· 84,524. the city’s death toll has risen to 4,899. tamil nadu reported 4,150 persons turning...

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W ith 21,514 fresh cases and 412 deaths in the last 24 hours, India on Sunday occupied the third spot in the list of nations worst hit by coro- navirus after surpassing the Russia pushing. India’s total tally stood at o 6,95, 418 lakh positive cases and 19,692 deaths . This is the fourth consecutive day when coronavirus cases have increased by more than 20,000. Only Brazil and the United States are ahead of India in the maximum number of coron- avirus cases so far. The USA has over 27.76 lakh cases, fol- lowed by Brazil with over 15.39 lakh cases and Russia’s 6.81 lakh so far. As per the World Health Organization (WHO), over 1.11 crore cases of coronavirus and 5.33 lakh deaths has been reported across the world so far. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Karnataka contin- ued to be the worst affected State. Maharashtra recorded 6,555 fresh cases and 151 deaths, the highest in the last 24 hours so far. Close to four and a half battalions (4,500 personnel) of the five Central paramilitary forces have been infected so far by Covid-19 with the CRPF alone reporting over 1,500 cases followed by about 1,400 cases in BSF, a little over 1,000 in CISF, over 400 in ITBP and about 200 in SSB. Nearly two battalion strength of personnel continue to be active cases. According to the Maharashtra Health Department, the State reported its second-highest single-day surge till date on Sunday, adding 6,555 new Covid-19 cases as the State’s total case tally reached 2,06,619. As many as 151 new deaths pushed the total death toll to 8,822. As many as 3,658 patients were discharged on Sunday, taking the total number of recoveries till date to 1,11,470. With 1,287 new cases reported on Sunday, Mumbai’s total case tally has reached 84,524. The city’s death toll has risen to 4,899. Tamil Nadu reported 4,150 persons turning coronavirus positive taking the total num- ber of such persons till date to 111,151 in the last 24 hours. The total number of corona patients who died over the past 24-hours was 60 taking the death toll to 1,510. Delhi’s coronavirus tally inched closer to one lakh- mark on Sunday after 2,244 cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The cumulative tally for national Capital reached 99,444, while 63 deaths were recorded, pushing the total death toll to 3,067. As of Sunday, there are over 25,000 active cases in Delhi. Marking a positive trend, Delhi’s recovery rate has gone above 70 per cent as out of the total cases, 71,339 people have recovered from the virus. Along with the increase in testing and reduced positivity rate, Delhi’s recovery rate has also increased — a positive indicator keeping the city’s total number of active cases or those living with the infection a constant between 25 and 26 thousand. Karnataka reported 1,925 cases and 37 deaths, highest in a single day, pushing the infec- tion tally to 23,474 and death toll to 372. The number of active cases now stands at 13,251. Uttar Pradesh reported 1,155 new cases and 12 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the infection tally to 27,707 and death toll to 785. A total of 18,761 corona patients have recovered and discharged from hospitals. According to the data of novel coronavirus infection in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) ranks available till Saturday, as many as 1,510 per- sonnel have contracted the disease out of which 755 con- tinue to be active cases and 746 persons have recovered. The casualty figure in the CRPF stands at nine. The CRPF tops the list in terms of the total number of infected personnel, active cases, and deaths. As many as 1,348 Border Security Force (BSF) personnel have contracted the disease till Sunday. Of 1,348 infected per- sonnel in the BSF ranks, 526 are active cases and 817 have recovered besides five persons have succumbed due to the disease. T he Centre is in a fix about re-opening the education- al institutions shut from mid- March. Discussions are on in the HRD Ministry to re-start the new academic session of primary and secondary school education from November only. At the same time, univer- sity regulator UGC is about to issue a fresh set of guidelines for rescheduling the higher and technical education insti- tutions. The earlier schedule for July reopening remains non- starter since the universities have cancelled semester exams awaiting further guidelines from the HRD Ministry. However, as far as the top technical institutions such as IITs, AIIMS, NIT etc, are con- cerned the new session will start only from mid-November. Ministry sources confirmed this after the new schedule of the JEE and NEET entrances to be held till September-end was announced last week. The results to these entrances will be declared around mid-October. The fol- low-up e-counselling and admission procedures take almost a month. The major problem for the educational stakeholders is reopening of schools. A senior HRD Ministry official in Secondary School Education said ideally the academic cal- endar for school education is 280 days and had it been July re-opening of the schools it would have been possible to stretch the calendar without reducing the syllabus. “But now, given the situa- tion of Covid we will have to reconsider and rework the aca- demic calendar which may begin only by October/November. We have to keep in mind the SOP issued by the Centre which also men- tions children are a vulnerable community for the global pan- demic. However, most of the school boards have been taking the advantage of technology and enabling study continues,” said an official. While CBSE is working on the new academic formula including syllabus through NCERT, the ICSE has reduced syllabi for all major subjects at the ICSE and ISC levels for the academic year 2020-2021. “Syllabus reduction are being done keeping in mind the lin- ear progression across classes while ensuring that the con- cepts related to the subject are retained,” said a HRD Ministry official. K anpur Police has revealed that history-sheeter Vikas Dubey had a bunker in his house which he used to store weapons and explosives. Meanwhile, the police have so far identified 21 accom- plices of history sheeter Vikas Dubey who were involved in the killing of eight police personnel in an ambush in Bikru village under Chaubepur police station of Kanpur on Friday. One of them, identified as Daya Shanker Agnihotri alias Kalloo, was arrested by the Kalyanpur police in an encounter late Saturday night. During the exchange of fire, Kalloo sustained bullet injury and was admitted to hos- pital in police custody. A 70 year-old former MLA serving jail sentence in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case died due to Covid-19 at a hospital in national Capital. This is the sec- ond inmate of Mandoli prison to have succumbed to the infection. Mahender Yadav was a former MLA from Palam con- stituency. Prison authorities said he was lodged in Jail num- ber 14 of Mandoli prison for m a n y years. I f you are in Kerala, you will have to wear frace masks, maintain social distancing and avoid large gatherings till July 2021. The Kerala Government has issued an Ordinance to this effect. The District Collectors have been instructed to ensure due com- pliance of the regulations. The Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance 2020 also makes its compulsory for those who want to stage demonstrations and protest marches should seek prior permission from the police. Only ten persons would be allowed per protest march and sit-in in front of the Secretariat, a round-the-year venue for demonstrations. As per the ordinance, only 50 people will be allowed to attend a marriage and a maximum of 20 people can take part in death relat- ed rituals. Any violation of the amendments will result in a fine of up to 10,000 and a jail term of two year. While only 25 people at a time will be allowed in shops and other business establishments, Only a maximum of 50 people will be allowed at a time for marriages. A s many as four Maoists were gunned down during an exchange of fire between the ultras and security forces at the Sirla forest in Tumudibandha area of Kandhamal district early on Sunday morning, informed SP Prateek Singh. Singh, who rushed to the site along with other senior police officers, said a woman cadre was among the slain Maoists. Some ultras were also injured. The deceased Maoists were identified as cadres of the BGN Division of Maoist organisa- tion. Acting on a tipoff regard- ing existence of a Maoist camp at the forest, DVF and SOG jawans raided the spot. An exchange of fire broke out between the two sides, dur- ing which four of the Maoists sustained bul- let injuries and died. A huge cache of arms and ammuni- tion has also been seized from the Maoist camp. Combing oper- ation in the area has been intensified after the incident. T he State recorded two more Covid-19 deaths on Sunday, increasing the total toll to 36. The two deaths were reported from Gajapati and Sundargarh districts. “Regret to inform of the demise of a 40-year-old Covid positive man of Gajapati dis- trict and a 64-year-old positive man of Sundargarh district, who was also suffering from diabetes,” the Health and Family Welfare Department said. However, another woman patient also died on the day due to other health complications. “Regret to inform of the demise of a 45-year-old Covid positive woman of Baleswar district due to massive hemor- rhagic exudative pleural effu- sion,” the department added. Meanwhile, for the third consecutive day, infections con- tinued to shoot up with as many as 469 new positive cases registered on the day, taking the State’s total tally to 9,070. Of the new cases, 317 were detected from quarantine cen- tres and 152 were local con- tacts. While 465 cases were reported from 20 districts, the remaining four ere the NDRF personnel who had returned from Amphan duty in West Bengal. Ganjam district for the third consecutive day recorded the day’s highest of 116 cases followed by Cuttack district with 94, Sundargarh 66, Khordha 27, Jajpur 25, Keonjhar 25, Nayagarh 24, Sambalpur 13, Bhadrak 16, Gajapati 12, Angult 11, Baleswar eight, Puri eight, Mayurbhanj six, Kendrapada five, Balangir three and Kalahandi two. However, 290 more patients recovered from the dis- ease on Sunday, taking the total recoveries to 6,224. The maximum number of 99 recovered in Ganjam dis- trict, 56 in Gajapati, 33 from Jharsuguda, 16 each in Cuttack and Nabarangpur, 15 in Baleswar, 11 in Sambalpur, 10 in Khordha, eight in Mayurbhanj, six each in Keonjhar and Puri, five in Jagatsinghpur, three in Nayagarh, two each in Baragarh and Koraput and one each in Jajpur and Sundargarh. A mid the swelling numbers of coronavirus case in the State, the capital city Bhubaneswar on Sunday reg- istered 19 new positive cases, among which six are women. Of the new cases, nine were detected from quarantine centres and eight were local contacts. The remaining two were Covid warriors with a travel history to other districts, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. With the new cases, the total positive cases in the city rose to 433 with 156 active ones. The home quarantine cases included a 19-year-old girl and an 80-year-old woman of Nuagaon near Samantarapur linked with an earlier positive case, a 29-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman, both employees of a local private hospital, a 46-year old woman and a 32-year-old man, both employees of another local pri- vate hospital linked with an earlier positive case. Besides, a 29-year old woman employee of a Central Government hospital, a 32- year-old man of Pahala with travel history to Punjab and a 48-year-old man of Baramunda near the bus-stand with travel history to Kolkata also tested positive. The local contact cases included a 27-year-old man of Badagada near Netaji Club, a 60-year-old woman of Bharatpur Telugu Sahi, a 21- year-old man of Ghatikia near SUM Hospital with travel his- tory to a hotspot district, a 24- year-old man of Unit-5 near SCPCR office, a 29-year-old man of Ghatikia near CET College, a bank employee, a 32- year-old man of Sundarpada, a 31-year-old man of Palaaspalli near the city airport with trav- el history to a hotspot district and a 30-year-old man of Jharpada’s Mahavir Nagar. However, 23 patients recovered from the disease in Bhubaneswar on the day. With the new recoveries, the number of the city’s recovered cases now reached 270. However, six patients have succumbed to the deadly virus in the city so far. Meanwhile, Cuttack city reported 74 new positive cases on the day, taking the tally to 190. Out of the new cases, 46 were detected from institu- tional quarantine and 28 from home quarantine. With this, the number of active cases in the city mounted to 166 while two persons have died of the disease so far. ANGUL: Angul district Collector SK Mohanty on Sunday in an urgent letter to all the management of the indus- tries restricted the movement of the employees. The Collector told that any deviation of the instructions may lead to declaration of the plant area as containment zone. Apart from death of one DGM in Covid-19, around 30 employees, including two doc- tors, tested positive from var- ious industries of Angul dis- trict. Writing letters to ED- Nalco, CGM - NTPC- TSTPS, GM - NTPC- TTPS, GM - Jagannath area- MCL, GM- TFL-Talcher, COO - JSPL, ED - JITPL and COO- TATA- BSL, the Collector instructed that the employees and their family members staying within the plant area are not allowed to come outside except emer- gency cases in month of July. Minimum employees should go from outside in sep- arate gate and with thermal scanning. He also instructed the management to accom- modate the employees dealing with essential operation of the plant, within the plant area to avoid disruption of operation of the plant. Congress leader Jayant Sahu demanded screening in all the industrial clusters and urged the Government to declare the concerned indus- trial area containment zone for the safety of the peripheral vil- lagers. PNS

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Page 1:  · 84,524. The city’s death toll has risen to 4,899. Tamil Nadu reported 4,150 persons turning coronavirus positive taking the total num- ... and enabling study continues,”

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With 21,514 fresh casesand 412 deaths in the last

24 hours, India on Sundayoccupied the third spot in thelist of nations worst hit by coro-navirus after surpassing theRussia pushing.

India’s total tally stood at o6,95, 418 lakh positive casesand 19,692 deaths . This is thefourth consecutive day whencoronavirus cases haveincreased by more than 20,000.

Only Brazil and the UnitedStates are ahead of India in themaximum number of coron-avirus cases so far. The USAhas over 27.76 lakh cases, fol-lowed by Brazil with over 15.39lakh cases and Russia’s 6.81lakh so far.

As per the World HealthOrganization (WHO), over 1.11crore cases of coronavirus and5.33 lakh deaths has beenreported across the world so far.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Delhi and Karnataka contin-ued to be the worst affectedState. Maharashtra recorded6,555 fresh cases and 151deaths, the highest in the last24 hours so far.

Close to four and a halfbattalions (4,500 personnel)of the five Central paramilitaryforces have been infected so farby Covid-19 with the CRPFalone reporting over 1,500cases followed by about 1,400

cases in BSF, a little over 1,000in CISF, over 400 in ITBP andabout 200 in SSB. Nearly twobattalion strength of personnelcontinue to be active cases.

According to theMaharashtra HealthDepartment, the State reportedits second-highest single-daysurge till date on Sunday, adding6,555 new Covid-19 cases as theState’s total case tally reached2,06,619. As many as 151 newdeaths pushed the total deathtoll to 8,822. As many as 3,658patients were discharged onSunday, taking the total number

of recoveries till date to 1,11,470.With 1,287 new cases

reported on Sunday, Mumbai’stotal case tally has reached84,524. The city’s death toll hasrisen to 4,899.

Tamil Nadu reported 4,150persons turning coronaviruspositive taking the total num-ber of such persons till date to111,151 in the last 24 hours.The total number of coronapatients who died over thepast 24-hours was 60 taking thedeath toll to 1,510.

Delhi’s coronavirus tallyinched closer to one lakh-mark on Sunday after 2,244

cases were reported in the last24 hours. The cumulative tallyfor national Capital reached99,444, while 63 deaths wererecorded, pushing the totaldeath toll to 3,067. As ofSunday, there are over 25,000active cases in Delhi.

Marking a positive trend,Delhi’s recovery rate has goneabove 70 per cent as out of thetotal cases, 71,339 people haverecovered from the virus.Along with the increase intesting and reduced positivityrate, Delhi’s recovery rate hasalso increased — a positiveindicator keeping the city’s

total number of active cases orthose living with the infectiona constant between 25 and 26thousand.

Karnataka reported 1,925cases and 37 deaths, highest ina single day, pushing the infec-tion tally to 23,474 and deathtoll to 372. The number ofactive cases now stands at13,251.

Uttar Pradesh reported1,155 new cases and 12 deathsin the last 24 hours, pushing theinfection tally to 27,707 anddeath toll to 785. A total of18,761 corona patients haverecovered and discharged fromhospitals.

According to the data ofnovel coronavirus infection inCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) ranks available tillSaturday, as many as 1,510 per-sonnel have contracted thedisease out of which 755 con-tinue to be active cases and 746persons have recovered. Thecasualty figure in the CRPFstands at nine. The CRPF topsthe list in terms of the totalnumber of infected personnel,active cases, and deaths. Asmany as 1,348 Border SecurityForce (BSF) personnel havecontracted the disease tillSunday. Of 1,348 infected per-sonnel in the BSF ranks, 526are active cases and 817 haverecovered besides five personshave succumbed due to thedisease.

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The Centre is in a fix aboutre-opening the education-

al institutions shut from mid-March. Discussions are on inthe HRD Ministry to re-startthe new academic session ofprimary and secondary schooleducation from Novemberonly.

At the same time, univer-sity regulator UGC is about toissue a fresh set of guidelinesfor rescheduling the higherand technical education insti-tutions. The earlier schedule forJuly reopening remains non-starter since the universitieshave cancelled semester examsawaiting further guidelinesfrom the HRD Ministry.

However, as far as the toptechnical institutions such asIITs, AIIMS, NIT etc, are con-cerned the new session willstart only from mid-November.Ministry sources confirmedthis after the new schedule of

the JEE and NEET entrances tobe held till September-end wasannounced last week.

The results to theseentrances will be declaredaround mid-October. The fol-low-up e-counselling andadmission procedures takealmost a month.

The major problem for theeducational stakeholders isreopening of schools. A seniorHRD Ministry official inSecondary School Educationsaid ideally the academic cal-endar for school education is280 days and had it been Julyre-opening of the schools itwould have been possible tostretch the calendar withoutreducing the syllabus.

“But now, given the situa-tion of Covid we will have toreconsider and rework the aca-demic calendar which may

begin only byOctober/November. We haveto keep in mind the SOP issuedby the Centre which also men-tions children are a vulnerablecommunity for the global pan-demic. However, most of theschool boards have been takingthe advantage of technologyand enabling study continues,”said an official.

While CBSE is working onthe new academic formulaincluding syllabus throughNCERT, the ICSE has reducedsyllabi for all major subjects atthe ICSE and ISC levels for theacademic year 2020-2021.“Syllabus reduction are beingdone keeping in mind the lin-ear progression across classeswhile ensuring that the con-cepts related to the subject areretained,” said a HRD Ministryofficial.

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Kanpur Police has revealed thathistory-sheeter Vikas Dubey

had a bunker in his house whichhe used to store weapons andexplosives. Meanwhile, the policehave so far identified 21 accom-plices of history sheeter VikasDubey who were involved in thekilling of eight police personnelin an ambush in Bikru villageunder Chaubepur police stationof Kanpur on Friday. One ofthem, identified as Daya ShankerAgnihotri alias Kalloo, wasarrested by the Kalyanpur policein an encounter late Saturdaynight. During the exchange offire, Kalloo sustained bulletinjury and was admitted to hos-pital in police custody.

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A70 year-old former MLAserving jail sentence in a

1984 anti-Sikh riots case dieddue to Covid-19 at a hospital innational Capital. This is the sec-ond inmate of Mandoli prisonto have succumbed to theinfection.

Mahender Yadav was aformer MLA from Palam con-stituency. Prison authoritiessaid he was lodged in Jail num-ber 14 of Mandoli prison form a n yyears.

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If you are in Kerala, you willhave to wear frace masks,

maintain social distancingand avoid large gatheringstill July 2021. The KeralaGovernment has issued anOrdinance to this effect. TheDistrict Collectors have beeninstructed to ensure due com-pliance of the regulations.

The Kerala EpidemicDiseases Ordinance 2020 alsomakes its compulsory forthose who want to stagedemonstrations and protestmarches should seek priorpermission from the police.

Only ten persons would beallowed per protest marchand sit-in in front of theSecretariat, a round-the-yearvenue for demonstrations.

As per the ordinance,only 50 people wil l beallowed to attend a marriageand a maximum of 20 peoplecan take part in death relat-ed rituals. Any violation ofthe amendments will result ina fine of up to �10,000 and ajail term of two year. Whileonly 25 people at a time willbe allowed in shops and otherbusiness establishments, Onlya maximum of 50 peoplewill be allowed at a time formarriages.

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As many as four Maoistswere gunned down during

an exchange of fire between theultras and security forces at theSirla forest in Tumudibandhaarea of Kandhamal districtearly on Sunday morning,informed SP Prateek Singh.

Singh, who rushed to thesite along with other seniorpolice officers, said a womancadre was among the slainMaoists. Some ultras were alsoinjured.

The deceased Maoists wereidentified as cadres of the BGN

Division of Maoist organisa-tion.

Acting on a tipoff regard-

ing existence of a Maoist campat the forest, DVF and SOGjawans raided the spot. An

exchange of firebroke outbetween thetwo sides, dur-ing which fourof the Maoistssustained bul-let injuries anddied.

A hugecache of armsand ammuni-tion has alsobeen seizedfrom the

Maoist camp. Combing oper-ation in the area has beenintensified after the incident.

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The State recorded two moreCovid-19 deaths on

Sunday, increasing the total tollto 36. The two deaths werereported from Gajapati andSundargarh districts.

“Regret to inform of thedemise of a 40-year-old Covidpositive man of Gajapati dis-trict and a 64-year-old positiveman of Sundargarh district,who was also suffering fromdiabetes,” the Health andFamily Welfare Departmentsaid.

However, another womanpatient also died on the day dueto other health complications.

“Regret to inform of thedemise of a 45-year-old Covidpositive woman of Baleswar

district due to massive hemor-rhagic exudative pleural effu-sion,” the department added.

Meanwhile, for the thirdconsecutive day, infections con-tinued to shoot up with asmany as 469 new positive casesregistered on the day, taking theState’s total tally to 9,070.

Of the new cases, 317 weredetected from quarantine cen-tres and 152 were local con-tacts. While 465 cases werereported from 20 districts, theremaining four ere the NDRFpersonnel who had returnedfrom Amphan duty in WestBengal.

Ganjam district for thethird consecutive day recordedthe day’s highest of 116 casesfollowed by Cuttack districtwith 94, Sundargarh 66,

Khordha 27, Jajpur 25,Keonjhar 25, Nayagarh 24,Sambalpur 13, Bhadrak 16,Gajapati 12, Angult 11,Baleswar eight, Puri eight,Mayurbhanj six, Kendrapadafive, Balangir three andKalahandi two.

However, 290 morepatients recovered from the dis-ease on Sunday, taking thetotal recoveries to 6,224.

The maximum number of

99 recovered in Ganjam dis-trict, 56 in Gajapati, 33 fromJharsuguda, 16 each in Cuttackand Nabarangpur, 15 inBaleswar, 11 in Sambalpur, 10in Khordha, eight inMayurbhanj, six each inKeonjhar and Puri, five inJagatsinghpur, three inNayagarh, two each inBaragarh and Koraput and oneeach in Jajpur and Sundargarh.

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Amid the swelling numbersof coronavirus case in the

State, the capital cityBhubaneswar on Sunday reg-istered 19 new positive cases,among which six are women.

Of the new cases, ninewere detected from quarantinecentres and eight were localcontacts. The remaining twowere Covid warriors with atravel history to other districts,the Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC) said.

With the new cases, thetotal positive cases in the cityrose to 433 with 156 activeones.

The home quarantine casesincluded a 19-year-old girl andan 80-year-old woman of

Nuagaon near Samantarapurlinked with an earlier positivecase, a 29-year-old man and a27-year-old woman, bothemployees of a local privatehospital, a 46-year old womanand a 32-year-old man, bothemployees of another local pri-vate hospital linked with anearlier positive case.

Besides, a 29-year oldwoman employee of a CentralGovernment hospital, a 32-year-old man of Pahala withtravel history to Punjab and a48-year-old man of Baramundanear the bus-stand with travelhistory to Kolkata also testedpositive.

