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JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA

TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

NIHALKOSHIENEWDELHI, JULY13

AT LEAST two Indian students,including national high jumprecord-holder TejaswinShankar, are at the forefront ofananti-racismcampaignonthecampus of Kansas StateUniversity in theUS.Thecampuscontroversyhad

eruptedamonthafterthedeathofGeorgeFloyd,the46-year-oldAmerican whose death set offprotests across the US andabroad,andgaverisetotheBlackLives Matter movement. It allstarted on June 23, when Jaden

McNeil, president of a studentgroup called ‘America StudentsFirst’ on campus, posted onTwitter: “Congratulations toGeorgeFloydforbeingdrugfreeforanentiremonth.”Followingthetweet,Tejaswin

waspartof anemergencyZoommeeting of the Student-AthleteAdvisory Committee, of whichheisthemarketingchair.Healsosupported other athletes ofcolour on sports scholarship atthe university in threatening animmediate pull-out from train-ingandcompetitionif the“hate-fulremarks”fromthefellowstu-dentscontinued.Speaking to The Indian

Express, Tejaswin said he hadonlytakenaprincipledstandbystandingwithathletesofcolour."If somebody thinks of me likethis, thenwhy should I play forthem? I don't want people likethese who make these com-mentsonTwitteranddays latersupport me in a competitionwhentheycan'tsupportmeoutofacompetitioninpersonallife...It ismymoralresponsibilityasateammatetostandbytheteam-mates," Shankar said.Justwhen the stormseemed

tohaveblownover came theUSImmigration and CustomsEnforcementannouncementthatinternational students in theUS

willhavetoreturntotheirhomecountries if they are enrolled inprogrammesthatareentirelyon-lineforthefallsemester.ThatsawanotherIndianstu-

dent, Vedant Kulkarni, who ismajoring in ManagementInformation Systems andMassCommunication and isDirectorof the Student GoverningAssociation (InternationalAffairs), taking the lead in voic-ing the concerns of the interna-tional students.However, his comments

caughtMcNeil’s attention onceagainonTwitter.Tweetinginre-sponse to Kulkarni's commentthat international students de-

serve to be in the USA, McNeilsaid, “You are entitled to noth-ing. Living in the US isn’t a hu-man right.”While that led to atorrentofabusesandtrollscom-ingKulkarni'sway, several peo-ple ralliedbehindhim.Thecampuscontroversyhas

nowresulted in thepresidentofKansas State University RichardMyersputtingoutaletter,askingtheadministration“tofast-trackplans to combat racism, bigotryand other forms of social injus-tice”. The letter further stated:“Students, faculty, staff andalumni who are badly hurt orembarrassed for our university

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

PAGE1ANCHOR

HighjumperTejaswinShankarwithhisKansasStateUniversity teammates.K-StateAthletics

Indian high-jumper leads anti-racism cause on US campus

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

THEWORLD

CHINASANCTIONSU.S. SENATORSTALIBANSTAGEMAJORATTACKONAFGHAN INTELHQPAGE17

U.P.ABOUT-TURN:TAKESCUSTODYOFDUBEY ‘AIDE’PAGE11

THEEDITORIAL PAGE

POLICEREFORMSMUSTSTARTWITHPOLITICALSYSTEMBYPRAKASHSINGHPAGE12

RAHUL,PRIYANKA,AHMEDPATEL,CHIDAMBARAMCONTACTPILOT

Pro-PilotMLAsaysheshouldbeCM;let’s see if heattendsCLPtoday:Cong

MANOJCGNEWDELHI, JULY13

THE CONGRESS central leader-shipMonday attempted a bal-ancingactasitnavigatedthecri-sis in Rajasthanwhich showednosignof anearly resolution.The party allowed Chief

MinisterAshokGehlotashowofstrengthinJaipurtosignalthatamajority of theMLAs are withhim.Atthesametime, it triedtoplacate state unit chief andDeputyCMSachinPilot.Sources said former presi-

dentRahulGandhi,AICCgeneralsecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra, and party veteransAhmed Patel, P Chidambaramand K CVenugopal got in touchwith Pilotwho skipped ameet-ing of the Congress LegislatureParty in Jaipur and remainedcloseted with a little over adozen MLAs close to him at afive-starhotel inManesar.ThePilot campmade it clear

that it is going to be a long-drawnbattle.Neitherhenoranyof theMLAsclosetohimwillat-tend the CLPmeeting Tuesday,sources said.TheCongressmessage,how-

ever,was clear— the high com-mandwill back Gehlot since amajority of theMLAs are withhim; the leadership holds nogrudge against Pilot despite hisrevolt,willlistentohisgrievancesandfind“workingsolutions,”but

notbuckleunderpressure.“We are giving him enough

time so that he does not say to-morrowthatwedidnotspeaktoor reachout tohim. JyotiradityaScindia’s complaint was that.Let’s see if he comes forTuesday’s CLP meeting. If hedoesnot turnup, hewill violatethewhip for the second time…Thenwecan thinkabout takingsomeaction;wehavenotyetde-cided but things can move

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

At least 18 skipCLP meet, 2ministersamong them

MLAs rally behind Gehlot, CLP foraction against anti-party activitiesHAMZAKHANJAIPUR, JULY13

MOVINGTOsnuffoutarebellionled by rival and Deputy ChiefMinister Sachin Pilot, RajasthanChief Minister Ashok Gehlotstaged a show of strengthMonday and got the party topass a resolution which, apartfrom targeting the BJP for at-tempting to destabilise his gov-ernment, called for “strict disci-

plinaryaction”againstCongressmembersinvolvedin“anti-gov-ernmentoranti-partyactivities”.The Rajasthan Congress

LegislaturePartymetattheChiefMinister’s official residencewhere Congress central leadersAvinash Pande, Randeep SinghSurjewalaandAjayMakenwereamongthosepresent.As Pilot and his loyalists

skipped the CLP meeting, theGehlotcampclaimedsupportof106MLAs— fivemore than the

majoritymarkof101—andsaidtherewas no threat to the gov-ernment.After themeeting, theMLAs were taken to HotelFairmont which was searchedearlier in the day by a centralagency.GehlotparadedMLAsahead

of the CLPmeeting, but sourcessaid somewho backed the CMarekeepingoptionsopen.MLAs Rohit Bohra, Danish

Abrar, Chetan Dudi, PrashantCONTINUEDONPAGE2

As Gehlot fights crisis, I-T and EDraid premises of his close associates

Corps Commandersmeet today: Pangong,Depsang are on tableKRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, JULY13

XIV CORPS CommanderLt General Harinder Singhwillhold talks Tuesdaywith SouthXinjiang Military RegionCommanderMajor General LiuLin on the next phase of disen-gagement of troops along theLineofActualControl inLadakh.Thiswill be the fourth round

of discussions between the twoCorpsCommanderstoresolvethestandoffwhichstartedearlyMay.The meeting will start

TuesdaymorningattheChushulborder point withMoldo— the

first twomeetings tookplace atMoldo on the Chinese side onJuneandJune22whilethethirdmeetingwasatChushul.Thelasttwo meetings lasted over 12hourseach.Topsources in theArmysaid

theCorpsCommanderswilldis-cussmodalitiesforfurtherdisen-gagement, including relocationof troops inthe frictionareas.In thesecondstageof disen-

gagement, the situation atPangong Tso, sources said, willalsobediscussedwhereChinesetroopscontinuetobepresentontheIndiansideoftheLAC—theyhadcomein8kmwestofFinger

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

HAMZAKHAN,KHUSHBOONARAYAN&AANCHALMAGAZINEJAIPUR/MUMBAI/NEWDELHI,JULY13

AS RAJASTHAN Chief MinisterAshokGehlot tries to stave off apoliticalcrisistosavehisgovern-ment following a showdownSunday by Deputy CM SachinPilot, the Income-Tax depart-mentcarriedoutsearchandsur-

veyoperationsin43premisesinJaipur, Kota,Mumbai and Delhiof businesspersons and associ-atesclose tohim.InMumbai, the tax depart-

ment searched nine offices oftwo firms — Mayank SharmaEnterprises and Om KothariGroup,sourcesintheI-Tdepart-ment said.Mayank SharmaEnterprises

(MSE) belongs to the family ofRatanKant Sharma,whohad inMarch2011acquired50percent

shares in Sunlight Car RentalsPrivateLtd,acompanyfloatedbyVaibhavGehlot,thesonofAshokGehlot. He remained a share-holder till March 31, 2016 inSunlightCarRentals.Thepriceatwhich Sharma bought 50 percentsharesisnotprovidedintheRoCfilingsofSunlightCarRentals.MSE runs a luxury hotel, Le

Meridien in Jaipur.RK Sharma is also the pro-

moter of Triton Hotels andCONTINUEDONPAGE2

Bengal MLA who joinedBJP found dead; Nadda,Governor raise ‘killing’SANTANUCHOWDHURYKOLKATA, JULY13

THEBODYofaWestBengalMLAwas found hanging near hishome in Bindal village of thestate'sNorthDinajpurdistrictonMondaymorning. Police foundasuicidenoteinhisshirtpocket,butmembersof theMLA's fam-ilyandthestateBJPalleged thathehadbeenmurdered.Debendra Nath Ray, 55, had

wontheHemtabadseatonaCPI-M ticket in the 2016 Assemblyelections,buthad joined theBJPalongwithseveralotherssoonaf-ter the Lok Sabha elections of

2019. He had not resigned hisAssemblyseat,however,andwastechnicallystill aCPI-MMLA.The BJP accused the

TrinamoolCongressofmurder-ing Ray, and called a 12-hourbandh in North Bengal onTuesday. BJP leaders metGovernor Jagdeep Dhankhar inKolkata, after which Dhankhar

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

DEEPMUKHERJEEJAIPUR, JULY13

ATLEAST18partyMLAs, includ-ingCabinetMinistersVishvendraSinghandRameshChandMeena,are learnt to have skipped theCongress Legislature Party (CLP)meetingatChiefMinisterAshokGehlot's residence onMonday,despitethepartywhip.A third minister, Master

BhanwarlalMeghwal,whoholdstheSocial JusticeandEmpower-mentandDisasterManagementand Relief portfolios, was alsoabsent. But party leaders citedhis ill-health —Meghwal suf-feredaparalyticattack recently.While a few of those who

stayed awaymade it clear thatthey were supporting DeputyChief Minister Sachin Pilot, theothers could not be contacted.Party sources, however, con-firmed that theseMLAs did notattendthemeeting.Amongthosewhoarelearnt

tohavestayedawayare:■ Vishvendra Singh, from

the erstwhile Bharatpur royalCONTINUEDONPAGE2

PRANAVMUKUL&AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI, JULY13

US TECH giant Google said onMonday that it has set up a‘Google for India DigitisationFund’,throughwhichitwillinvest$10billioninthecountryoverthenext five to seven years throughamixofequityinvestments,part-nerships, operations, infrastruc-tureandecosysteminvestments.The announcement comes

close on the heels of NewDelhisignallingcurbsonChinesetech-nologyinvestmentsandbanning59 mobile apps with links toChinesetechnologymajorssuch

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Policesaidtheyfoundasuicidenoteinhispocket

Cong’s Jaipur tightrope: Party lets Gehlotshowstrength, reaches out to placate Pilot

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

CMAshokGehlotandCongressMLAs leavingfora luxuryhotelafter theCLPmeeting in JaipuronMonday.Rohit JainParas

Posters featuringSachinPilotbeingremovedbyworkersfromthePCCheadquarters in JaipurMonday.Rohit JainParas

PMModi inavideo-callwithSundarPichaionMonday.ANI

EARLIERTHISyear,Amazonsaid itwould in-vest$1billion in India.Thiswas followedbyamarquee investmentan-nouncementof $5.7bil-lionbyFacebook inReliance Jio. Lastmonth,Microsoft’s venture fundM12said itwouldopenanoffice in India topur-sue investmentopportu-nities focusingonB2Bsoftwarestartups.

Bigtech’sbigpushE●EX

PLAINED

Google sets up Indiafund, plans to invest$10 bn over 5-7 yrs

INSIDE

ANOTHERROUNDGOESTOSCINDIAASCHOUHANALLOCATESMINISTRIESPAGE10

INSIDE

History to custom, SCupholds rights of formerroyals to Kerala templeANANTHAKRISHNANGNEWDELHI, JULY13

THE SUPREME Court Mondayupheld the rights of the erst-whileroyalsof theprincelystateofTravancoreintheadministra-tion of the Sree PadmanabhaSwamy Temple inThiruvananthapuram.Therulingcameonanappeal

by the legal heirs of UthradamThirunalMarthandaVarma, theyoungerbrotherof thelastruler,SreeChithiraThirunalBalaramaVarma, challenging the January31,2011, judgmentof theKeralaHigh Court, which had directed

thestategovernmenttosetupatrusttocontrolthemanagementand assets of the temple— oneof the richest in the country.Therewere otherwrit petitions

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

AtthePadmanabhaSwamytempleonMonday. ANI

133DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■Delhi■TamilNadu■Karnataka■Telangana

7 DAYS EARLIER:

2.82NOW:

2.64

7 DAYS EARLIER:

7NOW:

7.44

DETECTED TODAY

28,701RECOVERED TODAY:

18,850

TOTALCASES2,54,4271,12,4941,38,47038,84334,671

DOUBLINGRATE**23.8640.5222.589.6513.19

SURGEIN24HOURS7,8271,5734,2442,6271,269

7-DAYAVGGROWTH*3.02%1.78%3.19%7.46%5.46%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:8,78,253TESTS: 1,18,06,256| DOUBLING RATE: 21.50**

RECOVERED:5,53,470DEATHS:23,174

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

DataasonJuly12, releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealth, ICMRandstates.Oftendailynumbers includedatafrompreviousdays.Assuch, trendsbasedondailynumbersare indicative,notdefinitive

CASE FATALITYRATIO

Deaths as a ratio ofpositive cases (in %);indicator of progressin averting deaths

Positives againstnumber tested

(in %); indicator ofthe spread of disease

Becoming sick vsrecovering; more

recoveries for 14 daysmay signal the peak

POSITIVITY RATE DAILY IN, DAILYOUT

EXPLAINED

EXPERTSEXPLAIN

CASEFORUSINGHCQPAGE16

FUTURE OF EDUCATION

BASTILLE DAY

New Delhi

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

I-T and ED raidResorts Private Limited, whichruns Fairmont, a luxuryhotel intheoutskirtsofJaipur,whichwasalso raided by the EnforcementDirectorateonMonday.Itisinthishotel where the Gehlot campherded its MLAs after the CLPmeetingonMonday.Sources in the ED claimed

Sharmawas summonedby theagencyfourdaysagotoexplainanalleged receipt of Rs 96.7 croreinto Triton from Mauritius.According to RoC records,Mauritius-based SivnarHoldingLimited owns 50 per cent inTriton,whileRatanKantSharmaandhiswife Jui Sharmaowntheremaining50per cent.He couldnotbereachedforcomments.The I-Tdepartment also car-

riedsearchandsurveyoperationsattheresidenceandpropertiesofstate Congress Vice PresidentRajivArora,founderandownerofAmrapali Jewels, andDharmendra Rathore, also anAICCmember, both said to becloseaidesofAshokGehlot.Arorasaid,“Idon’tknowhow

manylocations(arebeingraided).I am atmy home and they areworkinghereandIamcooperat-ing,” he said. A long-termCongressmember, Arora oncecontested Assembly electionsoncefromJaipur,but lost.Hehasalso been the Chairman of theRajasthanTourismDevelopmentCorporation(RTDC).RathorewasChairmanof the

Rajasthan State SeedsCorporationaswellasaSecretaryinthestateunitofCongressparty.He is consideredoneof Gehlot’spoliticalmanagers, especially inhandlingtheRajputcommunity.Hecouldnotbecontacted.The I-T raidswere also con-

ductedonsomepropertiesoftheOmKotharigroup,includingOmMetals;BJPhas longalleged thatKotharis are close toGehlot. Thegroup is involved inmanybusi-nesses including hotel, hydropower,metalandautosectors.In a press statement, the the

CentralBoardofDirectTaxessaid,“TheIncomeTaxDepartmentcar-riedoutsearchandsurveyopera-tions on three groups on13.07.2020.Theseoperationsarebeing carriedout at20premisesin Jaipur,6 inKota,8 inDelhiand9inMumbai.”Itdidnotnamethegroups,butdescribedtheirbusi-nessesandlineof investigation.State government sources in

Jaipur said the state policewerenotinformedof theraids.AICC spokespersonRandeep

Singh Surjewala termed the I-T,EDandCBIas“BJP’s threefrontalorganisations.” “Since last night,thesedepartmentshaveagainar-rived in the brave land ofRajasthantoshowcowardice.”

18 skip CLP meetfamily, holds the Tourism andDevasthanportfolios.Singh,whorepresents Deeg-Kumher con-stituency, tweetedphotographsof Pilot holding party pro-grammesoverthe last fiveyears.“Whatevermydecision,itwillbeinthe interestof thepeoplewhohaveelectedme,”hetweeted.

■ Ramesh Chand Meena,who is theminister forFoodandCivil Supplies and ConsumerAffairs Department, confirmedthathedidn'tattendthemeeting.Respondingtoaquestion,hecon-firmedthathesupportsPilot.

■ Harish Meena, formerRajasthanDGP, is the CongressMLA fromTonkdistrict. Hewasearlier the BJPMP fromDausa,and joined the Congress beforetheAssembly elections in 2018.Hisbrother,NamoNarainMeena,also a retired IPS officer, was aministerintheUPAgovernment.

■ Deependra SinghShekhawatisafive-timeCongressMLAwhowasearliertheSpeaker.

■ Two senior Jat leaders,Gudamalani MLA HemaramChoudhary and JhunjhunuMLABrijendraSinghOla,arealsolearnttohave stayedaway. Choudharywasmiffed after beingdenied a

ministerialberth.OlaisthesonoflateCongressleaderSisRamOla,whowas once considered apo-tentialchallengertoGehlot.

■ Party sources saidMLAsGajraj Khatana, Rakesh Pareekand PrithvirajMeenawere alsoabsent. TheseMLAs, aswell asMinister RameshChandMeenaand formerDGPHarishMeena,are fromeasternRajasthan, nearAjmer and Tonk regions.WhilePilotwas earlierMP fromAjmerand Dausa (also in easternRajasthan),hewaselectedtotheAssemblyfromTonk.In the 2018 Assembly elec-

tions,theCongresshadwonmostof the seats in easternRajasthan–attributedtoPilot's influence.

■AseniorCongressMLAsaidBhanwarlal Sharma,Murari LalMeena, RamniwasGawriya andSureshModialsostayedaway.

■ First-timeMLAMukeshBhakar(Ladnun),whoisalsothepresident of theYouthCongressunitinthestate,tweeted,inHindi,thatbeinga“slave”toGehlotwasnotacceptable.HepostedapoeminHindi,which translated as: “Ifyou are alive, you should lookalive;whenprinciplesarethreat-ened,youshouldfight.”

■Accordingtopartysources,Indraj Singh Gurjar fromViratnagarconstituencyinJaipurdistrict,AmarSinghfromBayanaconstituencyinBharatpur(alsoineastern Rajasthan), GajendraSingh Shaktawat fromVallabnagar inUdaipur, andVedPrakashSolankifromChaksucon-stituency in Jaipur didn't attendthemeetingeither.Late at night, the Pilot camp

releasedavideoshowingsomeofthepartyMLAs supportinghim.Thevideo --postedbyLokendraSingh,whomanagesmediarela-tions for Pilot, in a WhatsAppgroup – showed theMLAs to-gether.MinisterVishvendraSinghalso tweeted thevideo, andcap-tionedit '#family'.While Pilot belongs to the

Gujjar community (about 6%ofthe population in the state), theMLAswhoskippedtheCLPmeet-ing included, besides Gujjars,those from the Jat, Rajput andMeenacommunities.

Bengal MLApostedonTwitterabouta“cover-up” and “police prejudice”, tag-ging Chief Minister MamataBanerjeeonthetweet.“Wefoundasuicidenoteinhis

(Ray's)pocket.Init,hehasblamedtwomen forhisdeath. Prima fa-cie,wecansaythatforensicallyitlooks like a suicide. Butwewilllookintothecasefromallangles,”NorthDinajpur SuperintendentofPoliceSumitKumarsaid.WestBengalPolicepostedon

itsofficialTwitterhandle:“Todaymorning the deadbody ofMLAHemtabadDebendraNath Roywas detected hanging from theverandahceilingofamobileshopat Balia, DebenMore, Raiganj,UttarDinajpur. A suicidenote isrecoveredfromtheshirtpocketofthedeceased. Twopersonshavebeen named in the note as re-sponsible for his death... Peopleare requested not to jump onspeculative,biasedandjudgmen-talconclusionsandtowaitfortheinvestigationtocomplete,”itsaid.State government sources

saidtheCIDhastakenoverthein-vestigation.TheMLA'swife,ChadimaRay,

however,demandedaCBIinquiryclaimingher husbandhadbeenmurdered. “Someonehadcalledhim outside late on Sundaynight... Howcomehis handwastied if he committed suicide? Itrainedlastnightbuttherewasnomudonhis feetwhenhis bodywasdiscovered,”shesaid.The rope aroundRay's neck

was looped over the bambooframeofthetin-sheetceiling,anditsotherendwastwistedaroundhisraisedlefthand.TheMLAwaswearingashirtand lungi.Amemberof the family said

Ray had gone out at 1 am aftergettingacallonhismobilephone,and had not returned. “In the

morning,hewas foundhanging.Hishandwastied.Thisisnothingbutmurder,” the relative, whoidentified himself as KshitijChandraRay,said.BJP national president J P

Nadda“stronglycondemned”the“suspectedheinouskilling”.“Thisspeaksof theGundaRaj&failureof law and order in theMamtagovt.Peoplewillnotforgivesuchagovt...,”NaddapostedonTwitter.BJPnationalgeneralsecretary

and in-charge ofWest Bengal,Kailash Vijayvargiya, tweeted:“HemtabadMLADebendraNathRaywho had left the CPM andjoined the BJPwasmurdered...WasjoiningtheBJPhiscrime?”VijayvargiyaandseniorWest

BengalBJPleaderMukulRoyhadbeenpresentwhenRayjoinedtheBJPinNewDelhilastyear.MedinipurMPand state BJP

presidentDilipGhoshdemandedthat the chiefminister,whoalsohas the home portfolio, issue astatementonthe“murder”.“TheTMCwasawareofRay's

popularity in the area.Wewantan independent inquiry,”Ghoshsaid.GhoshandotherBJPleaderstookoutaprotestinKolkata,afterwhich he announced a NorthBengalbandhonTuesday.BJP leaders thenwent to the

Governor to complain about the“lawlessness” in thestate, and todemandaCBIinquiry.In tweets, Dhankhar said

“Political violence andvendetta@MamataOfficialshowsnosignsof abating”, andtherewas“needfor thorough impartial probe to

unravel truth andblunt politicalviolence”. “Hematabad MLA‘hanging’ – Police stance at topthat it is ‘suicide’ is indicative ofcover up – smackswith policeprejudice,notwithoutobviousin-tentions. Autopsy be VIDEO-GRAPHEDBYEXPERTTEAMASPER SUPREME COURT DIREC-TIVESHighest TRANSPARENCYbeobserved@MamataOfficial,”theGovernortweeted.TMC leader and stateUrban

DevelopmentMinister FirhadHakim said the state police andCIDwere competent to investi-gatethecase.“Their(theBJP's)headsarefull

of coronavirus and they arespeakinggibberish...TheBJPsuf-fers fromdepressionwhich alsoreflectsintheMLAs,”Hakimsaid.

Google India fundas Alibaba— one of the largestChineseinvestorsinIndianstart-ups.Google’sinvestmentplanin-cludesarenewed“focusonbring-ingmore high-quality low-costsmartphones to enable Internetaccess”.Aheadoftheannouncement,

PrimeMinister NarendraModiheld a video conference withGoogle’s CEOSundar Pichai andotherseniorexecutives.“This morning, had an ex-

tremely fruitful interactionwithSundar Pichai. We spoke on awide range of subjects, particu-larlyleveragingthepoweroftech-nology to transform the lives ofIndia’s farmers, youngsters andentrepreneurs.Duringour inter-

action,SundarPichaiandIspokeabout thenewworkculture thatisemerginginthetimesofCovid-19.Wediscussed the challengestheglobalpandemichasbroughtto areas such as sports.We alsotalked about the importance ofdata security and cyber safety,”Moditweeted.Google said its $10-billion

fundwill focus on areas such asenablingaffordableaccess totheInternet and to information forevery Indian in their own lan-guage; building newproductsandservicesinsegmentslikecon-sumertech,education,healthandagriculture; empowering busi-nesses especially small andmediumbusinessestotransformdigitally; leveraging technologyandartificialintelligencefordigi-tal literacy,outbreakpredictions,andsupportforruraleconomies.In addition, Google’s Vice-

President, Payments, andNextBillionUsers, Caesar Sengupta,said, “WepartneredwithmanyIndiahardwaremanufacturerstocreatehigh-quality phones run-ning Android within prices toreacheveryIndian.Wewillfocuson enablingmore high-qualitylow-cost smartphones somorepeoplecanaccess the internet tolearn,growandsucceed.”The company had earlier

rolled out theAndroidOnepro-gramme, underwhich it part-neredwithIndianOEMslikeLava,Micromax,Karbonn,etc,butitdidnot take off, particularly on ac-countofcheaperChinesedevicesanda large second-handmarket

ofhigher-enddevices.The$10-billioninvestmentby

Google ispeggedto fill thespacethat could be left vacant byChineseinvestorsaftertheIndiangovernment’s clampdown onChinese companies. Earlier thisyear,IndiareviseditsFDIpolicytoprevent“opportunistictakeovers”of firmshitbythelockdown.TheMenlo Park-based com-

pany had earliermade invest-mentsinahandfulofIndianven-tures through its venture capitalarm,inadditiontopublicprojectssuchasGoogleStationforWiFiatrailway stations, Internet Saathiforspreadinginternetawarenessin villages, andanartificial intel-ligence-based flood forecastingsystem,amongothers.

Pangong, Depsang8whichIndiasaysmarkstheLAC.Thetalks,sourcessaid,willin-

clude “moredistances” for rear-wardmovement, and “presenceof a lesser number of troops” inthefrictionareas.Asourcefromthesecurityes-

tablishment said the situationatDepsangPlainsisalsolikelytobetaken up. Chinese troops, thesource said, are “preventingIndiantroopstopatroltillthetra-ditional patrolling points in thearea”.ItisclosetoIndia’sstrategicoutpostinthenorthatDaulatBegOldieneartheKarakoramPass.Other than disengagement

underway at the frictionpoints,Indiaalsowantstodiscussreduc-tion of troops strength and ar-tillery, air defence radars, jam-

mers,rocketforcesandothermil-itary equipment fromthedepthareasaswell.Mirroring theChinesebuild-

up,IndiahasbroughtinadditionaldivisionsanddeployedmoreIAFand air defence assets in the re-gion.Whenever de-escalationtakesplace,alladditionaldeploy-mentsonboth sideswill have toreturntooriginal locations.

