tributes to the armypersonnel who had laid downtheir lives in the Galwan Valleyand asked everyone to pray forthe martyrs from their homes.

The temple trust has alsolaunched its website -https://srjbtkshetra.org/- with-out any fanfare. The websitewill give updates on templeconstruction and related news. IANS

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In the wake of heightened tensions betweenIndia and China along the Line of Actual

Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh sector, theDirector General of Jammu & Kashmir policeDilbagh Singh has warned against fresh strikesby Pakistan based terror outfits on vital secu-rity installations in the region.

DGP also claimed Pakistan will try to infil-trate more terrorists inside the Indian territo-ry and also give impetus to violence in KashmirValley and elsewhere. He said, “a large numberof terrorists are waiting across the differentlaunch pads for an opportunity to infiltrateinside the Indian territory”.

DGP shared these observations while chair-ing a high level security review meeting withsenior officers of the Indian Army, BSF, para-military force and police officers from borderdistricts here in Jammu on Thursday.

IGP BSF Jammu frontier, N.S Jamwal gavea powerpoint presentation with regard tostrengthening of border grid and briefed about

the security plans being made on LoC andInternational border.

In his opening remarks DGP stressed, bor-der areas alongside Pakistan need extra atten-tion in view of the Ladakh developments. Hesaid, “there are reports that Pakistan based ter-rorist outfits Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM),Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Lashkar-e- Toiba(LeT) etc are joining hands to create mischiefsin our Union Territory”.

He also said that there are greater challengesfor which we have to be prepared in thechanged environment. He directed the officersto take care of the vital installations and alsoreview security of the minority population.

Referring to the importance of highwaysecurity in the region, DGP said we have beefedup highway security by deploying in servicemobile patrols and increasing the securitycheckpoints.

He said that our officers and jawans ofPolice, CAPFs, Army are continuing with suc-cessful operations in counter insurgency grid andon borders.

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With the gloom unleashed by coro-navirus looming large over

Maharashtra, Chief Minister UddhavThackeray on Thursday appealed tovarious Ganesh Mandals in Mumbai andother parts of the State to organise the 10-day-long festivities in a simple and cau-tious manner with people-friendly pro-grammes.

Addressing the representatives of var-ious Ganesh Mandals in the metropolisand other parts of the state through video-conferencing, the Chief Minister said:“Like every year, we cannot celebrate thefestival this year, with pomp and gaiety.The threat posed by Covid-19 is not over.We can ill-afford to have crowds. We can-not take out processions. In the backdropof the coronavirus crisis, we will have totake all kinds of precautions”.

“We should know our limits when wecelebrate the festival this year. We have

to keep in mind that under any circum-stance, we will not give a go-by to our richtraditions. At the same time, we shouldbe acutely conscious about theCoronavirus-unleashed situation we areliving in. Hence, I request you to organ-ise the Ganesh festival this year in a sim-ple manner with people friendly pro-grammes,” Uddhav said.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar,Home Minister Anil Deshmukh,Ministers of State for Home Satej Patil andShamburaj Desai, Mumbai Mayor KishoriPednekar were present at the meetingheld through video-conference.

Top bureaucrats, including StateChief Secretary Ajoy Mehta, Director-General of Police Subodh Jaiswal,Mumbai Municipal Commissioner I. S.Chahal, Mumbai Police CommissionerParam Bir Singh, Maharashtra PollutionControl Board representative E.Ravindran were among those present atthe meeting.

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Two terroristswere eliminat-

ed in two differentencounters inPampore andShopian by thejoint teams ofsecurity forces onThursday.

Till the time of filing thereport, the operations werestill going on in the area.

According to Col RajeshKalia, Defence PRO inSrinagar, one terrorist waseliminated by the joint teamsof security forces in Meejarea near Pampore inAwantipora while anotherterrorist entered a nearbymosque to take refuge.

Intermittent firing inthe area went on during the

day. The security forces hadcordoned off the entire areato prevent terrorists hidingin the area from fleeing.

The security forces weretaking all precautions toprevent any collateral dam-age in the area.

In another operation,one more terrorist was neu-tralised by the security forcesin Munand-Bandpava areaof South Kashmir's Shopiandistrict.

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Mumbai Police Constable SKolekar became the toast

of the town on Thursday, aspeople across Mumbai heapedpraise on him for saving the lifeof a 14-day baby that had acci-dentally swallowed a safetypin.

A tweet put out by theMumbai police describingKolekar’s feat went viral, withtwitter users re-tweeting thetweet many hundred timesover and going gaga over thepolice constable’s circumspectdeed that saved the life of a 14-day old infant.

“When in doubt, find yournearest cop! A 14 day old babywas choking on a safety pin hehad accidentally swallowed.PC S.Kolekar spotted the wor-ried parents on the road &rushed the kid to KEM usinghis own vehicle, where thechild received timely treat-ment,” read the tweet put out bythe Mumbai police.

The drama unfolded asKolekar – attached to theWadala Truck Terminal policestation -- noticed that theinfant was choking after swal-lowing a safety pin.

The infant was with theparents who did not know

what to do at thatjuncture.

Acting swiftly, the consta-ble took the infant to the KingEdward Memorial (KEM)Hosp*ital in his motorcycle.Kolekar’s act helped save theinfant.

Within eleven hours afterthe Mumbai police put out thetweet in English and Marathi,more than 900 people re-tweet-ed the tweet andnearly 7000 people liked the

tweet.The tweet elicited scores of

comments. “A big thank you tothis braveheart Policeman. Isalute him from my heart. Weare indeed proud of youMaharashtra Police,” wrote onetwitter user.

“No doubt Mumbai policeis best....I take my pride to sayI live in a country and in a citywhere we are protected byMumbai police.....,” anotherperson wrote.

“You guys are a team ofGods...your service in all areascannot be done by any simpleperson!!,” yet anotherMumbaikar tweeted.

“Great, Salute to Police.Superb example of humanity,”a twitter user said. AnotherMumbaikar wrote: “We proudof you @MumbaiPolice”.

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In a shocking incident, twoclose relatives of a Covid-

19 patient, who died lateWednesday night, diedunder mysterious circum-stances while they wereattending cremation cere-mony in Jammu onThursday.

The district adminis-tration has ordered a mag-isterial inquiry to ascertainthe circumstances leading tothe deaths of two persons.

According to the orderissued by the DistrictMagistrate, Jammu, “duringthe cremation of a deadbody ( on account of Covidrelated death) two personsaccompanying the body forlast rites,became uncon-scious and subsequently

passed away in mysteriouscircumstances on Thursday.Therefore, it is ordered thatthe Additional DistrictMagistrate (Law and order),Jammu shall conduct adetailed inquiry to ascertainthe circumstances leading tothe deaths of two persons”.

“A special board of doc-tors is constituted to conductAutopsy of the dead bodies.Covid test shall also be con-ducted of both the bodies”,the District Magistrate orderstated.

According to a closerelative of a Covid-19patient, “four family mem-bers along with the driver ofan ambulance were provid-ed with PPE kits beforeshifting the dead body of aCovid 19 patient for per-forming the last rites onThursday morning from themortuary of GovernmentMedical college

hospital,Jammu”.He said, the district

administration officers alongwith policemen shifted thebody on the outskirts ofJammu near Sidhra. “Onreaching there, we were toldby the officers to shift thebody on the other side of theTawi river bed where theyhad made arrangements toperform the last rites of theCovid 19 patient”. Due tosultry weather conditions,three out of four membersfell unconscious.

“The family memberclaimed, the team of officersand policemen were stand-ing more than 200 metresaway from us. I raised hueand cry and requested forhelp but no one came for-ward. They didn't evenoffered water to these peo-ple”. He said, i lifted one ofthe relatives and shifted himto GMC hospital in my per-

sonal car. Another person was

rushed to the hospital in anambulance while the thirdperson was lying there in theTawi river bed for aboutseven hours. When the newswent viral on social mediaplatforms, police teamswere rushed to the spot toshift him to the hospital.However, he too wasdeclared brought dead in theGMC hospital.

Meanwhile, a total num-ber of seven deaths werereported in Jammu &Kashmir and 149 fresh casesof coronavirus were detect-ed. According to the mediabulletin, 2 patients died inJammu and five in Kashmirwhile 49 cases were detect-ed in Jammu and 100 inKashmir. The total tally ofcoronavirus cases Thursdaytouched 5,555 with 2,340active positive cases.

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In a small drop in fatalities buta rise in positive cases, as

many as 100 people succumbedto Covid-19 and 3,752 otherstested positive in various partsof Maharashtra on Thursday.

With fresh deaths and newpositive cases, the total numberof deaths mounted to 5,751,while the total infected casesjumped to 1,20,504 in the State.

After taking into accounttotal 5,751 deaths reported sofar and 60,838 patients dis-charged from various hospitalsever since the outbreak of pan-demic in the state, the statehealth authorities pegged thenumber of “active cases” in theState at 53,901.

Of the 100 deaths,Mjumbai accounted for 67deaths, while there were 27deaths in Bhiwandi, four deathsin Thqane and one death inVasai-Virar and Nagpur.

Out of the 100 dead, 66were men while 34 werewomen. Forty five of themaged over 60 years, 46 werefrom the age group 40 to 59years and 9 were aged below 40years. “Eighty four out of 114patients (73.7%) had high-riskco-morbidities such as dia-betes, hypertension and heartdisease, “ a state health bulletinsaid.

As many as 101 laborato-ries --58 government-run and43 private ones --are func-tioning for Covid-19 diagnosisin the state currently. Out of7,17,683 samples sent to lab-oratories, 1,20,504 have testedpositive (16.93%) for Covid-19until Thursday.

With 67 fresh deaths and1298 new positive cases, thetotal number of deaths inMumbai has gone up to 3311while the total infected caseshave jumped to 62,875. Theauthorities said that there were27,700 “active cases” in the city.

While the recovery rate inthe state is 50.49 per cent, thecase fatality rate in the state:4.77 per cent. Currently,5,81,650 people are in homequarantine. There are 92,141beds available in 2,203 quar-antine institutions, while 26,740people are in institutional quar-antine currently.

On the growth rate of casesand doubling time, the statehealth bulletin said: “The firstpatient of Covid-19 was foundin the state on 9th March 2020.In the period of about last 3months, it is seen that thegrowth rate of cases (weeklyaverage) is reducing and thedoubling time of patients isincreasing.

As statistics collated by theState Health department, theweekly average growth of thepandemic spread stood onMarch 31 at 12 per cent whiledoubling time was 3.5. OnApril 30, weekly averagegrowth of the pandemic spreadstood at 7 per cent while dou-bling time was 10.2.

Similarly, the weekly aver-age growth of the pandemicspread stood on May 31 at 4 percent while doubling time was20.1. On June 16, the weeklyaverage growth of the pan-demic spread stood at 3 percent while doubling time was25.9.

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Page 6: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ... · This is India’s main condition. New Delhi cannot accept any-thing short of it, because that would mean conceding

Over the past few weeks, somevery disturbing reports havebeen coming in from theIndia-China border in Ladakhwhere the tension between the

nuclear-armed neighbours has consistent-ly been on the rise. Clashes have beenratcheting up in the region ever since theChinese were reported to have moved intothe Indian side of the Line of ActualControl (LAC). Even though the LAC inthe Galwan Valley was never disputed bythe two sides, the Chinese made an aggres-sive move this time around. The disengage-ment process has been underway since June6 but on Wednesday, in what can be calledthe worst ever violent face-off at the LACin over 45 years, at least 19 Indian jawansand one commanding officer were killed.Thankfully, a mutual agreement betweenthe two countries prevented the use offirearms and bullets. Yet, the fracas wasbrutal with Indian soldiers beaten todeath. As per reports, the Chinese side usedsticks, clubs, bats, bamboos and nailsduring the fight and the Indian side, too,retaliated.

