ˇ ˇ ) ! % ˘ˇˆ ˙˝˛˙˛ ˚˜˝ ! !˜ˇ#$ %€¦ · ment at the lac even during the harsh...

12
A mid efforts to defuse ten- sion at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, the next round of military-level talks may be stormy as China has not pulled back more than 40,000 troops deployed near the front and in operational areas. This comes about even as the two sides had agreed in the four rounds of Corps Commander parleys to retreat to the peacetime locations at the earliest. Elaborating upon the cur- rent scenario, sources said besides not moving back more than 40,000 troops from the front and operational or “depth” areas, the Chinese have also not shifted heavy weapons deployed there. The “depth” areas are generally located 15 to 20 km away from the border, and during the talks the two armies had agreed to thin out troops from there. It was also agreed to return to the respec- tive peacetime locations as soon as possible, sources said adding there were so far no positive signs in this direction from the Chinese. Officials also said the dis- engagement process had not made any significant progress since the last Corps Commander-level talks early last week. Contrary to expec- tations, the Chinese were not showing the eagerness to move out of the Pangong Tso (lake). Incidentally, the face-offs began in May from the Pangong lake when the Chinese army obstructed an Indian patrol after intruding into their zone resulting in fisticuffs. The Chinese army is now stationed on some of the cru- cial spurs and is also con- structing a jetty on the Indian side in the lake. India has asked the Chinese to remove the jetty and fast interceptor boats, but the Chinese are yet to do so, they added. However, the Chinese army has removed nearly all its makeshift bunkers and tents from the disputed area, reports indicated. Similarly, the Chinese had earlier removed some of its troops from the Hot Springs and Gogra but were yet to dis- mantle structures constructed there in the last eight weeks. They are all main “friction points.” The Chinese claim Indian troops will dominate the strategic heights if they retreat to their side of the LAC. Some semblance of nor- malcy returned to the LAC after National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 5 talked to each other to defuse the volatile border situation. The next day troops from the face-off sites started with- drawing, and the last round of talks between the Corps com- manders on July 14 saw both the sides mutually agreeing to monitor further disengage- ment by troops and verify the development in the next few days. The Indian side was car- rying out this task every 72 hours and sources said based on the pace of withdrawal after verification, the date for the next round of military-level talks will be decided. Given this situation on ground, the coming days may see more intense dialogue at the military and diplomatic levels to speed up the pace of disen- gagement and de-escalation as a major confidence building measure, sources said here on Wednesday. The next round of Corps Commander talks may take place later this week or early week, they added. Realising the evolving sce- nario, the Army is ready for a long haul in terms of deploy- ment at the LAC even during the harsh winter months in Ladakh and other vulnerable areas, officials said. Earlier, it was anticipated that the stand- off at the four sites in Eastern Ladakh will end in the next few weeks and the two armies will return to reduced patrolling in the winter months. T he Rajasthan political imbroglio on Wednesday reached the Supreme Court with State Assembly Speaker CP Joshi filing an SLP to chal- lenge the High Court’s decision to scrutinise his power to issue disqualification notice against 19 MLAs of Pilot camps for skipping the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting and indulging in anti- party activities. A Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra will take up the matter on Thursday. Sachin Pilot has also filed caveat in the case. The “toppling” game and alleged involvement of Central machineries like ED, CBI and IT also reached the Prime Minister’s door with Rajasthan Chief Minister writing to PM Narendra Modi accusing cer- tain Congressmen and a Central Minister of conspiring to dethrone him. In the surprise move not known in recent past with similar template, Gehlot wrote to Modi alleging attempts to bribe Congress MLAs to defect. Gehlot also named Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat among BJP leaders and said he is involved in deal- making with rebel Congress MLAs. “For some time, attempts are being made to destablise democratically elected Governments. This is an insult to the mandate and open vio- lation of constitutional values. Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh are examples of this,” Gehlot wrote in the letter. The Chief Minister accused Pilot of conspiring with the BJP to dislodge the Congress Government in Rajasthan in a replay of Madhya Pradesh drama, where Jyotiraditya Scindia’s switch from the Congress to the BJP led to the collapse of the Kamal Nath Government in March. Earlier in the day seeking an interim stay on the Rajasthan High Court’s July 21 decision, the Assembly Speaker said it was the duty of the top court to ensure that all constitutional authori- ties exercise their jurisdiction within the boundaries and respect their “respective ‘lak- shman rekha’ as envisaged by the Constitution itself”. P eople recovering from coro- navirus infections start to lose immunity within a few weeks after they have been infected, especially if they have mild symptoms or no symptoms. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine calls for caution regarding so- called herd immunity as well as the durability of vaccines. A team at the University of California, Los Angeles, did an in-depth study of 34 people who had recovered from mild coronavirus infections and test- ed their blood two or three times over three months and found a rapid drop in anti- bodies — the immune system proteins that help stop viruses from infecting cells in the body. On average, the antibody levels fell by half every 73 days, F Javier Ibarrondo and Dr Otto Yang of UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and colleagues reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. According to the report, just two persons needed sup- plemental oxygen and received an HIV medication, and none were on a ventilator or getting Gilead Sciences Inc’s remdesivir. The first analysis was done on antibodies taken an average of 37 days after symptoms began, with a second after about 86 days, or less than three months. The researchers found that antibody levels fell quick- ly, with a half-life of about 73 days between the two-time frames. The loss of antibodies occurred more quickly than with SARS, an earlier type of coronavirus infection. The antibody response is being closely studied by scien- tists worldwide for indications of how long-lasting immunity may be. Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said he was going into self-quarantine after a deputy secretary in his office tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday. PTI T he Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday searched the premises of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s brother Agrasen Gehlot at Jodhpur and a dozen other locations in Rajasthan, West Bengal, Delhi and Gujarat in connection with a money laundering probe in a fertiliser scam. The agency conducted the searches at 13 locations across the four States, including the Jodhpur premises of Agrasen Gehlot, who is facing 7 crore Customs penalty in the alleged fertiliser scam, officials said. The ED has filed a crimi- nal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) taking cognisance of a Customs Department com- plaint and chargesheet in the alleged fertiliser scam. The agency began the syn- chronised searches early on Wednesday at six places in Rajasthan, four in Gujarat, two in West Bengal and one location in Delhi. ED sleuths were assisted by personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) during searches at the farmhouse and residence of the Agrasen Gehlot in Jodhpur. R anchi reported highest ever single-day-spike in Covid- 19 cases for the second con- secutive day on Wednesday as the count of fresh cases crossed 400 mark within 24 hours for the first time in Jharkhand, Government data stated. As many as 125 fresh cases of infection surfaced in Ranchi on Wednesday. The district reported 106 fresh cases on Tuesday, the highest by then. As per government data, as many as 436 fresh cases of Covid-19, from 21 districts, surfaced in Jharkhand on Wednesday. Former Minister and Ranchi legislator, CP Singh was among the over 400 people who tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. Singh is the third member of the state assem- bly to get infected by Covid-19. Earlier this month, State Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Mithilesh Thakur and Tundi MLA Mathura Mahto tested positive for the virus. Thakur recovered from the infection and was discharged from Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) on Tuesday. Chief Minister Hemant Soren had tested neg- ative for Covid-19 earlier this month. Singh, on Wednesday, took to microblogging website Twitter to share the develop- ment with his followers. He urged the people, who had come in contact with him recently, to quarantine them- selves and get tested. As per Government data, Ranchi on Wednesday had 634 active cases of Covid-19 infec- tion while the total cases reported here neared 1,000. The total count of Covid cases in State jumped to 6,682 on Wednesday and the death toll reached 64 as three more patients died, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated. Despite 106 patients recov- ering on Wednesday, the Covid recovery rate in Jharkhand dropped to 45.60 per cent and the mortality rate rose to 0.95 per cent, the NHM bulletin said. The national Covid recov- ery rate is 62.72 per cent. The Government has so far collect- ed samples of 2.4 lakh suspects for Covid tests and the result of around 10,000 tests are still awaited, officials said. Around 2.5 lakh people have been put in home quarantine in State and a little over 6,000 have been sent to institutional quarantine. A s the number of coronavirus cases in Jharkhand has crossed 6,000 mark, the Hemant Soren Government has made wearing face masks mandatory in public places. Chief Minister Hemant Soren at the Cabinet meeting took some stringent measures to check the spread of infection. At the Cabinet meeting it was decid- ed that wearing a mask will be mandato- ry and those defying government directives (not wearing masks) or other rules will be fined to the tune of 1 lakh or jail impris- onment upto two years. Even since the epi- demic broke out in March this year, the Jharkhand Government through various agencies has been creating awareness about preventive measures to be followed against coronavirus. But, these steps have not yielded results as cases of coronavirus are increas- ing day-by-day. On Wednesday, former Assembly Speaker and Urban Development Minister CP Singh too was tested corona positive. Also, the Jharkhand Cabinet gave the power to the Chief Minister to take a decision to enforce lock- down once again in the State if he finds that the sit- uation is worsening. State Health Minister Banna Gupta said, “The Jharkhand Cabinet has nominated the Chief Minister to take a decision on enforcing lockdown in the State.” The Cabinet also gave its nod to the new emblem of Jharkhand Government. The new logo will be launched on August 15. Chief Minister Hemant Soren after taking reign of State in the first Cabinet meeting on January 29 this year took the decision to have a new emblem of State. The State’s new emblem has been drawn according to the culture, tradition, history and golden future of the State. In this regard, the proposal was invited and action was taken to redesign it. In addition to the art culture of Jharkhand in the new emblem, there will be a flower of Palash and a picture of an elephant which symbolises prosperity. The present emblem, which is square shaped, was introduced by the BJP Government on February 26, 2002. But after 18 years the JMM/Congress Government changed the present logo of the State. At the Cabinet meeting it was also decided that the Jharkhand Government is going to felicitate Class X and XII top- pers. Toppers of Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC), CBSE and ICSE boards will be felicitated. The first three toppers of all three boards in matriculation and Class XII will be felicitated. In Wednesday’s Cabinet decision 39 agenda were given nod to. The State Cabinet also decided to release grants for Madrasa board teachers, the taxation and other laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 were also given nod.

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Page 1: ˇ ˇ ) ! % ˘ˇˆ ˙˝˛˙˛ ˚˜˝ ! !˜ˇ#$ %€¦ · ment at the LAC even during the harsh winter months in ... an interim stay on the Rajasthan High Court’s July 21 ... active

����� ��������

Amid efforts to defuse ten-sion at the Line of Actual

Control (LAC) in Ladakh, thenext round of military-leveltalks may be stormy as Chinahas not pulled back more than40,000 troops deployed nearthe front and in operationalareas. This comes about even asthe two sides had agreed in thefour rounds of CorpsCommander parleys to retreatto the peacetime locations atthe earliest.

Elaborating upon the cur-rent scenario, sources saidbesides not moving back morethan 40,000 troops from thefront and operational or“depth” areas, the Chinese havealso not shifted heavy weaponsdeployed there. The “depth”areas are generally located 15 to20 km away from the border,and during the talks the twoarmies had agreed to thin outtroops from there. It was alsoagreed to return to the respec-tive peacetime locations assoon as possible, sources saidadding there were so far nopositive signs in this directionfrom the Chinese.

Officials also said the dis-engagement process had notmade any significant progresssince the last CorpsCommander-level talks earlylast week. Contrary to expec-tations, the Chinese were notshowing the eagerness to moveout of the Pangong Tso (lake).Incidentally, the face-offs beganin May from the Pangong lakewhen the Chinese army

obstructed an Indian patrolafter intruding into their zoneresulting in fisticuffs.

The Chinese army is nowstationed on some of the cru-cial spurs and is also con-structing a jetty on the Indianside in the lake. India hasasked the Chinese to removethe jetty and fast interceptorboats, but the Chinese are yetto do so, they added. However,the Chinese army has removednearly all its makeshift bunkersand tents from the disputedarea, reports indicated.

Similarly, the Chinese hadearlier removed some of itstroops from the Hot Springs

and Gogra but were yet to dis-mantle structures constructedthere in the last eight weeks.They are all main “frictionpoints.” The Chinese claimIndian troops will dominate thestrategic heights if they retreatto their side of the LAC.

Some semblance of nor-malcy returned to the LACafter National Security Adviser(NSA) Ajit Doval and ForeignMinister Wang Yi on July 5talked to each other to defusethe volatile border situation.The next day troops from theface-off sites started with-drawing, and the last round oftalks between the Corps com-

manders on July 14 saw boththe sides mutually agreeing tomonitor further disengage-ment by troops and verify thedevelopment in the next fewdays.

The Indian side was car-rying out this task every 72hours and sources said basedon the pace of withdrawal afterverification, the date for thenext round of military-leveltalks will be decided.

Given this situation onground, the coming days maysee more intense dialogue at themilitary and diplomatic levelsto speed up the pace of disen-gagement and de-escalation as

a major confidence buildingmeasure, sources said here onWednesday. The next round ofCorps Commander talks maytake place later this week orearly week, they added.

Realising the evolving sce-nario, the Army is ready for along haul in terms of deploy-ment at the LAC even duringthe harsh winter months inLadakh and other vulnerableareas, officials said. Earlier, itwas anticipated that the stand-off at the four sites in EasternLadakh will end in the next fewweeks and the two armies willreturn to reduced patrolling inthe winter months.

����� ���������� ��

The Rajasthan politicalimbroglio on Wednesday

reached the Supreme Courtwith State Assembly SpeakerCP Joshi filing an SLP to chal-lenge the High Court’s decisionto scrutinise his power to issuedisqualification notice against19 MLAs of Pilot camps forskipping the CongressLegislature Party (CLP) meeting and indulging in anti-party activities.

A Bench headed by JusticeArun Mishra will take up thematter on Thursday. Sachin Pilot has also filedcaveat in the case.

The “toppling” game andalleged involvement of Centralmachineries like ED, CBI andIT also reached the PrimeMinister’s door with RajasthanChief Minister writing to PMNarendra Modi accusing cer-tain Congressmen and aCentral Minister of conspiringto dethrone him.

In the surprise move notknown in recent past withsimilar template, Gehlot wroteto Modi alleging attempts tobribe Congress MLAs to defect.Gehlot also named UnionMinister Gajendra SinghShekhawat among BJP leadersand said he is involved in deal-making with rebel CongressMLAs.

“For some time, attemptsare being made to destablisedemocratically electedGovernments. This is an insultto the mandate and open vio-

lation of constitutional values.Karnataka and MadhyaPradesh are examples of this,”

Gehlot wrote in the letter.The Chief Minister

accused Pilot of conspiringwith the BJP to dislodge theCongress Government inRajasthan in a replay ofMadhya Pradesh drama, whereJyotiraditya Scindia’s switchfrom the Congress to the BJPled to the collapse of the KamalNath Government in March.

Earlier in the day seekingan interim stay on theRajasthan High Court’s July 21decision, the Assembly Speakersaid it was the duty of the top court to ensurethat all constitutional authori-ties exercise their jurisdictionwithin the boundaries andrespect their “respective ‘lak-shman rekha’ as envisaged bythe Constitution itself ”.

����� ��������

People recovering from coro-navirus infections start to

lose immunity within a fewweeks after they have beeninfected, especially if they have mild symptoms or nosymptoms.

A study in the NewEngland Journal of Medicinecalls for caution regarding so-called herd immunity as well asthe durability of vaccines.

A team at the University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles, did anin-depth study of 34 peoplewho had recovered from mildcoronavirus infections and test-ed their blood two or three

times over three months andfound a rapid drop in anti-bodies — the immune systemproteins that help stop virusesfrom infecting cells in thebody. On average, the antibodylevels fell by half every 73days, F Javier Ibarrondo and DrOtto Yang of UCLA’s DavidGeffen School of Medicine andcolleagues reported in TheNew England Journal ofMedicine.

According to the report,just two persons needed sup-plemental oxygen and receivedan HIV medication, and nonewere on a ventilator or getting Gilead Sciences Inc’sremdesivir.

The first analysis was doneon antibodies taken an averageof 37 days after symptomsbegan, with a second afterabout 86 days, or less than threemonths. The researchers found

that antibody levels fell quick-ly, with a half-life of about 73days between the two-timeframes. The loss of antibodiesoccurred more quickly thanwith SARS, an earlier type ofcoronavirus infection.

The antibody response isbeing closely studied by scien-tists worldwide for indicationsof how long-lasting immunitymay be.

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur saidhe was going into self-quarantine after a deputy secretary in hisoffice tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday. PTI

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The EnforcementDirectorate on Wednesday

searched the premises ofRajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot’s brotherAgrasen Gehlot at Jodhpurand a dozen other locations inRajasthan, West Bengal, Delhiand Gujarat in connectionwith a money launderingprobe in a fertiliser scam.

The agency conducted thesearches at 13 locations acrossthe four States, including theJodhpur premises of AgrasenGehlot, who is facing �7 croreCustoms penalty in the allegedfertiliser scam, officials said.

The ED has filed a crimi-nal case under the Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA) taking cognisance ofa Customs Department com-plaint and chargesheet in thealleged fertiliser scam.

The agency began the syn-chronised searches early onWednesday at six places inRajasthan, four in Gujarat,two in West Bengal and onelocation in Delhi.

ED sleuths were assistedby personnel of the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF) during searches at thefarmhouse and residence of the AgrasenGehlot in Jodhpur.

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Ranchi reported highest eversingle-day-spike in Covid-

19 cases for the second con-secutive day on Wednesday asthe count of fresh cases crossed400 mark within 24 hours forthe first time in Jharkhand,Government data stated.

As many as 125 fresh casesof infection surfaced in Ranchion Wednesday. The districtreported 106 fresh cases onTuesday, the highest by then.As per government data, asmany as 436 fresh cases ofCovid-19, from 21 districts,surfaced in Jharkhand onWednesday.

Former Minister andRanchi legislator, CP Singh wasamong the over 400 peoplewho tested positive for the viruson Wednesday. Singh is thethird member of the state assem-bly to get infected by Covid-19.

Earlier this month, StateDrinking Water and SanitationMinister Mithilesh Thakur andTundi MLA Mathura Mahtotested positive for the virus.Thakur recovered from theinfection and was dischargedfrom Rajendra Institute ofMedical Sciences (RIMS) onTuesday. Chief MinisterHemant Soren had tested neg-

ative for Covid-19 earlier this month.

Singh, on Wednesday, tookto microblogging websiteTwitter to share the develop-ment with his followers. Heurged the people, who hadcome in contact with himrecently, to quarantine them-selves and get tested.

As per Government data,Ranchi on Wednesday had 634active cases of Covid-19 infec-

tion while the total casesreported here neared 1,000.

The total count of Covidcases in State jumped to 6,682on Wednesday and the deathtoll reached 64 as three morepatients died, a bulletinreleased by the National HealthMission (NHM) stated.

Despite 106 patients recov-ering on Wednesday, the Covidrecovery rate in Jharkhanddropped to 45.60 per cent and

the mortality rate rose to 0.95per cent, the NHM bulletinsaid. The national Covid recov-ery rate is 62.72 per cent. TheGovernment has so far collect-ed samples of 2.4 lakh suspectsfor Covid tests and the result ofaround 10,000 tests are stillawaited, officials said. Around2.5 lakh people have been put inhome quarantine in State and alittle over 6,000 have been sentto institutional quarantine.

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As the number of coronavirus cases inJharkhand has crossed 6,000 mark, the

Hemant Soren Government has madewearing face masks mandatory in publicplaces. Chief Minister Hemant Soren at theCabinet meeting took some stringentmeasures to check the spread of infection.

At the Cabinet meeting it was decid-ed that wearing a mask will be mandato-ry and those defying government directives(not wearing masks) or other rules will befined to the tune of �1 lakh or jail impris-onment upto two years. Even since the epi-demic broke out in March this year, theJharkhand Government through variousagencies has been creating awarenessabout preventive measures to be followedagainst coronavirus.

But, these steps have not yieldedresults as cases of coronavirus are increas-ing day-by-day. On Wednesday, formerAssembly Speaker and UrbanDevelopment Minister CPSingh too was tested coronapositive.

Also, the JharkhandCabinet gave the power tothe Chief Minister to takea decision to enforce lock-down once again in theState if he finds that the sit-uation is worsening. StateHealth Minister Banna Gupta

said, “The Jharkhand Cabinethas nominated the Chief

Minister to take a decision onenforcing lockdown in theState.”