Kerala templetoo in the matter before theSupremeCourt.A Bench of JusticesUU Lalit

andInduMalhotrasaid“testedonanyparameter, suchashistoricalaccounts,popularandcustomarybeliefs, certain practices con-nectedwiththeritualsandaffairsof the Temple thatmandatorilyrequirethepresenceandpartici-pationoftheRuler,deepinvolve-ment of themembers of rulingfamilyandtheirconnectionwiththe Temple and SriPadmanabhaswamy at variousstages of their lives... and longrecognisedandacceptedfactthatthemanagement of the Templehadalwaysbeenwith theRuler,leadus to conclude that for cen-turies, the Templehadbeenun-dertheexclusivemanagementofsuccessiveRulersfromtherulingfamilyofTravancoreandthattheRulersofTravancore,tillthesign-ing of the Covenant (bywhichTravancoreaccededtotheIndianUnion), were in the capacity asManagers or Shebaits of theTemple”.Shebaitisapersonwhoserves

aHindudeity andmanages thetemple.The Sree Padmanabha

SwamyTemplehadhitthehead-linesin2011afterthediscoveryoftreasuresworth over Rs 1 lakhcrore in the form of jewellery,gems and other valuables. ASupremeCourt-appointedpanelisstillevaluatingthetreasures.As the state BJP said the

SupremeCourt verdict gives themessage that temples shouldberunby the faithful, the CPM-ledKeralagovernmentsaid itwouldnotappealagainst it.Devaswom(temple affairs) MinisterKadakampally Surendran said,"Wewill goby theverdict of theapexcourt."Initsorder,thehighcourthad

concluded that after the defini-tionof ‘Ruler’ inArticle 366 (22)of the Constitution of Indiawasamended by the Constitution(TwentySixthAmendment)Act,1971— bywhich privy purseswere abolished— the successorto theerstwhile royals couldnotclaimtobe in control of theSreePadmanabhaSwamyTemple.But the SupremeCourt held

that the definitionwould applyfor thepurposeof shebait rightsandwoulddevolvetothesucces-sor. "Intheinstantcase,sincetheShebaitship had vested in theRulerofTravancore,notinhisof-ficialcapacity,thenormalincidentof heritabilitymust get attachedto theoffice of such Shebaitshipin accordancewith governingprinciplesof successionandcus-tom.Therefore,whenitcomestothematterconcerningtheadmin-istration of the Temple, SriPandavaragaproperties and thepropertiesof theTemple, theex-pression “the Ruler ofTravancore”...mustmeanthesuc-cessor in accordancewith theprevalent lawandcustom.Intheprocess one need not go to thedefinition of Ruler either underArticle 366(22) or underArticle363of theConstitutionof India,"itsaid.TheHighCourthadfoundthat

after the death of Sree ChithiraThirunalBalaramaVarma in July1991, his successors could notclaimanyrightsoverthetemple.However, theSupremeCourt re-jectedthis.Instead of an eight-member

administrationmodelsuggestedbytheKeralagovernmentforthetemple, the Supreme Courtfavouredafive-memberonesug-gestedbyamemberoftheformerroyal familyandatempleexecu-

tiveofficer. It said thesuggestionfor the five-member panel is"broadbased"and"notbeloadedinfavouroragainsttheTrustee".However, insteadof theroyal

family's suggestionthataretiredIASofficeroftherankofSecretaryto theGovernment of Kerala bethe chairpersonof the adminis-trativecommittee, thecourtsaidthe District Judge,Thiruvananthapuram, wouldholdthepost.Aswathi Thirunal Gowri

Lakshmi Bayi, amember of theroyalfamily,saidtheywerehappythattheSupremeCourthadpro-tectedtherightsofthefamilyoverthetemple.BJP state chief K Surendran

calledtheverdictasetbackfortheCPMgovernment. "The verdictgives themessage that templesshouldberunbythefaithful.Thegovernmenthasnorole.Thever-dictquestionstheveryexistenceof the government-controlledDevaswom Boards, which arefilledwithnominees of politicalparties,"hesaid.

WITHSHAJUPHILIPINTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Anti-racism driveare rightly calling for social jus-ticeanddemandingchange.Theuniversity supports these de-mands andbelieves actions areneeded." Myers also issued astatement denouncing thenew“student visitor rules” as “im-moralandcounterproductive”.Grant Chapman, Associate

Provost for InternationalProgramsattheuniversity,saidinan email to The Indian Expressthat he agreedwith "ourKansasStateUniversitypresidentRichardMyresonthismatter(studentvis-itorrules)".Speaking from Kansas,

Kulkarnisaidthesocialmediaat-tackonhimwasintimidating.“Itwasonestudentwhostartedthetrollandtherestofthemwerehisother troll friends. It is scary be-causehehas33,000followers,in-cluding peoplewho have beencalledwhitenationalists."Tejaswin, however, said he

doesn't support a viewheld bymany coloured students— thatthoselikeMcNeilshouldhavenoplaceonthecampus."Free speech is the primary

pillaronwhichAmericaisestab-lishedandhowcanyoutakeawaythat?Thatishisopinion(McNeil)and if hewants the country tohimself,thenhecansayhewantsthecountrytohimself,butitdoesnotmeanthathe isprobablygo-ing toget it,"hesaid, adding thattheuniversityhas taken steps tohelp students fromdiverse cul-tureknoweachotherbetter.ForKulkarni,thesupportthat

hereceivedfromthecollegeandstarathleteslikeTejaswinwasre-assuring. "Studentswho don'tevenknowmereachedouttome.Theuniversity'sOfficeofStudentLife said, 'Please remember thathe (McNeil) does not representour views. If you need any re-sources or if yourmental healthhasbeenaffectedby this, pleaseletusknow.'IhopeIdon'thavetofacedeportation,"Kulkarniadded.In its June 26 edition, the

KansasUniversitynewspaperTheCollegian reportedthat twofoot-ballers — freshman defensivebackTeeDensonandsophomorewidereceiverJoshuaYoungblood—might not return to the pro-gram because of McNeil. TheCollegianquotedDensonas say-ing, “(I) refuse to play for a pro-gram that tolerates ignorancesuch as this.” The report says:"McNeilfirstcaughttheinternet’sattention inAugust 2019,whenhe said in a now-unavailabletweet thatK-Statewas “forcing”himtotakea“diversityclass”."With directmessages to his

Twitteraccountblocked,McNeilcouldn't be contacted. TheCollegian editor, KaylieMcLaughlin, confirmed to TheIndian Express thatMcNeil hasbeenelusive."We'vereachedouttohimonmultipleoccasions,buthe'sneverresponded."

FROMPAGEONE

Party lets Gehlot show strength

CLP for action against anti-party activities

inthatdirection,”aseniorhighcommand leader said.Pilot stood his ground.

Sources close to him said hehas not met any Congressleader or emissary and con-testedtheparty’sofficialclaimthatGehlothas the support of109MLAs.TheIndianExpressspoketo

Ved Prakash Solanki, anMLA,who is with Pilot at the hotel."Weallwonelectionsbecauseof him (Pilot), we are ready toface any action,” said Solanki,MLAfromJaipurRural.Askedwhetherhewill fol-

lowPilotifhejoinedtheBJP,hesaid “Abhi tak aisa kuchh binahi hai. (There’s nothing likethat right now).Wherever herequiresus,wewillgo.Ourde-mand is thatSachinjibemadetheChiefMinister forwewonbecause of him…the youthvotedbecauseofhim,”hesaid.

Sources said some of thesolutions the leadership islooking at include a Cabinetreshuffle to give Pilot and hisloyalMLAsmoreweightyport-folios and withdrawing thecontroversial FIR and the po-licenotice.Pilot is currently in charge

of four Ministries: PublicWorks, Rural Development;Panchayati Raj & Science andTechnology;Statistics.Whether this will placate

Pilot or give him the space inJaipurhehasalwayswantedis-n’t clear yet. He stayed awayfrom themedia glare and didnot issue any statementMonday. On Sunday he hadsaidthathewasnotjoiningtheBJP.Butatleasttwoseniorlead-

ers – one a close associate ofRahul Gandhi and anotherclose to party chief Sonia

Gandhi – told The IndianExpress they had informationthat Pilot was “in touch”withtheBJP.Sources in the party said

the Gehlot camp has securedsignaturesofsupportfrom109MLAs – these includeCongress, independents andsomesmallerparties.Asmanyas104werepresentattheleg-islature party meeting, oneleader said. Sources said 17 or18 of the 107 CongressMLAsarewith Pilot,which is inade-quatetotoppletheGehlotgov-ernment.Gehlotneedsthesupportof

101MLAs for a simplemajor-ityinthe200-memberHouse.The Pilot camp reiterated thataround30MLAsarewithhim.Earlier, before the CLP

meeting, Congress leaderRandeep Surjewala issued apublicappealtoPilotsayingis-

sueswithinafamilycanbere-solved by sitting together. Hesaid the party’s doors are al-waysopen toPilot.He let it beknownthattheCongresslead-ership has spoken to Pilot anumberof times in the last48hourssignallingbothrestraintand flexibility.The resolution adopted at

the CLPmeeting, too, did notname Pilot even while de-manding strong disciplinaryactionagainstanypartyoffice-bearer or CLP member whowastryingtoweakenthegov-ernment or indulging in anti-partyactivities.For his part, Gehlot isn’t

taking any chances and hasmoved MLAs to a resort inJaipur. AICC in charge of thestateAvinashPande,Surjewalaandsenior leaderAjayMaken,who were rushed to Jaipur,havebeenasked tostayback.

BairwaareknowntobeclosetoPilot.“PilotisstillourDeputyCM

andstateCongresschief.Hehasnot said anything officially,”Abrar told reporters. AskedabouthisproximitytoPilot,hesaid, “Should there be dis-tances? Is everything politi-cal?”MLA Deependra Singh, a

Pilotloyalist,saidpeoplesome-timeshave todo things “underpressure”but“theirheartiselse-where.”Hesoughtafloortest“attheearliest”tomakethingsclearandreiteratedthatheandotherswerenotjoiningtheBJP.Ladnun MLA Mukesh

Bhakar said "allegiance toCongress means slavery toAshokGehlot, which isn’t ac-ceptabletous.”Food and Civil Supplies

Minister RameshMeena tooopenly expressed support forPilot while TourismMinisterVishvendraSinghkeptdistancefrom the Gehlot camp andskippedtheCLPmeeting.Singh,however, claimedhe

wasinDelhitotendtoanailingfamilymember."Whatevermy

decision,itwillbeintheinterestof thepeoplewhohaveelectedme," he said. He later tweetedoldphotosofPilot.BharatiyaTribalPartypresi-

dentMaheshbhaiVasavaissueda whip, asking his two partyMLAswhohavebeensupport-ingtheChiefMinisternottosup-portGehlot,PilotortheBJP.Vasavawarned of discipli-

naryactionshouldthewhipbeignored.TheGehlotcamp,how-ever,claimedthatthetwoMLAwill continue to support thegovernment.TheCLPmeetingadopteda

resolutionslammingtheBJPforplotting the “prajatantra kacheerharan” (the stripping ofdemocracy)whichwas “an in-sult to themandate of 8 crorecitizens of Rajasthan, andwillneverbeaccepted”bythepeo-ple.Expressing “complete faith

andconfidenceintheleadershipof Congress president SoniaGandhi, and our leader RahulGandhi”, the CLP condemnedattempts toweaken the stategovernment and sought “strictdisciplinaryaction”againstany

partyofficialorCLPmemberforindulging in “anti-governmentor any-party activities, directlyorindirectly”.AICC spokesperson

Surjewala struck a conciliatorytonewhenhetoldreporters:“Ifthere are anydifferences, thenall doors of theCongress partyand the high command areopenforSachinPilotandallMLAcolleagues, they alwayswereandwillalwaysbe.Come,letussitdownandhaveadiscussion.If thereisanyissue,wewillfindasolutionundertheleadershipof Sonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi.”Hesaid in the last48hours,

the Congress leadership hadseveral discussionswith Pilot.He declined to go into details,sayingsuchdiscussionsareheldinsidethepartyforum,notout-side.He told theMLAs “that the

Congressgovernmenthasbeenelected to serve the people ofRajasthan. Individual contestscanbejustifiedbutRajasthanisbiggerthanthat. Idoagreethatsometimes theremaybe ideo-logical differenceswhich are

natural in ademocratic set-up.But is it appropriate toweakentheelectedgovernmentofyourownparty and give the BJP anopportunitytoindulgeinhorsetradingduetoideologicaldiffer-ences?Itisnotjustified,”hesaid,adding that theparty's centralleadership is "keeping anopenmind."Some Congress MLAs

claimedthatBJPwasstilltryingto lure them away; MLARajendraGudhaclaimedhewasofferedmoneyonSundaynight.“Theyhave been given keys totheReserveBankofIndia–takeany sum (youwish) but comeover,”hesaid.TransportMinister Pratap

Singh Khachariyawas, who isconsideredclosetoPilotbutat-tended the CLPmeeting, said“be it Sachin Pilot or anyMLA,do not be influenced by (PMNarendra) Modi and (HomeMinister) Amit Shah.Money isnoteverything,self-respectandbravery(mattermore)”.He said theother campdid

not have the numbers "hencethe I-T raids are being con-ducted".

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Howmini-lockdownscanbeutilisedNEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

Todayonthe3Thingspodcast,DrGiridharBabu,headof lifecourseepidemiologyatthePHFI, talksabouthowstatescaneffectivelyutilizeshortperiod lockdownsandformlocalizedstrategies

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IndianExpress★★★★★■4.6

New Delhi

MALLICAJOSHINEWDELHI, JULY13

THE NATIONAL capital con-ducted roughly 2 lakh RT-PCRand3lakhrapidantigentestsforCovid in thepastmonth—withthe former throwing up a posi-tivity rate of 30.5%, and the lat-terconsiderablylowerat6.5%—data accessed by The IndianExpress shows.Theoverallpositivityratefor

the city during the pastmonthwas14.57%.On Monday, the capital

recorded 1,246 cases and 40deaths—the first time inweekscases have dipped below the1,500-mark. Active cases alsocontinuedtodecline,standingat19,017.Delhi’s recoveryrate, theCentre said on Monday, was79.98%— the second highest inthecountry,withLadakhonthetopat85.45%.WhileRT-PCR,consideredthe

goldstandardforCovidtesting,istypically used for those withsymptomsorexposuretoaCovidpatient, the rapid antigen testswereintroducedinthecapitalonJune18towidenthenetandtestevenasymptomaticpeople,par-ticularly incontainmentzones.WhiletheaccuracyofRT-PCR

tests is70%, thatof antigentestsis around 40%, and those whotest negative but are sympto-maticareurgedtogettheformertest to ruleoutCovid.Of the 11 districts in Delhi,

positivityrateforninewasavail-able. The districtwith the high-estpositivityrateinRT-PCRtests,39.5%,wasNorthwest.Inantigentests,thepositivityratewashigh-

estinShahdaradistrict—at9.4%.According to the data, the

South Delhi district conductedthe highest number of RT-PCRtestsata littleover40,000,withapositivity rateof around10%.The Delhi government,

meanwhile, said the city’s posi-tivity rate dipped to 9% in theweek ending Sunday, as com-pared to11% thepreviousweek.Atitspeak,thecity’sweeklyaver-agepositivityratewashighestinthesecondweekof Juneat31%.According to official data, of

the 2,01,950 RT-PCR tests con-ductedbetweenJune14andJuly12,reportsfor1,51,690hadbeenreceived,and46,320wereCovidpositive. And a total of 2,99,699rapid antigen tests were con-ductedbetweenJune18andJuly12,with19,490resultspositive.“Tillacoupleofweeksago,we

had over 30% of people testingpositive.Thisfigurehasdippedto14-15%now...Delhiisconductingthe highest number of tests permillion at 41,571— the aim is totest everyonewhoneeds it, andalso extend it tohigh risk groupssuch as senior citizens or peoplesuchas rickshawdrivers, electri-ciansandplumberswhocomeincontactwithmanypeopleduringday,”anofficialsaid.

1,246CASES,40DEATHSONMONDAY

70% of people incontainment zonesare in 4 districts

ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI, JULY13

TENDAYSaftertheDelhigovern-ment started the country’s firstplasma bank at the Institute ofLiverandBiliarySciences(ILBS),preparationsareontosetupan-other such bank at Lok Nayakhospital.The2,000-bedhospitalwas the first facility to be com-pletely converted into a Covid-

onlyhospital.TheChiefMinisteris expected to inaugurate theplasmabankonTuesday.“Wehavegotaplasmaphere-

sis machine through whichplasma canbedonated. The en-tire bank is being set up at thehospital. Earlier, wewere send-ing patients to ILBS to donateplasma,andperformingthether-apy here.With the setting up ofthisbank, theentireprocesswilltake place in our hospital,” said

Suresh Kumar,medical directorof LokNayakhospital.TheDelhigovernment’sGTB

hospital is alsoworking out onthemodalities to start a plasmabank in thecomingdays.“We are focusing more on

clinicalmanagementofpatientsbyadoptingtechniquesthatcansave the lives of more patients.The hospital has got its ownplasmapheresis machine andthe bankwill start functioning

soon,” saidDrRSRautela,med-icaldirectorofGTBhospital.TheplasmabankatILBShasre-

ceivedover250donations so far.“Theinitiativeforhavingmultipleplasmabanks isextremelyusefulandwell-thought-outbythestategovernment.ThereisaneedforalllargeCovidhospitalstohavetheirownplasmabankbecausepatientsaremoreattachedto thehospitaltheyarebeingtreated,”saidDrSKSarin,headofthehospital.

SOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI, JULY 13

FOUROUTofDelhi’s11districtsaccount for over 70 per cent ofpeople under complete lock-down inside containmentzones, which have increasedfromaround260inmid-Juneto658 now, according to a reportprepared by the Delhi govern-ment on July 12.The report, accessed by The

Indian Express, has been pre-pared as part of directions is-sued on June 15 to carry out adoor-to-doorsurveyincontain-ment zones.It shows that 71.33 per cent

of 3,75,822 people residing incontainment zones belong tofour districts — south (79,113),southeast (77,072), central(58,517) and southwest(53,406).On July12, 56,133outof the

3.75 lakh people living in con-tainment zones across the citywere surveyed.TheSouthwestdistrict leads

thechartwith101containmentzones, closely trailed byWestwith 97 zones, and South with75 zones. With 30, theNortheast district has the leastnumber of containment zones.At the 658 containment

zones, a stricter lockdown andsurveillance mechanism aremountedbytheadministrationfor tracing and isolating Covidcases and curbing its spread.District Magistrate,

Southwest,RahulSinghsoughttoclarify thathisdistricthavingthe maximum containmentzones does notmean it has thehighest caseload: “More num-ber of containment zonesshowsthat thedistrict isproac-tivelydealingwiththesituation

and containing the spread ofthe disease. At 43,044 testssinceJune18,Southwestdistricthas conducted the maximumnumberof rapidantigentests inDelhi.”The order to carry out the

survey spelt out the need tocapturedatasuchasname,age,symptoms, if any, manually aswell as through a mobile app.Theobjectivewasto identifyallsymptomatic persons, totalnumberofpersonstested, totalnumber of those reported pos-itive, amongothers.“All Covid suspected per-

sonsincontainmentzonesshallbe visited by authorised per-sonnel of the government, pri-vate sector or NGOs for furthertreatment/care... as per guide-lines of the Ministry of Healthand Family Welfare,” read theorder issued by DivisionalCommissionerSanjeevKhirwarfollowingameeting chairedbyUnion Home Minister AmitShah.Themandatewasalsotoen-

sure that everyone residing inthose areas downloads theAarogya Setu app.The areas outside contain-

ment zones which are beingsurveyedincludelocalitieswithclustercasesandisolatedcases.Areas with isolated cases arethose “regularly reporting iso-latedcasesfor28daysandotherareas (having infrequent iso-lated cases)”.The government is also sur-

veying high risk groups — sen-iorcitizensaged60oraboveandthosewithcomorbidconditionssuch as hypertension, diabetes,cancer — and special surveil-lance groups, which includerickshaw, auto and cab drivers,domestichelps,plumbers,elec-tricians, amongothers.

THECITY3 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

*Total active cases

CORONAVIRUS IN THECAPITAL

TOTAL CASES

1,13,740Total Vacant

HOSPITAL BEDS 15,290 11,066VENTILATORS 1,053 532

Dailycases Recoveries Deaths TestsJuly 12 1,573 2,276 37 21,236July 13 1,246 1,344 40 12,171Total 19,017* 91,312 3,411 6,92,845

RT-PCRtests (fromJune14toJuly12)Testsdone2,01,950

Reportsreceived1,51,690

Covidpositive46,320

Positivityrate30.5%

Rapidantigentests (fromJune18toJuly12)Covidpositive19,490Positivityrate6.5%

Central22% 3.9%

Northeast30% 4%ShahdaraNA 9.4%East22.2% 5.1%

Southeast30.4% 7.4%

South10.4% 7.6%

NewDelhi12.7% 5.3%

Southwest26.7% 8.9%

West17.9% 8.1%

Northwest39.5% 3.6%

Combating Covid: Data from the pastmonthTestsdoneandreportsreceived2,99,699

District ContainmentZones Total Peoplesurveyedresidents onJuly12

Central 58 58,517 14,993East 51 18,598 917NewDelhi 38 5,458 5,458North 72 39,043 0NorthEast 30 3,701 832NorthWest 46 15,182 2,005Shahdara 50 14,695 2,950South 75 79,113 1,625SouthEast 40 77,072 5,811SouthWest 101 53,406 13,876West 97 11,037 7,666TOTAL 658 3,75,822 56,133

Central

East

New

Delhi

North

NorthEast

NorthWest

Shahdara

South

SouthEast

SouthWest

West

931

728 89

8

426

189

990

914

1,647

1,652

709

925

DISTRICT-WISEHOSPITALISATIONDATA:

POSITIVITYRATENorthNA 4.5%

City saw2 lakh RT-PCR, 3 lakh antigen tests in pastmonth

INAUGURAL FOR AN INTER-MINISTERIAL INITIATIVE(ACCELERATE VIGYAN SCHEME)

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS UNDER ‘ABHYAAS’(WINTER SEASON)

‘Accelerate Vigyan’ (AV) strives to provide a big push to high-end scientific research and preparescientific manpower which can venture into research careers and knowledge-based economy. Theaim of AV is to expand the research base in the country, with three broad goals - consolidation /aggregation of all scientific training programs, initiating high-end Orientation Workshops and creatingopportunities for Research Internship.

‘ABHYAAS’, a program of AV scheme, is an attempt to boost Research & Development in the countryby enabling and grooming potential PG / PhD level students by developing dedicated research skillsin selected areas / disciplines / fields through its two components- High-End Workshops(’KARYASHALA’) and Research Internship (‘VRITIKA’). This is especially important for thoseresearchers who have limited opportunities to access such learning capacities / facilities /infrastructure. The list of dedicated themes (but not, necessarily restricted to the list per-se) for‘KARYASHALA’ can be found at AV web portal, whereas there are no specific target themes for‘VRITIKA’.

This call is announced for inviting the applications under two components ‘KARYASHALA’ and‘VRITIKA’ for winter season (Dec 2020 -Jan 2021).

*Note: 01 July 2020 also marks the launch of another new component ‘SAYONJIKA’ underAV, as an open ended program, to catalogue the capacity building activities in S&Tsupported by all government funding agencies in the country.

KARYASHALA VRITIKADURATION At least 1 week but not more

than 2 weeks per workshop.At least 4 weeks but not exceeding 2 monthsper intern.

WHO AREELIGIBLE?

Faculty or Scientists working in Central institutions of higher learning andresearch such as IITs, IISc, IISERs, NITs and other institutions/laboratories ofeminence like CSIR, ICAR, ICMR, etc in the country are invited as EventOrganizers (EO) for organizing high-end Workshops (‘KARYASHALA’) andResearch Internship (‘VRITIKA’).

NATURE OFSUPPORT

A consolidated amount for daily necessary expenses such as TA, stationary,consumables, accommodation, food, etc for the participating students will beprovided by the institute of EOs through SERB funding support.

HOW TO APPLY The EO (Faculty/Scientist) should register at Accelerate Vigyan web-portal firstand follow the instructions given in the web-portal for the submission ofapplications.

For detailed guidelines and further information visit

www.acceleratevigyan.gov.inSubmission Deadline:

31st August 2020

davp 36207/11/0003/2021

Accordingtodata, theSouthDelhidistricthasconductedthehighestnumberofRT-PCRtestsata littleover40,000,withapositivityrateofaround10%

Peopleget testedforCovid-19atNehruHomeopathichospital inDefenceColonyonMonday.AbhinavSaha

CM to launch Lok Nayak plasma bank today

New Delhi

SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI, JULY 13

INLINEwith thenational trendof higher pass percentages,Delhi students registered anoverall pass percentage of94.39%—anincreaseof around2.5percentagepoints from lastyear,poweredlargelybythere-sults of Delhi governmentschool students.Chief Minister Arvind

Kejriwalcongratulatedthestu-dents. “Congratulations to myTeam Education, all students,teachers,parentsandeducationofficers. Proud of you all,”tweetedKejriwal.Delhi government schools

had crossed the 90% pass per-centagemark for the first timein 2018. This increased to94.29% last year, and zoomedup to 97.68% for Delhi East and97.91%forthenewlyformedad-ministrative unit of DelhiWestthis year.Deputy Chief Minister

Manish Sisodia lauded the re-sults. “Over thepast5years,weat #DelhiGovtSchools havebeencompetingwithourselvesto break our own record eachtime.Thisyear isnoexception...

Congrats tostudents,parents&TeamEducation,” he tweeted.The surge in the Delhi gov-

ernment school pass percent-ages is largely responsible forthe increase in Delhi's overallpasspercentage.Privateschoolshaveregisteredaslight increase

from 90.68% in 2019 to 91.69%this year for Delhi East, and92.12% forDelhiWest.The number of students

whoappearedfortheexamina-tion from Delhi governmentschoolswas alsohigher—with1,13,013betweenDelhiEastand

West—ascomparedto1,01,614fromprivate schools.This pattern of upward

movementof passpercentageswas also experienced inNortheastDelhi,where exami-nations had been interruptedeven before the pandemic be-

cause of the riots in the region.The principal of a governmentschool in Khajuri Khas, one ofthe areas affected by the riots,said thathis school registeredapass percentage of 98%. That isthe school's highest pass per-centage yet, having registered94.47% last year.ArunModern Public Senior

Secondary School in Brijpurihadbeentorchedduringtheri-ots. BhishamSharma, ownerofthe school, said that 95% of itsstudents passed the exams.In line with the pattern of

earlier years, a higher percent-age of girls passed the examsthanboysinDelhibyagapofal-most 4 percentage points --96.43% of the girls who wrotetheexamclearing itasopposedto92.48%of theboys.Likeacrossthecountry,mul-

tiplestudentsscoredabove99%inDelhi-NCR.Among themwas 18-year-

old Ananya Meghani, a com-merce student of Shiv NadarSchool Noida who scored99.75%."I had my Business Studies

paper left, but I ended up get-ting 100% in it as that was myaverageof thebest threepapersI had written. I want to study

law after this and have beenpreparing for the CLAT duringthe lockdown. I have also beenoffered provisional admissiontosomeuniversitiesabroad, in-cluding King's College andUniversity of Edinburgh," shesaid.In Delhi, Anushka Jain, a

commerce student of KIITWorld School Pitampura,scored99.4%."Iwanttoprepare formyCA

exams but along with that, Iwanted to study B.Com.(Honours) in Delhi University.This period of interruption be-tweenMarchandnowwasverystressful but I had decided Iwould continue preparing formy Business Studies paper,which ended up getting can-celled," she said.SangeetaBhatia,principalof

Anushka's school, said that themodified marking schemeadopted by the CBSE did con-tribute to a slight increase inschools' overall percentages."Theaverageofbestof three

formula would of course havesmoothed out the little bit ofdeviation . This could have re-sulted in a spike of about 2-3%in the overall results of allschools," she said.

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,JULY14,2020

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

OVERALLPASSPERCENTAGEAT94.39%,KEJRIWAL, SISODIACONGRATULATESTUDENTS

4

No evidence so farto link speeches toriots: Police to HC

ANANDMOHANJNEWDELHI,JULY13

ADELHI courtMonday deniedbailtosuspendedAAPcouncillorTahir Hussain, accused in themurder of Intelligence Bureaustaffer Ankit Sharmaduring theNortheast Delhi riots, observingthat“hedidnotusehishandsandfists, but rioters as ‘humanweapons’who,onhisinstigation,couldhavekilledanybody”.Thebailorderwasdismissed

by Additional Sessions JudgeVinodYadav,whostatedthatthepossibility of witnesses beingthreatened if Hussain was re-leasedonbailcannotberuledout.“Therefore,atthisstage,Ifind

that there is enoughmaterial onrecordtopresumethattheappli-cantwasverywellpresentatthespotof crimeandwasexhortingtheriotersofaparticularcommu-nity,” theorderread.Thecourtsaidthat the inves-

tigation is still underprogress assomepeopleareyettobeappre-hended. Statements of twoper-sonswererecordedbytheCrimeBranch on July 7, “who havestated about the conspiracy ofcommunal riots hatched at theresidence of the applicant(Hussain) on February 24”, thecourtnoted.ASJ Yadav further stated:

“From the aforesaid conspectusof facts, I findthat theriots intheareaofNortheastDelhiwerecar-riedout inanorganisedmannerandaspartofadeep-rootedcon-spiracy, and the involvement oftheapplicantisbeinginvestigateduponwith regard tohis connec-tionwithmembersof PFI, PinjraTod, Jamia CoordinationCommittee,UnitedAgainstHateGroup and anti-CAAprotesters.That is, however, subjectmatterof anotherFIRaswellas thepro-

ceedingsbeingconductedbytheEnforcementDirectorate(ED).”The court also clarified that

anything stated about the orderwasbasedprimafacieonanalysisofmaterialavailable,“whichisyettobetestedonthetouchstoneoftrial”.Tahir’s counsel, K KManan

andUditi Bali, argued that thereis no evidence collected by thepoliceeitherbywayof videosorCCTV footage to prove he waspresentat thesceneof thecrimeatthetimeof theincident.The court stated, “This argu-

ment again does not holdwaterin the teeth of the statements ofeyewitnesseson record. There isevidence on record that riotershadbrokenallCCTVsinthevicin-ity... Even if there is no videofootageorCCTVfootageshowingthe presence of the applicant atthe spot, there is enough ocularevidenceavailableonrecord.”Ankit’s body was found

dumpedinadraininChandBaghonFebruary26.Adaylater,basedon his father Ravinder’s com-plaint,DelhiPolicehadfiledanFIRagainst Hussain on charges ofmurder, destruction of evidenceand abduction. Hewas later ar-rested.