There have been no details regardingthe exact loss of life on the Chinese sidefrom either India or China but somesources have predicted the number, onethat’s obtained from “sources.” The Chineseassault on the Indian Army and itsadvances towards the Indian territory aredeeply concerning and must be met withstern action. The Government must makethe best use of all avenues at its disposal— be it diplomatic or military. I speak foreveryone when I say that the IndianGovernment has our complete support totackle the Chinese threat. However, whatthis must not be taken to mean is blindlycheering an approach that has not reapedany benefits for India until now. The cur-rent threat to our country stems not justfrom the Chinese but must be seen in vary-ing degrees, from other neighbours as well.In these columns, I would like to put forthsome points of observation for theGovernment, the media and us (the Indiancitizens) that can (personally) strengthenIndia’s position. Though this may not befavourable for the BJP. I have little regardfor “sensitivity” of any political party tohandle criticism when it comes to theintegrity of our borders. As it is, we havesuffered repeated attacks from our neigh-bours both militarily (the case of China)and diplomatically (the case of Nepal).Nepal has passed a ConstitutionAmendment Bill to update a map incor-porating Indian territories. India, after all,is not Modi and Modi is not India.

So as to be better prepared to tacklerecent threats to our borders, we cannot dowithout an effective Government. One ofthe basic tenets of an effective Governmentis one that unites its people in cause andfortifies its approach by considering all

voices. On both counts, the rul-ing Government has beenfound wanting. India won’t beable to fight its enemies if itkeeps making enemies its ownpeople.

Even as the country hasbeen fighting a pandemic thathas claimed thousands of lives,the Indian Government hasonly doubled down on itsapproach by arresting dis-senters under sedition chargesor under the UnlawfulActivities Prevention Act.These dissenters are oftenhuman rights activists such asSudha Bharadwaj, who mayhave a view of India that is dif-ferent from one as perceived bythe BJP. But since when has itbecome anti-national to havedifferent views from theGovernment in power?

The BJP itself was a strongOpposition party leading up to2014, raising important ques-tions. Did that make it anti-national? Today, our country ismore divided and polarisedthan ever. The BJP must realisethat an India divided is an Indiaweakened. The buck for anyfailure on this count can onlylie with the Government thathas arrested journalists andpoliticians, transferred bureau-crats and criticised the judicia-ry when any of these stakehold-ers do not toe its position.

Listening to differing voic-

es in Parliament has not beena strong suit of theGovernment either.Parliamentarians, who repre-sent the people of their con-stituencies, are treated as ene-mies of the State when ques-tions are raised on behalf ofthe very Indians they repre-sent. Take the example of thehorrific attacks in Pulwamalast year. Can such a huge fail-ure of intelligence and that ofthe Government remain unex-amined? How weak our coun-try would be if we do not rec-tify the failures that led to pre-vious assaults on our sover-eignty? However, the BJPGovernment did not even dis-cuss the shortcomings thatled to the death of our soldiers.At the same time, it did nothesitate to ask for votes on thisbloodshed.

India needs to take onChina at the global level as wellas fight it out along the borders.This is possible only when theGovernment is respected. Howa country treats its dissenters isthe clearest barometer of therespect the Government com-mands. If the BJP Governmenthas any doubts, it can justlook at China and Pakistan tosee how the international com-munity views our neighbours.

The Press has been espe-cially disappointing. In nosmall measure, it, too, has con-

tributed to this unfortunateposition. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi may be theonly head of a Government inany democracy who has beenso afraid of giving a Press con-ference and has failed to engagehimself during briefings. At atime when we are faced with apandemic and there have beenserious assaults on our sover-eignty, we have not seen thePrime Minister taking ques-tions in any Press conference orbriefing.

Certain segments of themedia will have to take a bulkof the blame. There has been noconcerted demand for thisminimum amount of account-ability. The Prime Minister isonly guilty of taking advantageof the wide berth the media hasafforded him. Even in theChina crisis, where it wasreported that Indian soldiershave been clubbed to death,certain news anchors were alltoo hesitant. One said that theChinese attack has seen many“Cassandras” stand up andspeak in glee. An ill-advisedreference as Cassandra (a fic-tional character) was a prophet-ess whose warnings wentunheeded.

Another said that theattack was not the PrimeMinister’s fault but that of theArmy. The same anchor, how-ever, was in wholesome praise

of the Prime Minister when thesurgical strikes took place eventhough it was the Army whichwas at the forefront. However,if suddenly growing a spine istoo much to ask for, maybe cer-tain news channels can bene-fit from not relying onWhatsApp messages whilereporting the news. This seemslike journalism 101.

Finally, we must examineourselves. While the BJP willhappily talk about banningChinese goods and food (read:Ramdas Athawale, UnionMinister) and we will havepresidents of Resident WelfareAssociations speak in similar-ly aggressive rhetoric, pleaserealise that the greatest servicewe can do to our Governmentis to make it one that we canrespect.

Respect is earned byGovernments by being honestand holding themselvesaccountable. If they refuse tohold themselves accountable,then it is the citizen’s responsi-bility to do so. If we manage toachieve this much, we canhave as much Chinese food aswe want and save our televi-sions and phones because wewill then have something theChinese do not: A responsibledemocratic Government.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer, a former MP and cur-rently a member of the AAP)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “China provokes, again” (June17). By now it is clear that India’sforeign policy is in need of a com-plete overhaul. The PrimeMinister’s policy of hugs andhand-holding has failed to createany impact. Instead of the pre-dictable response of de-escalation,diplomacy and secret compro-mise, this time, New Delhi musttake a firm stand and demon-strate that it is prepared for long-drawn military tensions along theborder. The reason why Chinahas had an upper hand is not justto do with the military power.Economically, too, India is large-ly interdependent on it.

Post the tensions at the border,there has been a rising chorus toinvigorate domestic production soas to end our dependence onChinese products. This is doableprovided local manufacturing isbeefed up. India needs to be self-reliant. Localisation will also helpgenerate more jobs and increaseforeign exchange savings, too.High time the Modi Governmentundertakes structural reforms.

Yugal Kishore SharmaFaridabad

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “China provokes, again” (June17). The way things were build-ing up since May 5, when a vio-lent face-off happened at PangongTso, an eyeball-to-eyeball con-frontation in the Galwan Valleywas almost on the cards. Now we

have lost 20 of our soldiers in theworst clash with China since1967. This physical skirmish withthe People’s Liberation Army(PLA) — in which the Chineseoutnumbered us — led to initialcasualties for us. Though we alsotook revenge and Chinese soldiersdied, it is indeed a grave situation.Arms can also come into the pic-ture later. Now we all would

expect retaliation on both eco-nomic and diplomatic fronts butbefore that, our Government willhave to take ownership as to whywe have been indulgent to manyChinese intrusions in recent yearsand why we did not take toughmeasures earlier and allowedthings come to this.

Bal Govind Noida

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Sir — Sushant Singh Rajput wasone of the most promising actorsof his generation. It is difficult toaccept that he will no longergrace the silver screen. He stoodapart from his contemporarieswith his cheerful personality andinfectious smile. In spite of achiev-ing success, he remained humbleand true to his roots. Whatevermay have been the reason for hissuicide, authorities must conducta thorough investigation.

Tushar AnandPatna

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Sir — Many people working inthe entertainment industry sufferfrom immense stress and anxiety;yet when they appear on ourscreens, they do so with a smile.People suffering from depressionmust confide in a loved one orconsult a doctor which might helpease their pain.

ShivangiVia email

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With the Nepalese Parliament approvinga new map through a constitutionalamendment to legalise Lipulekh,

Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as part of Nepal, theOli Government in Kathmandu has struck asevere blow to India-Nepal ties. With thePresident’s assent as the next step in the line,Indo-Nepal ties are headed south. KP SharmaOli’s claim that Nepal would “get back the landoccupied by India” is inflammatory to say theleast. At best, the decision to change the map isonly nominal, bringing no geographic or sov-ereignty gains for Nepal on the ground. At itsworst, it could prove to be an irreversible down-ward spiral for Indo-Nepal ties.

Although the immediate trigger for this lat-est irritant in ties has been a road that India inau-gurated connecting the Lipulekh Pass, whichNepal claims as its territory, there has been aseries of incidents affecting the relationshipbetween the two neighbours. On May 13,Nepal deployed its Armed Police Force (APF)near Kalapani at Chhangu, on the Nepalese sideof the border. Most recently, Nepali policeopened indiscriminate fire on Indians at theIndia-Nepal border in Sitamarhi district in Bihar,killing a farmer and injuring four others.

The ongoing Lipulekh issue between Indiaand Nepal has created yet another imbroglio thatrisks derailing bilateral relations. Only this timethe steps taken by Kathmandu seem irre-versibly definitive.

Nepal’s new-found desire for assertion of itssovereignty has to be seen in three broad con-texts. First, the Oli Government’s domestic polit-ical agenda thrives on an anti-India discourse.As such, the constitutional amendment is a toolbeing used by the Prime Minister to consolidatehis position within the Nepal CommunistParty. In this regard, a domestically unifying nar-rative built on an external “national security”threat is all he needs.

Kathmandu’s growing confidence in Chinato fill the strategic void, should ties with Indiaderail completely, is all too clear with Chineseinvestment patterns in Nepal and its leadership’sgrowing proximity with Beijing. Plus, Nepal’ssteps psychologically signal a strategic versionof the Napoleon Complex where a much small-er nation seeks parity with a big power next doorthrough overly-aggressive political steps,notwithstanding the deficit in its capabilities.

An international confrontation purposeful-ly stoked to fuel a domestic constituency seldompays dividends in inter-State relations. Such stepsmay result in domestic political gains but thesedo not last for more than one electoral cycle.More importantly, the international ramificationsof such a step may be as unavoidably lasting incharacter. While the domestic consternation isbuilt up for a long-term gain, the internationalfallout is almost immediate. In Nepal, a domes-tically-charged politics focussed on an externalaggressor may incite domestic adrenaline andtranslate into political consolidation but itsimpact on inter-State relations could be irrepara-ble.

Anti-Indianism has proved beneficial to theNepali leadership in domestic elections but thestrategic gain that the current dispensation ledby Oli has sought to extract by criticising Indiais more than any time in the past. With Nepal’sassertions through a redrawn map and parlia-mentary approval on the same, India’s counter-assertions on the sovereignty issue and its “snub-

bing” of repeated requests for talks byKathmandu since the Kalapani issue,both sides seem to have hardened theirpositions. What is concerning is that thebilateral relationship may be gradual-ly sliding into an irreversible down-grade.

Beside the aforementioned specif-ically-pertinent contexts for Nepal’sbrinkmanship, there are two broadercontexts that find parallels elsewhere inrecent global events. On one hand,hardening sovereignty for States —from big to small — has becomealmost in vogue. US President DonaldTrump’s “Mexican Wall”, China’srenewed push around the “Nine-Dash-Line” along with the ongoing assertionsacross the Line of Actual Control(LAC), Turkey’s reinforced position onparts of Cyprus and so on have allshown a similar trend in State-sover-eignty relations.

However, in most cases this rein-forcement flows from a more powerfulcountry to the lesser one. Nepal seemsto have reversed that trend by eschew-ing the diplomatic route to resolve aborder dispute with India.

On the other hand, there are States,particularly the US, led by Trump,which have prioritised domestic needsby pandering to the domestic electoralconstituency at the cost of external rela-tions, even well-established ones liketrans-Atlantic ties or its non-NATOallies like Japan and South Korea.

Oli seems to have taken a leaf outof Trump’s playbook. He has agreed torisk years of a “special relationship” rid-ing on an open border, free movementof people, the Nepalese people’s rightto work, well-respected GorkhaRegiments in the Indian Army andinter-State marriages establishing themuch-revered “roti-beti (livelihood-daughter)” relationship for domestic

political gains and perhaps an incite-ment from China. The question thatemerges is whether Kathmandu’s stepsagainst Indo-Nepal relations are worththe risk?