The Cabinet also gave itsnod to the new emblem of

Jharkhand Government. The new logo willbe launched on August 15. Chief MinisterHemant Soren after taking reign of Statein the first Cabinet meeting on January 29this year took the decision to have a newemblem of State.

The State’s new emblem has beendrawn according to the culture, tradition,history and golden future of the State. Inthis regard, the proposal was invited andaction was taken to redesign it.

In addition to the art culture ofJharkhand in the new emblem, there willbe a flower of Palash and a picture of anelephant which symbolises prosperity. Thepresent emblem, which is square shaped,was introduced by the BJP Government onFebruary 26, 2002. But after 18 years theJMM/Congress Government changed thepresent logo of the State.

At the Cabinet meeting it was alsodecided that the Jharkhand Governmentis going to felicitate Class X and XII top-pers. Toppers of Jharkhand AcademicCouncil (JAC), CBSE and ICSE boards willbe felicitated. The first three toppers of allthree boards in matriculation and Class XIIwill be felicitated.

In Wednesday’s Cabinet decision 39agenda were given nod to. The StateCabinet also decided to release grants forMadrasa board teachers, the taxation andother laws (Relaxation of CertainProvisions) Ordinance, 2020 were alsogiven nod.

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Page 2: ˇ ˇ ) ! % ˘ˇˆ ˙˝˛˙˛ ˚˜˝ ! !˜ˇ#$ %€¦ · ment at the LAC even during the harsh winter months in ... an interim stay on the Rajasthan High Court’s July 21 ... active

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The Agriculture Departmenton Wednesday announced

that all the farmers of the Statewill be linked to PradhanMantri Kisan Yojna (PMKY) byAugust, 15 and it will beensured that no farmer is leftout of the scheme. This wassaid by Agriculture MinisterBadal while addressing agri-culture officials in each districtthrough video conferencing atthe Kharif Workshop 2020.

Badal said that a large

number of migrant labourershave come back due to theKovid-19 epidemic in the State.“The State Government is con-sidering identifying thesemigrant laborers soon and giv-ing them a package, for whicha provision of Rs 200 crore hasbeen made,” he added.

The Agriculture Ministerdirected all the officials asso-ciated with the department toencourage farmers for agri-cultural loans.

“There is a need to worktogether to achieve the goal set

by the Government.Departmental officials areresponsible for meeting theGovernment’s target. The chal-lenges we have faced due to theglobal epidemic Covid-19, wehave to turn them into oppor-tunities. The Kovid-19 globalepidemic has caused a highnumber of migrant laborers toreturn. We have to go amongthem and instill confidence inthem and encourage them forfarming and ensure that theyget maximum benefit of theschemes being run by the

Government for the benefit offarmers. The Department willplay an important role inemerging out of the Covid-19tragedy,” said Badal.

The Agriculture Ministersaid that the State Governmentis committed to motivate thefarmers of Jharkhand for organ-ic farming and to give them a fairprice for their produce, for this,an organic certification centerwill be opened in every district.The State Government is alsogoing to issue a helpline num-ber soon, on which farmers can

place their problems and theirexecution will be done with ease,he added.

Meanwhile, in an attemptto solve displacement and reha-bilitation problem aroundPatratu Thermal Power StationArea under Barkagaon con-stituency in Ramgarh, a highlevel committee has been con-stituted with an effort toJharkhand Pradesh CongressCommittee (JPCC) Chief cumFood Supply Minister,Rameshwar Oraon andBarkagaon MLA Amba Prasad

under the chairmanship of theDivisional Commissioner.

The high-level committeeconstituted on the instructionsof the Chief Secretary includesparty MLA Amba Prasad,Deputy Commissioner of thedistrict and NTPC official. Thehigh-level committee will sub-mit its report to theGovernment by August 20.On the directive of the ChiefSecretary, a tripartite dialoguewas held on Thursday underthe chairmanship of the depart-mental Secretary KK Son.

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The murder of a lawyer andBJP leader who was cru-

sading against land grabbers atBirsanagar has sparked wideprotest in the city. A group ofseven-eight assailants killedPrakash Yadav, (29) atBirsanagar Zone No 1-B late onTuesday night. The victim whowas also a BJP activist washacked to death about 100metres away from his house atabout 10 pm. The incident hasspread anger among the localresidents as well as in thelawyers’ fraternity and the BJP.

The family members have

filed in an FIR lodged with theBirsanagar police station alleg-ing one Amulya Karmakar,who is also a BJP activist andlocal resident to have con-

spired Yadav’s murder. Thefamily members have demand-ed immediate arrest ofKarmakar and others who wereinvolved in the killing.

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XLRI — Xavier School ofManagement, Jamshedpur,

and the new extension campus— XLRI Delhi-NCR are bothset to commence the new aca-demic session from August2020. The Jamshedpur andDelhi campuses are two entitiesof XLRI that will be overseenby a common Board ofGovernors. The standard XATadmission process would inte-grate the students of both thecampuses, besides having inplace a common curriculum,syllabus, pedagogy, e-libraryfacilities, and, most impor-tantly, a joint Placementprocess for Summer Internshipand Final Placements.

Commenting on the estab-lishment of the new campus, Fr.P Christie, director, XLRI-

Xavier School of Management,Jamshedpur, said, “With thelaunch of the new XLRI cam-pus in Delhi-NCR, the XLRIfamily just got extended. Ourextension campus at Delhi-NCR is envisioned as ‘an inte-gral part’ of the Jamshedpurcampus and not as standalonecampuses like other manage-ment institutes. These comple-menting satellite campuses andthe student community there-in would get the same oppor-tunities and privileges as theJamshedpur campus. Moreover,they would be bound togetherby a symbiotic culture and asynergised relationship. Thoughphysically apart, the satellitecampuses are and will be oneentity and an intrinsic part ofthe XLRI family striving for thegreater common good of thesociety at large.”

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Police in Maniachuan forestregion in Dumka district

have recovered a huge cache of arms.

On Wednesday morning, ateam of district police, SSB andother forces carried out asearch operation along theManiachuan forest area under Sikaripada policestation, said SP Ambar Lakra ofDumka.

During the operation,police recovered a huge cacheof arms buried undergroundabout 500 meters in mud roadnear Maniachuan forest in the district.

The recoveries includethree .3030 rifles, 70 live car-tridges of .303 rifle, magazineCharge 7 and magazine one.

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Students of ‘Prerna Centre’run and managed by

Vedanta-Elecctrosteel (ESL)performed exceptionally well inClass X examination, theresults were declared recently.

Under its corporate Socialresponsibility, ESL is runningspecial tuition classes for schoolgoing children and youth, atPrerna Centres in five sur-rounding villages where over100 of children are studyingnow, informed PR officials ofESL. “Students of classes 9 and10 are getting tuitions at thesecentres. Keeping in mind thesafety of children during thetime of the Coronavirus epi-demic, online motivation class-es are being run at the momentso that there is no hindrance inthe education of children,” saidthe official.

ESL is constantly trying toenhance quality educationamong youth, children and women.

Bokaro: Amidst Coronaviruspandemic there was a happymoment for Bokarites as 29more patients including a 68years elderly man were dis-charged from Bokaro GeneralHospital (BGH) after they test-ed negative for the Sars-Cov-2virus for the second time andsent back to their home afterrecovering fully, said RajeshKumar Singh DeputyCommissioner Bokaro.

Congratulating the doc-tors and his team for this glo-rious achievement Singh said,Coronavirus infection can beavoided only by social partici-pation. All the warriors aredoing better. We are proud ofall of you, he said. PNS

Bokaro: Aiming to provide safeand clean drinking water to thevillagers Vedanta-ElectrosteelSteels Limited (ESL) installedsolar-powered water pumps infour villages of Chandankiyariunder its Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR).

Solar-powered water pumpswere installed at Alkusa,Chandha, Babugram andSiyaljori villages were inaugu-rated by their Sristidhar Rajwar,a member of Zila Parishad,Poonam Toppo OC SiyaljoriPolice Station, Kashi Nath Sekharand Veena Devi village chiefsrespectively. While inauguratingthe solar pump Poonam Topposaid, this is a very good initiativefrom the company, now the vil-

lagers can get clean and safedrinking water.

Speaking on the occasionSristidhar Rajwar said there isa lot of water scarcity not onlyin the district but across thestate too, so we should also payattention to water conservationand prevent wastage of water.

Every person on earthneeds water to survive. Withoutit, many of us would get sickand even result in death. Whilealmost 70 per cent of the earthis made up of water, many partsof the world suffer from cleanwater shortage. Conservingwater is important because itkeeps water pure and cleanwhile protecting the environ-ment, he said. PNS

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�)5,&*)6�7"8-'98%�+87+-'8(��)-:"7)('%�;6"('%(Jamshedpur: The area where the murder of BJP activist PrakashYadav took place is a densely-populated area of Birsanagar whichfalls under the Jamshedpur East assembly segment from whereformer chief minister Raghubar Das had won the elections forfive times, but presently Saryu Roy is the legislator. Former CMRaghubar Das today visited Yadav’s house and expressed his con-dolence over the death. He said that the administration must takeimmediate action to nail down the land mafia. Meanwhile, theadvocates also took to streets and tried to block roads at HumePipe Area near Jamshedpur Court. PNS

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Devkamal Hospital willbecome the first private

hospital in Ranchi to collabo-rate with a banquet hall fortreating asymptomatic Covid-19 patients — a developmentthat comes close on the heels ofthe district administration’sdecision of using hotels andbanquet halls for treatingasymptomatic Covid-infectedpatients as hospitals here arerunning out of beds.

A 45-bed isolation ward at

Amantran Banquet near ITIbus stand has been set up, andCovid patients will be admittedthere from Thursday after-noon, Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Devkamal Hospital,Dr. Anant Sinha said. “Around32 beds are ready for use andthe DC (DeputyCommissioner) has told methat he will send patients tonew isolation unit tomorrow(Thursday),” said Sinha.

A water purifier and a tele-vision set have been installed inthe banquet hall for thepatients. “Only patients withmild symptoms will be kept inthe ward as we do not have thehigh-end facilities to treatpatients who have severe symp-

toms,” Sinha admitted. Ranchi Deputy

Commissioner Chhavi Ranjan

had on Monday chaired ameeting with representatives ofprivate hospitals in the city and

asked them to collaborate withhotels and banquet halls fortreating asymptomatic patientsof Covid-19. He had said thathotels, with their ready infra-structure, will help keep theasymptomatic patients whileattached hospitals can providemedical assistance.

President of the Associationof Healthcare Providers, YogeshGambhir, said that no otherhotel or banquet hall has agreedto provide their infrastructurefor treating Covid patients inRanchi. “Amantran BanquetHall is the only non-medicalinfrastructure that has tied upwith a private hospital in Ranchiso far,” he said.

Ranchi has witnessed an

unprecedented rise in cases ofCovid-19 infection in the pastone week. The district reportedit’s highest ever single-day-spikespike of 106 Covid cases onTuesday. There were as many as529 active cases of Covid-19 inRanchi by the time this reportwas filed on Wednesday.

There are 100 Covid bedsin Rajendra Institute of MedicalSciences (RIMS) and all ofthem have been occupied.There is a shortage of beds inprivate hospitals too. BhagwanMahavir Medica SuperspecialtyHospital in Ranchi, which isamong the few private hospitalstreating Covid patients, had allof its 21 Covid beds occupiedon Wednesday.

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Concerns are being raisedover the seriousness of

authorities to strictly maintainphysical and social distancingof people kept in institutionalquarantine, who either sus-pected to be Covid-19 carrieror vulnerable to suspectedexposure as three foreignerwomen associated with theTablighi Jamaat were foundpregnant during their quaran-tine or judicial custody period.

They are among 17 for-eigners including four women— all are members of theTablighi Jamaat — who weretaken into preventive custodyby Ranchi police from differenthouses and a mosque underHindpiri police station area onMarch 30. They were allegedfor violating visa norms and forspreading the virus.

Their husbands are among17 arrested accused.

They were shifted at insti-tutional quarantine center atKhelgaon and were formallytaken into judicial custody onApril when an FIR was lodgedagainst them under sections188, 269, 270 and 271 of IPCbesides section 3 of EpidemicDisease Act, section 13/14 (B)(C) of Foreigners Act 1946 and section 51 of NationalDisaster Act.

A local Hindpiri residentHaji Meraj alias Merajuddinwas also booked and arrestedby police for allegedly giving

them shelter.Bur fearing an outbreak of

pandemic the jail administra-tion decided to keep them atKhelgaon, which was convert-ed as camp jail. They werefinally shifted to Birsa MundaCentral Jail on May 20.

They were released fromBirsa Munda Central Jail onTuesday, July 21 afterJharkhand High Court grant-ed them bail. The matter washighlighted after a local ver-nacular daily carried a reportand claimed that they got preg-nant when they were underwatch of administration with aconcurrent quarantine period.

Notably, they were said tohave conceived between Apriland mid of May when techni-cally, they were under protec-tive/preventive custody ofRanchi police under care ofstate health department and

later on in judicial custody.Now the health depart-

ment, Jharkhand Police and jailadministration are passing thebuck on each other insteadreviewing whether the pur-pose of institutional quarantinewas served properly or not.

When contacted Birsa jailsuperintendent Ashok KumarChoudhary declined that thejail administration is at fault. “Iremember that they were takento jail around May 20 and asper the jail manual medical testwas conducted upon all 17under-trials. The court wasinformed that they are carryingpregnancy. They became preg-nant before they were shifted toBirsa Munda Jail. The jailinmate is one who stays on thejail premises,” said Chaudhary

Jail IG Birendra Bhushanalso gave an identical reply andsaid that it will be too early to

ascertain the fact. “Why toblame jail administration,” saidBhushan.

Sources in the jail said thatquestions must be asked fromthe health department andRanchi district administrationbecause these were responsiblefor institutional quarantinemanagement.

As questions are beingraised over management ofinstitutional quarantine centerswhere these under-trial for-eigners were kept; HealthSecretary Dr. Nitin MadanKulkrani refuted any misman-agement or lapse.

“That was a designated jailand they were under judicialcustody where the healthdepartment has no role to play.They were kept here by the jailadministration so where is thequestion of institutional quar-antine” said Kulkrani.

A senior official of Ranchipolice associated with theinvestigation said that thesewomen were kept in quarantinealong with their husband.

“Those who have not expe-rienced the crisis Covid war-riors faced; will not know theextraordinary situation underwhich we have worked. One ofthem was tested positive soeverybody was scared to goinside the quarantine center.Some of them were very unrulywhereas these women refusedto stay away from their hus-band apparently they were verynervous,” said the official.

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The five times BJP MLAfrom Ranchi Assembly seat;

CP Singh (65) has been testedpositive for Covid-19 virusand he became third politicianof Jharkhand after JMM MLAMathura Mahto and WaterResource Minister MithileshKumar Thakur who becameaffected by Covid-19.

Singh who also served asJharkhand Assembly Speakerbesides urban developmentand transport Minister sharedthis information through hisTwitter handle.

“I have been detectedCorona positive. Whosoevercame to my contact in recentdays I request all to undergo tests.I will also submit a list of suchpeople to district administration.Stay healthy, stay safe and stay athome,” Singh posted.

Last year Singh had under-gone bypass surgery. The MLAsuspected that he got exposed toCovid-19 on Sunday when oneof the persons who is quitefamiliar to him as well as hisfamily was reported positive.After discovering this fact hefrantically contacted Ranchidistrict administration to collecthis sample and to carry out nec-

essary isolation and sanitisationdrive. He had also expressedover district administration nottaking his concern seriously.

However, Ranchi districtadministration clarified thatfrom Monday morning onwardcontact tracing was started and29 samples were collected fromthe residence of the MLA.District administrationinformed that a micro con-tainment zone has been creat-ed around the residence ofSingh at Deputypara.

“Singh’s cousin Tullu hadcome to meet him who waslater found positive. Currentlyhe is at home and his reportarrived today. We are prayingfor his good health,” said one ofthe close aides of Singh.

In another incident apatient identified as AjitMunda, who was set to under-go surgery ran away fromRIMS. Dr. Shital Malua was setto conduct surgery upon him.

Before conducting surgery;Covid-19 test is conductedupon the patient. His reportturned positive. Moment thepatient came to know about thereport he ran away.

Police have been informedabout this and efforts are beingtaken to trace him.

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BJP State president and newlyelected Rajya Sabha mem-

ber Deepak Prakash onWednesday started his newinnings in Parliament as he wassworn in as Upper House mem-ber. Rajya Sabha chairman andVice President M. VenkaiahNaidu administered him theoath of office and secrecy atRajya Sabha secretariat ofParliament House. Shibu Sorentoo was to take the oath but hecould not take the oath due tothe coronavirus pandemic.

Prakash, along withJharkhand Mukti Morcha chiefand Dishom Guru Shibu Sorenwas elected as Rajya Sabhamember. While Soren was elect-ed Rajya Sabha member unop-posed, Prakash in a contestdefeated Congress candidateShahzada Anwar. Out of thetotal 79 votes, Prakash secured31 votes, while 30 MLAs votedfor Soren. Congress candidateShahzada Anwar finished third,securing 18 votes.

Prakash after taking theoath talking to media personssaid, “I am very much gratefulto BJP leadership includingPrime Minister Narendra Modi,Union Home Minister AmitShah and BJP national presidentJP Nadda, who have reposedfaith in me and given me sucha big responsibility.” He furthersaid, “It is only in BJP that acommon worker, who startedhis political career by carryingflags can reach the height ofparty organization.” Prakashwho is in BJP for past fourdecades has served the party atdifferent positions holding var-ious organizational posts, but isfor the first time that he hasentered Parliament.

Deepak started his careerwith ABVP. When the state ofJharkhand was carved out ofBihar in 2000, he was made thechairman of the Jharkhand StateMineral DevelopmentCorporation (JSMDC) duringthe tenure of Chief Minister

Babulal Marandi. WhenMarandi left the BJP and formedJVM (P), Prakash too left BJP.However, he soon returned toBJP. In the previous BJP com-mittee, Prakash had served as theState vice president and laterbecame State General Secretary.

Sources said Prakash is like-ly to meet Prime MinisterNarendra Modi during his visitto national Capital. Prakashwho is camping in Delhi onSaturday met party nationalpresident JP Nadda. During hisvisit, the two leaders discussedthe organizational and currentstate of the Jharkhand. JP Naddaexpressed happiness over theparty’s work especially raisingpeople centric issues. Naddasaid that the party should alwaysbe sensitive to public issues.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha chair-person M Venkaiah Naiduadministered the oath or affir-mation to 45 of 61 membersnewly elected to the upperhouse. Other MPs who were notpresent for the ceremony will beadministered the oath at a laterdate. Among the members whotook oath were 19 BJP MPs,including JyotiradityaScindia.From Congress campthose taking oath includedMallikarjun Kharge fromKarnataka, Digvijay Singh fromMadhya Pradesh among others.

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In order to create awarenessabout vector borne diseases,

the State Health Department incollaboration with Global HealthStrategies (GHS) organised a vir-tual media workshop onWednesday. State ProgrammeOfficer Vector Borne Diseases,Government of Jharkhand Dr BMarandi, World HealthOrganisation State Coordinatorof National Tropical Diseases(NTD) Dr Devendra Tomar,Project Concern InternationalMohammad Kalam Khan and GHS representatives were apart of it.

Under the National VectorBorne Disease ControlProgramme, National AntiMalaria Control Programme,National Filaria EradicationProgramme and Kala-azarEradication Programme arealso run.

In view of the geographicallocation of Jharkhand, peopleneed to be protected from vec-tor borne diseases espicallyduring the monsoon season. Inthis regard, as per the guide-lines set by the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare,Government of India, the Stategovernment is carrying outvarious important activities.

World Health OrganisationState Coordinator NTD DrDevendra Tomar gave detailedinformation about the updat-ed status of vector borne dis-eases in the State and alsoinformed that as per the guide-lines all preparation have beendone in the State.

“MDA programme havebeen ongoing in all the districtseven during the Corona crisisand all stakeholders are con-tributing. We hope that withthe joint efforts of all, we willbe able to eradicate diseases likeFilaria and Kala- azar from ourState soon,” said Tomar.