PRITAMPALSINGHNEWDELHI, JULY13

THE DELHI Police Monday in-formedtheDelhiHighCourtthat“during the investigations con-ductedsofar”inconnectionwiththeNortheastDelhiriots,“noac-tionable evidence has surfacedyet indicating any role beingplayedby”anyprominentpolit-ical leaderin“instigatingand/orparticipatingintheriots”.Policealso told the court that “no in-volvementofanypoliceofficialshasbeenfound”inriotingsofar.Theavermentsweremadeby

the Delhi Police in a commonpreliminary affidavit filed in re-sponse to a batch of PILs beforethe High Court. The PILs havesought registration of FIRsagainst leaders from the BJP,CongressandAAP,includingBJP’sKapilMishra,who had given anultimatumtopolicetoclearanti-CAA protesters from Jafrabad aday before riots broke out. ThePILshaveaccusedseveralleadersofdeliveringhatespeeches.The police affidavit stated:

“In case, during investigation,the role of aforesaid persons incommissioning of the offencesintherespectiveFIRswouldsur-face, thenDelhiPolicewouldbeduty bound to take statutorysteps as mandated under thelaw against the aforesaid per-sons... However, no fresh FIR iswarrantedat this stage.”The affidavit stated that the

speeches “are being examinedbytheDelhiPoliceandnecessaryactioninthisregardwillbetakeninduecourseoftimeif itisfoundon evidence that their speechhasanynexuswith theriots”.“Incaseanyevidenceisfound

linking the alleged offensivespeechwith commissioning ofcrime during riots, appropriateFIRswouldbefiledimmediatelyor thesaidpersonswouldbear-raignedasanaccused,” it said.Ontheprayermadeinoneof

the PILs to identify police per-sonnel involved in rioting, theaffidavit stated that “during theinvestigation of cases so far, no

involvement of any police offi-cial has been found in themat-ter. However, investigation ofthecases is inprogressandnec-essaryactionwillbetaken,ifanysuch involvement comes onrecord”.Police further sought dis-

missalof thePILsonthegroundthat the petitioners in the pres-entpetitionhave “not comebe-forethiscourtwithcleanhands”.“Theyhaveselectivelychosen

certainspeechesandincidentstofurther theirhiddenagenda. It isstated that the selective outrageby the petitioners towards spe-cific incidents, while ignoringotherabhorrentincidentsofvio-lence, itself manifest that thepresentpetitionsarenotbonafidebutmotivated,” itadded.Expressing “anguish” over

the communal violence inNortheast Delhi, the Delhi HighCourthadonFebruary27ques-tioned the conduct of the DelhiPolice anddirected it to registerFIRs against those who madecertainspeeches.It had also played clips of a

speech made by Mishra inMaujpur, issuing an ultimatumtoDelhi Police to clear the anti-CAAprotesters;AnuragThakur’selectioncampaignspeechwherehe chanted “Desh ke gaddaronko”andhadthecrowdrespond-ing “goli maaro...”; BJP MPParveshSahibSingh’scomment“these people will enter yourhomesandrapeyoursistersanddaughters”;sloganssuchas“po-lice ke hatyaaron ko, golimaaro…” raised by a crowd ledby BJP MLA Abhay Verma inLaxmiNagar.

Man stabbed 28 times by 3 teensfor objecting to bike stunts

TAKING NOTESiddhant,aClassXII studentatStThomasSchool, attendsonlineclassesathishomenearMandirMarg,Monday.PraveenKhanna

TahirHussain isaccused inthemurderof IB stafferAnkitSharma

Court denies Tahirbail: Did not usehands but riotersas human weapons

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY13

A25-YEAR-OLDmandiedwhenthreejuvenilesallegedlystabbedhimmorethan28times,daysaf-ter he told themnot to performbikestuntsinhisarea.Policesaidtheyapprehendedthejuveniles,all aged17,onMonday.The incident, which took

place inWest Delhi’s RaghubirNagar on the evening of July 8,was captured on CCTV. The vic-tim has been identified asManish, adriver.In the video, theboys canbe

seendraggingManishandbeat-inghimup.Whileoneofthemispulled to the sidebyapasserby,the other two stab the victim

withknivesandcontinuetheat-tack even after he falls to theground. Vehicles and passersbycan be seen crossing the busystretch even as the assault con-tinues.Oneof thejuvenilesthentries to stop his friend but theboy runs back to the victimandstabshimmultiple times.Police said the boys fled the

spot andweren’t found at theirhomes. Manish was rushed toDDUHospitalbutdiedof his in-juries.DCP (West) Deepak Purohit

saidacaseofmurderwas regis-tered at Khyala police station.“We checked the CCTV footageand identified the three boys.Theywereabscondingbutwerecaughtwith thehelpof inform-ers,”hesaid.

Policesaid thevictimhad28stabwounds, and sustained se-vere injuries to his chest andtorso, apart fromminor injuriestohis legsandarms.During investigation, police

found that the juveniles wereinto racing and one of the boysoften performed stunts whereManish lived.A fewweeks earlier, police

saidManishhadscoldedtheboyandtoldhimnottoperformsuchstunts in the area, but he didn’tpayanyheed.On July 8, the boys, armed

withknives,foundManishwalk-ingalone inRaghubirNagar’sR-block. Police said they allegedlycaughtholdofhim,draggedhimto the main road and stabbedhimtodeath.

Policealsotoldthecourt that“noinvolvementof anypoliceofficialshasbeenfound” inriotingsofar.ItwasrespondingtoaclutchofPILs filedbeforethecourt

DU examsfromAug17New Delhi: DUMondaytoldtheDelhiHighCourtthat it "shall conduct theexaminations for the fi-nal semester/term/yearstudents of all under-graduateandpostgradu-ate courses", includingSOL and Non-CollegiateWomen’s EducationBoard, fromAugust17 inthe online open bookexammode. “These ex-aminations shall beginon August 17, 2020, andshall conclude onSeptember8,2020,”saidDU.

DoE issuesorderonguestteachersNew Delhi: TheDirectorate of EducationMonday issued direc-tions toheadsof govern-ment schools to engageguest teachers as part ofthe post-summer vaca-tion teaching-learning.“...allHeadsofSchoolsareherebyadvisedtoengagethewillingguestteachersand contract teacherswherever required for,”said thecircular.

AIIMS toseemorepatientsNew Delhi: ExpandingOPD services, AIIMSwilladdress 30 newpatientsand 30 follow-up casesper department fromWednesday.Thenumberwaslimitedto15patientsin theOPDearlier.ENS

BRIEFLY

ARANYASHANKARNEWDELHI, JULY13

AS THE percentage of studentsscoringabove90%and95%intheCBSE Class XII board exams in-creased significantly this year,DelhiUniversityofficialsandcol-legeprincipalssayitmayleadtoa“slight increase” incut-offs forundergraduate admissions.However,theysaid,severalotherfactorswould ultimately deter-mine the final cut-off.Last year, 17,693 candidates

or 1.47% had scored above 95%.However, thisyear, thispercent-

age has increased to 3.24%.Similarly, the number of candi-dates scoring over 90% has alsorocketed from 7.82% in 2019 to13.24%in2020.“Thetrendofthepastfewyearsisthatthepercent-age of students coming in thehigher scoringbracketkeeps in-creasing...Thereisaneedtolookatthewayweareevaluatingstu-dents at the school level,” saidDean,Admissions,ShobhaBagai.Most college principals,

while admitting there could besome increase, said there areother factors too. “Cut-offsmayremain similar or slightly in-crease, butwewill have to cali-

brateandsee it according to theapplications we’ve received. I

thinkthisyear,becauseofCovid-19, some students from other

statesmaywanttostudylocally,”said Miranda House principalBijayalaxmiNanda.LSRCollegeprincipalSuman

Sharma said, “We also have tokeepinmindlastyear’scut-offs,andanalysethedemandforvar-ious courses we saw last year.We will also have to factor inhowmany students will applyfromstateboards.”Shri Ram College of

CommerceprincipalSimritKaursaid for her college, it would bethedataof97%andabovescorersthatwouldmatter:“Ourcut-offsare so high that for us it doesn’tmatter if the number of those

scoring 95% and abovehas goneup. If thebulkof theincreasehashappenedinthe95-96%bracket,ourcut-offwillremainthesame.”Kirori Mal College principal

Vibha Chauhan said, “Theywillappeartobehigherbutthenstu-dentshavegotveryhighmarks.Sometimes, collegesmay seemunreasonablewith cut-offs butwearecompletelydependentonthemarksgivenby theCBSE.”Theadmissionprocessbegan

onJune20andthelastdatetosub-mitapplications is July18.AsperthetentativescheduleannouncedbyDUearlier, the first cut-off listwastobereleasedonAugust11.

The lastdate tosubmitapplications is July18.Archive

INCREASE IN STUDENTS SCORING ABOVE 90% THIS YEAR

High-scorers up, getting into DU could get tougher

Govtschoolpasspercentage:DelhiEast DelhiWest97.68% 97.91%

ACROSSTHECOUNTRYNo.of candidates:11,92,961No.of candidatespassed:10,59,080Above90%:1,57,934

Above95%:38,686

PASSPERCENTOF

92.15%

86.19%

Areaswithhighestpasspercentage:Thiruvananthapuram:97.67%Bengaluru:97.05%Chennai:96.17%

Girls Boys

Passpercent inpvtschools:DelhiEast DelhiWest91.69% 92.12%

INDELHI

Noof candidates:2,37,901Noof candidatespassed:

2,24,552

Passpercentingovtschoolsovertheyears:

2020 98%

2019 94.24%

2018 90.6%

2017 88.2%

2016 85.9%

PasspercentofBoys: Girls:92.48% 96.43%

HOWSTUDENTSPERFORMED INCAPITAL, ACROSSCOUNTRY

Govt schools power capital’s high passpercentage, 98%clear Class XII board

PraveenKhanna

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENOIDA, JULY13

THEFAMILYofa14-year-oldgirlwho allegedly committed sui-cide in an Arya Samaj-affiliatedboarding school on July 3 inNoidahasalleged thatherbodywascrematedinahurriedman-nerwithout informingpolice.“Wereceivedinformationaf-

ter apost on socialmediaby thevictim’smother,inwhichshesaidherdaughterwasfoundhanginginside the school premises. Shealleged that school authoritiestried to brush thematter underthe carpet.We foundduring in-vestigationthattheschooldidnotinformpolice about the suicideand cremated her inNoida. Thefamily has not given us a com-plaint. A teamhas been sent tomeetherinhervillageinHaryanasowecanfileanFIR.Oncethat isdone, appropriate actionwill betaken,”saidSankalpSharma,DCPZone1,GautamBuddhNagar.Thegirl’smothersaidshehad

comehomeonMarch21amidthe

lockdown, and returnedon June18 even though classes hadn’tstarted.“OnJuly3,someonefromtheschool calledandaskedus torush there.Whenwe reached,theyaskedifmydaughterwasde-pressedand I told themshewasfine. Then they showedmeherbodyhanging fromtheceiling. Ithadturnedblue,herclotheswereloosened. I could not bear thesight,”hermotheralleged.She alleged theywere taken

toacrematoriuminacarandthelastriteswerecarriedoutdespitethefamily’sinsistencethatpolicebe involved: “Theykeptawatchon us. Evenwhen I was crying,they toldme not tomake noisesince they didn’t want to alertanyone. The cremationwas car-ried out quickly... they followedustillwe left thecity limits.”School authorities claimed a

suicidenotewas found, inwhichthe girl allegedly blamed familyproblemsasthereasonfortakingthe extreme step. Amember ofthe school’smanagement boarddenied allegationsof the crema-tionbeinghurried.

Teen commits suicideat boarding school:Kin allege intimidation

HC stays order seekingFIR against officersChandigarh: The Punjab andHaryana High Court Mondaystayed a lower court order ear-lier thismonth, which directedpolicetoregisteranFIRinamat-ter alleging inactionbyauthori-ties against land-grabbers inGurgaon. More than a dozenHaryana government officersweremadepartytothecriminalcomplaintfiledbyaresidentbe-fore the lowercourt.The order dated July 3 was

challenged by IAS officer andGurgaonMunicipal CorporationCommissioner Vinay PratapSingh,whowasalsonamedinthecriminalcomplaintandwasrep-resented by senior advocate R SRaiMonday. The IAS officer ar-guedthattheallegationspertainto Gurgaon Sector 94where hehasnoauthority, as thearea fallswithinGurugramMetropolitanDevelopment Authority and isoutsidemunicipal limits.ENS

0-50 Good

ASHOKVIHARSatisfactory

0 500

87AQIPM:10

SIRIFORTSatisfactory

0 500

SHADIPURSatisfactory

0 500 500

51-100 Satisfactory 101-200 Moderate 201-300 Poor 301-400 VeryPoor 401-500 Severe

DWARKA- SECTOR8Satisfactory

0

89AQIPM:10

66AQIPM:10

95AQI

Pollutant:OZONE

New Delhi

5WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

EDUCATION IS one of the mostimportant foundations of asuccessful, learned and thriv-ing society. In general, it is re-

sponsible for the economic, social andpolitical growth and development ofthe society. However, in an attempt tocontain the spread of COVID-19 pan-demic, the educational systems world-wide have been shut down, with near-total closures of schools, universitiesand colleges, affecting billions of learn-ers globally.

In India, when the nationwide lock-down was announced, it was an impor-tant time for the education sector –board examinations, nursery school ad-missions, entrance tests of various uni-versities and competitive examina-tions, among others, are all held duringthis period. Over 3 months since thelockdown, the stalemate continues. In-deed, the pandemic has not only af-fected the continuity of learning formore than 300 million learners in Indiabut also engendered far-reaching eco-nomic and societal consequences.This isbecause there exists a huge digital di-vide in India, with only 23.8% of Indianhouseholds having internet access. Asper reports, in rural households, only14.9% have access, and in urbanhouseholds only 42% have access. Arecent news report stated “only12.5% of students have access tosmartphones. Furthermore, most teach-ers are ill-equipped for online teach-ing.”

However, with no option left andcontinuity of learning being necessary,schools, colleges and universitiesshifted to online teaching methodol-ogy, with many of them using the on-line platforms for the very first time.Our age-old teaching methodologystructure, including offline teachingand assessment tests, was the first tobe directly and severely affected by the

pandemic. Due to the great digital di-vide, only a handful of private schools,colleges and universities could in thebeginning adapt to the New Normal inthis sector. On the other hand, the gov-ernment educational institutions arefacing severe challenges due to thedearth of e-learning solutions at theirend.

Needless to say, the challengesthrown at the edu-cation sector arenot just limited tothe delivery of edu-cation but alsotransformation ofour current cen-turies-old, chalk-talk teachingmodel to one thatis even more inclu-sive, drives en-gagement at scaleamong studentsand teachers, andtackles the coun-try’s digital divideefficiently. In re-sponse to this,many online learn-ing platformsand EdTech compa-nies have startedoffering free access

to their services.Moreover, the effectiveness of online

learning varies depending on agegroups. It has been observed that onaverage, students retain 25-60% morewhen learning online compared with 8-10% classroom retentivity. Onlinelearning is faster and visually engagingand requires 40-60% less time to learncompared with the traditional class-

room setting. Since online learning isself-paced, students find it attractive asthey can relearn concepts based ontheir availability. To get full benefits ofonline learning, a concerted effort is re-quired to provide a structured environ-ment comprising a range of collabora-tion tools and engagement methodsthat promote “inclusion, personalisa-tion and intelligence” among students.

Lastly, it can be said that though thepandemic has utterly disturbed our ed-ucation system, it has certainly provedto be a catalyst for improving onlinelearning and digital education systemsin the country, which otherwise re-mained accessible to a handful of stu-dents.The schools, colleges and univer-sities should consider this pandemic asan opportunity to improve their educa-tional infrastructure, wherein e-learn-ing becomes a part of their ‘new nor-mal’, having experienced the benefitsfirst-hand.

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Acommon question parent’s face while selecting aschool for their child. Let us look at how residen-tial schools can be beneficial:

1. Residential schools offer abundant social connect which chil-dren miss out in cities.

2.With fading global boundaries social skills are becoming themost important part of the overall personality development of anindividual. Residential schools provide the much-needed platformfor building strong supportive social relationships through inter-actions with other students and staff from different countries andcultures. Here lifelong friendships are formed which the childrencherish dearly throughout their school life and beyond.

3. Residential schools act as catalysts in developing the overallpersonality of the child by facilitating co-academic activities likesports, dramatics, music andpublic speaking to name a few in safeand secure environment of the campus.

4. Residential schools are the best places to inculcate self-dis-cipline. Children understand the importance of freedom with re-sponsibility which makes them better adjusted adults.

Kohinoor American School,International Baccalaureate World School,

Fully Residential Campus, Khandala,mallika.kotian@kohinooramericanschool.ac.in

www.kohinooramericanschool.ac.in

Why ResidentialSchool?

Keeping in view the current crisis, a multi-pronged strategy is necessary to build a resilientIndian education system that can avert any such crises in the future

IT HAS BEEN OBSERVED THAT ON AVERAGE,STUDENTS RETAIN 25-60% MORE WHENLEARNING ONLINE COMPARED WITH 8-10%CLASSROOM RETENTIVITY. ONLINE LEARNINGIS FASTER AND VISUALLY ENGAGING ANDREQUIRES 40-60% LESS TIME TO LEARNCOMPARED WITH THE TRADITIONALCLASSROOM SETTING.

New Delhi

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*ADVERTORIAL An initiative by

BASTILLE DAYBASTILLE DAYIndia-France bilateral ties going from strength to strength

IN AN era characterised by geopolitical con-flicts, trade wars, terrorism etc., both Indiaand France recognise the urgency of con-structing coalitions that can provide a mea-sure of stability in an increasingly unstable

world. India and France established their strate-gic partnership in 1998 which has blossomedsince then in all areas of bilateral cooperationthrough regular high-level exchanges at the Headof State/Head of Government levels and growingcommercial exchanges, including in strategic areassuch as defence and security cooperation, civil nu-clear cooperation and space cooperation — thesebeing the principal pillars of the strategic part-nership.

Sharing a close degree of convergence on aplethora of regional and global issues, both thecountries remain steadfast in their approach to-wards safeguarding each other’s interests. Fur-ther, France has consistently supported India’spermanent membership of the UNSC. France con-tinues to support India’s bid for accession to theNSG. India and France are committed in the fightagainst climate change. Condemning terrorism ata global stage, both the countries are workingtogether towards adopting the ComprehensiveConvention on International Terrorism (CCIT)in the UN.

At the G-7 Summit in August 2019, IndianPrime Minister Narendra Modi visited France atthe special invitation of H.E. President EmmanuelMacron of France, wherein India was one of the‘Goodwill’ partners. In the economic realm, bothFrench and Indian business enterprises haveforged strong linkages to boost economic activi-ties. In 2019, “the India-France bilateral goodstrade stood at Euro 11.59 billion (+0.60%) ascompared to the corresponding period the previ-

ous year. India’s exports to France were valuedat Euro 6.23 billion, up by 4% during this period.Meanwhile, Indian imports from France decreasedby 3.07% to Euro 5.35 billion.”

Being the 9th largest foreign investor in India,France has emerged as a major source of FDI for In-dia with more than 1,000 French establishmentsalready present in India. From April 2000 to De-cember 2019, “France’s cumulative investment ofUSD 7.10 billion represented 1.55% of the total

FDI inflows into India. The highest FDI equity in-flows are in the services sector (17.46%), with ce-ment & gypsum products (13.69%) in the secondplace, followed by automobile industry (5.50%),industrial machinery (4.99%) and drugs & phar-maceuticals (4.93%). Most big French groupshave their subsidiaries in India. Indian invest-ments in France have been growing and the totalstock of Indian investments in France is estimatedto be around 1 billion Euros.”

Going from strength tostrength, bilaterally

Ladies and gentlemen,Mes chers compatriotes,This year, due to the circumstances, we are celebrating our National Day in an

unexpected manner.Today, celebrating fraternity and solidarity with our Indian partners and the

French community is more relevant than ever.The strategic partnership between India and France is ambitious and our

two nations have always stood by each other’s side in difficult times.The last months demonstrated once again the depth of our friendship as we

faced the Covid-19 crisis together. Our solidarity in action during this pandemichas been exemplary:

✾ Since the beginning, India has been playing a critical role by providingmuch-needed medicines and will play an even more critical role in producing thevaccine against Covid, once developed and tested.

✾ France has started assistance to India by financing emergency responseprogrammes: the French Development Agency implemented a EUR 200 mil-lion/ Rs 1.600 crore emergency assistance to boost social welfare systems andprotect vulnerable people.

Solidarity between our two countries was also demonstrated during thesuccessful evacuation of thousands of stranded French tourists in India.

Today, I take this opportunity to thank the Indian authorities again fortheir help.

I also have a special word for the impressive solidarity within the Frenchcommunity. You will see in the coming video how French companies partici-pated in relief actions and supported local NGOs through CSR.

These NGOs need us more than ever today, and I hope you will support theirefforts on this special day.

Ladies and gentlemen,This crisis has paved the way for increased collaboration between our two

countries in order to prepare for what will come next. Together, we need tosteer economic recovery in such a way that it boosts our ambitions on climatechange mitigation. France and India have a special responsibility to show away forward for the rest of the world. In this regard, as a non-permanent mem-ber of UNSC for 2021-2022, India and France will work closely together to pro-mote our common objectives and visions.

Today, I raise a virtual toast to celebrating solidarity.Vive la France, and long live the Indo-French partnership!

H.E. MR EMMANUEL LENAINAMBASSADOR OF FRANCE TO INDIA

AT THE world stage, France hasalways been an epicentre of ‘high

culture’, encompassing the cultural ob-jects of aesthetic value, including exem-plary art, intellectual works consideredto be of supreme philosophical, histori-cal, or literary value, as well as the edu-cation which cultivates such aestheticand intellectual pursuits. In France, In-dian culture enjoys wide followingamongst its natives. There are manycultural exchange programmes that areorganised in both the countries, to show-case each other’s glorious and impeccablecultural highlights. The French culturalfestival “Bonjour India” was held in In-dia from November 2017 to February2018. India will organise “NamastéFrance” again in 2021-2022, havingsuccessfully organised it in 2016 in morethan 40 cities of France showcasing over80 events. In 2018, “7,00,000 Indiantourists visited France, 17% more than in2017 and more than 2,50,000 Frenchtourists visited India.”

France is also well-renowned for itshigh-quality education, offering a widespectrum of academic and professionalopportunities at affordable fees. Beingthe third most popular choice among in-ternational students globally, France is anattractive destination to pursue highereducation. There are 73 public universi-ties, more than 200 engineering schools,150 business and management schools,20 schools of architecture and 3,000other specialized institutions. All in all,they enrol about 3,00,000 internationalstudents.

In 2019, around 10,000 Indian stu-dents chose France for pursuing highereducation. Even the target of having“10,000 students annually in France, setfor 2020 by President Emmanuel Macronand Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wasattained well in advance.” This was

achieved through the joint proactivemeasures of the French governmentalong with the Institut français en Indeand the Campus France India network.Campus France India’s website “featuresextensive information on how to study inFrance (including information on applica-tions and student visas), French degreesand training programmes, a searchabledirectory of the 1,200 courses and pro-grammes taught in English, as well as a

wide array of useful tips.”Also, to help fund educational require-

ments,“the French government annuallyawards Rs 7.1 crore (Euro 1.1 million) tomore than 500 meritorious Indian stu-dents who pursue a degree in France.” Inthe past five years, “there has been a49% increase in the number of scholar-ships offered to Indian students by theFrench government and other co-fi-nanced scholarships with companies.”

Today when old political certitudes look shaky, India and Franceare taking new measures to strengthen their bilateral cooperation

to protect their long-term interests

IT HAS often been observed that de-fence cooperation between two na-tions is one of the fundamentals of a

successful bilateral relationship. Thisechoes true in case of India and France.The defence cooperation between Indiaand France can be traced back to the firstfew years following India’s Indepen-dence. This partnership continues eventoday. In current scenario of geopoliticalshifts, India relies heavily on its partners,of which France is definitely the one. Dur-ing the recent DefExpo 2020, Francemade a strong representation with sevenof its biggest defence companies (Airbus,Dassault, MBDA, Naval Group, Nexter,Safran andThalès).The defence coopera-tion between the two countries gainedimmense momentum when, in 2016,“the Modi government signed a signifi-cant deal with France for 36 Rafalemedium multi-role combat aircraft (MM-RCA),” of which the first batch of sixaircraft is due to be delivered by thismonth end.

Extending their defence partnership tomaritime domain, the Indian defenceministry has awarded the French Ship-builder Naval Group a $4.16 billion con-tract for the construction of six Scorpene-class (Kalvari-class) SSKs in partnershipwith Mazagon Dock Limited. Hailing thecooperation, the French Defence Minis-ter termed naval cooperation with Indiaas a “shining illustration of the exem-plary nature of our technological and in-dustrial cooperation.” To furtherstrengthen military support, the twocountries signed a MoU on reciprocal lo-gistics support between their respectivearmed forces — France being one ofonly four confirmed countries to partnerwith India for the same.

Condoling the death of 20 brave In-dian soldiers who were killed in action

during a violent faceoff with the Chinesemilitary in Galwan Valley on the inter-vening night of June 15-16, French De-fence Minister Florence Parly wrote in hercommunique to Indian Defence MinisterRajnath Singh, “This was a hard blowagainst soldiers, their families and the na-tion. In these difficult circumstances, I

wish to express my steadfast and friendlysupport, along with that of French armedforces.” Further, due to our longstandingrelations, bilateral military exercisesbetween the three services, beginningwith the navies in 2001, followed by theair forces in 2004, and the armies in 2011have now became a regular feature.

France is India’s knightin shining armour

Indo-French defence cooperation is a shining example oftechnological and industrial advancements to ensure India’sstability amidst the rising threat from geopolitical tensions

When it comes to gaining overall education, including cultural andprofessional learning, there’s no better place than France to improve

your intellectual as well as cultural sensibilities

France is an attractive destinationto pursue higher education

6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

New Delhi

7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

* ( READ. ENGAGE. DELIVER.) IS THE MARKETING SOLUTIONS TEAM OF THE INDIAN EXPRESS GROUP

*ADVERTORIAL An initiative by

BASTILLE DAYIndia-France bilateral ties going from strength to strength

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nk

Naval Group is Europe’s leader in naval defence with a strong heritagethat stretches back nearly four hundred years

The products we offer our clients are as ambitious as they are complex.The innovative solutions we develop safeguard national security interests.

Naval Group in India (100% subsidiary of Naval Group) shares the similar continued commitmenttowards Indian Navy, Indian Shipyards and Industry in providing best in class modern technologies

through creation of sustainable indigeneous ecosystem while fostering ‘Make in India’ spirit.

To find out more, go to india.naval-group.com

A GLOBAL AMBITION INSPIREDBY CENTURIES OF INNOVATION

Why French is the future

IN THIS era of globalisation, learningof foreign languages has become in-

dispensable.Whether you want to work,travel, or immigrate abroad, knowingthe language of the country makes asignificant difference to the outcome ofone’s efforts.

French is one the most widely spokenlanguages in the world.With more than300 million speakers across 5 continentsat present, French is predicted to takeits place amongst the most spoken lan-guages in 2050 with more than 750 mil-lion speakers around the world. So, itwould not be incorrect to say thatFrench is the ‘future’.

French is often perceived to be thelanguage of the elite, accessible only tothose who know haute couture, gas-tronomy, and art but this is a misnomeras French language speakers can befound across diverse areas of economicactivity as well as social strata, from amechanical engineer in Senegal to ashopkeeper in Puducherry. French opensa plethora of opportunities to thelearner, whether it is translation, engi-neering, commerce, science or humani-ties.

With world-class academic institu-tions like INSEAD, HEC Paris, ISAE-SU-PAERO, École Polytechnique, French uni-versities and academic institutions offeran education par excellence in all aca-demic and research disciplines.