It is a different matter that to India,which is the largest and most benignneighbour sitting at the altar of greatpower capabilities. Even a small recip-rocal step in response to the decisionsof its smaller neighbours would seemseeped in heavy-handedness. Thiscould very well be a miscalculation inthe Indian response to its neighbour-hood policy. The sense of parity in rela-tionship that smaller States of SouthAsia today desire with their big neigh-bour India has a calculated differencevis-a-vis the uplift that they seek withregard to China.

This has to do with three criticalfactors: Smaller States’ relative assess-ment of India’s capabilities vis-a-visChina; India’s non-muscular foreignpolicy orientation which has its policyof non-intervention and zero-threatwrit large on it; and most importantly— as in the case of Nepal — China’sability to provide credible alternativesto India in these States.

Both India and Nepal seem to havehardened their stance on the issue ofclaimed sovereignty. At such a juncture,bilateral relationship, especially givenits inflexible traits, should be treatedpragmatically. Nostalgia in inter-Staterelations is both good and bad.

At a time when South Asian States,from the Maldives and Sri Lanka toNepal and some would say evenBhutan, have hardened their sovereign-ty vis-a-vis India, New Delhi, shouldnot count on nostalgia to deal with stepsthat have marked decisions from itsneighbours entrenched in realpolitik.And, that might not be a bad idea.Nostalgia in India-Nepal relations is

good but it has perhaps served its pur-pose. Dragging it beyond its shelf-lifemay produce results contrary to expec-tations.

Perhaps, India is thinking of a resetin its ties with Nepal too. India’s criti-cism of Nepal’s move to bring out a newmap as “artificial enlargement of claims”sets a clear path of a non-negotiablebilateral relationship forward. It ispossible that New Delhi goes aheadnormally with its relationship withNepal and ignores Kathmandu’s deci-sion.

For India, this could require strate-gic reconciling of its amour-propre asthe larger power of the two. Thiscould in turn depend on the next stepsby the Oli Government, especially onmatters that impinge on its relationswith India.

Kathmandu’s tighter embrace ofBeijing could mean a further constrict-ed road for Delhi-Kathmandu relations— more so, if Nepal decides to involveChina in building border infrastructureof any kind. A more directly confronta-tional way for Nepal could be the inter-nationalisation of the dispute by drag-ging India to the International Courtof Justice.

New Delhi should consider alloptions going forward, as it is not with-out precedent that India has beendragged in a dispute by a smaller neigh-bour to international arbitration. Indiashould watch out for any display of theNapoleon Complex in Nepal’s Statebehaviour, especially with China lurk-ing in the background. Kathmandu’sdomestic pandering could very well becomplemented by an internationalgrandstanding backed by victimhood.

(Mishra is deputy director, KIIPS,Bhubaneswar and research fellow, ICWAwhile Meena is Assistant Professor ofPolitical Science, PG DAV, BHU)

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The impact of the pandemic onthe economy has been acute andthe Reserve Bank of India’s

(RBI’s) Monetary Policy Committee(MPC), led by Governor ShaktikantaDas, recently said it was important totake into account the weak growthmomentum. It pointed to the need forprioritising growth in view of the less-risky inflation outlook, while alsoensuring that financial conditionsremain benign when a recovery takesplace, in order to sustain confidence.

The future: Though the MPC

refrained from providing any forecaston the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) growth, members said theyexpect the economy to contract in thecurrent fiscal year and noted that agri-culture and allied activities have pro-vided the only silver lining till now.

Chief Economic AdvisorKrishnamurthy Subramanian alsospoke about the downside risk to theeconomy and GDP contraction in thefirst quarter (Q1) of the Financial Year(FY) 21. He further said that thiswould lead to a fiscal deficit of overfive per cent of the GDP in FY21. ForFY20, the fiscal deficit came in at 4.6per cent of the GDP, compared withthe revised estimate of 3.8 per cent andthe Budget estimate of 3.3 per cent. Ithad breached the 0.5 per cent escapeclause, which the Fiscal Responsibilityand Budget Management Act, 2003(FRBM Act) allows.

A complex economy: Now, asIndia begins to open up after a pro-

longed lockdown, hotels, restaurantsand other hospitality services andshopping malls have been permittedto open. The lockdown, however, willcontinue in containment zones tillJune 30. High-frequency data isalready showing a pick-up in activityin the Indian economy and the easingof the lockdown is a clear positive. Butactual recovery depends on the pos-itive mindset of the people and theirpurchasing power. India’s growthstory is basically a consumption-based one. India has a multi-layeredeconomy with the rural-urban econ-omy on one hand and the organised-unorganised one on the other. Thismakes the situation challenging foranyone to come up with one simplesolution which would work. Hence,solutions should also be multi-layeredand ones that can be woven intoanother solution best suit the need ofthe Indian economy.

The ground reality: Many peo-

ple have lost their jobs due to the lock-down and many have experiencedsalary cuts. This might lead to a struc-tural change in business because wemight encounter a situation whereconsumers start spending on essentialitems only. Plus, even though mallshave opened, it will be a while beforepeople start thronging them becauseof the need for social distancing. Insuch a situation, the big gainers willbe the e-commerce firms.

The guidelines for the much-hyped collateral-free and automaticloans, too, are yet to reach bankbranches and MSMEs are literallystruggling to get their share. In this sit-uation, interest and capital subsidy tosuch loans could be provided byStates, too. We have seen all supportto businesses coming from the CentralGovernment but nothing from States.When taxes are collected by States, itis disheartening to see them shyingaway from their responsibility to sup-

port regional businesses during acrisis. If these conditions of job uncer-tainty and low demand sustain, theeconomy could enter a recessionarycycle and people might end up defer-ring all non-essential expenditure,which would kill short to medium-term recovery.

The way forward: TheGovernment should provide relief oninterest, late fee and penalty on bothDirect Taxes and Indirect Taxes. TheGoods and Services Tax Councilshould waive any sort of late fee andpenalty and make provisions forrefunding the same. Waiver of inter-est for the moratorium period will alsohelp the cash-starved middle class.

The Government should under-stand that recovery will not come inthe short term and, therefore, tospeed up the process, it should hikecapital expenditure and announcesome big projects.

Alternatively, when the

Government can see that demand hascollapsed and growth in FY21 isheaded towards negative territory,then instead of infusing more liquid-ity by reducing repo rates, loans andso on, the Government should starttaking fiscal measures. All the mea-sures the Government has taken tilldate are mostly on the supply side andnot the demand side.

Before the pandemic struck theworld, India was facing an economicslowdown and last year, too, theactions taken by the Centre to reme-dy the situation were on the supplyside, like reduction in corporate taxrates, hoping for some investmentsfrom positive cash flows and savingfrom tax outlays.

The Government should alsoconcentrate and channelise its effortsin welcoming companies moving outof China as India still continues toenjoy the trust of foreign investors andits banking system remains healthy.

But that might not be sufficient tomake the proposal lucrative. TheGovernment has announced the set-ting up of a high-level EmpoweredGroup of Secretaries, to be chaired bythe Cabinet Secretary and a ProjectDevelopment Cell (PDC) in min-istries/departments with a view toattracting investments to the country.This is the right way forward but workshould be done at a faster pace.

To deal with the current econom-ic crisis, India must find the right bal-ance between leaning towards a highfiscal deficit and ensuring financial sta-bility. In all likelihood, theGovernment would come up with afresh round of stimulus package in theshort to medium-term. Only time willtell how deeply negative the growthwill be. The economic situation isbleak but there is a silver lining inevery crisis. We just need to find ours.

(The writer is an author and GSTand economics specialist)

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President Donald Trump“pleaded” with China’s Xi

Jinping during a 2019 summitto help his reelection prospects,according to a scathing newbook by former Trump adviserJohn Bolton that accuses thepresident of being driven bypolitical calculations when mak-ing national security decisions.

The White House workedfuriously to block the book,asking a federal court for anemergency temporary restrain-ing order on Wednesdayagainst its release.

Bolton’s allegations thatTrump solicited Chinese helpfor his reelection effort carriedechoes of Trump’s attempt toget political help from Ukraine,which led to his impeachment.

“I am hard-pressed to iden-tify any significant Trump deci-sion during my tenure thatwasn’t driven by re-election cal-culations,” Bolton wrote.

The 577-page book paintsan unvarnished portrait ofTrump and his administra-tion, amounting to the mostvivid, first-person account yetof how Trump conducts him-self in office. Several otherformer officials have writtenbooks, but most have been flat-

tering about the president.Other former officials haveindicated they were savingtheir accounts of their timeworking for Trump until afterhe left office in order to speakmore candidly. The AssociatedPress obtained a copy ofBolton’s book in advance of itsrelease next week.

Bolton, Trump’s nationalsecurity adviser for a 17-monthperiod, called Trump’s attemptto shift the June 2019 conver-sation with Xi to the U.S. elec-tion a stunning move, andwrote that it was among innu-merable conversations that hefound concerning. He addedthat Congress should haveexpanded the scope of itsimpeachment inquiry to theseother incidents.

Deeply critical of the pres-ident and much of his seniorteam, Bolton wrote thatbecause staff had served him sopoorly, Trump “saw conspira-cies behind rocks, andremained stunningly unin-formed on how to run theWhite House, let alone thehuge federal government.” Headded that while he was at theWhite House, Trump typical-ly had only two intelligencebriefings a week “and in mostof those, he spoke at greater

length than the briefers, oftenon matters completely unre-lated to the subjects at hand.”

Trump was asked about thebook Wednesday on Fox NewsChannel’s “Hannity.” He turnedto personal insults, callingBolton a “washed-up guy. Igave him a chance.”

He also took issue withcopies of the book beingreleased. “He broke the law.Very simple. I mean, as muchas it’s going to be broken.”Trump said. “It’s highly classi-fied information and he did nothave approval.”

The book also includesembarrassing claims thatTrump thought Finland waspart of Russia, didn’t know thatthe United Kingdom was anuclear power and calledreporters “scumbags” whoshould be “executed.”

As for the meeting with theChinese president in Osaka,Japan, Bolton wrote that Trumptold Xi that Democrats werehostile to China.

“He then, stunningly,turned the conversation to thecoming U.S. presidential elec-tion, alluding to China’s eco-nomic capability to affect theongoing campaigns, pleadingwith Xi to ensure he’d win,”Bolton said. “He stressed theimportance of farmers, andincreased Chinese purchases ofsoybeans and wheat in theelectoral outcome.”

Bolton wrote that he would

print Trump’s exact words,“but the government’s pre-publication review process hasdecided otherwise.”

The book, titled “TheRoom Where It Happened: AWhite House Memoir,” is set tobe released Tuesday by Simon& Schuster. It has been the sub-ject of a lengthy battle betweenBolton and the White House.

The Justice Departmentfiled suit Tuesday in an effortto delay publication of thebook, claiming it still con-tained highly classified infor-mation and that a requiredreview by the National SecurityCouncil had not been con-cluded. According to the filing,a career official determined noclassified material remainedin April, but national securityadviser Robert O’Brien initiat-ed a secondary review thatdeemed additional informa-tion to be classified.

The White House’s con-tention that so much of thebook was classified appeared tobe a tacit admission that manyof Bolton’s allegations wereaccurate — as inaccurate infor-mation could not be classified.

Bolton wrote that, due tothe review process, he made“numerous changes to themanuscript in order to obtainclearance to publish, the vastbulk of which, in my view, didnot change the facts set forth.”He said in some cases he wasasked to add phrases like, “in

my view,” to make it clear hewas expressing his opinioninstead of relying on sensitiveinformation. In others, he wasasked to describe things moregenerally. He was asked toremove quotation marks near-ly every time he recounts con-versation between Trump andforeign leaders and himselfand foreign leaders.

