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News Brief

VOL. 54 * NO. 157 * AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY * 23/12/2020

US President-elect Joe Biden received his first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccineat ChristianaCare Hospital in Newark, Delaware, United States.

Union Minister of State for Home affairs G Kishan Reddy, Visited RIMS HospitalInspected the Facilities Available And Enquired About Their Requirements In Enhanc-ing Healthcare Services Adilabad.

Police use water canon to dispurse Jan Adhikar Party supporters during Raj Bhawanmarch against the center's new farm laws, in Patna.

Kerala Governordenies permissionfor specialassembly sessionagainst farm laws

Thiruvananthapuram,The Left Democratic

Front government inKerala suffered a jolt onTuesday after GovernorArif Mohammad Khanturned down its request toconvene a special sessionof the assembly to pass aresolution against the newfarm laws enacted by theCentre.The Kerala govern-ment was planning to con-vene a special session onWednesday.

Earlier the governmenthad approached the Gov-ernor with a recommenda-tion to convene the houseand he later sought certainclarifications on this.Though the state govern-ment replied to the clarifi-cations, the Governorfound they were not satis-factory. The Governor alsofelt that there was noemergency in order to con-vene a special session insuch a short time.

New mutant virusin South Africaafter UK

Captown,From India banning all

flights to and from theUnited Kingdom over thediscovery of a new virusstrain, to another variantbeing found in South Af-rica - here are the top newsupdates on the Covid-19pandemic. South Africasaid that it found a newstrain of the Sars-CoV-2coronavirus dominant incases during the secondsurge of infection. Russiasaid that it is working withIndia to produce its Sput-nik V vaccine in Indian fa-cilities to be used in thetwo countries, as well asothers.

Police invokesnight curfew inPune

Pune, A day after the state

government imposed anight curfew inMaharashtra, Pune policeissued its curfew orders for15 days starting Tuesdaynight.

Officials from the dis-trict administration saidthey are working on a planto adhere to the govern-ment guidelines in areasadjoining the city limitsgiven that latest order ap-plies to municipallimits.According to the or-der signed by RavindraShisve, Joint Commissionerof Pune police, the move-ment of people on the citystreets, under curfew or-ders, will be restricted be-tween 11pm and 6am.

Lack of rupeereserves anddomesticproduction curbIran’s recordIndian sugarexport

Mumbai,India will be unable to

count on Iran, one of itsmost important sugar cus-tomers, for its upcomingexport drive as an increasein Iranian production andTehran’s shortage of ru-pees limit buying.NewDehli agreed last week tosubsidise up to 6 milliontonnes of sugar exportsthis season to try to cut sur-plus stocks and support lo-cal prices. In the 2019/20season, ended September30, Iran imported a record1.14 million tonnes ofsugar from India, account-ing for some 20% of thecountry’s sugar exports, In-dian customs data shows.

This year, the amount isexpected to be signifi-cantly lower,

India steps up surveillanceEven as WHO says newcorona strain 'not deadly’

New Delhi,The world is trying hard

to tackle the pandemic. As itwas not enough, a more in-fectious coronavirus strainhas been found in numer-ous countries includingSouth Africa, United King-dom, Brazil, Denmark.

According to the presti-gious journal Science, thevariant 'B.1.1.7' has takenover 17 mutations, all atonce, which is a unique phe-nomenon. According to thisreport, The UK may just havepicked it up first becausethat country has the mostsophisticated SARS-CoV-2genomic monitoring in theworld. Many countries havelittle or no sequencing,"

The Indian governmentMonday (December 21) said

all UK-India flights will besuspended from December23 to December 31 in viewof the emergence of a newcoronavirus strain in thatcountry. All passengerscoming from the UK onMonday (December 21) andTuesday (December 22)would be compulsorilytested for coronavirus onarrival at airports.

World HealthOrganisation (WHO) emer-gencies chief, Michael Ryansaid that 'We have had amuch higher (contamina-tion rate) at different pointsin this pandemic and wehave got it under control.'He added that 'even if thevirus has become a little bitmore efficient in spreading,the virus can be stopped.'

He urged by saying that, Weneed to do what we havebeen doing, we may justhave to do it with a littlemore intensity and for alittle longer to make sure wecan bring this virus undercontrol.

'Council for Scientificand Industrial Research(CSIR) Director-GeneralShekhar Mande said thatthe coronavirus vaccineswill be equally effectiveagainst the new mutant ofthe virus and there is no rea-son to panic. The transmis-sibility of this new strain iscomparatively higher thanknown coronavirus but thatis not a reason to get scaredof it

He also said that 'Scien-tists are looking at the mu-

tations very closely. It is tooearly to draw any conclu-sions'. He added by sayingthat the new coronavirusvariant can be diagnosedwith existing RT-PCR testsbut it needs to be assessedif it can be equally effectivefor the Rapid Antigen tests.

Indian institutions havesequenced over 4,000 ge-nomes of the coronavirusand submitted to the GlobalInitiative on Sharing All In-fluenza Data (GISAID). TheCSIR's Institute of Genomicsand Integrative Biology(IGIB), Delhi and Centre forCellular and Molecular Biol-ogy (CCMB), Hyderabadhave alone done sequenc-ing of over 2,200 genomesequences of coronavirus inIndia.

Deeply honoured, says PMModi on Legion of Merit award

New Delhi,Prime Minister Narendra

Modi, who was conferredthe Legion of Merit medalby US President DonaldTrump, on Tuesday tweetedthat “I am deeply honoured,”adding that the honourrecognises efforts of peopleof both countries to im-prove bilateral ties. PM Modifurther reiterated hisgovernment’s “firm commit-ment” to strengthen the tiesbetween the two countries.

“I am deeply honouredto be awarded the Legion ofMerit by @POTUS@realDonald Trump. Itrecognises the efforts of thepeople of India & the US toimprove bilateral ties, re-flected in the bipartisanconsensus in both countries

about the Indo-US StrategicPartnership,” PM Modi saidin his tweet. “The 21st cen-tury presents both unprec-edented challenges as wellas opportunities. The India-US relationship can leveragethe vast potential of ourpeople’s unique strengthsto provide global leadershipfor the benefit of entire hu-manity,” he posted in a sub-sequent tweet.

On behalf of the 1.3 bil-lion people of India, I reiter-ate my government’s firmconviction and commit-ment to continue workingwith the US government,and all other stakeholders inboth countries, for furtherstrengthening India-USties,” PM Modi concluded.

Trump had on Monday

conferred the Legion ofMerit, Degree Chief Com-mander, on PM Modi for “ex-ceptionally meritorious ser-vice “ as the leader of India.It is one of the highest mili-tary honours of the US andcan only be conferred by theUS President. A rarelyawarded medal, it is usuallygiven to heads of state orgovernment.

Taranjit Singh Sandhu,India’s envoy to the US, ac-cepted the honour on be-half of the prime ministerfrom Robert O’Brien, the USNational Security Advisor, ina ceremony at the WhiteHouse. At the ceremony, themedal was also conferredon Australian PM ScottMorrison and former Japa-nese PM Shinzo Abe.

Rahul led delegation to meet Prezwith 20 mm sign against farm laws

New Delhi,A delegation of Congress leaders, led by former party

chief Rahul Gandhi, will meet President Ram Nath Kovindon Thursday to submit around 20 million signatures col-lected from across the country in the past three monthsseeking repeal of the three farm laws.Congress general sec-retary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal said in astatement that the party had launched a nationwide cam-paign in September for collecting memoranda of appealsaddressed to the President signed by farmers, farmlabourers and other stake holders opposing the three newfarm legislations. He said around 20 million signatures seek-ing the President’s intervention for withdrawal of these lawshad been collected till now. “The government has chosento brazenly defame, discredit and eventually tire out thelakhs of protesting farmers. The Modi government and itsministers have chosen to insult them,” he alleged. “The ar-rogant Modi government having initially duped the farm-ers by putting on a conciliatory face soon made itsintransience apparent.

Nepal PM Oli seeks control of communistparty, rivals ‘sack’ him as party boss

Kathmandu,Nepal Prime Minister KP

Sharma Oli on Tuesday at-tempted to consolidate hiscontrol over the NepalCommunist Party, induct-ing his loyalists in a keypanel of the party even asthe rival faction led byPushpa Kamal Dahal aka‘Prachanda’ announced thedecision to replace him asco-chairman of the partywith former prime ministerMadhav Kumar Nepal.Nepal plunged into a politi-cal crisis after PM Oli, 68,dissolved parliament onSunday and decided tohold general elections in

two phases on April 30 andMay 10, a year ahead ofschedule. In a televised ad-dress to the nation, PM Olilater defended his decision,insisting that he was“forced to seek a fresh man-date through elections as at-tempts were made againstmy government, not to allowit to function properly.” “Thedissolution of parliamentand fresh elections were notmy choice,” PM Oli said in hisfirst comments after the de-cision. The attempt to inductPM Oli’s loyalists in key partypanels such as the centralcommittee started soonafter.The two factions of thecommunist party - oneheaded by PM Oli and theother by rival, Pushpa KamalDahal - held meetings oftheir factions. Dahal’s factionhas the majority support inmost party panels includingthe 446-member centralcommittee that met on Tues-day.

Karima Baloch's murder highlights ISI footprints in CanadaOttawa,

In a shocking incident,exiled Baloch human rightsactivist Karima Baloch hasbeen found dead in Toronto,Canada. After missing fortwo days, her body has beenfound at Harbourfront, neara lakeshore in Toronto.Karima has been one of thetowering figures of theBaloch nationalist move-ment and took refuge inCanada in 2016 after severalfoiled assassination at-

tempts by Pakistani Armyand nation's government. Anepitome of resistanceagainst Pakistani Occupa-tion of Balochistan, she wasworking to build a move-ment against the humanrights violations by the Paki-stani Army in Balochistan aswell as against the growinginfluence of ISI operativesright under the nose of Ca-nadian administration andsecurity forces. She was alsoraising her voice on the

growing trend of settling ofex-army officers of the Paki-stani Army in Canada. Balochactivists and human rightsdefenders are criticising theCanadian government for itsfailure to protect dissidentsand are demanding a speedyinvestigation and trial in thematter. Exiled Baloch leaderand the Central Spokesper-son of the Baloch RepublicanParty (BRP) Sher MohammadBugti tweeted and said, “Thesudden demise of Karima

Baloch is certainly no lessthan a shock. It is the duty ofthe Government of Canada toinvestigate the incident andto inform the family and theBaloch nation of all the facts.”

Popular Pakistani feministMovement Aurat March--re-cent fame in the feministworld has demanded the Ca-nadian government to probethe matter and tweeted, “Weare deeply saddened. and dis-turbed by the murder ofKarima Baloch.

'Prove me wrong or treat me with Dhokla'

MamataBanerjee

challengesAmit Shah

Kolkata,West Bengal Chief Min-

ister Mamata Banerjee onTuesday gave Union HomeMinister Amit Shah a chal-lenge, adding that heshould prove her wrong ortreat her with Dhokla. Thecomment comes after CMBanerjee countered data ondevelopment in West Ben-gal shared by Shah on De-cember 20.

“I challenge Home Min-ister to prove me wrong ortreat me with Dhokla,” saidCM Banerjee. She also said,"When a Home Ministermakes statements, heshould cross-check facts. Hehas shown Bengal in poor

light. Where were you 11years back?"Slamming Shahfor "deliberately trying toproject a dismal and gloomypicture" ofWest Bengal,CM Banerjeec o n t e n d e dthat the statehas fared wellon all devel-opment indi-ces. Issuing ap o i n t - b y -point rebut-tal to assertions made byShah against her dispensa-tion, during his visit to Ben-gal last week, Banerjee citedNCRB data to state that po-litical killings and other

crimes have decreased inthe last ten years under theTMC rule.

"You never came hereeven once. Asper Centralgovernmentdata, WestBengal isnumber 1, inpoor eradica-tion in India.Rural housing,rural roads,MSME, Skill

development, Minority Dev,all number 1 in the country,"she added. Home Guard andother police officials whohave completed 15 yearscan apply to return to home

district for work, saidMamata. More than 50,000applications were submit-ted, close to 35,000 officialshave already placed in theirhome districts, she added.

For primary and otherteachers, same notificationwe had issued where teach-ers can apply to return toschools in home districts.More than 5,000 applica-tions were submitted, 3,000have been places in homedistricts.She added thatmore than one crore jobshave been created in WestBengal. "Some people arekilled in personal enmitybut BJP portrays it as politi-cal murders.

Markets stage strong recovery,Sensex rebounds 453 points

New Delhi, Markets staged strong

recovery on Tuesday withSensex zooming 453 pointshigher led by rally in IT andbanking stocks.

The 30-share BSE indexended 452.73 points or 0.99per cent higher at46,006.69. On similar lines,the broader NSE Niftyclimbed 137.90 points or1.03 per cent to13,466.30Major gainers inthe Sensex pack were HCLTech, Tech Mahindra,Infosys, Powergrid, SunPharma, Nestle, LT, Titan,Bharti Airtel, Asian Paint,TCS and Dr Reddy, risingupto 5.09 percent. On theother hand major losers

were Kotak Bank, Bajaj Fi-nance, HDFC, RIL andIndusInd Bank, falling upto0.94 percent.Oil pricesdropped almost 2% onTuesday to below $50 a bar-rel, a Reuters report said.Brent crude was down 72cents, or 1.4% to $50.19 abarrel at 0915 GMT, whileU.S. West Texas Intermedi-ate (WTI) crude fell 76 cents,or 1.6%, to $47.21.FTSE fu-tures down 0.14% and E-mini futures for the S&P 500index off 0.29%. Australia`sS&P/ASX 200 was 1.21%lower. Japan`s Nikkei 225was down 0.77% in the af-ternoon session. MSCI`sgauge of Asia Pacific stocksoutside Japan fell 0.75%.

India has data, demography, demand, democracyto achieve world-class scientific solutions: PM

New Delhi, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on Tuesday(December 22, 2020) deliv-ered the inaugural addressat the India InternationalScience Festival (IISF) 2020and said that the countryhas data, demography, de-mand, democracy toachieve world-class scien-tific solutions. "To achieveworld-class education,health, connectivity and ru-ral solutions, today's Indiahas data, demography anddemand. Above all, India hasdemocracy to balance andprotect all this. That is why

the world trusts India," saidPM Modi. The Prime Minis-ter also expressed that Indiahas a rich legacy in science,technology and innovation.

"Our scientists havedone path-breaking re-search. Our tech industry isat the forefront of solvingglobal problems. But, Indiawants to do more. We lookat the past with pride butwant an even better future,"PM Modi said. Speaking onthe occasion, the Prime Min-ister said all our efforts areaimed at making India themost trustworthy centre forscientific learning.

"At the same time, wewant our scientific commu-nity to share and grow withthe best of global talent.One of the steps taken toachieve this is hosting andparticipating in hackathonsto provide exposure andopportunity to Indian scien-tists," noted PM Modi.

He asserted that theNew National EducationPolicy will help in fosteringscientific temper from anearly age and said that nowthe focus has shifted fromoutlays to the outcome,from textbooks to researchand application.

Haryana ramps up preparationfor Covid-19 vaccination drive

Chandigarh,The Manohar Lal Khattar-led government in Haryana

has stepped up preparations for the Covid-19 vaccinationdrive by starting the registration of those who will be ad-ministered shots in the first phase, a senior official told newsagency PTI. The state has been witnessing a drop in its dailyCovid-19 tally for almost a month with 534 new cases and662 recoveries registered in the last 24 hours.Haryana’sadditional chief secretary (Health), Rajeev Arora, said thatthe health department has already identified 1,800 vaccina-tion session sites and over 5,000 vaccinators have beenmapped for administering the vaccine. “Moreover, to ensurethe vaccine reaches every district, the health department has22 vaccine vans (insulated) for transporting vaccines acrossthe state,” the chief secretary said

Data of more than 190,000 health workers - belonging toboth government and private sectors - has been uploaded onthe CoWIN?portal, which was formed by the central govern-ment for monitoring the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines. Arorasaid the health department will expeditiously roll out the vac-cine once it is available and added that vaccine introductionwill span over a year with several groups being included in asequential manner starting from health care workers

Ahmedabad, Page 2

Editorial2FromEditor’sDesk

In the dockCBI chargesheet indicts UP police inthe Hathras rape-murder case; fairprobe is the only way to justice

More than three months after a 19-year-old Dalitwoman was brutalised, allegedly by four upper-castemen in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, the CBI has filed achargesheet, a stinging indictment of the stategovernment’s — especially its police department’s— handling of the case. Based on the declaration bythe victim before she succumbed to her injuries, thereport incriminates the four accused and puncturesthe narrative of the state’s police officials who saidthat no “gangrape had taken place”. The investigationagency’s observations lay bare the localadministration’s malfeasance towards the victim andher family from day one. No woman officer or thestation house officer examined her till September 19– five days after the incident. “Though the victim al-leged molestation, her medical examination regard-ing sexual assault was not conducted,” thechargesheet notes. The medical examination wasconducted more than a week after the assault. “Thisdelay”, as a report by the AIIMS’ forensic department,cited by the CBI points out, “could have led to theloss of crucial evidence”.

The CrPC and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs’“Guidelines for Forensic Medical Examination inSexual Assault Cases” are clear about the proceduresto be followed by the police and administration oncethere is an allegation of sexual assault: An FIR mustbe registered, a medical examination of the survivormust be conducted in the presence of a womanmedical officer and the police must ensure that astatement of the survivor is recorded by a magistrate.The CBI chargesheet is a sobering testament to theUP police’s failure to adhere to the rulebook. It wasonly after the woman “explicitly said balatkar (rape)”and named the four accused that she was sent for amedical examination, the chargesheet notes, whilecalling out “the negligence during the handling ofthe case by police as well as concerned authorities”.

The UP government has responded to thechargesheet by claiming that it had ordered the CBIinvestigation in the first place. But the fact remainsthat in the more than three years that the YogiAdityanath government has held office, the UPpolice’s actions have mirrored a political partisanagenda: whether in creating an enabling atmospherefor cow vigilantes, going after anti-CAA protestors,rampant use of draconian NSA, “encounter” deaths,or now using the anti-conversion law to strike at thepersonal freedoms of young women and men. That’swhy, perhaps, in Hathras, the sordid affair continuedafter the young Dalit woman’s death, with the policecremating her in the dead of night, denying the griev-ing family the right to perform the last rites. Now thatthe CBI has stepped in, insulating the investigationand prosecution from political influence is the onlyway to ensure justice in the rape and murder of ayoung woman.

AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/12/2020

ment added.The farmers are protest-

ing against the Farmers (Em-powerment and Protection)Agreement of Price Assur-ance and Farm Services Act,2020; Farmers ProduceTrade and Commerce (Pro-motion and Facilitation) Act,2020 and The EssentialCommodities (Amendment)Act, 2020.

The farm laws allowfarmers to sell their produceat places apart from theirdesignated Agricultural Pro-duce Market Committee(APMC) markets.