“During the time of thepandemic, the StateGovernment is committed tocontrol the spread of vectorborne diseases. Even during

this time, to prevent the spreadof Kala- azar successful spray-ing of pesticides was done infour districts of Jharkhand inMay and June. Along withthis, the State government isalso running a programme forprevention of vector borne dis-eases like malaria, filaria so thatthey can be collectively con-trolled,” said Marandi.

Marandi further informedthat Mass Drug Administrationprogramme will be conductedthrough trained drug admin-istrators in 17 districts foreradication of Filaria fromAugust 10 to August 17. “Theevent will be run at booths fol-lowing all social distancingnorms. From August 13 toAugust 20, door to door dis-tribution of the medicine willbe done. Apart from childrenbelow 2- years of age, pregnantwomen and seriously ill people,all will be required to take thedrug.”

Marandi also stated that ayellow card is given to thepatients of Kala- azar as well asthose suspected from it so thatthey do not have to stand inline for treatment at any gov-ernment hospital in the affect-ed districts.

Anuj Ghosh from GHSurged the media representativeto work in creating awarenessamong the people so that everysection of the society can getinformation and benefit fromgovernment schemes.

Kalam Khan stated that inorder to eradicate Filaria it isnecessary that more peopletake medicines during MDA.

Ranchi: In an attempt to givea grand look to Van Mahotsavwhich will be organised acrossthe country on July 23, UnionMinister for Home, Amit Shahwill online inaugurate theMahotsav on Thursday.

Under the guidance ofUnion Minister For Coal, Minesand Parliamentary Affairs,Prahlad Joshi, Van Mahotsavwill be celebrated on a grandscale by Central CoalfieldsLimited (CCL) along with theother subsidiaries of Coal IndiaLimited and other Coal pro-ducing Companies.

Under the leadership ofCCL CMD Gopal Singh, prepa-rations are on at a massive scaleto celebrate this occasion. CCLwill organize various programsto celebrate the occasion. Theywill carry distribution and plan-tation of one lakh saplings at thecompany headquarters in Ranchiand its other command areas.

CCL plans to develop EcoPark at all its areas and in orderto doing so the company willdevelop 12 Eco Parks in

Piparwar, Dhori, Barkasayal,Hazaribagh, Kuju, MagadhAmrapali, Argada , N K areasalong with its headquarter Outof the aforementioned parksfour will be spread in an areaof twenty hectares and the twoin Ten hectares. The principalobjective of these parks will beprotection of the environmentand promotion of biodiversitythrough modern techniques.

The foundation of theseparks will be laid on the occa-sion of inauguration of VanMahotsav-2020 during anonline programme organisedunder the guidance of theMinistry of Coal, Governmentof India. The Company willalso implement plantationthrough seed ball technique invarious parts. Seed ball is a nat-ural technique in which theseeds are wrapped with soil andsprayed on identified landsduring monsoons for planta-tions. CCL continually executesvarious activities for environ-mental protection in its com-mand areas. PNS

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Without mentioningPakistan and China,

Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Wednesday laudedthe Indian Air Force (IAF)saying its Balakot strike and thecurrent combat readiness inLadakh have sent a strongmessage to "adversaries".

Given the situation onthe Line of Actual Control(LAC), he asked the IAF to beready to handle any eventual-ity while alluding to the ongo-ing efforts for de-escalation atthe border.

Incidentally, during hisfirst visit to Leh last weeksince the face-offs began morethan eight weeks back,Rajnath had sounded skepti-cal about the ongoing dialogueto defuse tension at the LAC.He said he said could not“guarantee” the outcome ofthe talks and urged the armedforces to be ever ready.

Addressing the IAF com-manders’ conference on theopening day of the two-dayevent here on Wednesday, thedefence minister also compli-mented the IAF for its rapiddeployment of assets at for-ward locations in response tothe border row with China ineastern Ladakh, saying itsBalakot strike and the currentcombat readiness have sent a

strong message to "adver-saries".

He also said the nation'sresolve to defend its sover-eignty stands firm and that thepeople of the country have fullconfidence in the capability ofits armed forces.

Chief of Air Staff AirChief Marshal RKS Bhadauriasaid the IAF was well preparedto counter short term as wellas strategic threats and theunits were "evenly poised" tocounter any aggressive action

by the adversary.He said the response by all

commands in ensuringdeployment and readiness offorces was prompt and laud-able. He also emphasised onthe need to focus on the abil-ity to handle situations at ashort notice for ensuring arobust response.

The two-day meet of theIAF top brass will review thecurrent situation on the LACand the Line ofControl(LOC)facing Pakistan

and the operational readinessto handle any threat. The IAFin the last few weeks hasdeployed its front line fighterjets in nearly all the forwardairbases along the 4,000 kmlong LAC.

With the first four Rafalefighter jets arriving fromFrance at the Ambala airbaseon July 29, the commanderswill also chalk out the inte-gration programme of theFrench manufactured theRussian origin jets like the SU-

30 and MIG-29. In a demonstration of its

aerial prowess, the IAF hasbeen carrying out night timecombat air patrols over theeastern Ladakh region in thelast few weeks, in an apparent

message to China that it wasready to deal with any even-tualities in the mountainousregion.

The IAF has deployedalmost all its frontline fighterjets like Su-30, Jaguar and

Mirage 2000 aircraft in keyfrontier air bases. The IAF hasalso deployed Apache attackhelicopters as well as Chinookheavy-lift helicopters to trans-port troops to various forwardlocations. It has also pressed

into service a fleet of C-17Globemaster III transport air-craft as well as C-130J SuperHercules in transportingheavy military equipment andweaponry to several forwardbases in the region.

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The Telangana Governmenton Wednesday handed

over a letter of appointment asDeputy Collector and also ahouse site in the city to the wifeof Col Santosh Babu, who wasmartyred in the recent violentclashes with Chinese troops inthe Galwan Valley.

"The State Governmenthas appointed Santoshi, wife ofCol Santosh Babu who wasmartyred in the recent clasheson the Indo-China Border, asDeputy Collector. ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao on Wednesday at PragathiBhavan handed over theappointment letter toSantoshi," an official releasesaid.

Rao instructed the officialsto post Santoshi in Hyderabadand its surrounding areas andalso asked his secretary SmitaSabharwal to help Santoshi till

she receives proper trainingand settles down in her job, itsaid.

Rao had lunch with 20members of Santoshi's familyat Pragati Bhavan, the campoffice-cum-official residenceof the Chief Minister. Heassured them that the govern-ment would always stand byCol Santosh Babu’s family.

Earlier, Hyderabad dis-trict Collector Sweta Mohantyand ruling TRS MLA GadariKishore Kumar handed overthe documents pertaining tothe allotment of 711 sq yardsof land at posh Banjara Hillsto Santoshi. Santoshi thankedthe Chief Minister and the dis-trict Collector for the help.

"In remembrance of themartyrdom of Col SantoshBabu, CM came to our houseand helped...the Collectorinvited me today, showed theplace (land in Hyderabad) tome and gave the related doc-uments. I am thankful to the

CM and Collector," Santoshitold reporters.

It was exactly a month ago(on June 22), when the ChiefMinister visited the bereavedfamily at Suryapet town, about130 km from here, andpledged his Government's fullsupport to the family.

During his visit then, Raohanded over cheques for Rsfive crore announced as ex-gratia by him.

He had also personally

handed over a letter appointing Santoshi as aGroup I service officer in theState Government and docu-ments allotting a house site of711 sq yards at the BanjaraHills here.

The 39-year old colonelwas among 20 Indian sol-diers who were killed in theGalwan Valley in easternLadakh on June 15 during aviolent clash withChinesetroops.

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Former CongressmanJyotiraditya Scindia hogged

the limelight on Wednesday ashe took oath as a BJP MP in theRajya Sabha and exchangedgreetings with his old party col-league and bitter rival DigvijaySingh, who too was among the45 parliamentarians who wereadministered the oath of affir-mation by Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu.

Deepender Hooda, ShaktiSinh Gohil, Sharad Pawar,Rajeev Satav and PriyankaChaturvedi were among others.

Owing to the Covid-19pandemic, the oath of affir-mation to 45 of the total 61members newly elected to theUpper House from 22 Stateswas held in the Rajya Sabhachambers and for the first timeduring inter-session. OtherMPs who were not present forthe ceremony will be adminis-tered the oath at a later date.

With 19 BJP MPs takingthe Oath on Wednesday, BJP’sstrength in the Upper Househas now gone up to 86.

Sumer Singh Solanki fromMadhya Pradesh; Nabam Rebiafrom Arunachal Pradesh;Bhubaneswar Kalita andBiswajit Daimary from Assam;Vivek Thakur from Bihar;

Abhay Bharadwaj, RamilabenBara and Narhari Amin fromGujarat; Ram Chander Jangrafrom Haryana; Indu Goswamifrom Himachal Pradesh;Deepak Prakash fromJharkhand; Ashok Gasti andIranna Kadadi from Karnataka;Udayanraje Bhosale andBhagwat Karad fromMaharashtra; MaharajaLeishemba Sanajaoba fromManipur; K Vanlalvena fromMizoram; and Rajendra Gehlotfrom Rajasthan were otherswho took the Oath.

The numbers of theNational Democratic Alliancehas gone up to 100 in the 245-member upper house. Partiesfriendly to the BJP, such as theBJD, AIADMK and theYSRCP, too saw an increase in

their tally.From the Congress, which

has 41 MPs in the house, theleaders who took oath wereKTS Tulsi from Chhattisgarh;Shaktisinh Gohil from Gujarat;Deepender Singh Hooda from Haryana;Mallikarjun Kharge fromKarnataka; Digvijay Singhfrom Madhya Pradesh; RajeevSatav from Maharashtra; andNeeraj Dangi and KCVenugopal from Rajasthan.

Oath was also adminis-tered to JDU’s Harivansh andRamnath Thakur and RJD’sAD Singh and Prem ChandGupta from Bihar; and toBikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, ofthe CPI-M from West Bengal. PriyankaChaturvedi from Shiv Sena,

NCP chief Sharad Pawar andRPI chief and minister of statefor social justice and empow-erment Ramdas Athawale wereadministered the oath fromMaharashtra.

Three MPs from YSRCP,who represent AndhraPradesh, include AyodhyaRami Reddy Alla, PilliSubhaschandra Bose andVenkataramana Rao Mopidevi.

Representing Odisha,Muzibulla Khan, Subash Singh,Sujeet Kumar and MamataMohanta from the Biju JanataDal also took oath. From TamilNadu, KP Munusamy of theAIADMK and M Thambiduraiof the AIADMK and GK Vasanof the Tamil Maanila Congressalso took oath.

Of the 61 new MPs, 49were elected to the upperhouse for the first time while12 were re-elected.

After vacancies arose inMarch in 20 states, 42 wereelected unopposed, including28 first timers, and electionswere held for 19 vacanciesand 15 other first-timers wona berth in the Rajya Sabha.

Addressing the new mem-bers, Naidu said they shouldreflect on their role andresponsibility and not fall forthe temptation of disruptingthe House for short-term gains.

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BJP’s national vice presidentand spokesperson Baijayant

Panda took to Twitter onWednesday to allege linksbetween some Bollywood starswith “certain Pakistanis & NRIswith undeniable track recordencouraging violence in J&K”.

The former Member ofParliament from Odisha, how-ever, did not give away anyname.

The BJP leader urged‘patriotric Bollywoodies’ torenounce celebrities who havea connection with somePakistanis and ISI elements.

Panda tweeted that hecame across “shocking threadsdocumenting personal & busi-ness links of some Bollywoodpersonalities with certainPakistanis & NRIs with unde-niable track record encourag-ing violence in J&K, who haveverifiable links to ISI & Pakarmy. I urge patrioticBollywoodies to renouncethem”.

While Bollywood's links tothe underworld has often beentalked about, of late, it is in thenews for a hotly debated topicof nepotism leading to factionsin the film fraternity taking oneach other.

The circumstances leadingto the death of film actorSushant Singh Rajput hasrecently triggered a debate over“insiders versus outsiders” inBollywood with a suggestionthat a clique is operating in acertain way to dole out favoursto the actors who toe its line.There is a demand for a CBIprobe into the alleged “suicide”of Rajput, who hailed fromBihar.

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The Supreme CourtWednesday approved Uttar

Pradesh Government's draftnotification for appointing for-mer apex court judge Justice(retd) BS Chauhan as chairmanof the 3-member inquiry com-mission on the killing of eightpolicemen and the subsequentencounter killings of gangsterVikas Dubey and five of hisalleged associates.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice S A Bobde directedthat the inquiry commissionshould start functioning with-in a week and the probe be con-cluded within two months.

The other two members ofthe inquiry commission wouldbe – former high court judgeJustice (retd) Shashi KantAgarwal and retired DirectorGeneral of Police of UttarPradesh K L Gupta.

The bench, also compris-ing Justices A S Bopanna andV Ramasubramanian, clearedthe draft notification and askedthe Uttar Pradesh Governmentto notify it.

The top court directed theCentre to provide secretarialassistance to the inquiry com-

mittee and said that assistancebe provided either by theNational Investigation Agency(NIA) or any other centralagency.

The bench said the inquirycommission will submit itsreport to the apex court as wellthe state government under theCommission of Inquiry Act.

The apex court said scopeof investigation to be conduct-ed by the inquiry commissionshould be wide enough.

The bench said the topcourt is not in favour of “tyingthe hands” of the commissionand it will not be wise to havea term of reference for it.

It said the commission willhave to inquire into incidentsof killing of eight policemenand subsequent encounterskillings of Dubey and hisalleged associates.

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for UttarPradesh, informed the benchJustice (retd) Chauhan hasgiven his consent to be a partof the inquiry commission.

Mehta told the bench thatthe commission would alsoprobe the circumstances underwhich Dubey, who was facing65 FIRs, was released on bail.

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One of the rarest and bright-est, Comet Neowise, offi-

cially known as C/2020F3, canbe seen in the sky till July-endin India as it is closer to theearth these days. The Neowise,once it disappears, will be vis-ible only after 6,800 years.

The Nehru Science Centrein its ‘Lockdown Lecture’ seriesorganised ‘Comet NEOWISE –A Primer’ to discuss the explo-ration aspects related tocomets.

Director, NehruPlanetarium, Dr N Ratnashree,explained comets, their posi-tion in the sky and ways toobserve it through a telescope,DSLR camera or even thenaked eye.

Comet is an icy small bodywhich consists mostly of rocky

materials, dust and ice. Asthey come closer to the sunthere is evaporation of volatilecontents from these comets.When they start melting, theparticles start glowing by thereflected sunlight. This makesthe 'dust tail' of Comets.

For those keen to capturethe image, Dr. Ratnashree said,“Point your camera towardsthe North West direction andtry to take a long exposureshot. Try clicking regular pho-tographs on different days atthe same time with the samecamera settings to find out thetrajectory of the comet in rela-tion to the horizon,” she said.

The comet can be seen inclear sky conditions in areaswith lesser light pollution andwill be perfectly visible when the sky is dark,she added.

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India has become the secondcountry in the world to pro-

vide DCGI approval for anti-tuberculosis drug pretomanidfor conditional access under theNational TuberculosisElimination Program (NTEP)programme.

Pretomanid has beenapproved as part of a three-drug, six-month all-oral regi-men consisting of bedaquiline,pretomanid and linezolid, col-lectively referred to as “BPaL”for treatment of adult patientswith pulmonary extensivelydrug-resistant TB (XDR-TB),treatment intolerant or non-responsive multidrug-resistantTB (MDR-TB).

The drug manufacture,Mylan will initially make itspretomanid available in Indiathrough a donation of 400treatment courses to the NTEPwhich provides free, high qual-ity anti-tubercular drugs andcare across the country toensure that the treatment isaccessible to patients who needit the most.

Mylan president Rajiv

Malik said, “To date, Mylan andTB Alliance have securedapprovals for pretomanid intwo countries” while presidentand CEO of TB Alliance MelSpigelman, said, “The approvalof pretomanid in India as partof this three-drug, all-oral reg-imen is the first in a countrywith a high TB burden. Byembracing innovation, Indiahas an opportunity to lead thecharge to end TB and meet itsambitious goals for eradica-tion.”

India has the goal of TBelimination by 2025.

India accounts for approx-imately a quarter of the world’sTB burden, with an estimated2.7 million cases per year,highest for any country, glob-ally. Of these, around 130,000patients have some form ofdrug-resistant TB.

Patients frequently facecomplicated and lengthy treat-ment regimens of up to 20months which often result inpoor clinical outcomes. TheWHO has reported treatmentsuccess rates of 48% for MDR-TB and 30% for XDR-TB inIndia.

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Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu unveiled a statue of

Dr BR Ambedkar at theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) office in NewDelhi on Wednesday.

“The CAG is a strong andcredible institution and the cred-it for this must go to the framersof the Constitution, particular-ly to Dr BR Ambedkar,” Naidusaid while unveiling the statue.He said Babasaheb Ambedkarhad the vision to ensure inde-pendence and a wide mandateto the CAG.

Describing him as a multi-faceted genius — a visionarystatesman, philosopher, tower-ing intellectual, eminent jurist,economist, writer, socialreformer and a humanist parexcellence, he observed that DrAmbedkar was the messiah ofthe oppressed.

Applauding the CAG forbeing a strong and credible

institution, the Vice Presidentsaid the core values of the topauditor — independence, objec-tivity, integrity, reliability, pro-fessional excellence, trans-parency and positive approach— drew inspiration from the lifeand work of Dr Ambedkar. Hecalled accountability, trans-parency and good governance asvery essential for democracy.

He credited the reports ofthe CAG and the consequentdeliberations in the committeesof the legislatures for having ledto various changes in the regu-latory framework, governancestructures and delivery mecha-nism of the government, ensur-ing economy, efficiency andeffectiveness of governmentoperations.

He said the CAG hasevolved as an enabler toBabasaheb’s vision that not onlyensures public financialaccountability but also acts as afriend, philosopher and guide ofthe executive.

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After appointing new chiefsof Gujarat and Haryana,

the BJP on Wednesdayappointed Suresh KumarKashyap, MP from Shimla, asits Himachal Pradesh unit pres-ident.

Kashyap is an ex-service-man and has been elected asMLA on the party's ticket ear-lier.

He replaces Rajeev Bindal,who resigned in May withinfive months of his appointment

after his name had cropped upin a police investigation in acorruption case.

BJP president JP Naddathis week appointed CR Patiland OP Dhankar as presi-dends of Gujarat and Haryanaunits respectively.

More changes at all partylevels to be effected soon withnew faces inducted in theoffice bearers team in theparty's central leadership asalso in the ParliamentaryBoard, the highest decision making body.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Wednesday registered a moneylaundering case in connectionwith the Kerala GoldSmuggling Scam.

The ED registered anEnforcement Case InformationReport (ECIR) (FIR in policeparlance) taking cognisanceof the NIA's FIR relating to theprobe into criminal aspects ofthe scam, officials said.

The ED case has beenbooked under the Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA) and the agency willsoon record the statements ofthe arrested accused, they said.

The ED will probe if “pro-

ceeds of crime” were generat-ed by the accused persons bylaundering of funds that wereearned in an illicit mannerthrough the alleged gold smug-gling racket.

The ED has authority toattach the immovable andmovable assets of the accusedpersons under the PMLA.

The Kerala GoldSmuggling Case was unearthedon July 5 when gold, weighingover 30 kg, was seized by theCustoms (Preventive)Commisonerate, Cochin fromthe “diplomatic baggage” thathad landed by air cargo at theThiruvananthapuram interna-tional airport from the Gulf.The seized gold is estimated to be worth �14.82crore.

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Within 24 hours of TamilNadu’s Health Minister

Dr C Vijaya Baskar claimedthat the State has the bestmedical strategy in the coun-try, the Directorate of Healthand Preventive Medicine cameout with a bulletin which stat-ed that Tamil Nadu diagnosed5,849 persons with Covid-19on Wednesday. This is the

highest number of coronaviruscases detected in the State ona single day.

What upset the TamilNadu Government is the steephike in the number of personsafflicted with coronavirus with-in a day. On Tuesday, 4,965 per-sons were tested positive for thepandemic and this means thatthe number of Covid-19patients in the State shot up byalmost 1,000 during the last 24 hours.

In last 24 hours, 74 patientssuccumbed to the pandemic.

By noon itself it was knownthat the number of patientsinfected with the virus wouldbe on the higher side. A doc-tor in the Government serviceexpressed his anxiety as thehike in the number of patientscome at a time when the Stateis experiencing rainfall as partof the South West Monsoon.