U.S. Trade RepresentativeRobert Lighthizer saidWednesday that he attended ameeting between Trump andXi at the Group of 20 nationsin Osaka, but he never heardTrump pleading with Xi to buymore agriculture products toensure he would win reelection.Lighthizer spoke at a Senatehearing on trade issues and wasasked about Bolton’s recollec-tion of events.

“Absolutely untrue. Neverhappened. I was there. I haveno recollection of that everhappening. I don’t believe it’strue. I don’t believe it ever hap-pened,” Lighthizer said. “WouldI recollect something as crazyas that? Of course, I would rec-ollect it.”

Bolton wrote that he raisedsome of his concerns aboutTrump’s conversations withforeign leaders with AttorneyGeneral William Barr, andflagged similar worries withWhite House attorneys andSecretary of State MikePompeo.

“The pattern looked like

obstruction of justice as a wayof life, which we couldn’taccept,” he wrote.

Justice Departmentspokeswoman Kerri Kupecdenied in a statement that Barrhad ever expressed thatTrump’s conversations withforeign leaders were improper.

Trump continually pan-dered to Xi, Bolton wrote. At aWhite House Christmas dinnerin 2018, Bolton said Trumpasked why the U.S. was sanc-tioning China over its treat-ment of Uighurs. China sus-pects Uighurs, who are pre-dominantly Muslim and cul-turally and ethnically distinctfrom the majority Han Chinesepopulation, of harboring sep-aratist tendencies. In recentyears, China has dramaticallyescalated its campaign againstthem by detaining more than1 million people in intern-ment camps and prisons, whichit calls vocational training cen-ters.

“At the opening dinner ofthe Osaka G-20 meeting, withonly interpreters present, Xiexplained to Trump why hewas basically building concen-tration camps in Xinjiang,”Bolton wrote. “According toour interpreter, Trump saidthat Xi should go ahead withbuilding the camps, which hethought was exactly the rightthing to do. “

Bolton’s claim that Trumpwas appealing to China to

assist his reelection effortcomes as the president’srhetoric toward the U.S. geopo-litical rival has grown moreacerbic in response to the coro-navirus pandemic. But it mayundercut the Trump reelectioncampaign’s efforts, evidenced inrecent television ads and pub-lic statements to paint pre-sumptive Democratic nomineeJoe Biden as soft on China.

In the book, Boltondescribes every Trump decisionas being guided by concerns forhis own reelection, a claim thatevokes the scandal that sparkedTrump’s impeachment last year.

The book alleges thatTrump directly tied providingmilitary aid to Ukraine to thecountry’s willingness to con-duct investigations into theBidens. In one conversation,Trump said “he wasn’t in favorof sending them anything untilall the Russia-investigationmaterials related to Clinton andBiden had been turned over,”Bolton writes.

Trump’s decision to with-hold military assistance toUkraine until it agreed to inves-tigate Biden led the House tocharge Trump was abusing hispower. The aid was ultimatelyreleased once the hold-upbecame public. The GOP-con-trolled Senate ultimately acquit-ted the president on that countand a count of obstructingCongress’ investigation of theincident.

���� 3C�/C��

As the race intensifies for a vaccineagainst the new coronavirus, rich

countries are rushing to place advanceorders for the inevitably limited supply toguarantee their citizens get immunisedfirst — leaving significant questionsabout whether developing countries willget any vaccines in time to save livesbefore the pandemic ends.

Earlier this month, the UnitedNations, the International Red Cross andRed Crescent, and others said it was a“moral imperative” that everyone haveaccess to a “people’s vaccine.” But suchgrand declarations are unenforceable, andwithout a detailed strategy, the allocationof vaccines could be inequitable andextremely messy, said health experts.

“We have this beautiful picture ofeveryone getting the vaccine, but there is noroad map on how to do it,” said Yuan QiongHu, a senior legal and policy adviser atDoctors Without Borders in Geneva. Fewmeasures have been taken to resolvenumerous problems for achieve fair distri-bution, she said. In the past, Hu said, com-panies have often applied for patents fornearly every step of a vaccine’s developmentand production: from the biological mate-rial like cell lines used, to the preservativeneeded to stretch vaccine doses and evenhow the shots are administered.

“We can’t afford to face these multi-ple layers of private rights to create a ‘peo-ple’s vaccine,’” she said.

Speaking at a vaccine summit earli-er this month that addressed the thornyissue of equitable distribution, GhanaianPresident Nana Akufo-Addo agreed.

“Only a people’s vaccine with equal-ity and solidarity at its core can protectall of humanity from the virus,” he said.

At a summit with African leaders onWednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinpingsaid countries in Africa would be “among

the first to benefit” once a COVID-19 vac-cine is developed and deployed in China,but no deals were announced to back uphis promise.

Worldwide, about a dozen potentialCOVID-19 vaccines are in early stages oftesting. While some could move into late-stage testing later this year if all goes well,it’s unlikely any would be licensed beforeearly next year at the earliest. Still,numerous rich countries have alreadyordered some of these experimentalshots and expect delivery even before theyare granted marketing approval.

Britain and the U.S. have spent mil-lions of dollars on various vaccine can-didates, including one being developed byOxford University and manufactured byAstraZeneca. In return, both countries areexpected to get priority treatment; theBritish government declared that if thevaccine proves effective, the first 30 mil-lion doses would be earmarked forBritons. Separately AstraZeneca signed anagreement to make at least 300 milliondoses available for the U.S., with the firstbatches delivered as early as October. Ina briefing Tuesday, senior Trump admin-istration officials said there will be a tieredsystem to determine who in America isoffered the first vaccine doses. Tiers like-ly would include groups most at risk ofsevere disease and workers performingessential services.

Last week, the European Unionmoved to ensure its own supply. OnSaturday, AstraZeneca struck a deal witha vaccines group forged by Germany,France, Italy and the Netherlands tosecure 400 million doses by the end of theyear. Among several global efforts under-way to try to ensure developing countriesdon’t get left behind is an “advance mar-ket commitment” from the vaccinesalliance GAVI, whose CEO has warnedcountries about the dangers of vaccinesnot being available globally.

SEOUL: South Korea said onThursday it hasn’t detectedany suspicious activities byNorth Korea, a day after itthreatened with provocativeacts at the border in violationof a 2018 agreement to reducetensions.

North Korea said it wouldsend troops to mothballedinter-Korean cooperation siteson its territory, rebuild guardposts and restart military drillsat the northern side of the bor-der with South Korea. Thosesteps would nullify the 2018deals that ban both Koreasfrom taking any hostile actsagainst each other.

Kim Jun-rak, a spokesmanat Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff,told reporters that there havebeen no signs indicating NorthKorea had started to carry outits threats. He said South Koreawill maintain a firm militaryreadiness to deal with any sit-uations. On Wednesday, SouthKorea’s military warned NorthKorea will face unspecifiedconsequences if it violates theagreements. AP

����� "'*�1*

Taiwan will open a specialoffice next month to deal

with Hong Kongers wanting tomove to the island, includingthose seeking sanctuary for“political reasons”, theGovernment said Thursday.

The announcement comesafter President Tsai Ing-wenpledged last month a human-itarian “action plan” for HongKongers pushing for democra-cy in the financial hub.

Tsai’s Government willcover “necessary expenses” forthose who come to Taiwanbecause their freedom andsafety are under threat, saidChen Ming-tong, chairman ofthe Mainland Affairs Council,the island’s top China policy-making body.

“In the past the NGOswere basically doing that butnow the government will standup and finance the expense,”Chen said.

�� � "1.,'�

Iran test fired cruise missilesin a naval exercise in the Gulf

of Oman and northern IndianOcean, state media reported onThursday.

The report by the officialIRNA news agency said themissiles destroyed targets at adistance of 280 kilometers (170miles). It said the tests tookplace during a naval drill byIran’s navy in the Gulf of Omanand Indian Ocean.

IIRNA said the missiles’range can be extended butgave no details.

The news agency said twokinds of missiles were fired,without elaborating, andbroadcast images of projectilesbeing launched from both atruck and a ship, hitting abuoyant target in the sea.

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When the coronavirusflared in China’s capital

this week, Beijing canceledflights, suspended reopeningsand described the situation as“extremely grave.”

But with cases rising insome US states, local officials have balked at evenrequiring people to wear masks.

In the United States, whichhas the most confirmed casesand deaths in the world,authorities wrestledWednesday with balancingdemands for constitutionalrights and personal freedomwith warnings from healthofficials that being lax willhave deadly consequences.

China responded to a newoutbreak in Beijing by scrap-ping more than 60 per cent ofits flights to the capital, can-celing classes and strengthen-ing requirements for socialdistancing.

It was a sharp retreat forthe nation that declared victo-ry over COVID-19 in March.

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Europe grappled onThursday with local spikes

in coronavirus infections as thecontinent’s lockdown restric-tions eased, after hundreds ofcases were found at one meat-packing plant in Germany andGreece had to impose a totalseven-day lockdown on onevillage.

The developments cameeven as a new outbreak inBeijing saw a decline in dailycases and Hong KongDisneyland reopened after amajor drop in infections in theChinese territory.

In western Germany, healthofficials in Guetersloh onWednesday said the number ofn e wCovid-19 cases linked to theToennies slaughterhouse inRheda-Wiedenbrueck had risento 657, a significant regionalspike for a country that hasrecorded daily nationwide infections in the lowhundreds lately.

“It’s no coincidence that theToennies slaughterhouse hasbecome the next hotspot ofcoronavirus infections,” saidFreddy Adjan, the deputychairman of the NGG unionthat represents workers in thefood and drinks industry.

He said workers employedby sub-contractors face “cata-strophic working and livingconditions.”

Germany is widely consid-ered to have handled the pan-demic well. The infection ratedeclined sharply after author-ities imposed nationwide socialdistancing rules in March andthe daily case increase hasaveraged between 300-400 inJune.

Germany has recorded1,88,474 confirmed Covid-19cases and 8,844 deaths — about one-fifthof Britain’s death toll.

Greek authorities onThursday imposed a full lock-down on Echinos, which has apopulation of around 3,000, inthe northeastern province of

Xanthi, after a spike in casesand deaths, while the smallBalkan nation of Monetenegroreported new infections afterweeks of having no positivecases..

All residents of Echinoswere under curfew, allowed toleave their homes only to buyfood or medication and onlywhile wearing masks, after 73new coronavirus cases andfour deaths were registered inthe last week.

Greece has been widelypraised for managing to con-tain its outbreak, with only 187virus-related deaths and justover 3,200 confirmed cases.

In neighbouring Turkey,authorities made wearingmasks mandatory in threemajor cities, including thefinancial hub of Istanbul andthe capital of Ankara, followingan increase in confirmed casessince many businesses wereallowed to reopen.

In China, an outbreakdetected in a wholesale marketin the capital last week hasinfected at least 158 people inthe country’s largest resur-gence since the initial out-

break was brought under con-trol in March. The city report-ed 21 new cases of Covid-19 onThursday, down from 31 onWednesday.

City officials said closecontacts of market workers, vis-itors and other connectionswere being traced to locate allfurther cases as quickly as pos-sible.

The United States, mean-while, has been increasing pres-sure on China’s leaders to revealwhat they know about thepandemic. US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo “stressedthe need for full transparencyand information sharing tocombat the ongoing Covid-19pandemic and prevent futureoutbreaks,” the US StateDepartment said about hismeeting with the CommunistParty’s top diplomat, YangJiechi.

Pompeo has joinedPresident Donald Trump incriticising China’s response tothe outbreak, including claim-ing that the virus may haveemerged from a Chinese labo-ratory in Wuhan.

China is also being called

on to relieve the virus’ financialconsequences in Africa.

South Africa’s PresidentCyril Ramaphosa addressedChinese leader Xi Jinping dur-ing an online China-Africasummit and reminded Chinathat African nations are seeking significant debtrelief as they battle the pandemic.