The local contact casesincluded a 27-year-old man ofBadagada near Netaji Club, a60-year-old woman ofBharatpur Telugu Sahi, a 21-year-old man of Ghatikia nearSUM Hospital with travel his-tory to a hotspot district, a 24-year-old man of Unit-5 nearSCPCR office, a 29-year-oldman of Ghatikia near CETCollege, a bank employee, a 32-year-old man of Sundarpada, a31-year-old man of Palaaspallinear the city airport with trav-el history to a hotspot districtand a 30-year-old man ofJharpada’s Mahavir Nagar.

However, 23 patients

recovered from the disease inBhubaneswar on the day. Withthe new recoveries, the numberof the city’s recovered casesnow reached 270. However, sixpatients have succumbed to thedeadly virus in the city so far.

Meanwhile, Cuttack cityreported 74 new positive caseson the day, taking the tally to190.

Out of the new cases, 46were detected from institu-tional quarantine and 28 fromhome quarantine. With this,the number of active cases inthe city mounted to 166 whiletwo persons have died of thedisease so far.

ANGUL: Angul districtCollector SK Mohanty onSunday in an urgent letter to allthe management of the indus-tries restricted the movementof the employees.

The Collector told that anydeviation of the instructionsmay lead to declaration of theplant area as containment zone.

Apart from death of oneDGM in Covid-19, around 30

employees, including two doc-tors, tested positive from var-ious industries of Angul dis-trict.

Writing letters to ED-Nalco, CGM - NTPC- TSTPS,GM - NTPC- TTPS, GM -Jagannath area- MCL, GM-TFL-Talcher, COO - JSPL, ED- JITPL and COO- TATA- BSL,the Collector instructed that theemployees and their familymembers staying within theplant area are not allowed tocome outside except emer-gency cases in month of July.

Minimum employees

should go from outside in sep-arate gate and with thermalscanning. He also instructedthe management to accom-modate the employees dealingwith essential operation of theplant, within the plant area toavoid disruption of operationof the plant.

Congress leader JayantSahu demanded screening inall the industrial clusters andurged the Government todeclare the concerned indus-trial area containment zone forthe safety of the peripheral vil-lagers. PNS

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The month of June hasshown marked improve-

ment in GST collections,thanks to a number of relax-ations granted by the GSTCouncil along with regularpersuasion and facilitation bythe field officers of commercialtax organisation of the State,subsequent to gradual unlock-ing the situation.

C o m m i s s i o n e rCommercial Tax and GSTOdisha, SK Lohani hasreviewed the tax collections.OGST collection of June 2020is Rs 759.17 crore against thecollection of Rs 804.49 croreduring the corresponding peri-od of last year which is less byRs 45 crore (-) 5.6%.

However due to lockdown,the OGST collection of the 1stquarter of 2020-21 (April-June)registered a negative growth of

(-) 32.79% as the total collectioncould be Rs 1,560.20 crore asagainst Rs 2,321.39 crore col-lected during the correspond-ing period of the preceding year.

Similarly, the Gross GSTCollection (CGST, IGST, SGSTand Cess) in the first quarter of2020-21 (Apr-June) is Rs5,192.30 crore as against Rs8019.44 crore during the pre-ceding quarter of 2019-20 reg-istering a negative growth rateof (-) 35.25%. However, the sit-uation has improved during thelast month of June 2020 inwhich collection of Rs 2,693.75crore as against Rs 2923.47crore achieved during last June.Thus, the shortfall was only by(-) 7.86% during June 2020.

The movement of vehicleswhich is an important indica-tor of restoration of normalcyin business activity is showingan encouraging trend.

The average daily inter-State waybills generated duringFebruary 2020 was 22,104which dipped to 3,356 duringApril but improved signifi-cantly to 16,817 during the lastweek of June. Similarly, theaverage daily intra-State way

bills generated during February2020 was 24,734 which dippedto 8,517 during April. However,this improved to 23, 577(95%)during last week of June whichrepresents a very healthy trend.

Further, imposition ofnationwide lockdown to con-tain Covid-19 adversely affect-ed timely filing of returns forthe tax periods of February,March and April 2020 also.Realising the difficulties of thetaxpayers, the Governmentwaived the late fee for thedelay in return filing and alsoallowed late payment of tax duewithout interest / reducedinterest at 9%.

Most of the big taxpayersavailed the above benefits andfiled their returns within therevised due dates. Those whoare yet to file returns for theabove periods are stronglyadvised to file their returnsimmediately.

The taxpayers havingturnover up to Rs 5.0 crorewere required to file returns forMarch tax period by July 5,2020 and for April tax periodby July 9, 2020 with no inter-est. Failure to file GSTR 3B by

the above mentioned dates willattract interest at 9% immedi-ately after the due dates. All tax-payers are advised to filereturns by the due dates toavoid payment of interest.

The Government has fur-ther decided to cap the maxi-mum late fee for Form GSTR-3B at Rs 500 per return for thetax period from July 2017 toJuly 2020.

The reduced fee will belevied only if returns are filedbefore September 30, 2020. Ithas also notified that therewill be NIL late fees if there isno tax liability. In order to fur-ther simplify the process ofreturns filing, GSTN hasalready introduced filing ofmonthly and quarterly salesstatements (GSTR 1) and taxreturn (GSTR 3B) throughSMS for those tax payers hav-ing NIL liability.

Lohani has advised all thefield officers of CommercialTax and GST, Odisha to contactthe tax defaulters personally,apprise them of the facilitiesand encourage them to file allthe backlog returns at the ear-liest.

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Most often, the home buy-ers complain that a large

section of builders in the Stateflout the guidelines of theOdisha Real Estate RegulatoryAuthority (ORERA) and rarelyhonour the verdicts of theORERA Appellate Tribunal.

As a result, the innocenthome buyers are not only thevictims of litigations but alsoare incurring huge cost towardslegal expenses and interest onhome loans that are often con-sidered unwanted by the realestate and legal experts.

Both the home buyers andthe builders are grossly worriedto protect their own interestand the Government acts as a

mute spectator.The very purpose of form-

ing the Odisha Real EstateAppellate Tribunal (OREAT)formed by the Governmentlast year to give relief to thehome buyers who are oftencheated and exploited by somebuilders/developers is yet tofunction by the Housing UrbanDevelopment Department inthe State. Similarly, the OdishaReal Estate Authority too isreportedly headless to whichthe State Government has paiddeaf ears. This is a clear indi-cation of the apathy of theGovernment, said one of theprospective home buyers of thecity.

On the one hand, the statu-tory bodies created for provid-ing relief to the victims becomedefunct while on the otherhand, the government hashardly any interest to appointa full time Chairman ofORERA in place of AmiyaMahapatro who reportedly

relinquished from the post inMay 11 this year. The delay inappointment of a Chairmandeprives the innocent homebuyers of getting justice intime, said the former Ganjamdistrict BJP president andsenior BJP leader KC Pati.

According to a RERAadvocate who did not wish tobe identified, due to non-func-tioning of the Odisha RealEstate Appellate Tribunal(OREAT), the fate of severalcases have been adverselyaffected increasing the agony ofthe home buyers further.

However, taking the advan-tage of the such situation(non-functioning of the tri-bunal), many builders haveobtained stay order from theHC for which the agony of thehome-buyers further get esca-lated as they become victim ofcross fire and remain in a stateof uncertainty, said BharatiyaBikash Parishad presidentSurendra Panigrahi.

There is a public percep-tion in the State that, a major-ity of crucial decisions thatwere adjudged by the OdishaReal Estate Appellate Tribunal(OREAT) in favour of theinnocent home buyers in thepast are reportedly being dis-honored by some builders anddevelopers in the State, there-by forcing the home buyers togo for appeal in the HC result-ing in huge litigation costs inaddition to the loss already sus-tained by them in terms hugeinterest.

According to a RERAactivist, even the tribunal does-n’t have a permanent office tofunction.

It can be recalled here that,acting on the direction ofOrissa High Court, the tribunalhad been formed on February2, 2019. But the very purposeof formation of such an impor-tant statutory/judiciary bodyseems to have gone awry.

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Bharatiya Bikash ParishadState president Surendra

Panigrahi drew the attentionof the Chief Justice of Indiasending visuals of recently heldrituals such as Car festival andPahandi Bije of Lord Jagannathat Puri where the templeSevayats reportedly neitherwore mask nor maintainedsocial distancing as directed bythe Supreme Court.

Panigrahi in his letter saidthat, while pulling the chariot,the Sevayats have clearly vio-lated the SC. The court hadasked the Sevayats,

Government offi-cials, and policepersonnel to wearface mask andmaintain social dis-tancing while per-forming the rituals.But the orders of SChave been openlyflouted, Panigrahialleged.

Panigrahi fur-ther appealed to theSC to treat his letteras contempt peti-tion and take sternaction against theState administra-tion, districtadministration andtemple manage-ment.

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The most powerful speech ofthe nation – Prime

Minister’s address from RedFort on August 15 last year wasornamental with the elixir oflife – “Water”. A new flagship

programme launched on theday, named “Jal JeevanMission” (JJM) aiming atensuring “functional house-hold tap connection” (FHTC)to all rural households acrossthe nation within an ambitiousfive year. Though the pro-gramme looks prettyHerculean task, but looking atthe performance under the“Swachh Bharat Mission” –another flagship programmefor ensuring household toiletsto families across the countrydeclared in the first spell of cur-rent Government at the Centre,it creates a hope that the taskcan be accomplished.

Starting from a mere 18.33percent of rural householdlevel, water supply – reaching100 percent within a span offive years – with an ambitious

budget of Rs 3.5 lakh crore – itlooks like the programme isgoing to make “water woes” ofrural India a history. But thefundamental question arisesis, do we have enough waterresources to meet the need?

The infrastructure createdso far to ensure drinking wateravailability in rural India isroughly around 40 litre percapita per day (lpcd) and theJJM intend to ensure at least 55lpcd through FHTC. So, theamount of additional waterrequired per day is going toincrease substantially.

Besides, it has to beensured that the FHTC doesnot mean that the consumptionof water per head will remainstrict to 55 lpcd. There areample instances, where thewater supply at household level

has been ensured, the patternof use of water has drasticallybeen changed.

Another aspect is, the sur-face water bodies created so farare primarily not for drinkingand domestic water purposes.Rather they are more towardslivelihood (agriculture) andeconomic (power generation/industries/ meeting urbanwater requirement) purposesand mostly governed by wingsof Government not responsiblefor drinking and domesticwater. Considering the existing

inter-departmental relation-ship, adding water require-ment for drinking and domes-tic purpose to those waterbodies is a time consuming andnon-viable action compound-ed with already existing com-peting use of water from thosewater bodies. Important tomention that, though at theCentre, all the departmentsdealing with water have beenbrought under one umbrellanamed “Jal Shakti Ministry”,but water being a State subjectunder Indian Constitution,there is no such scenario in anyState.

Besides, changing climateand erratic precipitation hasfurther elevated the non-reliance on surface water bod-ies towards provisioning ofwater for drinking and domes-

tic purposes.Though source sustain-

ability measures like aquiferrecharge, rain water harvesting,increased storage capacity ofwater bodies, reservoirs, de-silt-ing, etc. to improve the lifespanof water supply systems is inte-gral part of water supply infra-structure under JJM, but ques-tion arises, will those really beintegral part? Experienceshows, in many places, rainwater harvesting being an inte-gral part of any new buildinghas confined to design of thebuilding only. When priority isensuring FHTC within fiveyears’ time, accountability willbe more towards supply systemthan ensuring source sustain-ability measures. And what isthe monitoring mechanism forsource sustainability measures?

Considering the anticipat-ed hike in water requirementfor drinking and domestic pur-poses and dramatic allevia-tion in the pattern of use ofwater by communities afterthe FHTC is ensured, groundwater will further be dried up.In such scenario, we do nothave any excuses to treat sourcesustainability measures as sec-ondary action. As guided byJJM, source sustainability mea-sures to be an integral part ofthe water supply infrastructureand water supply infrastructureshould not be looked as “pipewater supply to household” inisolation. Besides, we have to bemore tilted towards dependingon surface water bodies to cre-ate water supply infrastructureinstead of ground water.Otherwise, intention of bring-

ing revolutionary change inwater supply system to addresswater woes of people will endup with a greater water crisis –having hardly any scope forrectification.

Huge resources are put inplace for realising the dream ofFHTC and should not bedrained in counting FHTConly. The FHTC should be ameans to erase the water woesof people, not the end in itself.Rain being the only source offresh water, let's harvest asmuch as possible and harnessall water sources we have cur-rently. And let’s be accountablefor that as well!

(The author works withWaterAid India, Bhubaneswar.The views expressed are per-sonal)

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In a series of consultationswith academic experts,

Government officials (bothcurrent and former) and civilsociety organisations workingwith migrant workers, a set ofproposals have emerged foreffective and humane return ofmigrant workers to destina-tions of work.

These intellectuals andactivists have appealed toGovernments of source anddestination States to urgentlyformalise a MoU that establish-es mutual responsibilities andaccountabilities of both StateGovernments. This will reducethe exploitation of migrantworkers at the hands of con-tractors and employers, as wit-nessed during the Corona lock-down, they said, adding thatsuch a mutual accord betweenGovernments of source anddestination States can be legiti-mately designed within the exist-ing provisions of Inter-StateMigrant Workmen Act 1979.

The Central Governmentmust support and facilitate

such a process of inter-StateMoUs to improve the condi-tions of work and life for allmigrant workers, especiallywomen workers (who nowconstitute a growing number).There is already precedence ofsuch an MoU between States ofOdisha and Andhra Pradesh in2012, they said.

The State Governmentsshould also enter into MoUswhich overcome exclusions ofmigrant workers from basicentitlements and social securi-ty. They also appealed to themigrant workers and their fam-ilies to particularly ensure basicrequirements like registrationof all migrant workers at thesource, where they live,through Gram Panchayats andNagarpalikas.

At the destination location,a digital identity can be utilisedto provide basic facilities likerental housing, Anganwadi,primary school (preferably inmother tongue of migrants),crèche for children, and othersafety and menstrual hygienefacilities for women workers,they said.

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BHUBANESWAR: The emer-gence of the 16 old Samadhisof the Siva Tirtha Mutt in theOld Town is drawing a lot ofinterest from locals, scholarsand historians. The existence ofthese Samadhis was made byhistorian and heritage expertAnil Dhir and reported to theauthorities and theArchaeological Survey of Indialast month.

The Samadhis, half buriedunder rubble and vegetation,had been long forgotten andhad been encroached uponfrom all sides. The six buildingsin front of it were slated fordemolitions after the NoObjection Certificates had beenobtained from the owners. Hadthe existence of the Samadhisnot been reported, they wouldhave been buried under thedebris and removed with therubble. The present demolitionwas done in a controlled andcareful manner, ensuring thatno damage was done to the

Samadhis. In fact, the demoli-tion stopped just two feet awayfrom the structures, said Dhir.

Dhir said that these groupsof Samadhis are of the earlierMahants of the Siva TirthaMutt which dates back to thelate 11th Century CE and itsorigin is contemporary withthat of the Lingaraj Temple.The mutt, which has lost a lotof its relevance, was once animportant centre and hadmany responsibilities in the dayto day affairs of the temple.Various religious functionswere assigned to it, includingmany rituals during the annu-al Rukuna Rath Yatra.

Dr Biswajit Mohanty hasreiterated the need of an impactassessment report by expertsbefore undertaking any reno-vation projects in ancient reli-gious and heritage sites. He saidthat wanton destruction of cul-turally significant structureswas tantamount to criminaltrespass and vandalism. PNS

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The State Government hasnow focused on expediting

the process of lending MSMEunits under the EmergencyCredit Line Guarantee Scheme(ECLGS).

As part of the“Atmanirbhar Bharat Package”,the Union Government hasnow introduced ECLGS tosupport eligible MSME units tomeet their operational liabili-ties and restart their business-es in context of the unprece-dented situation caused byCovid-19 pandemic and relat-ed lockdown.

MSME Minister DibyaShankar Mishra chaired areview meeting on the ECLGShere recently. MSME Secretary

Satyabrata Sahu, IndustriesDirector and senior officersfrom various banks were pre-sent, among others.

It was revealed that whileRs 2,829 crore was sanctionedfor 1,95,976 eligible accounts,so far 86,623 accounts havebeen provided loan facilityamounting to Rs 1,490 croreunder the ECLGS.

Under the scheme, MSMEswhich had taken loan from var-ious banks would be providedadditional 20 per cent creditfacility with the maximum caplimit of Rs 25 crore.

The Minister impressedupon all to expedite this processand complete sanction of loansby July 15 so that maximumcredit benefit is availed byMSME units in the State.

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Page 3:  · 84,524. The city’s death toll has risen to 4,899. Tamil Nadu reported 4,150 persons turning coronavirus positive taking the total num- ... and enabling study continues,”

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Recently, a middle-agedhousewife committed sui-

cide here. Though it was toldthat she died due to cardiacarrest, but locals said situationcompelled her to kill self as shewas unable to repay loan shehad borrowed for her self helpgroup.

Her husband was a reput-ed Hero Honda mechanic andalso was getting Rs 10,000 permonth as a gym trainer. He losthis earnings due to lockdown.Her son working in a privatecompany through a contractorhas lost his job for the lock-down. So the woman preferredto end her life before anyhumiliation.

One Kuna Sahu who wasrunning his family by sellingBara, Pakudi, Chani andAlluchap, is now seating idle, asnobody is allowed here to carryany business after 2 pm, eventhough the Chief Secretary

changed the curfew periodfrom 9 pm to 5 am. One BipinRout who was a street venderof Dahi Bara and PampadiChat, is presently vending veg-etables to earn bread for histen-member family.

Many elderly persons thoseare living from the sole incomeof house rent are now passingthrough a difficult period as thetenants of the shops and resi-dential houses are unable topay their house rents. Theteachers working with paltrysalaries in private schools aresitting idle at home jobless.Gurus of dance and musicschools, those were earningmoney by teaching students onclassical dance and music, areleading now a miserable life, asthe dance and music schoolsare closed. Regretfully, theDepartment of Culture thoughhas committed to give Rs10,000 as salary per month toGurus and Rs 6,000 as stipendto students per month report-edly was not releasing the grantfor last three years.

The district Collector ofDhenkanal has told media thatout total 79 Covid-19 affectedmigrants, 56 have returned totheir homes after recovery.Rest 23 were getting treatment

at Talcher and DhenkanalCovid Hospitals. The districtCollector simultaneously hasappealed the people not to bepanicky as all are outsiders andthere are least chance of massinfection, as they were sentfrom quarantine centers. IfDhenkanal has no risk ofspreading Covid-19, then whythe shop keepers and peddlersare not allowed to carry outtheir business upto 9 pm andobeying the guidelines of usingmask and maintaining socialdistancing, asked many here.

Recently, a bank managerat Baramba, asked to remain inquarantine, came to Dhenkanalviolating the guidelines. TheBank Manager who was foundCorona positive was residing atthe house of his sister inDhenkanal. He visited a privateclinic, a patholab, theDhenkanal HeadquartersHospital, two medicine storesetc. The district administrationthough adopted an easymethod of sealing the doctor'schamber, patholab and medi-cine stores, it had not yet takenany stringent action against theBank Manager who had putmany people at grave risk ofinfection, violating the guide-lines.

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Akrur Jani and Gita Jani areblind since birth. The cou-

ple which tied the nuptial knotyears back led a life with dig-nity and self-sufficiency with-out depending on others.

Though they are residentsof Bargarh district, but theystayed in Kamalibazar ofSambalpur town with a smallunit of Phenyl manufacturing.They prepared phenyl and soldin local market. Akrur, withGod gifted strength, soldphenyl in markets.

But the Covid 19 lock-down thereafter had a topsy-

turvy effect on their liveli-hood. Akrur couldn’t go out tosale phenyl and they managedwith difficulty for a fewmonths. But this couldn’t bepossible for long.

So this couple decided toreturn to their village Gaisiletas their only source of liveli-hood in Sambalpur couldn’teven feed them a square meal.

The office bearers ofSwichha, an NGO, came toknow about the couple andtried to help them. “Wearranged a taxi for the coupleso that they can reach homesafely. At the same time, we alsogave them some financial helpso that they will not face prob-lem in their village for the ini-tial days,” said Dillip Panda ofSwaichha.

All other members of theorganisation also helped thiscouple, Panda informed.

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While Corona cases’ recov-ery rate is satisfactory in

the district, a woman migrant’ssuicide in the DistrictHeadquarters Hospital (DHH)isolation centre after her hus-band succumbed there due toheart failure on Thursday hasraised questions pertaining totreatment and safety of Covidsuspects and patients in theDHH.

The deceased coupleNirlipta Bhola and SubhadraSwain hailing from Erasamahad returned from Hyderabadon Sunday and resided in vil-lage quarantine centre adher-ing to Covid guidelines. Bothon Tuesday reported coronasymptoms. They were shiftedto the SVM College quarantinecentre before being sent to theDHH next day after they suf-fered from fever and cough.

DHH sources claimed thatboth were given immediate

treatment. But Nirlipta com-plained of chest pain onThursday and died, informedADMO Dr Ajaya Swain.

After knowing her hus-band’s death, Subhadra whowas present at the isolation cen-tre locked the door from inside

and hanged herself. Before herdeath, she had recorded anaudio and sent it to her kith andkin. The audio stated that noadequate medical assistancehad been provided to her hus-band. CDMO Dr Bijaya Panda,however, refuted the allegation.

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BRAHMAPUR: The DakshinaOdisha Unnayan Parishad onSunday requested the StateGovernment to establish a plas-ma therapy unit at the MKCGMedical College Hospital hereto provide plasma treatment toCovid patients in the southregion.

“The State Governmenthas decided to set up fourplasma therapy units at the SCBMedical College and Hospitaland Ashwini Hospital inCuttack and SUM and KIMSHospital in Bhubaneswar whileGanjam needs it the most as ithas the highest number ofCovid positive cases,” saidParishad convenor Rabi Rath.

He demanded that theGovernment set up such a unitat the MKCG Hospital in thevery first phase as corona casesare on the rise at all levels in thedistrict. PNS

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The Ganjam Police havemade a good initiative by

introducing e-Office servicehere at the Ganjam PoliceDistrict headquarters atChhatrapur on Wednesday,informed SP Brijesh Rai in apress meet.

The basic objective of theinitiative is to ensure that theGanjam Police can reach peo-ple easily in various pro-peopledevelopment works undertak-en under 5-T and “Mo Sarkar”programme, Rai said. Now, e-office seva can remove both

time and distant constraints infulfilling the genuine needs ofthe public, he said.

Speaking on containingCovid-19 pandemic, Rai saidthat anyone who violates theCovid-19 lockdown guidelineswill be strictly dealt with andthe IICs and the SDPO ofGanjam Police district havealready given strict instructionsto bring culprits and law vio-lators to book and collect fineand such other measures asprescribed in the guidelines, headded. The Ganjam Police havealready collected fine from2500 persons, he pointed out.