They also aim at allow-ing contract farming underwhich they could enter intosupply agreements with pri-vate firms for remunerativeand pre-decided prices.

However, the farmersbelieve the new farm lawswould pave the way for dis-mantling of the MSP system,leaving them at the mercyof big corporates.

—IANS

Delhi HC women lawyers’ group toobserve fast in solidarity with farmers

New Delhi, The Delhi High Court

Women Lawyers’ Forum(DHCWLF) on Wednesdaydecided to observe a fast insolidarity with the farmerswho are protesting againstthe three new farm laws, atvarious borders of the na-tional capital.

“We lawyers have de-cided to fast in solidaritywith the ongoing farmers‘Satyagrah’ on December23, which is also celebratedas ‘Kisan Diwas’, demandinga repeal of the hastily en-acted farm laws,” said theDHCWLF, a group of lawyerscomprising senior advo-cates Indira Jaising,Mahalakshmi Pavani,Biswajit Bhattacharya,Mohan Katarki and AnandGrover.

The core members ofthe group include advo-cates Shweta Kapoor, ZebaKhair, Iram Majid, MiriamFozia Rahman, Kriti Kakkar,Swaty Singh Malik, Geetika

Panwar, Ekta Kapil andNandita Rao.

In a statement, the law-yers’ group said, “It is ourbelief that while the issue ofthe constitutionality of thefarm laws enacted by theCentre when agriculture is astate subject is subjudicebefore the Supreme Court,and the issue of the legalityof the enactment by a voicevote in the Rajya Sabha isalso being heard by the Su-preme Court, implementa-tion of irreversible and farreaching farm laws wouldrender these petitionsinfructuous and could causeirreparable damage to thefarm sector in India.”

“We also believe thatdismantling the regulatorymechanism of the MinimumSupport Price (MSP) andpermitting big corporates tonegotiate with small farm-ers, who lack the means toenforce or negotiate con-tracts, especially due to theabsence of effective legal

aid and judicial infrastruc-ture in rural India as well asthe prohibitive distance ofHigh Court and the Su-preme Court, these lawswould usher in a new era offeudalism, where farmerswill be reduced to corporateserfs on their own lands,” itadded.

The lawyers’ group alsosaid the decisions ofcorporates driven by profitwould also affect the foodsecurity of India and crop-ping patterns would be de-termined not by local needsbut by international marketforces.

“While the Indian andthe global economy, espe-cially urban employment isbadly hit by Covid-19, 80 percent of the country is de-pendent for its sustenanceon agriculture, imposingsuch far reaching legisla-tions upon a vulnerable citi-zenry in such an unconstitu-tional manner is a matter ofgrave concern,” the state-

Gurugram, In a unique initiative,

the Municipal Corporationof Gurugram (MCG) has de-cided to seek help from city-based private and govern-ment schools, NGOs andRWAs to explain the processof waste segregation to thecity’s residents.

Under this initiative, thecivic body had recentlyorganised an online meetalong with the school prin-cipals of nearly 100 schoolsand had asked them to edu-cate their students and par-ents through online pro-cesses about waste segre-gation.

Apart from this the MCGwill also seek help from theNGOs and RWA representa-tives to explain to people oftheir societies and acrossthe district on how to dealwith waste segregation.

Besides this, the civicbody will also observe azero-waste day on Decem-ber 25, during which thecivic body will only collectwet waste from householdsacross the city.

According to the MCG

MCG teams up with schools, NGOs, RWAs on waste segregationjoint commissioner DheerajKumar, who is also the civicbody’s nodal officer for theSwachh Bharat Mission, thereason behind this action isto educate the people aboutpros and cons of waste andsecondly to develop thehabit of waste segregationacross the city.

“The objective behindthis initiative is to make resi-dents aware of the severaltypes of waste segregationand its benefits. We wantresidents to know that wetwaste will help in genera-tion of compost and drywaste objects can also berecycled and reused. Withthis method, the district willproduce limited waste,” saidKumar.

Kumar said to imple-ment this initiative effec-tively an MCG team will alsoinform residents about the

basic types of waste segre-gation, adding that resi-dents of the city must un-derstand the seriousness ofthe waste segregation.

“It was a result of MCGnegligence and unaware-ness among the people as ahuge mountain of mixwaste garbage has formedat Bandhwari landfill site. Iffrom the beginning we fo-cused on waste segregationthis waste mountain wouldnot be formed at the site.Now it is an important taskto understand the uses ofsegregation of waste,”Kumar said.

He also stated thatpeople must understandthe pollution levels acrossthe city. People must comeforward to deal with wastesegregation so that theycould play an important roleto provide clean air for their

next generation.“It is an impressive step

taken by the corporation toeducate people aboutwaste segregation. The stu-dents and people of the citymust join hands with thecivic body initiative to makethe city waste-free,” said aprincipal of a private school.

The officer further saidthat besides planning toobserve a zero-waste dayevery month, the corpora-tion is also planning to holdzero plastic day in a similarmanner.

“We want to reduce thecity’s dependency on plas-tic. Recently, a cloth bagbank was opened in the cityto stop the usage ofpolythene in the city. Soonmore cloth banks will beopened at multiple loca-tions across the city,” Kumaradded. —IANS

E-commerce props uppaper-packaging fortunes

New Delhi, A revival in demand, led by increased offtake from e-

commerce channels, will support a rebound for paper-pack-aging entities this fiscal, offsetting the impact of pandemic-induced disruptions in the first quarter, Crisil said on Tues-day. According to the rating agency, despite a 200 basispoints (ps) blow to operating margin, credit profiles will bestable on the back of strong capital structure.

A study of 50 CRISIL-rated companies, which accountfor 37 per cent of the industry’s revenue, indicates as much.

Sales volume had wilted after the lockdown as demandfrom key end-user industries such as ready-made garments,industrial components, consumer durables and exportsweakened. However, demand rebounded as heightenedsafety and hygiene consciousness forced consumers to in-crease use of e-commerce channel for deliveries.

Therefore, on-year basis, demand for paper packagingis seen unchanged at 9 million metric tonne this fiscal, theagency said in a press statement.

The industry, which logged a steady compound annualgrowth rate of 5.5-6.5 per cent over the past five fiscals,added about 1.5 million tonne capacity last fiscal. With de-mand flat-lining, it is set to log its lowest operating rates ofless than 70 per cent this fiscal.

Crisil said that low operating rates curb the ability topass on input price increases to consumers. The pandemichas led to supply disruptions, impacting waste paper sup-ply, a key input for this industry. Consequently, input priceshave risen 14 per cent from Rs 10.5 per kg in February thisyear to Rs 12 per kg in September.

To mitigate high input costs, the industry is trying topush high-value products such as grease-proof paper forfood packaging, bleached white paper for e-commerce, andabrasion- and damage-resistant corrugating paper for ship-ping consumer durables. However, this will only partiallymitigate the impact of rise in input prices.

‘Hopeful of an early solution to the farm law impasse’ment and the farmers’organisations and we willarrive at a solution. We firmlybelieve that the Oppositionis misleading the farmers togain political mileage andthe Centre is making all theefforts to resolve all the mis-conceptions of the farmers.

Q: Is the governmentready to amend the threefarm laws? What is the takeof the government on MSPand APMC?

A: The prices in the MSPAct are still in the favour ofthe farmers. We are trying toaddress the apprehensionsof the farmers. Thegovernment’s aim is that thefarmers should get maxi-mum value for their pro-duce for which we tried toincrease competition. Ear-lier, only traders with licencecould purchase in mandisbut now everyone can buy.If there is competition, thefarmers will get the maxi-mum benefit.

New Delhi, Minister of State for Ag-

riculture, KailashChowdhary talking exclu-sively to IANS said that hewas confident that talks be-tween the government andthe farmers will resumesoon for a negotiated solu-tion to end the present pro-tests over the recently-passed farm laws.

Reiterating that the newlaws were beneficial for thefarmers, Chowdhary ac-cused the opposition of mis-leading the farmers and saidthat the farmers were ap-prehensive of some provi-sions, but the governmentwould clarify these for them.

Following are excerptsfrom the interview:

Q: Why has the govern-ment not been able to findany solution to the farmers’protests till now?

A: We are confident thatsoon there will be a dia-logue between the govern-

Q: The Opposition hasalleged that with these farmlaws, the government’s pro-curement will reduce, there-fore, the mandi system willend. What is thegovernment’s take on this?

A: It is the government’sduty to address the appre-hensions of the farmers. Themisconceptions about thethree farm laws have beenspread just to gain politicalmileage. Contract farming isbeing done in many statesbut no land has been ac-quired till now. The laws en-acted by the Centre provideall the security to the farm-ers.

Q: What will be thegovernment’s role betweenthe farmers and corporates?

A: The government takesfull responsibility of all thefarmers of the country.People who are supportingthe agricultural reform lawshave outnumbered thosewho are against them. The

entire country is taken intoconsideration while enact-ing any law. In a democracy,the people have given theright to the Parliament tomake laws and it is the re-sponsibility of the govern-ment to make laws in pub-lic interest. Still, we are try-ing to resolve all the issuesamicably. I am hopeful thatwe will come to a solutionsoon.

Q: What is the status ofthe dialogue between thegovernment and the farm-ers. How long do you thinkit will take to come to a so-lution?

A: Another round of dia-logue between the govern-ment and the farmers willstart soon. Both are ready fordiscussion and we will arriveat a solution soon. When thefarmers’ representatives willcome forward and take thedecision, the deadlock willend. Talks have not yetreached the final stage. I

think the farmers’ unionswill understand the issue,end the protest and comeup for further dialogue.

Q: How do you see theintervention of the court inthis matter?

A: We all respect the de-cision of the court. The courthas rightly said that the gov-ernment and farmers’organisations should worktogether to find a commonsolution through dialogue.The government has alsobeen saying the same thingsince day one. In a democ-racy, it is everyone’s right tohold peaceful protests butthe problems of other citi-zens should also be consid-ered. You can’t block a citylike Delhi for long. We arehopeful that the farmers willgive up their insistence onwithdrawal of the farm lawsand the government isready to make amendmentsto address the apprehen-sions of the farmers.

Q: What message wouldyou like to give to the farm-ers on behalf of the govern-ment?

A: I would like to reiteratethe same thing that our PrimeMinister has appealed to thefarmers that those who havelost their political ground aremisleading the farmers aboutthe laws. The Congress andthe Opposition who areclaiming to be with the farm-ers today, were sitting on theSwaminathan Commissionreport for eight years. TheModi government providedone-and-a-half times moreMSP to the farmers. Duringthe Rajasthan elections also,Rahul Gandhi had said thatthey will waive off loans, butthey didn’t do it. The Congresshas never thought about thesmall farmers. The farmersshould understand that howcan the Prime Minister, whointroduced schemes likeKisan Samman Nidhi, goagainst them. —IANS

New Delhi, Indias first ranked pri-

vate university and an ‘Insti-tute of Eminence (IoE)’, O.P.Jindal Global University(JGU) has announced sevennew academic programmesfor Admissions 2021 alongwith the launch of its 10thSchool, Jindal School of Psy-chology & Counselling(JSPC).

The new programmesoffered by the ten schools ofJGU are BA (Hons.) in Psy-chology, BA (Hons.) in Fi-nance & Entrepreneurship,BFA (Hons.), Bachelor of FineArts, BBA (Hons.) in BusinessAnalytics, BBA (Hons.) inFamily Business, BBA (Hons.)in Financial Markets andIndia’s first PG Diploma inData Journalism.

Additionally, theB.Design programme of-fered by the Jindal School ofArts & Architecture (JSAA)will have two new curricu-lum paths. First, is on “UrbanPlanning”, and second is on“Community Planning”, add-ing to their existingspecialisation in “InteriorDesign”.

C. Raj Kumar, the Found-ing Vice Chancellor of O.P.Jindal Global University said:“JGU is at the forefront ofacademic innovation,internationalisation, and re-search excellence with aview to providing atransfomative education forour students. This has en-

O.P. Jindal Global University launches 7 newacademic programmes for admissions 2021

abled us to overcome thechallenges posed by COVID-19 to the world of highereducation.

“As an ‘Institution of Emi-nence’ dedicated to thestudy of social sciences, lib-eral arts and humanities, it isimportant for us to make astrong and substantive im-pact on the economy, polityand society. The Jindal Insti-tute of Behavioural Sciences(JIBS) that was establishedin 2014 has created a richbody of research and capac-ity building in behaviouralsciences. We are building onthat experience to developa world class institution, theJindal School of Psychology& Counselling (JSPC).

“Similarly, our facultymembers at the Jindal Glo-bal Business School, JindalSchool of Liberal Arts & Hu-manities, Jindal School ofJournalism & Communica-tion and the Jindal School ofBanking & Finance have adeep and rich experience inareas of Fine Arts, Entrepre-neurship, Data Journalism,Business Analytics, FinancialMarkets and Business Stud-ies. We aim to leverage theseexperiences to provide aunique educational oppor-tunity to our students in arange of UG and PGprogrammes that are beingoffered in the new academicyear 2021-22.”

Arjya B. Majumdar, Dean,Office of Admissions and

Outreach, JGU said, “A 21stcentury Atmanirbhar Bharathas begun to have conver-sations around issues suchas mental health, entrepre-neurship and new age ca-reers in fine arts. As a univer-sity dedicated to the studyof social sciences, arts andhumanities, JGU needs to bepart of this conversation.These new programmes be-ing offered at JGU willcomplement our existingrepertoire of programmes inlaw, business, social sci-ences, politics, internationalrelations, liberal arts, archi-tecture, communication,commerce and environ-ment studies.”

Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik,Registrar, O.P. Jindal GlobalUniversity said, “O.P. JindalGlobal University believes inshaping the social, emo-tional and intellectual livesof aspiring students. Wecontinue to make concertedefforts to start newprogrammes that are in con-sonance with the vision andmission of the University.With a multidisciplinary andinterdisciplinary approachfollowed at JGU, studentswill benefit from theprogrammes offered byJGU. This would allow stu-dents to pursue their areasof interest with method-ological rigour and thus be-come experts in their cho-sen fields.”

—IANS

Hyderabad, Telangana reported 617

new Covid-19 cases andthree deaths during the last24 hours, health officials saidon Tuesday.

The fresh cases havetaken the state’s tally to2,82,347 while the death tollhas mounted to 1,518. Afterthe weekly drop in casesdue to fewer tests con-ducted over the weekend,the cases surged again. Thestate had reported 316cases on Monday.

Greater Hyderabad Mu-nicipal Corporation (GHMC)reported 103 new casesduring the last 24 hourswhile the daily count in dis-tricts was in double or singledigits. Medchal Malkajgiridistrict saw the secondhighest number of newcases at 52 followed byRangareddy (51), WarangalUrban (41), Karimnagar (41)and Khammam (32).

The recovery rate fur-

Covid: 617 new cases,3 deaths in Telangana

ther imposed to 97.13 percent with 635 more peoplerecovering from the virus.

The state continues tosee more recoveries thandaily count of new cases.With the latest recoveries,the cumulative number roseto 2,74,260. The state nowhas 6,569 active cases and ofthem 4,400 are in home orinstitutional isolation.

Of the 45,227 tests con-ducted during the last 24hours, government-runlaboratories accounted for43,199 while remaining2,028 samples were testedin private labs. Samplestested per million popula-tion ratio rose further to1,75,201. The daily testingtarget for the state is 5,600per day as per the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)benchmark of 140 per mil-lion per day, officials saidEighteen government-runlaboratories, 56 private labo-ratories and 1,076 Rapid

Antigen test centres areconducting the tests in thestate.

The data shows that 63.9per cent of those testedpositive so far were agedbetween 21-50 years. Asmany as 22.91 per cent wereaged above 51 years. Thepositive cases include 13.18per cent who were below20 years. Of the total cases,60.44 per cent were maleand 39.37 per cent female.

Over 90 per cent of bedsin government-run and pri-vate hospitals treatingCovid-19 in the state re-mained vacant.

Out of 8,559 beds avail-able in 61 government hos-pitals treating Covid, 7,781beds were vacant. A total of778 people were undergo-ing treatment in these hos-pitals. Similarly, in 219 pri-vate hospitals treatingCovid, only 1,391 beds wereoccupied. Out of 7,939 beds,6,548 were vacant. —IANS

Lisa Mishra: Music easespain during hardship

New Delhi,Saath Saath Mein’, an original music video featur-

ing the winners and mentors of digital-only musicalreality show ‘Smule iDiva 1, 2, 3... Riyaaz’, launched onMonday. Indian American singer Lisa Mishra, who isone of the show’s mentors, feels that in times of hard-ship, music is the ultimate alleviater of pain.

“It’s not just this year, I think historically we have“peace time” songs. I feel music is such a heavenly ex-perience, anytime we face difficulty as a people and aworld, we turn to music, it’s a great healer. I’m not sur-prised this happened in 2020 too. I think music hashelped a lot of people get through what could easilybe viewed as the toughest year in my generation’s life.As always, music is an uplifting and healing element,”Mishra told IANSlife. The song also features Jassie Gilland Kusha Kapila, and talks about how when you havea song in your heart, you should get together and singit “saath saath mein.”

The reality show amassed the love of over 15 mil-lion music lovers in a six-month run time. Producedby ILN Studios in partnership with Times Bridge, “SaathSaath Mein” was composed, recorded and shot re-motely, connecting 25 winners and 3 mentors fromacross the country, without a physical meet. The songrecordings were digitally stitched by Ankur Tewari tocreate the musical score. A music video was splicedtogether without an on-ground crew - but with en-thusiastic winners who danced away to glory usingtheir phone cameras. The footage was then editedusing the animation to transform home-style footageinto a stylized music video. Mishra says about the re-mote shooting experience: “It was an interesting chal-lenge to go from a location shoot to an end-to-endremotely shot production.”

Voters waiting in queue and show their identity at polling booths for casting their votes to the Gram PanchayathElections in Belagavi district.

Ahmedabad, Page 3

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AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/12/2020

Ahmedabad,Dholera Special Invest-

ment Region (DSIR), a flag-ship project of the StateGovernment is being devel-oped on the concept of“Greenfield Industrial City”under the domain of Delhi– Mumbai Industrial Corri-dor Region of State ofGujarat. DSIR is ready forbusiness with its ActivationArea equipped with utilityembedded serviced plotsand planned strategic re-gional connectivity such asAhmedabad- Dholera Ex-pressway, Dholera Interna-tional Airport and Bhimnath– Dholera Rail Line.

The timely developmentof social infrastructure alongwith physical infrastructureis an important element fordeveloping the city of to-

Govt of Gujarat signs MoU with Cerestra Managersto setup Education Strategic Hub at Dholera

morrow. As a part of this en-deavour, the State Govern-ment has ascertained aMemorandum of Under-standing with M/s CerestraManagers Private Limited, afirm mainly engaged in in-vestment, development,management and advisoryof real estate assets in thefield of education, studenthousing and life sciences, forthe setting up of quality-centric education hubs inemerging cities and townssuch as Dholera Special In-vestment Region.