France is amongst the top 10 in-vestors in India with over 1,000 estab-lishments linked to around 450 Frenchcompanies in India and employing

around 3.5 lakh people. Knowledge ofFrench is an advantage while seekingjobs in these companies.

French philosopher Gaston Bachelardonce said, “A special kind of beauty ex-ists which is born in language, of lan-guage, and for language”. KnowingFrench will enable you explore the richhistory and culture of France which con-tinues to fascinate people all over theworld.

Where can one learn French?With 15 centres across India, the Al-

liance Française network and the FrenchInstitute in Jaipur offer French languagecourses with a focus on CommunicativeLanguage Teaching (CLT) approach andan adaptive pedagogy making it possible

for anyone to learn the language. Con-trary to common belief, one does notneed to know English to learn French.

Since the beginning of the pandemic,Alliances Françaises in India and FrenchInstitute in Jaipur are offering onlineclasses allowing people to learn Frenchfrom the comfort of their homes. Youcan know more at http://ifindia.in/our-network-2/ or your nearest AllianceFrançaise.

If you want to get an edge in your ca-reer, explore a dynamic culture or liveand study abroad, French is the lan-guage to learn.

Here’s celebrating the vibrant Frenchlanguage on occasion of the FrenchNational Day.

INDIA AND France share a his-torical and long-standing rela-tionship based on mutual trust

and cooperation, and this relation-ship was formalised through thesigning of a strategic partnershipin 1998 between the two coun-tries. More recently, the leaders ofboth nations, PM Modi and Presi-dent Macron have seen our coun-tries work jointly on a number ofprogrammes including anti-terror-ism, climate change, renewable en-ergy, defence, security and space..

Looking at the situation in morerecent times, with the outbreak ofthe COVID-19 pandemic acrossthe world and in India, this rela-tionship has remained unde-terred. France still remains astrong investor in India with 1,000establishments set up across thecountry accounting for more than3,50,000 jobs which makes Francethe largest European employer inIndia. The strong French presencein India is not a new phenome-non, some companies settled inIndia more than 150 years back -like BNP Paribas and Alstom.

India is and has always been animportant investment destinationfor France and this is apparentwhen we see that 39 companiesof CAC 40 (French Stock MarketIndex) have operations in India.These large groups present hereare industry leaders in their do-

main — such as LVMH, L’Oreal,Michelin,Veolia, Danone, PSA,Ac-cor, Sanofi, EDF, Schneider Electricand many more. If we look at In-dian investments in France, thereare more than 120 Indian compa-nies operating out of France insectors such as pharma, ITeS, au-tomotive, etc which generate8,000 jobs.

It would be fair to stay thatFrench investments are wide-spread in all major sectors likeenergy, pharma, agribusiness,electronics, retail, defence andaerospace, technology and so on.In fact, the Indo-French Chamberof Commerce and Industry runs 16sector and functional committeesthat are led by CXOs of membercompanies and the main agendais to increase collaboration,promote best practices andengage in advocacy with the

Indian authorities.The COVID-19 outbreak in India

has been a challenge for compa-nies of all sizes, both domesticand foreign, and while companiesmay have put some investmentplans on hold in order to managethis crisis, majority of them viewIndia as a long term market andhold an optimistic view about theeconomy picking up. During thistime, French companies havealso supported India in its fightagainst the pandemic throughvarious CSR initiatives and contri-butions which include not onlymonetary contributions but alsodistribution of medical equipmentand supplies.

With the emphasis on ‘Make inIndia’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’campaigns, there is a potential forIndian companies to collaboratewith French technologies andR&D in diverse sectors. Using do-main engineering expertise fromFrance, there could be an excitingopportunity for Indian companiesto re-engineer and localise theprocess with the goal of becom-ing self-reliant. Therefore, Indo-French relations have a tremen-dous potential to prosper in thenear future.

Ms Payal S Kanwar,Director General, Indo-French

Chamber of Commerceand Industry (IFCCI)

FRANCE STILLREMAINS ASTRONGINVESTOR ININDIA WITH 1,000ESTABLISHMENTSSET UP ACROSSTHE COUNTRY

Ideal place for a holidayTHE CONTEMPORARY traveller is

eager to veer off the beaten trackand immerse himself in a gamut of

never-tried before experiences.The mostvisited country in the world, France isthus a natural choice for this eager tribeof holiday-makers.A collection of 13 re-gions with their own versatile range ofexperiences, distinct landscapes andcuisine provide many inspirations to"Explore France" à la française

France appeals to a diverse genre ofholidaymakers and its destinations un-veil different facets that adapt perfectlyto its visiting vacationers. It's not onlyshopaholics, fashionistas or coupleswho find Paris an enticing haven butalso families who are promised a so-journ peppered with exciting activitiesthat make for an unforgettable holiday.The Loire Valley and its majesticchâteaux promise a royal rendezvousbut it is also a happy hunting ground forwine-enthusiasts who are enamouredby its collection of white wines that arereputed to be among the best in theworld. While the Alps Mont Blanc aresupposed to be a paradise for skiers, itsexhaustive selection of non-ski activi-ties makes it an ideal destination forthose who travel for adventure andadrenalin rushes or contemplative jour-neys. The South of France tempts oneand all with its beaches but is also afavourite for those who prefer self-driveholidays and enjoy discovering itsquaint villages and culture at their ownpace.

For more on memorable experiencessuch as these, log on to: in.france.fr

BASTILLE DAYForging a strong India-

France economic partnership

4roues sous 1 parapluie

doussardatout france Maurice Subervie

New Delhi

8 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

GOVT&POLITICS 9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

ONLINESUMMITTOMORROW

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY13

INDIAANDtheEuropeanUnion(EU)areexpectedtode-liberateextensivelyonwaystoexpandoveralleconomicengagement, offset adverse impact of the coronaviruspandemic,andstrengthenmultilateralismintheironlinesummittalksonWednesday,sourcessaidonMonday.Thetwosidesarealsoexpectedtodelve intofinding

awayforwardtoresumetalksonthelong-pendingfreetradeagreement,knownasEU-IndiaBroad-basedTradeandInvestmentAgreement(BTIA).The Indiandelegationwill be ledbyPrimeMinister

NarendraModiandtheEuropeansidewillbeheadedbyEuropeanCouncilpresidentCharlesMichelandEuropeanCommissionpresidentUrsulavonderLeyen.ModiwasscheduledtovisitBrusselsinMarchforthe

summitbutthevisitwascancelledinviewofthecoron-avirusoutbreak.The27-nationEUisastrategicallyimportantregionfor

India.TheEUasawholewasIndia’slargesttradingpart-nerin2018.India’sbilateraltradewithEUin2018-19stoodat$115.6billion,withexportsvaluedat$57.17billionandimportsworth$58.42billion.Thedefence and security cooperationbetween the

twosidesisalsoonanupswing.Ithasbeenfelt thattherewasalackof leadershipfor

acoordinatedapproachtoeffectivelydealwiththepan-demic,andthetwosidesareexpectedtodeliberateonacommonapproachinfindingasolutiontoit,sourcessaid.Askedwhethertheissueoforiginofthecoronavirusmayfigureinthetalks,sourcessaidtherehasbeenalotof in-terestinEuropeinknowingaboutitaswellasontheini-tialresponsesystem.OnFTA,sourcessaidthesummitwillbecriticalinfind-

ingawayforwardandthatthenewleadershipofthe27-memberblochasshowngreatinterestinIndia.Theysaidthetwosidesareexpectedtofindameetinggroundonthelong-pendingissue.TheBTIAtalkshavebeenstalledsinceMay2013,when

bothsides failedtobridgesubstantialgapsoncrucial is-sues, including data security status for the IT sector.Launched in June 2007, negotiations for the proposedagreementhavewitnessedmanyhurdles as both sideshavemajordifferencesoncrucial issues.Besidesdemandingsignificantdutycutsinautomo-

biles,EUwantstaxreductiononwines,spiritsanddairyproducts,andastrongintellectualpropertyregime.

India-EU talks likelyto discuss economicengagement, Covid

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY13

PAKISTANONMondaysaiditwillrestoreAfghanistan’sexports through theWagah border with India fromWednesdayatthespecialrequestofKabulandtofacil-itateAfghan transit trade.TherewasnowordonIndianexportstoAfghanistan,

sources inNewDelhipointedout.PakistanhadclosedtheWagahborderwithIndiain

mid-March in thewakeof thecoronaviruspandemic.“At the special request of the Government of

AfghanistanandwithaviewtofacilitatingAfghanistan’stransit trade, Pakistan has decided to resume Afghanexports throughWagah border crossing from 15 July2020,after implementingCovid-19relatedprotocols,”thePakistan foreignministry said inastatement.Theforeignministrysaidthatwiththisstep,Pakistan

has fulfilled its commitments underAfghanistan–Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement(APTTA). It also said that Pakistan remains “fully com-mitted” to improving bilateral relations withAfghanistaninallareasincludingtrade,andtofacilitateAfghanistan’s transit tradeunder theagreement.Mohammad Sadiq, the Pakistan PrimeMinister's

SpecialRepresentativeforAfghanistan,saidhiscountryhas already restoredbilateral tradeandAfghan transittradeatall bordercrossings.Pakistan andAfghanistan share 18 crossingpoints.

PakistancloseditsborderwithIranandAfghanistanaf-ter Covid-19 cases increased in the country earlythisyear.Accordingtoofficials,Pakistanisthelargestimporter

of Afghan products, while Afghanistan is the fourthlargestdestination forPakistaniexports.

Will resume Afghanexports through Wagahborder crossing: Pak

New Delhi

10THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,JULY14,2020

GOVT&POLITICSWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

SON-SHINE MOMENTSENIORCONGRESS leaderAjayMaken is in Jaipur, busy fire-fighting to save theAshokGehlot government.While itwaspersonally a happy day forMaken, he could not celebrate itwith family. His son, Aujaswi, scored 97.5 per cent in best offoursubjects inCBSEClassXII—theresultsweredeclaredonMonday.Makendidnotdistributesweets,butthoseinJaipursaytherewascelebrationintheGehlotcampandsweetsweredistributed,althoughlikely foradifferentreason.TheGehlotcamp has claimed that amajority of CongressMLAs turnedup for the legislature party meeting and called for acelebration.

NO EXTENSIONTHETENUREofPravinSrivastava, thecountry’schief statisti-cian and Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and ProgrammeImplementation,endsonAugust31.Whileaproposal forex-tending his tenurewas considered, it is learnt that this wasreturned lastweek fromthePMOwithout approval. Anoffi-cerof1983-batchIndianStatisticalService,Srivastavawasap-pointedinOctober2018.Theministryfacedmultiplecontro-versies related to data — be it employment or GDPcomputation—duringhis tenure. The appointmentprocessof Secretarytothisministry isdifferent fromothers,andear-lieracademicssuchasPronabSenandTCAAnanthaveheldthis post. Advertisementmaynowbe issued for Srivastava'sreplacement.

DIPLOMAT DECISIONSTHEMINISTRYofExternalAffairs isplanningtosendVikramDoraiswami, currently Additional Secretary (InternationalOrganisationsandSummits),asthenextenvoytoBangladesh,andRudrendraTandon, currently India’s envoy toASEAN, asthe envoy to Afghanistan. South Block has announced thatHemant Kotalwar, who is Joint Secretary (National SecurityCouncilSecretariat),willbethenextenvoytoCzechRepublic.

AVISHEKGDASTIDARNEWDELHI, JULY 13

BJP LEADER Sambit Patra onMonday tweeted a pictureshowing the name ofDehradun written in Sanskrit—“Dehradunam”—alongwithHindi and English, and replac-ingUrdu,purportedlyona rail-way station signboard in thecity, although Railways saidthis was not the case onground.Sources said that following

a request fromanUttarakhandBJPMLA in January2019 to theRailways Ministry to writenamesof stations in thestate inSanskritalongwithEnglishandHindi — Sanskrit is the officialsecond language of the statenow—Northern Railways hadtried to get the Sanskrit name“Dehradunam” inscribedon itsstation board. It sent a letter tothe District Magistrate ofDehradunonSeptember17 lastyear to officially obtain theSanskrit names of stations inDehradun district but therewas no reply.Sources said the signboard

inpicturewaspartof thisexer-cise last year when Urdu was

replaced by Sanskrit, but aftersome local organisations ob-jected the plan did not goahead.The Northern Railways

spokespersonwasnotavailablefor comments.OnMonday, BJP vice-presi-

dent Vinay Sahasrabuddheretweetedan imageof twopic-tures posted by a handle onTwitter.Whileonepicturepur-portedly showed an oldDehradun station signboardwritten in Hindi, English andUrdu, another, of supposedly anew signboard, showed Urdureplaced by Sanskrit. Patratweeted it with a comment:“SANSKRIT”.By latenight, itgotmore than 95,000 ‘likes’ andover 18,000 retweets andcomments.

Patra tweets Dehradun ‘inSanskrit’ on station board,Rlys says not changed

SambitPatrapostedthisphotoonTwitter. Twitter

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL, JULY13

HAVING ENSUREDministerialseats for his loyalists in theShivraj Singh Chouhan govern-ment in Madhya Pradesh,JyotiradityaScindiaagainhadhisway onMondaywhen hismengotkeyportfolios.It took 11 days after the

swearing-inof28newministers(14of themScindiamen)fortheportfolios to be announced, asthe Congress-turned-BJP RajyaSabha leader insisted on plumposts. Chouhan had to balancethatwiththeaspirationsof sen-ior BJP leaders in his own team,including somewho had beencabinet ministers in his threetermsbetween2005and2018.Among the Scindia loyalists,

Govind Singh Rajput got theRevenue and Transport portfo-lio,thathehadheldintheprevi-ousCongressgovernmentinthestate. Inducted back in April 21,he held the Food and CivilSuppliesportfolio.Besides, Health, Panchayat

andRuralDevelopment,Energy,andWomenandChildDevelop-mentportfolioswent to Scindia

followers.Ministersofstatefromhis campalso got significant re-sponsibilities like PWD, UrbanDevelopment and FarmerWelfare.Earlier,Chouhan,havingtop-

pled theKamalNath Singh gov-ernment in the state, was theonlyministerinhisCabinetfromMarch23toApril21.Then,atfirstfiveministerswere sworn in, inhis attempts to balance thechanged power equation in thestate,followedbyanotherroundofswearing-inonJuly2.Asmanyas14of the22 legislatorswhoserebellion brought down theCongress government are nowministers; as compared to 20 ofthe107BJPMLAs inthestate.Among BJP leaders,

Yashodhara Raje Scindia gotSports and Youth Welfare,Technical Education and

Employment, Usha Thakur gotTourism and Culture, whileNarottamMishraof theBJPcon-tinuestoholdHomeandgotLaw,JailandParliamentaryAffairs.Mishra’s Health portfolio is

now with Dr PrabhuramChaudharyof theScindiacamp.Chaudhary was school educa-tion minister in the Congressgovernment.The Scindia camp’s Imarti

DeviisbackasWomenandChildDevelopment Minister, whileloyalists Pradyumna SinghTomar and Mahendra SinghSisodiya get Energy andPanchayat and RuralDevelopment, respectively.The BJP’s Jagdish Devda

(Finance and Commercial Tax),Gopal Bhargava (PWD),Bhupendra Singh (UrbanDevelopment) and Kamal Patel(Agriculture)nowhaveministersof state fromtheScindiacamp.Some loyalists of the former

Congress leader now are MoSwith Independent charge, ofportfolios like Ayush, SchoolEducationandHorticultureandFoodProcessing.Hiscamp’sTulsiramSilawat,

whoheldHealthintheCongressgovernment, retained Water

Resources and got charge ofFisheries.Havingfacedcriticismover his handling of the coron-avirus pandemic earlier, he hadsaidhedidnotwantHealth.Three other rebel Congress

MLAs, Bisahulal Singh, AdalSinghKansanaandHardipDang,who were not exactly Scindialoyalists,havegotFoodandCivilSupplies, Public HealthEngineering and Environment,andNewandRenewableEnergyportfolios, respectively.Soonaftertheannouncement

oftheportfolios,seniorCongressleaderDigvijaya Singh tweeted,“After 11 days of ‘workout’, thespoils from the loot have beenshared. Revenue, transport andwaterresourceshavegonetoab-sconders (bhagodas) and exciseandurbandevelopmentgone totheBJP... I don’t understandwhyScindia is somuch interested inrevenueandtransport.”BJPMLAAjayVishnoi,whois

sulking since he was not in-cluded in theministry, contin-ued to attack the party. “Therewas no government to beformed, no government to betoppled. Why was it done?Where do youwant to take theBJP?”he tweeted.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JULY13

SENIOR BJP leader and formerUP chief minister Kalyan Singhon Monday blamed the thenCongress government at theCentre for levelling “false andbaselessallegations”againsthimin the Babri Masjid demolitioncasebecauseofpoliticalanimos-ity,andsaidthatheandhisgov-ernmenthadensuredthree-tiersecurity of the disputed struc-ture inAyodhya.“Iwasfalselyimplicated,Iam

innocent,” Singh said as he lefttheCBIspecialcourtpremisesaf-ter recording his statement un-derSection313of CrPC.Afterexaminingthetotal354

prosecutionwitnesses,thecourt

had started recording state-ments of all the 32 accused un-der Section 313 of CrPC. Of thetotal 49 accused booked in thecase,17havediedso far.The CBI court is conducting

day-to-dayhearingstocompletethetrialbyAugust31,asdirectedby theSupremeCourt.Under Section 313, a judge

questionstheaccusedontheba-sisofevidencesubmittedduringtrial, andtheaccused isgivenanopportunity to explain the cir-cumstances and allegationsagainsthim.Statementsof 25oftheaccusedhavebeenrecordedsofar.“Kalyan Singh appeared be-

fore the court today and hisstatementwas recorded under313ofCrPC,”saidSingh’slawyerAbhishekRanjan.Singhwasthe

UPchiefministerwhentheBabriMasjid was demolished onDecember 6, 1992byHindu ac-tivists who claimed that an an-cient Ram temple had stood onthesamesite.“The then Congress govern-

mentattheCentrelevelledfalseandbaselessallegationsagainstmeandfiledacaseoutof politi-calanimosity,”hetoldreporters,addingthatalladministrativeof-ficialswerethenregularlybeingdirected to ensure the safety ofthe disputed site according tothesituation.Otheraccused,includingfor-

merDeputy PMLKAdvani andsenior BJP leaderMMJoshi, areyet tobeexaminedat this stage.Theirlawyershaveindicatedto

theCBIcourtthattheyprefertoap-pearthroughvideoconferencing.

YUBARAJGHIMIREKATHMANDU,JULY13

NEPAL'S PRIMEMinister K POlionMonday claimed that Indiahas“distortedfacts”toappropri-ateLordRambycreatinghisking-dom at Ayodhya in UttarPradesh'sFaizabad,andthatRamactually came from a place inpresent-dayNepal.Speaking at an event on the

occasion of the 206th birth an-niversary of Nepal poetBhanubhaktaAcharya,whotrans-latedValmikiRamayaninNepali,OlisaidAyodhyawasanareawestofBirgunj,atownborderingBihar.There iswasnopossibility of

Ram coming all the way frompresent-dayAyodhyatoNepalforhismarriage,Olimaintained.“Wehavebeenculturallyde-

ceived,asIndiahasdistortedfacts.Sitawasnotgiven inmarriage toan Indianprince,” he said.Oli in-sisted that Ayodhya in FaizabaddistrictofUPwasa later-daycre-ationofIndia,andnottherealan-cientkingdomofRam.Ramcamefromwhatispres-

ent-day Nepal, as did Sita, theNepal PM said. He said a placeclose to Thori, along the borderwith Bihar, was where Ram’skingdomexisted.LegendsaysSita,aftershewas

abandonedbyRam, lived in theashramofsageValmikiwithsonsLav and Kush on the bank ofNarayani (Gandak river) alongpresent-dayNepal borderwithBihar. The place attracts a largenumberofpilgrimseventoday.Oli also claimed that pandits

who performed the ‘putrestiyagna’ for King DashrathwerefromRidiarea, inNepal.

RLSP CHIEF UPENDRAKUSHWAHAspeakstoMANOJCG on the mahagathbandhan’sprospects in the Bihar polls andwhyhe thinkspeoplewill rejectNitishKumar.Excerpts:

TheAssemblyelectioninBiharisjustmonthsaway.NitishKumarhascompleted15yearsasChiefMinisteraligningwithboththesides.Whichwayisthewindblowing?NitishKumarmayhavecom-

pleted15yearswith this sideorthatside,butthepeopleofBiharhave understood his reality. Somany things have come out intheopen.Hisperformance…hehas always said thatmigrationfromBiharhas stopped. But thelockdown and the coronavirusoutbreak has exposed the realsituation of people when itcomes to employment in Bihar.

The situation is the same in thecase of education. He came topower promising to usher inchange,especiallywithregardtopadhai(education),dawai(med-icine)andkamai(livelihood).Hehad asked for five years but thepeople of Bihar gave him 15years.He couldnot doanythingon these fronts. Law and orderwashisother focusarea.Hehadpromised to ensure rule of law.But todaymurder, kidnapping,loot and rape have significantlyincreased. His government hasbeen a failure on all fronts. Hisexit is certain.

Buthewillsaythathis15yearsisbetterthantheprevious15yearsofLaluruleThe people did not give him

15 years to performbetter thantheprevious15years.Hehadnotsaid that even. We were col-

leagues then. He used to sayeverywhere that he will makeBiharadevelopedstate.NowhewillhavetoanswerwhathashedonetomakeBiharadevelopedstate andwhat is the situationnow. Howmany people havebeengivenjobsandwhathashedone to create more employ-ment opportunities? Has a sin-glenewindustryorfactorybeenset up? Nothing. In fact, indus-tries were closed down. Jutemills andsugarmillswere shut.There is no point in comparinghis15yearswiththeprevious15years. Hewill surely try tomis-lead thepeople. But peoplewillnotbelievehim.

Whenhecompareshis15yearswithLaluYadav’s15years…thesub-textisabouttheso-calledYadavhegemonyduringtheLaluruleagainst

whichtherewasbacklashfromothercastes.Soisn’tthatabaggageforyousinceRJDisthemainplayerinthemahagathbandhan?Themahagathbandhan has

nottakenafinaldecisiononwhowillbethenextCM.Iamnotsay-ing itwill not beTejashwiYadav.Buttill today,mahagathbandhanhasnottakenadecision.Secondly,whosoever it is…hewill bebet-ter than Nitish Kumar and thepeopleofBiharknowthat.

ButthenwhythisreluctanceinannouncingyourCMface?Thereisnoreluctance.Itisjust

about theprocess. The leadersofallthepartieswillsitanddecide.Itwillhappenattherighttimeandbeforetheelections.

Youareaveteraninpolitics.Youhavedonesocialjustice

politicsandseenthesocialjusticepoliticsofbothLaluandNitish.HeconstantlyharpsabouttheLalurule.TheRJD’sstandthatonlyapersonfromLalu’sfamilywillbecometheCM…willthatbeahandicap?This is not the issue before

Bihar. The issue before Bihar isaboutthefutureoftheyounggen-eration.Howwillourchildrenbeeducated?Whatwill happen tothepoorwhomigratebecauseoflackofhealthfacilitiesinthestate?These are the issues. The issue(thatyouareasking)willnotmat-termuch.

Therearesaidtobedifferencesinthemahagathbandhan.Therearenoissueswhichwe

cannot resolve andonwhichweneedtospendmuchenergy.

FULL INTERVIEWONwww.indianexpress.com

MAULSHREESETHLUCKNOW,JULY13

UTTARPRADESHVidhanSabhaSpeaker Hriday Narayan DixithasrejectedtwopetitionsbytheCongress, seeking to disqualifythemembership of the party’srebel MLAs from Rae Bareli ongrounds of “anti-party activity”under theanti-defection law.The Speaker rejected the

petitions against Rae BareliCity legislator Aditi Singh andHarchandpur MLA RakeshSingh, saying that they werenot found tohaveany strengthto be considered under the“10th Schedule of theConstitution” and thus cannotbe considered under the anti-defection law.

Aditi Singh was served no-tices by theCongress for partic-ipating in a special session con-vened on October 2 to discussthe UN millennium develop-ment goals despite the party’sdecision toboycott thesame.The disqualification clause

did not apply in her case as shedidnotdefyanypartywhipandonlyspokeonan“issueofpublicinterest”, sources said.CongresshadsoughtRakesh

Singh’s disqualification on thegroundthathehadcampaignedfor his brother Dinesh Singh,who had contested the LokSabha election against SoniaGandhi from Rae Bareli.However, it was found that theCongress could not present anystrong evidence to back its alle-gations, sources said.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JULY13

DISMISSING THE claim of for-mer chief minister DevendraFadnavis that he was in talkswiththeBJPtoformthegovern-ment inMaharashtra last year,NCP chief Sharad Pawar onMonday said that it was in factBJPleaderswhohadapproachedhim and his colleagues for gov-ernment formation in thestate.Hefurthersaidthatitwashis

“political ploy” to offer outsidesupport to the BJP to form thegovernment in2014tokeeptheShivSenaawayfromitsthenallyandwidenthedistancebetweenthesaffronallies.In the third part of an inter-

view to Shiv SenamouthpieceSaamana,Pawarsaid:“SomeBJPleadersspoketomeandmycol-leagues about government for-mation, insisting that they did-n’t want to go with Shiv Sena.Theysaidthat Ihavegoodequa-tions with Prime MinisterNarendraModi,whowouldalsointervene, and I should givemyapproval to it.”“Hence, to avoid giving any

wronginformationaboutmeormy party, I met the PM in hischamber inParliamentandtoldhim thatwewould not gowiththeBJP. If possible,wewill formthe government with the Senaor sit in the Opposition,” he

added.Earlier,Fadnavishadsaidthat

PawarwasintalkswiththeBJPtoform the government last yearandtooka“U-turn”.OnMonday,Pawar tookonFadnavis over hisremarks that it tookhim time todigestthefactthathehadlosttheCM’s post last year. “TheOpposition leader (in theAssembly)shouldacceptthatheisnotinpower.Heshouldaccepttheresponsibilitygivenbythepeopleandworkwithfullforcetofulfilit.It is not good to say that I amnotbeingabletodigestorforgetaboutnotbeinginpower,”hesaid.Pawar, the architect of the

Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) gov-ernment, said that BJP’s‘OperationLotus’wouldnotsuc-ceed inMaharashtra. “The BJP’sOperation Lotus is a grossmis-use of power to weaken anddestabilise a democratically-electedgovernment...”

KAVITHAIYERMUMBAI,JULY13

INWHATwill be thebiggest op-portunity for the Shiv Sena,CongressandNCPtoseizecontrolof village-level politics since los-ingthe initiative to theBJP in theyearsafter2014,theMaharashtragovernmentonMondayorderedthat administrators to nearly14,000 grampanchayatswill beappointedbyzillaparishadChiefExecutiveOfficersinconsultationwith their respective districtguardianministers.On account of Covid-19 and

the lockdown, the State ElectionCommission had earlier post-ponedelections to all grampan-chayats — the term of whoseelected bodies comes to an endbetween the imposition of thelockdown and October-November—andrecommendedthe appointment ofadministrators.Nearly 50 per cent of

Maharashtra’s 28,000-oddgrampanchayatswould have gone topolls between March andNovemberthisyear.OnMonday, a Government

Resolution issuedbyAdditionalChiefSecretaryArvindKumarsaidthatfromthepointofviewofad-ministrative convenience, zillaparishad CEOs would be en-trusted theworkof appointing asuitablepersonas administratorfor each grampanchayatwhosetenure is set toend. It added that

theappointmentswillbemadeinconsultationwith eachdistrict’sguardianminister.The order pertains to 1,566

grampanchayatswhose tenureended between April and Juneand another 12,668 grampan-chayats whose term ends be-tweenJulyandNovember.FromsarpanchestoMembers

ofParliament,leadersnotalignedtothecurrentMahaVikasAghadiregimesaidthatinvolvingdistrictguardianministersintheprocessof selectingadministratorswasablatantpoliticalmove,thoughBJPleadersdownplayed suggestionsthat itwill kick off an exodus ofgrassroots leaders into the threerulingparties.“These are bodies elected by

local voters.Weagree that elec-tionscannotbeheldnow,buthowcandistrictguardianministersbeinvolvedinfinalisingadministra-tors?Thisisapoliticallymotivateddecision,onethathasneverhap-pened in the history ofMaharashtra,” saidHarshavardhan Patil, formerMaharashtra cabinetministerwhomoved to the BJP from theCongress just before stateAssemblyelectionsin2019.Nanded MP Pratap Patil

Chikhalikar,whomovedtotheBJPbeforetheLokSabhaelectionslastyear, said theZPCEOs’ role in theselectionwill nowbeminimal.“Basically, guardian ministershave been given a free hand totakepolitical control of thegrampanchayats...”