Additional SP ThakurPrasad Patra; DSP UtkalKeshari Das; DSP DIB ofGanjam Police district AjayKumar Mishra and a band ofsenior police officers and IICswere present in the Press meet.

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The Keonjhar districtadministration on Sunday

imposed shutdown in theBarbil municipality area for aweek to contain further spreadof Covid-19 in the town.

All market places wouldbe shut and unnecessarymovement of vehicles wouldbe restricted. However, health-care services and essentialgoods supply would continue,said district Collector AshishThakare.

The weeklong shutdownwas announced after 11 newCovid-19 positive cases weredetected at Barbil.

Thakare said, “Keonjhardistrict reported 25 newCovid-19 cases in last 24hours, of which 11 are localcontacts belonging to Barbil.The remaining 14 cases have

travel history to other States.Of 14 cases, 13 have beendetected from TMCs and oneis a home quarantine case.They are fromHarichandanpur, Ghatagaon,Patana, Keonjhar block andHatadihi.”

The fresh cases reportedfrom Barbil town are the pri-mary contacts of earlier pos-itive cases. Further contacttracing is underway to breakthe chain of coronavirus.

“We have accelerated thecontact tracing and activesurveillance activity to containfurther spread of coronavirusin the municipality area,” theCollector said.

Following detection ofnew Covid cases, the district’stally rose to 182 with 81 activecases. Total recovered cases inthe district are 101 so far.

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The Centre for Advocacyand Research (CFAR) and

its partner organisation work-ing for the rights of transgen-der have welcomed the moveby the Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA) seeking torecruit transgender people inthe paramilitary forces in theposition of AssistantCommandant, the entry pointfor officers.

“This is big news for us andI welcome it. I hope it goesthrough. After such a longtime, we are being heard,” saidtransgender leader and founderof SAKHA, Meera Parida.

Parida said that in 2011,there were around 4.9 lakhtransgenders in India. “Thecommunity has been demand-ing equality of opportunityand non-discriminatory poli-

cies for decades. Whether it isthe education sector, job sector,or political platforms, people ofour community should begiven opportunities based ontheir education and calibre.We have seen that many othermarginalized communitieshave been given priority by theGovernment. It is time we too

are given the same priority,” shesaid. Another leader for trans-gender rights, Pushpa Mai,gounder of Nai Bhor, Jaipur, isa well-known transgenderleader in Rajasthan and a mem-ber of the Transgender WelfareBoard, Government ofRajasthan also welcomed themove.

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The demand for upgradingthe Fakir Mohan

Autonomous College to a uni-versity is gaining momentum.The former students as well thestudents undergoing regularcourses in the college haveupped the ante. Former pres-ident of the student unionHarekrushna Pradhan led asilent demonstration in frontof the college recently.

According to the agitatingstudents, the GM Collegewhich was established in 1944along the FM College hasbecome a university. Similarly, several other colleges includ-

ing that of the Bhawanipatnaand Ramadevi College whichwere respectively established inthe year 1960 and 64 havebecome universities in recentyears. Unfortunately, however,the FM College, althoughmeeting all the requirements,couldn’t become a university,the agitators lamented.

Besides in Khurda ,Ganjam and Sambalpur dis-tricts, there are two universities,they said.

Since, there is only oneuniversity in Baleswar, FMUniversity, for smooth imple-mentation of education cur-ricula in the colleges ofBaleswar and Bhadrak, there isa need of another university,said Pradhan .

As many as 67 colleges ofBaleswar and Bhadrak comeunder the jurisdiction of FMCollege and each year over16,000 students take theirdegree exams.

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The oldest traditional cul-tural event Ravan Chhaya

(Ramayana) of Pallahara blockgot Central recognition,announced Petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan atJanasambad virtual rally inPallahara assembly con-stituency here recently.

PM Narendra Modi isputting emphasis on culture,religion, art and traditional

cultural activities. The RavanChhaya of Pallahara hasalready earned fame in foreigncountries like the US, Japan etc.But it was not listed in theCentre's cultural list. On thespecial efforts of former MLAPallahara as well as CentralMinister DharmendraPradhan, the Ravan Chhaya gotrecognition, Pradhan said inthe virtual rally.

Noyably, Ravan Chhayawas founded by late Kathi Dasand later on by Kolha CharanaSahoo of Odosha in Khamararea.

BJP leader like districtpresident Dileswar Pradhan,vice president Tanmaya Sahooand PRI members were presenton the occation.

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Agroup of persons of Ward-8 of the town lodged a

written complaint on Friday tothe local Tehsildar allegingthat the Muslim community ofthe town were illegally con-structing a “Madrasa”encroaching upon a patch ofGovernment land.

Further they threatened tolaunch agitation if the admin-istration failed to evict thebuilding structure from thelocality.

However, refuting the alle-gation, the local Muslim com-munity people said that thebuilding was meant for multi-purpose community hall fund-ed by the Government.

The ongoing building con-

struction was made by duetender process and the landwas allotted by the localTehsildar in compliance withthe orders of the districtadministration.

The local Muslim com-munity people are nothing todo with the allotment of theland by the revenue depart-ment. The allegation is polit-ically motivated to target theminority community here.

They further alleged thatfor so many days, their com-munity has been targeted by agroup of people who haveunauthorizedly formed anorganization and were con-ducting meetings and deliver-ing hate speeches in the local-ity and playing divisive politicsin the name of Hindu-Muslim.

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The Jharsuguda district hascreated a record in paddy

procurement this year.Compared to last year, thepaddy purchase in the districthas been f ive t imes more.

The district administra-tion sources said that during2019 , target was set for pur-chase of 17, 647 quintalspaddy against which 17,020quintals paddy was actuallypurchased. On the otherhand, in current Rabi seasonagainst a target of 95,588quintals paddy purchase infour stages, 92,923 quintalshas already been purchased.As many as 1,342 farmershave sold paddy through 17PACS.

The distr ict SupplyDepartment sources revealedthat in Durlaga PACS underJharsuguda Sadar Block, 2,593

quintals paddy has been pur-chased from 17 farmersagainst target of 2,596 quin-tals . Similarly, inLahandabuda PACS 292 quin-tals purchased from eightfarmers against a target of 370qunitals and in SripuraCooperative Society 4,022quintals purchased from 31farmers against target of 4,050quintals. In Kolabira blockonly, target was set to pur-chase 2,780 quintals paddyfrom the area of SamasinghaCooperative Society. But,2,711 quintals paddy has beenpurchased there from 32farmers. In Laikera Block, atarget of 7,554 and 4,000quintals of paddy was set forprocurement through twocooperative societies inLaikera and Sahaspur arearespectively. But, actually6,892 quintals from 87 farm-ers in Laikera PACs and 3,998quintals from 44 farmers inSahaspur area was

purchased. The main livelihood in

the largest block of the districtLakhanpur is agriculture.Agriculture here is possiblethrough lift irrigation projectsas a major portion of the landis located near Hirakud RiverDam. This year, the farmers of11 cooperative societies hadregistered for paddy sale.

Against a target of 11.560quintals paddy purchase inKanaktora PACs, 11,200 quin-tals has been purchased from143 farmers. Likewise, inSunari PACs, 5,561 quintalspaddy purchased from 105farmers against target of 5,974quintals. In Tilia PACs 1,250quintals purchased from 21farmers against target of 1,250quintals; in Samada PACs617 quintals purchased from13 farmers against target of650 quintals; in MachidaPACs, 9,073 quintals pur-chased from 160 farmers

against target of 9,140 quin-tals; in Bhikampali PACs,3,579 quintals purchasedfrom 43 farmers against tar-get of 3647 quintals; inUttarkhol PACs, 1296 quintalspurchased against target of1296 quintals; in AtabiraPACs 8,354 quintals pur-chased from 134 farmersagainst target of 8, 410 quin-tals.

District Chief AgricultureOff icer LaxminarayanPanigrahi said that inJharsuguda district inspite ofnon-availabiltiy of greaterirrigation facility, the problemhas been solved by increasingthe irrigation facility upto 33per cent through lift irrigationprojects, changing directionof the waterfalls etc. Till date,irrigation facility has beenprovided to 27,880 hectaresout of 82 364 hectares cul-tivable land in the district,P a n i g r a h iadded.

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Vedanta’s Alumina Refineryat Lanjigarh joined hands

with the Kalahandi police in amega blood donation driveorganised at Vedanta Hospitalunder the OdishaGovernment’s ‘Mo Sarkar’ ini-tiative.

95 units of blood were col-lected during the voluntaryblood donation drive with thesupport of police personnel,employees and associate part-ners of Vedanta along withmembers from the nearbycommunity.

Acknowledging the vol-unteers for their donation,Chief Operating Officer,Vedanta Limited, Lanjigarh

unit Rakesh Mohan said, "Wehave received proactive supportand cooperation from ouremployees and associate part-ners in donating their blood forthis noble cause. Efforts of the

Kalahandi district administra-tion and police departmentare truly appreciative at a timewhen there is a shortage ofblood in the blood bank."

5�������The absence ofIIC Sarojini Nayak in theBalaswar Town police stationever since a Sub-Inspectorwas caught in a graft case byVigilance officers on July 1has become a talk of thetown.

“The IIC is required in thetrap case but she is not avail-able. We have informed theSuperintendent of Polliceregarding her absence,” saidVigilance SP Santosh KumarMishra.

Meanwhile, city DSPManoj Kumar Rout said thatthe IIC is on leave for a weekand has left the headquarters.

On July 1, Vigilance policehad arrested SI Bimalendu Karand middleman Santosh Dasfor taking bribe of Rs 25,000from a Bibhu Prasad Patra ofBairamnagar to settle a civildispute with his neighbour. PNS

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An oil tanker carrying fur-nace oil met with an acci-

dent near Joda on Saturdaynight.

The tanker coming fromJharguda to the Arya Steelplant at Barbil overturned whiletrying to negotiate KalapahadGhat on NH-520 due to badroad conditions and trafficproblems.

The oil containing poiso-nous chemicals spilled in to thenearby Sona river. On Sundaymorning, it was found that alarge number of dead fishesand others aquatic animalswere floating in the river.Besides, local residents com-

plained of chest pain and suf-focation.

Officials of Arya Steel andlocal police reached the spotand sought to solve the prob-lem.

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Page 4:  · 84,524. The city’s death toll has risen to 4,899. Tamil Nadu reported 4,150 persons turning coronavirus positive taking the total num- ... and enabling study continues,”

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Trinamool Congress MPKalyan Banerjee has

stirred a controversy with hisdisparaging remarks againstUnion Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman, whomhe equated with a “venomoussnake”. The BJP reactedsharply saying TMC chiefMamata Banerjee has lostcontrol over her party leaderswho are “uttering nonsense”out of frustration. The BJPsaid it will lodge an FIRagainst the TMC MP for his“misogynistic” remark.

Addressing a protest rallyat Bankura against rising fuelprices and the proposed pri-vat isat ion of trains onSaturday, Kalyan Banerjeedemanded Sitharaman’’s res-ignation.

“Just like a ‘’kal nagini’’(killer venomous snake) bitesand ki l ls people, her economic policies are killingthe country’’s economy,” he

said.The TMC Lok Sabha

member also called her “theworst finance minister” inthe world. Kalyan Banerjeewas even critical of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. Hehad promised a new India andhas done it by bringing downthe GDP growth rate to“abysmal” levels, the TMClawmaker alleged.

While BJP’s national sec-retary Rahul Sinha said theparty will lodge an FIRagainst the TMC MP for hiscomments that disparagedwomen, State party president Dil ip Ghoshclaimed West Bengal chiefminister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjeehas lost grip over her partyleaders.

“Corruption has spread inthe TMC from top to bottom;they have become puzzled byinternal feud and many ofthem are making senselesscomments to divert the

attention from the situation prevailing in the ruling party.

“We don’t give muchimportance to such comments.... they are utteringsuch nonsense out of frustra-tion,” he said.

“Mamata Banerjee recent-ly sermonised people tomaintain dignity of languagein political discourse. Is thisthe kind of language thatshould be used against a lady?He is an advocate. Is this thelanguage of an advocate? Hehas disparaged all womenwith his remarks,” Sinha said.

BJP national spokesper-son Sambit Patra calledKalyan Banerjee’’s remarks“misogynistic”. “He comesfrom a state where GoddessDurga and Goddess Kali arevenerated. Mamata Banerjeeis a woman and she shouldtake action against her MP forhis misogynistic comments.But I don’t think she will,”Patra told India Today newschannel.

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Over four and a half battal-ions (4,500 personnel) of

the five Central paramilitaryforces have been infected so farby Covid-19 with the CRPFalone reporting over 1,500cases followed by about 1,400cases in BSF, a little over 1,000in CISF, over 400 in ITBP andabout 200 in SSB. Nearly twobattalion strength of personnelcontinue to be active

According to the data ofnovel coronavirus infectionin Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) ranks availabletill Sunday, as many as 1,564personnel have contracted thedisease out of which 808 con-tinue to be active cases and747 persons have recovered.The casualty figure in theCRPF stands at nine. TheCRPF tops the list in terms oftotal number of infected per-sonnel, active cases and deaths.

As many as 1,348 BorderSecurity Force (BSF) person-nel have contracted the diseasetill Sunday. Of 1,348 infectedpersonnel in the BSF ranks,526 are active cases and 817

have recovered besides fivepersons have succumbed dueto the disease.

Likewise, the CentralIndustrial Security Force(CISF) has till now reported1,021 infected personnel and387 patients continue to beactive cases. A total of 626patients have recovered fromthe pandemic and eight per-sons have died due to theinfection.

The Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP) has reported421 personnel contracting

Covid-19. There are151 activecases and 270 patients haverecovered. The ITBP hasreported three deaths till nowdue to Covid-19.

The Sashastra Seema Bal(SSB) has the lowest numberof infected personnel in itsranks with a total of 160 per-sons getting infected due to thevirus that originated first inWuhan, China. Out of the 160infected personnel, only 30 areactive at present and 128patients have recovered fromthe disease.

A total of 4,514 personnelof the five paramilitary havebeen infected by Covid-19 tillso far.

Of the 4,514 infected per-sonnel, 2,588 patients haverecovered and 1,902 infectedpersons continue to be activeor Covid-19 positive. A total of27 infected persons have diedfrom the ranks of CRPF, BSF,CISF, ITBP and SSB.

The CRPF is engaged in avariety of internal securityroles including anti-terroristoperations in Jammu andKashmir, counter-insurgencyoperations in the Northeastand anti-Naxal action in the

affected States besides andorder duties in aid of the civilpolice across the country.

The CISF is tasked tosecure the airports, seaports,landports and various vitalinstallations and governmentbuildings besides the metrotrain networks like the DelhiMetro.

The border guardingforces like the BSF secure theIno-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh borders, the ITBPpatrols the frontiers withChina and the SSB is the bor-der patrol organisation forthe frontiers with Nepal andBhutan.

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Air India on Sundayannounced that it will be

conducting 36 flights betweenthe United States and Indiafrom July 11 to July 19, 2020under the Vande BharatMission.

“Tickets may be bookedthrough Air India website onlyeffective 20:00 hours (IST) on6 July, equivalent to New York(EDT 1030 hrs of 6' July 2020),Chicago (CDT 0930 hrs of 6July 2020) & San Francisco(PDT 0730 hrs of 6 July 2020),“it said.

Earlier on June 22, the USDepartment of Transportationhad announced that it had

barred Air India from operat-ing chartered flights betweenIndia and the United Statesfrom July 22 without its priorapproval, in an apparent retal-iation for the Indian govern-ment not allowing Americancarriers to operate betweenthe two countries.

Therefore, on 23 June, theMinistry of Civil Aviation hadsaid that India is consideringestablishing “individual bilat-eral bubbles” with US, UK,Germany, and France whichwill allow airlines of each coun-try in the pact to operate inter-national flights.

On June 28, the Ministryannounced that Air India willbe conducting 114 flights to

and from 17 countriesbetween July 3 and 15 underthe fourth phase of the VandeBharat Mission to bring backstranded Indian abroad.

Under the fourth phase ofthe mission, Air India will beconducting 114 flights con-necting India with Canada,the US, the UK, Kenya, SriLanka, Philippines,Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia,Bangladesh, Thailand, SouthAfrica, Russia, Australia,Myanmar, Japan, Ukraine andVietnam.

The mission involved 860Air India flights, 1256 charterflights and 8 Naval Ships. Thestranded Indians returned byAir India flights were 1,64,121;Indian Navy helped return3,987 people in 8 ships fromMaldives, Iran and Colombo;chartered flights - 2,30,832and foreign carriers - 3,969;about 60 air ambulances wereoperated and 95,220 peoplehave returned through landborder check-posts fromneighboring countries.

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Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra’s bungalow

at 35 Lodhi Estate has beenallotted to BJP Rajya Sabha MPAnil Baluni by the Directorateof Estates, Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs.

Sources said that Balunihad sought to exchange his 20,Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Roadbungalow sometime back. “TheMinistry had ordered PriyankaGandhi to vacate her bungalowearlier this week, as she nolonger has Special Protection

Group security. After that, itwas allotted to Baluni inexchange of his GurudwaraRakab Ganj bungalow,” sourcessaid. Both the bungalow is attype 6 B category.

According to sources,Priyanka has not vacated thebungalow so far. She has beengiven time till 1 August tovacate the bungalow. TheMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs (MoHUA) has can-celled the allotment ofPriyanka’s bungalow onWedneday after her SpecialProtection Group (SPG) cover

was withdrawn by the govern-ment in 2019.

"Consequent upon with-drawal of SPG protection andgrant of Z+ security cover byMinistry of Home Affairs,which does not have provisionfor allotment/retention of gov-ernment accommodation onsecurity ground to you, theallotment of Type 6B housenumber 35, Lodhi Estate, NewDelhi is hereby cancelled witheffect from 01/07/2020," saidthe ministry's notice.

According to the currentnorms, there are no provisionsfor allotment or retention ofgovernment accommodationto those with Z+ security unlessexceptions are made based onrecommendations given by thehome ministry.

The bungalow was allottedto her despite being a privatecitizen on the account ofPriyanka Gandhi having beena Special Protection Group(SPG) protectee.

The SPG rules allow all theprotectees to get Governmentaccommodation.

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Against the backdrop of theongoing face-off between

India and China in easternLadakh, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundaycalled on President Ram NathKovind and discussed issues ofnational and internationalimportance.

The meeting comes just acouple of days after the PrimeMinister visited Leh andaddressed soldiers followingthe June 15 Galwan Valleyclashes in the higher reaches ofthat region with Chinese troopsthat left 20 Indian army per-sonnel dead.

After the meeting, theRashtrapati Bhavan tweeted,"Prime Minister @naren-dramodi called on President

Kovind and briefed him on theissues of national and interna-tional importance."

The Prime Minister hadaddressed the troops of theArmy, CRPF and Air Force andtaken a jibe at China, saying the"era of expansionism" is over.Praising the troops of theArmed Forces, PM Modi saidthat the enemies of the coun-try have seen the "fire and fury"of its Armed Forces.

"The era of expansionismhas ended. This is the age ofdevelopment. If someonebecomes stubborn for expan-sionism, then it creates dangerfor world peace. History iswitness that such forces haveeither been eliminated orforced to turn back.The entireworld has made up its mindagainst expansionism,"

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The Union Health Ministryand Dental Council of

India (DCI) has decided tolower the qualifying cut-offpercentile for NEET MDS 2020to fill the vacant seats.

“The Ministry, in consul-tation with the DCI has decid-ed to lower the qualifying cut-off percentile for NEET-MDS,2020 by 18.935 percentile foreach category (General,SC/ST/OBC and UR-PWD),”

said a statement from theMinistry here.

NEET MDS is an eligibil-ity-cum-ranking examinationprescribed as the singleentrance examination foradmission to various PG MDSCourses under Dentists Act,1948 (amended from time totime).

No other entrance exami-nation, either at state or insti-tution level, shall be valid forentry to MDS Courses, addedthe statement.

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Days after declaring ninepersons belonging to pro-

Khalistani organisations as des-ignated terrorists, the Centreon Sunday blocked 40 websitesbelonging to Sikhs For Justice(SFJ). The SFJ’s head, US-based Gurpatwant SinghPannun, has also been desig-nated as a terrorist underUAPA.

The SFJ was using digitalplatforms from the US andEuropean countries for anti-India propaganda and was

campaigning for a referendumof Sikhs in India.

As per the HomeMinistry’s directions, theInformation & TechnologyDepartment has issued ordersfor blocking these 40 websitesin India. “Sikhs For Justice(SFJ), an unlawful organisationunder the UAPA,1967,launched a campaign for reg-istering supporters for its cause.On recommendation of MHA,MeitY has issued orders undersec. 69 A of the I.T. Act, 2000,for blocking 40 websites of SFJ,”said Union Home Ministry.

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Avariation in the viralgenome of Covid-19 has

helped the virus to infecthuman cells and become thedominant strain circulatingaround the world, according toa study published in the jour-nal Cell.

The researchers showedthe variation named D614G ismore infectious in cell culturesunder laboratory conditions.The variant makes a small buteffective change in the 'spike'glycoprotein that protrudesfrom the surface of the virus,which it uses to enter andinfect human cells.

“We could see at the timeof our initial preprint submis-sion that the G614 variant wasbecoming the predominantform globally, but we could notdifferentiate between threebroad possibilities that mightexplain a fitness advantage,”says lead author Bette Korber,

a laboratory fellow at LosAlamos National Laboratory.

“The added experiments inthe published study point toenhanced infectivity due tothe spike protein change as thefavored hypothesis. But infec-tiousness and transmissibilityare not always synonymous,and we hope others will studythese viruses in greater detailwith wild-type virus in natur-al infection settings and variedtarget cells.”

While coronaviruses gen-erally have low rates of muta-tion, Korber and her colleagueswere concerned that even smallmutations to SARS-CoV-2could hinder efforts to under-stand and fight the virus.

“We knew from our directexperience in the HIV field thatin some cases, a single aminoacid change can have a majorphenotypic impact,” she said.

To that end, the teamworked to develop a publiclyavailable data-analysis pipeline

that could mine SARS-CoV-2sequences made available onthe Global Initiative for SharingAll Influenza Data (GISAID)database to help scientistsexplore potentially interestingmutations.

They quickly identified theD614G variant as something topay attention to: its key aminoacid change from aspartic acid(D) to glycine (G) occurred ona protein that's crucial to howthe virus infects human cells-and it was rapidly becomingthe dominant version of thevirus around the world.

“Although coronaviruseshave some proofreading capac-ity, mutations can emerge, andvigilance, surveillance, andcontinued study of the viruswill be key to ensuring that thedrugs, antibodies, and otherinterventions under develop-ment remain effective, saidErica Ollmann Saphire at LaJolla Institute for Immunologyat Duke University.