African nations are holdinga high-level conference nextweek on coronavirus vaccinesto “position ourselves to not be left behind” in accessto the drugs, John Nkengasong,head of the Africa Centres forDisease Control andPrevention, said Thursday.

He said the WHO chiefwould attend the talks thatwould also focus on “how wecan manufacture a vaccineourselves,” noting that severalcountries, including Senegal,Egypt and South Africa,already have vaccine manufac-turing capabilities.

Africa’s 54 nations havebeen deeply concerned aboutgetting access to testing andmedical supplies amid intenseglobal competition.

���� 2'�.*�5"C�

Vice-President Mike Pence says the USresponse to the coronavirus pandemic

is “a cause for celebration”, but a new pollfinds more than half of Americans calling itfair or poor.

The Gallup and West Health survey outThursday found that 57% of US adults ratedthe national response to COVID-19 as fairor poor, particularly in light of the fact thatAmerica has the world’s most expensivehealth care system.

The numbers amount to a flashingwarning for President Donald Trump and hisWhite House team, eager to change the nar-rative from projections that show a growingnumber of US pandemic deaths to a story ofAmerican resilience and economic revital-ization that reinforces his reelection bid.

In a Wall Street Journal opinion articlepublished Wednesday, Pence castigated thenews media for focusing on rising COVID-19 cases in states like Texas and Arizona.

“We’ve slowed the spread, we’ve cared forthe most vulnerable, we’ve saved lives, andwe’ve created a solid foundation for whateverchallenges we may face in the future,” wrotePence, who leads the White House coron-avirus task force.

“That’s a cause for celebration, not themedia’s fear mongering.”

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Union Minister NitinGadkari on Thursday

asked Indian companies toboost their electric vehicletechnology and find alterna-tives to lithium-ion batteries tomake India the largest manu-facturing hub in the world forelectric vehicles. He said theworld is now no more inter-ested in doing business withChina.

“I am confident that in fiveyears Indian will become thenumber one hub for manufac-turing electric buses, cars andtwo-wheelers. There is also ablessing in disguise that major-ity of countries are not inter-ested in dealing with Chinaanymore. So, now there is ahuge potential for India,”Gadkari said.

He was talking at a webi-nar, titled ‘India’s electric vehi-cle roadmap post COVID-19’.Gadkari’s push for makingIndia self-reliant in EV pro-duction comes amid height-ened tensions between Indiaand China following the bor-der clash on the interveningnight of June 15-16 that left 20Indian Army soldiers dead.

Gadkari said, with petro-leum fuel being available inlimited quantity, the world hasto look for alternate and cheapsources of power. He said,electric and bio fuels stand agood chance for adoption. Healso indicated towards theensuing vehicle scrapping pol-icy, and commented that it willgive a fillip to auto manufac-turing sector. The Ministerrecalled the London model ofpublic transport, where privateand public investment is work-ing well. He said, adoptingsimilar approach will be ben-eficial for both the poor com-muters and the civic adminis-tration. He indicated towardsworking on a pilot project fordeveloping an electric highwayon the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai Green Corridor.

Gadkari expressed full con-fidence in the capabilities of theauto sector, and said, with con-sistency and self confidence inthis economic crisis, it can

gather good market opportu-nities. He also called upon theindustry to go in for indigeni-sation and support PrimeMinister’s ‘AtmNirbhar BharatAbhiyan.’

More than 80 per cent of allEVs produced globally comesfrom China. The country alsohas the largest reserves of lithi-um in the world, thereby help-ing it establish a near monop-oly in the lithium ion cell mar-ket. Lithion ion is the heart ofa modern-day EV, which storeselectricity that is used as fuel topower vehicles.

Only in recent years didIndia give up older generationlead acid type batteries to shiftto lithium ion. Even thoughmost components going into anEV are manufactured in India,battery cells have to be import-ed from China.

Leading electric vehiclemodels such as Bajaj Chetak,Mahindra Treo and Ather 450,in addition to almost half adozen electric bus makingcompanies, rely on battery cellsimported from China. MaheshBabu, MD and CEO, MahindraElectric Mobility, said, “Weimport only the battery cellsand everything else is made inIndia by us.”

“It is time for Indian scien-tists, innovators and startups tofind out Indian alternatives toeverything. We should not bedependent on anybody. Anyscheme which will help usbecome self-dependent, gov-ernment can think about extend-ing support to them. I am awarethat there are issues about lithi-um ion batteries and other com-ponents, but today startups areworking on different technolo-gies. We have to look for importssubstitution, particularly for bat-teries,” Gadkari stated.

Gadkari also mentionedabout a possibility of offeringincome tax benefits forresearch undertaken in thisfield. “For the purpose ofresearch, every industry shouldhave a research wing. If you cangive me a proposal and if thereis any need for income tax con-cession, we can work on it.Every manufacturer should dohis own research,” he said.

����� �12�/13.*

The Centre on Thursdayinformed the Supreme

Court that the Department ofTelecommunications (DoT)has decided to withdraw 96 percent of the �4 lakh croredemand for AGR related duesraised against non-telecomPSUs like GAIL.

The top court also said thatprivate telecom companiesincluding Bharti Airtel,Vodafone Idea must come outwith a “reasonable paymentplan” and asked them to filetheir books of accounts for thelast 10 years.

It then fixed the AGR(adjusted gross revenue) duescase for further considerationin the third week of July.Telecom firms have to payAGR related dues along withinterest and penalty - an esti-mated to be around � 1.6 lakhcrore.

A bench of Justices ArunMishra, S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah was informed bySolicitor General Tushar Mehtathat the DoT has filed an affi-davit explaining the reasons forhaving raised the demandagainst the PSUs.

He said the decision to nowwithdraw 96 per cent of the

demand is taken keeping inmind that these firms are noton the business of providingtelecom services.

The top court had on June11 slammed the DoT for rais-ing the AGR related hugedemand from non-telecomPSUs and had asked it to recon-sider the move, saying thatusing its earlier verdict on theissue to do so was “totallyimpermissible”.

Senior advocate MukulRohatgi, appearing forVodafone Idea, said that it hasalready paid Rs 7,000 crore tothe DoT, but presently keepingin mind the “precarious” finan-

cial condition, it was not in aposition to furnish any bankguarantee.

The “ship was barely afloat”and the telecom firm was notmaking profits for several quar-ters, Rohatgi said, adding thatit already has �15,000 crore inguarantees for spectrum licencewith the Government.

Senior advocate AbhishekManu Singhvi, appearing forBharti Airtel, said that thecompany and the DoT willhave to decide on calculation ofdues.

DoT sought time from thebench, hearing the matterthrough video-conferencing,

to respond to the affidavits filedby private telecom companies,including Bharti Airtel andVodafone Idea Ltd, on paymentof their dues based on theAGR.

During the hearing, thebench asked about the securi-ty and guarantees which can besought from telecom compa-nies to ensure payment of thedues. The bench observed thatduring the ongoing COVID-19pandemic, telecom is the sec-tor which is making money andthey should deposit somemoney as the Governmentneeds it to deal with the situa-tion.

Besides asking the DoT toreconsider the demands raisedagainst PSUs, the top court hadearlier also asked telecom firmsto file affidavit explaining thetime needed by them to clearthe remaining statutory duesthat arose from the court’s ver-dict, which included non-tele-com revenues in the definitionof AGR for calculating theamount due to theGovernment. T h ebench had also asked theGovernment about the guar-antees that can be sought toensure telecom companiesabide by a time frame and pay-ment schedule.

���� 2'�.*�5"C�

About 1.5 million laid-offworkers applied for U.S.

unemployment benefits lastweek, a historically high num-ber, even as the economyincreasingly reopens andemployers bring some peopleback to work.

The latest figure from theLabor Department marked the11th straight weekly decline inapplications since they peakedat nearly 7 million in March asthe coronavirus shut downmuch of the economy andcaused tens of millions of lay-offs.

The decline was muchsmaller, though, than in recentweeks, falling just 58,000.

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Equity benchmarks notchedup robust gains on

Thursday as investors piledinto banking and finance stocksdespite weak global cues andgeopolitical volatility.

After starting on a tepidnote, the 30-share BSE Sensexgained momentum in late-afternoon trade to close at34,208.05, up 700.13 points, or2.09 per cent.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty jumped 210.50 points, or2.13 per cent, to 10,091.65.

HDFC Bank, RelianceIndustries and HDFC account-ed for over half of the Sensex’sgains.

In absolute terms, BajajFinance was the top gainer inthe Sensex pack, climbing 5.46per cent, followed by KotakBank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank,SBI and PowerGrid.

On the other hand,ONGC, HUL, TCS, BhartiAirtel, Sun Pharma and Marutiwere among the laggards, shed-ding up to 0.71 per cent.Traders said banking shareswitnessed a relief rally after theCentre informed the SupremeCourt that the Department of

Telecommunications (DoT)has decided to withdraw 96 percent of the �4 lakh croredemand for AGR related duesraised against non-telecomPSUs like GAIL.

However, DoT soughttime from the bench to respondto the affidavits filed by privatetelecom companies, includingBharti Airtel and VodafoneIdea, on payment of AdjustedGross Revenue (AGR) dues.

Meanwhile, Indian andChinese militaries held MajorGeneral-level dialogue onThursday for the third consec-utive day on disengagement oftroops as well as restoration ofnormalcy in Galwan Valley ineastern Ladakh.

“In spite of negative glob-al cues, Indian indices endedthe day positive with steadygains. With the Supreme courtAGR ruling providing a respiteto the exposed banks, the reliefwas visible in the bankingstocks especially those whichhad exposure to the telecomcompanies.

The banking index con-tributed the most to the posi-tivity and almost all compo-nents of the index ended theday positive.

New Delhi: Reliance IndustriesLtd on Thursday said it has solda 2.32% stake in its digital unitto Saudi Arabia’s PublicInvestment Fund for �11,367crore, taking the cumulativefund raising to about �1.16 lakhcrore in two months Startingwith Facebook Inc on April 22,Reliance has sold almost 25%of equity in Jio Platforms - themax reports suggest the com-pany intends to dilute to finan-cial investors. Investment bySaudi sovereign wealth fund is“at an equity value of �4.91 lakhcrore and an enterprise value of�5.16 lakh crore”, the companysaid in a statement.With thisinvestment, Jio Platforms hasraised �115,693.95 crore fromsome of the leading globalinvestment powerhouses at atime when the world is deeplyimpacted by the coronaviruspandemic, resulting in a reces-sion kind of environment forthe global economy.“With the addition of PIF’s

investment, Jio Platforms hasestablished partnerships with amarquee set of global financialinvestors, who will contributeto establishing the DigitalSociety vision for India,” thestatement said. PTI

Kolkata: He has vast experi-ence in the areas of financialpolicy, accounting, audit, bud-get and procurement matters.

He has held previousassignments ranging fromRegional Army Controller’sOffices, Defence PensionFunctions, Pay and Allowancesfunctions of Other Ranks ofArmy.

He has also worked asIntegrated Financial Advisor toCentral Air Command andSouth Western Air Command,besides having worked in var-ious field offices of DefenceAccounts Department.

Before joining this office,he was serving as Controller ofFinance at Ordnance FactoryBoard, Kolkata.

New Delhi: Jute is the impor-tant cash crop in eastern Indiawhich supports livelihood ofabout 5 million people of thecountry and earn foreignexchange of �2,500 croresannually through export ofdiversified jute products.

During the jute growing sea-son (Mar-Apr to May-June),the crop faces weather hazardslike drought, waterlogging,cyclone that had adverse effecton yield and quality of jute.

To overcome problems ofretting, the ICAR-Central

Research Institute for Juteand Allied Fibres (CRIJAF),Barrackpore has developedan "in-situ retting tank basedfarming system model" toproduce betterquality fibre,said Dr GourangaKar, theDirector of the institute.