M/s Cerestra ManagersPrivate Limited, directly orthrough its affiliates and as-signs, is intending to de-velop Education StrategicHub consisting of Universitydistrict, School district, Dis-covery district, Incubation

centre including other com-mon infrastructure such asauditoriums/dormitories,sports complex, etc. across1000 acres at Gujarat SpecialEducation Region (“G-SER”),in Dholera Special Invest-ment Region.

G-SER is designed to bedeveloped in sectoral man-ner wherein 50 acres wouldbe developed in one Sector.The hub will attract Foreign/Global Universities inGujarat and deploy capitalin education infrastructurewithin Dholera Special In-vestment Region. Theproject will help in settingup many additional facilitiesin and around it which willprovide the spin-off benefitsto the economy & will helpthe livelihood of around2,50,000 people.

New Delhi,An online exhibition of

etchings, serigraphs, screenprinting and lithographs bynoted artist Seema Kohli,that captures the journey ofKohli in printmaking, wenton view on December 21.Titled ‘The Alchemy of Pro-cess’, it can be viewed on thewebsite of India Interna-tional Centre till January 3,2021.

Seema has had over 32solo shows and she exploresthe themes of beauty, sen-suality and spirituality ex-pressed through her worksbased on the concept of‘Hiranayagarbha’ or ‘TheGolden Womb’ from whichwe have emerged, which isself-pervading, engulfs ev-ery single thing.

Seema’s work is inspiredby and firmly grounded inher extensive knowledge ofIndian spirituality, mythol-ogy and cosmology which ismost often filtered throughthe lens of the sacred femi-nine. An overarching themein her work has been the re-generation of life which canbe seen in extensive and

Artist Seema Kohli’s new online showon her ‘journey in printmaking’

evolving series, ‘GoldenWomb’ and ‘Tree of Life’, saida note on her exhibition. Herinformed and intuitiveknowledge of India’s de-tailed taxonomies of mytho-logical, historical and livingspirituality is distilledthrough diverse bodies ofwork which offer uniquepathways through differentprocesses and forms.

For a painter with sucha refined and meticulouscontrol of her medium,printmaking has providedan opportunity for experi-mentation, chance and acci-dent. As images emergethrough multiple statesthere can be a keen sense ofmystery andunpredictability. In someprocesses such as intaglio,the reversal of an imagefrom plate to paper can berevelatory, akin to seeing afamiliar image from a star-tling new vantage point.

In each of Seema’s 64Yoginis (Chaunsath Yogini) acircle inscribed in a squareholds an image of a deityfrom this powerful femalecollective. Based on a San-

skrit term, the Yogini is a fe-male master practitioner ofyoga possessing magicaland supernatural powers.Seema has a profoundsense of identification withthe energizing and uniquelytransgressive force of theYogini, having visited andenacted personal rituals andpublic performances at sev-eral of India’s both cel-ebrated and abandonedYogini temples. While draw-ing from traditional symbol-ism and meaning, Seema in-fuses the yogini with ownsense of meaning and iden-tification.

Although Yogini’s ap-pear prominently in herpaintings and sculpture, thisseries of small etchings isunique in that all 64 Yoginiscan be apprehended to-gether as arranged in adownward facing trianglesymbolic of female energy.

In a series of prints cre-ated in 2002, ‘The GoldenWomb’, a circle sits within adeep blue 20" square, acompositional strategy sheemploys in many of herworks.

Mumbai, Hollywood filmmaker

Timur Bekmambetov willbring his Screenlife filmmak-ing format to India throughHindi languageproductions.Â

The Russian origin direc-tor known for films such as“Wanted” (2008), “AbrahamLincoln: Vampire Hunter”(2012), and “Night Watch”(2004), has partnered withGraphic India and RelianceEntertainment, under whichthey will develop a slate oforiginal local language filmsleveraging the Screenlifegenre in India.

In the first phase of thenew partnership,Bekmambetov and SharadDevarajan of Graphic Indiawill be working closely withReliance Entertainment onthe development and pro-duction of the three films byup-and-coming Indian film-makers and storytellers. Thefirst project has beenfinalised, and is expected togo into production earlynext year.

The Screenlife movie

Timur Bekmambetov to bringScreenlife concept to Hindi films

format is one where thestory unfolds as seen on thescreens of devices such assmartphones and comput-ers. The format made a mas-sive breakthrough in 2015,when Bekmambetov pro-duced “Unfriended”. The filmgrossed $65 million world-wide with a budget of $1million. He followed that upwith his 2018 thriller pro-duction, “Searching”.

Talking about the deal,Bekmambetov said:“Screenlife films are univer-sally relatable to peoplearound the world, and audi-ences intuitively under-stand this storytelling lan-guage, because it’s how welive. I believe our devices canreveal more about a personthan they would ever sayout loud, because we neverlie to our screens.”

To this, Shibasish Sarkar,Group CEO, Reliance Enter-tainment, added: “India isone of the world’s leadingfastest-growing entertain-ment economies. We aredelighted to partner withTimur and Sharad to bring

Screenlife, a new digitalonscreen filmmaking lan-guage, to India and providea new and powerful plat-form to showcase talent ofIndian writers anddirectors.”Sharad Devarajanof Graphic India shared: “Westrive to push the bound-aries of storytelling withnew genres and experi-ences, and this wonderfulpartnership with RelianceEntertainment will give usan amazing opportunity toshowcase some of India’spioneering filmmakers andcreators.”

The Screenlife formathas proved to be effective toshoot films amid the Covid-19 pandemic as it is moreflexible, making it possibleto shoot remotely, ensuringsafety of the cast and crew.

Bekmambetov’s pro-duction banners are nowworking on a Screenlife ad-aptation of a classic, “R#J”(Shakespeare’s Romeo andJuliet), a sequel to “Search-ing”, as well as developing anew thriller titled “Resur-rected”.

Namit Das on OTT censorship: Idon’t like people deciding for me

New Delhi, Actor Namit Das is currently one of the favourites in

the digital space. He agrees that there are many excitingchoices on the platform, and he believes censorship shouldbe a personal choice. This year, the audience saw Namitacross digital platforms in projects such as “A Suitable Boy”,“Aarya” and “Mafia”. He is now awaiting the streaming of hisnext, “Aafat-E-Ishq”.

“I am only working for OTT right now. My next film,Aafat-E-Ishq, which is coming out soon is an OTT film. Ear-lier, one was doing only films and some amount of televi-sion. Now, actors are bombarded with work from OTT plat-forms. It’s really great,” the actor told IANS.

“It’s definitely a good time for actors. We are getting alot of opportunities to be part of very different kinds of sto-ries, to play different characters. I think it’s the polarity ofthese characters which is also attracting makers towardsme where people feel that ‘oh! let’s cast him in this’. Theseare exciting choices which the makers are also able to makebecause of the kind of stories that can be told now. So, yesone does get a lot of space,” added the actor, who has actedin feature films as well as TV shows. Asked if content onOTT should be censored, he said: “I personally don’t believein censorship. I believe that censorship is a very personalchoice. If you have children in your house, you take a call ofnot letting them watch certain stuff. I think that should bea personal choice. I don’t agree with people putting cen-sorship on me, and people deciding for me. I don’t like that.”

However, he understands that “sometimes these deci-sions are taken by bigger bodies who think about the soci-ety as a whole, and what influence it would have on people.So I understand their perspective also. Personally speak-ing, I am not too fond of censorship”. The year 2020, whichsaw everything coming to a standstill due to the pandemic,has been a learning experience for him.

Liam Payne on One Direction: Ithink we’ve got a lot more to come

Los Angeles, Singer Liam Payne misses his One Direction bandmates,

and thinks there is a lot more to come from the band.The boy band, which also has Harry Styles, Louis

Tomlinson and Niall Horan, has been on a break since 2016.Zayn Malik was part of the band, too, until his exit in 2015.

During a radio show, Payne was asked if he would evertry and get the other One Direction boys on a Zoom chatfor a Christmas get-together. “I’d love that, honestly, I would.I was recently on the phone with Louis for a good hour andI think we just need a proper catch-up,” he replied.

“It was nice to catch-up for the 10-year anniversary, I’mhoping we’ve got a lot more to come from us - I sound likeI’m talking about a football club, ‘I played really well in de-fence’ - I think we’ve got a lot more to come and it’s toughout there singing these songs on your own. Some of themarea really difficult, there was a reason there was four orfive people out there to overtake sometimes. I definitelymiss them, and I hope we catch up,” he added. The singer,27, also admitted his stage fright has worsened as he hasgotten older, reports contactmusic.com. “The biggest chal-lenge I’ve ever had to overcome, I mean stage-fright’s amassive one. I think all of us (One Direction) have sufferedwith that at some point and to be honest with you it seemedto have gotten harder for me as I got older, I don’t know if Ibecame more aware of what I was doing or, it’s difficult, andit’s not one that you ever really get over, you just kind ofget on with it. It’s just part of the game,” he said.

Mumbai,L&T Mutual Fund, one of

India’s top asset managerswith total AUM of Rs 70,191crore (as on Nov 30, 2020),has launched an integrateddigital campaign called ‘LateLateef 2021’ to reiterate theimportance of investingearly in Equity Linked savingScheme (ELSS) for tax sav-ing. The essential theme ofthe campaign is to educatemasses on avoiding procras-tination in everyday life andthe snowball effects of de-laying important tasks.

Through the ‘Late Lateef2021’ digital campaign, thefund house plans to reachout to a larger pool of users,including millennials, whoare interested in ELSS as aninstrument to save taxesand also create awarenessabout the tax-saving tool.Millennials, who formedabout 47% of new mutualfund investors in FY19 as per

L&T Mutual Fund launches ‘Late Lateef 2021’the latest data provided byComputer Age Manage-ment Services Limited(‘CAMS’) could use ELSS asan investment vehicle tokick-start their wealth-cre-ation journey early in life.

L&T Mutual Fund hascreated a page for ELSSwww.ltfs.com/elss, whichincludes details about thecampaign video, benefits ofinvesting in the ELSS fundsetc for guiding investors tochoose the right option. Thefund house also plans to in-troduce a goal calculator onthis page helping investorsto decide about the invest-ment amount. The fundhouse is running this cam-paign on social media in-cluding YouTube, Facebook,Twitter and LinkedIn. Thecatchy audio rap is beingpromoted on audio appslike Spotify and Gaana.

The campaign will alsobe promoted with Digital

Ads viz Display Ads, GoogleAds and push notificationson business and financialportals for creating higherawareness. ELSS is a schemethat offers tax benefits un-der Section 80C of the In-come Tax Act, and it incul-cates the habit of disci-plined investing, which isnecessary for potentiallong-term wealth creation.Tax planning is usually oneof the most procrastinateddecisions that is taken lastminute and in haste. At theend of the year, peoplerealise that they need to in-vest in financial instrumentsthat will help them save taxand, in this haste, they donot spend adequate timeevaluating optimal tax sav-ing solutions. This film ad-dresses this issue of procras-tination and advises thatELSS is not only a tax savingoption but also a medium tocreate potential wealth.

Ahmedabad, Page 4

City-State4 AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/12/2020

Ahmedabad, Page 4

Ahmedabad,The Gujarat high court

has been moved with acomplaint about wrongfulallocation of as many as 677MBBS seats at governmentand aided medical collegesto rich students in ‘manage-ment quota’.

Last week, advocate K RKoshti made a representa-tion tot he government tostop the practice of allocat-ing 677 MBBS seats in themanagement quota in vio-lation of laws formulated formedical admissions. OnMonday, he filed a PIL in thisregard in the high court toend this practice and ac-commodate students onthese “government” seats bycharging reasonable fees.

He is also seeking re-al-location of these seats dur-ing the admission processbeing undertaken by the

Management quota at govt colleges ?admissions committee.

Koshti submitted thatthere are 5,508 medicalseats available in Gujarat inthe state’s quota. Of these,there are only 700 seats atunaided colleges and 175seats are available in themanagement quotas of theconcerned trusts.

The advocate claimedthat there are six govern-ment colleges, eight GMERScolleges, three municipalcorporation-run collegesand eight aided colleges inthe state.

All these 25 colleges aretermed government col-leges and all seats availablein these colleges should betreated as government seatsand there cannot be any al-location for managementquota.

But the admission com-mittee has allocated 677

seats to the managementand NRI quotas. The lawmakes it very clear thatmanagement and NRI quo-tas are available at unaidedcolleges only.

Koshti claims that by al-locating 677 seats to man-agement quota, the rights ofstudents from SC, ST, SEBCand EWS categories are vio-lated. He maintains thataided and GMERS collegeshave been wrongly classi-fied as self-financed insti-tutes, whereas they receivegovernment funds.

He also pointed out thatby a 2016 government reso-lution, benefits including fi-nancial assistance are pro-vided to brownfield medicalcolleges at Palanpur, Dahod,Amreli and Bharuch. Hence,these colleges too shouldnot be given the advantageof management quota.

Ahmedabad,Kushal Panchal, a resi-

dent of Ahmedabad has se-cured admission at a Lon-don-based university topursue his MSc with Interna-tional Finance. He has gothis visa and is set to travel toLondon on January 3. Eventhough the Union govern-ment has temporarily im-posed ban on Vande Bharatflight movements to the UKtill December 31, Kushal isnot so worried about histravel plans. “Since the banis till December 31 and thevaccination drive has al-ready begun in the UK, Idon’t think there should beany bassle. Although I hopeit doesn’t get extended. I amalready in touch with Indian

UK-bound students actrelaxed despite flight ban

students who are over thereand I have been told that theauthorities support stu-dents and therefore I am notworried,” he said

Travel ban to the UK hasbeen imposed in the wakeof the mutant strain ofCovid-19 infections, which isreported there. Since thevaccination drive has al-ready begun in the UK,some universities are set tobegin with the academicsession in the UK itself.

Payal Kava, another stu-dent who is going to Scot-land for postgraduate stud-ies, said, “I am scheduled totravel on January 11 and Ihope the situation normal-izes by then. My friend wentto the UK a month ago forher studies and I am con-stantly taking updates fromher.”

Foreign education ex-perts claim that a number ofuniversities have also

shifted their courses on-line.“Several universities haveshifted their courses on-lineand since this has alreadybeen done once, studentsare less hassled as far astheir travel is concerned.Universities act supportivetowards foreign students.Moreover, many studentstend to opt for on-line ses-sions in a bid to save costs,”said Hitesh Devaliya, direc-tor, Endeavour Careers.

Meanwhile, foreign edu-cation consultants have ad-vised students to take stockof the situation before final-izing their travel plans. Con-sultant Bhavin Thaker, said,“Several students went inthe September intake aswell, and many are sched-uled to go in January. It isbest to take stock of the situ-ation before proceeding. Allupdates are usually avail-able on the website of theBritish high commission.”Ahmedabad,

All eyes were on the skyon Monday evening as abright globe of light as-cended on sky soon afterthe sunset. The object in thesky was gas giant Jupiter,shining at its best, alongwith its celestial neighbourSaturn. The two planets,though millions ofkilometres apart, seemed

Sky-gazers marvel at ‘the great conjunction’away from each other by awidth of a hair.

Hundreds of enthusiastswitnessed ‘the great con-junction’ of the two planetswith their eyes and throughtelescope or binoculars.

Dhananjay Raval, a city-based science communica-tor, said that over 150 per-sons participated in theviewing session. “It was a

mass event in true sensewith buzz about the eventpreceding it by days,” hesaid. Sakshi, a NirmaVidyavihar student, whowas part of the viewing ses-sion, said that it was a mo-ment of lifetime and shewanted to witness it. “Ittakes us closer to the won-ders of nature,” she said.

Bhakti Shah, a resident

of Ambawadi, said that hersister, an astronomy aficio-nado, had informed thefamily about the conjunc-tion and thus they were pre-pared with the telescope.

Raval said that the phe-nomenon will be visible forthe next few days and thosewho could not witness it onMonday can still see it from6.30pm to 8pm.

Cop’s house burgledwhile guard slept

Ahmedabad,The house of a police official, Kuldeepdan Gadhvi, in

New Shahibaug area of Naroda was burgled on Friday night.Kuldeepdan is currently posted in Surat and stays there withhis family. CCTV footage of the incident showed twothieves, and also that the watchman of the society was deepin sleep while the burglary took place.

On the same night when Kuldeepdan’s house was bro-ken into, in another part of the city, in Bapunagar, thieveshad struck a hotel and two shops, though no one had comeforward to lodge a complaint in that incident.

According to the FIR lodged by Kuldeepdan’s brother-in-law Shaktidan Gadhvi of Surendranagar, he received acall from Kuldeepdan informing him that the watchman ofKuldeepdan’s society had called up and told him of bur-glary at his house. Kuldeepdan had asked Shaktidan to visithis house and check whether gold-silver jewellery, silvercoins and cash of Rs 20,000, cumulatively worth Rs 1.32 lakhin total, was still in his cupboard on the ground floor.

“Shaktidan found the jewellery and cash missing. Whenwe checked the CCTV camera of the society, the footageshowed two men jumping over the wall of the house whilethe watchman slept. We are probing the case,” said inspec-tor H K Solanki of Naroda police station.

Police sources said the CCTV footage shows the twothieves dropped into the yard of the house after scalingthe boundary wall and then broke the lock of the front door.

Mucormycosis has 50%mortality, be cautious

Ahmedabad,Dr Dinkar Raval, additional director (public health), on

Monday issued an advisory on mucormycosis, a fungal in-fection in the body which has 50% mortality rate. The ad-visory mentioned that cases are witnessed in Ahmedabadand Rajkot, and the district health officers should be awareof the disease. In a guideline attached to the advisory, theofficials advised the population to avoid environment withexcessive dust, wear long clothes and masks to preventchances of infection.

“Certain groups of people are more likely to get mu-cormycosis. Such groups include those with diabetes (es-pecially diabetic ketoacidosis), cancer, organ transplant,neutropenia, long-term corticosteroid, iron overload, skininjury due to surgery, burns or wounds and premature de-livery / low birth weight,” mentioned the advisory.

People get mucormycosis through contact with fun-gal spores in the environment, mentioned the advisory. “Forexample, the lung or sinus forms of the infection can occurafter someone inhales the spores from the air. A skin infec-tion can occur after the fungus enters the skin through ascrape, burn, or other type of skin injury,” read the docu-ment. The officials added that the disease can’t spread be-tween people or between people and animals.

Medical history, symptoms and laboratory tests can in-dicate presence of the infection, Definitive diagnosis re-quires evidence from the site of infection. Tissue biopsycan also indicate at fungal culture, said experts. However,the first step could be CT scan of lungs, sinuses or otherparts of the body to see the presence of patches.

“Treatment for Mucormycosis is a serious infection andneeds to be treated with prescription antifungal medicine,usually amphotericin B, posaconazole, or isavuconazole,’mentioned the advisory, adding that it might need surgeryto remove the infected tissues.