FormerUP chiefministerKalyanSinghat theCBIspecial courtonMonday. ANI

BABRIDEMOLITIONTRIAL

‘Falsely implicated... ensured3-tier security of structure’

Culturallydeceived byIndia, Ramwas princein Nepal: Oli

THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEWWITH

UPENDRAKUSHWAHA

RLSPCHIEF

‘Nitish always said migration from Bihar hasstopped... Covid, lockdown exposed real situation’

Maharashtra: Pollsdelayed, nearly 14,000gram panchayats toget administrators

2014 support offer aploy to keep Sena awayfrom BJP, says Pawar

UP Speaker rejects Congplea against 2 rebel MLAs

14Scindialoyalistsamong28newministers

Another roundgoes toScindiaasChouhanallocatesministries

SharadPawar

New Delhi

11THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,JULY14,2020

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MOHAMEDTHAVERMUMBAI, JULY13

THE UTTAR Pradesh Police hasdone an about turn on the twopersons arrested by theMaharashtra Anti-TerrorismSquad (ATS) in connectionwithslaingangsterVikasDubey.Daysafter claiming that it need nottake their custody as theywerenot wanted by it in the Kanpurshootoutthatlefteightof itsper-sonnel dead, the UP Police onMondaysaidArvindTrivedialiasGuddanandSushilkumarTiwarialias Sonuwere wanted in thecase while taking the two intransit remand.The two have been in Taloja

prison inNaviMumbai sinceanATS team arrested them fromThane on July 11. A team of theKanpur police appeared beforeaThanecourtonMondaytotakecustodyofTrivedi,anallegedas-sociate of Dubey, and his driverTiwari.The UP Police told the court

that they are trying to organiseplaneticketsunderpoliceescortquota to take the two back toKanpur,butiftheydidn'tgetthat,theywouldtaketheduobyroad.InitsordergivingtheUPPolice

transit remand till July 16, the

courtsaid,“TheI.O(investigatingofficer)hassubmittedthat itwilltakearound48hoursincomplet-ing the journey and reachingKanpur. The IOhas further sub-mitted that hewill take the ac-cusedbyroadasrailwaysarenotfunctional.He further submittedthathewastryingtoobtainflightticketsinpoliceescortquota.”On July 9, Dubey had been

killed in an alleged encounterwhile being transported fromUjjain in Madhya Pradesh,where he was arrested, toKanpur.A copy of the police remand

appeal talksof the firing inBikru

villageonJuly3earlymorningbyDubey'smen on a 32-memberpoliceparty that hadgone to ar-rest him. Following this an FIRwasregisteredagainstDubey,21named and60-70unnamed ac-cused, the appeal says, adding"accusedArvindTrivedi@Guddaniswantedinthiscase".It adds that Guddanwas in-

volved inseveral criminalactiv-ities with Dubey and had alsoservedprison timewithhim.Regarding Tiwari, the re-

mandsays, “... he is thedriverofGuddan and is suspected in theabovecase.Itisnecessarytohaveboththeseaccusedontransitre-

mand for further investigationand in collection of various evi-dence in thecase.”Trivedi and Tiwari had been

arrested by an ATS team led byformer encounter specialistDayaNayak fromthehouseof arelativeof Trivedi inThane.

PolicesaidGuddan(right)was involved inseveralcriminalactivitieswithgangsterVikasDubey.Express

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESRINAGAR, JULY13

TWO JAISH-E-MOHAMMED(JeM) militants, including aPakistannational,werekilled inan encounter with securityforces in Anantnag onMondaymorning, Jammu and KashmirPolice said.Police officials said the en-

counterbrokeoutinAnantnag'sSrigufwaraareaafterajointcor-don-and-search operationwaslaunched by security forces inthe area. In the initial firing, po-licesaidthatonewomanwasin-jured."Duringthesearchoperation

as the presence of terrorists gotascertainedtheyweregiventheopportunity to surrender, how-ever they fired indiscriminatelyupon the joint search party,whichwas retaliated leading toan encounter," a police state-ment said, adding that onewoman also received gunshotinjuries."Intheensuingencounter,02

terrorists affiliated with pro-scribed terror outfit JeMwerekilled and their bodieswere re-trieved from the site of en-counter," thestatement said.The police identified one of

the slainmilitants asNasir aliasShahbazaliasBazBai,aPakistaniresident.Monday's encounter oc-

curredadayafterthreemilitantswere killed in a gunbattle withsecurityforcesinBaramulladis-trict's Sopore. Later, J&K Policesaid twoof three slainmilitantswere foreigners.DIG North Kashmir Range

Muhammad SulemanChoudhary, addressing a pressconference in Baramulla onMonday, said 16-17 local mili-tantsand35-40foreignmilitantsareactive inNorthKashmir.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESRINAGAR, JULY13

NEARLY A year after theywerefirst detained, the NationalConference (NC) on MondayfiledapetitionintheJammuandKashmirHighCourt,seekingtherelease of 16 party leaders stillunderhousearrest.PartypresidentandMPfrom

SrinagarDrFarooqAbdullahandvice-president Omar Abdullahfiled a habeas corpus petition,challenging “the unconstitu-tional and illegal house deten-tionof 16NCsenior leaders andfunctionaries”.Inastatement,thepartysaid

“the decision to move to thecourthasbeentakenasalastre-

sort to provide relief to variouspartymemberswho have con-tinuously beenunder house ar-rest or were kept under housedetention after being shiftedthere fromdetentioncentres”.Thepartyhadearlierwritten

tothePrincipalSecretary,Home,Jammu& Kashmir, seeking re-lease of all its functionaries un-der house arrest. The represen-tation signed by the 16 leadersnotedthat“noorder(preventiveor otherwise) justifying suchconfinement has till date beenservedupon” them.TheircounseltoldTheIndian

Express, “All the leaders havebeendetainedwithoutjustifica-tion or any grounds or orders...Wehave filed this petition afterwritingtothePrincipalSecretary

Homeandontheir failure toactonourrequest.Thisisaclearcaseofwrongful confinement.”The leaders named are Ali

MohammadSagar,AbdulRahimRather, Nasir AslamWani, AgaSyed Mehmood, MohammadKhalil Bandh, Irfan Shah,SahmeemaFirdous,MohammadShafi Uri, Aga Syed RuhullahMehdi, ChaudharyMohammadRamzaan,MubarakGul,DrBashirVeeri, Abdul Majeed Larmi,Basharat Bukhari, Saifudin BhatShutruandMohammadShafi.NCspokespersonImranNabi

Dar said the quashing of thePublic Safety Act (PSA) caseagainstpartygeneralsecretaryAliMohammadSagar“underscoredtheindefensiblenature”ofallthedetentionsinthecourtof law.

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI, JULY13

THE NATIONAL InvestigationAgency (NIA)onMonday filedachargesheet against 17 IslamicStatesuspectswhohadallegedlyformedaterrorgroupnamedAl-Hind to carry “out terrorist at-tacksinSouthIndia,especiallyinKarnataka and Tamil Nadu, andfor establishing Islamic Khilafatin India”.Among those chargesheeted

isKhajaMohideen,whoisoneofthe oldest alleged IS recruits theNIAhasbeen investigating since2017andwaschargesheeted lastweekinconnectionwiththemur-der of a police officer in TamilNadu.Mohideen(52)isallegedtobe an associate of HajaFakhruddin, among the first re-cruits from Indiawho allegedlyjoinedtheISinJanuary2014alongwithhis family. Bothof themarefromCuddaloreinTamilNadu.The NIA chargesheet has

claimed thegrouphadbeenes-tablished by Mohideen andMehboobPashaof Bengaluru.NIA earlier claimed that Al-

Hindwasformedtotarget“Hindu

leaders”andsecurityofficials.OnFebruary24,NIAhadcon-

ducted searches at 15 locationsinKarnatakainconnectionwiththecaseandsaid,"Thiscaseper-tains to a criminal conspiracywith an objective of murderingHinduleaders,creatingcommu-nal riots and todoanti-nationalactivities by forming a terroristgang,beinginspiredbyISIS...Themembers of the terrorist gangconducted meetings atBengaluru and other parts ofKarnataka, Tamil Nadu andpropagated ISIS ideology, pro-cured arms and ammunitionand other incriminatingmate-rial forexecuting theirplans.”According to NIA,Mehboob

Pasha, a resident ofGurappanapalya, Bengaluru, inassociationwithKhajaMohideenand Sadiq Basha (anotherchargesheetedaccused),formeda terror group for spreading theideology and activities of IS inIndiathroughitsoffshootknownasAl-HindinBengaluru.“Theywere conspiringwith

otherco-accusedatthehouseandAl-HindofficeofMahboobPashain Guruppanpalya and otherplaces in Karnataka and Tamil

NadusinceApril, 2019, for carry-ingout terrorist attacks in SouthIndia,especiallyinKarnatakaandTamilNadu, and for establishingIslamicKhilafat in India,” theNIAchargesheethasclaimed.According to the NIA, Pasha

andMohideenrecruitedvulner-ableyouths, andprocuredarmsand ammunition and largequantitiesofexplosivematerialstomakepowerful IEDs.“They also collected jungle

training material to conducttrainingatan identifiedplaceatShivanasamudraandGundelpetarea and for securing hideouts.The accused personswere alsocommunicating with an un-known foreign ISIS handlerthroughsecurechat(DarkWeb)for perpetrating ISIS activities,”NIAhassaid.The other chargesheeted ac-

cused have been identified asAbdulSamad,Thowfeek,SyedAliNavas,JaffarAli,AbdulShameem— all from Tamil Nadu. ThosefromKarnataka include ImranKhan,MohammedHaneefKhan,MohammedMansoor Ali Khan,Saleem Khan, Hussain Shariff,Ejaz Pasha, Zabiulla, Syed FasiurRehamanandMohammedZaid.

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,JULY13

THE NIA court in Kochi hasgrantedbail toanallegedISsup-porter, who has been in judicialcustodysince June2019afterhewasarrestedby theagencydur-ing a probe into Indian links totheEasterbombingsinSriLanka.Granting bail to Sheik

Hidayathullah alias Firoz Khan(38), a native of Coimbatore,Special Judge P Krishna Kumarobserved, “There is nothing onrecord to show that the peti-tioner has actually associatedwith, or professed tohave asso-ciatedwith ISIS, withoutwhichSection 38 of UAPA Actwill notcomeintoplay.Astheterm‘sup-port’ doesnotmeanmereemo-tional or ideological support,without any further physicalacts, Section 39 of UAPA Act isalsonotattracted.”The bail was granted last

Thursday after the court’s pe-

rusal of the charge sheet andcasediary. It isthefirsttimethatan alleged ISIS supporter hasbeengrantedbail inKerala.A bail plea by another ac-

cused,MohammedAzarudheen,was rejected.The twowere arrested and

chargesheeted under Section120 B of IPC, readwith Sections38and39of theUAPA.The prosecution has alleged

thattheaccusedhavebeenactivemembersoftheISfrom2017andconspired to further its activitiesbyformingamodule.Theyprop-agatedISideologyinTamilNaduandKerala by variousmeans torecruityouthsintotheoutfit,andusedtowatchspeechesofradicalspeakers such as Anwar -Al-Awlaqi, Abu Bara, MoosaCerantonio, Zahran Hashim ofSrilanka,theprosecutionclaimed.Thecourt said inorder toat-

tractSection38of theUAPAAct,there should be materials toshowthattheaccusedhadasso-ciated themselveswith ISand itwasdonewiththeparticularin-

tention to further the activitiesoftheterrorgroup.Thejudgeob-served that ideological or emo-tionalsupportmayresultinsub-jugationtosuchorganisationsinthefuture.“Theallegedintentionofthepetitionermightbehighlyimmoral or devilish, but therecordsdonotshowthathecar-riedit furthersoastoattract theconsequences contemplated inthe said penal provisions,” saidthe judge.Referring to the digital evi-

dence, the court said theFacebook account of Firoz Khandoesnotshowthathemadeanypost related to IS or picturesshowingtheISflag.“However,heposted a photograph of a softdrink bottle and two detachedwires, with a quote of Anwar-Al-Awlaqi, a personwho is saidto be propagating Islamic ideol-ogy. Neither the picture in thepostnor thewordsexpressed initisprimafaciesufficienttoshowthat the petitioner is associatedwith IS or that he posted thesametofurther itsactivity.’’

ADILAKHZERSRINAGAR, JULY13

THE JAMMU and Kashmir ad-ministration'sannouncementoflockdown in several parts ofSrinagar and its simultaneousmove to open up the Valley totouristshasleftpeopleconfused.On Sunday afternoon, the

Srinagar administration an-nounced restrictions on publicmovement in 88 areas. And onSundayevening,theadministra-tion issued orders to allowtourists into Jammu andKashmir in a phased manner,startingTuesday.A government order stated

that in phase-1, “therewill be apartial opening of the tourismsector for external visitors, lim-itedtotouristsarrivingfromout-side theUTbyaironly”.Residents andmembers of

thebusinesscommunitysaidtheordershavecreatedconfusion.

When contacted, DivisionalCommissioner,Kashmir,PKPoletoldTheIndianExpress,“Attheair-port,wehaveafoolproof systemin place and testing of every in-coming traveller is being done.”The decision to open up parkswastakensothatthereare“lesserpeopleontheroads”,hesaid.Kashmir Chamber of

Commerce and IndustryChairman Sheikh Aashiq said,“People are not able to under-standwhat is open andwhat isclosed. The government mustcomeoutandconveythecorrectpicture to thepublic.”ThePDPand theNCsaid the

administrationhadfailedtocon-trol thepandemicandwasnowissuingconfusingorders.TheBJP’snationalvice-presi-

dent (youth wing) Er AijazHussain tweeted, “LockDownin#Kashmir is noway a solutionwhenrestofpartsofthecountryare opening in phasesmanner.Thiswillcreatechaosinpublic...”

NIA chargesheets 17 IS suspects for‘terror attack conspiracy in India’

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY13

THE GOVERNMENT has askedPress Trust of India (PTI) to pay,within30days, overRs84crorefor “breaches in the premises,”or allegedviolations to termsofleasefortheofficeland.Orpaya10per cent interest on the duesfromthedateof the letter.The government has asked

thenewsagencyto“removethebreaches”byJuly14,fromtheof-ficeonParliamentStreet incen-tral Delhi. In its demand letterdated July 7, it has stated that“thelessorwillbepleasedtoreg-ularisethebreachesintheprem-ises temporarily up to 14-07-2020 andwithdraw the right ofre-entry of the premises,” sub-ject to PTImeeting certain con-ditions, including thepayment.Sources said that a similar

breach notice was sent inFebruary 2018 related to a ter-race guest house, a canteen,workshop and some rooms inthe basement towhich PTI hadrepliedinAugust2018askingforthe procedure to regularise. Noreplywasreceived,sourcessaid.The Land and Development

Officer(LDO)undertheMinistryconducted an inspection inJanuary this year followingwhich another breach noticewasreceivedbyPTIonMarch11,2020.Whenreachedforcomment,

a PTI spokesperson said, “Wehavejustreceivedademandno-tice” and added that “we areseeking clarification from au-thorities.”The move comes over two

weeks after the government-owned, autonomous publicbroadcaster Prasar Bharatihad written to PTI accusingthatitsreportingwas“notinna-tional interest” and hadmen-tioned that it would review itsrelationship.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD, JULY13

ADAY after a 23-year-oldmanwas assaulted at a police checkpostinAhmedabad,leadingtohisadmission to the Civil HospitalICU,thepoliceonMondaybookedacaseagainst an“unknownper-sonappearingaspolice”.The victim has been identi-

fiedasJunaidKhanPathan,23,acarmechanic. According to theFIR lodged at Gaekwad Havelipolice station, the incident oc-curred on Sunday. Junaid wasdriving a car with his friendSohail when he was asked tostop near a police outpost by aman dressed in civil clothes.WhenJunaidtriedtosteerhiscaraway from the check post, theaccusedmanhithimonhisheadwithawoodenstick.TheFIRfur-ther states that due to the as-sault, Junaid lost control of hisvehicle rammed intoadivider.

On Sunday night, local resi-dents of Jamalpur also staged aprotest after a rumour hadstarted that Junaid was notwearing amaskwhile driving.However,policehavenotyetre-vealed the reasonwhy Junaid’scarwasbeingstopped.According to the family

members of Junaid, after policeinitially refused to lodge an FIRinthematter,aprotestwasheldon Monday at JamalpurDarwazawhichwas headed byCongresscorporatorShahnawaz.LateronMondaynight,anFIR

was lodged under IPC sections323 (causing hurt), 324(causinghurtbydeadlyweapon)and325(causing grievous hurt) againstan “unknownpersondressed incivil, appearingaspolice.”Speaking to The Indian

Express, Makrand Chauhan,deputy commissioner of police(Zone3)said,“weareinvestigat-ing the case, we have the CCTVfootageof the incident.”

BASHAARATMASOODSRINAGAR, JULY13

THEUNIONTerritoryadministra-tion of JammuandKashmir didnotallowanypolitical or civilianvisitortothe'Martyr'sCemetery'onMondaytocommemorate22protesters who were killed in1931during an agitation againstthe thenDogra rulers. This is thefirst timesince1948thatnovisi-torswere allowed in the ceme-terytomarktheevent.Following abrogation of

Jammu and Kashmir’s specialstatus, and splitting the erst-whilestateintotwoUTs,theJ&Kadministrationhascancelledtheofficial holiday and functionsearlierheldon July13.OnMondaymorning,thepo-

liceblockedroadsleadingtothecemetery in old Srinagar to re-strictmovement,amovethatin-vitedcriticismfrommainstreampoliticalparties.

Govt asks PTI topay Rs 84.4 crfor ‘breaches’ inoffice premises

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY13

CITINGSEPARATIONof powers,the Supreme Court onMondaydeclinedtoentertainapleaseek-ing its intervention to restrainpublicparticipationinthisyear’sAmarnath Yatra in view of theCovid-19 situation. The courtsaid it is for the administrationto decide, keeping in view therelevant factors.A bench of Justices D Y

Chandrachud, Indu Malhotraand KM Joseph said that in thepresent case, “the recoursewhichhas been taken to the ju-risdiction under Article 32 ofConstitution is inappropriate”.Thecourtsaid:“...whetherthe

AmarnathYatrashouldorshouldnotbeheld is amatter left to thecompetenceofthelocaladminis-tration. Any decision that is ar-rivedathastobebasedonlawandon relevant statutory provisionsholding the field. Entertaining awrit petitionunderArticle 32 atthisstagewouldinvolvethiscourttakingoveranexecutivefunctionofoversightoverthelocaladmin-istration.Wedecline to exercisethe jurisdictionunderArticle 32to takeover thesepowersundertherubricof judicialreview.”The courtwashearing aplea

byShriAmarnathBarfaniLangarOrganisation,avoluntaryorgan-isationinvolvedinarrangingfood,shelter,medical aid, etc, for thepilgrims.Theorganisationprayedthattheconductof theritualisticworship be restricted to thepriests,trustees,etc,andpeople'sparticipationnotbeallowed.Appearing for the petitioner,

senior advocateDevdutt Kamatsaidit isapublichealthissueandtherearenearly9lakhcoronaviruscases in India.Thepetitioneralsosought a direction that arrange-mentsbemadefor“livedarshan”attheshrinethroughtheinternetandelectronicmedia.Thebenchsaid,“Theprinciple

of separationof powers requiresthat administrative decisionsmustbetakenwheretheyareen-trusted,namelybytheexecutivearm of the state. The courtwillstepinwheretheparametersforjudicialreview...arise.”

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

SC declines pleaseeking curbs onAmarnath Yatradue to Covid

Pak nationalamong two JeMmilitants killedin Anantnag

Lanka bombings probe: NIAcourt grants bail to IS suspect

BarricadesinSrinagar’sLalchowkareatostopthemovementofpeopleaftertheJ&KauthoritiesimposedalockdowninpartsofthecityfollowingasurgeinCovid-19cases.ShuaibMasoodi

Lucknow: The Lucknowbench of Allahabad HighCourtonMondaydismisseda petition seeking directionfor constituting a JudicialCommission headed by aformer or sitting Judge toprobe into the police en-counterthatledtothedeathof Vikas Dubey on July 10.The bench dismissed thewritpetitionafterconsider-ingthefact thatanSITandaJudicialCommissionhaveal-ready been constituted bythestategovernment toen-quire into the alleged inci-dent in question, saidAdditionalAdvocateGeneralVinodKumarShahi.ENS

HC junks pleafor probe byjudicial panel

UPPolice takes custody ofDubey ‘aide’ held in Thane

Confusion as parts ofSrinagar locked down,Valley open for tourists

NC moves HC for release of 16party leaders under house arrest

J&K admin barsassembly at‘martyrs’cemetery’ Day after man assaulted

at police check post,‘unknown person’ booked

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIATHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,JULY13

PRIMEACCUSEDinagoldsmug-gling case, Swapna Suresh, andtwo firms, includingPricewaterhouseCoopers, wereonMonday booked on chargesofcheatingandforgerybyKeralapolice over alleged fake degreecertificate submitted by her tosecure a job in the state IT de-partment, fromwhich she hasnowbeenremoved.The consulting agency

PricewaterhouseCoopers andVisionTechnologies,responsibleforverifyingthedocumentssub-mitted by her, were the secondandthirdaccusedinthecase,po-licesaid.ThecasewasregisteredonacomplaintbytheKeralaStateIT Infrastructure Limited,whichisundertheITdepartment.

Jammu: Chief of Army Staff,General MM Naravane, onMondayvisited forwardareas inthe Jammu-Pathankot region—under theoperational commandoftheRisingStarCorps—toreviewthecurrentsecuritysituationandoperationalreadinessoftroops.Speaking during the visit,

General Naravane reiterated a“zero tolerance” policy againstceasefireviolationsbyPakistan.Headded that all agencies of theforcesandthegovernmentwouldcontinue towork together tode-featthenefariousdesignofaproxywarbeingfuelledbyadversaries.Healsoaddressedallranksof

the Western Command viavideo-conferenceandlaudedtheeffortsofalltheformationsinthefightagainst thepandemic.ENS

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL, JULY13

THEBHOPALdistrictadministra-tion onMonday demolished awedding hall owned by theowner of a newspaperwhowasbookedforallegedlyrapingminorgirlsandoperatingasexracket.Policehavealsoarresteda21-

year-oldwomanassociateofPyareMiyan (68),whohasbeenbring-ingouttheAfkardailyfromBhopalfor the last many years. Policesearched for him inBhopal and

Indoreandhaveannouncedare-wardforanyinformationonhim.ADG Upendra Jain said the

wedding hall was demolishedbecauseitwasunauthorisedanda flat owned byMiyanwas alsolikely to be pulled down onTuesday. He said the victimshaveso farnamedonlyMiyan.Bhopal police had caught six

girls, including fourminors, in asuspicious conditionon the roadfromBhadbhada to Ratibad onSundaymorning.ThegirlsallegedthatMiyan used to ask them todanceatpartiesandalsoexploited

themsexuallyathisflat.Thegirlshadgathered lateonSaturdayatMiyan’s flat andhe allegedly ex-ploitedtwoofthemafterofferingthemfoodanddrinks.Miyan’s associate allegedly

offeredmoneytothevictimsnotto reveal thematter toanyone.Archana Sahay of Childline,

whocounselled theallegedvic-tims,toldTheIndianExpressthatMiyan had abused themmanytimes in the past. After the firstcomplaintwasfiledbyChildline,a teenaged girl filed anothercomplaintonMonday.

Gold smugglingaccused Swapna,PwC bookedover allegationsof fake degree

Army chief visitsJammu-Pathankotforward areas

Bhopal hall owned by bookednewspaper owner demolished

New Delhi

12WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SACHIN AUTOPILOTIfAshokGehlotandhisdeputyaretoblameforthecurrent

mess,SoniaandRahularetheco-accused—all fourneedtoreset

I N2018,AFTERtheCongresswonunderwhelmingly inRajasthan,scrapingpast thehalfwaymarkinastatewhereanti-incumbencysentimentwasstrongagainsttheBJP’sVasundharaRaje government, AshokGehlotwasmade chiefminister andSachinPilothisdeputy.ThatwasclearlynottheendoftheleadershiptussleintheCongress.

Itwas,infact,onlythebeginningofanewphaseoftheattritionwithin.Forthatpersistentun-easeinoneofthefewstateswheretheCongressstillhasagovernment,bothGehlotandPilotaretoblame—Gehlotmore,giventhatastheheadofgovernment,thebuckstopswithhim.ButPilotisn'ttheinnocentvictimdoneinbyawilysuperior.IftheNo.2job,asitwasdefined,was toosmall forhim,heshouldnothave taken it. Sulkingabout theCMwhenyouarehisdeputyinthegovernmentisneithergoodpoliticsnorsmartgovernance.Butthistime,Gehlotmusttakeresponsibility for theextraordinarysequenceof events—abizarrenotice issuedto Pilot, amongothers, by theRajasthanPolice’s SpecialOperationGroup, to record theirstatementsinconnectionwiththearrestoftwoBJPleadersallegedlyconspiringtotoppletheCongressgovernment.After that,anall-too-familiarpoliticalbrinkmanshiphasplayedoutinaCongressgovernmentstilltoturntwoyearsold—MLAsopenlydividedintocamps,be-ingferriedinbuseswithtintedwindowsintofortress-likeresorts.Allthis,evenastheotherstapleofanOppositiongovernmentincrisisinrecenttimes—incometaxraids—takesplace,apparentlycoincidentally.But if Gehlotmust own the larger share of the blame for the Congress unravelling in

Jaipur, it isthepartyhighcommandthatismostanswerable. If itknewofthepatchypeacebetweenthewarringCMandhisdeputy—andhowcoulditnot—thequestionis:Whatdiditdotoresolvetheresentments?Whatmechanismsdiditput inplacetopreventabreak-down like this one? There is no evidence that either SoniaGandhi or Rahul Gandhi ad-dressedthemselvestothetaskinRajasthanwithanyurgency.LikemuchelseintheCongress,theCMvsDeputyCMconflictinJaipurwasleftunattended,andallowedtofesterandgrow.TheorganisationallistlessnessthathasmarkedtheCongresseversincetheModiBJPlaiditlowhascontributedtotheimplosioninRajasthan—justas it ledtothecollapse,earlier,oftheKamalNathgovernmentinMadhyaPradeshaftertheexitofJyotiradityaScindiaandsub-sequentcross-overtotheBJP.Theirresolutenessatthecentreoftheparty,ifitcontinues,couldwell stokeother simmering factional resentments inother stateunits, jeopardisingmoreCongressgovernments.WhicheverwaytheGehlotvsPilot face-offgoes, thismuchisclear:TheCongressneeds

togetagriponitselfandthatprocessmuststartwithfillingtheapparentleadershipvacuumatitscentre.Itcannotkeepdeferringimportantdecisionsindefinitely.ThisisavitalnecessityfortheCongress,ifitwishestosurvive.Itisalsonecessaryforthepolitytohaveacoherentandhealthynationalpartyof theOpposition.

A CASE FOR BAILFirst,VaravaraRaomustget theurgentmedical careheneeds

—that ishis right, andthehumanestate response

THEGOVERNMENTMUSTurgentlyheedthepleaof thefamilyof jailedTelugupoetandcivil rightsactivist,VaravaraRao, toshifthimtoahospital inviewofhismedical condition amid the pandemic. Rao, 81, is currently in Taloja jail,NaviMumbai,facingtrialintheElgarParishadcasewith10others.Maharashtra

minister JitendraAwhad,onSunday,confirmedthefamily’sworriesaboutRao’sdeterio-ratinghealthandappealedtotheCentreto“urgentlyshifthimtoahospital”.Courts have repeatedly held that bail is the rule and jail is the exception. However,

they have been conspicuously reluctant to apply this principle in Rao’s case— his bailpleas havebeen rejected several times. The accused in the Elgar Parishad case—publicintellectualswithdistinguishedrecordsashumanrightsactivists—havebeenbookedun-dertheprovisionsof thedraconianUnlawfulActivities(Prevention)Act,whichallowex-tendeddetentionwithouttrialandbail.Thechargesheet filedbytheNIAholdsthatRao,who has been awaiting trial since August 2018, is a seniormember of the banned CPI(Maoist) and thatheconspired toorganise theElgarParishad,buthis advancedageandprecarioushealthclearly indicate thathe is innocondition toderail the investigationortamperwith evidence. The Supreme Court has ruled in the past thatmembership of aproscribedorganisation is not sufficient reason todeemapersona criminal. Rao—andhisco-accused—shouldbegivenbail,especiallyconsideringthequestionsthatcontinuetosurroundtheir incarceration in the firstplace.TheMaharashtra police had claimednearly twoyears ago that the Elgar Parishad, a

publicgatheringofDalit andLeft-leaninggroups inPuneonDecember31,2017,wasor-ganisedtodestabilise thegovernment.TheParishadwasalsoblamedfor incitingthevi-olencethatrockedacommemorationeventbyDalitgroupsatBhimaKoregaonthenextday. Investigators claim to have unearthed a conspiracy and arrested political activistsfrom across the country—most of themhad not attended the Parishad.With severalquestionshangingover theveracityof thepoliceclaims, it isnecessary tohaveaspeedytrial andclosure in thecase.Keepingwidely respectedwriters andacademiciansundera prolonged cloud of suspicion in prison does not behove a liberal democracy that re-spects freespeechandthe fundamental right toa fair trial, includingbail.