����� �12�/13.*

Union Minister NitinGadkari on Thursday said

India should no longer dependon China and instead focus onresearch and innovation toramp up domestic manufac-turing. The Minister also saidthe Government is working onformulating a new policy forimport substitution.

The remarks come in thewake of border clashes betweenthe two nations in Ladakh.

Addressing a webinar onIndia’s electric vehicle roadmappost COVID-19, the Ministerfor Road Transport andHighways and MSME said, “I

feel that it is time, which Idirectly want to tell you becauseI was not using those words, weshould not depend upon Chinanow.” He said even thoughpresently the prices of Chinesegoods are attractive and Indianelectric vehicle companies areearning good profits by import-ing parts, in the long-term, thecountry should produce every-thing locally.

“Without that, we don’thave a good future. Otherwisethe Chinese, somewhere theycan give a reasonable conces-sional rate at the starting point,and when your industry willachieve good production theywill charge more.

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How will the face of entertain-ment look like in the post-

covid era? With masks, disinfec-tant tunnels, sanitised seats, F&Bdelivered to seats, intimate con-certs of 50-100 music lovers andmore.

But here’s the good news,India is gearing up to step out andget back to its favourite entertain-ment experience once the lock-down lifts, revealsBookMyShow’s Covid surveyreport titled Back To Out-of-Home Entertainment.

It is the outcome of a surveyconducted by an entertainmentdestination, of over 4000 respon-dents who are activeBookMyShow transactors. Thesurvey conducted in May 2020spans respondents aged between18-65 years from across 235cities and towns in India. 70 percent of the responses came fromconsumers in Hyderabad,Mumbai, Bengaluru, NCR,Chennai, Pune, Kolkata,Ahmedabad, Vijayawada andKochi. 49 per cent consumerswho responded were agedbetween 25-34 years.Respondents chose seat sanitisa-tion and disinfectant tunnels astop two measures for a safe

entertainment experience.Some of its key findings

show that 54 per cent of enter-tainment lovers are eager to getto theatres within 15-90 days ofthe lockdown lifting while therest would prefer to step out after90 days. 98 per cent Indiansexpect cinemas to implementstrict safety and hygiene mea-sures to ensure a safe film watch-ing experience.

South India misses its enter-tainment the most, with 56 percent of respondents from theregion eager to catch theirfavourite film and/or concertpost the lockdown.

For live entertainment expe-riences, 40 per cent Indianswould prefer attending a musicconcert in smaller groups of 50-100. Drive-in concerts, intimatetables for two to four people aresome of the factors that con-sumers would prefer the most,while attending their favouriteevents.

A contactless entertainmentexperience is what Indians want allthe way. 85 per cent of consumerssurveyed prefer purchasing theirtickets online with the M-ticketand e-ticket options for a contact-less entertainment experience.

Nobody could have ever pre-dicted that such a month of

April would exist in our lifetimebecause life itself came to a shud-dering halt. Travelling on theroads of India’s major urbanmetropolises seemed like dri-ving through the sets of a zombiefilm. At one time, while drivingon the India Gate C-Hexagon,mine was the only car on the road.A fact that might seem incredibleeven if it was in the wee hours ofthe morning, felt much more soduring the middle of an ostensi-bly working day. Things haveimproved since then, for theoverall economy and the automo-tive industry, in the month ofMay, as dealerships and work-shops started opening. First inupcountry areas and later on inmajor urban areas as well, sales ofnew vehicles have restarted. Afterthe historic zero sales figure ofApril for the entire industry,retail sales in May touched 59,000vehicles, approximately a tenth ofnormal.

We spoke with ShashankSrivastava of Maruti-Suzuki togain some insights into the open-ing up.

�How is the country’s largestcarmaker, Maruti-Suzuki copingwith the lockdown, the reducedsales and its aftermath?

The process of opening upbegan on May 5, and out of our3087 outlets across India over2,800 are operating now. In May,we sold over 30,000 vehicles andhad a marketshare above half themarket. We have seen similartrends in bookings as well. Butthat said, I would be hesitant toread too much into the currentsituation. It will still take a fewmonths to assess realistic demandas well as for all manufacturers toramp up production in a post-Covid environment.

�Why is it too early to read intotrends?

There are lots of uncertainfactors, much like the virus itselfwas at the outset. If tomorrow wediscover a miracle vaccine forCOVID-19, things could changedramatically. Keep in mind thatthe discretionary purchases ofcustomers will be impacted by thelockdown and a vehicle is for amajority of customers, a discre-tionary purchase. April and Maywere washouts and right nowthere are varying projections inthe market looking forward, so Iwould adopt a wait and watchviewpoint.

�So there are no trends as such

we can see in Mid-June?No, there are some behav-

ioural trends, some of which wehave learnt from experience ofother economic slowdowns. Thefirst is that customers tend togravitate towards major brands,they will buy products that theyknow will work, they become veryconservative. In this respect,Maruti-Suzuki does gain. Theother trend, again from experi-ence, is that when income levelsare stressed, people tend to down-grade the type of car they buy,instead of a compact-sedan theycould look at a hatchback.Another trend that I expect to seeis an increase of first-time buyersbecause of the issues with publictransportation across the country.However, at the same time, as Iindicated earlier, discretionarypurchases will get impacted whichmeans that car replacement pur-chases will come down this year.This is despite there being astrong demand for second-handcars.

�What about institutional andcommercial sales?

I would presume that govern-ment purchases will be down inthe coming months but for manycorporate purchases there areprescribed cycles of vehiclereplacement which I believe willcontinue.

�Of course, in such times,Maruti-Suzuki will also cut backspends, marketing usually isthe first department to be hit.Will that be the case again?

Well, there will certainly bedownward pressure on the mar-keting department, but do notassume that there is no need tospend on marketing. Of course,we would like to maximise ourreturns from those investments,be it brand activity or demandcreation. But there will be spendsboth on digital media reachingout to particular individuals andin traditional media for reach andfrequency.

This Father’s Day may not be thesame as every other year but whosaid that you cannot honour one

of the most unconditional relationshipsthere is? Since stepping out and celebrat-ing the day at his favourite restaurant orpampering him with special gifts mightnot seem to be a viable option, why notgift him an indoor experience that hewould remember for all time?

A VIRTUAL TOURWhile travelling — one of the best

ways to bond with the family — is onthe backburner due to the pandemic,technology brings at your doorstep thetools to explore, dream and plan thenext, much-awaited vacation. “Visitfavourite galleries worldwide as theynow allow you access virtually and forfree. With hundreds to choose from, thefull list of the attractions can be viewed.Locate your father’s favourite city andexplore,” shares Ashish Jain, CEO anddirector, Von Wellx Germany.

Let him hop on to the “armchairtravel” wagon, grab a comfortable spot,a cup of coffee and have the screentransport him across continents in amere matter of minutes. South Africatourism is offering the Mzansi experi-ence. It lets travel aficionados exploresome of South Africa’s top naturalattractions with 360-degree imageryfrom the comfort of their homes. TheStreet View allows you to watch thewaves break at Sandy Bay, contemplatenature’s wonder and complexity as youwatch the clear blue sky reflect in thewater at Clifton Beach. You can go para-sailing at the Sunset Beach or just takea leisurely walk along Durban’s GoldenMile. Those hoping to explore SouthAfrican wildlife can simply click onKruger National Park, one of Africa’slargest game reserves, and catch aglimpse of rhinoceros grazing the plains,zebras frolicking around, giraffes stick-ing their necks out to reach higherbranches or a herd of buffaloes charg-ing against the wind. While giving you

a taste of these vast plains, the Mzansiexperience will leave you with a deep-er admiration for South Africa and thecontinent and will inspire you to trav-el sustainably and in harmony withnature in the days to come.

A GIFT OF HEALTHIn their enthusiasm to provide us

with the best, fathers often neglect theirown health. Since both Father’s Day andInternational Yoga Day are coincidingthis time, what better than the gift ofhealth? “As the global health crisis haswelcomed the new normal, virtual cel-ebrations have become the norm. So giftyour father a virtual yoga session.Celebrate the day by doing partner yogatogether. If you are keen to go outdoorsfor yoga, ensure that you take all thenecessary precautions,” shares DrPrabha Ranjan Sinha, Consultant,Internal Medicine, Aakash Healthcareand Super Specialty Hospital.

Dr Babina NM, Joint Chief MedicalOfficer, Jindal Naturecure Institute,says, “Celebrations this year will behome-bound. One can kick start the day

with some basic yoga asanas withdaddy dearest. Roll out a mat and tryasanas such as Tadasana (MountainPose), Uttanasana (Standing ForwardBend), Vriksasana (Tree Pose),Veerbhadrasana (Warrior Pose) andUtkatasana (Chair Pose). They are easyto perform and strengthen your mindand body.”

A father’s hard work, selflessnessand perseverance certainly deserve athoughtful gift. “Why not insure hishealth with a comprehensive healthinsurance plan so that he always hasworry-free access to quality healthcare?”asks Ashutosh Shrotriya, Head-Productand Business Process, Religare HealthInsurance. “Select a plan that offers awide-range of benefits from in-patienthospitalisation to pre and post-hospital-isation. Some plans also offer coveragefor alternative treatments and annualhealth check-up with the option ofunlimited automatic recharge of suminsured. Not just this, buying a healthinsurance policy in the present situationis convenient since some insurers do notmake it mandatory to undergo a pre-

policy medical check-up and offerscoverage via telephonic underwritingprocess,” he adds.

A TASTE FROM THE PASTDoes your dad remember a

favourite childhood restaurant or meal?Well, why not recreate it? Sharing thissentimental meal will be a special wayfor him to share his stories from his pastwith you. Get some tips from yourgrandmother about his favourite child-hood dishes. Put on your chef ’s hat andsurprise him with breakfast in bed or aspecial candle-lit dinner. “Plan a barbe-cue with him. Helping your father withthe barbecue is sure to bring a smile onhis face,” shares Tabby Bhatia, Director,Voganow.

Try whipping up a gulkand ice-cream. Gulkand, madeup of roses, actsas a coolant,which whenmixed withthe vanillaice-cream, notonly changesthe taste but thetexture of the dessertand is a perfect sur-prise for summers.Executive Corporate ChefArvind Rai at The Ashok,New Delhi, shares his recipe:

IngredientsVanilla ice-cream: 55 mlGulkand: 15 gmRoohafza: 5 mlMethod

Mix all the ingredients together andkeep in refrigerator for five to sixhours. When set, scoop out and servewell garnished.

SCAVENGER HUNTCreate a treasure hunt and give him

clues to help find his special Father’s Daygift or which leads to the decorated andcandle-lit dinner table, which you hadset for him.

RAISE A TOASTThe occasion definitely calls for rais-

ing a toast to your best man. As a goodwhisky is a fixture on every dad’s bar,make sure the one you gift him counts.If he relishes luxury, then your best betwould be the uniquely rich and multi-layered blend of Chivas 18YO. If heenjoys his whisky smooth like the Irish,then the triple distilled JamesonCaskmates would instantly light up hiseyes.

STILL A KID AT HEART? PLAYINDOOR GAMES

Make a puzzle of a childhood photoor a map of the town where your father

grew up for a personalisedgift. Not only will heappreciate the thought-

ful gift but alsocherish the

time spentc o mp l e t i n gthe puzzle. At

the same time,as Tabby Bhatia

suggests, you canbuy several classic

board games that yourdad enjoyed playing when

he was a child and celebratethe day with a throwback

game night. “You can hold a pubquiz with him, taking charge and

fulfilling the role of quiz master, ofcourse, allowing him to reel off his dadjokes and flair for general knowledge,”adds Ashish Jain.