Air India cancelsA’bad-London flight

Ahmedabad,State-owned carrier Air

India, which is operatingVande Bharat flights to Lon-don, announced on Mondaythe cancellation of its flight,AI-1711, for December 22,operating from Ahmedabadto London. The flight isscheduled to depart fromAhmedabad at 3pm. Thedecision came in the wakeof the ban on flights im-posed by the aviation regu-lator, Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA), onflights to / from the UK tillDecember 31.

Well-placed sourcesconfirmed that even thoughthe flight will be allowed tooperate till 11.59pm on De-cember 22, the aircraft willbe unable to return the nextay and therefore, it has beencancelled. Sources also saidthat an estimated 200 pas-sengers had made book-ings for the flight scheduledon Tuesday.

Meanwhile, an Air Indiaflight from London is set toarrive at the Sardar

Vallabhbbai Patel Interna-tional (SVPI) airport inAhmedabad on Tuesday at10.10am. According tosources , some 240 passen-gers are set to take the flight.However, in the wake of therecent decision, the actualnumber of passengers arriv-ing may be less.

“In accordance with theDGCA guidelines, RT-PCRtest of all the passengers willbe done at the city airportand passengers.

Ahmedabad,The AMC has decided to

admit even non-Covid pa-tients at the SVP hospital.Those who need hospital-ization will be admitted butemergency services will notbe available for the time be-ing, said an AMC official. Thehospital will also not enter-tain MA and PMJAY cardswhich ensure free treatmentto the holder. The 1,200-bedhospital had been function-ing as a Covid hospital sinceApril this year. At present,around 200 Covid patientsare admitted in the hospital.

To separate Covid andnon-Covid patients, it hasbeen decided that twofloors will be reserved forCovid patients with theirOPD on the ground floor.

SVP opens its doors to non-Covid patientsThere will be a separate liftfor the Covid patients.

The OPD for the non-Covid patients will be onthe first floor. AMC officialssaid that separate groups ofstaff will attend the Covidand non-Covid patients.

AMC had recentlydelisted 14 private hospi-tals as designated Covidhospitals. The delisting wasdone following a represen-tation made byAhmedabad Hospital andNursing Homes Association(AHNA). The officials saidthat in order to avoid rushat the hospital, the AMC hasdecided to not start emer-gency service and not ac-cept the MA and the PMJAYcards. “Once the hospitalstarts its routine function-

ing, the services will re-sume,” sad a senior official.

However, the decisionto admit non-Covid pa-tients has not gone downwell with a section of offi-cials who questioned themove. “The AMC alreadyhas tied up with several pri-vate hospitals listed as des-ignated Covid hospitalsand about 50% of the pa-tients in these hospitals arereferred by the civic body.The payment to these pri-vate hospitals is beingmade by the AMC,” said anofficial. “In fact, the AMCcould have saved money byadmitting patients at SVPHospital and delisting AMCquota beds from the pri-vate hospitals,” the officialadded.

Ahmedabad,The Bopal dump yard is

ready for a transformationwith the AMC gearing upto start work on an eco-logical garden as the site.The merger of the areainto the AMC zone has fa-cilitated the metamorpho-sis plan for the dump yard.

Harshad Solanki, thedirector of the AMC’s solidwaste department, saidthat the site is perhaps thefirst in the city to be rid ofwaste and construction

Bopal dump set to bloom into eco parkdebris. The AMC had inJuly installed a trammelmachine at the site thatcan process 1,000 metrictonnes of waste in eighthours. The process to clearthe site began when theBopal nagarpalika had theresponsibility over thearea. Soon after the AMCtook over, the clearance ofthe site became its firstproject. Solanki said thatthe ecological park willcover a 6.5 acre area. TheAMC will deodorize the soil

before the park’s establish-ment.

The park is likely to beready by March-end nextyear. Solanki said that thesite had over 5 lakh metrictonnes of garbage whichwas processed by the AMC.The site is situated near anISRO facility and is in a resi-dential area, with a schoolin the vicinity.

The site will now havean open gymnasium and awalkway, among other fea-tures.

Gandhinagar,The Gujarat government

on Monday signed an MoU(memorandum of under-standing) with Cerestra toset up Gujarat-Special Edu-cation Region (G-SER) atDholera Special InvestmentRegion (DSIR).

G-SER - incepted as a1,000-acre education hubwith a development poten-tial of more than 5,000 acres-- will consist of universitydistrict, school district, dis-covery district, and innova-tion district. This will be sup-ported by common infra-structure such as studenthousing, sports complex, etc.in Dholera Special Invest-ment Region. G-SER is set tocompete with other topeducation clusters aroundthe world.

As a part of this endeav-our, the state governmenthas established an MoU with

State inks MoU to set up G-SER at DholeraM/s Cerestra Managers Pri-vate Limited. Cerestra Ven-tures, India’s largest educa-tion infrastructure fund, inassociation with the stategovernment, will developthe Special Education Re-gion (SER) at Dholera. TheHyderabad-based privateequity firm is engaged in in-vestment, development andmanagement of real assetsin the field of education andlife sciences. Under its edu-cation vertical, Cerestra is fo-cused on setting up “First inClass” quality-centric educa-tion hubs which includesschools and student housingand has implementedprojects in Mumbai,Hyderabad and Bangalore.

CM Vijay Rupani said thatDholera is the first moderngreen-field industrial city de-veloped for supporting in-dustrial 4.0 manufacturing.The SER will further boost

overall development of theregion and will support inachieving the aim of Gujaratbeing a knowledge-driveneconomy, the CM said.

M K Das (IAS), chairman,Dholera Industrial City De-velopment Limited, said,“Gujarat has a track recordof implementing many in-novative socio-economicand dynamic models of in-clusive growth and devel-opment.” “Cerestra is anend-to-end integrated edu-cation investment platform,with student housing edu-infra and school operations.Cerestra aims to create asustainable and well diver-sified portfolio of edu-infraand plans India’s maidenedu-infra InvIT (Infrastruc-ture Investment Trust). G-SER MoU is another mile-stone in that direction” saidJasmeet Chhabra, manag-ing partner of Cerestra.

Gandhinagar,As Gujarat’s ceramics in-

dustry continues to growand make its mark in the in-ternational market, the stategovernment has requestedthe Centre to extend specialsupport to the sector. TheGujarat government hassought the establishment ofa dedicated ceramics exportpromotion council and anew research & develop-ment centre of internationalrepute for the Morbi-basedcluster. “The development ofan international conventioncentre for the ceramics in-dustry in Morbi will providea platform for the industriesto display goods to global

State seeks GOI push for ceramicscustomers,” said a source inthe sate industries andmines department.

“The state governmenthas approved more than100 new ceramics plants inMorbi and surrounding ar-eas which will attract invest-ments to the tune of Rs12,000 crore in the next twoyears,” the source said. “Toboost further development,the state government islooking to extend maxi-mum support tot he clusterand has requested the Cen-tre to approve a separateexport promotion councilfor the ceramics industry.”Currently, the ceramics clus-ter is subsumed under

CAPEXIL (Chemical and Al-lied Export PromotionCouncil). The EPCG (ExportPromotion Capital Goods)scheme is due to expire onMarch 31, 2021. “If we wantto become a globally com-petitive cluster, we need toundertake research in termsof new product develop-ment and design. We alsoneed to bring down produc-tion costs,” said NileshJetpariya, president, walltiles division, Morbi Ceram-ics Association (MCA).Jetpariya added: “Hence, theindustry has demanded thata resource centre and acommon facility be set up inMorbi.”

Mask, spitting fines nearly Rs 9 crorein seven days

Ahmedabad,Over the past week, Gujarat police have been col-

lecting, on average, fines totalling about Rs 1.26 croreper day from people for not wearing masks or for spit-ting in the open. Overall, in the past week police re-covered Rs 8.62 crore in fines for the two offencesfrom across the state. According to the figures, fromDecember 14 to 20, 88,593 people were fined for notwearing masks or for spitting in the open. Moreover,3,832 persons were booked for violating Covid-19norms and the curfew notification.

Man with 10 animal cruelty FIRs getsbail under GujCTOC

Ahmedabad,A special court granted bail to a person under the

recently enacted GujCTOC Act after considering thatall ten offences registered against him were about theAnimal Preservation Act and there was no case ofharassment of people against him.

Mohammed Javed Dahelvi alias Jadiyo fromFathewadi was arrested along with members of theSultan Khan gang from Juhapura and booked underthe Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organized CrimeAct. The gang was accused of attempt to murder, ex-tortion, use of deadly arms to grab properties, dacoityetc. Dahelvi told the court that he was facing 10 FIRin connection with cow slaughter and for possessionof beef and cruelty to animals. He was not involved inheinous crimes the gang was accused of and he hadno connection with the main accused, Sultan Khan.The law pertains to acts of terrorism and he is facingno charges in this regard. The state government main-tained that Dahelvi was part of the gang and orga-nized crime syndicate and hence should not begranted bail.

After hearing the case, the court granted bail toDahelvi on the condition that he does not enter cer-tain parts of the city until police file the chargesheet.The court observed that none of his offences can beconsidered to have been committed for financial gain.

Meanwhile, the court refused bail to the othergang members.

Woman complains against in-lawsAhmedabad,

A woman from Shankarnagar in Odhav, PreetiModi, lodged a complaint alleging harassment andcruelty against her husband, Sagar Modi, Hansa andPrakash Modi (his parents), Ujwal Modi (brother-in-law) and Ekta Modi (sister-in-law), all residents ofPalanpur, at the Women’s police station (east) on Sun-day.

The complainant stated she married Sagar in Feb-ruary 2019 and four days after their wedding, he wentto Kutch, where he was working.

She alleged that despite has asking several times,her husband did not take her with him and the otheraccused also did not allow her to go with her hus-band.

According to police sources, the complainant al-leged that when her parents talked about this issueto the elders of their community, her in-laws threat-ened her saying if she lodged a complaint they wouldkill her. They then began harassing her.

Lost teen reunited with parentsAhmedabad,

Sabarmati police in the wee-hours of Mondaynight helped reunite a 13-year-old boy with learningdifficulties, who had gotten lost, with his parents,while the night curfew was in force.

According to Sabarmati police sources, at about1am on Monday, they received a message from thecontrol room that a boy who had lost his way hadbeen found by locals near Acher in Sabarmati.

“We rushed to the spot and took him to the po-lice station. His mother’s name and phone numberwas written on his right hand. We then called thenumber. The mother confirmed that her was indeedlost and they were looking for him. We then took himto the address his mother provided and reunited himwith his parents,” said a Sabarmati police official.

Cop suspended for beating mask-lessman

Ahmedabad,An assistant police constable (APC), Bharat

Kalubhai, who hit a resident of Narol, Gopal Sathwara,with his baton for not wearing a mask, was on Mon-day suspended by Zone 5 deputy commissioner ofpolice Achal Tyagi.

After a video of the constable’s brutality went vi-ral on social media one day after the incdient, an in-quiry into the incident was handed over to assistantcommissioner of police, H Division, P M Prajapati. Hisreport was handed to Tyagi on Saturday. “The APCwas found to be at fault for hitting the man with hislathi for not wearing a mask. He was suspended be-cause his act has tarnished the image of the policedepartment,” said Tyagi.

The incident took place near SwaminarayanApartments in Narol, where the APC had gone in agovernment vehicle to his house, without permission.There he saw Sathwara beside the road, talking to hismobile phone, without a mask.

Tyagi said, “The APC deployed in Khokhra did goout of his jurisdiction to Narol and beat up the manwith his lathi. He should have informed the policecontrol room and let Narol police take action againstSathwara for not wearing a mask in public. There wasno need for him to beat up the man.”

Lost mother to virus, but nurse backon duty

Ahmedabad,For Devika Verma, 37, it was a matter of huge con-

cern when her mother in late sixties got admitted tothe 1200-bed Covid hospital in Civil Hospital earlierthis month. As she was a patient of hypertension,Verma’s mother was admitted to the ICU. The doc-tors tried to their best, but she could not survive andsuccumbed to the infection after three months.

Dr J P Modi, medical superintendent of Civil Hos-pital, said that death of a parent could be traumaticfor anyone, but Verma resumed duty in the same hos-pital on the fourth day of her mother’s death.

“I knew that I am needed for the Covid patients, Ithus decided to join. I would appeal to all to be verycautious and follow protocols,” said Verma. “For me, Iguess the most difficult part is to work in PPE kitsduring the periods.

Office-bearers of Karnavati Clubelected

Ahmedabad,As the annual general meeting (AGM) of Karnavati

Club ended on Sunday, new office bearers wereelected to the club management. Some 11 directorswere elected uncontested. While Nagin Patel will re-main the club president, Nimish Patel has been ap-pointed vice-president, along with Jayesh Modi andSatish Shah. The 31st annual general meeting of theclub was held on-line due to the pandemic.

Ketan Patel has been retained as secretarywhereas Ashish Desai and Ajay Thakkar have beenappointed as joint secretaries.

Smart classrooms in jails raise education barAhmedabad,

To further its reforma-tion and rehabilitation mis-sion, the Ahmedabad Cen-tral Jail has created foursmart classrooms for its in-mates. Similar classroomshave been set up at thestate, in Vadodara, Rajkotand Surat. The initiative ispart of the jailadministration’s CSR (Cor-porate Social Responsibilityprogramme).

Additional DGP (jails) K LN Rao said that under theprogramme, five smartclassrooms have also beenestablished at the Jail StaffTraining School inAhmedabad. “Many prison-ers in our jails take the Class10 or 12 exams, some pur-

sue studies at a higher level,”Rao said. “The new class-rooms have 3D smartboards. Inmates are taught

by dedicated tutors and alsoby fellow prisoners whohave the qualifications andvolunteer to teach.

Dudhsagar dairy pollissue in high court

Ahmedabad,The issue of Vipul Chaudhary’s nomination for the elec-

tions in the managing committee of Dudhsagar dairy hasreached the Gujarat High Court with a milk cooperative de-manding and urgent hearing on Monday. The petition wasfiled by the Jodiya Kheralu Dudh Utpadak Sahakari MandaliLtd, from where Chaudhary filed his nomination two daysago while in judicial custody in connection with a financialfraud with the dairy. The cooperative has been held dis-qualified for participation in the election process.

Ahmedabad,Autorickshaw drivers

have moved the Gujarathigh court complainingagainst the decision of theauthorities not to permitthem entry inside the rail-way station premises.

In a PIL filed on Mondaythrough advocate K RKoshti, the Ahmedabad Rail-way Station AutorickshawDrivers’ Union has de-manded the authoritiesshould allow them to enterthe railway station premisethe way the vehicles ofAhmedabad Bus Rapid Tran-sit System (BRTS) and pri-vate cabs are allowed in theparking area and at pick-uppoints. “The railway authori-ties as well as the police au-thorities are allowing the

Autorickshaw drivers move HCbuses of BRTS and privatetaxis like OLA, Uber etc. butnot permitting the auto rick-shaws drivers is violative ofArticle 14 Constitution ofIndia,” the PIL reads.

The PIL said that the cityof Ahmedabad has morethan 2 lakh autos and there

is insufficient space for park-ing. The authorities prom-ised to allocate parkingslots and pick-up points forautos during the proceed-ings of a PIL in the highcourt. Accordingly, only 45such pick-up points were al-lotted in the city.

Lawyer ends life due to financial crisisSurat,

A 49-year-old lawyer allegedly committed suicide byhanging at his house in Adajan Patiya area on Monday.

Aadam Jarang was found hanging in his room. The rea-son for the extreme step was not immediately known, butRander police have started an investigation.

After returning from the mosque, Jarang locked him-self in his room and did not come out for some time. Fam-ily members broke open the door as he did not come outfor a long time and there was no response when theyknocked.

Ahmedabad, Page 5

International 5AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/12/2020

PROF DAVID LIVERMORE: Lockdown has returned with a new intensity, Christmas is curtailed by official edict andaround half the population is effectively under house arrest.'This is the worst news,' said a Nervtag spokesman yes-terday, adding that 'we really need to batten down the hatches to stop the spread of this strain'. Yet, for all the grimrhetoric, I suspect that this escalating mood of crisis is unwarranted.

He got in hot water two months ago when he was caught on camera kissing LilyJames in Rome (pictured right). Now Dominic West could be in more trouble as aphotograph shows him flouting Covid restrictions (pictured main). The actor, 51, en-joyed a meal near his Wiltshire home at the weekend, apparently after a shootingparty. Theatre producer Nick Allott posted a picture on Instagram with the hashtag#tier2picnic.

Industry experts have warned 'timing is crucial' and said supermarket shelveswill likely see shortages of fresh produce after Christmas if the situation at Dover isnot resolved today. Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the BritishRetail Consortium, reassured shoppers that all the ingredients needed for a tradi-tional Christmas dinner were already imported and were available for consumers. Itis the week after December 25 that is likely to see shortages of fresh produce, withsalad, vegetable and fresh fruit most risk of shortages as they are typically importedfrom the continent a this time of year. It comes as queues of shoppers formed out-side supermarkets again this morning (pictured, Cambridge) after people werewarned not to panic buy yesterday after chaotic scenes at shops across the UK.

Kuwait City, Kuwait faces political

and economic challengesafter it formed a new Parlia-ment and government forthe first time during thereign of Emir Sheikh NawafAl-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah since he took office inSeptember.

Kuwaiti experts agreedthat the country will facesignificant challenges suchas income diversification,budget deficit, adjustingpopulation structure, andcooperation between theexecutive and legislativeauthorities during the nextstage, the Xinhua newsagency reported.

The Kuwaiti economywhich is based on oil faces adeficit up to $46 billion thisyear, and it is expected thatthe government may passthe public debt law thatwould allow it to borrow 20billion Kuwaiti dinars (about$65 billion) over 30 years,while the law was rejectedby the previous Parliament.

“The Kuwaiti govern-ment will not be able in ashort period to address the

Challenges lie ahead as Kuwaitforms new govt, Parliament

financial deficit, exceptthrough the rise in oil pricesin global markets,” HajjajBukhadour, a retired econo-mist who had worked as aconsultant in several com-panies, said in a recent in-terview.

The government willhave no other option,where the parliament cankeep rejecting any at-tempts aiming at raisingfees and adopting taxes,but if oil prices did not rise,the deficit will increase andthe necessity of approvingpublic debt law will in-crease, he added.

He pointed out that thepolitical challenges requirecooperation, however,some members of the par-liament are expected topresent several parliamen-tary interrogations duringthe next stage, which willhinder reform effort.

Last Tuesday, at the in-auguration of the 16th Leg-islative Term of the parlia-ment, Kuwait’s Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah stressedthat the government is

working in the coming pe-riod to develop a future vi-sion to achieve compre-hensive reform in all as-pects of life, combat corrup-tion, advance the develop-ment process, and developthe state’s administrativeapparatus.

According to the PrimeMinister, this program willinclude the implementa-tion of measures aimed atcombating corruption andeliminating its sources andcauses, as well as includingmechanisms and time-tables for implementinggovernment projects.