“We were expecting somerespite once the rains set in but

it has been proved wrong,” saidthe doctor who did not whathis name to be quoted.

The bulletin said as onWednesday, Tamil Nadu has51,765 active Covid-19 caseswhile the day saw 4,910 personsgetting discharged from hos-pitals across the State.

While the situation inChennai remained similar tothat of previous days (theMetropolis tested positive for1,171 persons), neighbouring

Chengalpet accounted for 223cases. Kancheepuram (325)and Thiruvallur (430) saw steep hike in the numberof patients.

Situation in Ranipet (414)and Virudhunagar (363) haveturned grave as the numbersfrom these districts show.Thirunelveli (267) andThoothukudi (202) are theother districts which recordedunabated spreading of the disease.

4������������� 7;.�

More than 1,000 newpatients joined the army

of Covid-19 affected persons inKerala on Wednesday.

“Today has turned out to bea crucial day in Kerala. We diag-nosed 1,038 persons with Civid-19 and this is the highest num-ber of patients identified on asingle day since the first coro-navirus case was detected in theState in the month of March,”said Pinarayi Vijayan, ChiefMinister of Kerala.

The Chief Minister said hemay have to think seriouslyabout the proposal for anoth-er round of total lockdown inthe State as this is the first timeKerala sees the Covid-19 casesbreaching the 1,000 mark.Vijayan blamed a section of themedia and certain politicaloutfits for spreading fake newsand lies for the increase in the

number of Covid-19 cases.“Out of the 1.038 persons

tested positive today, 785 wereinfected through contactswhich reiterates that the peo-ple have to be careful in theirdealings,” the CM said.

He said the entire coastalstretch of Thiruvananthapuramand Kollam have been shutdown because of the hike in thenumber of persons afflictedwith the pandemic.

Thiruvananthapuram con-tinued to lead the table with thehighest number of coronaviruscases. The district tested 226new cases out of which 190were infected through con-tacts, he said. Vijayan alsopointed out that in all the dis-tricts in the State, the pandemichas spread through contacts.

But the Chief Minister saidthat Kerala stands in the fore-front of the States and hasearned all round appreciation

from global bodies. “Whilethe national average for covidcases per million is 419, Keralais less than half of this figure.There is an attempt by manypersons and entities to portrayKerala in poor light,” said theChief Minister.

As on Wednesday evening,there were 15,032 Covid-19patients in the State. “There aremore than 9,000 personsundergoing treatment in vari-ous hospitals in Kerala. Today,1,164 patients have been admit-ted to hospitals because ofCovid-29,” he said.

Life has come a full circle inKerala which was praised bysome media houses in the coun-try and abroad for “effectivemeasures” adopted by theCPI(M)-led Government in theState. But as on Wednesday, theChief Minister himself disclosedthat the situation in the State hasbecome a matter of concern.

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To further contain the spreadof coronavirus especially in

the worst affected areas ofKashmir valley, the UnionTerritory administration onWednesday announced com-plete lockdown in all nine reddistricts except Bandipora ofKashmir division fromWednesday evening till 6.00 amon July 27. These preventivemeasures were taken by theadministration to restrict move-ment of local residents ahead ofEid-ul-Adha on August 1.

Meanwhile, 453 fresh casesof coronavirus were detectedwhile ten more deaths of covid-19 patients were reported fromKashmir division onWednesday. The total tally ofcoronavirus patients stood at15,711. The total number ofactive positive cases in Srinagarhas crossed 2,100 mark. OnWednesday 165 fresh caseswere detected in Srinagar, fol-

lowed by 62 cases from Kulgamand 58 from Baramulla.

In Jammu division also,District Magistrate, Samba,Rohit Khajuria on Wednesdayordered complete lockdown inSamba and Baribrahmanatehsils from July 23 to July 26.The situation remained grim inRajouri district as 47 fresh caseswere detected on Wednesday.

Responding to the con-cerns of the local populationahead of Eid celebrations,Divisional Commissioner,Kashmir Pandurang. Pole saidthat the markets shall remainopen for three days from July 28to July 30 to facilitate hassle-freepurchase of sacrificial animalsand other necessary items.

Chairing a meeting toreview Eid arrangements, healso directed all DeputyCommissioner’s of Kashmir toestablish sale centres wherepeople can purchase the sacri-ficial animals with properCovid-19 protocol.

����� ��00�

Ajawan of Border SecurityForce (BSF) deployed

along the International Borderin Samba sector of Jammufrontier was dismissed for hisalleged involvement in smug-gling activities in connivancewith anti-national elementsand trans-border criminals.

A BSF spokesman inJammu said, “A BSF constableidentified as Sumit Kumar, res-ident of Gurdaspur in Punjabwas dismissed from services bythe BSF authorities”.

BSF spokesman added,“Sumit Kumar was appre-hended on information of thePunjab Police on July 11, 2020,for his alleged involvement insmuggling activities, con-nivance with anti-national ele-ments and trans- border crim-inals”. A 9 mm pistol, 2 maga-zines, 80 rounds of 9 mmammunition and 2 rounds of12 bore ammunition wererecovered from his possession.

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on

Wednesday slammed the UttarPradesh Government for throt-tling the voices of dissent evenas she expressed shock over thekilling of journalist VikramJoshi who was gunned down inGhaziabad.

Expressing her condolencesshe said, “My heartfelt condo-lences to the family of VikramJoshi, a fearless journalist whopassed away today.” He was shotin UP for filing an FIR to bookhis niece’s molesters.

She added, “An atmos-phere of fear has been createdin the country. Voices are beingmuzzled and even media is notspared. Shocking.”

Banerjee had from a massvirtual rally on Tuesday said theBJP Government was not onlythreatening the dissenting peo-ple and chocking their voicesbut also using the central agen-cies to suppress them.

“There are fear of bullet,jail and so many other thingsbut I don’t fear bullet, gun or

any Agency. They will try tochoke my voice but I will comeout stronger,” she said.

Meanwhile, Banerjee islikely to hold a virtual meetingof the Trinamool Congressleaders on Thursday apparent-ly to decide on electoral strate-gies. Her decision comes a dayafter promising in a virtual rallyto decimate the BJP in the nextyear’s Assembly elections.

The Chief Minister is like-ly to instruct the regionalsatraps to rise above narrowpersonal interests and work ina united manner, insiders said.

“Though the TMC unites inthe name of Mamata Banerjeethere are reports coming thatthere are a lot of intra-party feudat the local levels. The ChiefMinister wants the local lead-ership to address the issues andwork united,” said a Ministerand MLA from Kolkata.

Banerjee is also likely to tellthe district leadership to startsearching for non-controversialand popular faces, sources said,adding she would also ask theleaders to begin a reach-outprogramme.

“As mass connect is the keyshe is likely to ask the leadersto launch house-to-house con-tact programmes so that thegeneral grievances of the peo-ple can be assessed and lateraddressed,” another seniorTMC leader and MLA fromNorth 24 Parganas said.

However the most impor-tant thing the Chief Minister islikely to focus on is “counter-propaganda for the BJP’s reg-ular disinformation campaign.”

According to this leader“the BJP is getting its oxygenfrom the Left cadres who havesuddenly started backing thatparty … it is not possible forrigidly conscious cadres of theCPI(M) to turn to extremeright overnight. So it seems thatthere is a plan that has beenhatched by the Left use the BJPto bring down the TMCGovernment otherwise theywould not have got 40 percentvotes in the general elections…Our Chief Minister is aware ofthis and that it why she askedthe CPI(M) workers not tocommit a big mistake by back-ing the BJP from behind.”

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In a historic development,the Unit 3 of the Kakrapur

Atomic Power Project (KAPP-3 700 W) in Gujarat attained itsfirst criticality (controlled self-sustaining nuclear fission chainreaction for the first time) at9.35 am on Wednesday.

First of its kind indigenous700 MW Pressurised HeavyWater Reactor (PHWR), theKAPP-3 is designed entirely bythe Indian scientists and engi-neers. The components andequipment for the reactor havebeen manufactured by IndianIndustries, while the construc-tion and erection was under-taken by various Indian con-tractors.

Lauding the State-runNPCIL’s feat, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi tweeted,“Congratulations to our nuclearscientists for achieving criti-cality of Kakrapar AtomicPower Plant-3! This indige-nously designed 700 MWeKAPP-3 reactor is a shiningexample of Make in India.And a trailblazer for manysuch future achievements!”

“The reactors have beendesigned and constructed tothe highest safety and qualitystandards comparable to thebest in the world. The 700 MWPHWR has advanced features

like steel lined inner contain-ment, Passive decay heatremoval system, containmentspray system, HydrogenManagement systems etc,” aNuclear Power Corporation ofIndia Limited ( NPCIL)spokesperson said.

The fuel loading of thereactor core was completed bymid-March this year.Thereafter many tests and pro-cedures were carried out dur-ing the lockdown period fol-lowing all the Covid-19 guide-lines. We could achieve thetasks with the excellent coor-dination among the NPCIL,contracting agencies,Department of Atomic Energy(DAE) units and variousCentral, State and local authorities,” NPCIL)’s AssociateDirector (CP&CC) AK Nemasaid.

As a next step, variousexperiments will be conductedand power will be increasedprogressively. Thereafter it willbe connected with the Westerngrid. The KAPP-3 is the thirdnuclear power reactor in thecountry. It is the front runnerin a series of 16 indigenous 700MW PHWRs which have beenaccorded administrativeapproval and financial sanctionby the Government and are at various stages of imple-mentation.

����0������� 0�0:�

The Covid-19 graphappeared to be gradually

peaking in Maharashtra onWednesday, as the State record-ed an all-time high of new10,576 infected cases, while 280 more people succumbed to pandemic.

After recording the thenhighest highest-ever 9,518infected cases on July 19,Maharashtra notched a newdaily high of 10,576 cases —much to the discomfort of theState health authorities.

Interestingly, after theinfections crossed 8,000 markon five occasions in a week(July 16-8,641, July 17-8,308,July 18-8,348, July 20-8,240July 21-8,369) and evenbreached 9,000 mark once onJuly 19, the infections touchedfive-digit mark of 10576 onWednesday.

With the fresh infectionsand fatalities, the total numberof infections mounted to3,37,607, while the total num-ber of deaths rose to 12,556.

Of the total 280 deathsreported on Wednesday,Mumbai recorded 58 deaths,taking the total number ofdeaths in the metropolis from5,817 to 5,875 , while the num-ber of corona cases rose by1,310 to touch 1,04,678.

Apart from 58 deaths

reported in Mumbai, therewere 57 deaths in Pune, 50deaths in Thane, 27 inAurangabad, 16 in Kolhapur,12 in Solapur, 9 in Jalgaon, 7 inNashik, 6 in Ahmednagar, 5 inPalghar, 4 each in Raigad andSangli, 3 each in Ratnagiri,Latur, Nanded, Nagpur andAkola, 2 each in Satara andParbhani and one death each inNandurbar, Jalna, Hingoli,Osmanabad and Buldhana. Inaddition, one more personfrom another State died inMaharashtra.

With 79,911 infected cases

and 2,146 deaths, Thane con-tinued to be the second worsthit district in Maharashtra.

Pune, which has emergedas the third worst affected dis-trict in terms of spread of thepandemic, has recorded 63,351infections and 1,514 deathstill now.

In a related development,the total number of patientsdischarged from various hos-pitals after full recovery sincethe second week of March thisyear touched 1,87,769. Therecovery rate in the state stoodat 55.62 per cent. The mortal-ity rate in the State is 3.72 percent. The State health author-ities pegged the number of“active cases” in the State at1,36,980.

Out of 16,87,213 samplessent to laboratories, 3,37,807have tested positive (20 cent)for Covid-19 until Wednesday.

Currently, 8,58,121 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 44,975 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

Meanwhile, in yet anothersting operation, social activistBinu Varghese helped theCrime Branch sleuths of theThane trap a 5-member gangindulging in blackmarketing ofRemdesivir injections for�25,000 per vial. The investi-gators also recovered otherexpensive cancer injectionsand medicines.

Jammu: The Pakistan Army onWednesday resorted to “unpro-voked” ceasefire violation alongthe Line of Control in two dif-ferent sectors of Qasba, Kirniand Mankote of Poonch dis-trict. According to groundreports, Pakistan army target-ed several civilian areas alongwith forward posts of theIndian Army.

Hitting back, Indian army

too retaliated strongly and tar-geted several ‘offensive’ gunpositions of the Pakistan Armyto silence them.

Ministry of Defencespokesman in Jammu, Lt-ColDevender Anand said,“Pakistan army violated cease-fire agreement around 7.15pm in Qasba, Kirni sector onWednesday”.

PNS

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Kolkata: In a sudden develop-ment former India footballerMehtab Hussain pulled out ofthe BJP a day after joining theparty amid allegations that hehad been pressurized by theTMC to quit the saffron outfit.

“Withdrawing from poli-tics” Hussain a fiery midfield-er who had his stints withMohun Bagan, East Bengaland other clubs too said “I hadjoined the BJP yesterday butwhen I returned home my rel-atives, near and dear ones andmy fans expressed their dis-pleasure about my joining pol-itics. They said that they wantme to see me in the field andnot in the politics and so Icould not refuse their requests.”When asked as to whether hereceived threats from Bengalruling outfit he said he had notbeen pressurised by anyone.

PNS

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Jammu: A former counter insurgent-turned-Jammu & KashmirPolice cop was gunned down by “unidentified” terrorists nearhis home in South Kashmir district of Kulgam late onWednesday night.

According to a police spokesman, “Terrorists fired upon apoliceman Ab Rashid Dar at his native place in village Furrahof Kulgam late on Wednesday night”.

Local reports said Dar was shot at from a very close range.He received three bullet injuries on his chest and abdomen. Hewas rushed to GMC, Anantnag.

“He was shifted to hospital but succumbed to his injuries.Police and security forces have cordoned the area and search ison to nab the terrorists”, police spokesman added. Nine years agoterrorists had also killed his son. PNS

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Jammu & Kashmir is an integral partof India, geographically, culturallyand economically. The BJP

Government’s decision last year torevoke Article 370 paved the way forfull integration of this State with the restof India. Prior to the country’s indepen-dence, Jammu & Kashmir was aMuslim-majority princely State ruledby Hari Singh, a Hindu king. The Statewas relatively tranquil due to the ami-cable relationship between the king andhis subjects. However, four Congress-led policies soon after changed thedynamics of the State. First, theCongress supported the KhilafatMovement of 1919. This movementbrought the Muslim League in thelimelight and made MA Jinnah animportant political figure; the latterplayed a crucial role in India’s partitionand the start of the “Kashmir problem.”

Second, Kashmir was politicallyvibrant in the years after the KhilafatMovement. Numerous factions, eachwielding the support of different sec-tions of Muslims, emerged. The prima-ry factions consisted of Hari Singh, theMuslim League led by Jinnah, AzadConference led by religious leaderMirwaiz Shah and the All India JammuKashmir National Congress led byShiekh Abdullah. The four factionswere in a constant tussle to garner thesupport of the Muslim populationand created wide divisions within thesocio-political fabric of the troubledState. During the 1940s, former PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru had arenewed sense of “Kashmiriness” andfelt the need to come to his State’s aid.In his attempt to resolve problems,Nehru supported Sheikh Abdullahand alienated the other three factions— each was equally supported by theKashmiri population — and widenedthe existing divisions.

Third, Mahatma Gandhi launchedthe “Quit India” movement against theBritish regime and by 1945, it reachedJammu & Kashmir. While in otherparts of the country, the movement wasagainst the British regime, in Kashmir,where it was led by Sheikh Abdullahand supported by Nehru, it was againstHari Singh’s rule. Jinnah supportedHari Singh during this tumultuoustime. Thus, Hari Singh’s distrust ofNehru was the primary reason for hishesitation to sign the Instrument ofAccession. Hari Singh’s dithering wasseen as an opportunity by Pakistan toinvade Kashmir and claim it by force,which it managed to do. The result ofthe bitter relationship between Nehruand Hari Singh is Pakistan-occupiedKashmir (PoK).

Lastly, Nehru agreed to his “friend”Sheikh Abdullah’s demand to pass

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Revive or perish” (July 21) byKalyani Shankar. Verily speak-ing, the Congress is beset withinternecine bickering betweenthe old guard and the youngTurks over power-sharing issuesin States where it wields power.Ironically, despite working like aTrojan, Congress president SoniaGandhi has miserably failed tonip this internal power strugglein the bud. The issue snowballedand culminated in the Congress’drubbing in the last Lok Sabhapolls. What has made mattersworse is Rahul Gandhi’s failureto lead the party.

The top leadership’s failure tocontain internal feud is now outin the public domain. This hascost the grand old party dearlyand led to disenchantment andresultant estrangement of a cou-ple of its young leaders likeJyotiraditya Scindia and, now,Sachin Pilot. The writer’s obser-vation that even if RajasthanChief Minister Ashok Gehlotsucceeds in surviving the ongo-ing crisis, the Damocles’ swordwould still hang over theCongress in view of its fragile

majority in the House, holdsgood. The Congress needs tobring both the old as well as theyoung guard on board. A goodblend of experience on the partof both will help the Congress tideover the present crisis. It’s incum-bent upon the party leadership todecide what way it wants thispolitical cookie to crumble.

Azhar A Khan Rampur

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Message or faith?” (July 22).A landmark verdict by theSupreme Court had effectivelybrought closure to the decade-old Ram Janmabhoomi-BabriMasjid case. It was left to thetemple trust authorities todecide on the date for the con-

struction of the shrine. Thetrust’s decision to lay the foun-dation stone on August 3 wasuncalled for at this momentwhen we are fighting a pandem-ic. The editorial is right to pointthe political overtones behindthis move. The ceremony couldhave been deferred for a bettertime and the Prime Minister, aninvitee of the ceremony, couldhave been spared for more

important assignments. As the verse goes, Na masjid

me, na mandir me, na kaba-Kailash me, moko kahan dhund-he bande mai to tere paas me(neither in the mosque nor inthe temple nor in Kaba-Kailash,where are you searching me, Iam beside you). Lord Ram isomnipresent. He is in no hurryfor the Ayodhya temple to bebuilt.

MC JoshiLucknow

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “A glimmer of hope” (July 22).The Oxford vaccine is a promis-ing step forward in the search fora cure against COVID-19. Buteven if the third phase of the tri-als goes as expected, it may takeanother few months before theworld can claim victory over thevirus. Till then, the social vac-cine, along with other concert-ed efforts, is the most effectiveway to control the pandemic.

SudeshnaVia email

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Articles 370 and 35(A), whichwould provide Kashmir with aseparate Constitution, flag andhead of State. This further dis-tanced the once tranquil Statefrom India.

The BJP Governmentunder the leadership of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andHome Minister Amit Shah wasable to successfully integrate theState into India and bring inpeace and development in themilitancy-ridden State.

For the last seven decades,Pakistan has approachedalmost all international fora andorganisations to justify its claimto two illegally-occupiedregions: PoK and Balochistan.Recently, it bore the expense ofa few British and EuropeanMembers of Parliament (MPs),who visited PoK, and attempt-ed to hold fraudulent electionsin the region to gain legitima-cy.

Prior to India’s indepen-dence, Balochistan was ruled bythe Khan of Kalat, who wasforcefully taken to Karachi atgunpoint to sign theInstrument of Accession.However, Khan’s decision hadto be confirmed by the twoHouses of the NationalAssembly of the kingdom forBalochistan’s integration intoPakistan. Two days prior toPakistan’s independence onAugust 12, 1947, the Houses

voted against acceding to eithernation and decided to be anindependent State.

Thus, Pakistan’s occupa-tion of Balochistan is illegal.The Balochi people, as a resultof this illegal occupation, havenot been able to completelyintegrate into Pakistan; theBalochis and the Pakistani pop-ulation have distinct cultures,social norms and values whichmake reconciliation betweenthe two unachievable.Balochistan has tried to removeits illegal occupiers on numer-ous occasions: The wars of1958, 1962 and from 1973-1977. One war is still beingfought. Cultural and social dif-ferences are not the only cata-lysts. Even though Balochistanis a mineral-rich State, with itswealth of resources fuellingPakistan’s economic growth,Balochi people are illiterateand have the highest unem-ployment rate in Pakistan,around 40 per cent.