GIFT HIM AN EXPERIENCE��4�5�!*��6�7�-����������!*���/#!*# �%�!#%�#&���� &����$��&���&/���&# &����'!#%#!#��0�� �� ����� ��4��8���!����+!����'#��&�-# !*��� &��#'���

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‘Too early to draw conclusions about future demand’

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Menopause is when awoman stops menstruat-ing or having her period.

Periods usually start to becomeirregular or less frequent over a fewmonths or years before they stopaltogether. It usually happensbetween the age of 45 and 55 butit can also develop before or afterthis age range.

Some symptoms of menopauseare hot flashes, night sweats, poorconcentration, vaginal dryness,anxiety, mood swings, etc. It is atime for women, which can beextremely tiring, and cause majorchanges in her moods and overallhealth. The hormonal changesthat cause symptoms like hot flash-es and night sweats can also affectyour mood and energy levels,leading to menopausal fatigue.

Maintaining a healthy diet andgetting regular exercise can helpwomen feel better and boost theirhealth in the long term. There areshort-term and long-term medicalproblems associated with the

menopause. Because let’s admit,most of us have got a poor diet orhardly pay attention to the minorbut important details. And this isa big one. And it might not neces-sarily be the fact that you’re eatingall the wrong things but we’re busypeople in this day and age. We can

be eating on the run. You mighthave to just grab a quick sandwichduring the lunch time or evening.Many of us try to go on diets dur-ing the menopause period becausewe’re putting weight on and if youdon’t eat enough in the menopause,that is going to make you tired and

give you fatigue. So here are somepointers to note:

�!�� C ���The first and foremost is to

avoid smoking, drinking, con-suming spicy foods, chocolates,and fizzy drinks as it may help withthe menopausal symptoms.Consumption of soya can help withmenopausal symptoms as soyacontain Isoflavones, which mimicthe action of oestrogen.

An important tip: Make sureyou’re eating enough but look atwhat you’re eating. If you getthose blood sugar spikes after eat-ing things like high-sugar or high-salt foods or you’re drinking a lotof caffeine, then that can causefatigue as well. And remember,water!

���+C ���In the long-term, recurring

symptoms of menopause can cause

Osteoporosis and cardiovascularissues. Establishing good sleepinghabits and getting plenty of rest area must.

Experts highly suggest doingKegel exercises to strengthen thepelvic floor. Another exercisesinclude that of breathing and med-itation, as they help to relax thebody and mind.

Diet for bone health is equallyimportant to help maintain bonestrength and density. To preventOsteoporosis, one should eat mealsrich in Calcium, vitamin D andMagnesium. Here are some must toconsume ingredients.

Calcium�Dairy products, such as milk,yogurt or cheese (go for the lowerfat options)�Green leafy vegetables such aswatercress and kale�Sesame seeds�Dried figs�Fish (that is eaten with bones suchas sardines)

Vitamin D�Oily fish�Eggs

Magnesium�Green leafy vegetables such asspinach and kale�Fruits such as figs, avocado,banana and raspberries are greatsources of magnesium�Nuts and seeds�Legumes like black beans, chick-peas and kidney beans�Vegetables like peas, broccoli,cabbage, green beans, artichokes,asparagus, Brussels, sprouts�Seafood like salmon, mackerel,tuna are also good sources ofOmega 3 �Wholegrains such as brown riceand oats�Dark chocolate helps in combat-ing stress and mood swings�Berries. They are not only a greatsource of natural sweetness but theyhelp fight fat, reduce inflammationand reduce heart disease risk.

Improving heart health andnutritional deficiency

Poor diet is highly linked tonutritional deficiencies and makeyou feel tired all the time. And evenif might think that you’re taking agood diet and yet, feeling fatigue.You really need your body tocope.�Cut down on saturated fat andreplace with unsaturated fats�Use olive oil instead of butter andfat in food�Reduce high salt intake�Including high-fibre and whole-grain foods in diet, such as whole-grain breakfast cereals, wholewheat pasta and pulses (lentils andbeans). Fruit and vegetables aregood fibre providers, too.

(The author is VP at VitabioticsLtd, Fitness & Nutrition Expert.)

Momos. The very term mightmake your tastebuds water,

remind you of a nook opposite yourcollege or your residence street, wheresome good memories were made,with tears in eyes — nothing emotion-al here, just the red chilli hot peppersin the momo chutney!

While right now, heading out tograb a plate of momos might seem alittle non-viable, maybe impossible,why not try making them at home?And since home means good health,why not give the otherwise‘unhealthy’-labelled snack a healthi-er twist? Also, looking at the currentscenario, consciousness about hygienehas been growing and in these timesof Coronavirus, ordering outsidefood could be sometimes, next toordering trouble. So here are some tipsas to how to go about it as well as someHimalayan delicacies for the foodlovers with a range of momos andother traditional delicacies from Tibet,Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal and Ladakh.

Vegan� Nut-free� Soy-free� With exotic vegetables filling ofbeetroot, spinach, corn and mush-rooms

Gluten-free� Potato starch dumplings for guilt-free cravings� In crystal chicken, spicy shrimp,vegetable and water chestnut

Whole wheat� Cook 100 per cent atta momos � Could be tried with fillings ofTibetan pork, Nepali chicken, andspinach, garlic and cheese for vegetar-

ians

Thupka� Healthy and nutritious Tibetansoup with a twist of momos� With exotic vegetables, Nepalichicken and spicy pork

Malaysian laksa � Rich and spicy coconut currybroth with choice of momosimmersed in it� With exotic vegetables, chicken andpork

With these new variations,momos can certainly become appe-tizing with different choices such asveggies, lamb, pork and chicken.

Remember, a healthy momo doesnot only satisfy the cravings but alsomaintain a balanced diet!

(These dishes have been introducedand added to their new home-deliverymenu by Shyam Thakur, Founder,Momo King.)

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Napoli beat Juventus 4-2 onpenalties on Wednesday to

lift the Italian Cup for the sixthtime after the score was 0-0 after90 minutes in an empty StadioOlimpco in Rome.

Paulo Dybala and Daniloboth missed their spot-kicks forthe record 13-times Italian Cupchampions Juventus withArkadiusz Milik slotting in thewinner for Napoli past veterankeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

It is the first trophy for thesoutherners since 2014, andalso a maiden coaching trophyfor Gattuso, who replaced CarloAncelotti in December, andclaimed a crown he won as aplayer with AC Milan.

Organisers had scrappedextra-time to minimise injuriesto players as football resumes inItaly after a three-month coro-navirus shutdown.

‘GOD OF FOOTBALL’Gennaro Gattuso hailed the

‘God of football’ after he liftedhis first coaching trophy

For former Italy World Cupwinner Gattuso his first coach-ing success comes after thedeath of his 37-year-old sis-ter Francesca from a rareillness. “In life you cannotaccept some things, butfootball has given me a lotand a great passion,” saidthe 42-year-old former ACMilan great.

“I feel I have a great respon-sibility. I know I cannot give upand I have never done in mycareer. “I saw a team tonight that

wanted to win, we deserved it.“There’s a God of football,

who makes you reap all thatyou’ve sown.

“I am proud of whatmy lads have done. Now wemust continue with thisspirit also in the champi-onship, to recover the dis-advantage.”The defeat was a worrying

sign for Maurizio Sarri’sJuventus, who had failed to beatand score against AC Milan inthe second leg of the semi-final.

The 61-year-old formerNapoli coach had also beenchasing his first coaching trophyin Italy, and second in his careerafter leading Chelsea to theEuropa League last season.

“There is disappointmentfor the lads, for the club, for thefans,” said Sarri.

“At this moment we lackbrilliance to make the game dan-gerous, and without that bril-liance, it becomes more difficult.”

CR7 LACKS SHARPNESSPortuguese star Cristiano

Ronaldo missed a chance tobreak the deadlock after fiveminutes, having also missed apenalty in a goalless semi-final,second leg match against ACMilan last weekend.

Napoli had the best chancesof the first half with LorenzoInsigne’s curling effort deniedand Buffon clearing DiegoDemme from close range.

Buffon pulled off a last-minute save on NikolaMaksimovic to send the gameinto penalties with extra-timescrapped.

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Fortuna Düsseldorf stunned Leipzigwith two late goals to draw 2-2 in

the Bundesliga on Wednesday andboost its hopes of avoiding relegation.Two goals in three minutes from Kevin Kampl andTimo Werner had Leipzig on course to consolidate thirdplace and all but secure a place in the ChampionsLeague. But Steven Skrzybski netted in the 87th minuteand Andre Hoffmann equalized in injury time to liftDüsseldorf out of an automatic relegation place withtwo rounds of the season remaining.

Leipzig would have been six points clear of fifth-place Borussia Mönchengladbach with a vastly supe-rior goal difference, but now the gap is four points. Thetop four qualify for the Champions League.

Second-place Borussia Dortmund, which hasalready booked a place in Europe’s premier competi-tion, slumped to a 2-0 loss at home to Mainz.

That means Dortmund is just three points clearof Leipzig with its second place under threat ahead ofa meeting between the two this weekend.

Bayer Leverkusen moved fourth, three pointsbehind Leipzig, with a 3-1 win over Rhine rivalCologne. Schalke lost 2-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt tostretch its club-record winless run to 14 games.

The latest loss was largely self-inflicted. Schalkemidfielder Can Bozdogan was sent off in his secondleague start with his second yellow card in the 77thminute, just before Andre Silva missed a great chanceto make it 3-1 to Frankfurt when he only had the goal-keeper to beat.

Also, Augsburg lost 3-1 at home to Hoffenheim.

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Manchester City securedthe first win of thePremier League’s restart

with a 3-0 victory over 10-manArsenal at an empty Etihad onWednesday as the English topflight’s return was marked byprotests against racial injustice.

Both sets of players cametogether before kick-off to take aknee, as had Aston Villa andSheffield United players in the firstmatch after a 100-day stoppagedue to coronavirus.

City’s victory closes the gap onLiverpool at the top to 22 pointsand means the Reds cannot securethe title when they face Everton inthe Merseyside derby on Sunday.

ARTETA’S PLAN UNDONEThere was little return to nor-

mality once the game did kick-offto the hollow ring of an empty sta-dium as a torrential downpouradded to the difficult conditionsfor the players.

“We expected it to be weird,”said City’s Raheem Sterling. “Thefirst 10 minutes it was getting usedto the atmosphere and getting thecobwebs off.”

However, City soon foundtheir groove just as Arsenal weredisrupted by two early injuries.

Gunners’ boss Mikel Artetahad made a bold team selection onhis return to the Etihad, where hespent three-and-a-half years asGuardiola’s assistant.

The Spaniard left AlexandreLacazette and club record signing

Nicolas Pepe alongside DavidLuiz on the bench, while MesutOzil did not even make the squaddespite a temporary rule change toallow nine substitutes on thebench.

Guardiola had voicedhis concerns for players’welfare over the lack ofpreparation time to get upto full fitness.

But it was Arteta’s planthat was undone inside 20minutes as Granit Xhaka andPablo Mari hobbled off with Luizreplacing the latter.

“Everything went wrong fromthe first minute when Granit gotinjured,” said Arteta, who was leftin no doubt of the work he hasahead to close the gap between his

new employers and his old.As City began to turn the

screw, only Bernd Leno in theArsenal goal kept the score downbefore half-time.

However, Sterling madethe breakthrough when Luizfailed to cut out Kevin DeBruyne’s cross and theEngland international rifledhome his first goal of 2020.

Five minutes into thesecond-half, Arsenal’s tough

task became an impossible one asLuiz pulled down Riyad Mahrezinside the box and was shown ared card.

“It was not the team’s fault, itwas my fault. The coach is amaz-ing, all the players did amazing, itwas just my fault,” said Luiz,

whose contract is due to expire onJune 30.

“I should have taken a differ-ent decision in the last two monthsto try and decide my future as earlyas possible but I didn’t.”