Ayed Al-Manna, a pro-fessor of political sciencesat Kuwait University, be-lieves that diversifyingsources of income is amongthe most important chal-lenges facing Kuwait at thecurrent stage, in addition tothe problem of financialdeficit, combating corrup-tion, and fortifying internaland external security.

For his part, MaythamAl-Shakhs, an economicanalyst and the head ofAthra Real Estate Company.

Addis Ababa, The number of con-

firmed Covid-19 cases in theAfrican continent reached25,08,815 as of Monday asthe death toll due to thepandemic climbed to59,099, the Africa Centers forDisease Control and Preven-tion (Africa CDC) said.

The continental diseasecontrol and preventionagency said in a statementthat a total of 21,08,302people infected with Covid-19 had recovered across thecontinent as of Monday af-ternoon, the Xinhua newsagency reported.

The most affected Afri-can countries in terms of thenumber of positive cases in-clude South Africa, Morocco,Egypt, and Ethiopia, figuresfrom the Africa CDCshowed.

South Africa had themost Covid-19 infections,with 9,21,922 cases. Thecountry also had the high-est number of deaths re-lated to Covid-19, at 24,691.

Morocco came nextwith 4,17,125 confirmedcases and 6,957 deaths, fol-

Africa’s confirmed Covid-19 cases pass 2.5 million

lowed by Egypt with1,25,555 confirmed casesand 7,098 deaths, the AfricaCDC said. Ethiopia, EastAfrica’s most Covid-19 af-fected country and Africa’sfourth most-affected coun-try, has so far 1,19,951 con-firmed cases and 5,373Covid-19-inflicted deaths,according to the EthiopianMinistry of Health. As the Af-rican continent witnessesnew spikes in Covid-19cases and deaths, the Afri-can Union (AU) Commissionhas recently called on itsmember states to prioritiserollout of rapid antigen test-ing as part of an urgent ef-fort to increase nationalCovid-19 testing capacityand better manage the pan-demic, towards achievingtest positivity rates of lessthan 5 per cent.

Meanwhile, as the Afri-can continent envisaged forglobal partnership towardsadequate access to Covid-19 vaccines, a newly pub-lished Africa CDC survey re-vealed the predominantmajority of Africans wouldtake a Covid-19 vaccine if it

were deemed safe and ef-fective.

Rejection of a Covid-19vaccine appears to be linkedto misinformation anddisinformation, as most ofthose who said they wouldnot take a vaccine believethat the disease is man-made, does not exist, or isexaggerated and does notpose a serious threat. Othersthink they are not at risk ofbeing infected with the vi-rus while some others be-lieve that natural remediesand alternative medicinesare safer than vaccines, thesurvey disclosed.

Conducted betweenAugust and December 2020,the survey interviewedaged 18 years and above,across 15 African countries.

Data from the surveyshows significant variationsin willingness across coun-tries and across the five re-gions in the continent, from94 per cent and 93 per centin Ethiopia and Niger, re-spectively, to 65 per centand 59 per cent in Senegaland the Democratic Repub-lic of Congo, respectively.

Islamabad, The China-Pakistan Eco-

nomic Corridor (CPEC)projects have achieved ma-jor progress despite graveeconomic and health chal-lenges posed by the ongo-ing coronavirus pandemic,Chairman of the CPEC Au-thority Asim Saleem Bajwasaid.

“After successfulcompletion of the firstphase, CPEC is expandinginto its second phase as perschedule despite a very se-rious setback of Covid-19around the world, ensuringeconomic stability and well-being of the people of Paki-stan,” Xinhua news agencyquoted Bajwa as sayingwhile addressing an awardceremony on Monday foroutstanding Pakistani staffof CPEC projects.

During the ceremonyorganised by the ChineseEmbassy in Pakistan, a total

CPEC achieves major progressdespite Covid-19: Pak official

of 18 staff members work-ing at various energy andinfrastructure projects un-der the CPEC, including hy-dropower projects, OrangeLine Metro Train andGwadar port, were awardedfor their distinguished per-formance. The timely imple-mentation of the projectswas one of the manifesta-tions of time-tested friend-ship between the two coun-tries that even the pan-demic could not affect theprogress of CPEC, Bajwasaid, adding that the projectis a game changer as it hasbrought employment, pros-perity and socio-economicdevelopment to the coun-try. “The biggest dividendspeople of Pakistan are goingto witness due to CPEC inthe coming days are cre-ation of massive local jobs,transformation of technol-ogy, particularly in thenewer areas of science and

technology, industrializa-tion and agriculture,” hesaid.

Chinese Ambassador toPakistan Nong Rong saidCPEC has achieved greatsuccess and made a tremen-dous contribution to thedevelopment of Pakistanand regional connectivityunder the joint efforts of thegovernments, enterprisesand all walks of life fromboth countries.

“Both sides have over-come the difficulties ofCovid-19, and made newheadway of cooperation ina coordinated way. In theon-going year, there was nostop of the construction, nojob cut, and no withdrawalof workforce of the CPECprojects. “In the next stage,we will focus more on areasof industrial cooperation,agriculture and socio-eco-nomic development to pro-mote CPEC.

2 found guilty of manslaughter in2019 Essex lorry migrants’ deaths

London, A UK court found two men guilty in 39 counts of man-

slaughter of the 39 Vietnamese migrants, who were founddead in a refrigerated lorry in Essex county last year.

On Monday, Eamonn Harrison, a 24-year-old lorry driverfrom Northern Ireland, and Gheorghe Nica, 43, from Essex,were found guilty of 39 counts of manslaughter and guiltyof one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration,Xinhua news agency quoted a police statement as saying.

Meanwhile, another Northern Irish lorry driver, Chris-topher Kennedy, 24, and Valentin Calota, 38, a pick-up driverfrom Romania, were both convicted of conspiring tosmuggle people into Britain unlawfully.

The four men were convicted on Monday at the Cen-tral Criminal Court of England and Wales in London, knownas the Old Bailey.

“The men who were found guilty today made theirmoney from misery. They knew what they were doing waswrong, but they didn’t care. They tried to hide what theywere doing. They attempted to evade detection,” said ChiefConstable of Essex Police, Ben-Julian Harrington.

Previously, another two men, including the 26-year-oldlorry driver Maurice Robinson, had pleaded guilty to themanslaughter of the migrants who were found dead in arefrigerated container at an industrial estate in Essex onOctober 23, 2019. The trailer had arrived in Britain on aferry from Zeebrugge, Belgium.

Essex police said earlier this year that the cause of deathis a combination of hypoxia and hyperthermia.

United Nations, The UN Security Coun-

cil has recognized the role ofthe International Court ofJustice (ICJ) in promoting in-ternational peace and secu-rity.

A presidential statementon Monday said that the Se-curity Council recognizesthe positive contribution ofthe ICJ to the rule of law atthe international level andits key role in adjudicatingdisputes among states, thusdefusing tensions and re-storing peaceful relationsamong states, reportsXinhua news agency.

The Security Councilnotes the growing numberof cases brought to the ICJon all aspects of interna-tional relations, demonstrat-ing confidence in the court,said the statement.

It recognises the need toenhance efforts aimed at ca-pacity building and assist-ing member states, upontheir request, in the imple-mentation of their respec-tive obligations under theUN Charter, including theobligation to settle disputesby peaceful means, it said.

The Security Council ex-

UNSC recognises roleof Int’l Court of Justice

presses its continued com-mitment to foster interac-tion between itself and theICJ in accordance with theirrespective mandates underthe UN Charter, said thestatement. The ICJ, estab-lished in 1945, is one of thesix principal organs of theUN. It settles disputes be-tween states in accordancewith international law andgives advisory opinions oninternational legal issues.

—IANS

Washington, The overall number of

global coronavirus cases hastopped 73.7 million, whilethe deaths have surged tomore than 1.70 million, ac-cording to the JohnsHopkins University.

In its latest update onTuesday morning, theUniversity’s Center for Sys-tems Science and Engineer-ing (CSSE) revealed that thecurrent global caseload anddeath toll stood at77,335,442 and 1,701,656,respectively.

The US is the worst-hit

Global Covid-19 cases top 77.3mn: Johns Hopkinscountry with the world’shighest number of casesand deaths at 18,029,528and 319,354, respectively,according to the CSSE.

India comes in secondplace in terms of cases at10,055,560, while thecountry’s death toll soaredto 145,810.

The other countries withmore than a million con-firmed cases are Brazil(7,263,619), Russia(2,850,042), France(2,535,716), the UK(2,079,678), Turkey(2,043,704), Italy (1,964,054),

Spain (1,819,249), Argentina(1,547,138), Germany(1,534,218), Colombia(1,518,067), Mexico(1,325,915), Poland(1,207,333) and Iran(1,164,535), the CSSE figuresshowed. Brazil currently ac-counts for the second high-est number of fatalities at187,291. The countries witha death toll above 20,000 areMexico (118,598), Italy(69,214), the UK (67,718),France (61,019), Iran(53,816), Russia (50,723),Spain (49,260), Argentina(41,997), Colombia (40,680).

Berlin, A gunman who carried

out an attack at a syna-gogue in the German city ofHalle last year killing twopeople, has been sentencedto life imprisonment fol-lowed by preventive deten-tion.

The sentence, by theHigher Regn the Germancity of Halle lastional Courtof Naumburg on Monday,effectively rules out StephanBalliet’s early release after 15years in prison, reportsXinhua news agency.

The trial of the right-

2019 German synagogue attacker gets life sentencewing extremist ended withthe maximum penalty pos-sible under German law.

The judgn the Germancity of n the German cityof Halle lastHalle lastesfound the 28-year-oldBal l iet gui lt y of twocounts of murder andmore than 60 counts ofattempted murder.

The court also deter-mined the “particular grav-ity” of his guilt.

On October 9, 2019,Balliet tried to kill more than50 people who n the Ger-man city of Halle lastwere

observing Yom Kippur, theholiest day in the Jewish cal-endar, in the Halle syna-gogue.

However, he failed to getinto the building.

He then murdered a 40-year-old passer-by in frontof the synagogue and a 20-year-old in a nearby kebabshop.

During his en the Ger-man city of Halle lastscape,Balliet also shot at Germanpolice officers an the Ger-man city of Halle lastnd pe-destrians until police forceswere able to arrest him.

Judge Ursula Mertensdescribed the incident as a“cowardly attack” and a “hei-nous, inhumane act”.

According to the Ger-man Press Agency (dpa),Balliet reacted to the verdictwithout emotion.

The decision to deter-mine the “particular gravity”of his guilt meant that it was“not possin the German cityof Halle lastble to expect theremaining sentence to besuspended after a term ofimprisonment of 15 years”,according to the court.

—IANS

Ecuador declares new state ofemergency, curfew

Quito, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has de-

clared a new 30-day state of emergency nationwideand two weeks of curfew amid fears of holidaycrowds and gatherings fuelling new coronaviruscases.

At a virtual press conference on Monday, Morenosaid the 15-day curfew would begin immediatelyand last from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., reports Xinhua newsagency.The sale and consumption of alcoholic bev-erages were also banned, Moreno added.

“Relaxing sanitary measures can lead to death,”he warned.

Other regulations limit the time of travelling bycar, and restrict capacity at shopping centres to 50per cent, and at restaurants and hotels to 30 per cent.

Beaches will be closed to the public on Decem-ber 24, 25 and 31, as well as January 1.

Ecuador registered 72 new cases of COVID-19infection in the last 24 hours, for an accumulatedcaseload of 206,329.

The death toll has climbed to 9,400, with 4,549probable deaths from the coronavirus, according tothe Health Ministry.

Colombia to launch mass Covid-19vaccination in Feb

Bogota, Colombia plans to launch a mass vaccination

campaign against the novel coronavirus in Febru-ary 2021, President Ivan Duque said.

In an interview with a local radio station, Duqueon Monday said a trial vaccination run could beginbetween this week and the first week of January, re-ports Xinhua news agency.

He also said his government has researched toobtain the best vaccines for the country, where morethan 1.5 million people have tested positive andover 40,000 people have died from the disease.

“It was a rigorous job and one that will begin enmasse in February. We hope to also have some testvaccines hopefully sooner.

“We are working on that, but I believe that thiswill be a process that will be very important to pro-tect the entire population,” Duque said.

Segments of the population that will not receivethe vaccine include those who have already beeninfected with the disease, pregnant women and chil-dren under 16 years of age, as well as citizens ofother countries unofficially residing in Colombia.

Colombia has so far reported a total of 1,518,067coronavirus cases and 40,680 deaths.

Prominent Baloch activist Karimafound dead in Canada

New Delhi/Toronto, A prominent Baloch activist, Karima Baloch, who

took on the Pakistan Army over human rightsabuses in Balochistan, was found dead in mysteri-ous circumstances in Canada.

Karima was a refugee in Canada, after having es-caped the persecution by the Pakistani Army inBalochistan. Named as one of the world’s 100 mostinspirational and influential women in 2016 by theBBC, Karima was known as one of the strongestvoice of Baloch people at home and abroad.

As per the Balochistan Post, Karima went miss-ing on Sunday afternoon. On Monday, her family saidthat they had found her dead body.

In a similar pattern, another Pakistani dissident,Baloch journalist Sajid Hussain was found dead inSweden. He was missing too before his body wasfound. Balochistan, is a resource-rich and conflict-torn province of Pakistan where Pakistan Army is ac-cused of committing grave and wide spread humanrights violations. The military repression has led toan insurgency and a movement for freedom fromPakistan.

Israel’s military chief warns Iran ofattack

tel Aviv, Israel’s military chief, Aviv Kochavi, has warned

Iran that any attack against the Jewish state will beresponded with a forceful attack.

“Lately, we’ve noticed a rise in Iranian threatsagainst Israel,” Kochavi said during a ceremony onMonday, referring to fears of Iranian retaliation tothe recent death of an Iranian nuclear scientist whowas allegedly assassinated by Israel.

Kochavi said that if Iran or Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese armed group and party, “will takeaction against the State of Israel, they will find them-selves in a very costly endeavour”.

“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will strike allthose involved in activities against Israel or againstIsraeli targets, whether in part or in full, whether nearor far.“I say these things simply, clearly and with com-plete commitment: our retaliatory steps have beenprepared and rehearsed. I advise our enemies notto test us,” he said. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, head of theIranian Defence Ministry’s Organization of Defen-sive Innovation and Research and dubbed the “fa-ther of the Iranian bomb”, was targeted in a terroristattack in the city of Absard on November 27.

Ahmedabad Page 6

6 SportAHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/12/2020

Gary Neville (top left) and Jamie Carragher (bottom left) included six of Liverpool's Premier League winning squad (centre) in their team of 2020. The main point of debate inthe team was over the inclusion of Wolves centre-back Conor Coady (right). Neville said: 'I put into contention Eric Dier, Harry Maguire, Conor Coady, Aymeric Laporte and TyroneMings. Coady to be fair with Wolves' defensive record, breaking into the England team and his stats were as good as any of the rest. Laporte's missed games, it just became achoice.'

It's the most wonderful time of the year for sports fans. Yes, the football actionhas been thick and fast this season but the coverage ramps up a notch this Christmas.But it's not just a bumper schedule of football avid supporters can look forward tothis holiday season. Here, Sportsmail takes a look at the 10 reasons why you musttune into sport this festive season. There will be some Premier League crackers, in-cluding Leicester vs Man United (left) and Arsenal vs Chelsea (right) as well as theconclusion of the World Darts Championship (inset, left) and the highly-anticipatedKing George at Kempton with Sir Alex Ferguson's Clan Des Obeaux (right, inset) wellfancied.

Edouard Mendy received some criticism for recent mistakes in games againstLeeds, Everton and Wolves before Chelsea played West Ham. But the 28-year-old kepthis tenth clean sheet during an impressive 3-0 win for Frank Lampard's side, reachingthat figure in 29 fewer matches than Kepa Arrizabalaga did since Lampard's appoint-ment last season.

Adelaide, Australia top-order

batsman Steve Smith onTuesday revealed that he isstill struggling with a stiffback, that he had fearedwould keep him out of thefirst Test against India. Theformer Australia captainsaid he is struggling to sit forlong, although he hopes toget fit by the time the sec-ond Test begins on Satur-day.

“I just can’t sit down fortoo long really. If I am up andabout and moving around, Iam pretty good. If I sit down,I am pretty stiff after thispress conference. If I ammoving around or lyingdown then good. If I sitaround for too long then itis not great for it. So I am notworried. Everything will befine. It will be good to go,”Smith told reporters onTuesday.

“Well initially when I did(have stiff back), I did havesome fears (of missing thefirst Test). But I have had afew back issues in the pastand they are generally 2-3

Can’t sit down for too long,says Smith about his stiff back

day things where I do a lotof physiotherapy, get myselfinto extension. Generallywhen I do...so it is just hav-ing someone like physio topush in my back and gettingthe extension and trying toget that range back. It is stilla bit stiff but it didn’t ham-per me throughout thegame. It was all good. It issomething I have to man-age whenever it does. Ihaven’t had an episodesince 2014. Hopefully theycan be six years apart if theycome,” he added.

The right-handed bats-man is looking forward tothe Boxing Day Test at theMelbourne Cricket Ground,where he has an exceptionalbatting average. As com-pared to his career averageof 62.31, Smith’s average inthe seven Tests he hasplayed at the MCG, since hisdebut in 2010, is 113.5 withfour centuries. He playedone Test against India at thevenue, in 2014, and scored192.

“10 years...it is hard tobelieve. But it has been a

while since then. I havegrown as a player over thattime and as you said myBoxing Day record has beenthe best of all the groundsin Australia. I like batting atthe MCG. On big occasions, Itry to make the most ofthem and help the team out.There is nothing like the sortof thrill or I guess you getthe shivers down the spinewhen you walk out to bat onthe Boxing Day,” said the 31-year-old.

“You have the crowdyelling. It is a sort of dreamcome true. As a kid I alwayswanted to play in a BoxingDay Test match. I always re-member watching the Box-ing Day Test at home withthe family after Christmasand to walk out on the Box-ing Day and play, you sort ofget the shivers down thespine and hair on the backraise up and it is just a greatfeeling,” he added.

Smith further hopedthat Sydney Cricket Ground(SCG) will be able to host the(third) Test match afterdoubts emerge.

Bengaluru, One of the most impor-

tant roles on a hockey fieldis that of a goalkeeper, andfor 19-year-old Pawan, it isa role that he loves to playwhen he’s performingagainst the best teams inthe world.

“I feel privileged to havereached where I have at thisstage of my life. I feel veryblessed to be playing for theIndian junior men’s hockeyteam, and I aim to keepworking hard for my teamand my country, and oneday do these things all overagain for the senior team,”said Pawan, who is part ofthe Indian junior men’shockey team’s coreprobables group training atthe Sports Authority of In-dia (SAI) facility.