Balochistan province con-stitutes nearly half of the coun-try’s landmass, yet its people areonly four per cent of thePakistani population. Now isthe time to support nationalistgroups in Balochistan, whoare fighting against widespreadinequalities and overall degra-dation of life. Groups such asthe Balochistan National Party,National Party, Jamhoori Watan

Party, Baloch Haq Talwar,Pashtun Khawa Milli AwamiParty and the Balochistan stu-dent organisation have beenforwarding Balochistan’s resolvefor independence. Thisprovince is located strategical-ly and its independence wouldhave significant consequencesfor the South Asia region.Chinese aggression will bechecked, Pakistan will be weak-ened, the Taliban can effective-ly be countered and the oilpipeline between Iran and Indiawill see quick development.

Many nations, which sup-port Balochistan’s resolve, havenot come to its aid because theyrespect Pakistan’s sovereigntyand say that it is an internalmatter. Balochistan had playedan integral role during India’sindependence and, thus, it is ourduty to help it gain indepen-dence. An independentBalochistan will not only ben-efit the Baloch nation butwould also be a geo-politicalinvestment for India.Balochistan’s energy resourcesare vast and India’s emergingeconomy could get enormousaccess to them.

Currently, China is mili-tarising Balochistan’s coastalbelt to have a better strangleholdon India. Balochistan’s leaderhad approached the Congress-led UPA-II Government forstrategic aid against Pakistani

occupation. However, he waslargely ignored. Baloch leadersare supportive of Indian caus-es and have even applaudedIndia’s decision to revokeArticles 370 and 35(A).

Culturally, Balochistan isvery much similar to India dueto its respect for Hinduism andits ideals. In the Kalat region ofBalochistan lies a 2,000-year-oldKali temple; the second tallestin South Asia. A post-indepen-dence Balochistan will helpprotect Indian interests fromforeign aggression.

Pakistan, on the other hand,has been instigating terroristactivities in Jammu & Kashmir,holding elections in PoK, speak-ing against India’s decision torevoke Articles 370 and 35(A)and is even attempting to cre-ate an environment against usat international fora and organ-isations.

In the midst of such anadversity, if India decides tosupport Balochistan’s cause ofindependence, the decisionwould be morally correct. Indiashould approach internationalconferences and organisationsto seek the support of majorcountries in Europe, Russia andthe US to help Balochistan gainindependence from Pakistan’sillegal occupation.

(The writer is a BJP leaderand Lok Sabha MP. Viewsexpressed are personal)

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Each disease has a persona and it isn’t just aninterchangeable cause of death. The personadepends upon the nature of humankind and

how societies react to it. It also depends upon howmany people the disease kills, how it kills, whetherit has children among its victims or orphans them,or if it surprises everybody. And once it has acquireda definitive trait, it reflects in popular culture as thetransformative agent of the human condition.

During the last plague epidemic in the 19th cen-tury, one can see the impact of the disease on thethinkers and the artistic world. There was a cult ofreligiosity, there were themes of sudden death,repentance and getting your affairs and soul in orderjust in case the plague suddenly got you. It had atransformative effect on the iconography ofEuropean art.

The bubonic plague killed half the populationof full continents and, therefore, had a tremendouseffect on the advent of the industrial revolution, slav-ery and serfdom. The circumstances created by thepandemic set free many serfs in Europe, forced wagerise for labourers and caused a fundamental shiftin the economy along with an increased standardof living for the survivors.

The 1918 Spanish Flu disproportionately affect-ed young men, which in combination with WorldWar I, created an overall shortage of manpower. Thisgap enabled women to play a new and indispensi-ble role in the workforce during the crucial pandem-ic period, which in turn led to granting of suffrageto women in the US soon after.

Epidemics hold up the mirror to humanbeings, as to who we really are. They lead us to thinkabout life’s big questions. Outbreaks raise the wholequestion of man’s relationship with God and oneanother. Even in India, though our historical tra-dition isn’t very good at recording epidemics, theveneration patterns of epidemic goddesses preservethe folk memory of diseases sweeping the country.As early as the 2nd century, the outbreak of small-pox across the Silk Road led to the worship of god-dess Hariti, believed to have the power to cause andthwart the disease. It resulted in numerous sculp-tures of the deity in the Gandhara region (present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan). In India, the leg-ends of Shitala Mata, who had the powers to healfever and small pox and Oladevi, the goddess ofcholera, have been painted by folk artists for a longtime.

The post-plague European paintings started fea-turing symbols like an hour glass with the sands oftime running out, wilting flowers, heaps of bonesand skeletons. In European Catholic countries, themain thrust was to see this as a reminder that lifeis temporary and provisional. One sees a great atten-tion to themes of suddenness of death, that is, thedanse macabre (dance of death) where everyone isswept away into the lap of the grim reaper.

In ancient literature and scriptures, right fromHomer’s Iliad to The Old Testament, plagues are asso-ciated with the idea that man is being punished forhis sins. Venetian churches were built to demon-strate repentance. In the 14th and 15th centuries,we see the Flagellants embarking on a “40-day pro-cession of repentance, self-chastisement and prayer,”whipping themselves and others.

From the perspective of political instability, thebubonic plague struck India in the late 19th cen-

tury. The ruling British Governmentresponded by introducing Renaissance-eraanti-plague measures — draconian exer-cises of power and authority. Such mea-sures by a colonial Government made thenatives more fearful than the plague itselfand they resisted.

The anti-plague activities of thehealth department involved police search-es, isolation of the sick, detention of trav-ellers in camps and forced evacuation ofresidents in parts of the city. These mea-sures were widely regarded as offensiveand alarming. The outrage against this ledto the murder of WC Rand, the Britishchairman of the Special PlagueCommittee, by the Chapekar brothers, twoIndian revolutionaries.

Diseases do not afflict societies in ran-dom and chaotic ways because microbesselectively expand and diffuse them-selves to explore ecological niches thathuman beings have created. Those nich-es show who we are. For example, duringthe industrial revolution, people actuallycared about what happened to workersand the poor and the conditions that themost vulnerable people lived in, which hadnever been a concern earlier. In today’sworld, we see that cholera and tubercu-losis move along the fault lines created bypoverty and inequality and we seem to beprepared to accept this as inevitable.

But it is also true that the way werespond depends on our values, ourcommitments and our sense of being apart of the human race. Many positivechanges are seen arising after epidemicsin history, like the end of slavery. That andthe success of the Haitian rebellion andToussaint Louverture were determined,above all, by yellow fever. When Napoleonsent the great armada to restore slavery in

Haiti, the rebellion succeeded because theslaves from Africa had immunity thatWhite Europeans in Napoleon’s army did-n’t have that insurance. It was one of thecauses that led to the Haitian indepen-dence. Besides, from an American pointof view, this was what led to Napoleon’sdecision to abandon the idea of project-ing French power in the New World and,therefore, to agree with Thomas Jeffersonin 1803 to the Louisiana Purchase whichdoubled the size of US territory.

Varied diseases provoke differentresponses. One of the vaguest societalresponses to a disease was to tuberculo-sis and how it was perceived in theRomantic period, in the early years of the19th century. Though tuberculosis is oneof the most gruesome ways to die, where,in the end, you’re cyanosed and asphyx-iate to death, yet, in that era, you wouldhave it displayed on stage in a glorified waywith beautiful opera heroines enactingplays with a theme around the disease.

People of that era thought that it wasa disease of the élite, of the artist, of thebeautiful, of the refined, and that it madepeople much more beautiful. So much sothat fashion tried to turn women intotubercular creatures. In Toulouse Lautrec’spainting, you see an anorexic-lookingwoman applying rice powder on her faceso that she looks pale like patients withtuberculosis.

Those days, famous French novelistVictor Hugo was told by his friends thathe had one great fault as a writer, whichwas that he wasn’t tuberculous, and,therefore, he wouldn’t be as great a writeras he would have been otherwise.

The germ theory of disease as put for-warded by Louis Pasteur brought forth thereality of tuberculosis in the late 19th cen-

tury. The theory insisted that tuberculo-sis was not a disease of spontaneous gen-eration of the beautiful classes but of theunhygienic and the poor. The whole inter-pretation changed and the idea of a beau-tiful disease disappeared.

Over the centuries, disease outbreakshave shaped politics, crushed revolutionsand entrenched racial and economic dis-crimination. Since World War II, human-ity has been living with the promise ofunbeatable health and long life withprospects of reversing ageing and livingforever.

The current outbreak of COVID-19has revealed to humanity that beyond allits techno-scientific powers, the modernhuman being is still a fragile creature. Thispandemic precipitated changes in our per-spective about our relationship with theenvironment and with one another. Whileholding up a mirror to society, the virushas also deepened our social fissures. Theother significant change is the rise of theGovernment in people’s lives. Being doneby many Right-wing governments acrossthe globe, this has fit with the Indian way,too. The Government runs the show.

The current pandemic has touchedevery person’s life in some way or theother, forcing isolation, uncertainty, anger,and hopelessness. This, coupled with theeconomic meltdown, is causing huge psy-chological distress and sets the alarm ring-ing for an impending mental health cri-sis. The full impact of the pandemic onthe socio-political aspects are yet toemerge and so are the responses of theartistic world which will be reflected oncanvases and papers in the comingdecade.

(The writer is an author and a doctorby profession)

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The recent Chinese aggres-sion at the Line of ActualControl (LAC) came as a

surprise for India at a time whenthe entire world was facing theCoronavirus crisis. The ModiGovernment had its hands full,revamping healthcare facilities tomeet the challenges posed by thepandemic and reviving econom-ic activity brought to a grindinghalt by the extended lockdowns.But now the national discoursehas shifted from COVID-19 to theChinese misadventure at the LACand though a dialogue is on toresolve tension along the 3,488 kmborder, there are no guaranteeshow long this uneasy peace wouldhold. In fact, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh’s recent call to theIndian Air Force to stay on alert

came at a time when a pullback oftroops from key friction pointsalong the LAC seemed to havecome to a halt with no change inthe situation for a week.

Military and economic mightare important factors for claimingthe status of a global power. As faras China is concerned, its eco-nomic strength and not militarymight is making a difference.China has established itself as theworld’s factory while India can atbest claim the status of the world’sback office. This situation is notgoing to change in a short span oftime and apart from policy inter-ventions by the Government,India should use diplomatic chan-nels to convince multinationalcorporations to minimise the riskof geographical concentration.

It is no secret that Chinesegoods are of substandard quality.However, it is quite surprising thatdespite running a trade deficitamounting to billions of dollarsfor years, the Indian Governmenthas not yet come out with techni-cal specifications for curbingimport of such cheap-qualitygoods. If we want to make our-

selves self-reliant, then we simplycannot go by the rulebook ofinternational trade because Chinahas engaged in various sorts ofmanipulation.

If we really want to tame thedragon and improve our eco-nomic strength, then the ModiGovernment should go beyondthe sensation which is created outof nationalistic fervour. The socialmedia in India is abuzz with“boycott China” messages but atthe same time we continue toaward big contracts to our trou-blesome neighbour. Some importsare unavoidable because of a lackof our self-sufficiencies. Chinesecompanies are executing variousGovernment contracts and it maybe highlighted here that India isnot a signatory to the WorldTrade Organisation (WTO) agree-ment on GovernmentProcurement (GPA) and, there-fore, we must safeguard ournational as well as economicinterests while awarding con-tracts to nations hostile to us. Wecan learn from developed nationslike the US on how to deal withthe dragon. Trade malpractices

adopted by China should be high-lighted at international fora. TheUS Trade Representative Reportissued in March highlights suchissues which are against WTOrules. Various concerns have beenraised in this report which rangefrom Government subsidy againstWTO rules to investment restric-tions. The Commerce Ministryshould also publish such reportsto highlight the foul practicesChina indulges in. TheInformation Technology (IT) sec-tor makes immense contributiontowards economic developmentand Indian IT companies have aglobal presence, except in China.Our IT companies are not gettinga level playing field in the Chinesemarket and this is primarily dueto the “Made in China 2025” plan,which has a specific thrust on IT.

In fact, the ChineseGovernment has identified tenstrategic sectors for increasing itsworldwide market share and isaggressively pursuing this. Hence,there should be a tit-for-tat poli-cy. In fact, the IndianGovernment’s recent decisions toban Chinese apps and cancel the

use of Chinese equipment forBSNL and MTNL’s 4G upgradesare moves in the right directionbecause it impacts their invest-ment. China has taken all sorts oftariff and non-tariff measures toincrease its exports and protect itsdomestic market. It has smartlyused its currency exchange rate tograb a large share in global mar-kets. The Chinese yuan has depre-ciated more than 15 per centagainst the US dollar since July2015 when it was traded at $1equivalent to 6.2 yuan.

Among various factors, thedepreciation in the yuan is not inline with the interest rate andinflation in China. The People’sBank of China has deliberatelyallowed the yuan to fall and thiscurrency manipulation was evenhighlighted by the US Treasurydepartment. The context of theseactions and the implausibility ofChina’s market stability rationaleconfirm that the purpose of thecurrency devaluation is to gain anunfair competitive advantage ininternational trade. This patternof actions is also a violation ofChina’s G20 commitments to

refrain from competitive devalu-ation.

India has to begin with curb-ing non-essential imports if itwants to get a hold of this tradebattle. If we are trying to convincethe world to look at us as an alter-native manufacturing destina-tion, then we should first reduceour dependency on the Chinesesupply chain and start creating therequisite infrastructure now withgraded tax breaks.

Of course, there will beteething issues in terms of a smallprice rise and production cost ifwe start sourcing material fromother countries, while incentivis-ing local manufacturers to scaleup, but this will help us in the longrun. From the investment per-spective, we are not dependent onChina and the cumulative ForeignDirect Investment (FDI) fromour neighbour is hardly 0.51 percent of the overall FDI. It is hightime we go for a policy changealong with strict implementationand continuous monitoring. Letnot our soldiers’ deaths go in vain.

(The writer is an economic pol-icy analyst)

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Brasilia: Brazil's Governmentsays President Jair Bolsonaro isstill testing positive for thecoronavirus following his July7 announcement.

The positive test Tuesdaycame after a follow-up checkon July 15. The governmentsays he remains in good health.

The World HealthOrganisation says the mediantime from onset to clinicalrecovery for mild cases isapproximately two weeks.

The government sayBolsonaro will keep holdingvideoconferences instead offace-to-face meetings. He hadto cancel a trip to northeasternBrazil. At least four membersof Bolsonaro's Cabinet havebeen diagnosed with coron-avirus.

Bolsonaro repeatedly dis-missed the disease as a “littleflu” and often mingled incrowds, sometimes withoutwearing a mask. AP

Kampala: Ugandan activistBobi Wine has launched anew political party ahead of apresidential election in whichhe hopes to be the face of aunited opposition against thecountry's long-time leader.

The popular singer andlawmaker, whose real name isKyagulanyi Ssentamu, has leda political pressure groupknown as People Power, whichhas captured the imagination ofmany Ugandans with its callsfor President YoweriMuseveni's retirement.

Wine is calling his newparty the National UnityPlatform, with an umbrella asits emblem. He has been call-ing for a united oppositionagainst Museveni, a U.S. Allyon regional security who hasled this East African country

since taking power by force in1986. The 75-year-oldMuseveni is increasinglyaccused of relying on thearmed forces to stay in power.

Wine has been arrested ordetained many times, includ-ing over a treason charge thathe denies. With political ralliesnow banned, presidential aspi-rants play cat-and-mouse withsecurity forces seeking tobreak up anti-government

gatherings.Museveni accuses Wine

and other opposition figures ofencouraging young people intorioting.

“We have consistently saidthat we are a non-violent move-ment and we have no plans ofestablishing a military wing,”Wine said in a statement.“What we are doing today is tolaunch a political wing of ourmovement so as to ensure thatour mission to use the electionas a strategy within the libera-tion struggle succeeds.”

Wine won a seat in thenational assembly in 2017 as anindependent candidate notbacked by any of major party.His popularity grew when heopposed divisive efforts to pro-long Museveni's rule.

Museveni is eligible to seek

another term next year afterlawmakers removed constitu-tional age limits on the presi-dency.

This week attorneys forMuseveni collected his presi-dential nomination papers, sig-naling he wants to run again.Museveni's party insists heremains its most popular mem-ber.

But opponents such asWine, who is 38, say corruptionis thriving and accuseMuseveni of personalisingpower through his firm grip onthe military, the most power-ful institution in Uganda.

The army has become evenmore influential amid thecoronavirus pandemic as menin military uniform enforcelockdown measures, some-times with brutal force. AP

Taipei: China is sending militaryplanes near Taiwan with increas-ing frequency in what appears tobe a stepping up of its threat touse force to take control of theisland, Taiwan's foreign minis-ter said Wednesday.

Such flights are more fre-quent than reported in themedia and have become “vir-tually a daily occurrence,”Joseph Wu told reporters.

Along with Chinese militaryexercises simulating an attack onTaiwan, the flights by China arecausing major concern forTaiwan's government, Wu said.

“What it is doing now isunceasingly preparing to useforce to resolve the Taiwanproblem,” Wu said.

China claims the self-rul-ing island democracy as its ownterritory and threatens to usethe People's Liberation Army tobring it under its control. Thesides split in a civil war in 1949

when Chiang Kai-shek'sNationalists fled to the formerJapanese colony as theCommunist Party took controlin mainland China.

Beijing has cut ties with theisland's government sinceTaiwan elected independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wenin 2016 and has sought to iso-late it diplomatically while rais-ing the military threat. Despitethat, Tsai was reelected this yearby a wide margin.

Wu said China appeared tohave grown in confidence fol-lowing its crackdown on oppo-sition voices in the Hong Kong,facilitated by the national leg-islature's passage of a sweepingsecurity law. “If internationalsociety does not give China asufficiently clear signal, Ibelieve China will take it thatinternational society will notimpede it in doing otherthings," Wu said. AP

Anchorage: A powerful earth-quake off Alaska's southerncoast jolted coastal communitieslate Tuesday, and some residentsbriefly scrambled for higherground over fears of a tsunami.

There were no immediatereports of damage in the sparse-ly populated area of the state,and the tsunami warning wascanceled after the magnitude 7.8quake off the Alaska Peninsulaproduced a wave of a less thana foot.

According to the USGeological Survey, the earth-quake struck Tuesday at 10:12pm local time and was centeredin waters 65 miles (105 kilo-meters) south-southeast of thetiny community of Perryville, ata depth of 17 miles (28 km).

Because of the temblor's

location, nearby communitiesalong the Alaska Peninsula didnot experience shaking thatwould normally be associatedwith that magnitude of a quake,said Michael West, Alaska StateSeismologist. That doesn't meanthey slept through it, West saidresidents in small towns with-in a hundred miles (160 kilo-meters) of the quake reportedvery strong shaking. Some shak-ing was also felt more than 500miles (805 kilometers) away inthe Anchorage area, West said.“No reports of any damage,”Kodiak Police Sgt. Mike Sortersaid early Wednesday morning.

“No injuries were reported.Everything is nominal.” Kodiakis about 200 miles (320 kilo-meters) northeast of where theearthquake was centered. AP

Colombo: The wife of one ofthe suicide bombers belongingto a local extremist group thatcarried out the Easter Sundaybombings in Sri Lanka killingnearly 260 people may have fledto India to avoid arrest, accord-ing to a media report.

On April 21, 2019, nine sui-cide bombers belonging to thelocal Islamist extremist groupNational Thawheed Jamaat(NTJ) linked to ISIS carried outa series of blasts that torethrough three churches and asmany luxury hotels in Sri Lanka,killing 258 people, including 11Indians, and injuring over 500on the Easter Sunday.

Sri Lankan police havearrested over 200 suspects inconnection with the bombings.

According to the Englishlanguage daily 'The Island', aprobe panel has been told thatPulasthini Rajendran aliasSarah, the wife of AchchiMohammdu MohammaduHasthun, the suicide bomberwho blew himself up at St.

Sebastian's Church in the west-ern coastal town of Negombo,most likely had fled to India bythe sea in September 2019.

Chief Inspector ArjunaMaheenkanda told thePresidential Commission ofInquiry (PCoI) that the personwho assisted her to flee hadbeen arrested, the report said.

The police officer said thatin October 2019, he wasassigned to investigate theattacks carried out by the NTJ.

Maheenkanda told thePCoI that on July 6, 2020, hereceived a tip-off from an infor-mant that Sarah, who was in theNTJ hideout in the immediateaftermath of the attacks, hadescaped and was hiding inMankadu in the eastern town ofBatticaloa, the report said onTuesday.