THE MASKED ONEAmerica's scoffer-in-chief hasappeared inamask for the firsttime.Thisdeep into thepandemic, it’s justablack joke

THEEPITHETOF “maskedman”usually signals that thePhantom,BatmanorZorroispresentandwillstartpoundingtheungodlyimmediately.ButDonaldTrump, admiringhimself in amask, has invoked theWest anddiscovered astrikingresemblancewiththevintageLoneRanger.Trumpdidhisself-admi-

ration in the strictest privacy, being a resolute foe ofmasks. Hehad said that he did notseehimselfgreeting“presidents,primeministers,dictators,kings,queens”inamask.Heseemstobeignorantof themoralcodeof theLoneRanger,whichincludesthedirective:“Thatamanshouldmake themost/ofwhatequipmenthehas.”Trumphasnotbeenkemosabe(trustyscout)tohispeople,whoarebearingthebrunt

of thepandemic.Themaskisaboutalltheequipmentthatthecitizenhasagainstspread-ingthedisease.Trump’srejectionof thiscommon-senseprotectionhasservedasanex-ampletohisflock,whoabhormasksforinterferingwith“God’swonderfulbreathingsys-tem”.Hehasscoffedatpolitical foe JoeBidenforbeingresponsibleandwearingamask.HisrecentshowatMountRushmorehadpeoplepackedlikesardines,andveryfewworemasks. Theresultsareawaited.But Trump’smaskpoliticsmaybemaking the sensibleRepublicanvoteruncomfort-

able,andachangeoftackisvisible.TrumpworeamasktovisitveteransattheWalterReedmilitaryhospital.Hethoughtitwouldbeirresponsibletodootherwisewhenencounter-ing thevulnerable. TheEnglishwouldhave said that it’s like closing the stabledoorafterthehorsehadbolted.TheAmericans,whoaremorevisceral,thinkit’slikeusingaprophy-lactic after theact. Andwhilemeetingkings, queensand tinpotdictators, Trumpwill re-mainpersistently,gloriouslyunmasked.Godhelptheminthetribulationsto follow.

Thoothukudi to Kanpur

Prakash Singh

Radhika Pandey andAmrita Pillai

Thepoliceareinthedock.Reformsmuststartwiththepoliticalsystem

A BETTER LENDINGBanksneedtosetasidecredit fornewfirms,raisedisbursements

POLICEWAS IN the news for the right rea-sonstillyesterday—foritshumanitarianroleduring the pandemic. It was lauded as “thefrontlineofthefrontline”andeventheprimeministersaidthat“thehumanandsensitiveside of policing has touched our hearts”.Unfortunately, thependulumhasverysoonswungto theotherextreme.Thebrutal treatmentof a father and son

in Sathankulam police station ofThoothukudi district in Tamil Nadu, result-ing in their death, exposed the ugly face ofthepolice. It showed that thepolice are stillrelyingonmedievalmethods intheirdaytodayworkingandthatcustodial torturecon-tinuestobeanareaofseriousconcern.Whatwas worse, the supervisory officers abdi-cated their responsibility and failed in theirprimarydutyofregisteringacaseagainstthedelinquent police personnel and gettingthemarrested. It is agreatpity that thehighcourt had to step in and the case had to behanded over to the CBI. The situation couldhave been easily defused if the officers hadrisentotheoccasionandensuredactionun-der the law.Wearenowfacedwith theem-barrassment of the UN Secretary Generalwanting the incident tobe investigated.On top of that, we have an encounter in

Kanpur where a criminal wanted for themurderof eightpolicemenwaskilledbyUPPolice under circumstances which haveraised uncomfortable questions. Thesewouldhopefullybeansweredbyaproperin-quiryintothematterinduecourse.However,weneedtogo to the rootof theproblem.Asfarbackas1993,theVohraCommittee

had submitted a report on the nexus be-tweenthecriminals,politiciansandgovern-ment functionaries. TheDIB, inhis report totheCommittee, clearly stated that “thenet-workof themafia isvirtually runningapar-allelgovernment,pushingthestateappara-tus to irrelevance”, and suggested that aninstitutionbe set up to effectivelydealwiththemenace.Therewereheateddiscussionsin Parliament, but thematter ended there.

Therewashardlyany follow-upaction.And it was futile to expect any decisive

action. Politics in thecountrywasgraduallyentering amurky phase. Themafiosi, whowere hitherto supporting the politiciansfromoutside, had decided to enter the fray.They started contesting elections on partytickets. It is a sad reflection on our democ-racy that thenumberofmembersof parlia-mentwithcriminalbackgroundhasbeengo-ingupwitheverysuccessiveelection. Itwas,according to the Association of DemocraticReforms, 30per cent in2009, 34per cent in2014and43percentin2019.ThepresentUPAssemblyhas36percentor143MLAswithcriminalcasesagainstthem.Whatdoweex-pect from them in their constituencies ex-cept that the administration should turn ablindeyeto,ifnotsupporttheirdepredationsandalsoof their henchmen?Thenexushasproliferatedandgrowninstrengthdowntheyears. It creates an environmentwhere thecriminalswhoarepartof thenexusareableto dodge the due processes of law. After all,VikasDubeyhad62FIRsagainsthim,includ-ingsevenofmurderandeightof attempt tomurder, andyethewas roaming free.Whatisthewayout?Thenexuswillhave

to be broken and reformsmust start withthe political system.Wemust have a lawwhichdebarspersonswithseriouscriminalcases fromentering theassembliesandtheParliament. Secondly, the criminal justicesystemmustberevampedasrecommendedby the Malimath Committee. Thirdly, theSupreme Court’s directions on police re-formsmust be implemented. Fourthly, aninstitutioncomprisingrepresentativesof thepolice/CBI/NIA, IntelligenceBureau, IncomeTax department, Revenue Intelligence andEnforcement Directorate should be set upto monitor the activities of the mafia andcriminal syndicates in the country and en-surestringentactionagainstthem.Fifthly,aCentralactonthelinesofMCOCAshouldbeenacted to curb the activities of organisedcriminal gangs. Sixthly, the concept of fed-

eral crime, as recommendedby theSecondAdministrative Reforms Commission,shouldbeacceptedandoffenceswhichhaveall-Indiaramificationsoraretrans-nationalin character, like those of terrorismandor-ganised crimes, should be brought withinits ambit. It may sound like asking for toomuch,butwehavebeendiscussingtheneedfor suchmeasures for a long time. Is it nottime to take up these reforms in rightearnest? The journey of a thousandmiles,they say, beginswith the first step. Let thatstepbe takenat least.The aftermath of George Floyd being

chokedtodeathbyawhitepolicemanintheUS has lessons for us. Therewere country-wide protests and demonstrations. TheDemocratsinWashingtonevendraftedaBillcalledtheJusticeinPolicingActforpolicere-forms.PresidentDonaldTrump,respondingto the widespread demand for police re-forms, signedanexecutiveorderon June16to establish a databasewhichwould trackpolice officers with excessive use of forcecomplaintsintheirrecords.Itwould,besides,givethepolicedepartmentafinancialincen-tive to adopt best practices and encourageco-responder programmes inwhich socialworkerswouldjointhepolicewhentheyre-spondtonon-violentcalls involvingmentalhealth, addiction and homeless issues. InIndia, has anymember of parliament evenspokenof theneed forpolice reforms?Ourleadersshouldseethewritingonthe

wall. Any spark of policemisconduct of thekind that happened in Thoothukudi couldtomorrowleadtoaprairiefireofpopularin-dignation and protests across the country.Wemust,withoutfurtherdelay,buildanen-vironmentwherepolicebecomesaninstru-ment of service to the people, wheremon-sters likeDubeydonot thriveandbecomeamenace tosociety.

Thewriterwas formerlyDirectorGeneralofPolice,UP,DGPAssamandDirector-General

of theBorderSecurityForce

THEGOVERNMENT’Sinitiativesannouncedinthestimuluspackagehavebeengearedto-wards helpingMSMEsmaintain liquidityand for ensuring greater credit availability.The emergency credit line, the subordinatedebtprovisionandtheequityinfusionmeas-ure, apart from the long-awaited reform totheMSMEdefinition, have been significantinterventions.Itisimportant,however,toex-aminehowgame-changing theyhavebeento the existence of approximately 6.3 croreMSMEs that employ 11 crore people acrossthecountry.A recent nationwide survey, conducted

bytheAll IndiaManufacturingOrganisation(AIMO),foundthat78percentofsmallcom-panies’ ownerswere not satisfiedwith theimplementationof thepackage. The resultsof thesurveyalsosuggest that transmissiononthegroundisslow,moreover85percentof the sectormaynot benefit from it. In an-other survey carried out by FICCI-DhruvaAdvisors,79percentofrespondentsbelievedthat the Emergency Credit Line GuaranteeScheme(ECLGS)hasnotyieldedthedesiredresults, while 70 per cent say that theyhaven’t availed thebenefits of loans and in-terestmoratorium. As of July 4, Rs 1.14 lakhcroreworth of loans have been sanctioned.However, only close to half that amountsanctionedhasbeendisbursed.EvenbeforeCOVID,theMSMEsectorwas

marred by rampant informality, stuntedgrowthandboreaheavyshareofthecompli-ance burden. It is important to periodicallyassessandidentifymeasuresthatcouldeasethesechallengesthathavebeenexacerbatedby thepandemicandprovide relief to thesebusinesses.Despitefinancialandregulatorysupportofferedto thesector, there isaclearoperationalisationandimplementationgap.

The Global Alliance for MassEntrepreneurship’s (GAME) National TaskForceonMSMEsrecommendationsholdthepromise of not just short-term survival butalsoof helpingMSMEs thrive.Thisentailsensuringcreditreachesthose

who need it the most. Credit growth toMSMEs, inparticular,hasdeclined—aclearsignofrisk-aversebanklendingthathasonlybecomeworse. Lending tomicro and smallenterpriseshascontracted3.4percent,whiletomediumenterprises, ithascontracted5.3per cent. TheRBI has clarified thatMemberLendingInstitutions(MLIs)shallassignzeroper cent riskweight on credit facilities ex-tended under the scheme since these arebackedbyanunconditionalandirrevocableguaranteebythegovernment.Despitethis,alaginloandisbursals isseen,especiallywithprivatesectorbanksstillhesitanttolend,butevenwhen doing so, preferring to disburselarger loans.Inlightofthesetrendsanddrawingupon

theGAME-sponsoredtaskforcerecommen-dations,afewchangestothecurrentsystemof credit supportareproposedherewith.First, set aside credit for new-to-credit

MSMEswith a focus of bringing them intothe formalised fold. The current scheme isopenonlytoMSMEswhohaveaRs25-croreloanoutstanding anda turnover of up toRs100crore.This implies that freshborrowerscannot avail of this scheme. SuchMSMEsneed to be targeted to bring them into theformalcreditecosystem.TheTaskForcehasrecommended that Rs 1 lakh crore be setasidefordisbursingsmallticketsizeloansofRs1 lakh to first-timeMSMEborrowers.Second,mandateadefinitepercentageof

creditguaranteedloanstobereleasedtomi-cro and small businesses. Ninety-nine per

cent of enterprises in theMSME sector aremicro-enterprises that are largely informal.These6.3croremicro-enterprisescompriseofone-person businesses/self-employed per-sonsandunitsthatemploylessthan10work-ers. Small enterprises, at an estimated 3.3lakh,arethenexthighestinnumber.Posttheupward revision in turnover limits ofmediumenterprises,agreaternumberofen-terpriseswillbeeligible forbenefitsenlistedfor this sector. To ensure that these enter-prisesarenotcrowdedoutinsuchasituation,mandating a certain percentage of creditguaranteed loans tomicro and small enter-prisescouldoffer themnecessarysuccour.Third, bridge the gap between the

amountssanctionedanddisbursedbybanksunder the ECLGS. It could be that state-owned banks are under pressure to showthat the scheme has received a good re-sponse,andhencearegivingautomaticsanc-tions to all eligible borrowers.Disbursements,however,willdependontheactualcreditneedsof theborrower.Anotherreason could be that a borrower can availonly 20 per cent of the outstanding loanamount. For thoseMSMEs that have repaidtheirloans,thewindowoffreshloansisverysmall. Such prescriptions need to be exam-inedtoensure thatMSMEs ingenuineneedof credit arenot leftout.Fourth, scheme eligibility, application

processes,andbenefitsneedtobeconveyedmoresimply.While theCHAMPIONSportalhas a comprehensive information base andexhaustive FAQs, these need to be dissemi-natedinmultiplelanguagesthroughvariouschannels.

PandeyandPillai areFellowandResearchFellowatNIPFP.Viewsarepersonal

We must have a law whichdebars persons with seriouscriminal cases from enteringthe assemblies andParliament. Secondly, thecriminal justice system mustbe revamped asrecommended by theMalimath Committee.Thirdly, the Supreme Court’sdirections on police reformsmust be implemented.Fourthly, an institutioncomprising representatives ofthe police/CBI/NIA,Intelligence Bureau, IncomeTax department, RevenueIntelligence and EnforcementDirectorate should be set upto monitor the activities of themafia and criminal syndicatesin the country and ensurestringent action against them.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

WORDLYWISEMasked, I advance.

— RENE DESCARTESTHEEDITORIALPAGE

CONGRESS PARLEYSTHEKARNATAKACHIEFMinister,GunduRaohadanunscheduledmeetingwiththeAndhraPradesh CMChenna Reddy during his briefstopover at Hyderabad. The AndhraHomeMinisterMMJashimwasalsopresentat themeeting. Political circles attach great signifi-cance to themeeting in viewof the fact thatReddyhasbeen“sounded”outbytheparty’shighcommandtodiscussthesituationinthestate.Rao is alsoamemberof theCongress’sCentralParliamentarycommittee.Reddyandhis colleaguesmaintain that the two leaders“hadjustmetoveracupof tea”butinformedsources thatRaowascarryingthehighcom-

mand’smessagetotheAndhraCM.Reddysaidhewouldgivehisviewsaboutthesituationinthestateatanappropriatemoment.

VAJPAYEE ON ASSAMTHEPRESIDENTOFtheBharatiyaJanataParty,Atal BihariVajpayee, hasurged theCentre toresume talkswith the leaders of the Assammovement on the foreigners issuewithoutanyprecondition.Themovementhadreachedacriticalstateandthefailuretoarriveataso-lutionthroughnegotiationscouldleadtodis-astrous consequences, he said. The govern-mentwasobligedtotakea“sympatheticandconstructiveattitude”, theBJPleadersaid.

WORKERS’ STIRTHEINDUSTRIALWORKERSofFaridabadandBallabhgarh are on the warpath again.Intelligence sources say that the situation is“highlyexplosive”andifurgentstepsarenottaken,theretrenchedfactoryhands,whowereinvolved in violent acts inOctober last year,mightrepeat it.

FLOOD THREATSUTTARPRADESHISbracingitself forfloodsinitseasternregion.TheriverGhagrahascrossedthedangermarkatBarabankiandrisingalongits course leading to its confluence withtheGanga.

JULY 14, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

The current scheme is openonly to MSMEs who have aRs 25-crore loan outstandingand a turnover of up to Rs100 crore. This implies thatfresh borrowers cannot availof this scheme. SuchMSMEs need to be targetedto bring them into theformal credit ecosystem.

New Delhi

13THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“Decoupling from China goes completely against Europe's interests. Despitecompetition between the two sides, China provides irreplaceable marketresources for Europe to keep being powerful.” —GLOBALTIMES,CHINATHE IDEASPAGE

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

While influence operationscan shape policy evolution intargeted nations, theycertainly can’t eliminatepolitics. It is rather hard, inthe end, to turn a nationagainst itself for a prolongedperiod of time. While Chinawas close to winning over acritical section of the Britishelite, there was a major revoltin the Conservative Partyagainst the Huawei decision.Coupled with pressure fromthe US, Prime Minister BorisJohnson has begun to reviewthe relationship with China.He is expected to announceat least a partial Britishdissociation from Huaweithis week.

India, like the USBothmustrecognise:Pledgesof liberty,equality,fraternityanddignitypossessmuchbroaderpull

thanhardeningnotionsofnationalism

THIS ARTICLEHOPES to add to AshutoshVarshney’s convincing comparison (‘Thesame shrinking’, IE, July 6) of the currentIndian andAmerican scenes and inpartic-ular, of African-Americans and India’sMuslims.Afterpointingoutthatthough,un-likeBlacksinrelationtotheUS,MuslimssatonIndianthronesinadistantpast,today,likeAmerica’sBlacks,theyconstituteapoormi-nority, Varshney offers this conclusion: “Ademocracy is not a proper democracy un-less it safeguardsminorities.And if themi-norities are also poor, the protection be-comesevenmorenecessary.”My first additional point, a pretty obvi-

ousone,isthatanotherlargecountry,China,loomsover both the Indian andAmericanscenes,andthat forbothnationstheir rela-tionshipwith China is critical.My secondpoint, alsohardlyoriginal, is thatwhile thedemocracies of India and theUSmaybothbe deficient in serious ways, they beingdemocraciesdifferentiatesthemfromChinainafundamentalway.Ofthethreecountries,onlyChinastyles

itselfas“thePeople’sRepublic”.However,ashortphrasewithwhichboththeAmericanand Indian constitutions begin— “We thePeople”—containsanunmistakabledecla-ration,notavailable in today’sChina,of themasteryofanation’speopleovertheirrulers.My third point will be, for some, less

palatable.DemocraciesinbothIndiaandtheUSfaceasimilarinternalchallenge.Ifanide-ology of White supremacy threatensAmericandemocracy, India’sdemocracy isintimidatedbyHindunationalism.India and theUS facea similar external

challengetoo:China’sapparentpushtobe-cometheworld’snumberonepower.Astowhat fuels thatpush, Iwould let experts inthepolitics,historyandpsychologyofChinaexplain.Butnoexpertiseisneededtorecog-nisethelimitationsof “Whitenationalism”and“Hindunationalism” inanyconfronta-tionwithChina’sdrive.In his frantic bid to retain theWhite

House, President Donald Trump repeat-edlyremindsAmericansofCOVID-19’sori-gin in China. His fans yell with delightwhen, a malicious grin widening on hisface, Trump calls the disease “Kung Flu”,notcaringthattheracistslurwouldoffendthelargenumberofChineseAmericansasalsomillionsofChinesearoundtheworld,including inChina.Unfortunately for Trump, a greatmany

intheUSandtherestoftheworldareawarethat his racist taunts often extend (eitherplainly ormerelywith awink) to AfricanAmericansandalsotootherAmericanswithoriginsinLatinAmericaandAsia.Amorefor-tunatereality,noticedbythewholeworld,isthe recent decline of American smugness.Recognising the depth of their country’sracial injustices, protestershave continued,dayafterday,tofillAmerica’sstreets.

AsVarshneyobserves,thesedemonstra-tionsaresimilartotheanti-CAAproteststhatcrowdedchowksandbaghsacross India inthe final months of 2019 and in January2020, as India’sMuslims opposed beinglegallyshovedintosecond-classstatus,andmanyof India’s non-Muslims also refusedtotoleratethatdiscrimination.ThenCOVID-19imposeditsrestraints.AUSwhereBlacksareroutinelydenied

respectfromthepolicecannotunitedlycon-frontChinainanideologicalbattle.ThesameistrueforanIndiawherepersonsfromreli-giousminorities cannot be confident thatthepolicewouldprotectthem.Ontheotherhand,ifcollectiveexertions

can bring it about, an India working sin-cerely for justice, liberty, equality and fra-ternityforallitscitizenswouldintriguethepeopleof China,whomust be troubledby(amongotherthings)theconditionoftheirsupposed compatriots in Hong Kong,XinjiangandTibet.Fortunately, PrimeMinister Narendra

ModididnotseektoderidetheChinesepeo-plewhen he flew tomeet our soldiers inLadakh and from that altitude conveyedIndia’s resolve tomeet any challenge. HecouldhaveusedtheoccasionalsotosaythatIndia stood for the liberty, equalityand fra-ternityof all itspeople, irrespectiveof theirreligionorcaste,buthedidn’t.A declaration from the Himalayan

heightsthatIndiawouldprotecteveryone’sdemocraticrightswouldhaveofferedcheertopeoplewithinandbeyondIndia,butthatwasneveronthecards.Instead,Modiseemsto have used the Ladakh visit to underlinehis, and by implication his government’s,“Hinduness”.All know “Muslimness” has not so far

unitedanyMuslim-majoritycountry—notIran,notAfghanistan,notPakistan,notanyother. IthasnotunitedeventheMuslimsofany country. Christian Americans form amajorityintheUS,buttheir“Christianness”hasnotturnedAmericansintoasinglepeo-ple. “Hinduness” has not sufficed to keepNepalasIndia’spartner,anditwillnotdrawIndia’s Muslims, Sikhs, Christians andBuddhists into a common struggle againstamajoradversary.Pledgesandremindersofliberty,equal-

ity, fraternity and dignity possess amuchbroaderpull,andthosewhohavemarchedundersuchbannersintheUS,Indiaorelse-where, seem to inspiremillions of others.Occasionally, theyalsoinvitequestions.IntheUS,thequestionsseemtobeabout

asenseofproportionandlimits.Thusatar-geting, fortunately rare, of persons likeGeorgeWashington andAbrahamLincolnbetraysan irrationaldemandforperfectionfromfiguresofhistory.Thedemandmayalsobeunwise,foritcouldputoffalliescrucialtoaTrumpdefeat.Shouldadefenceofhumili-atedminoritiesextendtooffendingothers?But thekeenestquestion induced inan

Indian likeme,whohasbeenwatching forweeksAmerica’s remarkable re-examina-tion of its culture, is this:When nextwillIndians of diverse backgroundsmarch fortheequalityandlibertyoftheirMuslim,DalitandAdivasibrothersandsisters?Andwhilemarching, honour the ones brutally killedbyproclaimingtheirnames?

ThewriterteachesattheUniversityofIllinoisatUrbana-Champaign

WHILE SHASHI THAROOR and WilliamDalrymplewerewritingbest-sellerstrashingBritish colonialism in India, the Chinese, itturnsout,werebuyingupthecurrentBritishestablishment. Recent reports fromLondonindicate howexpansive theChinese infiltra-tionof theBritishrulingcastehasbeen.Butfirsttotheanti-imperialisttraditionof

Delhi and Beijing. The Communist Party ofChina(CCP)isnolessanti-imperialistthantheIndiannationalists. The “centuryof humilia-tion” at the hands of Britain and otherEuropeanpowersiscentraltotheCCP’snarra-tive.BeijingneverletsBritainforgettheOpiumWarsofthemid-19thcenturyandtheunequaltreaties it imposedonChina.There is one big difference, though, be-

tween Indian andChinese anti-imperialism.TheIndianeliteisutterlycomfortable,ataper-sonallevel,withitsBritishpeers.Britainisoneplacewhere the Indiandiaspora has thrivedandisnowensconcedintheupperreachesoftheBritishpoliticalclass.YetDelhihasstrug-gled to shed its compulsivepublic posturingagainstBritain.CommunistChina,ontheotherhand,be-

ganwithmultiplehandicapsinengagingwithBritain.Butoverthelasttwodecades,theCCPhas systematically advanced its strategic in-fluenceinBritain.WhiletheCCPhassuccess-fullytransformedBritishhostilityofthemid-20th century into near acquiescence in theearly21stcentury,Delhifindsithardtosepa-ratetheinheritedgrievancesfromitscurrentstrategic imperatives.ArecentBritishreportleakedtothepress

inLondonissaidtorevealtheextenttowhichChina and its global companies likeHuaweihave penetrated Britain’s oncemighty insti-tutions.Titled“EliteCapture”,thereportout-lineshowBeijingisconvertingtheBritishrul-ing class — from the Lords to seniorbureaucrats,ministers tomediapersonsandbusinesstycoonstouniversitydonsinto“use-ful idiots” inpromotingChineseinterests.ThereportdateselitecapturetotheDavid

CameronyearswhenLondonandBeijingan-nounceda “goldenera” inbilateral relations.A just-released book, HiddenHandbyCliveHamilton, a British author, and MareikeOhlberg,aGermanthink-tanker,givesdetailsofChinese influenceoperationsacrossmanygeographies—includingBritain—andinter-national institutions.Influencingforeigneliteshasalwaysbeen

part of statecraft. But the Chinesemayhavecrossedthelinebetweenalegitimateeffortatwinning support in other countries and theunacceptableuseof corruptionandcoerciontoshapedecision-makingintargetnations.Tobesure, theCCPisalsobuildingonthe

Leninisttraditionthatunderlinedtheimpor-tanceofusingthecapitalistcontradictionstoadvance socialism. Vladimir Lenin,who ledtheRussianRevolutionandfoundedtheSovietUnion, had famously declared that greedycapitalistswill be happy to sell the rope thatcommunistsintendtohangthemwith.Whilecommunistseverywherehaveusedthesetac-ticsover the lastcentury, theCCP’semphasisoninfluenceoperationshasacquiredunprece-

dentedsalienceunderPresidentXi Jinping.In India though, it seems theCCPdidnot

have to try at all. Delhiwasmore than eagerto pre-emptively defer to Beijing’s sensitivi-ties, despite themany challenges that Chinaposestoitseconomyandsecurity.Discussingtheideologicalsourcesofthatpolicywillbeafascinatingdigression.Letusturn, instead, towhat Indiacan learn fromChina’s successfulinfluenceoperationsinBritain.First, the Chinese emphasis on separat-

inganti-imperialistideologyandthepursuitof national interest. The CCP has never dis-owned its founding ideology nor has it for-gottenChina'spastconflictswithimperialistpowers.ButBeijinghadnoproblemineffort-lessly moving from an alliance with theSoviet Union and a confrontationwith theUS in the 1950s to embracing imperialistAmerica in the 1970s. It leveraged the part-nershipwiththeUSinthe1980stoelevateitsposition in theglobal systemandnowchal-lengesAmericanprimacy.Second, instead of treating theWest as a

collective, China continually probed the “in-ter-imperialistcontradictions”.ThereportonelitecapturesaysthatseparatingBritainfromtheUSandweakeningtheFiveEyesallianceoftheAnglosphere(theUS,UK,Canada,AustraliaandNewZealand)wereamongthemajorob-jectivesofChina’sinfluenceoperationsintheUK. Earlier this year, theUKhad decided tobreak fromtheUSand turn toHuawei for its5Gfuture.It seemed to confirm the assessment of

Hamilton andOhlberg, cited by the Britishmedia:“SoentrenchedaretheCCP’sinfluencenetworksamongBritishelitesthatBritainhaspassedthepointofnoreturn,andanyattemptto extricate itself fromBeijing’s orbitwouldprobably fail.” Thatbringsus to the third les-son.Whileinfluenceoperationscanshapepol-

icy evolution in targeted nations, they cer-tainlycan’teliminatepolitics.Itisratherhard,in theend, to turnanationagainst itself foraprolonged period of time.While Chinawasclose towinningovera critical sectionof theBritish elite, therewas amajor revolt in theConservative Party against theHuawei deci-

sion. Coupledwith pressure from the US,PrimeMinisterBorisJohnsonhasbeguntore-view the relationshipwith China. He is ex-pected to announce at least a partial BritishdissociationfromHuaweithisweek.But the biggest lesson, however, is that

DelhishouldnotwriteoffBritainasastrategicpriorityinitsforeignpolicycalculus.Inhisfirstterm,PrimeMinisterNarendraModimadeaneffort toreachout toBritainbut thatseemedtohavepeteredout.Britain’sincorrigiblebal-ancing act between India and Pakistan andLondon’s continuing reluctance to think ofDelhiinstrategictermstendstoputoffDelhi.RatherthanturnitsbackonBritain,Delhi

shouldset itself apoliticalchallenge—tode-cisivelyturnBritaininfavourofIndia.IfBeijingcould nearly subvert London, Delhi hasenough equities to promote a change in theBritishestablishment’sattitudetowardsIndia.As the external affairs ministerSubrahmanyam Jaishankar told a businesssummitinLondonlastweek,Britainremainsatoptiereconomy,hasmuchinternationalin-fluence, enjoys special relationswith theUSandEurope,andisanimportantglobalhubofresearch and innovation. In other words,BritainisanimportantmiddlepowerthatcanhelpexpandIndia’sstrategicoptions.In the last two decades, Delhi hasman-

aged to change the dynamics of its tieswithWashingtonthroughsustaineddiplomaticef-fort.Delhihasgivenaboosttoitsengagementwith Paris in the last two years. It needs tolaunch a similar effort with London that iscoming out of a prolonged strategic infatua-tionwithBeijing.As Britain recognises that China can’t be

theanchorofitspost-Brexitforeigneconomicandstrategicpolicies,Delhihasahugeopen-ingtorestructureitsrelationshipwithLondon.Tharoor andDalrymple are right to engagewith our tragic pastwith Britain, but SouthBlockmust necessarily focus on the presentandfuturepossibilitieswithWhitehall.