“I think what I really en-joy the most aboutgoalkeeping is how muchinfluence you can have ona match and on your team-mates. I’ve always been toldto be very vocal on the field,and when you are in thatposition on the field, youcan see each and every ac-tion unfolding in front ofyou, so it makes it easier forthe goalkeepers to dictate

Have always looked up to Chetri &Sreejesh, says jr. goalkeeper Pawan

and command from theback. Another aspect I reallyenjoy is the kind of adrena-line rush that goes into mak-ing saves, and being therebetween the posts againstsome of the best attackingplayers in the world,” addedPawan.

The youngster hadmade his junior team debutfor India at the 8-Nations In-vitational Tournament heldin Spain in 2019, before alsogoing on to win the silvermedal at the 9th Sultan ofJohor Cup later that year.

Talking about the abun-dance of goalkeeping leg-ends he admires, Pawan said,“I think Indian hockey hasalways been known for itsexcellent goalkeepers. I re-member seeing legends likeDevesh Chauhan, AdrianD’Souza while growing up,and then Bharat Chetri andPR Sreejesh, who are alsopeople I look up to.”

“From my own state,we’ve got Savita in thewomen’s team, so I’ve beenfortunate to have been ableto communicate with a fewof these experienced play-ers, and it has always givenme immense confidencewhenever I’ve had the

chance to have some con-versations,” he added.

With the Junior WorldCup scheduled for 2021,Pawan said he hopes to ce-ment a spot in the Indianteam, and wants to emulatewhat some of the past win-ners have been able to do.

“Our first target is obvi-ously to win the Junior AsiaCup, but we are also reallyfocused on the Junior WorldCup because it is going totake place in our country. Wewill be the defending Cham-pions so there will be expec-tations, but what we all talkabout is how we can all lookat the performances of theplayers who won the WorldCup in 2016, and then lookat doing something similarin front of our own support-ers,” expressed the 19-year-old.

“I remember sitting athome seeing Vikas Dahiyamake some amazing savesin that tournament in 2016,and I just think to myselfthat maybe one day I canalso be in a similar situation,and so I have been prepar-ing myself for such big po-tential days of my career,” headded.

—IANS

Kaula Lumpur, The Badminton World

Federation (BWF) has an-nounced the tournamentcalendar for the first half of2021, which includes 17tournaments that will serveas qualification tourna-ments for the Tokyo Olym-pic Games.

The new-look BWF tour-nament calendar sees anumber of tournamentspostponed from Q1 and Q2,and a handful of Grade 2tournaments cancelled.

The season will startwith the Yonex ThailandOpen 2020 from January 17-21 and will conclude withthe Russia Open on July 25.

The Olympic Qualifyingperiod for the Race to Tokyowill restart in 2021 and thefirst tournament countingfor qualification will be theYonex Swiss Open 2021 tobe held from March 2-7.

The qualification periodwill last till the India Open2021 to be held from May11-16 in New Delhi.

Qualification will be de-termined from the Race toTokyo Rankings publishedon May 18, said BWF. BWFCouncil decided that thiswill also be used forseedings the Tokyo Olym-pics.

The BWF world rankingswill reopen following theWorld Tour Finals 2020 to beheld from January 27-31 in

Qualification for Tokyo Olympicsto end with India Open: BWF

Bangkok. The calculation ofthe next BWF worldrankings list will be an-nounced on February 2.

“These deadlines havebeen set due to the uncer-tain nature of Covid-19 andthe extra time needed toconduct tournaments withthe Covid-19 safety proto-

cols required,” said BWF Sec-retary General ThomasLund.

BWF said it is workingwith the IOC to update theTokyo 2020 Olympic Gamesqualification systemwhereby the final updatedregulation will be sharedmid-January following for-mal approval by the IOC.

Meanwhile, BWF con-firmed the Thomas andUber Cup Finals 2020, post-poned from earlier this year,will now take place inAarhus, Denmark in Octo-ber.

BWF also announced itsCovid-19 support packagefor tournament hosts thatprovides financial assistanceand details cost relieving ini-tiatives to ensure tourna-ments can continue.

“The support will helphosts cover the costs ofimplementing BWF Covid-19 protocols which includestesting, arrangementsaround hotel safety, clean-ing, provisions of face masksto participants, andsanitising equipment,” saidLund.

“There is also the possi-bility to reduce total mini-mum prize money for 2021in the effort to reduce costs,but BWF would encourageall hosts to keep minimumprize money levels as highas possible for the benefit ofour top players,” he added.

Pak bowling coach Waqar Younisto miss 2nd Test against NZ

Napier, Pakistan bowling coach

Waqar Younis will returnhome after the first Testagainst New Zealand —which will be played fromDecember 26-30 at the BayOval in Mount Maunganui— to meet his family, whomhe has not met since June.

Waqar had requestedthe team management tobe granted leave so that hecan spend additional timewith his immediate family,which will be in Lahore be-fore returning to Sydney,Australia, on January 17, thePakistan Cricket Board (PCB)said in a statement on Tues-day.

He will rejoin the side intime for the series againstSouth Africa, which startswith the first Test in Karachion January 26.

“Considering Waqar hasnot seen his family sinceJune and taking into ac-count that our home seriesagainst South Africa, whichfollows the series againstNew Zealand, doesn’t finishuntil February 14, we took apragmatic view of his re-quest and have allowed himto return home early so thathe can spend additionaltime with his wife and chil-dren,” said Pakistan man-ager Mansoor Rana.

“If he had returned toLahore with the side afterthe second Test, he would

have only got a week tospend with them. For all ofus, families always come firstand we have in the pastmade similar exemptions sothat our team members areable to achieve the correctwork-life balance,” headded. Pakistan has alreadyannounced a 17-membersquad for the first Test of thetwo-match series againstthe Black Caps. CaptainBabar Azam and openerImam-ul-Haq have beenruled out and in Babar’s ab-sence, Mohammad Rizwan

will lead the side.Babar had fractured his

right thumb a day afterImam had fractured his leftthumb during training ses-sions in Queenstown lastweek. Both are yet to returnto nets with the team’smedical staff closely moni-toring their progress.

Decision on their partici-pation in the second Test,which commences inChristchurch from January3, will be made closer to thetime, a PCB statement earlierread.

Canada’s ReeceHowden wins SkiCross World Cupin France

Paris, Canadian Reece

Howden has clinchedgold in the second race ofthe men’s ski cross at theWorld Cup in Val Thorens,France.

Howden, 22, had fin-ished second in the firstrace on Sunday. Thechampion at the 2016Winter Youth Olympicsthen improved his resultby crossing the finish linefirst in the final on Mon-day, followed by RyanRegez of Switzerland andhost skier Francois Place,reports Xinhua newsagency.

Howden said he feltluckier during Monday’srace and he credited hisgreat form this season tosufficient preparation.

On this day: Rohit Sharma scoredjoint fastest T20I hundred

New Delhi, With many records already to his name, star In-

dian opener Rohit Sharma had on December 22, 2017reached another milestone by scoring the joint-fast-est hundred in T20 Internationals.

Against Sri Lanka at the Holkar Stadium in Indore,Rohit had reached the three-figure mark in just 35deliveries. The right-handed batsman played a knockof 118 for which he consumed 43 balls. South Africabatsman David Miller had also brought up his cen-tury in 35 balls against Bangladesh in Potchefstroomon November 29, 2017.

Against Sri Lanka, KL Rahul had also played a stu-pendous knock of 89 from just 49 balls which helpedthe Men in Blue post 260/5 in their allotted 20 overs.In reply, Sri Lanka could muster on 172 before get-ting bundled out in the 18th over and lost the matchby 88 runs.

Rohit, who is India’s vice captain in limited-oversformat, is the second on the list of leading run-scor-ers in T20Is. He has so far scored 2,773 runs in 108matches, with the help of four centuries.

India skipper Virat Kohli sits at the top with 2,928runs from 85 matches.

Rohit, 32, didn’t take part in the three-match T20Iseries against Australia earlier this month which In-dia won 2-1. He is currently in quarantine in Sydneyand is expected to join the Indian squad for the lasttwo Test of the ongoing four-match series againstTime Paine’s men.

Carabao Cup final rescheduled inhope to have spectators inattendance

London, This season’s Carabao Cup final has been resched-

uled and will now take place on April 25 next yearbecause of the Covid-19 pandemic, the English Foot-ball League (EFL) has announced.

“It is the objective of the league to stage the finalwith as many supporters in attendance as possibleand the decision has therefore been taken to movethe final from its original date of Sunday 28 February2021 to later in the year,” EFL said in a statement.

“The number of fans permitted will be dependenton government guidance in place at the time and itis hoped that moving the date to later in the year willgive clubs and their fans the best opportunity to at-tend in person,” it added.

Supporters have not been able to attend matchesin full capacity since March following the coronavirusoutbreak, and recently large parts of UK returned totiers which ban all fans from attending sportingevents.

The competition is set to continue this week, withthe quarter-finals to be played across December 22and 23.

David Lloyd to stay at Glamorganuntil 2023

London, Glamorgan vice-captain David Lloyd has signed

a contract extension that will keep him at the clubuntil at least the end of the 2023 season.

The all-rounder made his Glamorgan debut in2012, and has since gone on to score nearly 3,000 first-class runs with four centuries and a best of 119 atGloucestershire in 2018. Lloyd sits sixth in the club’sall-time T20 run scorers having moved past the 1,000run mark during the 2020 season.

“I’m really happy to be signing a new deal atGlamorgan. Being Welsh and playing for the onlyWelsh first-class county is something I’m very proudof, and to have been capped and captain Glamorganwas something I could only dream about,” said Lloydin a statement.

“We’ve got high-quality overseas players, reallytalented youngsters and a solid core to build on, andthe culture around Sophia Gardens is fantastic, acrossthe entire club. I’ve played for Glamorgan since I was16 and I can’t wait to walk out to bat again with ourfans behind us,” he added.

Kohli played classy knock on toughAdelaide wicket, says Smith

Adelaide, Australia’s top batsman Steve Smith has praised

Virat Kohli’s batting in the first innings of the first Testat the Adelaide Oval, adding that the Indian skipper’sabsence would be a big loss for the visitors in the re-maining three Tests of the ongoing series.

“Look, obviously, it is a big loss for him and India,not having him for the rest of the series. You just haveto look at the way he played in the first innings. Thatwas a pretty class display against some good bowl-ing. I know the wicket was doing a bit,” said Smithwhile speaking to reporters on Tuesday.

Smith, however, said that Kohli needs to be com-mended for his decision to attend the birth of his firstchild.

“I am saying it now and have said it before, creditto him for being able to stand (up) and want to gohome and be there for the birth of his first child andget to milestone that you don’t want to miss. I am surethere would have been a lot of pressure on him tostay back but just to stand up and want to go home. Ithink credit to him,” added Smith who himselfstruggled in the first Test and could make just onerun in the first innings.

The current number one Test batsman said thathe fist-pumped Kohli after the end of the pink-ballTest and wished him luck for the birth of his child.

Blockbuster fixtures to tip off 2020-21NBA season

New York, The 2020-21 NBA season will begin with a block-

buster opening-night doubleheader with the GoldenState Warriors visiting the Brooklyn Nets and defend-ing champions Los Angeles Lakers taking on the in-tracity rival LA Clippers.

The opening night on Tuesday will see NBA MVPsStephen Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James andtwo-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard in action. Itwill also mark the return of Curry, Durant and KyrieIrving as the trio look primed to put on a spectacleon Day 1.

Durant’s first game in 18 months (excluding thepreseason) — and first as a Net — comes against theteam with whom he won two NBA championshipsand two NBA Finals MVP awards.

“Every drill that I’ve done, I’ve been going as hardas I could. I’ve been in the league for 14 years. Even ifI didn’t have an Achilles’, I probably wouldn’t be 100per cent. So, the wear and tear over time, I guess, butI feel solid,” said Durant.

The Warriors, who finished last in the WesternConference in the 2019-20 season, will hope thatCurry and Draymond Green will guide the team’s turn-around with the addition of second overall draft pickJames Wiseman and the acquisition of Kelly Oubre Jr.to play alongside three-time All-Star Draymond Greenand former number one overall draft pick AndrewWiggins. “I never had a time of not playing games forsuch a long time. I have to figure out what we’regothat, it’s going to be pretty awesome just to beplaybefore you know it,” said Curry looking forwardto the 2020/21 season.

MCG pitch will suit him a lotmore: Hussey backs Shaw

Adelaide, Former Australia batsman Michael Hussey believes the

Indian team management should support underfireopener Prithvi Shaw and include him in the playing XI forthe second Test starting Saturday at the Melbourne CricketGround.

Shaw was bowled for a second ball duck in the firstinnings of the first Test and had his stumps rattled in thesecond innings at the Adelaide Oval in the pink-ball matchwhich India lost by eight wickets.

“I think that selectors should show some faith in PrithviShaw. Yes, he didn’t get any runs in this Test match but it’sone Test, against some quality bowling of a difficult pitchto bat,” Hussey told ESPNcricinfo.

Citing Joe Burns’ example, Hussey added: “Joe Burnswas averaging less than seven in FC cricket. The selectorsshowed faith in him. He got out cheaply in the first in-nings but he slowly got his confidence back, worked hisway through it and you see the character of the guy andhe ended up scoring 50 not out.”

Ahmedabad, Page 7

Business Brief

Business 7AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/12/2020

San Francisco, At least 24 big compa-

nies including tech giantslike Intel, Cisco, VMware andNvidia are part of theSolarWinds hack allegedlyorchestrated by Russia-backed cybercriminals, themedia reported.

The suspected Russianhackers installed a malwarein the Orion software soldby the IT management com-pany SolarWinds, and ac-cessed sensitive data be-longing to several US gov-ernment agencies, at leastone hospital and a univer-sity, reports Wall Street Jour-nal.

The report said on Mon-day that several tech com-panies also suffered databreach in this massive hackoperation.

Cisco, Intel, Nvidia,Belkin, and VMware have allhad computers on their net-works software infectedwith the malware.

“Cisco confirmed that itfound the malicious soft-ware on some employeesystems and a small numberof laboratory systems”.

The company was stillinvestigating the hack.

Intel “is investigating the

Intel, Cisco, VMware victim ofbig SolarWinds hack: Report

incident and has found noevidence the hackers usedthe backdoor to access thecompany’s network”.

VMware said it found“limited instances” of themalicious software in its sys-tems.

“The attackers also hadaccess to the California De-partment of State Hospitalsand Kent State University”.

An Nvidia spokesmantold the WSJ that the com-pany has “no evidence atthis time that Nvidia wasadversely affected and ourinvestigation is ongoing.”

SolarWinds had statedthat “fewer than 18,000”companies were impacted.

The Journal gathereddigital clues from victimcomputers collected bythreat-intelligence compa-nies Farsight Security andRiskIQ.

It then used decryptionmethods to reveal the iden-tities of some of the serversthat downloaded the mali-cious code.

“In some cases, theanalysis led to the identity ofcompromised organisationsand showed when the codewas likely activated — in-dicating that the hackers

had access”, the report men-tioned.

Microsoft President BradSmith last week said thatthey have identified morethan 40 customers whohave been affected by na-tion-state hackers who in-stalled malware inSolarWinds’ Orion platform.

Cybersecurity firmFireEye’s CEO Kevin Mandiahad said that “we are wit-nessing an attack by a na-tion with top-tier offensivecapabilities,” and the Wash-ington Post reported that ahacker group backed by theRussian government is be-hind data breaches at theTreasury and Commercedepartments and other USgovernment agencies.

According to Smith, theattack is ongoing and is be-ing actively investigatedand addressed bycybersecurity teams in thepublic and private sectors,including Microsoft.

The hacking group,known as APT29, or CozyBear, is behind the attack onFireEye, accessing its inter-nal network and stealinghacking tools the companyuses to test the networksbelonging to its customers.

London, A full blood count of

Covid-19 patients predictsfairly accurately whether theinfection will have a compli-cated course or not, says anew study.

Such predictions canmake it easier for healthcareproviders to estimate theexpected clinical picture.

This study, conducted ineleven hospitals, was pub-lished in the journal eLife.

“By using certain tech-niques, the character of cer-tain blood cells can be bet-ter determined and by usingthese new techniques, wehave been able to developa reliable prognostic score,”said principal investigatorAndre van der Ven ofRadboud University MedicalCenter in in the Nether-lands.

“This score gives a goodinsight into whether a seri-ous course of events can beexpected and can helphealthcare professionals tomake treatment decisions”.

In patients presenting tohospitals with a Covid-19infection, full blood countanalysis (hemocytometry)are commonly performed at

Full blood count can predictdisease severity of Covid patients

the emergency departmentand during hospitalisation.

Covid-19 is accompa-nied by specific changes inthe circulating blood cellsthat are analysed by a fullblood count.

These changes in theblood cells, especially thosethat can be identified usingnew techniques, were usedto create an algorithm witha predictive value.

The developed algo-rithm appears to predict thecourse of Covid-19 betterthan the value of the indi-vidual blood cells, as used sofar.

The reliability increasesto 93 per cent after six days,said the study.

Using data generated byfull blood count measure-ments, the researcherswanted to know if it is pos-sible to predict whether ahospitalised Covid-19 pa-tient will become seriously

ill and needs treatment atthe intensive care.

For this purpose, theyexamined the data of 982adult patients in eleven dif-ferent hospitals across Eu-rope.

And this turned out tobe possible: specificchanges in the circulatingblood cells of Covid-19 pa-tients proved to be of use asindicators whether a seriouscourse of events was ex-pected. New laboratorytechniques make it possibleto detect whether immunecells in the blood are acti-vated and it turned out thatespecially these activatedcells were more present ofCovid-19 patients with a se-vere course, including dur-ing the early course of thedisease.

In a second study popu-lation the researchers wereable to confirm the value ofthe prognostic score.

New York, A mathematical model

that can help project thespread of infectious dis-eases like the seasonal flumay not be the best way topredict the spread of Covid-19, researchers, includingone of Indian-origin, havereported.

Called the R-naught, orbasic reproductive number,the model predicts the aver-age number of susceptiblepeople who will be infectedby one infectious person.

It is calculated usingthree main factors — theinfectious period of the dis-ease, how the diseasespreads and how manypeople an infected indi-vidual will likely come intocontact with.

Historically, if the R-naught is larger than one,infections can become ram-pant and an epidemic or

Model for flu spread may not work in Covid-19: Studymore widespread pandemicis likely.

The Covid-19 pandemichad an early R-naught be-tween two and three.

In a letter published inthe journal Infection Controland Hospital Epidemiology,researchers have arguedthat lockdowns that havebecome necessary to helpmitigate the Covid-19 pan-demic have complicatedpredicting the disease’sspread by altering the nor-mal mix of the population.

Arni Rao, a mathematicalmodeller at the Medical Col-lege of Georgia at AugustaUniversity in the US and hisco-authors instead sug-gested more of a dynamic,moment in time approachusing a model called thegeometric mean.

That model uses today’snumber to predicttomorrow’s numbers.

Current number of in-fections — in Augusta today,for example — is divided bythe number of predicted in-fections for tomorrow todevelop a more accurateand current reproductiverate.