De Bruyne coolly sent Lenothe wrong way from the penaltyspot to end the game as a contest.There was one more serious look-ing injury to come as City defend-er Eric Garcia was stretcheredfrom the field after being wipedout by his own goalkeeperEderson leading to 11 minutes ofadded time.

“He is conscious, that is a goodsign, but he is going to get an extratest,” said Guardiola of Garcia’scondition.

City used the extra time to add

a third as substitute Phil Fodenside-footed home after SergioAguero struck the post.

Defeat is another blow for

Arsenal’s hopes of a return to theChampions League next season asthey remain in ninth, eight pointsoff the top four.

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Portugal youngster Joao Felixscored twice as Atletico

Madrid moved into theChampions League places witha 5-0 La Liga thrashing ofOsasuna on Wednesday.

Felix, 20, was making hisfirst appearance since theSpanish top-flight returned fromits coronavirus hiatus havingbeen suspended for the week-end’s draw at Athletic Bilbao andhad been suffering from anankle sprain since May.

“I felt good, coming backfrom injury after three monthswithout playing and scoringtwo goals is very good for me,”Felix told broadcaster Movistar.

The northerners remain in11th after the defeat with an out-side chance of making theEuropa League but are also10 points away from the rel-egation zone.

The hosts’ coach JagobaArrasate was without cap-tain Oier and Adrian Lopezwho scored the equaliser athigh-flying Real Sociedad, whocan go back above Atltetico

with a win at Alaves.The visitors’ coach Diego

Simeone made four changesfrom Sunday’s match in Bilbao

including handing Felix,who joined the side fromBenfica for 126 millioneuros ($141 million) lastsummer, a start alongsideDiego Costa in attack.Felix opened the scoring 27

minutes when Lodi found spacedown the left flank and he

played the ball back to SaulNiguez in the box, his shot wasdeflected to Felix’s path whosmashed the ball to the top cor-ner.

The hosts’ best chance of anequaliser came six minutesbefore the break but DavidGarcia’s long-range shot couldonly hit the advertising boards.

Felix doubled his account 10minutes into the second half.

Costa was fed the ball in thearea and he squared it to Felixwho side-footed home withease for his eighth goal of thecampaign in all competitions.

Felix was substituted on the69-minute mark as Simeonesent on holding midfielderThomas Partey, who has beenlinked with a move to Arsenal.

Despite Felix leaving thefield his side made sure of threepoints as Marcos Llorente,Alvaro Morata and YannickCarrasco scored in the final 11minutes.

The away side’s Sloveniagoalkeeper Jan Oblak becamethe first non-Spaniard to reach100 La Liga clean sheets with hisperformance.

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Tainted former India pacerS Sreesanth will be consid-

ered for selection in the Keralacricket team provided he provesfitness after his BCCI ban endsin September, state teamcoach Tinu Yohannan saidon Thursday.

Sreesanth, 37, wasbanned for life by theBCCI in August 2013for his alleged involve-ment in the IPL spot-fix-ing scandal earlier thatyear. However, BCCIombudsman D K Jain lastyear reduced the sentenceto seven years.

“Sreesanth will beconsidered for this year’s

Ranji Trophy. We are looking for-ward to having Sreesanth play-ing for Kerala again. Everyonein Kerala is also looking for-

ward to that,” Yohannan, also aformer India pacer, said.

Yohannan said Sreesanthhas enough time to work

on his fitness.“His (Sreesanth’s)

ban will lifted inSeptember. The goodthing is that there istime for him getready.. He is workinghard on his game

and his fitness..,” theKerala coach said.

“Then we will haveto assess his physical fit-ness and game skills.Sree (Sreesanth) is

always in the scheme of things...,” headded.

Yohannan also said Sreesanth isin touch with him constantly and hasbeen working hard on his game.

“... Sreesanth has been in con-stant touch with me. He has beenworking hard on his bowling and fit-ness. However, he has not playedcompetitive cricket for some sevenyears now, we have to evaluate fitnessand skills.

“But we will be very happy towelcome him back into the Keralaside,” Yohannan, who played threeTests and an equal number of ODIs,said.

Sreesanth has played 27 Testsand 53 ODIs for India, taking 87 and75 wickets respectively. He has alsotaken seven wickets in 10 T20Internationals.

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Sri Lanka’s T20 captain LasithMalinga will not be part of

team’s second residential train-ing camp, starting June 22 inKandy, as a 24-member squadwas announced on Thursday.

A six-member unit ofcoaches and other support staffwill work with the players dur-ing the camp at the Pallekele sta-dium.

“The arrangements for thenext camp is aimed at becomingthe best prepared internationalteam post-Covid-19 and to beready to play at any given time,”said Mickey Arthur, the headcoach of the team.

The squad members willcontinue to follow the healthprocedures, followed during thefirst camp, conducted earlier thismonth in Colombo.

Sri Lanka’s next scheduledinternational engagement, thetour by India later this month,has been canceled while theBangladesh tour scheduled forlate July is still doubtful.

PDC T10 LEAGUESome Sri Lankan cricketers

will return to action after thecoronavirus-forced hiatus whenthey participate in the PDC T10league, a 12-day tournamentbeginning on June 25 that willbe streamed on SportsTigerApplication.

The eight participatingteams will be divided into twogroups playing a total of 46games at Anuradhapura in SriLanka. The group stage will beplayed in the round-robin league formatwhich will be fol-lowed by the quali-fiers and elimina-tor games beforeplaying the all-i m p o r t a n tfinal.

���������� Windies bats-man Shai Hope is confident ofreplicating his 2017 heroicsagainst England in theupcoming series but admittedthat his stats in the longest for-mat haven’t exactly been thebest for a while.

Hope hasn’t scored a tonsince the 2017 HeadingleyTest heroics when he scoredcenturies in both the inningsto lead his side to a much-cherished victory againstEngland, chasing a daunting322-run target.

“I just need to have thecontinued belief in myself,back my ability because Iknow I can get it done, it’s not

������ India’s Test specialistCheteshwar Pujara on Thursdayadmitted that playing Day-Night Testsis an altogether different challenge forthe batsman as the pace and visibili-ty of the pink ball is very different fromtraditional red ball.

“First of all, to speak about theDay-Night Test or (to play) with thepink ball, I think it is different fromwhat we are used to with the red ball,”Pujara said on Sony Ten Pit Stop show.

“Although it is still the same for-mat, but the (pink) ball’s pace and vis-ibility is very different. As a batsmanyou need to get used to it,” he said.

Pujara, who has played 77 Tests,said that for any younger player, whois used to playing with the SG red ball,playing with the Pink Ball, would bea challenge.

“It won’t be very easy, becuase youneed to have such net sessions. To dothat at the domestic level, it is not easy.If any upcoming player is coming, heis used to playing with the SG red ball

in Ranji Trophy, so when you play himfor India, he is ready for this format.

Pink ball needs adequate training.“He is ready for a Test match. But

when he comes to play with the PinkBall, he will not have that much of anexperience and that many net sessionsalso won’t have happened, so I feel itwill be a challenge for young playerwho is coming in and playing a pinkBall test,” added Pujara.

“But, yes guys (players) who havealready played with pink ball in somedomestic tournament and who haveplayed one of the Pink Ball Testmatch, they will get used to it, but itis a different challenge altogether fora batsman,” he added.

India are slated to tour Australiafor a gruelling four Test match series,set to be begin at the Gabba inBrisbane from December 3.

The second Test will be a D-Naffair, to be hosted by Adelaide Oval.

Pujara was then asked whatadvantages would the Australianspeedsters like Starc and Cumminsget while playing with the Pink Ball.

To which, he said, “I think they(Aus) bowlers will get more pace andbounce off the pitch, from what I haverealised so far with the Pink Ball.”

“Apart from this, the ball mightswing more, but usually Kookaburrapink ball doesn’t swing much, maybethe new ball might swing a bit, butonce the ball gets old, it will be a goodball to bat against.

“Because be it the Kokaburra redball or pink ball... And if you are play-ing in Australia, it is one of the bestpitches to bat on,” added Pujara, whohad played a key role in India’s win inAustralia in 2018. PTI

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Chelsea announced the signingof German international for-

ward Timo Werner from RBLeipzig on Thursday in the firstmajor move of the summer trans-fer market.

Werner, 24, who has scored32 goals in all competitions thisseason, had a 60 million euro (£53million, $67 million) releaseclause in his contract with theGerman club.

He will remain at Leipzig forthe remaining two Bundesligagames of the season.

However, Werner will not beavailable for the end of Leipzig’s2019/20 Champions League cam-paign in August as he is set to joinChelsea in July.

“I am delighted to be sign-ing for Chelsea, it is a veryproud moment for me to bejoining this great club,”Werner said in a state-ment.

“I look forward tonext season with mynew team-mates, mynew manager and ofcourse the Chelsea fans.

“Together we have avery successful future

ahead of us.”The signing is a major coup

for the Blues as they seek to closethe gap on Liverpool andManchester City at the top of thePremier League.

Werner was often linkedwith a move to Liverpool after headmitted to being flattered byJurgen Klopp’s interest.

However, concerned by thefinancial fallout from coron-avirus, the European championswere not willing to pay Werner’srelease clause before it expired thismonth.

“We are very excited thatTimo Werner has chosen to joinChelsea,” said Chelsea directorMarina Granovskaia.

“He is a player who was cov-eted all over Europe and it is nosurprise, he has that rare mixof being young and excitingand yet established and

proven.”Werner will not be

available for the secondleg of Chelsea’sChampions League last16 tie against BayernMunich in August ashe was not registeredat the time the matchwas due to be played.

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8�����������������'�������������� ��=��#�������������������������!����'�"�����-��������Senior India speedsterMohammed Shami rates the currentpace attack as the best in country’sTest cricket history.

India’s pace quartet of Shami,Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrahand Umesh Yadav has beenvery consistent in the pasttwo years.

“Even the worldacknowledges that Indianever produced five gen-uine fast bowlers in apackage at one go. Not inIndian cricket’s history. Wehave bowlers in thereserves who can bowl145 kms,” Shami told Deep

Dasgupta in a chat for ESPNCricinfo.

“This is the best attack as no onehas any jealousy and everyone

enjoys each other’s success. Itfeels like a family,” said Shami.

He then gave example ofIshant Sharma, the senior-most player in the Test line-up.

“Look at IshantSharma. He is set toplay 100 Tests.

It’s not a meanachievement but if youspeak to him you willknow what kind of a

human being he is. He isso down to earth.” PTI���'� "#&� !!������!9��:*���#'�

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like I haven’t done it before,”Hope told media via a videoconference at Old Traffordahead of the series startingJuly 8.

Hope says he has it inhim to do well again whenWindies take on England ina bio-secure environment.

“It’s a case of makingsure I make the most of theseopportunities and do what-ever I can to make the teamwin. Obviously, you’re goingto be hard on yourself, espe-cially when you know youcan get something done butit’s not really portraying onthe stats,” he said.

The 26-year-old has an

impressive record in ODIcricket, where he has scored3289 runs from 78 matchesat an average of 52.20.

In the last three years,Hope has made eight cen-turies and 13 fifties in ODIsat an average of 57 — thebest figures by a wicket-keeper in the West Indiescricket history.

Last year, he scored1,345 runs at an average of61.13 — including a mem-orable match-winning tonagainst India in Chennaibut he has not enjoyed con-sistent success in Tests.

He wants to improve onthat count.

“Red-ball batting is def-initely my favourite part ofthe game but the runs andthe stats aren’t exactly wherewe want them to be, but I’mworking towards that. I can’tpinpoint anything (wrong) atthis stage, because I would-n’t say my preparation haschanged.

“I don’t think it’s any-thing major when it comesto my technical side of thegame. There are certainthings you can tweak, as yougo along. I would probablysay it’s more of a mentalthing. Hopefully, I can turnit around and move on fromthere,” Hope said. PTI