Thewriter isdirectorof InstituteofSouthAsianStudies,NationalUniversityofSingaporeandacontributingeditoron

internationalaffairs forTheIndianExpress

APPEAL FOR RAO

ACCORDINGTOPRESS reportsand thestatement of his family, the renownedTelugupoetandwriter, PVaravaraRaois extremely ill in Taloja jail. He is suf-fering from low levels of sodium andpotassium as diagnosed by the J JHospital,Mumbai,wherehistreatmentwas abruptly terminated and hewastakenbacktoTalojaJailinNaviMumbai.This is a life-threatening situation forsomeonewho is 81 years of age, andsuffers from high blood pressure andheart conditions. We appeal to theGovernment of Maharashtra and theNationalInvestigationAgencytofacili-tatetheimmediatetransferofRaotoJ JHospital. Rao poses no flight risk andhasvoluntarilysubmittedtoall investi-gationsforthepast22months.Thereisno reason in lawor conscience toholdhimincircumstancesthat increasetherisk to his fragile health.To knowinglyrisk the lifeof aperson instatecustodyby refusing propermedical treatmentwould amount to a form of the “en-counter”, an extra-legal punishmentwhich the State institutions are duty-boundto forego.RomilaThapar,PrabhatPatnaik,DevakiJain,MajaDaruwala,SatishDeshpande

HAKIM’S CONFLICTTHIS REFERS TO the report, ‘Office ofprofit cloud over Firhad Hakim, ECseeks clarification fromChief Secy’ (IE,

July 12), Firhad Hakim should show acommitmenttomoralvaluesbyresign-ing. Incidentally, Sonia Gandhi set anexample by resigning as theChairperson of the NAC in 2006 evenbeforeECI’spetitionagainsther.

SSPaul,Nadia

SINKING SHIPTHIS REFERS TO the report, 'Crisis inRajasthan, Cong says party intact' (IE,July 13). Defections have been a partpolitics in India since long, butwhat ishappening with the Congress inGujarat,MP and other states is indeed‘exodus’.Itmaystoponlyafter“interim”presidentSoniaGandhi,likethecaptainof a sinkingship, jumps last.

VarinDhir,Ahmedabad

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

THECOVID-19 PANDEMIC has brought un-precedentedlifeandlivelihoodchallengesinalmosteverycornerof theworld.Thedepre-dationsofthevirushaveledtothelossofmil-lions of jobs andunleashed a humanitariancrisis that isexacerbatedbyhungerandstar-vation.Tomitigatethecrisis,governmentsallovertheworldhavecomeoutwitheconomicpackagestoprovideinterimrelieftotheircit-izens.Remedyingtheeconomybystateinter-ventionhasbeenwidelydiscussedbuttherearemany instancesof non-market interven-tionsthroughwhichindividualsandcommu-nities have extended a helping hand, basedsolely on the principles of compassion. Theexceptionalroleofcivilsociety,NGOsandre-ligious organisations during these challeng-ingtimeshasbecomeafineexampleofwhatwecancallamoraleconomy—relationsthatare sustained over time following amoralprinciple.Onesuchinstitutionisthepracticeof GuruKa Langar in gurdwaras all over theglobe.InDelhi, since the start of the COVID-19

lockdown,onelakhmealshavebeencookedeverydayattheGurdwaraBanglaSahibalone,withthesevadarsworking18-hourshifts.Thishelped in feeding themigrantworkerswhowererenderedjoblessintheearlydaysofthelockdown. Recently, the gurdwara has alsostartedaninitiativecalled"MealsonWheels

Langar" totakefoodtotheremotecornersofthecity.Asagestureofappreciationofthegur-dwara’sroleduringthecrisis,theDelhiPoliceperformedaparikramaofBanglaSahib.Are-centNewYork Times article has highlightedtheAmericanexperienceoflangar,highlight-ing both howSikhs ran kitchens to help theCOVID-19-affectedaswell ashowtheyhavefed the protesters of the Black LivesMattermovement. The article notes that people of-tengetsurprisedwhentheyareofferedfoodfor free. Indeed, the dimensions and specta-cle of this large-scale consumption,which isoutside the exchange economy, have sur-prisedmanypeopleevenwhenone isnot inthemidstofextraordinaryevents.Oneexam-pleamongmanyistheTVshow,JohnTorode’sAsia, where we see the host being visiblymovedbythelangarattheGoldenTempleinAmritsar. This emotion endorses the under-standing that thisSikhpractice is somethingexceptional.In the Sikh religion, the notion of “seva”

(service) is particularlymanifest inGuru kaLangar.Thisisperhapsbestdescribedintermsof a gift economy, following the sociologistDavidCheal,whoseesgift-givingas“institu-tionalisationofsocialtieswithinamoralecon-omy”.Thelangarisakeyinstitutionthatputsintooperationtheactof seva–with thegur-dwara forming thebackboneonwhich such

seva becomes operative. Seva is one of themainprinciplesofSikhism.EversinceSikhismwasfoundedbyGuruNanakinthe15thcen-tury,theprinciplesof thisrelativelynewreli-gionhaveemphasisedselflessservicetoGodaswell as humanity. The practice of a freecommunitykitchenservingfoodtoeveryonewithout anydiscriminationwas establishedbyGuruNanak and since then, the traditionhas becomewell-known all over the globe.This practice derives itsmeaning from thetouchstoneofNanak’sthreepillarsofphilos-ophy–“kiratkaro”(earnwithlabour),“naamjapo”(contemplatethevariousnamesofGod),and “vand chako” (sharewith others). As iswell known, caste and religious divides arewell entrenched in Indian society and oftencharacterise it. The sharing ofmeals bypeo-plesittingtogetheronthefloorirrespectiveoftheirsocialbackgroundwasaone-of-its-kindtaboo-breaking practice. Selfless service isseenasaladdertogetclosertoGod.Thegiftstoothers,whethertheybeintheformofbod-ily,mental, andmaterial gestures, require aplatformtobecomeoperational.Thishasgen-erated institutions such as the round-the-clock langar,which in turn, canbe sustainedonlywithamaterialbase.Suchamaterialbaseis providedby a largenumber of daily offer-ings in the formofmoney and other goods.Theoffering incashandkindcanbethought

ofasaredistributionwhichallowsaprogres-sivetransferofresourcestomakesocietymoreequitable. It is perhaps akin to a progressivetaxinspirit,onlythatit isatransferbyvolun-tarycontributionbasedonfaithandcompas-sionmadeinasettingwhichisoutsidetheex-changeeconomy.The challenges posed by the pandemic

haveexposedmanyfault lines inoursociety.Thenegligenceofhealthcareandlackofade-quatesocialsafetynetshavemademillionsofpeoplevulnerable. Insuchtimes, the institu-tionoflangar,basedontheGuru’sphilosophyof equality and progressiveness, provides aglimmer of hope that strong institutionswhethertheyarecreatedinthesocietal,eco-nomic, or religious sphere can stand anystorm. Langar is one such practice based ontheprincipleof inclusionandunity inthere-ligious sphere that helps everyone and any-one in times of hunger. The choice is formankindwhether it creates institutions thatdivide and carve out exclusionary spaces orbuildsstrongandproteaninstitutions,likethepracticeof langar, thatbring thehumanracetogetherintryingtimeswithoutanydiscrim-ination.

SinghisprofessorandWaraichisdoctoralstudent,Centre fortheStudyofLawand

Governance, JNU

GurukaLangarisanexemplaryinstitutionofthemoraleconomy

Seva in a pandemicJaivir Singh andAnmolWaraich

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

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●●MAKINGISLAMABADCOMPLY:

JAYMANOJSANKLECHA

www.indianexpress.com

RajmohanGandhi

CR Sasikumar

AsBritainrecognises thatChinacan’tbe theanchorof itspost-Brexit foreigneconomicandstrategicpolicies,Delhihasahugeopeningtorestructure its relationshipwithLondon

Amid crisis, lessons in statecraft

RAJA MANDALA

by C. RajaMohan

New Delhi

EXPRESSNETWORK14 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

GOVERNMENT OF ODISHACOMMERCE & TRANSPORT

(TRANSPORT) DEPARTMENTREQUEST FOR PROPSAL

HIRING OF TWIN ENGINE IFR TURBO PROPAIRCRAFT

Government of Odisha, Commerce & Transport(Transport) Department desires to hire a twin engineIFR turbo prop aircraft (2 pilots + 6 passengers) for aperiod of 6 month i.e. from 15.08.2020 to 14.02.2021complying to all safety norms as prescribed by theDGCA from time to time for flying of VIPs like Governor,Chief Minister, Ministers and other dignitaries. The hiredaircraft will be stationed at Bhubaneswar.Eligible and interested aircraft operators may downloadthe Request for Proposal (RFP) document whichcontains the details of the requirement from theGovernment of Odisha websitehttp://www.odisha.gov.in/tender and submit theiroffer.Proposals complete in all respect should reach theundersigned latest by 03.00 PM on 04.08.2020. Bidsreceived after the above deadline shall be summarilyrejected. The authority reserves the right to reject anyor all the proposals without assigning any reasonthereof.

Sd/-Joint Secretary to Govt. & Director of Aviation,

Commerce & Transport (Transport) DepartmentGovernment of Odisha

OIPR-38001/11/0002/2021

JJ-01

Chief Engineer PMGSY (JKRRDA) Jammu on behalf of The Government of Jammu &Kashmir, invites e-tenders on %age Above/Excess (+) OR %age Below/ Less (-) basis (i.e.on Percentage-Rate Basis) from approved and eligible Contractors registered with J&K StateGovt, CPWD, Railways or equivalent and other State Govts upto 5.00 P.M. on 23.07.2020 foreach of the following works including Defect Liability & Maintenance Period of three yearsfor Stage-I and five years for Stage-II and Bridge after construction.

GOVERNMENT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIROFFICE OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER PMGSY (JKRRDA) JAMMU.

NOTICE INVITING E-TENDERSE-NIT NO:-CEJ/PMGSY/598 OF 2020-21 DATED: 09.07.2020

Sr. Name of Work/Package No.No.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1. 447.68 35.81 483.49 0.06 9.67 12 7thMonths

2. 765.74 61.26 827.00 0.060 16.54 15 11thMonths

3. 732.76 58.62 791.38 0.06 15.83 15 13thMonths

4. 525.91 42.07 567.98 0.06 11.36 12 7thMonths

5. 94.74 - 94.74 0.06 1.89 09 1stMonths

6. 247.54 - 247.54 0.06 4.95 09 1stMonths

7. 836.87 50.21 887.08 0.060 17.74 15 3ndMonths

8. 1436.77 114.94 1551.71 0.06 31.03 25 7thMonths

9. 880.85 70.47 951.32 0.06 19.03 18 6thMonths

Construction and Maintenance ofRoad " T01 to Sodam" PackageNo.JK05-159, Regular PMGSY(Batch-I, 2018-19), Stage-II,Length 11.000 km, Block Samba,District Jammu .Adv.Cost excluding maintenancebut inclusive of GST = Rs.447.68 Lacs

Construction and Maintenance ofroad from L025-Patrera to Kashir,Package No:-JK07-265, Stage-II,Regular PMGSY Batch-I 2018-19,Block Basohli District KathuaLength = 4.575 Kms.Adv Cost excluding Maint. butinclusive of GST Rs. 311.44 Lacsii) Construction & Maintenance ofroad from L056-KholiyanTalie toKathan, Package No:-JK07-266,Stage-II, Regular PMGSY Batch-I2018-19, Block Basohli, DistrictKathua Length = 9.200 Kms.Adv Cost excluding Maint. butinclusive of GST Rs. 454.30 Lacs

Construction and Maintenance ofRoad from L022-Langa to Charkoo,Package No:-JK14-659, RegularPMGSY (Batch-I, 2018-19), Stage-II, Block Ghordi, District Udhampur(Length = 12.000 Kms)Adv. Cost excluding mainte-nance but inclusive of GST =Rs.732.76 Lacs

Construction and Maintenance ofRoad from "L033 Kainthgali toKounti, Package No:- JK14-588,Regular PMGSY (Batch-I, 2018-19), Stage-II Length : 8.800 KmsBlock Panchari District Udhampur.Adv. Cost excluding mainte-nance but inclusive of GST = Rs.525.91 Lacs

Balance work of road from SupplyMorh Kainthgali Road Km 20th toJasserkote by way of Constructionof 25mtr Span Steel Plate GirderMotorable Bridge at Km 14th RD550-650, Package No.JK14-82Phase-VI, Block Panchari DistrictUdhampurAdvertised Cost Rs.94.74 Lacs

Construction of balance work ofroad from Namol to Dhanti, Stage-I, Package No.JK14-125 Phase-VII, Block Panchari DistrictUdhampur (Length=5.775 Kms)Adv. Cost excluding mainte-nance but inclusive of GST = Rs.247.54 Lacs

Construction and Maintenance ofroad from Dangroo to Gadather,Package No. JK04-224, Phase IX,Stage II, Package No. JK04-224,Block Doda, District DodaAdvertised Cost excludingMaintenance but inclusive ofGST = Rs.836.87 Lacs

Construction and Maintenance ofRoad from L022 Sohal to KabanPackage No:-JK04-601, RegularPMGSY (Batch-I, 2018-19), Stage-II, Block Paddar, District Kishtwar(Length = 21.00 Kms)Advertised Cost excludingMaintenance but inclusive ofGST = Rs.1436.77 Lacs

Construction and Maintenance ofRoad from L034-Afani to Jar,Package No:-JK04-606, RegularPMGSY (Batch-I, 2018-19), Stage-II, Block Paddar, District Kishtwar(Length = 4.500 Kms)Advertised Cost excludingMaintenance but inclusive ofGST = Rs.361.46 Lacs

Construction and Maintenance ofRoad from L030-Shashoo toSazzar, Package No:-JK04-428,Regular PMGSY (Batch-I,2018-19), Stage-II, Block Paddar,District Kishtwar (Length = 7.500Kms)Advertised Cost excludingMaintenance but inclusive ofGST = Rs.519.39 Lacs

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1.(a) The Bidding documents can be downloaded from the website http://pmgsytendersjk.gov.infrom 06.55 P.M. On 13.07.2020 to 23.07.2020 (5.00 P.M).

Sd/- Chief Engineer PMGSY (JKRRDA) Jammu,Government of Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu and KashmirDated : 09.07.2020DIPJ-2281

No.: CEJ/PMGSY/3049-3119

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II Bhagat SinghS/O, LekhRamAtal R/o 51/4601, RegarPura,Karol Bagh, Central Delhi-110005havechangedmynametoBhagat SinghAtal for allpurposes. 0040541737-1

II Gayatri Bhargavawife of exSubedar SureshChandraBhargava Flat 1161 Sector 37Noida.Myname recorded inArmyRecordsasGayatri Devi.This is for recordingmynameasGayatri Bhargava inArmyEducational CorpsRecords

0050166333-1

II GeetaRaniW/O,AbhishekSabharwal R/oH.No. 52, BhaiParmanandColony, DrMukherjeeNagar, Delhi-09have changedmyname toGeeta Sabharwal .

0040541780-1

II GuriyaAryaW/OLate.NareshRamAryaR/O-SQ-47 SouthAvenueNewDelhi-110011havechangedmynameTaraAryafor all futurePurposes.

0040541769-3

IIMaheshaliasMaheshAdhikariS/OBhimLal Adhikari R/OB-91SouthCity-1,Gurgaon,Haryana-122007have changedmynametoNakshAdhikari.

0040541774-4

IIMohit S/oDineshChandraSaxenaR/o 260,MohallaGurahaiHarduaganj, Aligarh,UP-202125, have changedmyname toMohit Saxena

0070708540-1

II ParveenSharmaS/oKailashChandSharmaR/o 251, GroundFloor, SainikVihar, Pitampura,Delhi-110034 changedmyname toPraveenSharma

0070708538-1

II Shalini Khanna W/oSh.RakeshR.ShahR/oA-9, Third Floor,Model Town-I, NearNani Jheel,Delhi-110009have changedmyname toShalini KhannaShahfor all purposes.

0040541756-1

II ShreyaDixit S/oUpendraKumarDixit R/o 204, DDAMIGFlats, Suraj Apartments,Pulpehladpur, Delhi-110044,have changedmyname toShreyDixit 0070708539-1

II Sunita SharmaW/O, BalramMudgil R/oG-704, BptpPrincessPark, Near SaiMandir,Secor - 86, Faridabad - 121002have changedmyname toSunita for all purposes.

0040541735-1

II Sunny.D.K. S/oSh. VinodKumarR/oHouseNo.168,WardNo.2,Mehrauli, NewDelhi-110030have changedmyname toSunnyDayal Kumar for allpurposes. 0040541756-2

II,, hitherto knownasVivek,S/oRajiv Kumar,residingat-665,Prajapati-Mohalla,Tughalkabad-Village,Delhi-110044,have changedmynameandshall hereafter be knownasVivekKumarKhowal.

0040541769-8

II,, hitherto knownasRajiv,S/oFakir Chand,residingat-665,PrajapatiMohalla,Tughalkabad-Village,Delhi-110044,have changedmynameandshall hereafter be knownasRajiv Kumar. 0040541769-7

II,, PriyankaDevi SpousofDeepakRai,resident of-31-B,Police-Colony,Model-Town-II,Delhi-110009,have changedmyname,FromPriyankaDevi toPriyankaRai.Vide-AffidavitDated:08/07/2020Before Tis-Hazari Court-Delhi.

0040541774-9

II,, UpmaGautamD/oA.K.GautamandEx.Wife of RohitShankar, R/o FlatNo-237, DDAFlats, Pocket-7, Sectoir-12,Dwarka, Delhi-110075, declarethat I got divorce frommyhusbandRohit Shankar videcourt decreeHMANo-589/2011,dated 19.07.2011. Further I havechanged thenameofmyminordaughter Chaitya Shankaraged 14 years and she shallhereafter be knownasChaitya

0070708518-1

II,, Ravi Kumar,S/oRamParkash,R/o 2B/79, FF, RameshNagar,Delhi-110015, havechangedmyname toRAVIKUMARBHAYANA.

0040541731-1

II,, KrishanKumar S/o-Syoni RamKaushik, R/o-E-24/05, BPTP,Park Elite Floors,Sector-85,Faridabadhavechangedmyname toKrishanKumarKaushik. 0040541774-2

II,, Jyoti,W/oRavi KumarBhayana, R/o 2B/79, FF,RameshNagar,Delhi-110015,have changedmynameto JYOTI BHAYANA.

0040541731-2

II,, JasmeenKaurD/o,RavinderSinghSethi R/o Flat-No.899, GH-14, PaschimVihar, N.Delhi-110087,have changedmynameto JasmeenKaur Sethi.

0040541774-6

II,, HarishKumar s/o-ShambhuSinghR/o.H.No.336, Gali.No.2,Bhood-Colony,Amarnagar,Faridabad-121003,havechangedmyname toHareshwar Singh,permanently. 0040541769-6

II,, ChetanKumarShakaywal KoliS/oBherulal ShakaywalKoliR/o 18, HanumanNagarHousingBoard, SawaiMadhopurAlanpur, Rajasthan-322021, have changedmynametoChetanShakaywal

0070708531-1

II RohanS/ORajinder PrasadR/O-J-1/13, ChankyaPlacePart-1, Street.No-39,New-Delhi-110059.HaveChangedmyName to RohanSinghBaronia.

0040541769-1

II,, nirmlaChaudharyD/o-hukamSingh, Add-1/205/1Geetaashramsadar-bazarDelhicantt-110010,have changedmyname tonirmalaChaudhary

0040541769-4

II,, SushmaKumariW/o-AnilKumar SharmaR/o-RZ-226AGali.No.5ASadhNagarPalam-Colony,NewDelhi-45,havechangedmyname,fromSushmaKumari to SushmaSharmaVide-Affidavit Dated-02.07.2020, Delhi

0040541769-9

II,, SoniaBusennagariW/oMadhuBabuBusennagari R/o7, vivekanandaNagar, IOBColony, Coimbatore,Tamilnadu-641046, havechangedmyminor daughter’sname fromBPreeti aged 16years toPreeti Busennagariforever 0070708520-1

II,, SadhnaRani SharmaW/o-Mr.Vipul SharmaR/o-666/10,KatariaMarket,KrishnaColony,Sector-7, Gurgram,Haryana,have changedmyname toSadhnaSharma,forall,future,purpose.

0040541774-5

II,, SARMAPRUTHIW/OASHWANIKUMARPRUTHI R/O-C-4F/170,SECOND-FLOOR,JANAKPURI, DELHI-110058.HAVECHANGEDMYNAMETOSUNITA.

0040541780-5

II,, S JaisuryaS/oMSermanRajaR/oB-87/4, F-1, Second Floor,DilshadColony, Delhi-110095,have changedmyname toJaisuryaSermanraja

0070708534-1

II,, Rohit SinghS/oSh. KunwarSinghParihar R/o-H.No. G-35,SrijanVihar, NyayKhand-2,Indirapuram,Ghaziabad, UttarPradesh-201014, have changedmyname toRohit SinghPariharfor all purposes.

0040541751-1

II,, Rachit BhushanGargS/oSaloni BhushanGargR/o-B-1,Plot-107, GyanKhand-2,Indirapuram,Ghaziabadhavechangedmyname toRachitBhushan. 0040541774-3

II,, RIMZIMMAHESHWARI,W/OSUNILKUMAR,H.NO-12, F/F,SILVERPARKKRISHNA-NAGARDELHI-110051, changedmyname toRIMZIMMADAAN,permanently. 0040541774-12

II,, PoojaMittalW/oPraveenMittal R/o 844-P, Sector-17,HUDA, Panipat, Haryana-132103, have changedmynametoSunitaMittal

0070708521-1

II,, Paul SDhaliwal S/o JoginderPal SinghR/oB-218, FlorenceMarvel, Sushant Lok-3,Gurgaon,Haryana-122003,have changedmyname toPritpal SinghDhaliwal

0070708526-1

II,, PARMJEETS/oSureshR/o1388/1, VillageChhara, Distt.Jhajjar, Haryana-124504changedmyname toPARMJEETDALAL for allpurposes. 0040541780-4

II,,Manoj Kumar S/oHari RamR/o-164, Village-BakhapurBolni, Rewari, Haryana-123401.have changedmyname toManoj. 0040541769-5

II,,ManjuDevi AggarwalW/oSatyaDevAggarwal R/o-C-9/25, Sector-8 Rohini Delhi-110085, changedmyname toManjuDevi Agarwal.

0040541769-2

II,,MONICANARULAW/OSHASHINARULAR/OB-506, 5TH-FLOOR,PRINTERAPARTMENT,NR.BHAGWATIHOSPITAL,SECTOR-13,ROHINI,DELHI-110085. CHANGEDMYNAMETOMONIKANARULA.

0040541780-8

II,,MVVIMESHS/oVijayanR/o-H.No-MCF-29, Kundan-Colony,Ballabgarh, Faridabad,Haryana-121004.have changemyname toVIMESHVijayanfor,all purposes.

0040541780-6

II,, DalchandS/oSayerMal R/oDrAmbedkarColony, RegarMohalla, KuchamanCity,Nagaur, Rajasthan-341508,have changedmyname toManish Jha 0070708524-1

II,, Ashwani KumarR/O105/18,FlatNo 101, 1st Floor, FriendsColony JharsaRoadGurgaon-122001have changed thenameofmyMinor child aged 6yrsfromReyansh toReyanshMahajan 0070708513-1

II,, AbhishekAgarwal S/oS.P.Agarwal R/oH-307, IndralokColony, KrishnaNagar,Manasnagar, Lucknow,UP-226023, have changedmyminor son’s name fromMitulAgarwal aged 14 years toRaghaavAgarwal forever

0070708529-1

II VinayS/oKrishanKumarKaushik, R/o.H.No.898-A,HIG-II,H.B.Colony,Sector29,Faridabad,have changedmyname toVinayKaushik.

0040541774-1

II have changedmyname fromBabloo toBablooKumar. Infuture, Iwill benamedBablooKumar, S/oRajveer Singh, R/oVillageMalakpur,Surajpur,GreaterNoida,GautamBudhNagar 0040541765-1

II,, Rohit Kumar S/oVishnuAgnihotri R/o-G-143Chhatarpur ExtensionChattarpurNewDelhi-110074have changedmyname toRohit Agnihotri for all futurepurposes. 0040541767-1

II,, Aasif Kachroo, S/oMustaqAhmedKachroo, R/oC-2, 2ndFloor, Panchwati Colony,AdarshNagar, Delhi-110033,have changedmyminor son’sname fromAdalAziz Kachroo,aged 3 years toHishamAbdurahmanKachroo forever.

0070708516-1

II VasikurRahmanS/oAtaurrahmanR/oShaheedAmiyTripathi Nagar,WardNo-26, Kasya, Kushinagar, UP-274402, have changedmynametoArmanSiddiqui

0070708542-1

PPEERRSSOONNAALL

LLOOSSTT&&FFOOUUNNDD

Classifieds

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Sd./-RAJIV KUMAR(ADVOCATE)

Enroll. D/3560/09

PUBLIC NOTICEIt is inform to the public at large that myclient Smt. Arnesh sehrawat W/o Sh.Rajender Sehrawat, aged about 52years, Resident of House No- 240/c,Gali No.-18, Near Jain Sweets, MangolPuri Kalan, Rohini, North West Delhi-110085, do hereby declaring / debarring/ dis-owning her son namely Sh. SunnySehrawat from her life, properties,estate movable and immovable proper-ties situated in Delhi or elsewhere inIndia. Hence has severed all her rela-tion with him. Because he is not underthe control of my client. My client andher other family members does nothave any relationship left over with him.Any person whosoever deals with Sh.Sunny Sehrawat Shall do at their risk,cost and consequences.

Sd/ - ARUN YADAV (Advocate)D/552/05

Lawyers Chamber No. 911, 9th FloorRohini Courts, Delhi- 110085

PUBLIC NOTICEBe known to all that my client namelySmt. Kamlesh Rani Madaan w/o LateSh. Sudershan Kumar Madaan r/o H.No. 4501/14, Shora Kothi Paharganj,New Delhi 110055, is one of the legalheir of her deceased husband namelyLate Sh. Sudershan Kumar Madaan.Late Sh. Sudershan Kumar Madaanexpired on 16.03.2007. That during hislifetime Late Sh. Sudershan KumarMadaan purchased a property bearingno. 857,858,859 and 860, situated atWard No. 15, Mohalla Mantola,Paharganj, New Delhi 110055 admea-suring to 102 sq yards. The propertywas purchased through Smt. ShantiRani by executing necessary sale docu-ment(s). That somehow the said saledocuments have been misplaced by thelegal heirs of Late Sh. SudershanKumar Madaan and police FIR was alsoregistered vide LR no. 390294/2020dated 03.07.2020 PS Crime Branch. Ifany person finds these document kindlycontact undersigned.