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The CPI(M) polit bureau onSunday urged the

Government to break thepatent monopoly and issuelicence to counter the highpricing by the US company-owned Remdesvir, the antiviraldrug for Covid-19.

In a statement, the CPI(M)said the Government mustinvoke Clause 92 of India’sPatent Act and issue licenses toIndian firms to produce thegeneric version of this drug ataffordable prices.

“The price of Remdesivirin the US is $3,000 or �2.25

lakhs, for a 5-day course. FiveIndian companies are in nego-tiations for manufacturingRemdesivir under Gilead’slicense.

After manufacturing inIndia, Remdesivir will be soldat a ‘concessional’ price of $400or �30,000-35,000 for the same5-day course.

The cost of manufacturingRemdesivir for a full course -as worked out by experts—isless than $10 or Rs 750 in theUS. And about Rs. 100 inIndia. Gilead, by virtue of itspatent monopoly, is holding theworld to ransom by asking aprice that is hundreds of times

its cost. “The Drug Controller

General of India (DCGI) hasaccelerated the approval for theuse of Remdesivir in India forCovid-19 patients. But with theUS buying up the entire stockof Gilead and the high cost dueto its patent monopoly, Indianpatients will either not get thedrug, or if it is available, findthe cost prohibitive,” said theCPI(M).

The polit bureau pointedout that as per Clause 92 ofPatent Act, India has everyright to issue a compulsorylicence to manufacture thedrug.

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The United Nations' Foodand Agriculture

Organisation (FAO) haswarned that India, which istackling the worst locust attackin 26 years for the last threemonths, should remain on“high alert” during the nextfour week even as the Ministryof Agriculture has stepped upefforts and is using the latesttechnology and equipment likedrones and Bell helicopters forcontrol of the menace.

In its latest update, the FAOsaid that spring-bred locustswarms that migrated to Indo-Pakistan border and travelledeast to northern states, areexpected to return back toRajasthan with the start ofmonsoon in coming days. Theseswarms will return to Rajasthanto join other swarms still arriv-ing from Iran and Pakistan,which is expected to be supple-mented by swarms from theHorn of Africa in about mid-July, it added.

“Early breeding has alreadyoccurred along the Indo-Pakistan border where sub-stantial hatching and band for-mation will take place in July

that will cause the first-genera-tion summer swarms to form inmid-August,” FAO said. Indiaand Pakistan as well as Sudan,Ethiopia, South Sudan andSomalia should remain on “highalert during the next fourweeks,” it noted.

Rajasthan is the most affect-ed state in the country. Theother affected states are MadhyaPradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, UttarPradesh, Maharashtra,Chhattisgarh, Haryana andBihar.

According to the Ministry,swarms of immature pinklocusts and adult yellow locustsare active in Jaisalmer, Barmer,Bikaner, Jodhpur, Nagaur,Dausa, and Bharatpur ofRajasthan, and Jhansi andMahoba districts of UttarPradesh. However the govern-ment is continuing the controloperations to check damage tocrops from locust attacks.

On July 4, a Bell Helicoptertook its first sortie in Jaisalmerdistrict of Rajasthan and com-pleted its mission of chemicalspraying in targeted areas, there-by augmenting the locust con-trol efforts. In the interveningnight of July 3-4, control oper-ations were carried out at 25places in six districts (Jaisalmer,

Barmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur,Nagaur, and Dausa) ofRajasthan and two places inJhansi district of Uttar Pradeshby the Locust Circle Offices(LCOs), it said.

Besides this, StateAgriculture Departments alsocarried out control operations atfour places in Jhansi andMahoba districts of UttarPradesh and at two places inBharatpur district of Rajasthanagainst small groups and scat-tered population of locusts. Sofar, locust control operationshave been done in a total1,35,207 hectares area inRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradeshand Haryana by the LocustCircle Offices (LCOs).

The State Governmentshave also taken control mea-sures in 1,13,215.5 hectares areain Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh,Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,Haryana and Bihar. “No sig-nificant crop losses have beenreported in Gujarat, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,Bihar and Haryana. However,some minor crop losses havebeen reported in some districtsof Rajasthan,” the ministry said.

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Page 5:  · 84,524. The city’s death toll has risen to 4,899. Tamil Nadu reported 4,150 persons turning coronavirus positive taking the total num- ... and enabling study continues,”

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Though the vaccine forCovid-19 is still weeks away

from hitting the shelves inhospitals and pharmacy stores,a campaign against coron-avirus vaccine is brewing up allover the western world, espe-cially in the United States ofAmerica which could haveramifications in India also.

Mike Adams, a publichealth policy expert who is alsoa civil rights activist based inthe US is the one who has firedthe first salvo by questioningthe rights of the government toadminister forced vaccine on itspeople.

Adams, popularly knownas Health Ranger because of hisexemplary role as a whistleblower in the pursuit of phar-maceutical companies to makequick buck in emergency situ-ations like covid-19 pandemicdeclared on Saturday throughhis column in NatureNewsthat he would invoke his rightof self-defence against anyattempt at forced vaccination.

It may be noted that theannouncement by Adamscomes weeks before the IndianCouncil of Medical Research isto launch an indigenouslydeveloped corona vaccine inIndia. The concerns expressedby Adamas have found supportamong Indian physicians ofglobal repute, Prof B M Hegde,described as India’s medicalwarrior and Dr C VKrishnaswamy, physician anddiabetologist who stronglybelieves that a holisticapproach incorporating vari-ous Indian system of medicineis the only way to take on thepandemic.

“It normally takes years todevelop and gain approval fornew vaccines – and the estab-lishment is demanding a vac-cine now ‘cutting corners’, it isnecessary to bring to market aWuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine much more quick-ly than the normal processwould allow,” says Adams.

He declared that no gov-ernment has any right to invadeone’s body and force one to beinjected with a potentially inju-

rious or even deadly substance,and given that today’s coron-avirus vaccines are skippingmost of the normal protocols ofsafety and testing, the comingforced vaccinations with thecoronavirus vaccine aremandatory medical experi-ments being conducted in vio-lation of the GenevaConvention which forbids suchactions on a global scale.

According to Adams, coro-navirus vaccine is a globaldepopulation weapon beingdeployed against humanity.

“The goal is depopulation,as has been promoted andendorsed by people like BillGates, who also funds coron-avirus vaccine development.If you allow yourself to beinjected with the coronavirusvaccine, you may be killed byit. Or you might be madeinfertile, put into a coma orhospitalized with severe reac-tions. Your brain and gut maysuffer permanent, long-termdamage,” cautions Adams.

Prof Hegde has been high-ly critical about the plan by thegovernment to develop a vac-

cine instead of turning towardsthe Indian tradition of treat-ment to take the coronavirus byits horns. “Vaccines and vacci-nations have never workedanywhere. We have scientificevidence which proves thatsmallpox was not eradicatedwith vaccines. It is pathetic andludicrous to say we ever van-quished smallpox with vac-cines, when only 10 per cent ofthe population was ever vacci-nated,” said Prof Hegde quot-ing from the book “Confessionsof a Medical Heretic” authoredby Dr Robert Mendelsohn, USpediatrician and medical sci-entist.

Dr Krishnaswamy said hehad his own reservations aboutthe upcoming vaccine. “Whatwe need today is a council ofmedical professionals like ProfHegde for advising the gov-ernment of India about steps tobe taken to checkmate thecovid-19 pandemic,” he said.For his part, Prof Hegde askedwhat happened to the muchpublicized AIDS vaccine.

“It has been there for morethan four decades now and we

are yet to see any kind of vac-cine to checkmate the pan-demic. Then how can webelieve the vaccine developedfor coronavirus in just threemonths”? asked Prof Hegde.

Even as this report is writ-ten, there is news coming fromvarious Ayurvedic practition-ers how they cured hundreds ofcovid patients with drugs madeof Indian herbs, plants androots.

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Alleged Bangladeshi smug-glers attacked and griev-

ously wounded three BorderSecurity Personnel in the North24 Parganas district, BSFsources said adding the inci-dent took place when theIndian security personnel chal-lenged them in the small hoursof Saturday. According tosources a team of 107th bat-talion of the force had laid anambush near Bansghata villagefollowing reports that the cul-prits were active in a specificarea of the border. After theBSF personnel challenged mis-creants, about 10-12 in number,they attacked the men in uni-form with hand-combatweapons injuring at least threeof them.

“Our boys had reached thearea at around 3.30 am andwhen they challenged the mis-creants they encircled the BSFparty and brutally attackedthem with bamboo sticks andsharp-edged cleaver-likeweapons called ‘'Da’', a BSFofficer said adding the smug-glers ran across the borderwhen the jawans fired giverounds from their non-lethalpump action gun in self

defence in which at least oneintruder was injured.

About eight kilograms ofor marijuana was seized fromthe miscreants, sources said.

Elsewhere much to thechagrin of the BJP leadership astate forensic party reachedblast site at Malda --- where ane-rickshaw was blown intosmithereens following anexplosion in his vehicle ---three days after the incident.

“The State government’ssensitivity towards such acts areunderstandable from such inci-dents where the forensic partiesreach three days after a blastproviding enough time to themiscreants if any to cross theborder and flee to Bangladesh,”State BJP leader Sayantan Basusaid. While the police had ear-lier said that the blast could bea result of explosion in the bat-tery of the vehicle locals smelta rat wondering whether theintensity of the blast could beso high in case of a batteryblast.

A hand and the head of thedriver were torn and tossed offseveral feet away due to theimpact of the blast. The StateCrime InvestigationDepartment (CID) waspresently conducting the inves-tigations.

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Sixty persons succumbed toCovid-19 while 4,150 per-

sons were tested positive for thepandemic on Sunday in TamilNadu. This took the total num-ber of persons diagnosed withCovid-19 in the State till date to1.11 million.

Taking into account thenumber of patients cured anddischarged from the hospitalstill date, there were 46, 860active patients in the State onSunday, according to the med-ical bulletin issued by theGovernment of Tamil Nadu.

The death toll in the Statereached 1,510 on Sunday as 60persons succumbed to the ill-ness. Out of the 60 which diedon Sunday, 57 had pre-existingmorbidity or chronic diseases,said the bulletin.

Tamil Nadu is on anaggressive testing mode as partof the administration’s efforts toidentify and isolate the coron-avirus cases. On Sunday, fourmore laboratories were pressedinto service which took the totalnumber of laboratories in theState to 95.

These laboratories togeth-er tested 34, 102 persons acrossthe State taking the number ofpersons tested till date to 1.28million.

Chennai continued to bethe covid-19 headquarters ofthe State as 1,713 out of the4,150 tested positive were fromthe metropolis. The neigh-bouring districts of Chengalpet(274), Kancheepuram (152)

and Thiruvallur (209) did notshow any abatement in thenumber of covid cases despitethe lock down.

Madurai (308) and theindustrial hub Vellore (179)continued to be districts ofconcern as the numbers keptincreasing during the last 24hours.

Expatriates who returnedto Tamil Nadu did not causeany fear in the minds of officialsas only 22 of them were diag-nosed with coronavirus onSunday. 61 persons whoreturned to the State fromother parts of the country test-ed positive.

Meanwhile, the govern-ment made it known on Sundaythat Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswami would undertakea tour all over Tamil Nadu totake stock of the situation aris-ing out of the pandemic.

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Ahead of the reopening ofDurbar move offices in

Srinagar, one CRPF personnelreceived injuries in an IED blastin Pulwama area of SouthKashmir while police teamsdetected another IED anddefused the same with the helpof a Bomb disposal squad (BDS)thereby averting a major tragedyin the same area on Sunday.

On the other hand, two ter-rorists who were neutralised bythe joint teams of security forcesin the Arreh area of Kulgam onSaturday turned out to beCorona positive while complet-ing medico legal formalities.

Police spokesman said,"while carrying out the medico-legal formalities the samples ofthe killed terrorists were takenand sent for Covid-19 test. OnSunday, the test reports werereceived from CD HospitalSrinagar and both the killed ter-rorists were confirmed asCoronavirus positive".

Police spokesman said, "toensure the safety of people frominherent risk of contracting theinfection, the burial of the killedterrorists is carried out at des-ignated places. Medico-legalformalities are strictly followedin respect of such killed terror-ists which includes post-

mortem, DNA and Covid-19tests.

The dead bodies of the saidkilled terrorists shall be carriedthrough protective care ambu-lance and buried strictly as perCovid-19 protocol at Baramulla,police spokesman added.

One of the killed terroristswas a foreigner and identified asAli Bhai @ Hyder.However theidentification of another killedterrorist could not be ascer-tained. The killed terrorists wereaffiliated with proscribed terroroutfit HM, a police spokesmansaid.

Meanwhile, "an IED blasttook place in the orchards nearPeaks Automobile Pulwamawhere routine joint naka ofPolice/CRPF is establishedaround 7.28 a.m on sunday".

"One CRPF personnelreceived minor injuries and wasundergoing treatment wherehis condition was stated to bestable", police spokesman said.

After the IED blast wasreported, joint teams of securi-ty forces along with the Bombdisposal squad launched a thor-ough search of the area. Duringthese searches, Pulwama policeteam detected one more IEDplanted in the area. The IED waslater defused by BDS Pulwamaand thus averted a big tragedy.Police have launched thoroughinvestigations in the case.

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Awar of nerves broke outbetween the ruling Shiv

Sena and the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) on Sunday over thelikely delay in the nominationof 12 members to theMaharashtra LegislativeCouncil by MaharashtraGovernor Bhagat SinghKoshyari.

In his Sunday column‘Rokhtok’ in the Sena mouth-piece Saamna, Shiv Sena’s MPand spokesperson Sanjay Rautmildly ticked off the OpposingBJP by accusing it of playing

politics every during the Covid-19 and trying to influence the“Union Home Ministry-nom-inated” Governor to delay theprocess of nominating 12 newmembers to the Upper Houseof State Legislature in place ofequal number of outgoing leg-islators whose terms ended onJune 15.

On his part, former chiefminister and current leader ofthe Opposition DevendraFadnavis of the BJP retaliated byadvising the Shiv Sena to con-centrate on addressing theCoronavirus crisis rather thanbothering about the nomina-

tion of 12 legislators by theGovernor.

“I feel that Sanjay Rautshould not bother about thenomination of 12 persons to theState Legislature. Instead, heand the Shiv Sena should con-centrate on Maharashtra andCorornavirus. The state gov-ernment should think as to whyCovid-19 patients were notbeing treated and what willhappen to these patients. If theSena was thinking about thoseissues, I would have beenhappy,” Fadnavis said.

Indirectly suggesting thatthe current Governor was not

in a mood to nominate the 12persons recommended by theMaharashtra Cabinet headed bychief minister UddhavThackeray, Raut wrote in hiscolumn: “The nomination of 12members to the Council hasbecome a topic for a hot debatein the state. Normally theGovernor appoints expertsfrom various fields as membersof the Council based on therecommendation of the StateCabinet. If the nominationdoes not happen on time, sucha thing would tantamount totrampling upon theConstitution and gagging of the

State Council. This thing hadhappened during theEmergency”.

“Even today the BJP targetsthe Congress repeatedly by say-ing that by imposingEmergency in the country inthe seventies, late Mrs IndiraGandhi took away the freedomof people and trampled uponthe human rights of the citizens.“Even now the BJP observesJune 25, 1975 (the day MrsGandhi imposed Emergency)as a black day.

“Union Home MinisterAmit Shah says that “one fam-ily” ( Gandhi-Nehru family)

had greed for power. That’s whyshe trampled upon theConstitution and took away therights of the people by impos-ing Emergency. Amit Shah isthe country’s Home Minister.He says the Constitution is nottrampled upon, rights ofParliament and Legislatures arenot taken. We congratulate himfor that. Hence any delay in thenomination of 12 legislatorswould tantamount to scuttlingfreedom and gagging of theState Council like it happenedduring the Emergency,” theSena spokesperson wrote in hiscapacity as Executive Editor of

“Saamana”.Raut said that Governor

Koshyari had given clear indi-cations that because of theCoronavirus crisis, he was notin favour of completing thenomination process immedi-ately. “In effect, the nomina-tion of 12 legislations willhave to wait till October. TheOpposition BJP does not wantthe Governor to nominate the12 persons recommended bythe Uddhav ThackerayCabinet to the Council asmembers. That’s why theOpposition is trying to stretchthe nomination process till

October using the Governor’soffice,” Raut said.

Raut said that in a publicinterview, Fadnavis had recent-ly gone on record saying thatthe BJP was not interested intoppling the Sena-led MahaVikas Aghadi government andthat it would fall on its own dueto “internal contradictions”.“Now that the BJP has realisedit can not topple the govern-ment, it is creating all sorts ofhurdles to the government; thelatest hurdle being the nomi-nation of 12 persons to theCouncil through the office ofthe Governor," Raut added.

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As 225 persons were diag-nosed with Covid-19 on

Sunday, situation in Kerala hasturned serious and graveaccording to the State unit of theIndian Medical Association.While 117 diagnosed withCovid-19 on Sunday wereexpatriates and 57 were fromother parts of India, 38 who test-

ed positive were victims ofcommunity transmission asthey could not disclose how andwhere they got infected.

“This is really serious andwe have to understand thatKerala is in the grip of com-munity transmission,” DrAbraham Varghese, StatePresident of Indian MedicalAssociation told The Pioneer.

Taking note of the changedsituation in the State, theGovernment of Kerala onSunday declared face maskand social distancingmandatory for one year.According to KeralaEpidemic DiseasesOrdinance 2020 notifiedby the Government, allpersons should use face-mask or face cover in allpublic places, workplaces,any place with publicaccess and all kinds ofvehicles. Physical distanceof at least six feet betweenpersons has to be main-tained in public placesand during functions.

Only 10 persons are

allowed to attend social gather-ings like protest marches , ral-lies etc and that too with priorpermission from authorities.The Government has notbanned any sit-ins and demon-strations in front of theSecretariat atThiruvananthapuram, a per-manent venue for agitations, butrestricted the number of par-ticipants to ten in view of thepandemic.

Out of the 27 persons test-ed positive inThiruvananthapuram onSunday, 22 were infectedthrough community transmis-sion and this has made the gov-ernment to go for stringentregulations. Earlier in the day,Kadakampalli Surendran,Minister for tourism who is alsothe CPI(M) strongman in thedistrict said thatThiruvananthapuram hasturned out to be a volcanowhich could erupt any time. Heblamed the people for open vio-lation of covid guidelines whichked to the spurt in the numberof cases in the State.

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Six Sri Lankan fishermenwere saved by the timely

intervention and coordinationby the Indian Coast Guard onSunday morning from highseas 170 nautical miles offChennai coast amidstinclement weather, said arelease by the DefenceMinistry.

“It was a daunting rescuetask,” said the release. A mer-chant vessel YM Summit whichwas on its way toVisakhapattanam came acrossa capsized boat with six sur-vivors atop at 7.15 am offChennai coast .

As per the guidelines to beobserved by ships sailing alongthe sea, master of YM Summitinformed the Maritime RescueCoordination Centre (MRCC)at Mumbai which was timelyshared with MRCC, Chennaifor further coordination.MRCC Chennai coordinated

with the vessel for safe rescue ofthe survivors, said the release.

The six survivors wereidentified as natives ofTrincomalee, Sri Lanka. Theywere reportedly stranded andadrift at sea, braving thevagaries of rough weather forfour days. MRCC, Chennaifurther, coordinated with theSri Lankan Deputy HighCommission, Chennai andMRCC Colombo to verify thecredentials and arranging fortheir safe return to home.

“The successful rescueoperation reiterates the IndianCoast Guard’s resolve towardsproviding Search and Rescuecover in the vast indomitablesea areas and also highlights thesynergy and coordinationbetween the Merchant Marineand the Indian Coast Guard,towards safety of lives at sea,”said the defence media release.

Interestingly, Tamil Nadufishermen often complainabout Sri Lankan Navy ‘attack-ing’ them while fishing in the

Palk Strait region, which theyclaim as the traditional fishingzone of the fishermen from the

State. There were instanceswhen the Sri Lanka CoastGuard and Navy rescuing

Tamil Nadu fishermen whowere caught up in similar sit-uations.

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Jammu: A bottling plant of amajor soft drink company wassealed in Jammu on Sundaysoon after the test reports of 18workers tested positive in thepremises. Three days ago, aworker had tested positive inthe same premises after whichfresh samples were lifted toscreen others. Meanwhile, 183new cases of coronavirus weredetected and five more patientsdied due to Covid-19 in Jammuand Kashmir on Sunday.

The total tally of cases hasreached 8429 and 132 deathshave been reported in J&k.

According to the mediabulletin, out of 183 new cases,51 were detected from Jammuand 132 from Kashmir divisionwhile five deaths were report-ed from Jammu. The activecases in Jammu and Kashmirhave crossed 3000 while totalrecoveries stood at 5255 latesunday evening. Srinagar test-ed 59 positive cases while kup-wara and Budgam tested 20and 19 cases respectively whileSamba reported 18 cases,Jammu reported 9 and Kathuareported 7 seven cases. PNS

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Maharashtra witnessed adrop in the number of

Covid-19 fatalities and infec-tions on Sunday, as 151 peoplesuccumbed to the pandemicand 6,555 others tested positivefor coronavirus in various partsof the state.

As against the 295 deathsand record 7074 positive casesreported on Saturday, the num-ber of deaths came down by144 and infections dropped by519 in the state on Sunday.

With 151 fresh deaths andinfections, the total number ofdeaths rose to 8822. while thetotal number of infected casesjumped to 206619.

Of the 151 total deaths,Mumbai accounted for 69deaths – taking the total num-ber of deaths in the metropo-lis to 4,899, while the totalnumber of Covid-19 positivepatients rose by 1,287 cases totouch 84,524.

Apart from 69 deathsrecorded in Mumbai, therewere 31 deaths in Pune, 16

deaths in Thane, 11 inAurangabad, 10 in Jalgaon,four each in Palghar, Dhule andSolapur, and two in Nashik.

In a related development,former chief minister and cur-rent leader of the OppositionDevendra Fadnaivs – who hasbeen extremely critical of theUddhav Thackeray govern-ment for its failure to check thespread of the pandemic in thestate – toured some of theworst-hit towns in Thane dis-trict and rooted for moreCovid-19 tests, ventilators, ICUbeds, and other facilities tocurb the Covid cases and fatal-ities in the MumbaiMetropolitan Region (MMR).

The situation in the MMR(Thane Division) is bad con-sidering that there have been atotal of 6,401 Covid-19 deathsand 145,769 positive cases onSunday.

Meanwhile, the total num-ber of patients dischargedfrom various hospitals after fullrecovery since the second weekof March this year touched 1,11,740. The recovery rate in

the state stood at 54.08 per cent.The mortality rate in the stateis 4.27 per cent. The statehealth authorities pegged thenumber of “active cases” in thestate at 86,040.