"When we were inBatticaloa, we met anotherperson who had seen a woman,whom he believed was Sarah.This informant said he hadseen a cab parked along

Batticaloa-Kalmunai mainroad, near Beach Road,Mankadu area around 3 AM inSeptember 2019.

"He felt suspicious andslowed down. Then he sawSarah and two other men walk-ing towards the main road.There was a street light thereand that's how the informantsaw them. This informant hadlived near Sarah's house for along time. He also saw that shegot into the back seat of the cabparked near the road," thereport quoted Maheenkendaas having told the PCoI.

The officer said that therewas information that Sarah hadfled to India by boat from theMannar area. Two persons,Sarah's brother and husband ofher aunt, had helped her escape,the report said. "One of the sus-pects is currently in custody.The other person has goneabroad. Investigations have alsorevealed that a person in theMannar area helped her flee,"the officer said. PTI

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Bestselling author WilliamDalrymple is among over

180 historians who have issuedan open letter to the UKHome Office calling for areview of the history segmentof the citizenship and settle-ment test for being "funda-mentally misleading" on issuesrelated to slavery and theBritish Empire.

The "Life in the UK Test"is a compulsory requirement

for any applicant for citizen-ship or "indefinite leave toremain" residency rights in theUK and the official HomeOffice handbook issued for itspreparation covers differentsections of British life, includ-ing its history.

Dalrymple, the author of'The White Mughals' and 'TheAnarchy: The Relentless Riseof the East India Company',and other historians includingIndian-origin academics fromleading British universities,

believe that people fromCommonwealth countries likeIndia and other former Britishcolonies are not given a fairrepresentation in the hand-book.

"We are historians ofBritain and the British Empireand writing in protest at theon-going misrepresentationof slavery and Empire in the'Life in the UK Test'," notes theopen letter issued in the offi-cial journal of the HistoricalAssociation on Tuesday.

Jerusalem: After a night ofintense protests against PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahuand his government, dozens ofIsraeli demonstrators chainedthemselves together and brieflyblocked the entrance to parlia-ment on Wednesday morning.

Police arrested four andbroke up the gathering, whichwas called to protest an upcom-ing vote to grant the govern-ment sweeping authority tobypass parliament in enactingmeasures to combat the rapidspread of the coronavirus. Butit came amid a fresh outpour-ing of discontent withNetanyahu.

Protests outsideNetanyahu's residence havebecome a weekly occurrence,with police increasingly takingharsher measures againstdemonstrators. Last month,

they arrested a retired Israeli airforce general, setting off anuproar.

The protests have sincedrawn a younger crowd andhave grown more defiant. In thepast week, thousands of Israelishave participated in some of the

largest demonstrations in near-ly a decade against the long-time prime minister, as publicdiscontent bubbled over.

Netanyahu has come undergrowing criticism for holdingoffice while on trial for cor-ruption, pushing for seeming-

ly anti-democratic measuresunder the guise of combatingthe virus and mismanaging thecountry's deepening economiccrisis.

On Tuesday night, a largecoalition of protest groups com-bined to march through thestreets of Jerusalem fromNetanyahu's official residence tothe Knesset, Israel's parliament.

They beat drums, bangedon pots and blared on trumpetswhile calling for the primeminister's resignation and hold-ing banners reading, “the Israelispring is here." Toward the end,a young women climbed atop amounted candelabra, thenational symbol, and strippedoff her shirt in protest. Policesaid they arrested 34 peoplewho were involved in the dis-turbances, deploying a heavyhand in the arrests. AP

London: Britain's Governmentannounced on Wednesday thatit will open a new special path-way to obtaining British citi-zenship for eligible HongKongers from January 2021.

In a statement, the HomeOffice said holders of theBritish National Overseas pass-port and their immediate fam-ily members can move to theUK to work and study. Thechange to immigration ruleswas introduced after Chinaimposed a new, sweepingnational security law on HongKong.

Those eligible can accessthe British job market at anyskill level and without a salarythreshold, but will not haveaccess to public funds.

“The UK has a strong his-toric relationship with the peo-ple of Hong Kong and we arekeeping our promise to them touphold their freedoms,” HomeSecretary Priti Patel said.

Those who come to the UK

through the new pathway willbe able to apply to settle inBritain permanently once theyhave lived in the UK for fiveyears. Then after a further 12months, they can apply forBritish citizenship.

Britain handed over HongKong, its former colony, toChinese rule in 1997 under a“One Country, Two Systems”framework that was supposed

to guarantee the city a highdegree of autonomy andWestern-style civil liberties notseen on mainland China.

"Today's announcementshows the UK is keeping itsword: we will not look the otherway on Hong Kong, and we willnot duck our historic respon-sibilities to its people," BritishForeign Secretary DominicRaab said. AP

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London: Britain's oppositionLabour Party has agreed to paysubstantial damages to sevenwhistleblowers who sued fordefamation after they voicedconcerns of anti-Semitismwithin the party.

The seven former employ-ees appeared on a BBC inves-tigative program last year look-ing into whether the LabourParty was anti-Semitic.

They criticised Labour'shandling of anti-Semitism com-plaints and sued after the partyissued a statement describingthe group as having “personaland political axes to grind.”

The former employees,who worked in the party's gov-ernance and legal unit, werealso accused of trying to under-mine Jeremy Corbyn, who was

Labour's leader at the time.Mark Henderson, a lawyer

for the party, told the HighCourt on Wednesday that theparty acknowledged that “theclaims about the claimants areuntrue” and apologized to thegroup.

The settlement and theapology underlined how muchthe party's new leader, KeirStarmer, is seeking to tackle theanti-Semitism claims that haveplagued Labour for years.

Starmer hopes to steer theparty back toward the centerafter the divisive tenure of left-wing predecessor Corbyn.

Corbyn, a longtime sup-porter of Palestinians and a crit-ic of Israel, has faced allegationsthat he allowed anti-Semitismto fester in the party. AP

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Washington: The Trumpadministration will pay Pfizernearly $2 billion for a Decemberdelivery of 100 million doses ofa COVID-19 vaccine the phar-maceutical company is develop-ing, Health and Human ServicesSecretary Alex Azar announcedon Wednesday.

The US could buy another500 million doses under the

agreement, Azar said.“Now those would, of

course, have to be safe andeffective” and approved by theFood and Drug Administration,Azar said during an appearanceon Fox News.

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SEannounced separately that theagreement is with HHS and theDefence Department for a vac-

cine candidate the companies aredeveloping jointly. It is the latestin a series of similar agreementswith other vaccine companies.

The agreement is part ofPresident Donald Trump'sOperation Warp Speed vaccineprogramme, under which mul-tiple COVID-19 vaccines arebeing developed simultaneous-ly. The programme aims todeliver 300 million doses of asafe and effective COVID-19vaccine by January 2021. AP

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Market benchmarkssnapped their five-ses-

sion rising streak to close mod-estly lower on Wednesday asinvestors booked profits in IT,FMCG and finance countersamid weak global cues.

After swinging 599 pointsin a volatile session, the 30-share BSE Sensex finished58.81 points, or 0.16 per cent,lower at 37,871.52.

Similarly, the NSE Niftyslipped 29.65 points, or 0.27 percent, to close at 11,132.60.

HUL was the top loser inthe Sensex pack, shedding 3.06per cent, a day after the FMCGmajor posted a 5.68 per centrise in consolidated net profitto �1,897 crore for the Junequarter. The company also saidit expects a couple of turbulentquarters going forward amidthe COVID-19 crisis.

Tata Steel, Maruti,IndusInd Bank, Infosys, L&T,TCS and Asian Paints were theother laggards, dropping up to2.51 per cent. On the otherhand, Axis Bank, Titan,PowerGrid, NTPC, ITC andReliance Industries wereamong the gainers, spurting asmuch as 7.36 per cent.

According to traders,besides stock-specific action,market succumbed to profit-booking at higher levels. Weakcues from global markets alsokept investors cautious.

Global equities faltered fol-lowing a spike in US-Chinatensions after Washingtonabruptly asked Beijing to closethe Chinese consulate inHouston.

Bourses in Hong Kong,Seoul and Tokyo ended in thered, while Shanghai settled ona positive note. Stock exchangesEurope were trading with sig-nificant losses in early deals asinvestor focus shifted tomounting COVID-19 cases.

“Indian indices exhibitedvolatility and closed in thenegative, in sync with negativeglobal cues. The spike in US-China tensions hit the globalmarkets while a surge in virus

infections globally also impact-ed sentiment.

“Domestically, the privatebanking space gained on theback of earnings numbers fromAxis Bank.

However, Auto, IT andPSU Banks led the losses.Volatility is expected to con-tinue due to expiry day tomor-row,” said Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices.

BSE IT, auto, capital goods,

teck, realty, industrials, oil and gas, FMCG and metal

indices fell up to 1.41 per cent.Consumer durables, utilities,power, energy and bankex roseas much as 2.25 per cent.

Broader BSE mid-capindex rose 0.19 per cent, whilethe small-cap gauge tumbled0.23 per cent.

Meanwhile, internationaloil benchmark Brent crudefutures slipped 0.74 per cent toUSD 43.99 per barrel.

In the forex market,the rupee pared settled on a flatnote at 74.75 against the USdollar. India added 37,724fresh cases of COVID-19 onWednesday, taking the coun-try’s tally to 11,92,915, while thedeath count neared the 29,000-mark.

Globally, coronavirus caseshave crossed 1.5 crore, withmore than 6.16 lakh fatalities.

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Even as the Indian Railwaysplans to introduce the first

set of 12 private trains in 2023,followed by 45 more in the nextfiscal, according to an initialtimeline drawn by theRailways, the national trans-porter held a pre-bid confer-ence and several internationalcompanies showed interest inthe project.

According to railway min-istry sources, Spanish coachand component maker CAF,Bombardier India, GMR groupwhich owns and operates twoairports in the country wereamong the prominent playerswhich participated in the pre-bid meeting.

Sources also said that pub-lic sector units (PSUs) likeRITES, Railways’ tourism andcatering arm IRCTC andBharat Heavy ElectricalsLimited (BHEL) also partici-pated in the meeting along withthe Hyderabad-based MedhaGroup, which had bid for theTrain 18 project, RK Associates,Sterlite Power, Bharat Forgeand JKB Infrastructure. Thesources said that Gateway Rail,Jason Infra, Hind Rectifier alsoparticipated in the meeting.

The 16 firms attended apre-application conference onthe private train project held onTuesday. However, the rail-ways remained tightlipped onthe companies that participat-ed in the meeting. TheRailways in a formal kickstartto its plans to allow private enti-ties to operate passenger trains

on its network has invited pro-posals from companies to run151 modern passenger trainson 109 pairs of routes acrossthe country. The project wouldentail private sector invest-ment of about Rs 30,000 crore.

On Monday, a Railwaysspokesperson said that theissues and concerns raised bythe prospective private playerswere discussed and clarifica-tions were provided by theofficials of the Ministry ofRailways and NITI Aayog forimproved clarity on the provi-sions of RFQ and biddingframework.

He said the queries weremainly related to eligibility cri-teria, bidding process, pro-curement of rakes, operationsof trains and composition ofclusters. The official furthersaid that there were queries onhaulage charges to which theRailways replied that haulagecharges will be specifiedupfront and will be suitablyindexed for the entire conces-sion period, thereby bringingcertainty in the haulagecharges.

“The Railways will alsoprovide the details of passengertraffic being handled on theroutes under bidding. This will

enable the bidders to do duediligence for the project,” hesaid. The official also said thatRailways has clarified thattrains to be operated under theproject can be either purchasedor taken on lease by the privateentities. The national trans-porter clarified that risks withregard to operation of trainsshall be allocated to the partiesin an equitable manner.

The Ministry of Railwayswill be providing written repliesto the queries received from theprospective applicants by July31 and the second pre-appli-cation conference is scheduledon August 12.

As part its privatisationplan, the Railways has plannedto introduce 12 trains in 2022-23, 45 in 2023-2024, 50 in2025-26 and 44 in 2026-27, tak-ing the total number to 151.

The request for qualifica-tion (RFQ), which was floatedon July 8, is likely to be finalisedby November, while the finan-cial bids will be opened byMarch, 2021.

The selection of bidders isplanned to be done by April 31,2021, according to a timelinefor introduction of private pas-senger trains prepared by theRailways.

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Shares of Reliance Industries(RIL) surged to a new high

on Wednesday, as they crossedthe �2,000-mark for the firsttime.RIL shares touched anall-time high of �2,010 pershare.They are currently trad-ing on the BSE at �1,996, high-er by �24.15 or 1.22 per centfrom its previous close.

In the past three monthsRIL’s stock price has grownaround 48 per cent.The surgehas been largely on the backof the investments coming infrom global marquee investors

into Jio Platforms.Jio Platforms has received

a total investment of �1,52,056crore in the past three monthsfrom financial and strategicinvestors, with Google beingthe latest investor to pitch inwith �33,737 crore.

On Wednesday, the com-pany in a regulatory filing saidthat the meeting of its Boardto consider and approve thestandalone and consolidatedfinancial results for the quar-ter ended June 30 will be heldon Thursday, July 30, 2020instead of July 24.

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Telecom operators will nowhave to provide the location

grid of the premises of bulksubscribers during physicalverification for issuing newconnections, according to aDoT order.

Telecom companies willhave to provide a point of salecode through a portal to lawenforcement agencies, theorder said.

The Department ofTelecom (DoT) in an orderissued on July 20 asked telecomoperators to remove or correctgibberish text in consumerapplication form of all existingconnections that were given tocustomers using electronicknow you customer (e-KYC)and Digital KYC processes.

“In case of issuing newmobile connections to thebulk subscriber, during thephysical verification of the

premises of bulk subscribers,the latitude/longitude of thepremises of the bulk sub-scriber and data and time ofthe inspection shall be cap-tured and the same shall beinserted in the CAF and data-base,” the order said.

The move will ensure thatphysical verification of thebulk connections is done bytelecom companies.

DoT has mandatedtelecom companies to conductinspection of premises of bulkconnection users every sixmonth and capture the locationgrid.

DoT has found gibberishentries in the consumer appli-cation form (CAF) submittedby telecom operators and theyhave been asked to remove orcorrect such anomalies in theexisting CAFs collectedthrough e-KYC and D-KYCprocesses.

The Department had

allowed telecom operators touse Aadhaar based e-KYCprocess from August 2016 butdiscontinued it following theSupreme Court judgement inAadhaar related matter inSeptember 2018.

Thereafter, DoT started D-KYC whereby telcos wereallowed to submit scannedcopy of customer’s photo IDand address proof and digital-ly filled basic details of the sub-scriber in CAF.

All the phone connectionsat present are issued throughD-KYC process.

Under the new rules, tele-com operators will have toverify details of the companyfrom the Ministry of CorporateAffairs before activating theSIM cards.

DoT has ordered theimplementation of the newprocess “within three monthsfrom the date of issue of theseinstructions”.

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Telecom operator VodafoneIdea Ltd NSE 3.01 % on

Wednesday announced thecompletion of its postpaid con-solidation exercise, by bringingall Idea postpaid subscribersunder a single umbrella of‘Vodafone RED’. All VodafoneIdea postpaid subscribers cannow avail benefits of theVodafone RED plan, a uniformcustomer service, and anenhanced digital experience,the company said in a state-ment.

The consolidation is a sig-nificant step towards its syner-gy realisations and has led toprocess standardisation forboth the retail and enterprisecustomers, the statementadded.

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Electronic toll collection onhighways rebounded to

March levels in June, andtouched 75 per cent ofFebruary levels as economicactivities across the countryhave started to pick up since theimplementation of ‘unlock’,Crisil Research said. Accordingto the agency, constructionacross national highways isalso picking up, however, it islikely to see a 10-13 per centdecline this fiscalyea”Electronic toll collection inJune has rebounded to Marchlevels and touched 75 per centof February levels. For an ideaof how hard the pandemic hadslammed the brakes, toll col-lection had dropped off the clifffrom �11 crore in February2020 to just �1 crore in April,”the agency said.

The COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns had virtu-ally halted movement of peo-

ple and goods in April andMay, but curbs are being liftedslowly and the economy isbeginning to crawl back.Theagency noted that nationalhighway construction activitiesrebounded to 637 km in Mayfrom just 210 km in April.

“But key constructionmonths were lost in the lock-down and labour migrationcontinues to pinch. Normalcymight return only after themonsoon. Overall, we are brac-ing for a 10-13 per cent declinein highway construction on-year this fiscal,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry ofRoad Transport and Highwaysspent �18,700 crore in April-May, a 46x jump from �400crore in the same period last fis-cal, it said.”While this was main-ly because milestone paymentswere made and to ease the cashflows of developers, it will havea trade-off - constrained futurespending by MoRTH,” CrisilNSE 0.77 % said.

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In yet another reform initia-tive in the oil and gas sector,

pipeline operators in the coun-try may shift to a unified orpooled tariff regime for inter-connected cross-country gaspipelines from September 1.

A unified tariff may doaway with levy of multiple tar-iffs on customers, ensuringequitable distribution of gasand uniform gas-based eco-nomic development across thecountry. The current system oftariff determination leads tomultiple pipeline tariffs oncustomers who have contract-ed for gas which flows frommultiple pipelineoperators.According to offi-cial sources, downstream oiland gas regulator, thePetroleum and Natural GasRegulatory Board has finalisedthe draft regulation on unifiedtariff and would fix the tariff byAugust-end and implement it

from the first day of Sept.Withthis, one nation, one gas grid,one pricing would be imple-mented across the country,bringing relief to customers infar-flung areas who were beingcharged extra for gas trans-mission but raising chargesfor other existing customers tobring about price equalisation.

According to a report byICICI Securities, unified tariffmechanism would boost utili-sation on GAIL’s Jagdishpur-Ha l d i a - B o k a ro - D h a m r apipeline by virtue of loweringof tariff under pooling of trans-mission prices.

When the CabinetCommittee on EconomicAffairs approved the JHBDPL,GAIL had proposed unifiedtariff to ensure viability of thispipeline, and had estimatedunified tariff on the JHBDPLand other inter-connectedpipelines at �57/mmbtu vs�173/mmbtu, if fixed sepa-rately for the JHBDPL.

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Retailers estimate 64 percent de-growth in their

business in the first half of July2020 as compared to the sameperiod last year as Indian retailindustry continues to face hur-dles at state and local levelsmaking recovery all the moredistant, RAI said onWednesday.

According to the fourthedition of business survey con-ducted by Retailers Associationof India (RAI), a few categoriessuch as food and grocery andconsumer durables have start-ed showing some signs ofimprovement with overall de-growth now at 45 per cent and30 per cent, respectively, com-pared to the same period lastyear.

Within the consumerdurables category, large-sizedretailers (over �300 crore sales)indicated de-growth of 21 percent, whereas within food andgrocery, small and medium-sized retailers (less than� 300crore sales) reported de-growthof 35 per cent, it added.In terms of categories, appareland clothing declined 74 percent, footwear was down 74 per

cent, jewellery, watches andpersonal accessories were down78 per cent, while furniture andfurnishing witnessed a drop of63 per cent.

Similarly, the RAI surveysaid sports goods sales dropped68 per cent, beauty, wellnessand personal care decreased by71 per cent, and quick servicerestaurants declined by 73 percent, it added.

Regionwise, RAI said allregions are equally beaten forsales growth with east at 62 percent decline, while westdropped 69 per cent, northdeclined 68 per cent and southalso saw a dip of 58 per cent inthe first half of July 2020 ascompared to the same periodlast year, RAI added.

“It has been a grim start tothe second quarter of FY21with retailers facing huge oper-ational setbacks due to ad-hoclocal lockdowns creating con-fusion and leading to supplychain and staffing issues,” RAICEO Kumar Rajagopalan said.

Supply chain and opera-tions need to smoothen up toensure the upcoming festiveseason brings back the much-needed impetus to sales recov-ery, he added.

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Digital platforms anywherein the world need to be

responsive, accountable andsensitive to concerns of sover-eign nations regarding issueslike data privacy and securityof citizens, Minister forElectronics and IT RaviShankar Prasad said onWednesday.

Speaking at the G20 DigitalEconomy Ministers meet,

Prasad emphasised on data-related issues and sovereignrights of countries to protectdata privacy and security of cit-izens, according to an officialrelease.