While this geometricmethod can’t predict longterm trends, it can more ac-curately predict likely num-bers for the short term, theresearchers said.

“The R-naught modelcan’t be changed to accountfor contact rates that canchange from day to daywhen lockdowns are im-posed,” Rao explained.

“In the initial days of thepandemic, we depended onthese traditional methodsto predict the spread, butlockdowns change the waypeople have contact witheach other.”

A uniform R-naught is

also not possible since theCovid-19 pandemic has var-ied widely in different areasof the country and world.

Places have differentrates of infection, on differ-ent timelines — hotspotslike New York and Californiawould have higher R-naughts. The R-naught alsodid not predict the currentthird wave of the Covid-19pandemic.

“Different factors con-tinuously alter ground-levelbasic reproductive num-bers, which is why we needa better model,” Rao says.

A biryani per second, home mealsmost loved on Swiggy in 2020

Xiaomi Mi 11 with Snapdragon 888 5Garriving on Dec 28

Beijing, Xiaomi is all set to launch its Snapdragon 888 5G

mobile platform-based ‘Mi 11’ series smartphones onDecember 28 in China.

Xiaomi revealed the ‘Mi 11’ launch date on the Chi-nese social media platform ‘Weibo’. A poster sharedby the company confirms that the launch will takeplace in China at 7.30 p.m. local time, reports AndroidAuthority. The Xiaomi M2011K2C phone that has beenpreviously spotted at places like CMIIT, 3C andGeekbench could be the ‘Xiaomi Mi 11’ series phone.The M2011K2C model number might belong to thevanilla model which is codenamed ‘Venus’.

Like the Mi 10 series, the ‘Mi 11’ lineup might in-clude two flagship phones such as the Xiaomi Mi 11and Mi 11 Pro. The ‘Mi 11’ is rumoured to have a four-sided curved display with a punch-hole cutout in thefront. The handset might arrive with up to 12GB ofRAM and 512GB of internal storage.

New Samsung earbuds may havesimilar Apple ‘Spatial Audio’ tool

Seoul, Samsung is reportedly planning to launch new

Galaxy Buds Pro earbuds next month and a new re-port has claimed that it will have a feature that is quitesimilar to the Spatial Audio function available in theAirPods Max and AirPods Pro.

The details were spotted in the Galaxy Wearableapp ahead of its official launch, reports 9To5Google.

“It indicated that Spatial Audio, which adjusts au-dio based on the direction of a user’s head, will workwhen the Galaxy Buds Pro are connected to aSamsung phone running Android 11".

Spatial Audio is designed to provide a theater-likesurround sound listening experience on iPhone andiPad using dynamic head-tracking capabilities.

Galaxy Buds Pro will also have a “voice detect” fea-ture that automatically enables transparency modeand lowers the volume of your audio when theearbuds sense that you’re speaking.

The new earbuds have also been certified byChina’s 3C with a 472 mAh battery in the case, as wellas the Korean NRRA certification, the report said onTuesday. It will pack a big 472mAh battery, whichcould be the battery capacity of the case of the TWS,as it is unlikely that the individual buds will have sucha large battery capacity.

IBM acquires cloud managed servicesprovider Nordcloud

New York, Tech giant IBM has announced to acquire

Nordcloud, a European leader in cloud implementa-tion, application transformation and managed ser-vices, for an undisclosed sum.

Helsinki-based Nordcloud is triple certified inAmazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud andMicrosoft Azure.

The move will further advance IBM’s cloud migra-tion and transformation capabilities, an importantaspect of its hybrid cloud platform growth strategy,the company said in a statement.

“IBM’s acquisition of Nordcloud adds the kind ofdeep expertise that will drive our clients’ digital trans-formations as well as support the further adoption ofIBM’s hybrid cloud platform,” said John Granger, SVP,Cloud Application Innovation and COO, IBM GlobalBusiness Services.

Nordcloud has offices in 10 European countries.Following the close of the transaction, Nordcloud willbecome an IBM company.

18.1M to be employed by directselling industry by 2025

New Delhi, Direct selling sector is poised to employ more

than 18 million by 2025 and as per industry estimates,the Direct Selling industry in India, which currentlyranks No. 15, globally, is expected to grow at a Com-pounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 4.8percent to reach Rs 15,930 crore by 2021.

This proves that the Direct Selling Industry is flour-ishing and illustrates its potential with the continuedrate of growth — increasing at an impressive rate of12.1% Y-o-Y. Another interesting trend that is notice-able is that the sector has been instrumental in em-ployment generation for nearly 122 million Indianswho lost their jobs this due to the pandemic.

NOTICE

IN THE MATTER OF COMPANIES ACT, 2013AND

IN THE COMPANY APPEAL NO.107/252(3)/NCLT/AHM/2020 REGARDING RESTORATION OF THE NAME OF THECOMPANY M/S. KAHAN CHEM PRIVATE LIMITED UNDER

SECTION 252 OF THE COMPANIES ACT, 2013.IN THE MATTER OF HARESH JAYANTILAL MEHTAV/sREGISTRAR OF COMPANIES, AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT.Notice is hereby issued that the Hon`ble NCLT of Gujarat vide

order dated 06.11.2020 passed in Company Appeal No.107/252(3)/AHM/2020 directed for restoration of the above named Companynamely M/s.KahanChem Private Limited, in the Register of Com-panies maintained by the office of the Registrar of Companies,Gujarat. As per the said order of the Hon`ble NCLT, Bench atAhmedabad, the name of the aforesaid Company is hereby re-stored as M/s. KahanChem Private Limited in the Register of Com-panies maintained by the office of the Registrar of Companies,Gujarat.

S/d, (Haresh Jayantilal Mehta)Director

Place : AhmedabadDate : 21/12/2020

FEDBANK FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD. AUCTION NOTICEThis is to inform the public at large, that FEDBANK FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD., has decided to

Monday 04-01-2021 between 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m.Amroli 0261-2495005 FEDAMR0GL 1044413, 1073993, 1076412, 1103302, 1117676, 1150034, 1243461, Ashram Road9512994499 FEDASH0GL1251995, 1253261,Bapunagar 079-22702881 FEDBAP0GL 1114529 Bareja 7338848829 FEDBRJ0GL 1187436, 1217181,1232911 1233017, 1232836, Bavla 2714230483 FEDBAV0GL1117970, 1238607 Botad 2849252414 FEDBOT0GL 1108199, 1118925, 1156242, 1210779, 1237618, 1238067, 1257329, 1260437, Gandhi Nagar Sector 16 079-23223380 FEDGNS0GL1106068, 1110459, 1131010 ,1141343, 1154786, 1202851, 1220402, 1241112, 1243297, 1251417, 1253596, 1263366, 1263369 Ghatlodiya 079-27603199 FEDGHA0GL 1170987, 1253449, 1256641 Gondal 2825224553 FEDGON0GL 1155392,1245891, Hirabaugh 7448629994 FEDHIR0GL 1091806, 1097548, 1146627, 1088894, 1157463, 1158302 Kadi 02764-265501 FEDKDI0GL Kamrej 02621-251005 FEDKRG0GL1104634 Kuber Nagar 07922801120 FEDKUB0GL1074907 1079264,1089908 ,1092186, 1093091 ,1107230, 1112490,1126404, 128420, 1150850, 1155726, 1176715, 1192083, 1192202, 1192207, 1198696, 1212838, 1214333, 1215954, 1215981, 1217441, 1256259, 1262526, 1173478 Limdi 02753-261200 FEDLIM0GL 1175571 Maninagar 079-25463356 FEDMNG0GL1082643,1097075, 1107116, 1236976 Mavdi Main Road 9537733771 FEDMAV0GL1242127 Memco 7922201310 FEDMEM0GL 1079442, 1242685, Morbi 2822222622 FEDMOR0GL1104426, 1124370, 1124615, 1129233, 1133970, 1151550, 1154243 9537733771 FEDMot0GL 1215223 Sadhu Vaswani Road 9909659594 FEDSVR0GL 1076451, 1108442, 1159183, 1164717, 1194295, 1194201, 1224838, 1234278, 1263088, 1228073, 1255955 SARTHANA 9384000906 FEDSAR0GL 1083351, Surendranagar Wadhwan 2752221333 FEDSDW0GL 1127764, Udhna 0261-2277005 FEDUDH0GL 1068797, 1114115, 1185155, 1246958, 1082832, 1129950, 1173073, 1226523 Varachha 0261-2541005 FEDVAR0GL Vastral7922892662FEDVST0GL1186912,1200944, 1245251, 1254931, 1261069, 1182129

02-01-2021

Dated : 23-12-2020 For, sdl- Authorised Signatory

New Delhi, As contactless food be-

came the norm in the pan-demic-hit year, online deliv-ery platform Swiggy onTuesday said that someform of biryani was orderedmore than once every sec-ond while home-cookedfood was one of the mostferried items in 2020.

The chicken biryani reaf-firmed its place as India’sfavourite dish. For every vegbiryani, there were sixchicken biryani orders.

Over 3 lakh new usersmade their Swiggy debut byordering in a chickenbiryani, according to thedata from fifth edition ofSwingy’s annual‘StatEATstics’ analysis.

“While we delivered 5times as many orders to‘Home’ addresses comparedto ‘Work’ addresses betweenJanuary and March, thatnumber rose to 9 times asmany Home orders vs. Workorders in April and May,” thereport mentioned.Missingoffice cappuccinos andmasala chais while workingfrom home, lakhs ofhardworking Swiggy usersordered varieties of tea andcoffee.

Swiggy also deliveredover two million pani puriorders post-lockdown. Thecompany launched ‘SwiggyHealthHub’ in August, acuration of healthy fooditems.

While users in the Na-tional Capital Region (NCR)ordered the healthiestmeals, Bangaloreansshowed a high resolve toget healthy. At 130 per cent,the city saw the highest in-crease in healthy food or-ders on Swiggy HealthHub.

People ate an average of342 calories for dinner.Lunches ranged at under350 calories, while breakfast,the age of 427 calories.Swiggy Instamart, its instantgrocery and essentials deliv-ery service, delivered over75,000 kgs of onion.

CHANGE OF NAMEI have changed my name from

SMITKUMARSHAILESHKUMAR PATEL to

new name SMITKUMARSHAILESHBHAI PATEL

Add.: D-64, Harsiddh SmrutiSociety, Ranip,

Ahmedabad-3824802524

CHANGE OF NAMEI have changed my name from

NATAVARBHAIDUNGARBHAI PANCHAL to

new name NATVARBHAIDUNGARBHAI PANCHAL

Add.: 41, NityanandiniSociety-1, Opp. Nalanda

School, Gahtlodia, Ahmedabad-380061

B061

CHANGE OF SURNAMEI have changed my surname

from GEETABENRAJESHKUMAR

HERUWALA to GEETABENRAJESHKUMAR MODI

Add.: 07, Sunrise Park Part-1,S.C.W. High School, Deesa,Ta.Deesa, Dist.Banaskantha.

B045

CHANGE OF SURNAMEI have changed my surname

from RAJESHKUMARDEVCHANDBHAI

HERUWALA toRAJESHKUMAR

DEVCHANDBHAI MODIAdd.: 07, Sunrise Park Part-1,S.C.W. High School, Deesa,Ta.Deesa, Dist.Banaskantha.

B045A

GUJARAT WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENTCORPORATION LTD

Executive Engineer, Unit No. 2, (Sujlam Suflam), Gandhinagar.State Water Data centre building, Sector-8, Gandhinagar Ph.No. 079-23236711/23236712

Tender Notice No:- 03 - 2020-21The Executive Engineer, Unit No. 2 (Sujlam Suflam) 2nd floor, State Water data centre building, Sector-8Gandhinagar PIN-380008, Gujarat State invites on line tendeQr (E-Tendering) for following works (EPCworks) in three bids system from experienced and resourceful agencies as under.

Sr. Name of work Estimated cost Qualification of bidderNo. (Rs.in crore) (1) Class

(2) EMD(3) Tender fee(4) Time Limit(5) Solvency

1 Engineering, Procurement and Construction Rs.55.13 crore (1) ‘AA’ class(EPC) Contract for Lift Irrigation M.S. Pipeline (2) Rs.55.13 lakhsproject for transmission of 50 cusecs of water (3) Rs.21240/-from Matpur village taluka- Patan to Dharoi (Rs.18000+3240 GST)extended Branch 4 & 5 near Bhramanwada (4) 18 Monthvillage taluka - Unjha District Mehsana (excluding 10 yearincluding Construction of Pumping Station, O & M period)supplying and laying M.S. pipeline of (5) 11.03 crores1200 mm (ID), 8mm thickness with alliedworks etc. with operation and maintenanceof commissioned project for 10 years including 3 years Defect liability periodfor Matpur--BhramanwadaDist. Mehsana Pipeline Project.

1. Date of uploading :- 23.12.20202. Pre-Bid Meeting :- Dt. 08.01.2021 at 12.00 hrs.3. Last date for downloading tender document and On line submission of tender :- Date : 03.02.2021 up to 18.00 hrs.4. Physical submission of tender of Tender fees, EMD and other document Only by speed post / R.P.A.D. /courier - fromDt. 04.02.2021 to 12.02.2021 upto 18.00 Hrs.5. The EMD exemption certificate will not be accepted.6. The EMD less than 180 days validity will not be accepted and offer will not be considered.7. On-line verification of Tender fee, EMD and other document and Pre-qualification bid Date : 15.02.2021 12 hrs.8. The details of above tender will be available on www.statetenders.com; www.gwrdc.gujarat.gov.in andwww.gwrdc.nprocure.com. The tender will be accepted only on line. INF/1565/20-21

GUJARAT MINERAL DEVELOPMENTCORPORATION LTD

e Tender Notice- 18/LR/STP UPGRADATION/O & M/2020e-tenders are invited for “Up gradation and Operation and

Maintenance of Sewerage treatment plant located at Colonypremises At GMDC Lignite Project Rajpardi, Tal: Jhagadia, Dist.Bharuch.”

For e tenders notice, tender documents and for further detailsvisit our website www.gmdcltd.com.

Tender shall be downloaded from http:gmdc.nprocure.comand submitted on line as per e-tender notice. Please visithttp:gmdc.nprocure.com for time to time for any corrigendum /addendum.

No. INF/ABD/1119/20

ROYALE MANOR HOTELS AND INDUSTRIES LIMITEDRegd. Off : International Airport Circle, Ahmedabad - 382 475.

CIN: L55100GJ1991PLC015839, Phone - (079) 22868642-43 Fax - (079) 22868641Email : royalemanorhotels@gmail.com, Website : www.rmhil.com

For & on behalf of the Board of DirectorFor RRRRRoooooyyyyyale Manor Hotels ale Manor Hotels ale Manor Hotels ale Manor Hotels ale Manor Hotels And Industries LimitedAnd Industries LimitedAnd Industries LimitedAnd Industries LimitedAnd Industries Limited

Sd/- Sunil Trivedi

Company Secretary & Compliance OfficerPlace : AhmedabadDate : 22.12.2020

Corrigendum to Notice of Annual General MeetingRoyale Manor Hotels and Industries Limited ("the Company") had issued Notice dated 23rd November,2020 ("AGM Notice") for convening the Annual General Meeting ("AGM”) of the shareholders of theCompany, scheduled to be held on Wednesday, 23rd December, 2020, at 03:00 p.m. through VideoConferencing (“VC”)/Other Audio Visual Means (“OAVM”). The AGM Notice has already beencirculated to all the shareholders of the Company in due compliance with the provisions of theCompanies Act, 2013, read with the Rules made there-under:Subsequent to issuance and circulation of the AGM Notice some errors have been noted in thespecial resolution no. 5 and explanatory statement of item no. 5. The changes are as under:1. In paragraph 1 on page no. 2 of special resolution no. 5, the words Securities and Exchange

Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009 replaced withwords Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements)Regulations, 2018.Further in the said para from “SEBI ICDR Regulations as….may think fit.” has been replacedwith “SEBI ICDR Regulations and SEBI Takeover Regulations or other applicable laws and onsuch terms and conditions as the Board may, in its absolute discretion think fit.”

2. In paragraph 2 on page no. 2 of special resolution no. 5, the words Chapter VII of the SEBIICDR Regulations replaced with words Chapter V of the SEBI ICDR Regulations, 2018.

3. In paragraph 1 of explanatory statement of item no. 5,on page no. 10, of, the word Regulation75 replaced with word Regulation 160.

4. In paragraph 2 of explanatory statement of item no. 5, on page no.10, the words mentionedIssue of equity shares and convertible warrants replaced with words mentioned Issue ofconvertible warrants.

5. In paragraph 5of explanatory statement of item no. 5, on page no. 10, the word Regulation 73replaces with Regulation 163.

6. Point no. c of explanatory statement of item no. 5 on page no. 10, has been replaced as follows:c) Issue price and relevant date:Issue price of convertible warrants:Shares of the company are not frequently traded on BSE Limited. Hence the company determinethe price of Rs.13.37/- per warrant after considering valuation parameters including book value,comparable trading multiples, and such other parameters as are customary for valuation ofshares of the company.Relevant Date:The "Relevant Date" in accordance with SEBI ICDR Regulations would be 23rd November,2020 being the date 30 days prior to the date of passing of the Special Resolution by theMembers of the Company for the proposed preferential issue of Warrants convertible into EquityShares.

7. Point no. d of explanatory statement of item no. 5, on page no. 11,the words mentioned Issue ofequity shares and convertible warrants replaced with words mentioned Issue of convertiblewarrants.

8. Point no. e of explanatory statement of item no. 5, on page no. 11, the words Chapter VII of theSEBI ICDR Regulations replaced with words Chapter V of the SEBI ICDR Regulations, 2018.

9. Point no. h of explanatory statement of item no. 5, on page no. 12, the words mentioned Issueof equity shares and convertible warrants replaced with words mentioned Issue of convertiblewarrants.

10. In sub point (i) of Point no. lof explanatory statement of item no. 5, on page no. 13, the wordRegulation 78(2) replaces with Regulation 167(1).

11. In sub point (ii) of Point no. lof explanatory statement of item no. 5, on page no. 13, the wordRegulation 78(6) replaces with Regulation 167(6).

12. In sub point (b) of Point no. mof explanatory statement of item no. 5, on page no. 13, the wordRegulation 75 replaced with word Regulation 160.

13. Point no. pof explanatory statement of item no. 5, on page no. 14, has been replaced as follows:Shares of the company are not frequently traded on BSE Limited. Hence the company determinethe price of Rs.13.37/- per warrant after considering valuation parameters including book value,comparable trading multiples, and such other parameters as are customary for valuation ofshares of the company.The company has obtained report from the independent valuer stating that the company is incompliance of this regulation in compliance with the Regulation 165 of the SEBI ICDRRegulations.

14. After ending second paragraph of point no. p) of explanatory statement of item no. 5, new pointno. q) inserted as under:q) Pursuant to Regulation 163(1)(i) of SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements)Regulation, 2018, the Company is hereby declare that neither issuer nor any of its promoters ordirectors is a willful defaulter, hence disclosures specified in Schedule VI is not applicable.