Out of 11,12,442 samplessent to laboratories, 2,06,619have tested positive (18.57%)for COVID-19 until Sunday.

Currently, 6,04.463 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 40,062 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

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Page 6:  · 84,524. The city’s death toll has risen to 4,899. Tamil Nadu reported 4,150 persons turning coronavirus positive taking the total num- ... and enabling study continues,”

The contours of a post-Corona world areemerging fast; so are thenew challenges thatevery sector will have to

face. With the novel virus upend-ing nearly every aspect of ourlives, an entirely new approach andinnovative solutions would beneeded to adapt to the “new nor-mal.” Changes would take place inevery sector but the importance ofSustainable Development Goals(SDGs) must gather greater humanattention. On January 1, 2016, the17 SDGs of the 2030 UN Agendafor Sustainable Development —adopted by world leaders inSeptember 2015 at the historicUN summit — came into force offi-cially. The SDGs were conceived atthe UN conference on sustainabledevelopment in Rio de Janeiro in2012. Their objective was to pro-duce a set of universal goals thatmeet urgent environmental, polit-ical and economic challenges facedby the world. The SDGs offer ablueprint to the world so as toachieve a better and more sustain-able future for all. They seek toaddress challenges faced by nationsacross the world, including thoserelated to poverty, inequality, cli-mate change and the ultimate goalof peace and justice. But how andwhy did we arrive at SDGs?

The 20th century witnessed theend of the colonial era and the ini-tiation of subsequent transitioninto another era — of progress anddevelopment — among the newly-liberated nations. Most of thesecountries were deficient in humanresources, education, experienceand expertise at every level. Severalnations transplanted education sys-tems that were established over theruins of indigenous traditions ofknowledge quest. The shortage ofeducated and skilled manpoweremerged as a great impeder forinternal experts to evolve indige-nous ideology of progress anddevelopment. In most cases, theideology of “progress” and “growth”was borrowed from the West andimplemented under the activeguidance of former rulers. Anothercontributing factor was the person-al fascination of new rulers to allthat was foreign, Western andmodern. Exploitative, ethicallyweak and unprofessionally envi-sioned plans and programmes fordevelopment led to serious imbal-ances in social, economic andman-nature relationship. In India,Gandhi, Gram Swaraj, farmer, vil-

lage, local artisan and produc-tion skills all were ignored, lead-ing to serious neglect of the agri-culture sector. Consequencesare before us.

The World War II and grow-ing public opinion against warsand violence highlighted theneed for international coopera-tion and collaboration among thenations. This led to the establish-ment of bodies such as the UN,UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO,UNSC and several others. Therehad to be some sort of partner-ship among nations on equal anddignified terms. This was the onlyway to tackle global issues andconcerns. SDGs are one of themajor outcomes of the globalhuman response to tackle issuesthat concern everyone. Could asingle nation ignore the plunder-ing of natural resources by vest-ed interests, resulting in irre-versible damage, creating a darkfuture for the generations ahead?

Learning to live together ina village, region, nation and theglobe is the only alternative.SDGs form a comprehensiveglobal initiative that guaranteesvictory against all that impedesthe human march towards aworld full of peace, dignity andmutually respectful harmoniousliving. But this is possible onlywhen poverty, hunger, ill-healthand gender discrimination arediscarded; when there is equali-ty of opportunities, justice, workopportunity, decent workingconditions for all. Human beingsmust learn to take due responsi-bility to protect the natural envi-ronment, flora and fauna and searesources. They must be con-cerned about climate action.

SDGs can be achieved only

on the sound base of sustainableand responsible consumption. Allthese — and a lot more — finda place in the list of SDGs.Universal education is the primemover in each of the 17 goals.SDG 4 relates to educationalgoals. It aims to “ensure inclusiveand equitable quality educationand promote life-long learningopportunities for all.” Target 4.7expects: “By 2030, ensure that alllearners acquire the knowledgeand skills needed to promote sus-tainable development, includ-ing, among others, through edu-cation for sustainable develop-ment and sustainable lifestyles,human rights, gender equality,promotion of a culture of peaceand non-violence, global citizen-ship and appreciation of cultur-al diversity and of culture’s con-tribution to sustainable develop-ment.” It is also clearly mentionedthat education will achieve itsobjectives and goals only whenan adequate number of qualified,competent and inspired teachersare available. “By 2030, substan-tially increase the supply of qual-ified teachers, including throughinternational cooperation forteacher training in developingcountries, especially least devel-oped countries and small islanddeveloping states.” This is thebiggest challenge that India’sNew Education Policy must seri-ously respond to. No educationpolicy can neglect these aspects.

By 1950-60, experts and sci-entists began issuing a warningthat developmental activities —bereft of ethical, moral and socialconsiderations — and obliviousto the damage they were inflict-ing on air, water, forests, speciesand the natural environment,

could lead to irreparable damagesto the very existence of humanbeings. The sensitive linkbetween man and nature wasbeing crushed under ever-increasing human greed, emerg-ing out of materialistic acquisi-tions at the cost of spiritual pur-suits. Gradually, the glitz of glob-alisation blinded humans to theextent that the very existence ofplanet earth is at stake. How longcould the planet survive?

It became clearer that theonly way to avoid destruction wasto create global awareness, letpeople understand that theirfuture was being compromisedand that it could be preventedonly through an attitudinal trans-formation. It was realised that themost crucial and urgent stepwould be to universalise elemen-tary education. It just cannot beroutine education and has to bemuch more than that. It has to becomprehensive education, onethat achieves attitudinal transfor-mation, offers the right skills andknowledge and at the same timeensures internalisation of humanvalues that includes man’s respon-sibility to restore and sustain theman-nature mutuality.

For the first time, it was glob-ally acknowledged that the wan-ton depletion of natural resourceswithout replenishment — as wasalready evident globally in envi-ronmental pollution, deforesta-tion, climate change, depletion ofthe ozone layer, desertificationand so many other visible signs— must be checked and damagerepaired. Development is essen-tial but the survival of the plan-et deserves primacy. Hence,development has to be “sustain-able.” Its basis would be indige-

nous knowledge, cultural com-prehension and skills to utilisenew knowledge from everysource in the changing context.It has to be “rooted to culture andcommitted to progress.”

Human beings never hadproblems with nature so long asthey respected the “give andtake” relationship between manand nature. How this could beachieved was not unknown.Indian scriptures have discussedthat in great detail. Nature wasequated to gods. This had a sci-entific basis, articulated in amanner that would be easilycomprehended by people at everystage. Unfortunately, variousaberrations and disturbancesresulted in the snapping of tiesbetween the people and their cul-tural heritage. Alien rulers left nostone unturned to destroy natur-al resources of their “colonies”and augment their own coffers.

Global poverty is the creationof the materialistic pursuits andexploitative tendencies bereft ofhuman values, compassion, fel-low feeling and lack of respect fornature. As the disastrous conse-quences became evident, con-cerns grew and serious interna-tional deliberations followed.Take the example of theStockholm conference on envi-ronment in 1972, the UN confer-ences on water and desertifica-tion in 1977, the Rio conferenceof 2012 and the climate changeconference of 2015 among oth-ers. Expediting universal educa-tion emerged very prominentlyin each one of these every time.The World Conference onEducation for All, held in Jomtienin March 1990, was a watershedfor education. The objective wasto universalise education withina decade. Although this could notbe achieved, the purpose ofexpediting educational access toall was significantly achieved.

The World EducationForum of 2000 came out with theDakar Declaration, where 164countries resolved to achieveEducation For All by 2015.Indian achievements in EFAhave been lauded, particularly forthe fact that its population hasmore than trebled after indepen-dence. But we are very near thetarget in access and retention.Our previous efforts and achieve-ments, coupled with determinednew initiatives, have made Indiafully ready to achieve the SDGsby 2030. Our focus in the days tocome must be on quality, genderequality, skill acquisition andabove all, on “learning to learn.”If one has to observe a paradigmshift in one particular sector, itwould be education, worldwide.India’s New Education Policycan expedite the march towardssustainable development andself-sufficiency.

(The writer works in education and social cohesion)

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Sir — It is quite usual that manycomplainants, while filingcharges against Governmentemployees and others, markcopies to dozens of authoritieseven though the original letter isto be dealt with by a singleagency. Many times, anonymousand fake complaints are also filed.Such practice unnecessarily con-sumes huge man-hours andresources of public authorities.Even though some guidelinesexist for filing complaints, theDepartment of Personnel andTraining should issue freshnorms in this regard with duepublicity through advertisementsin newspapers and TV channels.To stop fake complaints, it shouldbe made compulsory to attach acopy of ID proof of the com-plainant.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — Saroj Khan was arguablyone of the most talented chore-ographers Bollywood ever had.In fact, she is credited with giv-

ing Hindi films some of the mosticonic and evergreen dance num-bers. Overall, this year has beenextremely tragic for Indian cin-ema. Noted stalwarts such asIrrfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, musicdirector Wajid Khan, lyricistYogesh Gaur, filmmaker-screen-writer Basu Chatterjee and now

Khan have passed away. It seemsthere has been one blow afteranother for every Bollywoodlover.

In her career spanning fourdecades, the dance maestro hadthe credit of choreographingmore than 2,000 songs. Most ofthe songs choreographed by her

had big names as lead actors.Khan had earned the reputationof being a legendary Bollywoodchoreographer who greatly con-tributed to the success of manyfamous Bollywood stars likeMadhuri Dixit, who dominatedin 90s.

Among her contemporaries

in Bollywood, Khan was themost original and was a hardtaskmaster who immortalisedthe stars and music. She re-defined every era of the indus-try with her iconic work and tookefforts to make dance look easyfor artistes, as if anybody coulddance. She will be rememberedfor her grace and simplicity.

Ramesh G JethwaniBengaluru

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Sir — The ban on Chinese appsshould have come much earlier.The Government was forced toundertake the digital strike togive the Chinese a befitting replywhen it crossed all limits alongthe LAC. This is for the first timethat India will be using a directlever in the digital sphere to reactto military actions. Most impor-tantly, the ban will hurt China’smost ambitious goals, which is tobecome a digital superpower.This move is also an attempt toshow India’s intent.

Srinivas Bhubaneswar

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The third Corps Commander-level talks heldon the Indian side at Chuhsul to resolve theborder stand-off with China also ended with-

out yielding any tangible result. Though nothingsubstantial was expected at the military-level talks,yet the hopes of the “de-escalation” process com-mencing were being entertained, but to no avail. Infact, rather than de-escalating, the forces of both thenations have begun “posturing.” Analysts feel thismay result in a long-drawn haul till the winter.

India and China have a lot of history togeth-er and signed five agreements between 1993-2013to maintain peace and tranquility on the borders.The aim was to avoid war between the twonations. No doubt, the agreements have succeed-ed in their purpose but at what cost? A close scruti-ny would reveal that we bought peace at the costof our national sovereignty. While China contin-ued unabated with its strategy of “walk in at will”to alter status quo and continued its salami-slicingtechnique to strengthen its territorial claims andexpansionist intent, we failed to respond adequate-ly and overlooked it under the notion of a varyingperception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Infact, the first cardinal mistake was done in accept-ing the unresolved border as a LAC. That, too, with-out exchange of any marked maps. It obviously suit-ed the evil intentions of China but we failed to readbetween the lines.

The Chinese on the other hand were creepingforward to the areas they believed to be theirs withno regard to the Indian claims. The Group ofMinisters in 2001 had suggested construction ofroads in border areas for better connectivity andasserting our claims. Even though road-buildingwork began soon after, the network was notimproved significantly till 2014.

While China developed not only the road net-work but also the allied military infrastructure toabet its war fighting potential all along the LAC,including extension of railway lines, oil pipelines andairfields apart from housing and storage facilities,we totally neglected our borders with China. As aresult, China succeeded in creating a huge asym-metry along the entire LAC giving it the advantageof controlling the LAC and ensuring rapid build-up in case of hostilities. China is now exploiting thisadvantage and preventing us from taking measuresto minimise the asymmetry.

China may even be preparing to convert theLAC to the Line of Control (LoC) because of theterrain advantage it enjoys. Though Indian troopsare better trained and acclimatised to fight at suchaltitudes, it would be a logistics nightmare to main-tain the troops at those heights if the posturing con-tinues beyond winter. The Indian Army is mental-ly and physically prepared for this but will theChinese soldiers be able to withstand the harshnessof weather is a question for the Chinese to ponder.Meanwhile, the Indian Army should induct morelocals. Ladakhis are not only hardy but also knowthe terrain well, especially when covered with snow.

Ladakh Scouts should not be viewed merely asan extension of an infantry battalion but beemployed as “Alpine” troops, using their advantageof being locals and trained in special skills like ski-ing, mountaineering and the ability to live off theland. As in the “home and hearth” concept, theyshould remain permanently deployed in areas closeto their homes and not be subjected to usual trans-fers like infantry battalions.

Over the years, China also built new villages andhabitation centres close to the LAC to settle the civilpopulation there. However, it objected vehement-

ly to any construction or developmentrelated activities in the villages situated onthe LAC on our side. However, in 2016and 2018, India continued with construc-tion of a lift canal in Demchok and con-struction of the road north of the PangongTso right up to Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO).

While the Chinese continued to defythe provisions of the peace agreements atwill, we did not object strongly or seekreview of the agreements to preventrepeated Chinese incursions. We remainedhappy by adding provisions to avoid clash-es but ignored the central issue of wilfulsalami-slicing of our territory, resulting inreduction of grazing grounds and pasturesfor our inhabitants in the border areas.Every time the Chinese withdrew, theyhad a demand, to which we submittedmeekly. This emboldened the Chinesenext time and continued till India estab-lished a new normal of challenging theChinese at Galwan this time.

The Chinese have perfected the art of“grab first and negotiate” but beforenegotiating create a situation of hopeless-ness for the adversary so that it is left withno option but to submit to the Chineseterms. However, the Chinese leadershiphas failed to do it this time and is irkedby India’s firmness and resolve.

The Chinese plan to “teach India a les-son” also met its Waterloo at the icyheights of Galwan on June 15 night whenthe Indian Army gave them a major drub-bing. As a result the morale of Chinese sol-diers is so low that they are being taughtUnarmed Combat.

It is this loss of face, both domestical-ly and globally, that is compelling Chinato delay the de-escalation. Any hurriedwithdrawal of forces will further sully theChinese image. Gradual, delayed and un-noticed withdrawal suits the Chinese gameplan. If China wants to test the water fur-ther and is willing to go to war, India isprepared and is determined not to budge.

In a hard-hitting article titled Newtwist in dispute with China. Never ignoreIndia’s strategic interests, General VPMalik, former Chief of Army Staff, states,“It is becoming obvious that on India-China boundary discussions, India seemsto have given up its claim to PakistanOccupied Kashmir, Shaksgam and AksaiChin; China has knocked off almost thewhole of the Western sector boundary;and by reducing nearly 1,600 km from itsdefinition of border with India and ques-tioning Indian sovereignty over Jammu &Kashmir, it has added a new twist to theIndia-China boundary dispute.” He fur-ther says, “India, on the other hand, is per-ceived as a soft state. Our leaders and gov-ernments, more often than not, havelacked strategic thinking. There is a senseof self-righteousness and singular faith inwords without looking for underlyingfalsehoods and incompetence.” The lastline is truly prophetic. India somehow hadkept quiet for several decades on the AksaiChin and Shaksgam, which encouragedChina to move up.

Now that India has constructed a roadup to DBO and operationalised/construct-ed airfields in the region, China isannoyed. China is surprised as to howIndia is now demanding Aksai Chin aswas clear in the Home Minister’s statementin the Parliament. India’s new posturingat political and diplomatic levels has rat-tled China, which, therefore, decided to“teach India a lesson” militarily. What fur-ther surprised China was India’s responseto military aggressiveness. India matchedChina brick to brick and responded to itsmilitary posturing in equal measure.

The recent news of Pakistan movingtwo divisions worth forces oppositeNorthern Ladakh in Gilgit-Baltistan is yetanother attempt by China to coerce theIndian leadership by posing a threat of atwo-front war. The reported resurrectionof Al Badr, a defunct terrorist outfit, is also

part of the same ploy. But India is deter-mined and prepared to meet the challenge.

China has to accept the blame for itscurrent misadventure in Ladakh. Insteadof doing that, it continues to blame theIndian Army and harp about the grow-ing Indo-American bonhomie for thedeterioration in Sino-Indian relations. Ina recent article published in its mouthpieceGlobal Times, it says, “The US, in partic-ular, is seducing India to counterbalanceChina and the concept of Indo-Pacificstrategy is turning into a reality. For quitea number of Indian elite, they are moreinclined to work with the West strategi-cally. They believe that by joining the UScamp to contain China, they are now aworld power on equal footing.” It’s anattempt to warn India to stay away fromthe US without realising that Indiareserves the option of maintaining strate-gic autonomy. But if needed New Delhiwould not hesitate to seek assistance, notnecessarily military, from other friends aswell. The Chinese arrogance is also evi-dent in the same article. “No matter fromhistory or reality, elements of India’s pol-itics and society are fertile for growinganti-China sentiments. It is understand-able that India views the 1962 Sino-Indianwar as a historic humiliation. But it wouldbe dangerous if New Delhi resents Beijingand launches anti-China waves fromnational education and strategic levels,”writes the Global Times.

India wants to resolve all disputesthrough peaceful bilateral negotiations butwould resist every attempt to challenge itssovereignty. India would prefer China tohonour various border agreements signedby it to maintain peace and tranquility andalso revisit or modify them if needed. Butif China wants war, let it be. India will notrelent. The ball is entirely in China’s court.

(The author is a Jammu-based veter-an, political commentator, columnist, secu-rity and strategic analyst.)

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The Pakistani media continues tocarry reports about how largesections of society are being

careless in their attitude towards thepandemic. It slams the Governmentfor bungling the crisis by being mis-informed about the dynamics ofCOVID-19 and its spread. Many havealso criticised the regime for allowingits political biases to impact its contin-gency policies, which have so farbeen chaotic and almost entirelyunable to stall the virus’ rapid spread.Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan andmany of his Ministers have been cen-sured for “misinforming” the peopleabout the true nature of the disease

while, at the same time, vetoing theidea of strict lockdowns. So, as the out-break ravages the country with fright-ening speed, Khan does not have muchto say or show other than claim thathe knew things were going to get bad.

With examples like China, Italy,Spain, Iran and the US before us, it did-n’t require a genius to “know” thatthings would get bad here as well. Eventhough Khan was hailed by his syco-phantic circle of Ministers for beingoracular for this insightful prediction,he had also earlier described the dis-ease as, merely, a “flu.”

The Government then continuedto add unsubstantiated claptrap to itslargely convoluted narrative in thisregard, until intense media criticismtriggered a sudden volte-face and sawthe Government resort to accusing thegeneral populace for letting things getout of hand. What’s more, theGovernment also continued to ignoresome rational advice from provincialgovernments and health experts. Onesuch advice was for imposing stricter

lockdowns. But the PM disagreed.Instead, he began to rationalise his dis-approval of lockdowns as an egalitar-ian act, undertaken for the benefit ofthe poor.

This rationale was almost imme-diately debunked by some writers onthe economy. Business and econom-ics journalist Khurram Hussain point-ed out that lockdowns were, in fact,opposed by the business community,and members of this community wereinfluencing Khan’s anti-lockdown sen-timents. Veteran journalist and polit-ical pundit Najam Sethi shared simi-lar views. Martin Gak in a piece for theGerman news site DW explains theidea of opening up businesses (andthus, allowing the deaths of thousandsfrom COVID-19) as the 21st centuryequivalent of an ancient past, in whichhuman sacrifice was practised insome cultures, supposedly for thewell-being of the larger community.

The outbreak in Pakistan was fur-ther compounded by a controversialSupreme Court order in which the

court asked provincial governments toopen malls and markets before Eid.Not surprisingly, two weeks after that,Coronavirus cases in Pakistan wit-nessed an unprecedented spike.

But Pakistan is not the only coun-try where the Government has badlybotched the response to the pandem-ic and where the denial of its dangersor existence can be found in large sec-tions of society. Similar scenarios arebeing played out in the US, Brazil,Mexico and India. Interestingly, eachone of these, like Pakistan, have gov-ernments headed by populists.

The Brazilian PM actually tookpart in an anti-lockdown rally and thenissued an order that the number ofCorona cases in Brazil should not bereported. US President Donald Trumpclaimed that the virus threat wasinsignificant.

In India, it became apparent thatthe Narendra Modi regime only hadthe muscle to impose its Hindutva ide-ology but had no idea how to controlthe virus. In Pakistan, Khan with noth-

ing to show in this respect, ended upsomewhat absurdly gloating thatPakistan was the only Muslim coun-try where mosques were not closed forprayers. As if this were some colossalachievement in a time of a raging pan-demic.

Journalist and novelist Karl TaroGreenfeld writes that historically soci-eties often go through “four stages ofgrief” during pandemics and plagues.

Mount Saint Vincent University’sProfessor Jonathan Roberts, an experton the history of plagues, agrees.Roberts says that the historical patternin which societies behave during pan-demics has remained intact and thathe is seeing the same pattern beingrepeated during the current outbreak.

Roberts has been investigating theancient and modern histories of socialand political responses to contagions.The pattern he was talking about startswith outright denial of an outbreak, fol-lowed by a panic reaction. This is thenfollowed by scapegoating, which is tiedto the emergence of conspiracy theo-

ries. On a more hopeful note, Robertsuggests that in the fourth stage, thosein power finally allow the proliferationof correct information to get out. Butby then, thousands of lives have beenlost and economies devastated. What’smore, a community of people who areblamed for the outbreak during thescapegoating stage, would have suf-fered severe ostracism and harassment.This is related to what the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) calls an“infodemic”, when madcap theories,once relegated to the lunatic fringes ofsociety, suddenly emerge on the main-stream during the fear triggered by anoutbreak.

Author and medical sociologist DrRobert Bartholomew says that Jewswere blamed for the 14th CenturyBubonic Plague in Europe and the1918 flu pandemic — which killed mil-lions — was dubbed the Spanish Flu,not because Spain was the outbreak’sepicentre but because the SpanishGovernment was the first to identifythe problem. During the same pan-

demic, many in Britain believed thatthe virus was a germ created by theGerman military, even though anequal number of Germans were dyingfrom it. With the proliferation of socialmedia sites, unsubstantiated claims,denials and scapegoating haveincreased at an alarming rate about thesource country of the virus.

But for Robertson and Greenfeld,there is light at the end of this tunnel.Both claim that, historically, the laststage of the aforementioned historicalpattern is when societies and rulerscome to their senses and work toaddress and contain the problem.