He noted that India will soonput in place a robust person-

al data protection law that willnot only address the data pri-

vacy-related concerns of citi-zens but also ensure availabil-ity of data for innovation andeconomic development. The minister asserted that dig-ital platforms having presenceacross multiple countries mustbecome trustworthy, safe and

secure. “The Digital platforms needto be responsive, accountable,

and sensitive to the concerns ofsovereign nations as far assafety, defence and data priva-cy is concerned,” the ministersaid.

New Delhi: WhatsApp willwork with partners like banksand financial institutions inIndia to make it easier forpeople to access products suchas insurance, microcredit andpension, its India Head AbhijitBose said on Wednesday. The company will also supportmultiple pilots to test potentialsolutions to solve problemsrelated to distribution of finan-cial products, Bose said at theGlobal Fintech Fest.

The Facebook-ownedcompany has been workingfor more than a year withbanking partners to see how itcan supplement their digitalpresence and accelerate thepace of financial access across

segments and geographies inthe country, Bose said.

“We now want to open upwith more banks...Over thiscoming year to help simplifyand expand banking services,especially to the rural andlower income segments...Wealso aim to expand our exper-iments with partners for otherproducts that RBI highlightedas basic financial services, start-ing with micro pensions andinsurance,” he added. Bose saidthe collective aim over thenext 2-3 years is to be able tohelp low wage workers in theunorganised informal economyto easily access three products- insurance, microcredit andpension. PTI

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While the US remains thefavourite destination for

Indians looking for jobs over-seas, there has been a substan-tial fall in the number ofsearches looking for employ-ment opportunities in America,a report by global job portalIndeed has said. Accordingto the Indeed data, job search-es for the USA fell to 42 percent in June 2020 from a highof 58 per cent in January 2019.However, the US remained thefavourite destination forIndians looking at jobs abroad,the report noted. A down-ward trend that predatesimpacts of the COVID-19 pan-demic, and corresponds insteadwith uncertainty around andtightening of the US immigra-tion policy, it added. The datafor this report is compiled andanalysed from job searches onthe Indeed platform.

Indian job seekersremained keen to explore workopportunities across the globe,making up a significant frac-tion of those employed in var-ious sectors such as technolo-gy, administration and man-agement, sales and consumermarketing, among others inter-nationally, the report said.

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Lal Masjid’s or Masjid MubarakBegum’s middle dome collapseddue to heavy rains on Sunday,

early in the morning. Zahid, the imamof the mosque, said that he heard thun-der and when he rushed out of his room,he saw the ruptured dome.

“I was sleeping in my room insidethe mosque when I heard thunder. Wehave locked the mosque since the day butwe continue offering Namaz in theopen courtyard,” said 45-year-old Zahid.

He revealed that the mosque was lastrepaired in 2016 and since then, therehasn’t been any repairing. It was not justthe lightning and rainfall that led to thedamage but also the age. The dome andthe roof had started developing cracksover the past few years. Zahid applied atthe Delhi Waqf Board (DWB), asking forthe restoration of the damaged structure.He said that officers from the Board hadvisited the site to assess the damage onMonday.

I would often visit the mosque forprayers and noticed the cracks. Thesecould have been the outcome of a num-ber of constructions carried out by theDelhi Metro station, which is hardly 100metres away from the mosque. When theunderground metro runs through underthe building, it causes vibrations in thenearby structures.

The 200-year old mosque, built ofred sandstone, measures 29’0” north andsouth by 14’0” east and west, as quotedin Monuments of Delhi by Maulvi ZafarHasan. It’s a two-storeyed mosque. Thefirst storey, which forms the floor of themosque, consists of arched rooms usedas shops. The upper storey consists of acourtyard and prayer hall of three com-partments roofed by onion-shapeddomes, and has three arch-shapedentrances. The central arch bears theinscription on a piece of white marble.

The mosque, built in 1822-23 byMubarak Begum, is just 15 steps from theroad. She was one of the 13 wives of SirDavid Ochterlony (Akhtar Loony, nick-named by locals). It is said that MubarakBegum built this mosque superior to thearched sky. Its dignity is much more thanthat of Jerusalem, rather this should becalled a second Jerusalem.

Begum came from Pune as part ofa dance troupe and presented toOchterlony, stated William Dalrymple(in a note from the Delhi ResidencyArchives, published in 1861). Shebecame a courtesan and found her wayto Delhi where she converted to Islamand married Ochterlony. She was tact-ful and desirous, although she wasmuch younger than Ochterlony,Mubarak Begum, who was referred to as‘Beebee Mahruttun Moobaruck ul NissaBegume’, always had an upper hand intheir relationship.

In White Mughals, Dalrymple quot-ed an observer at the time who remarkedthat making Ochterlony as the‘Commissioner’ of Delhi was the sameas giving the position to her, who alsocame to be known as the ‘GeneralleeBegum’. After marriage, she possessedOchterlony’s property, through whichshe built the mosque, Lal Masjid orMasjid Mubarak Begum. She also builta neighbouring house, where the lastmushaira (poetry symposium) of Delhi,organised by Mughal prince MirzaFarhatullah Baig, was held. Stalwarts likeGhalib, Zauq and Momin also attendedthe event. The structure now houses theHauz Qazi police station.

It was for the first time that a

nautch girl, not royalty, had commis-sioned a mosque and hence, it offend-ed the Britishers and the Nawabs, whichis why they started calling it Randi kiMasjid.

In early 19th-century, randis (strum-pet) were city’s divas not only skilled indance but also singing, conversation andpoetry. And the elites and Nawabs linedup to seek their company. Their mannerof presenting themselves was so refinedthat the young Nawabs were sent to themto learn the art of conversation. Theywere always surrounded by the power-ful men of the court, the Nawabs and theBritish residence. These women knewthe city’s secrets. Therefore, even the richreached out to them to be well-informedabout particular situations. Their largekothis or multi-storeyed homes withcourtyards marked their stature. Theywere not condemned rather flaunted bythe city’s elite men who had long-termrelationships with them.

However, in the modern times, thisname of the mosque has only acted as asymbol of prejudice against it. “For thelongest time, the stigma of being ‘RandiKi Masjid’ has aggravated the ignorancetowards the mosque,” stated Alishah,walk leader, Purani Dilli Walo Ki Baatein.

An old adage goes that too manycooks spoil the broth. And it can be wit-nessed in true spirit in Shahjahanabad.For the preservation of heritage of thespecial conservation zone of Master Plan2021, multiple governing bodies areresponsible — mosque committee,mohalla committee, DWB, DelhiArchaeological Survey of India (ASI),and Shahjahanabad Re-developmentCorporation (SRDC). However, none hasemerged successful to rectify these mal-practices. Although at the local level,members from these departments can bewitnessed chatting over a cup of tea withlocal builder lobby, reported a Namaziat the mosque.

“Two more days the news will bedoing rounds on the internet. Heritageenthusiasts will be making posts on his-tory, importance of the mosque and thenthe mosque will be summoned to cheaprestoration, killing the authenticity of thestructure. Numerous mosques likeMasjid Mubarak Begum, Masjid Rukn-ud-daulah, Masjid Badal Beg etc., inShahjahanabad have met this ill fate,”rued Alishah.

Engineers of the Delhi Waqf Board,which maintains the mosque, said it is“beyond repair” in terms of its heritage.“It is tough to reach the roof, which hasbecome vulnerable and collect the bricks.They have not been cleared as we are

waiting for them to be inspected byexperts, with whom we are trying to getin touch. We will preserve the malba(rubble) for research and see if it or someother material could be used for itsrestoration,” said Mohammad Mehfuz,section officer, Delhi Waqf Board.

The official also said that the DWBhas contacted the ASI to seek its exper-tise and help in restoration as they do nothave any experts or architects within theboard and would like to reach out toother conservation agencies if theywould like to come forward and help inthe task.

(The writer is the founder of PuraniDilli Walo Ki Baatein.)

Rain inspires creativity. The term‘brainstorm’ is enough to hint at how

great ideas often come during a down-pour! Curated by Chhavi Jain, theonline exhibition Mann Ka Malhar: Alyrical exposition, aptly coincided by withmonsoon season, depicts how a groupof contemporary artists interpret theMalhar (rainfall) through their state ofbeing.

The show captures the many moodsthat ones goes through while witnessingthe rain — from an uncontrollablestorm of emotions to a sense of longing,wonderment and tranquillity.

Presented by Anant Art, the showfeatures nine artists from across Indiaand is a culmination of dialoguesbetween them and their artworks. At thebackdrop of this is a shared, yet uniqueexperience of the pandemic that hasimpacted realities and intensified com-plexities around us.

Within the realm of Indian mythol-ogy and legend, Malhar is one of themost ancient ragas in Hindustani clas-sical music that, when sung, is believedto induce torrential rainfall. The storyis famously traced to Tansen, a promi-nent figure in Hindustani classicalmusic, in the court of the Mughalemperor, Akbar. The Indian lore man-ifests magic realism in its peculiarpower of invocation. The raga has overten variants, the more prominent onesbeing Megh Malhar and Mian ki Malhar.

“A journey into Malhar attempts tointerlace the classical with contemporaryvisual forms. The curation seeks to bringto light the artists’ interpretation ofMann ka Malhar, or the Malhar within,a state of being (of mind and emotions),with a range of internal or externalscapes to experiment with,” said Chhavi.

In the raga’s nature lies positivity,fragrance, creation and a power tocleanse. Plausibly, the rainfall alludes toa state of mind brought about by therecital of the raga.

Malhar, a raga of night time, is usu-ally depicted in its intense form andvisualised in hues of blue and deep pur-ple. Despite its association with rain ormonsoon, the depiction of this raga informs of bandish (musical compositions)and other forms of representation, hasbeen variable.

Artist Tanaya Sharma’s Garden ofBloom uses the symbol of floatingcrowns to suggest alleviation of oppres-sive, hierarchical systems as a methodof cleansing brought about by rains.Artist Abhijit Saikia conceives an imageof displacement and longing, inspiredfrom his surrounding realities as though

struck by an unpredictable storm.While artist Rajib Chowdhury cre-

ates magic with his perception of mon-soon and adorns his work with AghaShahid Ali Khan’s poetry, artist and pro-fessor Indrapramit Roy delves into theunpredictable nature of life as well as theanxieties of urban life especially duringmonsoon and the pandemic.

Artist Khandakar Ohida’s audio-visual work Rain is Falling(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FaP38BpTRU&t=145s), has been con-ceived in the rustic fringes of Kelepada,a village in West Bengal. Impacted by theglobal pandemic, Ohida, while on a visitto her family in the village, is remind-ed of simpler times of her childhooddays. A lullaby, symbolic of motherhood,subtly encapsulates the work in itswake. Through a heavy, dark sky, ametaphor to a heavy heart, Ohida relo-cates the horizon of Mann ka Malharwith nostalgia in an attempt to recon-nect with her roots and emotionaldepths.

Among other participating artistsare Digbijayee Khatua, Ganesh Das,Laxmipriya Panigrahi, and MalavikaRajnarayan.

(The exhibition is live at www.anan-tart.com.)

After making its India premiere at the50th International Film Festival of

India held in Goa, National Award-win-ning filmmaker Prakash Jha’s next,Pareeksha-The Final Test, will make itsinternational premiere at the 23rdShanghai International Film Festival(SIFF).

Originally scheduled to take place inJune, the SIFF was postponed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic and will now beheld from July 25 to August 2, 2020. Thefilm will have three screenings, July 26,July 28, and August 1.

Starring Priyanka Bose, AdilHussain, Sanjay Suri and child actorShubham Jha, the film will also have itsUK premiere at the London Indian FilmFestival (LIFF).

The film, inspired by real events,

makes a sharp comment on the Indianeducation system. Good quality educa-tion, which has become the monopolyof the rich, remains inaccessible to themasses, further dividing our society.Resonating from the real experience ofan IPS officer, Shri Abhayanand, who isthe former DGP of Bihar, this story givesus a glimpse of hope for the poor whodeserve more opportunities.

Talking about the premiere at SIFF,Jha says, “It’s a great honour for our film,Pareeksha, to have its internationalpremiere at one of the biggest and mostprestigious film festivals in South Asia.We are delighted that the festival is tak-ing place physically and our film willactually be screened in theatres.”

(The film releases on ZEE5 onAugust 6.)

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The month of August is recog-nised as a month of revolution,rights and reforms in the Indian

history: August 20 — SadbhavanaDiwas, August 19 — WorldHumanitarian Day, August 15 —Independence Day, August 8 — QuitIndia Movement, August 5 — aboli-tion of Article 370 and August 1 —Muslim Women Rights Day.

August 1, 2019, is a historic dayin Indian parliamentary history whenthe bill against triple talaq was madea law despite the obstacle by so-called‘champions of secularism’, includingthe Congress, Communist Party,Samajwadi Party, Bahujan SamajParty and Trinamool Congress.

It became the day which ensuredgender equality and strengthenedconstitutional, fundamental anddemocratic rights of the Muslimwomen. Triple talaq or Talaq-a-Biddatwas neither Islamic nor legal. Despitethe fact, the social evil of triple talaqwas given “political patronage” by“Merchants of Votes”.

The law against social evil of tripletalaq could have been passed in 1986when the Supreme Court had givenhistoric judgement in the Shahbanocase. The Congress had absolutemajority in Parliament with more than400 out of 545 Lok Sabha membersand more than 159 out of 245 mem-bers in the Rajya Sabha. But the thenRajiv Gandhi-Government used itsstrength in the Parliament to make theSupreme Court judgement ineffectiveand deprived the Muslim women oftheir constitutional and fundamentalrights.

The Congress’ “Mistake of theMoment” became “Punishment of theDecades” for the Muslim women. TheCongress was worried for “Vote KaUdhaar”, while our government wasworried for “Samajik Sudhaar” (socialreform).

India runs on a Constitution andnot on any religious textbook. Earlier,various legislations had been broughtin the country to abolish social evilssuch as sati pratha and child marriage.Triple talaq law has nothing to do withreligion, the law has been made pure-ly to ensure gender equality by end-ing a social evil, inhuman, cruel andunconstitutional practice. Instant

divorce by verbally saying talaq thriceis illegal. There were several incidentscoming where women had been giventalaq through letter, phone or eventhrough text messages. Such incidentsare unacceptable to a sensitive coun-try and to a government committedto inclusive development.

Several Muslim-majority nationsof the world had declared triple talaqillegal and un-Islamic much earlier.Egypt was the first Muslim nation,which abolished this social evil in1929.

Sudan in 1929, Pakistan in 1956,Bangladesh in 1972, Iraq in 1959,Syria in 1953, Malaysia in 1969 had

abolished the practice of triple talaq.Besides, countries such as Cyprus,Jordan, Algeria, Iran, Brunei,Morocco, Qatar, UAE also endedthis social evil many years ago. But ittook 70 years for India to get rid of thisinhuman and cruel practice.

The Supreme Court on May 18,2017 had declared it unconstitution-al. One year has passed since the lawagainst it was passed and there is adecline of about 82 per cent in tripletalaq cases thereafter. If any such casewas reported, the law has takenaction.

Modi’s Government is committedto empowerment of all sections andsocial reforms. Some political partiesgive illogical statements that why theModi-Government is worried abouttalaq in Muslim women? Why theGovernment don’t do anything fortheir socio-economic-educationalempowerment? I want to make it clearto those people who ask such ques-tions that during the last six years, theGovernment has worked with inclu-sive empowerment for every sec-tions including Muslim women.

Approximately, three crore 87lakh minority students have beengiven various scholarships whichinclude about 60 per cent of the girlchild. A large number of Muslimwomen have been provided employ-ment opportunities through HunarHaat. More than 10 lakh minorityyouths have been provided employ-ment through skill developmentschemes such as Seekho aur Kamao,Garib Nawaz Swarojgar Yojna, Usttad,Nai Manzil, Nai Roushni and more. A

total of 3,040 women have performedHaj after the Modi Governmentensured Muslim women can performHaj without Mehram (male compan-ion) in 2018. This year too, more than2,300 women had applied to performHaj without Mehram. These womenwill be allowed to go to Haj 2021 onthe basis of their application for Haj2020 only. Besides, women who filenew application, will also be allowedto go next year.

Even the opposition cannot raisequestion that there has been any dis-crimination with any community inwelfare schemes. Our efforts for inclu-sive empowerment have shown resultson the ground. Our Government hasprovided electricity to a large numberof villages of the country which weredeprived of electricity for decades.These villages include large number ofminority community dominated vil-lages. We have provided benefit to 22crore farmers under Kisan SammanNidhi which include more than 33 percent farmers belonging to minoritycommunities. About 37 per cent ofmore than eight crore beneficiaries ofUjjwala Yojna providing free gas con-nection belong to minority commu-nities. We have also provided easyloans to about 24 crore people underMudra Yojna for small and mediumbusiness and other employment ori-ented economic activities and morethan 36 per cent beneficiaries are fromminority communities. Muslimwomen have significantly been bene-fitted from these welfare schemes, theyhave become an equal partner ofmainstream development.

SRM Institute ofScience & Technology

(SRMIST) andFederation of IndianChambers of Commerce& Industry (FICCI) areorganising an Industry-Academia Global VirtualConference on EmergingEconomic Scenario —Identify and CreateCompetencies.

The event will beheld in two sessions. Thefirst part — the newworld work order — willbe inaugurated byMinister for Commerceand Industry andMinister for Railways,Piyush Goyal. The secondsession — collaborativeframework for new-agelearning — is likely tohave a keynote address byMinister for Human

Resource Development,Ramesh Pokhriyal.

A large number ofparticipants consisting ofCEOs, CXOs, top corpo-rate officials, regulators,academicians, facultymembers from all over

the globe are expected tobe part of the event.

The conference aimsto deliberate upon theimpact of ongoingchanges on the economy,the swift transitiontowards digital interface

and its impact on new-age competencies, theneed for effective syn-chronisation betweenindustry and academia,and identifying newgrounds for internation-al collaborations.

In a colourful passing outparade, 100 trainees consist-

ing of 11 AssistantCommandant (Probationer), 79Sub Inspector and 10 AssistantSub-Inspector passed out fromCISF NISA Hyderabad, whileobserving all preventive mea-sures and social distancingnorms. Union Minister of State(MoS) for Home Affairs, GKishan Reddy graced the occa-sion as chief guest who reviewedthe E-Passing out Paradethrough webinar alongwithRajesh Ranjan, DG, CISF &other senior officers of CISF.

The POP of the newlyinducted officers and personnelis a grand affair for the force, amoment of pride for the officer,personnel and their family. Butin times of COVID-19, this yearfor the first time in a new his-torical experiment, E-PassingOut Parade was organised byCISF. It was witnessed electron-ically by the families, friends andgeneral public through the weblink.

In her welcome address,Anjana Sinha, IPS, Director,NISA Hyderabad presented areport on the training activities.She complimented the traineesfor their sincerity and dedicationand hoped that the rigoroustraining imparted at the train-ing centre would make themstand in good stead in their pro-fessional career. She also elabo-rated the expanding roles ofCISF and correspondingly thewide spectrum of specialisedtraining imparted at NISAHyderabad.

Ranjan welcomed Reddyon the occasion. While address-ing through webinar, he empha-sised the role of CISF in protect-ing the vital installations. Hesaid that the endeavour of CISFis to nurture the core underly-ing qualities like discipline,turnout, physical fitness and

professionalism of all the officersand personnel. He said that ourforte has been our ability to keeppace with technologicaladvances, our amiable humaninterface with the general pub-lic and above all our robust corecompetence.

During the occasion, mes-sage of Home Minister, AmitShah was also read by the DG,CISF. Shah praised the officers& personnel of CISF for theiruncompromising determina-tion and immaculate profession-alism in securing the citizensand national assets during theepidemic. He also congratulat-ed the trainees and staff andwished them a bright future.

Reddy congratulated thetrainees for making the historyby participating in the first E-Passing out Parade. He applaud-ed the growing role of CISF inthe changing security scenarioand said that CISF creditablysecuring airports, critical andvery sensitive establishmentsof the country. He said that asa part of CISF, the role of thenew officers will be vital in ourjourney towards a new Indiaand ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’. Healso praised the women person-nel. He further acknowledgedthat the women personnel havemade many noteworthy contri-butions to the force and, have

proven to be a force multiplier.MoS for Home, has appreciat-ed the role of NISA as the‘Centre of Excellence’. He con-gratulated DG, CISF for hisleadership of the force, which isattaining new milestones witheach passing day.