This corrigendum to the AGM Notice shall form integral part of Notice dated 23rd November, 2020,circulated to the shareholders of the Company. Accordingly, all the concerned shareholders, stockexchanges, depositories, registrar and share transfer agent, agencies appointed for e-voting, otherauthorities, regulators and all other concerned persons are requested to take note of the abovecorrections. This corrigendum will be available on the website of the Company (www.rmhil.com)besides being communicated to BSE Limited.

Top tech firms joinhands to helpWhatsApp in NSOGroup hacking

San Francisco, A day after it was dis-

closed that Israeli intelli-gence firm NSO Grouphacked iPhones of 36 AlJazeera journalists, top techgiants like Microsoft Google,Cisco, VMware and theInternet Association filed anamicus brief in a legal casebrought by Facebook-owned WhatsApp againstthe NSO Group.

The NSO Group is cur-rently embroiled in a legalbattle with Facebook, whichlast year accused that theIsraeli spyware maker usedPegasus in WhatsApp to in-fect some 1,400 people,mostly celebrities, journal-ists and human rights activ-ists.

Facebook has submitteddetailed proof in the courtabout the Israeli companyand the allegedly hackinginto at least 1,400 WhatsAppusers via its controversialsurveillance software.

News in a Nutshell

Ahmedabad Page 8 CMYK

CMYK

8 NationalAHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY 23/12/2020

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Governor

Anandiben Patel has termi-nated the services ofBhatkhande Music Univer-sity vice-chancellor, ShrutiSadolikar Katkar, on chargesof indiscipline and adminis-trative and financial anoma-lies.

The Governor has in-structed principal secretary,department of culture, toinitiate criminal and admin-

UP Governor sacks BhatkandeUniversity Vice Chancellor

istrative action against her.Katkar was removed

from her post in August andan inquiry was constitutedagainst her.

The three-membercommittee headed by Jus-tice (retd) Virendra KumarDixit submitted its report onDecember 11.

Katkar was given aweek’s time to submit herreply but she did not furnish

any reply.The Governor’s order, is-

sued on Monday, said thatsince Katkar failed to submitreply, it is believed that shehas accepted the charges.

The committee hadfound Katkar guilty of ad-ministrative and financial ir-regularities. On the 15-pointallegations, the committeefound her guilty on sixpoints.

It was found that Katkarhad given work to one firmrepeatedly without tender.These works were done inthe financial year 2017-18,for which Katkar made apayment (in parts) of Rs2,17,085. Subsequently, pay-ment of Rs 1,44,000 and2,21,790 was made to thesame firm by Katkar.

The order also statesthat Katkar is accused ofgetting approved Rs 3.08crore from various commit-tees for construction of KalaMandap without any tenderin year 2018. Similarly, she isaccused of making irregularpayments of Rs 4 crore andabove to several firms.

A prominent vocalistfrom the Jaipur-Atrauligharana, Shruti SadolikarKatkar was appointed to thepost in 2009.

Shopian The Shopian district in

Kashmir has created historyby conducting the first evermusic festival in 30 years,welcoming the harshestphase of winter with a mu-sical note.

Jashn-e-Chillai Kalan,organised by Shopian’s 44Rashtriya Rifles at BataporaStadium, witnessed hugecrowds joining the festivalfrom nearby districts includ-ing Pulwama and Budgam.

The event was inaugu-rated by GOC Victor Force,General Reshim Baali, andattended by many districtadministrative officers andpolice personnel.

General Baali appealedto the youth “to continuestriving for an educatedKashmiri Society and con-tribute in bringing develop-ment and peace to this‘Jannat of Allah’. He pointedout that winds of changecan be felt in South Kashmirand it was heartening to seea cultural festival organisedin the heart of Shopian. Hestressed that youth of Kash-mir are the future and theyneed to be nurtured into re-sponsible citizens of the so-ciety.”

Musical bands attractedthe locals towards this festi-val and songs sung by thebands brought warmth in

Jashn-e-Chillai Kalan in Shopian after 30 yearsKashmir’s freezing tempera-tures. Srinagar-based ChinarBand entertained the crowdwith its melodious & ener-getic performances.

Wall of Kindness, an ini-tiative for the needy andhomeless was also set up atthe festival. Locals in hugenumbers donated theirclothes and other belong-ings for the needy andhomeless in these freezingtemperatures.

The festival was alsoaimed at promotingKashmiri culture, handicraft& cuisine. Chillai Kalan, the

harshest phase of winter inKashmir which began onMonday, has been wel-comed by 44 Rashtriya Riflesof Indian Army in a uniqueand attractive way. Brigadier12 sector RR, Ajay Katoch,CO 44RR, A.K. SINGH, DeputyCommissioner Shopian,Chowdary Mohd Yaseen,along with SSP ShopianAmrit Pal were also presentat the event.

Addressing the media,General Baali said thatJashn-e-Chillai Kalan ofKashmir makes Kashmir dif-ferent.

Badaun (UP), Two men in Uttar

Pradesh have been arrestedand charged with murder oftheir parents over a prop-erty dispute.

The sons had not onlymurdered their parents butalso tried to burn their bod-ies to make it look like anaccident.

It may be recalled that

Sons held for parents’ murder over propertythe charred remains ofRajendra, 61, and his wifeRajwati, 57, who used to liveon their own at their Badaunhome, were found in theirroom on December 15. Theincident was reported fromSanjarpur Gulal village.

They had four sons butnone of them stayed withthe elderly couple.

The elderly couple’s two

sons are working in Delhiwhile two others were livingin Badaun. The family had ahouse and around 10 acresof farmland in the village.

Initially, during investi-gation, the two sons hadclaimed that a blanket hadcaught fire and their parentswere burnt alive.

The autopsy report,however, stated that thecouple had died due tostrangulation and their bod-ies were later set on fire.

“After the autopsy, wedeployed a surveillanceteam and started question-ing the suspects. We came

to know that two of thesons, Vikram and Sumit, hada quarrel with their fatherafter the latter refused to selloff his property and give ashare to them. They wereeven disowned by their par-ents,” said SSP SankalpSharma.

He said that Vikram andSumit were interrogatedand later, they confessed tothe crime. Both have beenarrested on Monday andsent to jail.

The accused have beenbooked under sections 302(murder) and 201 (causingdisappearance of evidence)of IPC.

Kanpur, A 46-year-old man was

lynched in front of his wifeand children for allegedlychasing their neighbour’scow with a stick.

The incident took placeat the Mahadeo Nagar Bastiunder the Govind Nagarpolice circle on Mondayevening.

The suspected killer,Ayush Yadav, is now ab-sconding with his family.

According to reports, acow belonging to AyushYadav was seen standing infront of the victim, RamanGupta’s house.

Since Gupta’s children,three daughters and a son,were playing in front of thehouse, he tried to shoo awaythe cow.

Raman and his familyused a stick to chase away

Man lynched for chasing cow in Uttar Pradeshthe cow and Ayush who sawthis, arrived at the spot andallegedly abused andthreatened Raman and hisfamily with dire conse-quences.

Raman’s wife Maya toldreporters: “He blamed us forhitting the cow. Soon, itturned into a quarrel be-tween my husband andAyush,”

Minutes later, Ayush re-turned at the spot with astick.

“Ayush repeatedly hit onthe head and other vitalbody parts of my husbandwith a stick in full publicview. When we tried to cometo his rescue, the accusedattacked us as well,” shesaid.

Raman began bleedingprofusely and collapsed onthe spot while Ayush

walked away with the stickin his hand.

The neighbours in-formed the police whileRaman’s family took him toa nearby nursing home fromwhere he was referred toLala Lajpat Rai hospital. Thedoctors there declared himdead on arrival.

Raman, who belongedto Darbhanga in Bihar, wasjobless and his wife Mayaused to work as a domestichelp to run the house.

The accused, Ayush, is adairy owner and lives withhis family in the area.

SP, South, DeepakBhuker, said: “Body of thedeceased has been sent forpost mortem and an FIR hasbeen registered. We haveformed teams to arrest theaccused who is abscondingwith his family.”

Panaji, The suspension of inbound flights from the UK due to

the emergence of a new, highly infectious Covid-19 strainin the island nation, will have an impact on tourism in Goa,Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Sawant also said thatthe flights from other countries affected by the secondwave of Covid-19 may also be cancelled over the next fewdays.

“Of course it will impact (tourism). Today, UK flights havebeen cancelled,” Sawant said, when asked if the temporaryban on flights from the UK would impact the tourism sec-tor in Goa. After Russia, UK ranks second in the list of coun-tries as far as international tourist footfalls in Goa are con-cerned. “It could be that flights from other countries couldalso be cancelled. Considering that the second wave hasemerged in other countries, we will also have to take someprecautions,” Sawant also said.

India, on Monday, announced a temporary ban onflights coming from the UK till 11.59 p.m. on December 31.The suspension commences from 11.59 p.m. on Decem-ber 22.

According to officials at Goa’s Dabolim internationalairport, four flights from the UK to Goa have been cancelledon account of the ban.

With the emergence of a new, more infectious strain ofCovid-19, Sawant also urged Goans to maintain social dis-tancing, wear masks and carry out Covid-19 tests early, stat-ing that late testing by infected persons was one of themajor reasons for deaths of Covid-19 infected persons inthe state.

UK flight ban will impacttourism in Goa: CM

UK passenger tests Covid-19 positivein Chennai, sample sent to NIV

Chennai, A passenger, who arrived here from London, has

tested positive for Covid-19, health department offi-cials said on Tuesday, adding that the test sample hasbeen sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV)in Pune to check whether it is the new mutant vari-ant of the virus.

The passenger has been transferred to the KingsInstitute Hospital here and is currently under quar-antine.

No other details about the infected person wasimmediately available.

On Monday, India suspended all flights to andfrom the UK until December 31 as a precautionarymeasure following the discovery of the fast-spread-ing new Covid-19 variant in Britain.

Young artists extend support tofarmers through paintings

New Delhi, Amid the ongoing protest by the farmers against

the new agricultural laws, people are extending theirsupport to them. Similarly, two artists from Punjab’sPatiala — Ravi Raj and Gurdeep Singh — have ex-tended their support in unique style along with reg-istering their dissent against the laws.

The duo have come to Singhu border to supportfarmers. They have made two paintings and one ofthem shows a father-son relation between farmer andcrop while the second one shows the unity of thefarmers and workers.

The theme of both these pictures is ‘Unity of Farm-ers and Workers’. Talking about their work, the artistssaid that the farmers should get reward of their hardwork.

Rain, snow likely to intensify coldwave in J&K, Ladakh

Srinagar, Severe cold conditions continued unabated in

Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on Tuesday as theweather office forecast another spell of rain and snowbetween Friday and Saturday.

“Cold, dry weather will continue till December 26evening. A spell of light to moderate snowfall is likelyto occur in the Kashmir Valley and Kargil between theevening of December 26 till the evening of Decem-ber 27,” an official of the MET department said.

The 40-day long period of harsh winter knownlocally as the ‘Chillai Kalan’ started on winter solsticeday and will end on January 31.

Srinagar recorded minus 5.2 degrees Celsius,Pahalgam minus 5.8 and Gulmarg minus 7.4 as theminimum temperatures of the day.

Leh town of Ladakh recorded minus 16.4, Kargilminus 18.4 and Drass minus 18.6 as the night’s low-est temperatures.

Jammu city had 6.2, Katra 7.6, Batote minus 2.8,Bannihal minus 0.4 and Bhaderwah minus 1.1 as theirminimum temperatures.

Jammu, Pakistan continued

ceasefire violation on theline of control (LoC) on thefourth consecutive day onTuesday in Jammu andKashmir’s Poonch district,officials said.

Defence Ministryspokesman, ColonelDevender Anand said ataround 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday,Pakistan initiated unpro-voked ceasefire violation byfiring with small arms andshelling with mortars alongthe LoC in Mankote sector ofPoonch district.

Indian Army retaliatedbefittingly, the spokesman

Pakistan violates ceasefire yet again on LoCsaid.

Pakistan has been con-tinuously violating theceasefire on the LoC duringthe last four days.

Tuesday’s ceasefire vio-lation by Pakistan comes ona day the authorities arebusy counting votes for thedistrict development coun-cil (DDC) elections.

Holding of DDC elec-tions in Jammu and Kashmiris the first democratic exer-

cise since the abrogation ofArticle 370 on August 5,2019. Since the beginning ofthis year, Pakistan has withimpunity violated the bilat-eral ceasefire agreementsigned by the two countriesin 1999.

At least 30 civilians havebeen killed and over 100 in-jured in more than 3,200such ceasefire violations byPakistan on the LoC sinceJanuary 2020.

By Anand SinghNew Delhi/Hathras

(Uttar Pradesh), Sexual assault on the

19-year-old Hathras victimcannot be ruled out as thepattern of injuries sustainedduring sexual violence mayshow considerable varia-tions, an AIIMS medical

Hathras case: Gang rape can’t beruled out, says AIIMS report

board’s report submitted tothe CBI has said.

The revelations havebeen made in the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI)charge sheet filed againstthe accused for gang rapeand murder in a Hathrascourt.

The court has since

taken cognisance of thecharge sheet, the lawyer forthe accused told reporters.

The 19-page chargesheet, accessed by IANS,points out that the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sci-ences’ (AIIMS) Multi-Institu-tional Medical Board (MIMB)headed by Dr Adarsh Kumar,Professor of Forensic Medi-cine and Toxicology, hassubmitted its report to theagency.

The MIMB report saidthat “...the possibility ofsexual assault cannot beruled out. The pattern of in-jury sustained during an in-cident of sexual violencemay show considerablevariations. This may rangefrom complete absence ofinjuries (more frequently) togrievous injuries (very rare).In this case, since there wasa delay in reporting or docu-mentation or forensic ex-amination for sexual assault,these factors could be re-sponsible for the absence ofsignificantly visible signs ofgenital injury.”

The CBI said that theMIMB also noted that thepost-mortem report of thevictim also mentions mul-tiple old healed tears in thehymen.

The CBI charge sheetsaid that the victim’s dyingdeclaration was “key evi-dence” and supports otherproof and establishes thecharges against accusedSandeep, Luvkush, Ravi andRamu.

Lookout notice issued forsuspended UP IPS officer

Mahoba (UP), A lookout notice has been issued against absconding

IPS officer, Manilal Patidar for his alleged involvement incorruption and abetment of suicide of a Mahoba-basedtrader.

Patidar was posted as superintendent of police inMahoba when the incident took place.

Patidar is also carrying a cash reward of Rs 50,000 onhis arrest, and the lookout notice has been issued to pre-vent him from leaving the country.

Superintendent of Police, Mahoba, Arun KumarSrivastava, said: “A lookout notice has been issued againstPatidar to prevent him from leaving the country.”

A local businessman, Indramani Tripathi, 44, was foundinjured in his car with gunshot wounds on September 8this year after he accused the then Mahoba SP, ManilalPatidar, of corruption. He had died at a hospital on Sep-tember 13.

On September 9, Patidar was suspended with immedi-ate effect by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathon corruption charges.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the inci-dent had found Patidar guilty of corruption and abetmentof suicide.

CBI charge sheet in Hathras casehighlights UP Police’s ‘lapses’By Anand Singh

New Delhi/Hathras (Uttar Pradesh), The CBI has raised questions on the handling of the

alleged Hathras gang rape and murder case by the UttarPradesh Police and alleged that the latter ignored allega-tions of sexual assault and did not get the victim’s medicalexamination conducted on time.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet in the Hathras case on December 18 in a Hathrascourt.

The 19-page charge sheet, accessed by IANS, allegedthat the police did not take down the woman’s oral state-ment at the Chandpa police station when she went thereon September 14 to report the crime.

Police twice ignored her allegations of sexual assault,which led to loss of forensic evidence, the agency said.

“Her statement was written five days later and she wasmedically examined for sexual assault only on September22 — eight days after the alleged crime,” the charge sheetclaimed.

Coming down hard on the police working, the CBI saidthat the victim used the word ‘zabardasti’ (use of force) atthe Chandpa police station but it was ignored, and neitherany medical examination got conducted nor rape law in-voked. It said that the 19-year old victim was referred toAligarh as her condition was serious. The CBI said that onSeptember 19, the victim in her police statement used the354 of the IPC was added but again neither the police re-quested for or referred her for medical examination in thelight of sexual assault.”

Gujarat HC notice to Assembly onPIL for disclosure of proceedings

Gandhinagar, The Gujarat High

Court has issued a noticeto the Gujarat LegislativeSecretariat on a PIL de-manding that the Assem-bly proceedings and func-tioning be proactively dis-closed and its details beposted on the Assembly’swebsite under the RTI Act.

A division bench,headed by Justice J.B.Pardiwala, issued a noticeto the state Assembly Sec-retariat on Monday, whilehearing the petition filedby Neeta Hardikar andSiddharth Pathak, repre-senting a group of socialactivists.

The PIL contends thatfor the Gujarat Assembly, itis mandatory to disclosethe proceedings that takeplace in the house on theAssembly’s website inGujarati as well as English.The state Assembly is not

posting details on it, theway other state assemblieshave been doing, it said.

The PIL also seeks livetelecast of the house pro-ceedings and regular post-ing of transcripts, papersthat are laid or to be laid,private members’ business,zero hour, list of questionsand their answers, text ofdebates.

The petitioners de-manded posting of text oflegislations that arepassed, pending, assented,lapsed, withdrawn andnegatived by the Assemblybe put up on its website.

Through the PIL, thepetitioners have de-manded information onthe Assembly Secretariatcommittees and summaryof their work and reports.They also want the Assem-bly website to be updatedwith the rules, regulations,instructions, manuals.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Addressing press conference in Lucknow on Tuesdaay. Senior partyleader Sanjai Singh look on.

Police officers check the documents presented by motorcycle riders at a check-point near the Marikina-Cainta, Rizal border along Marcos Highway in Metro Manila,Philippines on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, Checkpoints have been restored in thecity to prevent a possible surge in Covid-19 infections during the holiday season.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren listening people during Janta Darbar atSahibgunj.

New Delhi, Tech giant Adobe has

released an Arm version ofindustry-leading video edit-ing software Premiere Pro inBeta for Apple macOS. Thiswill help people who ownthe new Apple Macs withM1 Silicon chip which ismush faster than the earlierIntel-powered Apple desk-tops.

“Our team is workinghard on a version of Pre-miere Pro that will run na-tively on Apple’s new AppleSilicon based M1 processor,”

Adobe releases Premiere Pro inBeta for Apple Macs with M1 chip

Adobe said in an update.The first public Beta is

available now and the com-pany will update the Betafrequently as new buildsbecome available.

Since Premiere Pro isbuilt on a large codebasewith support for a widerange of media andworkflows, Adobe said it willimplement native supportfor Apple M1 in phases andsome parts have not beenported yet. “This phased ap-proach allows us to validateperformance.