Rational contingency plans andtheir implementation, scientifically-sound advice to the public and thedebunking of crackpot theories arevital. Unfortunately, many countrieslike Pakistan still seem to be stuck inthe earlier stages of reaction: Denial,confusion and scapegoating. Only ahandful of nations have moved into themore hopeful fourth stage.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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Sydney: Several thousand peo-ple rallied in Black Lives Matterprotests across Australia over theweekend to call for racial equal-ity and highlight deaths ofIndigenous people while inpolice custody.

About 500 people protestedin Newcastle, north of Sydney,after the New South Wales stateSupreme Court approved therally following an attempt bypolice to have it banned.

A rally in Sydney beganwith a ceremony at which peo-ple mourned the IndigenousAustralians who have died inpolice custody.

There have been more than400 Indigenous deaths in cus-tody since a royal commissioninto the issue ended in 1991. Noconvictions have been recordedin any of the deaths.

“We went through the law-ful process, we sat through thatprocess of the coronial inquiry,we listened to that process andwe received no justice fromthat process,” Sydney rally orga-nizer Paul Silva told SBSTelevision. “This is our process

to demand justice.” On Saturday, Australians

took part in Black Lives Matterrallies in the cities of Brisbane,Darwin, Perth and Adelaide.Many of the protesters work

masks and attempted to main-tain social distancing due tocoronavirus concerns.

Australia’s Indigenous peo-ple are the most disadvantagedethnic minority in the country.

They have higher-than-averagerates of infant mortality andpoor health, as well as shorter lifeexpectancy and lower levels ofeducation and employment thanother Australians. AP

Baghdad: The Iraqi militarysaid on Sunday that a rocketaimed at Baghdad’s fortifiedGreen Zone, home of the U.S.Embassy, struck a residentialhouse and injured a child.

Iraqi officials said theembassy’s recently installed C-RAM air defense system mayhave attempted to interceptthe rocket as the system wasoperational late Saturday. Arecent spate of rocket attackshave struck close to the USEmbassy and targetedAmerican troops in Iraqi bases.The officials spoke on condi-tion of anonymity in line withregulations.

The rocket was launchedfrom the Ali Al-Saleh area ofBaghdad and landed next to ahouse close to a local TV chan-nel late Saturday, the militarystatement said. A child sufferedhead injuries and the house wasdamaged.

Iraqi security forces saythey also thwarted anotherattack in the Umm al-Azamarea aiming to hit Camp Taji,north of Baghdad, a trainingbase used by U.S.-led coalition

forces. In March, twoAmericans and one British sol-dier were killed following a bar-rage of rockets on Camp Taji.

The latest uptick in attackscomes shortly before Iraqembarks on strategic talks withthe US in which the presence ofAmerican forces in the countryis expected to top the agenda.

The US has criticized thefederal government for beingunable to reign in Iran-backedmilitia groups it believes areorchestrating the attacks. PrimeMinister Mustafa al-Kadhimihas pledged to protectAmerican installations fromattacks, US officials said.

Iraqi security forces lastweek raided the headquartersof the powerful Iran-backedparamilitary Kataib Hezbollahand detained 14 men suspect-ed of being responsible forrocket attacks targeting theGreen Zone. Thirteendetainees were later releasedand one remains in custody.

The move drew praisefrom the US but condemnationfrom Iran-backed political fac-tions in Iraq. AP

Washington: China must beheld fully accountable for its“secrecy, deception and cover-up” that allowed it to spreadthe coronavirus all over theworld, US President DonaldTrump has said, upping theante on Beijing over its han-dling of the COVID-19 out-break.

Addressing the nation fora second time in as many dayson the occasion of 244thIndependence Day onSaturday, President Trumptouted the country’s “progress”against the COVID-19 diseasedespite a nationwide spike inthe number of coronaviruscases.

“We have the manufac-turing record for ventilators.We have the most and thefinest testing anywhere in theworld. We are producinggowns, masks, and surgicalequipment in our country…Itwas almost exclusively made inforeign lands, in particular,China, where ironically thisvirus and others came from,”he said in his address from the

lawns of the White House.“China’s secrecy, decep-

tion, and cover-up allowed itto spread all over the world,189 countries and China mustbe held fully accountable,” hesaid, once again accusingBeijing of covering up theoutbreak of the pandemic.

In his first address to thenation on Friday from MountRushmore in South Dakota,Trump made a direct appeal todisaffected white voters fourmonths before Election Day,accusing protesters who havepushed for racial justice ofengaging in a “merciless cam-paign to wipe out our history.”

Praising America’s “scien-tific brilliance”, Trump said onSaturday that the US will like-ly have a therapeutic and/orvaccine solution long beforethe end of the year.

Trump has expressed dis-appointment over China’s han-dling of the COVID-19 pan-demic in the past. In May, heclaimed that it was the“incompetence” of Beijing thatled to the mass killing across

the globe.China has denied US’

claim of “covering up” theextent of its coronavirus out-break and has accused the USof attempting to divert publicattention by insinuating thatthe virus originated from avirology laboratory in Wuhan.

“China was the first coun-try to report the COVID-19 tothe World HealthOrganisation (WHO), (and)that doesn’t mean the virusoriginated from Wuhan...There has never been anyconcealment, and we’ll neverallow any concealment,”Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian said inApril.

The novel coronaviruswhich first originated inWuhan in December last yearhas claimed over 5 lakh livesand infected more than 11million people globally. TheUS is the worst affected coun-try with over 1.2 lakh deathsand over 2.8 million infections,according to Johns HopkinsUniversity data. PTI

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Rapper Kanye West hasannounced that he is run-

ning for the office of Presidentthis year.

The multiple Grammywinner took to social media oncountry’s 244th IndependenceDay (July 4) to share the news.

“We must now realize thepromise of America by trustingGod, unifying our vision andbuilding our future. I am run-ning for president of the UnitedStates!” West wrote on Twitterusing a hashtag #2020VISION.

If he were to launch acampaign for the upcomingelections on November 3, Westwill go up against PresidentDonald Trump, of whom hehas been a vocal supporter, andDemocrat presidential candi-

date Joe Biden.According to NBC, during

a speech at the MTV VideoMusic Awards in 2015, Westsaid he was planning on run-ning for president in 2020.

The recording artiste alsoopened up about taking a polit-ical plunge as recently asNovember 2019.

“When I run for presidentin 2024, we would’ve created somany jobs that I’m not going torun, I’m going to walk,” he hadsaid at an event.

The “Power” hitmaker andhis wife, reality TV star KimKardashian have often visitedTrump at the White House inthe last few years.

West has also often beenspotted wearing the signatureTrump campaign ‘MakeAmerica Great Again’ cap.

Nairobi: The crunch of younglocusts comes with nearly everystep. The worst outbreak of thevoracious insects in Kenya in70 years is far from over, andtheir newest generation is nowfinding its wings for properflight.

The livelihoods of millionsof already vulnerable people inEast Africa are at stake, andpeople like Boris Polo areworking to limit the damage.

The logistician with a heli-copter firm is on contract withthe United Nations Food andAgricultural Organisation,helping to find and mark locustswarms for the targeted pesti-cide spraying that has beencalled the only effective control.

“It sounds grim becausethere’s no way you’re gonna killall of them because the areasare so vast,” he told TheAssociated Press from the fieldin northwestern Kenya onThursday. “But the key of theproject is to minimize” the

damage, and the work is defi-nitely having an effect, he said.

For months, a large part ofEast Africa has been caught ina cycle with no end in sight asmillions of locusts became bil-lions, nibbling away the leavesof both crops and the brushthat sustains the livestock soimportant to many families.

“The risk of significantimpact to both crops andrangelands is very high,” theregional IGAD ClimatePrediction & ApplicationsCenter said Wednesday in astatement.

For now, the young yellowlocusts cover the ground andtree trunks like a twitching car-pet, sometimes drifting over thedust like giant grains of sand.

In the past week and a half,Polo said, the locusts havetransformed from hoppers tomore mature flying swarmsthat in the next couple ofweeks will take to long-distanceflight, creating the vast swarms

that can largely blot out thehorizon. A single swarm can bethe size of a large city.

Once airborne, the locusts

will be harder to contain, fly-ing up to 200 kilometers a day.

“They follow prevailingwinds,” Polo said. “So they’ll

start entering Sudan, Ethiopiaand eventually come aroundtoward Somalia.” By then, thewinds will have shifted and

whatever swarms are left willcome back into Kenya. “ByFebruary, March of next yearthey’ll be laying eggs in Kenyaagain,” he said. The next gen-eration could be up to 20 timesthe size of the previous one.

The trouble is, only Kenyaand Ethiopia are doing thepesticide control work. “Inplaces like Sudan, South Sudan,especially Somalia, there’s noway, people can’t go therebecause of the issues thosecountries are having,” Polo said.

“The limited financialcapacity of some of the affect-ed countries and the lockdowndue to the coronavirus pan-demic have further hamperedcontrol efforts. Additionally,armed conflict in Somalia ren-dered some of the locust breed-ing areas inaccessible,” ICPACexpert Abubakr Salih Babikerand colleagues wrote in corre-spondence published in thejournal Nature Climate Changethis month. AP

Lahore: Pakistan on Sundaysuffered a setback in the fightagainst COVID-19 as 48 doctorsworking in the teaching hospi-tals of Punjab province resigned,citing non-provision of safetygear to protect them from thevirus that has killed more than4,700 people in the country.

According to a notificationof the Punjab health departmentissued here on Sunday, 48 doc-tors, mostly young ones,resigned from the posts at thegovernment teaching hospitals.Their resignations have beenaccepted, it said.

The doctors who resignedwere from Lahore’s Mayo,Services, Jinnah, General, LadyAitcheson, Children and SheikhZayed hospitals, Allied andCivil hospitals in Faisalabad,SZH Rahim Yar Khan andNishter Hospital Multan.

“The doctors in questionhave resigned after the govern-

ment’s failure to their repeatedrequests to provide them pro-tective gear against the deadlycoronavirus and other inade-quate facilities,” a senior doctorof a public hospital Lahore toldPTI.

He said the governmentseems to be least interestedabout the protection of themedics.

“We are front-line soldiersin war against COVID-19 andsee what the Imran Khan gov-ernment is doing with us. A cou-ple of days ago police batoncharged doctors inMuzaffarabad (Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir), whose only sinwas that they were protesting fornot getting protective medicalkits and salaries,” he lamented.

Following the arrest of 23young doctors in Muzaffarabadthe Young Doctors Associationshutdown emergency wards inall hospitals in PoK. PTI

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�#�������� ���-��� ������ ����!�>�4�������?��<�������� Kathmandu: The crucial talks

between embattled PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli andthe ruling Nepal CommunistParty’s executive chairmanPushpa Kamal Dahal‘Prachanda’ on the issue ofpower-sharing failed onSunday, but they agreed tomeet again on Monday to sortout their differences ahead ofthe party’s powerful StandingCommittee meeting.

The Prachanda faction,backed by senior leadersincluding Madhav Nepal andJhalanath Khanal, has beendemanding that Oli step downboth as party chair and primeminister.

The two leaders failed toreach any agreement. As boththe leaders stick to their respec-tive stands, the talk could notbear any fruit, said a sourceclose to Prime Minister Oli.

However, they have agreedto sit again for dialogue onMonday ahead of the scheduledStanding Committee meetingto sort out differences, a seniorminister told PTI.

“The two leaders dis-cussed a wide range of issuesbut no common ground wasreached,” he said.

The twice postponed pow-erful Standing Committeemeeting of the party onMonday is expected to decideon the political future of 68-year-old prime minister.

On Saturday, a crucialmeeting of the 45-memberStanding Committee was post-poned until Monday to allowmore time for the top leader-ship to iron out their differencesover Oli’s style of functioningand anti-India statements.

Meanwhile, Prime MinisterOli has met with former primeminister and president of theopposition Nepali CongressSher Bahadur Deuba. Althoughit is not clear what issues werediscussed during their meeting,there is speculation that Olimight have sought Deuba’sbacking to save his governmentin case the ruling party splits.

On Saturday, Oli said thatthe ruling communist party isfacing a grave crisis, indicatingthat it may split soon.

Speaking at an emergencymeeting of the Cabinet at hisofficial residence, Oli told theministers that “some of ourparty members are also tryingto remove President BidyaDevi Bhandari from the

power,” My Republica news-paper quoted a senior leaderas saying.

“Now, conspiracies arebeing hatched to remove mefrom the post of prime minis-ter and party chairman,” Olisaid, adding that he will not letit happen.

After Oli’s remarks aboutthe conspiracy to impeach thepresident, three former primeministers -- ‘Prachanda’,Madhav Nepal and JhanalanthKhanal -- met Bhandari andclarified that the rumour aboutthe NCP leaders trying toremove her from office wereuntrue.

During the Cabinet meet-ing, a defiant Oli said that hewill not be forced to accept theparty’s Standing Committeedecision. He urged the minis-ters to make their positionclear whether they supporthim or not.

“I had to make a quick deci-sion to prorogue the budget ses-sion of Parliament last weekafter coming to know that someof our party members werehatching conspiracy to registeran impeachment motion againstthe President at Parliament,” Olitold the ministers. PTI

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Seattle (US): One of two peo-ple hit by a man who drove hiscar onto a closed Seattle free-way and into a crowd protest-ing police brutality has died.

Summer Taylor, 24, ofSeattle died Saturday evening atHarborview Medical Center,spokesperson Susan Greggsaid.

Taylor and Diaz Love, 32,of Portland, Oregon, were hit by the car that barreledthrough a panicked crowd of protesters on Interstate 5early Saturday morning, offi-cials said.

Dawit Kelete of Seattledrove the car around vehiclesthat were blocking I-5 andsped into the crowd about 1:40am, according to a policereport released by theWashington State Patrol.Video taken at the scene byprotesters showed people

shouting “Car! Car!” beforefleeing the roadway.

Love is in serious conditionin the intensive care unit,Harborview, Gregg said.

Love was filming theprotest in a nearly two-hour-long Facebook livestream cap-tioned “Black Femme Marchtakes I-5” when the videoended abruptly; with about 15seconds left, shouts of “Car!”can be heard as the camerastarts to shake before screech-ing tires and the sound ofimpact are heard.

A graphic video posted onsocial media showed the whiteJaguar racing toward a group ofprotesters who are standingbehind several parked cars, setup for protection. The carswerves around the other vehi-cles and slams into the two pro-testers, sending them flyinginto the air. AP

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Beijing: A city in northernChina on Sunday sounded analert after a suspected case ofbubonic plague was reported,according to official mediahere.

Bayannur, Inner MongoliaAutonomous Region,announced a level III warningof plague prevention and con-trol, state-run People’s DailyOnline reported.

The suspected bubonicplague case was reported onSaturday by a hospital inBayannur. The local healthauthority announced that thewarning period will continueuntil the end of 2020.

“At present, there is a riskof a human plague epidemic

spreading in this city. The pub-lic should improve its self-protection awareness and abil-ity, and report abnormal healthconditions promptly,” the localhealth authority said.

On July 1, state-runXinhua news agency said thattwo suspected cases of bubon-ic plague reported in Khovdprovince in western Mongoliahave been confirmed by lab testresults.

The confirmed cases are a 27-year-old resident and his 17-year-old brother, whoare being treated at two separate hospitals in theirprovince, it quoted a healthofficial as saying.

The brothers ate marmot

meat, the health official said,warning people not to eatmarmot meat.

A total of 146 people whohad contact with them havebeen isolated and treated atlocal hospitals, according toNarangerel.

Bubonic plague is a bacte-rial disease that is spread byfleas living on wild rodentssuch as marmots. It can kill anadult in less than 24 hours ifnot treated in time, accordingto the World HealthOrganization (WHO).

A couple died of bubonicplague in the westernMongolian province of Bayan-Ulgii last year after eating rawmarmot meat. PTI

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Ashooting at a SouthCarolina nightclub left two

people dead and eight wound-ed, a sheriff ’s official said.

Two Greenville Countysheriff ’s deputies noticed a dis-turbance at Lavish Lounge justbefore 2 am, and saw a largecrowd running out of the build-ing, Sheriff Hobart Lewis saidat a press conference. There was“active gunfire from inside thebuilding,” Lt. Jimmy Bolt saidin an initial statement, andLewis said all the shots werefired inside.

Both Lewis and Bolt ini-tially said 12 people had beenwounded — with at least fourin critical condition, Lewissaid — but Bolt later toldWYFF-TV that the casualty

figure had been revised. Aphone call and text message toLewis and an email to Boltfrom The Associated Pressseeking clarification weren’timmediately returned. No onewas immediately taken intocustody. The sheriff ’s office had“some suspect information,”Lewis said at the press confer-ence, but wasn’t sure if therewere multiple shooters.

“We don’t really have a per-son of interest that we canname,” Lewis said, later addingthat authorities weren’t surewhat led to the gunfire. Thenames and precise conditionsof the victims weren’t immedi-ately released. Lewis said thevictims were taken to thePrisma Health hospital inGreenville, some via privatevehicle. AP

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Aclothing factory namedJaswal Fashions based in

the eastern England city ofLeicester faces a modern slav-ery investigation after anundercover reporter allegedsweatshop-like conditions andbelow minimum wage pay-ments to its workers, many ofthem from India.

According to ‘The SundayTimes’, its undercover reporterfound that workers were beingpaid as little as 3.50 pounds anhour as against the UK’s legalminimum wage of 8.72 poundsan hour and was also operatinglast week during the localisedcoronavirus lockdown imposedon the city.

UK Home Secretary PritiPatel described the allegationsas “truly appalling” and com-mended the undercover inves-

tigation for its role in “uncov-ering such abhorrent practices”.

“I will not tolerate sickcriminals forcing innocent peo-ple into slave labour and a lifeof exploitation,” said Patel.

“Let this be a warning tothose who are exploiting peo-ple in sweatshops like these fortheir own commercial gain.This is just the start. What youare doing is illegal, it will notbe tolerated and we are comingafter you,” she said.

Last week, the seniorCabinet minister had directedthe UK’s National CrimeAgency (NCA) to investigatemodern slavery allegations inLeicester’s clothing factoriesafter alarm was raised that theywere a key source of the spikein coronavirus infections in theregion, which led to England’sfirst localised COVID-19 lock-down for the city.

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Page 9:  · 84,524. The city’s death toll has risen to 4,899. Tamil Nadu reported 4,150 persons turning coronavirus positive taking the total num- ... and enabling study continues,”

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Greater Noida: In view of thetarget of planting 25 crore oftrees in the year 2020-2021, theUttar Pradesh Government isorganised a large tree planta-tion programme on Sunday.

Accordingly, the StateGovernment appointedNarendra Bhooshan, ChiefExecutive Officer, GreaterNoida Industrial DevelopmentAuthority as Officer-in-Charge

for tree plantation campaign inGautam Budh Nagar district.

The plantation to be heldin the district was done underthe direction of the nodal officer.

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To augment India’s borderinfrastructure, a large num-

ber of highway projects areunderway including in Jammuand Kashmir, ArunachalPradesh, Uttarakhand,Rajasthan and HimachalPradesh, both by the BRO aswell as NHIDCL, UnionMinister Nitin Gadkari said.Work is also progressing on 17strategic highway-cum-airstrips, three of which havebeen completed, he said.Besides, work is on in fullswing on the �12,000 croreambitious Chardham projectfor providing all-weather con-nectivity to Gangotri,Kedarnath, Yamunotri andBadrinath. The Border RoadsOrganisation (BRO) hasachieved a major milestone inthe project by successfully dig-ging a 440-metre long tunnelbelow the busy Chamba townon the Rishikesh-Dharasunational highway, he said. “Wehave completed three of the 17strategic projects where high-way stretches can double up asairstrips, mostly in borderareas. Work on others is pro-gressing fast,” the road trans-port and highways ministertold PTI. The projects, in col-laboration with the defenceministry, will enable highwaystretches to double up asairstrips when needed in bor-der areas where there are noairports in 300-400 km vicin-ity, he said.

The Minister said trafficoperations on such strips,which are already minimal asthey are in remote areas, wouldbe controlled via railway typeelectronic gates in case of needfor airplanes to land or take off.Earlier, a committee was con-stituted comprising officials ofboth the highways and defenceministries to come out withspecifications for such highwaystretches.

“In addition, we havetaken up a large number of pro-jects to boost infrastructure inborder areas to develop thesame under Bharatmala. Theseinclude Rajasthan border,Jammu and Kashmir borders,Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand and the northeastincluding Arunachal Pradesh.The intention is all rounddevelopment of such areas, toboost industries there and cre-ate employment,” the Ministersaid.

A large number of theseprojects are being executed byBRO and the NationalHighways and InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation(NHIDCL), he said.

A total of about 34,800 kmsare being considered in PhaseI of the Bharatmala Pariyojnaat an estimated cost of Rs 5.35lakh crore. “Sound infra-structure brings industries andemployment. Simultaneously, itwill boost the value of theagriculture and other producein the border areas,” Gadkarisaid. Much work has beendone on the �12,000 croreChardham project to ensureall-year connectivity toBadrinath, Kedarnath,Gangotri and Yamunotri.

The latest Austrian tech-nology has been used inChamba tunnel, a major link ofChardham project, he said,adding the tunnel will

be opened for traffic by

October 2020, three monthsahead of its scheduled date ofcompletion of January 2021.

BRO has been working insome of the most difficult ter-rains and ensuring implemen-tation of critical projects, hesaid. It has been entrustedwith 251 kms of the Chardhamproject and this consists of 17packages out of which 10 pro-jects of 151 km have beensanctioned. He said BROrecently completed a strategi-cally crucial road fromDharchula to Lipulekh, popu-larly known as KailashMansarovar Yatra route.

The newly built 80-kmroad connects the Lipulekhpass at a height of 17,000 feetalong the border with China inUttarakhand with Dharchula.With the completion of thisproject, the arduous trekthrough the treacherous high-altitude terrain can now beavoided by the pilgrims of

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra andthe period of journey will bereduced by many days.

At present, the travel toKailash Mansarovar takesaround two to three weeksthrough Sikkim or Nepalroutes.

The Darchula - Lipulekhroad is an extension of theP i t h o r a g a r h - Ta w a g h a t -Ghatiabagarh road. It originatesfrom Ghatiabagarh and termi-nates at Lipulekh Pass, thegateway to Kailash Mansarovar.In this 80 km road, the altituderises from 6,000 feet to 17,060feet.

BRO had lost many lives inthe construction of this roadand 25 equipment were alsobadly damaged after they fellinto Kali Nadi. But despite allodds, in the last two years, BROcould increase its output by 20times by creating multipleattack points and inductingmodern technology equip-ment. Helicopters were alsoextensively used to induct hun-dreds of tonnes of equipmentinto this sector, theGovernment had said.

The Minister also sug-gested converting old defenceaircraft into cargo carriers toboost cargo transportationfrom remote areas and there-by spur the economy of theseregions.“There is need toexplore the possibility of con-verting old defence and airlinesaircraft into cargo carriers,” hesaid, adding that pilots can beemployed on contract basis.