During the occasion, CISFannual publication Sentinel-2020 & Coffee Table BookWomen Power-CISF werereleased by the MoS for Home.The CTB on women in CISF,showcased the journey of thewomen from their induction inthe late 80s in CISF, to reach-ing the highest percentageamong any CAPF.

The officers who passedout today, during the course oftheir training, have acquiredskills in a wide array of sub-jects. They have also beenimparted strenuous training onhandling of sophisticatedweapons & sensitive electron-ic security based gadgetry, drillmovements apart from physi-cal training. To meet and over-come the challenges of internalsecurity duties and those aris-ing from naxal and terrorgroups, the trainees were sub-jected to jungle camp training,raids, ambush & counterambush, night navigation andQRT type practical training aswell.

Alok Kumar took the charge ofAdditional General Manager of

Western Railway on Monday. He is asenior officer of Indian Railways Serviceof Mechanical Engineering (IRSME)who joined railways through the SCRA(1981) exam of UPSC.

He did his mechanical engineeringfrom Engineering Council (London)and has a bachelor’s degree in electricalengineering and is an MBA too. He start-ed his careerin 1986 atW e s t e r nRailway andover the last34 years hasworked at anumber ofimp or tantposts in rail-ways includ-ing theDRM ofB h o p a lD i v i s i o n .During histenure at Container Corporation ofIndia, he was instrumental in getting stateof the art port cranes at dry ports acrossIndia.

As Chief Project Manager at ModernCoach Factory, Rae Bareli, he led the teamthat set up the most modern plant inIndia to manufacture high speed railwaycoaches and subsequently as ChiefAdministrative Officer at modern coachfactory, he headed the team that pio-neered implementation of Industry 4.0 inIndian Railway workshops.

He has been trained in various facetsof advanced management at CMU,Pittsburgh; SDA Bocconi, Milan; APEC,Antwerp; IIM, Ahmedabad and ISB,Hyderabad. He even won the Minister ofRailways award for Best Project and GM’sefficiency medal and also received theInstitute’s Medal during engineering.Prior to his posting as AGM/WR, he wasworking as Chief Administrative Officerof modern coach factory at Raebareli.

Aperformance reviewmeeting was held by

Rajiv Chaudhry, GeneralManager Northern & NorthCentral Railways with thedepartmental heads ofNorthern Railway throughvideo conferencing fromBaroda House, NR head-quarter office in New Delhi.

He discussed the ongoing initiatives of the var-ious departments in main-taining and enhancing theinfrastructure and assets ofthe zone, post-lockdown.As normalcy is returningNorthern Railway is puttingin efforts to revamp the railroutes, increase speed insections, increase electrifica-tion and improve signalingsystems. Infrastructureenhancement works in theform of new rail lines isagain picking up speed.

Work on the hill rail-ways, the USBRL projectand Rishikesh-KarnprayagChardham Project inUttarakhand is back ontrack. Tunneling work onthe 12.75 km T-40 tunnel in

Ramban district of Jammu& Kashmir has resumed.The sites of the iconicChenab and Anji Bridgesare abuzz with activityagain. The newly construct-ed section Virabhadra-Rishikesh section has beencommissioned and a newrailway station Yognagarihas been constructed withworld class facilities atRishikesh. Work on severaltunnels and bridges on theroute has also started.

An average 96 specialtrains going to different

destinations across thecountry are running on adaily basis from Delhi alone.The focus is on increasingthe punctuality of the trains.The punctuality status ofNorthern Railway stands at97 per cent at present. Thisis up from 92 per cent inMay-June 20. There is animpetus on increasing sec-tional speed of trains, in thisregard the overused raillines are being revamped,electrification and advancedsignaling works are beingundertaken. Speed trials are

being conducted on manyimportant routes with fullload to access efficacy. Speedin many sections is envis-aged to be increased to 100kmph and beyond fromexisting 60 to 80 kmph.

To encourage use ofrailways for movement ofgoods, freight businessdevelopment units havebeen opened in all the fivedivisions of NR. These unitswill reach out to the freightcustomers to provide aneasy and hassle-free plat-form for doing business.More and moreloading/unloading pointsare being provided as perthe demand of the cus-tomers. Now even smallcontainers can be trans-ported through railways.

Expressing satisfactionon the performance of thevarious departments,Chaudhry said, “We shoulduse this time period to over-haul and revitalise our sys-tem so that we can providesafe, comfortable and time-ly service to the rail-users”.

GAIL has been creating awareness for bring-ing a positive change to ensure a greener and

cleaner environment through its Hawa Badlomovement. In this move #Wake Up And SmellThe Change initiative has been started by theHawa Badlo platform to spread the idea of appre-ciating and preserving the positive environmen-tal changes occurred due to the lock down. In thisinitiative, the netizens were asked to take a pledgeand sustain this change in future as well as withbefitting lifestyle changes such as:�Staying home more on weekends.�Walking or riding the bicycle whenever one can.�Using one car per family.�Using cleaner fuels in vehicles and home likenatural gas, CNG, PNG, renewables etc.

An online engagement activity was alsoorganised under this initiative earlier where inpeople were requested to click pictures of scenicbeauties from their balconies, windows or roofsand post them on Hawa Badlo handles in thecomments section with hashtags.

This is an attempt to mobilise collective soci-etal efforts to improve the deteriorating air qual-ity, by encouraging sustainable and environmentfriendly steps in works as well as inculcatinglifestyle habits such as planting trees, cycling &walking, carpooling, using public transport,conserving energy and using cleaner energy

sources like natural gas for industries, CNG forautomobiles, PNG for commercial uses.

By engaging people for actions throughevents, social messaging through endorsementand web media series, short films and contests,the purpose of the platform is to motivate peo-ple to take pledge for actions against air pollu-tion and problems caused due to it. The initia-tive has been able to reach more than eight mil-lion people across all digital platforms.

In a bid to support start-ups operating in thearea of Compressed Bio Gas (CBG), GAIL

(India) Limited announced plans to invest insuch companies through its start-up initiativePankh.

It has opened a fresh fifth round for solici-tation of investment proposals from start-upsoperating specifically in the area of CBG. Start-ups that provide technology or are planning toexpand their existing CBG plants or setting-upnew CBG plants can submit their investmentproposal on GAIL web portalhttps://gailebank.gail.co.in/GSUICBG/index.aspx. The solicitation round is open till July 24.

India has vast biomass resources and the gov-ernment is giving special emphasis on its utilisa-tion by encouraging setting-up of CBG plants.Further, oil and gas companies are ready to givecommitment for offtake of CBG through issue ofLetter Of Intent (LOI). Thus, it provides goodbusiness opportunity to start-ups operating in thisarea.

The initiative was launched in July 2017 toinvest in promising start-ups. So far, GAIL hasmade investments in 24 start-ups operating in var-ious areas through four solicitation rounds.

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�� �"��������������������� * ����� � ���������� ����* �� �Chief Minister Bhupesh

Baghel inauguratednewly-completed worksworth nearly �7 crore 27 lakhin Maharani Hospital ofJagdalpur headquarters inBastar district via video con-ferencing from his Raipur-based residence. He said thatpeople of Bastar have emo-tional connection toMaharani Hospital. NewGovernment is working con-sistently towards developingit as a well-equipped hospi-tal of this region. It is no wayless than any district hospi-tal across the country.Currently, people of Bastarhave to travel out of the areafor treatment. The State

Government is makingefforts to provide the bestpossible health facilities inBastar.

The CM said that spe-cial care should be taken toensure availability of doctorsin health facilities of Bastar.He inaugurated the renova-tion works done inKadambini Maternal HealthInstitution at the cost of �1crore. Likewise, he per-formed bhumi-pujan of therenovation work in eye-ward worth �50 lakh, thesecond floor addition workworth �49 lakh and theconstruction work of thecurrent OPD-MCH worth�50 lakh.

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New Zealand captain KaneWilliamson on Wednesday said

he is excited about playing theIndian Premier League (IPL) in theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE) but alot of “planning and organising stillneeds to be done” amid the ragingCovid-19 pandemic.

“Considering what it actuallylooks like where it is and all thedetails that come with it, to play inthe IPL is always an amazing thingso, absolutely, it will be great to playin it and be a part of it,” Williamsonsaid but also wanted to know moreabout security arrangements.

“But there’s a lot of details tocome through before any final deci-

sions will be made. It will be nice toknow more.”

“By all accounts the IPL, they’relooking to host that tournamentwhich is a fantastic tournament tobe a part of and attracts such anincredible audience,” he added.

Williamson said he foreseesgood viewership for the IPL whenit happens as people are starved of

Live sports right now.“...There’s been a natural lack of

content so there is a real drive to seethat happen and see it happen safe-ly, which is first and foremost.

“It’s a shame to see the WorldCup be postponed but I suppose it’sthe nature of what we’re faced within the current climate but excitingat the potential opportunity individ-

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Dean Smith urged AstonVilla to finish the jobafter they climbed out

of the Premier League relega-tion zone as Trezeguet clincheda priceless 1-0 win againstArsenal on Tuesday. Smith’sside have their survival fate intheir own hands after theEgypt winger’s first-half strikeat Villa Park.

Watford’s 4-0 thrashingagainst Manchester City earli-er on Tuesday had opened thedoor for Villa to escape thebottom three.

And Villa seized theirchance with a first homePremier League winover Arsenal in 18attempts dating backto 1998. Villa are nowfourth bottom and havemoved ahead of third-bottom Watford ongoal difference, withSmith’s men on -26compared to theHornets’ -27.

They head to West Ham fortheir final game of the seasonon Sunday, while Watford visit

Arsenal and second-bottomBournemouth, three pointsfrom safety, travel to Everton.There are a multitude of per-mutations that could decide rel-

egation, but Villa willbe safe if they canbetter Watford’s resulton what is certain tobe a dramatic finale. IfVilla and Watfordboth win, goal differ-ence or goals scoredwill decide who goesdown.

“It is a big boost, that’s forsure. We knew we had to getthat win to catch Watford andnow we have got the season in

our own hands,” Smith said.“That’s all you can ask goinginto the last game. It was agreat performance and aneven better result against agood team who just beat twoof the best teams in Europe.

“We have taken the seasonto the last day. Watford can goand win at Arsenal so wehave to make sure we win atWest Ham.”

Having secured an FA Cupfinal place by beatingManchester City on Saturday,Gunners boss Mikel Artetamade six changes and Arsenallooked a shadow of the teamwho impressed at Wembley.

Arsenal cannot finishhigher than eighth and mustwin the FA Cup final againstChelsea to qualify for next sea-son’s Europa League.

‘CRAZY LOW’ ON CONFIDENCEWatford goalkeeper Ben

Foster admitted the Hornets’confidence is “crazy low” asthey slipped into the relegationzone with one game of thePremier League season to goafter being thrashed 4-0 athome by Manchester City.

A change of managementdid little good after Watfordbecame the first PremierLeague team to sack threemanagers in a season whenNigel Pearson departed onSunday, as City bounced backfrom their weekend disap-pointment of losing an FACup semi-final to Arsenal.

Raheem Sterling scoredtwice in the first half before

Phil Foden and AymericLaporte rounded off a compre-hensive City win as PepGuardiola’s men won a fourthstraight league game for thefirst time this season. Themargin of defeat could sendWatford down come the finalday of the season on Sunday asthey dropped into the bottomthree on goal difference afterAston Villa’s win.

“I don’t think we helpedourselves, I don’t think we didenough to do anything butwhat the result suggested to behonest,” said Foster, whohelped keep the score downwith a string of saves. “Theconfidence is so crazy, crazylow.”

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Kylian Mbappe said onTuesday he would remain

with French champions ParisSaint-Germain next season“whatever happens” despiteconstant speculation over hisfuture.

“I’m here. I’m part of theproject for a fourth year,”Mbappe, 21, told BeInSport during half-time of PSG’s 4-0win over Celtic in afriendly played infront of around5,000 fans at theParc des Princes.

“The club’s 50-

year anniversary is an impor-tant one in the eyes of the club,the supporters, of everyone, soI will be here whatever hap-pens.”

“I’m going to try and bringback trophies with the team and

give the best of myself,” addedMbappe, who arrived at PSGfrom Monaco in 2017 in a

deal worth $208 million.Real Madrid have

regularly been linkedwith a move for Mbappe,but club presidentFlorentino Perez said lastweek the Spanish cham-

pions would not makeany big signings this

summer.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic rolledback the years with two

impressive goals to help ACMilan beat Sassuolo 2-1 in SerieA clash.

The 38-year-old nettedtwice in the first half, either sideof Francesco Caputo’s penalty forSassuolo on Tuesday.

Sassuolo had to play theentire second half with 10men after midfielderMehdi Bourabia was sentoff on the stroke of half-time following a secondyellow card.

It was Milan’s seventhvictory in the nine games sinceSerie A resumed following thepandemic-enforced shutdownand moved the team up to fifth.

Ibrahimovic rejoined Milanin December on a six-monthcontract with an option for nextseason.

“Will I stay? There are stillthree matches, 10 days and noone has said anything else,” theSwedish forward said. “But I’mworking, we are doing goodthings and if we take the tablesince I arrived I think we wouldbe second or third.”

Milan has lost just twomatches since Ibrahimovic’sarrival.

“We will talk with himimmediately after the end of theseason, he is also completelyfocused on these matches and heis doing so in an excellent man-ner, as always,” Milan sportingdirector Frederic Massara said.

Ibrahimovic gave Milan thelead in the 19th minute with a

diving header at the backpost following a crossfrom Hakan Çalhanoglu.

There was a dra-matic end to the half asCaputo leveled from thespot three minutes from

the break. The referee hadawarded the penalty afterreviewing the incident on thepitchside monitor and judgingthat the ball had hit Çal-hanoglu’s arm.

Çalhanoglu redeemed him-self moments later with a secondassist — a through-ball forIbrahimovic to run onto, roundthe goalkeeper and place into theback of the net.

It was the first time since1999 that Milan has scored atleast two goals in nine successivematches.

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It was high praise for SadioMane when Lionel Messi

summed up the Liverpool starwinger’s fourth-place finish inthe 2019 Ballon d’Or vote as“shameful”.

Boosted by the Argentinegenius’ admiration for him aswell as his own stellar form,Mane continues to harbourhopes of winning the presti-gious award sooner than later.

“Will see what’s going tohappen for the Ballon d’Or butmy dream is to win the Ballond’Or and would love to do itone day,” Mane told Star Sportsshow Football United.

The 2020 Ballon d’Orawards night was cancelledrecently owing to the Covid-19pandemic.

He played a massive role inLiverpool winning their firstPremier League title in 30years. Last year, Mane spear-headed the Reds’ charge totheir first UEFA ChampionsLeague title since 2005.

This time around, hescored goals and make assiststo keep the opposition defend-

ers on their guard all the time.“I always say that in life,

you always have to be a chal-lenger and for sure, football isall about being hungry in agood way — to like to win. Wewon the Premier League andwe would like to win it againand for sure, ChampionsLeague as well,” he said.

Mane missed outlast time despite aremarkable run forboth his club andcountry Senegal.

Expressinghis delighton winningthe PremierLeague, hesaid, “Well,it’s a bigpleasure anda big honourfor me andmy team-mates for sure.All the goodsupport fromaround theworld, speciallyfrom India aswell. I think thewait has been

so long, 30 years and finally, wedid it, so yeah, really happy.”

He gave credit to manag-er Jurgen Klopp for Liverpool’striumph.

“He gives us a lot of adviceall the time which is alwaysimportant for you and all theplayers in our career. He helpedus take responsibility in thehard times, which is not real-ly easy.”

Mane said his favouritemoment in the league was

when his club opened up thegap with Manchester City.

“Honestly, it was areally tough season forus, my team-mates andthe fans as well becausethe beginning was noteasy — too many con-tenders Man City,

United, Chelsea,Arsenal.

“If I were tochoose my favouritemoment was whenwe opened up thegap over ManCity. I thinkeverybody couldbreathe at thattime.”

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England will “consider rotat-ing” star all-rounder Ben

Stokes even though his presencemakes it a better team, saidcoach Chris Silverwood ahead ofthe third and final Test against theWest Indies beginning on Friday.

Stokes scored 176 and 78 notout in the two innings and alsotook three wickets as Englandbeat Windies by 113 runs in thesecond Test to tie three-matchseries 1-1.

His performance also earnedStokes the numero uno positionin the ICC all-rounder rankings,displacing West Indies skipperJason Holder.

“We want him out there asmuch as we can; everyone can seehow good he is,” Silverwoodsaid.

“But you know what, we’regoing to consider rotating him.He’s been at the centre of the lastcouple of games and we’ve got tomake sure he’s okay. But if he isfit and healthy, he’ll play.”

The 29-year-old had pulledhimself out of the attack midwaythrough his 15th over in WestIndies’ second innings but laterinsisted that there was “absolute-

ly nothing to worry about”.Silverwood said Stokes will

have to “rein” him in duringtraining as he is always lookingpush himself.

“He’ll keep pushing himself,which is why he is as good as heis,” said Silverwood.

“But from a training perspec-tive we try and rein him inwhere possible and keep him asfit as a fiddle because I know we’rea better team with him out there...We’ve got to look after him thebest we can.”

England had picked JamesAnderson, Jofra Archer and MarkWood for the opening Test, whileincluding Stuart Broad, ChrisWoakes and Sam Curran in thesecond match.

With six to seven seamers athis disposal, Silverwood will facea selection headache but he saidhe is determined to pick the“strongest attack” to win thethird Test.

“We’ve got to put out thestrongest attack out that’s avail-able to us. It’s very difficult tokeep everybody happy all thetime. But if you do things for theright reason, I think there’s anunderstanding there,” the 45-year-old said.

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August first week has beenearmarked as a potential

time for wrestlers to assemblefor their national camps afterthe Covid-19 hiatus. TheSports Authority of India(SAI) is working in tandemwith the Wrestling Federationof India (WFI) to plan a datefor the resumption of training.

The camp will initially beheld for Olympic weight cat-egories and would also beginonly after necessary quaran-tine protocols are fulfilled.

New Delhi: The Sports Authorityof India (SAI) on Wednesdayextended the contract of 32 for-eign coaches in 11 disciplines tillSeptember end next year toensure continuity in the trainingof athletes till Tokyo Olympics.

Top coaches among the 32included Santiago Nieva andRaffaele Bergamasco in boxing,Graham Reid (men’s hockey) andPavel Smirnov (shooting) amongothers. The contracts of many ofthese coaches were to end inSeptember this year.

National football coach IgorStimac’s contract was also extend-ed although it has nothing to dowith the Olympics. He wasappointed in May last year for atwo year tenure.

The SAI said the decision wastaken to ensure that athletesbound for Tokyo Games, post-poned by a year, have continuityin their training.

“The postponement of TokyoOlympics by a year makes itimperative that the same coach-es be retained so that athletes arenot disadvantaged,” SportsMinster Kiren Rijiju said. “A newcoach takes time to understand anathlete and the athlete needs timeto understand the training processof a coach. We don’t have thatkind of time now.”

A SAI source said that theterms and conditions of thecontracts, including the remu-neration, remain the same asearlier. PTI

THE GREAT ESCAPE

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Milan: AC Milan announcedthat coach Stefano Pioli hassigned a two-year extension tohis contract, keeping him atthe club until June 2022.

Milan released a state-ment shortly after win againstSassuolo.

“I am happy and proud ofthe trust I have received fromAC Milan,” Pioli said.

“As I have said manytimes, our future is today: Wemust be focused and deter-mined, be united and play asone.

“We are at the beginningof an extraordinary path. If wekeep working this way, we will

grow and be more and morecompetitive.”

Milan had been in nego-tiations to replace Pioli withRalf Rangnick but the Germancoach’s representative releaseda statement saying they hadjointly decided with the clubnot to move forward. AP

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ually to see some cricket come on to thehorizon,” he said.

Williamson also welcomed the moveto have an IPL at a safe place like the UAEas India’s case load is above 11 lakh.

“...In terms of the IPL as an isolatedevent, they’re looking at the best optionsto host it in a safe place where people canbe quarantined much like you’re seeingwith other sports around the world.

“Like I said, there’s a lot of planningstill to be done to make sure that happensand we only know what we know andthat’s no different from what you”re hear-ing,” Williamson added.