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In a bid to make the TDSform more comprehensive,

the Income Tax Departmenthas brought about changes toit.The department has made itmandatory for tax deductors tomention the reason for non-

deduction of tax.Further, banks will have to

report tax deducted at sourcefor cash withdrawals above �1crore.The Central Board ofDirect Taxes , though a notifi-cation, has amended the ITrules and included TDS on e-commerce operators, dividend

distributed by mutual fundsand business trusts, cash with-drawals among others.TheCentre has revised the formatof forms 26Q and 27Q, wheredetails of TDS amount deduct-ed and deposited on variousresident and non-resident pay-ments are required to be filled.

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Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’sReliance Industries Ltd

(RIL) plans to increase its net-work of aviation fuel stations by50 per cent as it looks to cap-ture greater market share in thebusiness currently controlledby public sector oil retailingfirms. In its latest annualreport, RIL said the double-digit growth observed over 52consecutive months might havebeen stalled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, butIndia continues to be one of thefastest growing aviation mar-kets in the world for the fifthconsecutive year. RIL, whichoperates the world’s largestsingle location oil refiningcomplex, plans to capture thisopportunity through increasedpresence at airports to refuelairplanes.Air-passenger trafficin India rose 9 per cent even inFebruary after the Indian car-riers recouped to full capacitythat was lowered following theclosure of a major domesticcarrier in the first few monthsof financial year 2019-20 (April2019 to March 2020) as well asdisruptions at Mumbai airportowing to construction andmaintenance, it said.

Following the COVID-19

pandemic, while travel restric-tions were being imposed else-where, India was largely unaf-fected till the end of March2020, before the sharp escala-tion in travel bans globallyand lockdowns impactedIndia’s aviation sector too. “Onaccount of its network strength,cost competitiveness, indus-try leading technology andbest-in-class service standards,RIL improved its volume sharein the domestic market,”according to the annual report.

Reliance Aviation has thehighest market share in 20 percent of the operating airports.

“RIL is looking to increaseits network to 45 locations asagainst 30 at the end of FY2019-20 and is well geared tobenefit with the growth in theIndian aviation market,” it said.India currently has 256 aviationfuel stations, with state-ownedIndian Oil Corp (IOC) owning119 of them.

Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd(BPCL) has 61 and HindustanPetroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL)the remaining 44.RIL is thelargest private aviation fuelretailer with 31 stations,according to the latest datafrom the oil ministry.In com-parison, RIL’s auto fuel retail-ing network is very small.

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State-owned Coal India suf-fered an average daily pro-

duction hit of 56 per cent dur-ing the three-day strike byworkers against theGovernment’s move to openthe sector to private players, anofficial said.

A union leader of CoalIndia had earlier claimed thatthere was substantial hit in coaloutput during the strike days.The coal workers were onstrike from Thursday toSaturday in protest against theGovernment’s move to openthe coal sector for commercialmining.

The average daily produc-tion by the PSU on the threedays was 5,73,000 tonnes,which is 44 per cent of the last10 days’ average production(from June 22 to July 1) of12,96,900 tonnes, the officialsaid. The coal Ministry officialsaid production could takeplace even on strike days asCoal India employs aroundone lakh contract workers. Ofthe three days of strike, maxi-mum output was recorded onSaturday, the official said. Coalproduced by CIL on Saturdaystood at 6,83,000 tonnes, whichwas 53 per cent of the last 10days’ average production of12,96,900 tonnes.

On Friday, the Maharatnafirm produced 5,55,000 tonnesof coal (43 per cent of last 10days’ average production).

On the first day of thestrike on Thursday, output was4,81,000 tonnes, or 37 per centof the last 10 days’ average pro-duction.

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The auction process of com-mercial coal mining wit-

nessed a “very good start” andthe response has been the bestin domestic coal history, CoalMinister Pralhad Joshi hassaid.

A total of 1,140 entities,including international players,participated in the technicalsession after the launch of saleof blocks, and 26 companiesbought tender documents and10 firms - domestic and foreign- evinced interest in the visit ofmines, he added.The state-ment assumes significance inthe wake of apprehensions

of the Jharkhand

Government that investors willnot come for the auction ofcommercial coal mining due tocoronavirus pandemic.“Welaunched commercial coalmining on June 18. PrimeMinister has blessed this occa-sion. And after that there wasa technical interaction session.Only interested people comethere. 1,140 people joined (thetechnical session). And out ofthat (1,140 people) more than50 to 60 people were interna-tional players,” Joshisaid.Within eight days of thelaunch of the auction process,there were 329 registrationsand 26 tender documents weresold for �5 lakh each, theMinister said.

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Promoters of stressed com-panies will get more flexi-

bility in attracting investors andthe process of determining theright price for assets would geteasier following a new set ofamendments introduced bycapital market regulator Sebi inits preferential share issuancenorms.

Market experts said the

new guidelines provide flexi-bility to the promoters and pro-moter group entities to attractinvestors for their companiesrather than becoming com-pletely dispossessed as underthe IBC framework.

The amendments can alsohelp promoters get financialinvestors on board withoutlosing control of the company.Even if they get investors whowish to take control, they could

end up with a continuing rolein the company which may bediluted but not completelyremoved.Therefore, due to suchflexibility, promoters may pre-fer restructuring through theseguidelines as a better and fasteralternative than going throughIBC, the experts added.Sebi, onJune 22, introduced guidelinesrelaxing pricing and open

offer requirements toenable easier fund raising

through preferential allotmentby stressed listed companies.

In order to ensure that therelaxations can be availed bygenuinely stressed companies,clear criteria for a company toqualify as a ‘stressed company’have been laid down.

Adequate safeguards havealso been put in place in termsof restricting persons who areeligible to participate, end-usedisclosures, restrictions.

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An average of 14.26 lakh e-way bills, which are

required for transportation ofgoods valued at over � 50,000,were generated each day in themonth of June, which is 77 percent of the average number ofbills generated per day in thepre-lockdown phase, GSTNetwork said on Sunday.

In total 4.27 crore e-waybills valued at over �12.40 lakhcrore were generated by busi-

nesses and transporters duringJune, higher than 4 crore billsworth �11.43 lakh crore gen-erated in Mar, reflecting uptickin economic activity with grad-ual lifting of lockdown, GSTNetwork said in a statement.InApr and May, 84.53 lakh (�3.90lakh crore) and 2.51 lakh (�8.98lakh crore) such bills weregenerated.In comparison, inFeb and Jan 5.63 crore (�15.39lakh crore) and 5.61 crore(�15.71 lakh crore) e-way billswere generated, respectively, onthe Govt portal.

As per e-way bill genera-tion data, an average of 18.49lakh e-way bills were generat-ed per day by businesses andtransporters between January

25-March 24, 2020. This num-ber came down drastically to1.72 lakh during LockdownPhase-1 (March 25-April 14).

In Lockdown Phase-2(April 15-May 3) and Phase- 3(May 4-May 14), it stood at3.51 lakh and 6.75 lakh, respec-tively. In Lockdown Phase-4(May 15-May 31), it was at 9.84lakh. In Unlock 1.0 in themonth of June, the numberrose to 14.26 lakh per day.Anationwide lockdown to checkthe spread of coronavirus wasimposed on March 25. GSTN,which manages the IT back-bone GST, said it is evidentfrom the month on monthcomparison of generation of e-ways bills.

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Foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) have pulled out

�3,741 crore from the Indianmarkets in just three tradingsessions of July, which marketanalysts attributed to profitbooking and appreciation inthe rupee over the last fewweeks.

The depositories datashowed that FPIs withdrew anet sum of �3,959 crore fromthe equities but invested a net�218 crore in debt segment

between July 1-3.This translat-ed into a total net withdrawalof �3,741 crore during theperiod under review.

The latest withdrawal hascome after investment of�24,053 crore by FPIs indomestic markets in June. FPIsturned net buyers after remain-ing net sellers for three con-secutive months.“Markets per-forming well in the recenttimes, and some appreciationin rupee over the last fewweeks, have provided a goodprofit booking

opportunity to foreigninvestors, which they decidedto capitalise on,” HimanshuSrivastava, associate director-manager research atMorningstar India said.

FPIs have been activelytrimming their holdings insome stocks and the value ofwhich they find unattractivewhile they continue to invest instocks that have reached veryattractive valuations in the last3 months, Harsh Jain, co-founder and COO at Groww,said.

They are also showing aclear inclination towards finan-cial stocks while they’re con-sistently reducing their expo-sure to the communicationsector, Jain added.With respectto investment in debt segmentSrivastava said “the scenario isshowing signs of normalising”

.Decision of US FederalReserve to initiate a dedicatedcorporate bond buying pro-gramme to lift their local econ-omy could enhance the flow offoreign funds into India, whichis expected to perform better in

terms of generating returns asagainst the comparable markets

over the next year or so, headded.

The Indian financial mar-kets will continue to witnessrotational trend with respect toforeign flows. Bouts of netinflows and outflows areexpected by FPIs depending ontheir changing opinion andglobal trends, henoted.Globally the scenario isevolving and there are multiplefactors which are dictating thedirection of foreign flows.

New Delhi: HMD Global,which sells Nokia brand ofmobile phones, is betting on itsFinnish lineage and focus onsecurity to succeed in theIndian market where it com-petes against rivals like Xiaomi,Samsung and others.The com-pany, whose lineup includesboth smartphones and featurephones, also sees resilience inthe Indian market and saidsales numbers are inching

towards those in pre-COVIDtime.“We are the onlyEuropean mobile phone brand.We have a simple idea at thecore of our operations thatmobile technology can improvethe lives of everyone around theworld...We believe that everyNokia phone is built upon thefoundations of security, relia-bility, and dependability,” HMDGlobal Vice President SanmeetKochhar told PTI. PTI

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India witnessed four initialpublic offerings worth $ 2.08

million in the three monthsended June as the coronaviruspandemic impacted economicactivities, according to an EYIndia report.

All the IPOs were in theSmall and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) segment and the medi-

an deal size was $0.38 mil-lion.Although there has notbeen much activity, companiesare considering their long-term growth plan, and havestarted to engage in conversa-tions towards their IPO prepa-ration in this economic slow-down, leading consultancy EYIndia said on Sunday.AboutApril-June period, also the sec-ond quarter of 2020, the reportsaid that consumer products &retail, and diversified industri-

al products were the active sec-tors in terms of the number ofIPOs. Each sector had twoIPOs on the SME market andthey were worth around $2.08million.

“Indian stock exchanges(BSE and NSE including SMEs)ranked seventh in the world interms of number of IPOs in Q22020. There were no cross-bor-der deals and there were noIPOs in the main markets,” thereport said.

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Has work from home reallyturned out to be as help-ful as you had thought it to

be? Or has it become even moretiresome? How will the work pat-terns transform once you reachyour office desks again?

A report compiled by a realestate consultancy firm exploredhow the office, as we know ittoday, will transform into a green-er, healthier and sustainable placeto re-welcome its employees postCOVID-19. It indicated thataround 30 per cent Indian work-ing population feels that the lock-down has given them anenhanced opportunity to balancetheir work and life. However,while 66 per cent employeesimmediately shifted to workingfrom home after the outbreak ofthe pandemic, around 41 percent employees miss a profession-al environment while working.And for many, health and wellnessare the key motivators to re-enteroffice spaces.

Also, considering that safetyawareness has emerged as top pri-ority in a post-pandemic world,over 76 per cent millennials willbe cross-checking a company’ssocial and environmental commit-ments before deciding to workthere, ensuring that workplaceswitness new techniques and waysof operations, collaborations andengagements.

Key to transformation: SpacingAs the country unlocks and

“working from office” gains backthe momentum, many companiesare looking forward to makingnecessary changes for adaptabil-ity. New COVID-19 protocolswill require greater physical sep-aration in workplaces via spatial,

physical and temporal means.Workstations will be spaced fur-ther apart. Experts suggest thatconference rooms will be major-ly de-populated, space-dividingpartitions erected and staff-issuedrotating schedules will be reli-giously followed for some timenow. The collaboration seatingwill have to be spread out so peo-ple are further apart from eachother.

However, as much as de-den-sifying workstations are impor-

tant, this might also be a challengein areas where desk spacing istight. In situations where existingdesk spacing is less than six feetapart, every other desk can beused as a buffer for each person.This could be achieved by assign-ing some people to work fromhome or temporarily locatingthem in some other areas. Leadingcompanies across the globe arealready embracing flexible work-place arrangements and takingpreventive measures to ensure

social distancing and goodhygiene.

The digital drive: Telecommuting& other advancements

Companies will start invest-ing in contactless technologies toreduce disease transmission.Standalone technology will bereplaced by integral solutionsthat connect building facilitieswith the occupier’s premise.People will have to be encouragedto collaborate virtually whenev-er possible. And telecommutingwill become more mainstream.

Also, to avoid transmission,technological accessories such asa mouse, keyboard, or headsetwill be provided to each individ-ual. These devices are touchedthroughout the day and hence,would be best if not shared with-out disinfecting between users.

Sustainable & hygienic practicesCompanies will continue to

focus on greener spaces and sus-tainable building will continue tobe in vogue. Use of smarter mate-rials, flexible arrangement of fur-niture, hub and club model,employee experience, digitalecosystems and a more holisticenvironment will be the focus ofthe future workplaces. Healthand wellness are going to be keymotivation for employees to re-enter the office spaces and organ-isations. Hence, reinforcing goodhygiene practices with well-stocked restrooms that havetouchless soap and anti-viralcleaning supplies is crucial.Workplaces will also have toinstall plenty of hands-free dis-pensers, disinfectant machinesand sanitisers that contain highalcohol content in lobbies, confer-

ence rooms and lounges.New touchless features in

interior design elements, includ-ing touchless faucets, automatedwindow shades and motion-sen-sor or voice-activated door hard-ware, will see a surge. Such fea-tures, experts suggest, could alsobe added to other spaces such asbuilding lobbies, reception desksand common areas. Sustainablepractices such as utilising mate-rials which are smooth, easy towipe down and hold up to fre-quent deep cleanings, especiallyin high-traffic areas, will be fol-lowed.

Empowering employeesThe impact an organisation

casts on its people is beyond itstangible domains, as it results inlarger face-to-face engagement,professional empowerment and asense of fulfillment and person-al confidence.

“While work from home is aninterim solution in the current sit-uation, it has its own drawbackstoo, including challenges like thefeeling of isolation and lack ofpersonal connectivity with col-leagues. It is very difficult to repli-cate an office environment andthe collaboration opportunities ina WFH model. Hence, work-place design will be increasinglygaining importance in the currentcontext and will be influenced bythe fact that people shape thespaces they occupy, with focus onhuman experience, innovationin technology, wellness and sus-tainability,” says Ramesh Nair,CEO and country head, India,JLL.

It will become important toconsider how employees are feel-ing when they prepare to returnto the office. Instead of issuing amandate for everyone to comeback together, offering the optionfor people to do it alternativelywill be a safer option.

“Most space planners, archi-tects and product providers areproactively thinking ahead oftime to bring in new concepts andtechnologies to provide a health-ier and more sustainable work-place for the future. Occupiershave embraced the preliminaryphase to accelerate the short-termtransition and have started part-nering with certain organisationsto plan a safer and informed re-entry at the workplace to ensuresocial distancing and workplacewellness,” says MV Harish, man-aging director, PDS.

What’s next?There will be a new phase of

acceptance where employees willbe introduced to new norms ofwork and ethics such as flexibledesigned spaces, 90-degree rota-tion of desks and workstations,wide agile practices, health andwell-being packages for employ-ees and installation of contact-freespaces.

The post-COVID world isnot simply about measures thatfocus on employee wellness. It isalso about efficiency, speed andcost-effectiveness. Organisationsneed to optimise the existingspaces by making meaningfulmoves. Ultimately, the time spentoptimising space will have themost powerful impact.

With her talent and on screen presence, actorDeepika Padukone has proved that she can

play any character with utmost passion. Eversince her forthcoming film with Shakun Batrahas been announced, fans have been contemplat-ing as to what new does the actor has in storefor her fans. We hear that Deepika has recentlystarted engaging in yoga as part of her prepara-tion for her role.

According to a well placed source, “Aheadof commencing the shoot for Shakun Batra’sdirectorial, Deepika has started training for Yoga.It is a part of her preparation for the film. Whilethere is no understanding of how this is goingto be of help to her in the film, as not much isknown about her character, it is only known thatshe has recently started training for it.”

There could be some connection of it withher role and the makers are keeping all the detailsunder wraps.

The actor has been reading parts of the scripteveryday as she doesn’t want to lose touch withher character by the time they start shooting forit. Deepika delivers an exemplary performanceon the celluloid and the credit goes to her dili-gence, passion and determination. She thorough-ly seeps into the skin of her character, and walksan extra mile to achieve the finesse.

Had it not been for the lockdown, a majorchunk of the film’s shoot would have been com-pleted in Sri Lanka. However, the actor will soonstart shooting for the film.

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Biologist Jeremy Wade has spent thelast 35 years solving mysteries that

lurk in our planet’s rivers, lakes andseas. In 2017, he hung up his rod afternine seasons on Animal Planet’s oneof the series, River Monsters, where hereeled in some of the rarest, most elu-sive and most dangerous creatureslurking beneath the water’s surface. Butthe waters of the world run deep;they’re dark and forever changingand many mysteries remain. Jeremyreturns to Animal Planet in a captivat-ing new series that brings him back tothe water’s edge to investigate reportsof the unimaginable and unexplainedin Jeremy Wade’s Dark Waters.

In the series, Wade spotlights thebizarre, the weird and the mysteriousas he investigates baffling, unsolvedmysteries. He takes the audience onjourneys beneath the water in remoteareas, to islands lost in time and outinto the open ocean to investigatereports that include, among others,entire fish species suddenly disappear-ing; unexplained sightings of mythicalbeasts; once thriving rivers now empty;and genetic oddities that may have pro-duced the biggest monsters yet.

“These are detective stories with adifference — fishy tales from remotewaters, and from right under ournoses,” said Wade. “If anybody thoughtthat by now, I’d seen it all, you’re in fora surprise — as I was.”

“Jeremy is adventurous, passion-ate and one of our best storytellers. Welook forward to sharing new storiesand mysteries with our audiencesacross all screens around the globe,”said Global President of Animal PlanetSusanna Dinnage.

The episodes of this season of theseries will include:

�����;��������������According to legend, one of

Europe’s most beautiful lakes guards anancient secret. First reported in the16th century, the Lake Garda Monster

has been described as a huge humpedbeast — half snake, half dinosaur.Jeremy travels to Northern Italy toinvestigate but is faced with more thanone possible culprit. It turns out theselakes and rivers, despite being in oneof Italy’s most populous regions, couldbe hiding more than one enormousbeast worthy of the monster title.

������;��������#��������Jeremy travels to Alaska to inves-

tigate reports of the mysterious disap-pearance of the majestic King Salmon.His search for answers takes himfrom the state’s most heavily fishedrivers to the mighty Yukon Riverwhere the King Salmon is the lifebloodof the native communities and out intothe ocean, following a trail of evidencethat leads him to encounters with someof Alaska’s most formidable predators.Who or what is killing the kings?

��"������ ���"�5� ��5����A report of an underwater attack

in Australia has caught Jeremy’s atten-tion. The story of a diver tangling witha colossal fish is intriguing, but accord-ing to most people, there shouldn’t beany fish of significant size in the area.Chasing a lead, Jeremy travels to east-ern Australia to investigate, and discov-ers that the fish responsible for theattack could be a species back from thebrink of extinction.

The series is produced by IconFilms where Laura Marshall and AndieClare serve as executive producers withNicholas Head as showrunner. ForAnimal Planet, Lisa Lucas is executiveproducer with Patrick Keegan assupervising producer.

(The series premiers on July 6 at 9pm on Animal Planet, Animal PlanetHD and Discovery Plus app.)

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In India, the tradition of following a guru datesback to many thousand years. In fact, in the

Hindu society, it is often believed that a personwho dies without a guru has lived a useless life.That is why devotees flock to gurus and havestaunch faith in them. Every word of a guru isconsidered to be the ultimate truth. For mostdevotees a guru is a medium, who shows the wayto god or truth, someone who inspire people tofollow a path of right-eousness and high moralintegrity. In the presentage, gurus have becomeimportant due toincreased suffering andmisery in the lives ofpeople. For a commonman, who is tossedaround helplessly by thecircumstances and pres-sures of life, a guru is likea pillar of strength, a safehaven, in whom peoplehope to find peace.

There are many kind of gurus in the world.Some of them are considered to be messiahs sentby god to redeem humans. If we look closely atall these beliefs that surround many gurus, we cansee that most of the claims are exaggerated or nottrue. Some gurus are even seen as avatars of lordKrishna or lord Shiva. In the Bhagavad Gita, itis said that god comes to liberate all human beings,even the sages and gurus are uplifted when hecomes. So in that sense, no human being can bea guru because he is the one who gives liberation(mukti) from all bondages of this world.

No human being can ever be above god. Onlygod can provide us the knowledge about himself,the nature of the soul and the creation. Only hecan open our third eye of wisdom. That is themere reason why gurus also meditate andremember him to enlighten themself. No gurucan claim to absolve the sins of human beings.We must understand the fact that all souls whotake birth in human body get into the bondageof birth and death, action and its fruit. Only godremains beyond this cycle, which is why he aloneis capable of giving liberation to all human beingsincluding gurus. Hence, it must be understoodthat only god is the true satguru.

Guru literally means the one who removesdarkness. God is truth — one who removes thedarkness of ignorance and brings the dawn ofsatyuga. He transforms vicious human beings intodivine virtuous beings. He makes us soul con-scious. He imparts the true wisdom that liberateshuman souls from the bondage of vices and takesthem back to the soul world — the original homeof all the souls. Remember that gurus can impartthe knowledge of scriptures but god is the satgu-ru, who tells us the essence of all scriptures. Hetells us that by remembering him we can claiman inheritance of purity, peace and happiness.

At present, negative vibes and feelings seemto be ruling everyone's mind, as a result of whichsouls are unable to find a permanent refuge inreligion. The learned souls are themselves con-fessing to the lack of power and are internallylooking for a hopeful sign from above. Hence, allthese symptoms are pointing towards that aus-picious time when he plays the role of a guide andleads all the souls on the true path of liberationin life. So let us all connect with one satguru, whoalone can show us the real light, leaving aside allother mediums.

The ultimate truth

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In the sacred forests of Kumaonregion, Uttarakhand, resides a

tribal community who is consid-ered to be descendants of one ofthe aboriginal prince of Kumaon.Famous among the ethnogra-phers, the Ban Raji communityflaunts a distinguished culture,language and lifestyle, which isclosely entwined with mothernature. Ban Raji, which means‘royal people of the forest’, reflectsthe closeness and dependency ofthis tribe on the ecosystem. Overthe years, however, the popula-tion as well as their culture hasundergone drastic transforma-tion and they are slowly movingout of their safe haven into theurban life for survival. Includedin the list of 18 most threatenedhuman groups and classified bythe Ministry of Tribal Affairs asa Particularly Vulnerable TribalGroup (PVTG), the communityneeds special attention of the pol-icy makers, especially its womenmembers.

My first acquaintance withthe members of the Ban Rajicommunity happened in theyear 2008 in the dense forests ofPithoragarh Janpad. The pres-ence of an outsider had createda certain discomfort in the air.After a while, a few men cameforward to interact but thewomen observed from a dis-tance. A member of the commu-nity, who was well aware of thelife outside the forest, helpedestablish conversations with therest of the men. Later, from2011 to 2016, I worked closelywith these handful of familiesand gained insight into their dayto day life, customs, rituals andchallenges. The most disturbinghas been the lives of women, who

with almost negligible interac-tion with the outside world areenduring a life of distress.

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Girls are denied the basicright to education and are giventhe responsibility of householdchores from an early age. Theyare not allowed to step outsidethe forest. Of the families met atthe time of writing this article, 95per cent women had receivedabsolutely no education in their

entire life. Till date, only fourgirls from this community havemanaged to complete their edu-cation till class 12 and are cur-rently studying for an undergrad-uate degree. The status of men’seducation is also not very hope-ful. In 2001, a residential schoolwas established for the childrenbelonging to this primitive tribeby the state government withassistance from the central gov-ernment. However, due tounfavourable circumstances, itwas closed in the year 2017.

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Due to lack of awareness,high percentage of illiteracy anddisconnection from the outsideworld, the community practicesthe regressive tradition of mar-rying girls before the permissi-ble age of 18. Most girls are mar-ried between the age of 16 to 18and become mothers to two tothree children before the age of21. With no knowledge of Sexualand Reproductive Health (SRH),these young mothers continue

compromising with their physi-cal and mental health. The non-availability of health centers inclose vicinity and due to the lackof monetary assistance, theyresort to home-based remedies.Effective for a while, these tradi-tional remedies are unable tosave lives and many women diebetween the age of 35 to 40.Unhealthy mothers and mal-nourished children receive noattention by the men in thecommunity.

������� �#����� �Altering lifestyles and patri-

archal mindsets have led toincrease in violence againstwomen. Proficient in woodenhandicrafts, men work hard toearn meagre amounts only tospend half of it on alcohol. Afterreturning home, they fight withtheir wives and often indulge intophysical violence. Women whoare taught to treat their partnerslike god and never speak againstthem, they do not even consid-er such incidences as a violationof their right.

������ ��#��� ����How these tribal women,

who cannot read, write and haveabsolutely no exposure to theoutside world, are expected tobenefit from the government

schemes meant for them? Thegovernment’s claim of reachingout to Ban Raji women doesn’thold water as these women clear-ly have no access to basic humanrights. The schemes announcedfor the upliftment of women ofthis tribal community will turnout to be effective only whenthey will have access and assis-tance to process such informa-tion.

The point being missed hereis that this community has spentdecades away from the influenceof the development process. Asthe rest of the country movedforward, this community, likemany other indigenous groups,chose to stay close to nature.Now, owing to deforestation,urbanisation and migration,these groups are being forced toquit their aboriginal lifestyle andadapt to this new ‘modernised’way. Women, who have beensuppressed for years, are theworst affected in this process.The policy makers are requiredto understand the cultural ecol-ogy of this tribe before design-ing programmes and schemes forthem. A holistic approach isneeded along with assistancefrom non-government institu-tions to reach out to thesewomen.

Already working in the field,certain non-government organ-isations are guiding the commu-nity to accept and adapt thesechanges without compromisingtheir traditional values. Learningfrom their experience and util-ising them to plan and imple-ment better policies will certain-ly support the upliftment of BanRaji women.

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There have been endless debatesaround mental health and depres-sion. But time and again, we have

to be reminded that mental illnesses area thing and how important it is to startnormalising it. Did you know that thispsychological disorder is so commonthat nearly 10 per cent of the populationis suffering from a depressive disorder.World Health Organisation (WHO)expects depression to be the is the lead-ing cause of ill health and disabilityworldwide.

It is a deep, broad, complex subjectand a serious medical condition whichneeds to be supervised by a profession-al. It is not only a psychological disor-der but also a physical distress. Mentaldisorder is characterised by sadness, lossof interest, pleasure, feeling of guilt orlow self-worth, disturbed sleep andpoor concentration. Physical distress ismostly due to physical disability andhigher mortality. It affects everyonedifferently, so each person is treated dif-ferently too. It is seen that women aremore affected by depression than men.The fear of stigma and lack of supportfor people with mental disorders haveknown to be the biggest reasons for notbeing able to avail the right treatment.

Well, Ayurveda seems to have a cure.It helps to bring your body back in bal-ance. So it is very important to find thecause of the disease. According to it,good health is a balance of physical andpsychological well-being. It has alwayshad a holistic approach towards this dis-order just like another disease we sufferfrom. The holistic approach is in regardwith the treatment of mental healthissues such as stress, anxiety and depres-sion, so Ayurveda explores the relation-ship between the mind, body, soul andtheir working.

Our body is made up of three types

of Doshàs — Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Theimbalance of these causes mental andemotional disturbances. Thus, it isimportant to balance these doshas andenergise them for which we have to fol-low the Ayurvedic norms like Dincharya(daily routines) and Ritucharya (season-al health routines).

One has to follow a healthy and puresattvic diet which suits your body type.The food that we consume should haveall the six taste in them such as sweet,sour, bitter, astringent, salty and pungent.

Various Ayurvedic therapies arerecommended under a doctor’s supervi-sion at our centre such as Shirodharawith Thialam or Thakrdhara,Thalapothitical Thalam, Pichu,Abhyangam, Nasyam and many others.Ayurvedic medicines like Manasmitragulika, Brahmi, Ashwagandha are good

promoters of mental and emotionalhealth.

People need to strictly follow someof the basic regimes in life. Following aproper daily routine is essential inAyurveda for the body and mind. It canhelp keep a positive attitude, happinessand relaxation. It starts with waking upearly in the morning and saying a

prayer before leaving the bed. Once outof the bed, one needs to clean the face,mouth and eyes by splashing some coldwater and rinsing your mouth. Anotherimportant aspect is to blink your eyesseven times and then rotating it in alldirections.

Next step should be Nasya (admin-istration of herbs by the route of nasalcavity). This should be performed beforehaving a bath or even your daily exer-cises on an empty stomach. One shouldlie down with the head tilted back andthen put five drops of Nasya in each nos-tril and ears. Another step would be toapply oil to the head and body.

Performing any exercise orpranayam helps in aligning one’s body,mind and soul. It is very important forpeople suffering from anxiety, depressionor any other mental health issues since

it calms the nerves and other parts of thebody. Exercise, of course, also controlsweight, improves the flow of blood in thebody as well as loosens stiff joints.

Once the exercise is completed, oneshould perform meditation for at leastthirty minutes. Finally, a heavy andfibrous breakfast with some healthydrink makes for a perfect morning rou-tine. The breakfast should be between10:30 to 11:30 am so that there is ampletime for the body to digest and preparefor the next meal.

This sets the tone and energy for theentire day and keeps the individual in ahappier disposition. Classical Ayurvedahas the goal of alleviating all diseases,including mental, psychological andemotional sufferings.

(The writer is the Joint ManagingDirector, Kairali Ayurvedic Group.)

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Robert Lewandowski passed the 50-goal mark this season as BayernMunich completed the double

with a 4-2 victory over Bayer Leverkusenbehind closed doors to win a 20thGerman Cup on Saturday.

Bundesliga champions Bayern dom-inated at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium asDavid Alaba smashed home an earlyfree-kick before Serge Gnabry added thesecond goal in the first half.

Lewandowski has 51 goals in totalthis season after scoring twice in the sec-ond half either side of a Sven Benderheader for Leverkusen.

Kai Havertz converted a penaltydeep into added time for Leverkusen.

“In the second half we showed thatwe are the better team and wanted to becup winners,” said man-of-the-matchLewandowski.

Bayern, crowned Bundesliga cham-pions for the eighth straight year lastSaturday, have won all of their 11games since the season resumedin mid-May after a two-monthshiatus due to the coronavirus.

They could finish the seasonwinning the treble as they areamong the favourites for theChampions League finals inLisbon next month.

This was the 13th time in the club’s

history they have won the double.Lewandowski, crowned Bundesliga

top-scorer for the fifth time last week-end, netted six times in the cup,has 34 league goals and 11 morein the Champions League this sea-son.

Leverkusen completed a hat-trick of defeats after also losing the2002 and 2009 cup finals in Berlin.

When Lewandowski was clat-tered by defender Edmond Tapsoba on

16 minutes, it was Alaba who swung theresulting free-kick inside the post to giveBayern the opening goal.

They doubled their lead after JoshuaKimmich won the ball in midfieldeight minutes later.

His pass split the defence, Gnabrysprinted onto the ball and fired pastLeverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradeckyto make it 2-0 at the break.

UNDER CONTROL“We are so happy that we got the

double. In the first half we had the gamecompletely under control,” said Gnabry.

With players’ calls echoing aroundthe near-empty terraces of the cavernousstadium, where Germany head coachJoachim Low was one of a handful ofguests, the game was played in an eerieatmosphere.

“It’s a bit of a sad moment,” admit-ted Bayern forward Thomas Mueller,who lamented the lack of fans, after win-ning the German Cup for the sixth timein his career. “If the fans are missing atsuch a cup final, it’s not the same.

“We’ve done well this season overlong stretches, but it also hurts a bit.”

Having skied a shot at goal momentsearlier, Lewandowski made it 3-0 whenhe controlled a clearance kick by goal-keeper Manuel Neuer and tried a long-range speculative shot at Hradecky.

The Leverkusen keeper parried theshot, but watched in horror as it rolledbehind him and over the goal line on 59minutes.

It fired life into Leverkusen, whosecentre-back Sven Bender slipped hismarker Leon Goretzka and headedhome on 64 minutes.

Leverkusen nearly got a secondmoments later when Kevin Volland andHavertz both failed to connect with across.

Lewandowski claimed his secondwhen he fired home Ivan Perisic’s passon 89 minutes.

Bayern defender Alphonso Daviesconceded the penalty in the fourthminute of added time which Havertzconverted just before the whistle.

����� +*.)+�

Sergio Ramos scored his22nd consecutive penalty

on Sunday as Real Madridheld on for another 1-0 winover Athletic Bilbao to inchcloser to winning La Liga.

Ramos’ fifth goal in sevengames since the restart givesMadrid a seven-point leadover Barcelona, who play laterat in-form Villarreal.

Anything but a victory forBarca would probably leavethem too much to do withfour games remaining, espe-cially as Madrid own thesuperior record head-to-head.

This was Madrid’s tough-est fixture left and they mighthave been content even witha point against a robust, well-organised Bilbao side.

But after edging out

Getafe on Thursday, througha Ramos spot-kick, Madridrepeated the trick at SanMames, their captain’s nervefrom the spot combining witha gutsy display to grind out apivotal win.

Ramos was perhaps fortu-nate not to concede a penal-ty himself when, off the ball,he seemed to slip andtread on the foot of RaulGarcia, but Madridescaped.

Instead, the defend-er’s 10th goal of the sea-son, the best tally of hiscareer, gave Madrid their third1-0 win in a row, as well as afourth consecutive clean sheet.

“It’s a massive win,” saidRamos. “We knew today wasgoing to be one of the biggestgames that we have left. It’salways a difficult game away

at Bilbao and we saw it likethat. We’re happy with anoth-er crucial three points that putmore pressure on Barcelona.”

Ramos said he is alwaysconfident on penalties.

“In those moments ofdoubt that’s when I feel mostcomfortable. I wanted to takethe responsibility,” he said.

“But if I wanted individ-ual recognition I wouldplay tennis.”

Bilbao’s Iker Munainsaid Madrid had againbeen lucky with deci-sions.

“We’re not going to win itthanks to the referees,” saidRamos. “People have to lookat themselves and be critical oftheir own performances.Based on the points, it seemswe’re doing well at themoment.”

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It’s been six months since he struck IPLgold with a record-breaking bid but

Australian pace spearhead Pat Cumminssays his life hasn’t changed one bit becausehe has never been the sort to be too affect-ed by either success or failure.

The world No 1 Test bowler wasbought by Kolkata Knight Riders for arecord � 15.5 crore, making him the high-est paid foreign player in the history of theleague.

“I would like to think my life doesn’tchange much at all,” Cummins said whenasked about the impact of the headline-grabbing event last December.

“I try my best in every game I play butI try to not let any successes or setbackschange my life too much,” the 27-year-oldadded.

Asked whether the high of that day hasfaded away, he said, “Not really.”

“May be, once I get over there to play,”added the star bowlers.

A lot of cricketers have had changedpriorities since the advent of private T20leagues but Cummins is a chip off the oldblock who, like India skipper Virat Kohli,values the Test format.

“I grew up watching and loving Testcricket and nothing has changed. I think itis the most challenging format because ittests your skill, stamina, mental strength,”he explained.

“Each and every Test win is incrediblysatisfying,” said Cummins, who has 143wickets from 30 Tests at an impressive aver-age of 21.82.

With Cricket Australia allowing itsplayers to start outdoor training, the speed-ster is back sweating it out in the nets butsaid that it would take some time to reachpeak match condition.

“It takes at least a couple of months tobuild back up to full pace and fitness butluckily we have some time. We started bowl-ing two weeks ago. So, we will be ready forwhen we start,” said Cummins.

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White-ball skipperQuinton de Kock

was named the men’scricketer of the year atCricket SouthAfrica’s (CSA)annual awards cer-emony, held virtu-ally due to theCovid-19 pan-demic.

The 27-year-old also baggedthe Test cricketerof the year whileyoung opener LauraWolvaardt tookhome the women’scricketer of the yearand ODI cricketer ofthe year awards.

Pacer LungiNgidi was namedODI and T20 play-

er of the year while DavidMiller was voted the fans’favourite player.

Anrich Nortje, whomade his Test debut inIndia and took a five-for inthe Test series againstEngland, was adjudged the

International men’snewcomer of the year.

Shabnim Ismailtook home thewomen’s T20 player

of the yearwith left-arms p i n n e r

Nonkululeko Mlabawas recognised as thewomen’s newcomer ofthe Year.

This is the secondtime de Kock has wonthe men’s Cricketer

of the Year, havingclaimed the accolade in2017.

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Pacer Kemar Roach feels theupcoming series against

England is equivalent to theAshes for the West Indies teamwhich will look to defend thetrophy it won at home last year.

West Indies had handedJoe Root’s men a 2-1 defeat whenEngland travelled to theCaribbeans last year and Roachsaid the visiting team wants toemulate that result in the three-match series starting Wednesdayat Ageas Bowl.

“We were relentless and it

set the tone. Everyone put in andwe’re looking to emulate thathere. Taking the trophy backhome to the Caribbean is thenumber one goal,” Roach was

quoted as saying by TheGuardian.

“Winning in England wouldbe perfect but it’s about defend-ing the trophy. This is ourbiggest series, like the Ashes forus, so it’s about getting into thatzone,” he added.

Roach ended as the leadingwicket-taker with 18 scalps inthe last series between the twosides. He ran through theEnglish batting line-up in thefirst innings of the openingTest in Barbados, and wasawarded the Man of Series forhis consistent performance.

���5�"��� Australia coachJustin Langer on Sunday likenedDavid Warner to unbeaten box-ing great Floyd Mayweather,calling him an “absolute ripper”who will never get to be aleader thanks to the 2018ball-tampering scandal.

“Look, I support him.Having David Warner in theteam is like having FloydMayweather in theteam,” Langer toldChannel Nine televi-sion’s Sports Sunday,referring to theAmerican iconwho remained

undefeated in his 50-bout pro-fessional career and owned 15major world titles in five weightdivisions.

Warner, who was identifiedas the instigator of the 2018

incident was slapped witha lifetime captaincy ban.

“Officially he’s beenbanned from captaining

Australia again,”Langer said.

“I don’t thinkhe’ll be a captainof Australiaagain because

of where we’reat, but I

love having him in the team. He’san absolute ripper,” he added.

After his return to the game,Warner has proved himself to bea valuable player to the team,that struggled in his and Smith’sabsence.

Langer, who took up theposition of the coach a couple ofmonths after the scandal, saidWarner has been a fantasticaddition to the side since he hascome back from the ban.

“I love him. He talks it up,he is a great player by any cal-culations and he’s been fantasticin the team over the last twoyears,” Langer said. PTI

���� ����� 1��,

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was ontarget again as Milan beat

Lazio 3-0 at Stadio Olimpico toderail their opponents'Scudetto hopes.

Juve moved sevenpoints clear at the summitwith a 4-1 win over rivalsTorino earlier on Saturdayand Lazio were unable toclose the gap in their gamein hand.

Lazio had not lost in 16home games since September2017 but were two down athalf-time - Ibrahimovic scor-ing a penalty after setting upHakan Calhanoglu for theopener.

Ante Rebic added a thirdfor Europe-chasing Milan inthe second half as Lazio, with-out leading goalscorer CiroImmobile, fell to just a secondloss in 25 league matches.

Calhanoglu continued hisgood form since the restart byopening the scoring after 23minutes, the midfielder's strikedeflecting off Marco Parolo tohelp it over Thomas Strakosha.

Ibrahimovic had a goalruled out for offside but did nothave to wait long to scorefrom the penalty spot afterAlexis Saelemaekers’ crossstruck Stefan Radu’s hand.

Strakosha got a hand to thespot-kick 11 minutesbefore the break but itsquirmed under his bodyto leave Lazio, whorecovered from a goaldown to beat Fiorentina

in midweek, with a big moun-tain to climb.

Manuel Lazzari thoughtthat he had started a second-half comeback when he drilledhome, only for the offside flagto deny him, and further mis-ery followed when Rebic addeda third goal.

The Croatia internationaltook Giacomo Bonaventura’spass in his stride and sweptpast Strakosha for his ninthleague goal of the season.

Milan should have addeda fourth late on but TheoHernandez missed a sitter,having earlier been denied byStrakosha following an impres-sive run.

����� .��"��

Ross Barkley set up the openinggoal before scoring himself late

in the game as Chelsea eased past rel-egation-threatened Watford in a 3-0win to consolidate fourth place in thePremier League.

The England midfielder playedin Olivier Giroud to score in the 28thminute and put Chelsea ahead at avirtually empty Stamford Bridge onSaturday.

Willian converted a penalty inthe 43rd minute after ChristianPulisic was fouled to make it 2-0,before Barkley finished off a flowingteam move involving Pulisic andCesar Azpilicueta with a rasping fin-ish high into the net in second-halfstoppage time.

Chelsea bounced back from asurprising loss at West Ham in mid-week with a third win in four match-es since the return of the league aftera three-month suspension because ofthe coronavirus outbreak.

Frank Lampard’s Chelsea stayeda point behind third-place Leicester

and two clear of fifth-placeManchester United in the race forChampions League qualification.

Fifth place will be enough toqualify for the Champions Leaguethis season if second-placeManchester City fails with itsappeal to overturn a two-yearEuropean ban imposed by UEFA.

The result of the appeal isimminent.

Watford stayed one pointand one place clear of the rel-egation zone with five gamesremaining, and is yet to winsince the restart.

Earlier, Wolverhampton’s pursuitof a first-ever qualification for the

Champions League received a set-back after a 2-0 loss to Arsenal.

Goals from Bukayo Saka, a high-ly rated 18-year-old midfielder, in the43rd minute and substituteAlexandre Lacazette in the 86thensured Wolves dropped points forthe first time since the restart of theleague, with Nuno Espirito Santo’steam having previously recordedthree straight wins.

It meant Wolves lost ground onChampions League qualificationrivals Leicester and ManchesterUnited, who both won earlierSaturday.

With a fifth-place finish earninga spot in Europe’s top competition,all is not lost for sixth-place Wolvesthough they cannot afford manymore slip-ups in their remaining fiveleague games.

After back-to-back defeats fol-lowing the resumption, Arsenal hasnow won three straight games to riseto seventh — three points behindWolves. A finish in sixth will earn theteam a berth in the Europa Leaguenext season, as may seventh.

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Valtteri Bottas stayed calmin a stormy race on

Sunday to claim a measuredvictory for Mercedes asFormula One returned witha bang in a belated, dramat-ic and incident-strewn 2020season-opening AustrianGrand Prix.

Seven months after thefinal race of 2019, the Finn,who had started from the12th pole position of hiscareer, led from start to fin-ish to come home ahead onthe road of team-mate six-time champion LewisHamilton.

The Briton, however, hadbeen given a five-secondpenalty during the race andwas demoted to fourthbehind Charles Leclerc, whobrought his Ferrari homesecond and Briton Lando

Norris who claimed his maid-en podium for McLaren.

Hamilton, hit with a latepre-race grid penalty thatdropped him from second tofifth, had clashed with RedBull’s Alex Albon in the finallaps, forcing him into a spinoff track.

In a race of three SafetyCar interventions, run behind

closed doors at the Red BullRing, Ferrari-bound CarlosSainz finished fifth in the sec-ond McLaren ahead of SergioPerez of Racing Point.

Pierre Gasly was sixth forAlpha Tauri and EstebanOcon eighth on his return toracing with Renault ahead ofAntonio Giovinazzi of AlfaRomeo and Sebastian Vettel,

the four-time champion in hisfinal season at Ferrari, finish-ing 10th.

Before the race evenstarted, there was dramawhen six of the 20 driversopted against taking a knee toprotest against racism.

Hamilton wore a BlackLives Matter t-shirt, whileother drivers, who all lined upwith him at the front of thegrid, sported black tops say-ing End Racism.

Leclerc and Red Bull’sMax Verstappen had con-firmed a split among F1 dri-vers when they said theywould not take a knee on thegrid, but that they remainedcommitted to fighting racism.

Carlos Sainz of McLaren,Danil Kvyat of Alpha Tauri,Antonio Giovinazzi and AlfaRomeo team-mate KimiRaikkonen also chose to stayon their feet.

����5�� Sri Lanka batsman KusalMendis was arrested on Sunday after thevehicle he was driving hit and killed a 64-year-old cyclist.

The accident took place at 5am on theOld Galle Road in the Colombo suburbof Panadura.

Mendis will appear before a magis-trate even as the police conduct an inves-tigation into the accident.

According to police, Mendis’ carcrashed into the bicycle of the deceasedwho has been identified as a resident ofGokarella.

The victim suffered serious injuriesand died as he was being admitted to thehospital.

The police has taken the cricketer’sSUV into its custody and would investi-gate if he was driving under the influence.

The 25-year-old wicketkeeper-bats-man has represented Sri Lanka in 44 Testsand 76 ODIs. Mendis was part of thenational squad which had resumed train-ing after the Covid-19 lockdown. PTI

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