Sd/ - Gaurav Kochhar (Advocate)Chamber No. 60, Western Wing,Tis Hazari Court, Delhi- 110054

PUBLIC NOTICEMy client Mr. Mohamad Umar S/o LateNabi Bukhsh R/o H. No. C-142, TayyabLane, Shaheen Bagh, Abul FazalEnclave Part-II, Jamia Nagar, Okhla,New Delhi-110025 has disowned hisson namely Mohd Musab, aged about32 years, daughter-in-law Tuba Arif andGrandson Mohd Haider all R/o H. No.C-142, Top Floor, Tayyab Lane,Shaheen Bagh, Abul Fazal EnclavePart-II, Jamia Nagar, Okhla, New Delhi-110025 from his movable and immov-able properties and severed his rela-tions with them as they are involved inanti-family activities, disrespectful, quar-relsome, disobedient and not under hiscontrol. Any person dealing with themshall be at his/her/their own risk andresponsibility and my client shall not beresponsible for any of their act or deed.

Sd/- MOHD ASIF (Advocate)Office Add: Chamber No. 66-A, Civil

Side, Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi-110054

PUBLIC NOTICETHE PUBLIC AT LARGE IS INFORMED THATMY CLIENTESS MRS. PREMA W/O SH.SHISHU PAL R/O RC-891, SHIV MANDIR WALIGALI, NEAR YADAV CHOWK, KHORACOLONY, KHORA GAON, GHAZIABAD, U.P.-201309, HAS DISOWNED HER SON NAMELYSH. JAIVEER SINGH S/O SH. SHISHUPAL ANDHIS WIFE NAMELY MRS. SARITA W/O SH.JAIVEER SINGH D/O SH. SHIVPAL SINGHGHADIMASTER PRESENTLY RESIDING ATADDA JALIM, MAINPURI PHATAK, ETAWAH,U.P. AND DEBARRED THEM FROM HER ALLMOVABLE AND IMMOVABLE PROPERTIESFOREVER, AS THEY ARE DISREGARDING,MISBEHAVING, CREATING NUISANCE ANDNOT PAYING ANY MAINTENANCE TO MYCLIENTESS. THEY ARE RESTRAINED TOENTER INTO PREMISES OWNED BY MYCLIENTESS AND THEIR LICENSE TO LIVE INTHE PREMISES OWNED BY MY CLIENTESS,IF ANY, IS CANCELLED. IF ANY PERSONDEALS WITH THEM, MY CLIENTESS WOULDHAVE NO CONCERN WITH THE SAME.

Sd/- (RAKESH DATT) AdvocateOffice M-8, Near SBI Western Wing,

Tis Hazari Courts Delhi-110054

PUBLIC NOTICEThe general public is hereby informedthat our clients Mr. Virpal Singh son ofLate Mr. Jhau Singh and Suraj Devi W/oMr. Virpal Singh both resident of B-114/2, Bhagat Singh Park, Siraspur,Delhi-42 has severed his relations withyounger son Sh. Raisingh and Daughterin law Mrs. Sheetal Singh both livingwith us in same premises as they havebeaten up our clients for forcing them tohandover their property to them andalso threating them by implicating themin false case of dowry demands andharassment. Our clients through thisnotice disowns the above stated Sh.Raisingh and Daughter in law Mrs.Sheetal Singh from their Estate andWill. Any person dealing with the saidSh. Raisingh and Daughter in law Mrs.Sheetal Singh shall do so at his owncost and risk and our client shall not beliable for any acts of omission or com-mission or any other committed bythem.

Sd/-Sameer Nandwani (Advocate)

Chamber No. 405, Block-III, HighCourt of Delhi, Sher Shah Marg.

II,, NareshKumar Jhanji S/o-KundanLal Jhanji R/o-S4/131,Old-Mahavir-Nagar,NewDelhi,have lostmy all Original-Property andWater&PowerDocuments. 0040541780-7

SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI, JULY13

THECENTRALBoardofSecondaryEducation(CBSE)onMondayre-leasedresultsofclassXIIBoardex-aminations,recordingmorethan5percentagepointincreaseinstu-dents who cleared the examsagainstlastyear.The results also recorded a

sharp increase in thepercentagepoint of students who scoredabove 90 per cent. The CBSEadopted a modified markingscheme this year to assess stu-dentsbecauseallthepaperscouldnot be conducteddue to thena-tionwide shutdownsinceMarch25inviewofthecoronavirusout-break. After the examinationswere interrupted, theBoardhad

announcedthatitwouldconductexamsonlyfor29“important”pa-persforclassesXandXIIbetweenJuly1and15.TheCBSE laterdecidednot to

conduct any pending examina-tion and to assignmarks for pa-persnottakenonthebasisofafor-mula. This formula involvedtaking the average of best threepapersforstudentswhohadwrit-ten four papers; of twobest pa-pers for thosewhohadwrittenthree; and including internalmarksforthosestudentswhohadwrittentwopapersorless.This year, 11,92,961 students

tooktheclassXIIexams,ofwhom10,59,080—or88.78per cent—cleared.Thisisanincreaseofover5 percentage points from lastyear’s83.4percent.The results also showmore

studentshavescored in thetop brackets.Last year, outof total12,05,484candidates,17,693 (1.47percent)scored above

95per cent. This year, the num-bersmore than doubled, with38,686of11,92,961students(3.24per cent) getting a score in thattopmostbracket.Similarly, thenumberof can-

didates scoring over 90per centalsowentupsignificantly– from7.82percent in2019to13.24percentthistime.This year the CBSE decided

against releasing a ‘merit list’ oftoppers,inlinewithCISCE,whichhad announced its results lastweekwithout amerit list. Theterm“fail”willnotbeusedinanystudent’sdocuments,oronresultsreleasedonthewebsite,theBoardstated. Instead, students whocouldnotpasswill bemarkedas“EssentialRepeat”candidates.Some patterns continued

frompreviousyears,withgirlsfar-ing better thanboys—92.15percent girl students passed, as op-posed to 86.19 per cent boys.Transgender candidates regis-teredapasspercentageof66.67.TheCBSEstatedthatresultsof

400candidatescouldnotbecom-puted even on the basis of themodifiedmarking scheme; theirresultshavenotbeendeclared.

CBSE class XII results out: rise inpass percentage, top-bracket scores

Contact for Advt. Booking: M/s Friends Publicity Service

23276901, 23282028 (M): 9212008155, 9212665841.

EXP E S EDU TIONR S CA

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY13

THE CHARTERED Accountancyexamination scheduled to beheld in July-August has beencancelled in view of the Covid-19situationandwillnowbeheldin November, the Institute ofChartered Accountants of India(ICAI) informed the SupremeCourtonMonday.The ICAI counsel conveyed

this to the court as it took up aplea challenging the “opt out”optionprovidedbythe Instituteto studentswho cannot under-take the test due to the pan-demic. The petitioners had saidthat theoption “arbitrarily”dis-criminates between the aspi-rants. TheMay cycle of the CAexaminationwas earlier sched-uled tobeheld between July 29andAugust16.Hearing theplea on June29,

the court had asked ICAI to ex-tend its ‘opt out’ facility for can-didates who are unable to takethe exams on account of theCovid-19 situation to all candi-dateswho cannotmake it, irre-spective of whether they optedto remainoutornot.The court also advised the

ICAI tobe flexible in conductingexams amid the pandemic andtake care of concerns of candi-dates.It said the ICAI should keep

open options open for a changeinexaminationtill thelastweekandnot freeze itas thesituationis constantlyevolving.

ICAI to top court:CA exam slottedfor July-Augustcancelled

New Delhi

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Additional CommissionerPCCO, GST&CX, Delhi Zone

HARIKISHANSHARMANEWDELHI, JULY13

HIGHLIGHTING “CHALLENGES”thrownupby theCovid-19out-break, India has calleduponde-veloped countries to provide fi-nancial assistance todevelopingnationsforcontrollingpandemicssuchasthis.The call has been given in

India’sSecondVoluntaryNationalReviewof SustainableDevelop-mentGoals (SDGs) reportprese-ntedtotheUnitedNationsHigh-levelPoliticalForumonMonday.“India reiterates that the de-

velopedcountrieshaveanintrin-sicobligationtoprovidefinancialassistancetothedevelopingcoun-tries, especially for global publicgoodssuchasclimatechangemit-igationandcontrolofpandemics,suchasCOVID-19,sothattheycanfully achieve the SDGs,” says thereport titled “Decade of Action:Taking SDGs From Global toLocal.”The reportwaspresentedby

NITIAayogViceChairmanDrRajivKumar to theHigh-level PoliticalForuminavirtualmeeting.“TheCOVID-19pandemichas,

additionally,thrownopenaseaofchallenges thatarenotboundbyeither geography or the level ofdevelopment. Indiaisatthefore-frontinthecallforjointglobalac-tiontoaddresstheCOVID-19pan-demic,”saidthereport.Deliberatingon the “SDG-17”

thatisabout“partnershipsforthegoals”, the reporthighlighted theneedforinternationalcooperationforcurbingillicitfinancialflows.On India’s response toCovid-

19, the report said, “The govern-mentisleadingamulti-facetedef-fort to revamp thepublic healthinfrastructure, protect jobs andlivelihoods, ratchet up variouseconomic sectors andbreak thesiegeof thepandemic.”Thereportalsohighlightedthe

need for additional funding toachievethegoalofsustainablede-velopment.Quotingastudycon-ductedbythegovernmentinpart-nershipwith the InternationalMonetaryFund (IMF), the reportsaid five sectors — education,health,electricity,roadsandwaterandsanitation—willrequireaddi-tional funding for “significant”progress.Thereportalsomentionedthe

“vulnerabilities facedby themi-grantsandtheurbanpoor”inthewakeof thepandemic.“The recent COVID-19 crisis

hascompoundedthevulnerabil-itiesfacedbythemigrantsandtheurban poor, leading to the an-nouncement of awell-designedeconomicpackage and relief forboth labour and SMEs by theGovernmentof IndiaandvariousStateGovernments,” itsaid.TheUNhasset17Sustainable

DevelopmentGoals to be achie-vedby2030. These areNoPove-rty; ZeroHunger; GoodHealthandWell-being;Quality Educa-tion; Gender Equality; CleanWaterandSanitation;AffordableandCleanEnergy;DecentWorkandEconomicGrowth; Industry,Innovation and Infrastructure;Reduce Inequalities; SustainableCities and Communities;Responsible Consumption andProduction; ClimateAction; LifeBelowWater;LifeonLand;Peace,Justice and Strong Institutions;andPartnershipsfortheGoals.Member countries are re-

quired to apprise about theprogressintheformofVoluntaryNational Review reports. TheypresentthesereportsattheHigh-levelPoliticalForum,mandatedtoreviewtheprogressonSDGs.This time, theNITIAayoghas

prepared the report by engaging“withsub-nationalandlocalgov-ernments, civil society organiza-tions, local communities, peoplein vulnerable situations and theprivatesector”,astatementsaid.

SUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENTGOALSREVIEW

Covid: India callsfor developednations to assistdeveloping ones

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU, JULY13

THEKARNATAKAgovernmentonMondayissuedformalorders fora second lockdown in theBengaluru region from8pmonJuly14to5amonJuly22.According to the guidelines,

onlytrainsandflightsthatareal-ready scheduledwill be allowedtooperateto/fromtheregionandstoressellingessential itemswillbeallowedtofunctionbetween5amand12pmeveryday.“Whereas, there has been a

surgeinCovid-19positivecasesintheBengaluruarea,particularlyinthelasttwoweeks.Whereas,theexpertshaveexaminedthemat-ter in detail andhave suggestedtakingfurtherstringentmeasuresto contain the spread. Hence, inexerciseofpowers,conferredun-der Section24 (l) of theDisaster

ManagementAct, 2005, theun-dersigned, in the capacity ofChairman, State ExecutiveCommittee, herebyorders lock-downofBBMPBengaluruUrbanDistrict andBengaluruRuraldis-trict to combat the spread ofCovid-l9 for a period of 7 dayswith effect from 8 PM on14.07.2020 to 5 am on22.07.2020,”saidanorder issuedby Chief Secretary T M VijayBhaskar Monday. Since July 1,15,147 caseshavebeen reportedfromBengaluru.Thecitycurrentlyhas15,052activecases.During the lockdown, shops

sellinggroceries,fruits,vegetables,dairyproducts,meat,fishandan-imal fodderwill be allowed toopen from 5 am to 12 noon.“Homedeliveryofessentialitemsshall be encouraged,” the ordersaid.Movementofvehicles,bothpublicandprivate,willbeallowedonlyinemergencies.

Bengaluru shuts today, 7-hrwindow for essentials daily

Migrants leaveBengaluruafter theannouncementof theweek-long lockdown. PTI

Chandigarh: ThePunjabgovern-ment Monday put a bar on allpublicgatherings,restrictedsocialgatherings toamaximumof fiveattendees and capped thenum-ber of guests at weddings andother functions at 30 people in-steadof thecurrentcapof50.Thiscomesdaysafter16PCS

officerstestedpositiveforCovid-19 after 40 of them attended aluncheon. At least two IAS offi-cerswere infected after comingincontactwith thePCSofficers.The government has asked

police to register FIRs againstthoseviolatingthecurbsonpub-licgatherings.Accordingtoagov-ernment notification, theman-agementofmarriagehalls,hotelsand commercial spaceswill beheldresponsibleincasetheguide-lines are violated and could facesuspensionof their licences.ENS

Punjab govt banspublic gatherings,tightens curbs onwedding functions

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JULY13

ACTORAMITABHBachchanandhissonAbhishek,whoweread-mittedtoNanavatihospitalaftertestingpositiveforCovid-19,arestable, hospital authorities saidon Monday. Abhishek will bedischargedsoon, theyadded.Twenty-six staffersworking

acrossthefourbungalowsoftheBachchans tested negative forcoronavirusonMonday.Inall,54closecontactsof the

familywere traced.Whilemostwere staffers, BMCofficials saidtheyalsotracedpeoplewhohadcome incontactwithAbhishek,as he had travelled recently forfilm-relatedwork.Ofthe54con-tacts, while 26were tested, 28low-riskcontactshavebeensenttohomequarantine.The father-sonduowere ad-

mitted toNanavati hospital onSaturday night. Following this,Amitabh’s daughter-in-lawandactorAishwaryaRaiBachchanandeight-year-old granddaughterAaradhya testedpositiveSunday.Thefourbungalowsof thefamilyinJuhu-VileParlehavebeensealedanddeclaredcontainmentzones.Actor-politician andAmitabh’swifeJayahastestednegative.

Bachchansstable, 26staffers testnegative

AmitabhBachchan

MP doctor sends wife’ssample in domestic help’sname, couple test positive

LANCETREPORTON IMPACTOFCOVID-19

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPUNE, JULY13

SOMELOWandmiddle incomecountries (LMICs) could see asurge in HIV, TB and malariadeathsbyasmuchas10, 20, and36percent,respectively,overthenext five years due to Covid-19outbreak’simpactonhealthserv-ices,anewstudypublishedinTheLancet Global HealthonMondayhasfound.Researchers estimate that in

areasheavilyaffectedbythesein-fectiousdiseases,thepublichealthimpactofCovid-19onyearsoflifelost—thenumberofyearsaper-sonwould have lived had he orshenotdiedofaparticulardisease— could, in theworstcase,beonasimilarscaletothedirectimpactof thepandemicitself.

“TheCovid-19pandemicandactions taken in response to itcouldundosomeoftheadvancesmadeagainstmajordiseasessuchasHIV, TB andmalaria over thepast twodecades, compoundingthe burden caused by the pan-demic directly,” says ProfessorTimothyHallett from ImperialCollege London,UK,who co-ledtheresearch.“In countries with a high

malariaburdenandlargeHIVandTB epidemics, even short-termdisruptions couldhavedevastat-ingconsequencesforthemillionsof peoplewho depend on pro-grammes to control and treatthese diseases. However, theknock-onimpactofthepandemiccouldbelargelyavoidedbymain-taining core services andcontin-uing preventative measures,”headds.

According to health data,malaria deathsworldwidehavereduced byhalf since 2000, butprogresshasstalledasmosquitoesand parasites gain resistance totreatment.Asmanyas94percentof deaths occur in sub-SaharanAfrica,wheremalariaclaimedanestimated380,000livesin2018.Similarly, global HIV/AIDS

deaths have halved in a decadedrivenby the availability of anti-retroviral therapy (ART). In2019,atleast6,90,000peoplediedfromthediseaseworldwide, the vastmajorityinLMICs.An estimated 49million

livesweresavedthroughTBdi-agnosis and treatment be-tween2000and2015,butthediseasestillclaimedthelivesof1.8million people in 2018—withover95percentof thesedeathsoccurringinLMICs.

In the study, the researchersassumed a basic reproductivenumber (R0– the averagenum-berofpeopleeachindividualwiththevirusislikelytoinfect)ofthreetodevelop fourdifferent scenar-ios.ThentheyusedtransmissionmodelsofHIV,TB,andmalariatoestimate the additional impactcausedindifferentsettings,eitherbyCovid-19 interventions limit-ingroutineprogrammesorduetocasesoverburdeningthesystem.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

‘HIV, TB, malaria deaths may increase inlow, middle income countries in next 5 yrs’

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBHOPAL, JULY13

A GOVERNMENT doctor inSingrauli district has beenbookedfor impersonation,afterhesentthesampleofhiswifeforaCovid test in thenameof theirdomestic help, in the hope thatitwillhelphimconcealhisunau-thorisedabsence fromwork.PostedatKhutarhealthcen-

tre,thedoctorhadgonetoBalliainUttarPradeshtoattendawed-ding in the last week of June.When he returned, hiswife de-velopedCovidsymptomsandhesent her sample for testing butused the identity of a womanwhoworked at the health cen-treaswell ashishome.Whenthesampletestedpos-

itive last week, the health offi-cialsreachedtheaddressonlytobetoldbythedomestichelpthatshehadnotgivenanysample.Singrauli Chief Medical and

HealthOfficer (CMHO)RRPatelsaid the domestic help alsospilledthebeansonthedoctor’sUP trip. The health team then

took the samples of the doctorandotherfamilymembers--thedoctor, his wife and twonephewstestedpositive.The doctor and his family

membersareundergoing treat-mentattheisolationwardofthedistricthospital.The CMHO said the doctor,

afterbeingconfronted,admittedthathehad liedbecausehewasworried about losing the blockmedical officer’s charge to an-otherdoctor.Hadheadmittedtohis UP trip, it would have re-quired him to remain in isola-tion. After returning, he eventreatedpatientsandtookpartinthe government’s Kill Coronacampaign.Thedoctorhasbeenbooked

underSections419(punishmentfor cheating by impersonation)and 269 and 270 (for acts likelyto spread infection of diseasedangerous to life) of the IPC aswell as under the EpidemicDiseasesAct.A police officer said the po-

licewill take the doctor in cus-tody after his treatment andcompulsoryquarantine.

RELATIVESTAKECOVIDPATIENT’SBODYINAUTO

SREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD, JULY13

DAYSAFTERaphotoofabodyofaCovid-19patientbeingcarriedin an autorickshaw with thehead and legs protruding fromthevehicledrewcriticismonso-cialmedia,themedicalsuperin-tendent of the NizamabadGovernment Hospital inTelanganaresignedfromhispostonMonday.DrNageshwaraRao told The

Indian Express that he feltmorallyresponsiblefortheinci-dent. “Itweighedonconscienceand Iwas feelingguilty. I cannotcontinueas theSuperintendentinthatframeofmind. Iwillcon-tinue to work as a Professor inthe Orthopaedic Department,”hesaid.Sources in the hospital said

that Dr Rao was also unhappythatfacilitiesatthehospitalwerenot being augmented tohandlethepandemic.On July 10, the photo of the

autorickshawtakingthebodytoa graveyardwent viral on socialmedia. Nizamabad district offi-cials andmedicalofficialsof thegovernment hospitals wereblamed for negligence in dis-

posal of dead bodies, andDirectorofMEdicalEducationDrRamesh Reddy had ordered aninquiry.The inquiry did not blame

Rao, finding that the relativesofthedeceaseddecidedtonotwaitfor an ambulance to take thedeadbody to thegraveyard.“On that day, there were

threeCovid-19deathsatthehos-pital and the two ambulanceswehavehadalreadygoneouttothegraveyardwithdeadbodies.Following procedure, workerswrappedthisbodyinsheetsandit was kept near the mortuaryand the relatives were told towait till the ambulance arrived.They said they didn’t want towait for1-2hourstill theambu-lance came anddecided to takethe body in their own autorick-shaw. Thehospital officials sentoneemployeewiththemsothatthebody is properly cremated,”anofficial said.DrRaowasalsoaskedbythe

DirectorofMedicalEducationDrRamesh Reddy to file a policecomplaintagainstthemortuaryofficialswhoallowedthefamilymemberstotakeawaythebody,but he refused, saying the rela-tiveshadpressurisedtheofficialsto release thebody.

Nizamabad hospitalchief resigns, says hefeels morally responsible

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIASINGAPORE, JULY13

THESINGAPOREgovernmenthasdeported10 Indiannationals, in-cluding students, and barredthemfromre-enteringthecoun-try for violating the “circuitbreaker” rules enforced to curbthe spread of the Covid-19, offi-cialssaidonMonday.The“circuitbreaker”periodin

SingaporebeganonApril7aspartofwhich,allnon-essentialwork-placeswereclosedandresidentswere barred from leaving theirhouses, except to buy food andgroceries or to exercise alone inthe neighbourhood. The periodendedonJune2.Singapore is currently in the

secondphaseof its reopening—starting from June 19. As onSunday,thecountryreportedato-tal of 45,961Covid-19 cases and26deaths.The 10 Indians, holding stu-

dentorworkpasses,werecaughtat a social gathering at a rentedapartment on May 5, theSingaporePolice Force (SPF) andtheImmigrationandCheckpointsAuthority(ICA)saidinarelease.Last month, they pleaded

guilty to theiroffencesunder theCOVID-19(TemporaryMeasures)Act and penalties ranging be-tweenSGD2,000(US$1,439)andSGD4,500 (US$3,237)were im-posed on them. “Their passeswerecancelledaftertheirconvic-tions.TheyweredeportedtoIndiabetween Juneand July2020andbarred from re-enteringSingapore,”thereleasesaid.

Singapore deports10 Indians, barsre-entry forviolating circuitbreaker rules

JOHNSONTABENGALURU, JULY13

DESPITE SCEPTICISM amongsomeexpertsoveruseofX-raysasa tool todiagnose lung infectionscausedbyCovid-19,theKarnatakagovernmenthasdecidedtogoforlarge-scalepurchaseof digitalX-raymachinesasatooltodiagnoselunginfectionsandpreventcoro-navirus-linkeddeaths.State Medical Education

Minister Dr K Sudhakar said onMonday,“DigitalX-rayscancarryout 1,000 X-rays per day.Withdigital X-raywecanassess if thelungs are infected. It is a simpletooltodetectaninfectioninearlystage. If there is evidenceof lunginfection, thenthepersoncanbeadmittedtohospitalimmediatelyandlivescanbesaved.”“Wehavedecidedtobuydig-

ital X-rays for everymedical col-lege,andtheHealthDepartmentmust buy them... the ChiefMinisterhasordered,”theminis-ter,overallin-chargeofmeasuresto control spread of Covid-19 inKarnataka,said.At Rajiv Gandhi Institute of

ChestDiseasesinBengaluru,agov-ernmenthospitalthathasadedi-catedCovid-19treatmentfacility,X-rayshavebeenregularlyusedtoassesswhetherpatientsshowingupwith SARI or Influenza LikeIllnessneedhospitalisation.RGICDdirectorDrCNagarajasaidthatinCovid19,X-rays are “only a sup-portivetoolfordiagnosis;labtestsare the primary tool”. But since

labs thesedaysare taking four tofivedays toprovide results, “it isOK to take chestX-rays since le-sions showup inX-rays inaboutfive to sixdays. It isbeingused todecideonadmissionssinceresultsaredelayed,”hesaid.But experts like epidemiolo-

gistDrGiridharRBabu,who is apartofatechnicalcommitteecon-stituted by Karnataka govern-ment for advice on tackling thepandemic, have cited findingsfrom the British Society ofThoracicImagingtoquestionthewisdomofusingX-raysasadiag-nostic tool for Covid-19. “Howmuch of use is X ray to screenCovid19whilecasesaresurging?TheBSTI radiologydecision toolforsuspectedCOVID-19indicatesit is forpersonswithlowerrespi-ratory tract involvement.Why istheGovernment proposing thisfor screening inKarnataka?'' DrBabu,anepidemiologistfromthePublicHealthFoundationofIndia,recentlypostedonsocialmedia.The BSTI radiology decision

tool says that chestX-rays are tobedoneafterclinicalassessmentand lab tests have confirmedCovid-19 infectionandmostly incaseswherepatientsareveryill.“Use of regularX-rays for as-

sessinglunginfectionisnotpossi-bleduetofactorslikecontamina-tionofX-ray facility ina labbutamobile digital X-ray canbeuse-ful,”pulmonologistDrKSSathish,who is also part of the govern-mentexpertpanel,said.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

Some expertssceptical, Karnatakadecides to use digitalX-rays for diagnosis

New Delhi

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

878,254India

259,652Iran

299,750Mexico

291,685United Kingdom

317,657Chile

276,242South Africa

3,327,388US

1,864,681Brazil

326,326Peru

TOTAL CONFIRMED: 12,977,429 DEATHCOUNT:570,259Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonJuly13. JHU’sIndiatallyandHealth

Ministry’stally(below)maynotmatchiftheseareaccountedatdifferenttimes.

THEWORLD732,547Russia

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 8,78,254 (23,174 DEATHS)

2,54,427Maharashtra

1,38,470Tamil Nadu

24,392Rajasthan

36,476 UP

1,12,494 Delhi

41,820Gujarat

30,013West Bengal

29,168Andhra Pradesh

34,671Telangana

Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak andwhat you should/should not do?

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

38,843Karnataka

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm, July13.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.5,53,471PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN35STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 163ArunachalPradesh 359Assam 16071Bihar 16642Chandigarh 559Chhattisgarh 4059DadraandNagarHaveli 479Goa 2453Haryana 21240HimachalPradesh 1213JammuandKashmir 10513Jharkhand 3756Kerala 7873Ladakh 1086MadhyaPradesh 17632Manipur 1609Meghalaya 306Mizoram 231Nagaland 774Odisha 13121Puducherry 1418Punjab 7821Sikkim 153Tripura 2054Uttarakhand 3537

ANEW study on youngAmericans indicatesthat youth may notshieldpeople fromseri-ous disease related toCovid-19,theUniversityof California – SanFrancisco (UCSF) said.Researchers at UCSFBenioff Children’sHospitalslookedatdatadrawn from 8,400menand women aged 18 to 25 — de-scribedasanationallyrepresentativesample—and concluded that overall“medical vulnerability”was 33% formales and 30% for females. The im-pactof smokingsurpassedother lesscommon risks. The studywas pub-lished in the Journal of AdolescentHealthonMonday.The researchers determined vul-

nerability by referencing indicatorsidentified by the US Centers forDiseaseControl.Theseincludedheart

conditions, diabetes,current asthma, im-mune conditions (suchas lupus, gout, rheuma-toid arthritis), liver con-ditions, obesity andsmokingwithinthepre-vious 30 days.Additionally, the re-searchers addede-ciga-rettes to tobaccoandci-gar use, which the CDC

had included, stating that all threewereassociatedwithadverseeffectsonrespiratoryandimmunefunction.The researchers used an overall

medicalvulnerabilityestimateofhav-ingat leastoneof the indicatorsastheoutcomevariable,ratherthanacumu-lativescore.Medicalvulnerabilitywasassessed according to each indicator.Among smokers, for example, 100%werevulnerableforsevereCovid-19.

Source:UniversityofCalifornia–SanFrancisco

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

1 in 3 young US adults foundvulnerable to severe Covid

EXPERTSEXPLAIN

THE USEFULNESS of hydroxychloroquine(HCQ) in Covid-19 has been controversial,withoutclarityorclearevidenceonewayorthe other, until very recently. A study onmore than2,500patients in sixunits underthe Henry Ford Hospitals group in Detroit,Michigan,USA,peer-reviewed,acceptedandready for publication in the InternationalJournalof InfectiousDiseases,hasfoundgoodevidence that HCQ reduces Covid-19mor-tality significantly. It should be noted thatconditionsapply.HCQ has beenwidely used as a drug to

treatmalariaandtopreventmalaria in trav-ellerstomalaria-endemiczones,fordecades.Onceitsanti-inflammatoryandimmunesup-pressantpropertieswereidentified, itbegantobeusedtheworldoverinautoimmunedis-eases such as rheumatoid arthritis and sys-temiclupuserythematosus. Infact, indevel-oped countrieswithoutmalaria, it iswidelybutalmost exclusivelyusedby rheumatolo-gists. The side-effect profile has beenwellcharacterised and protocols formonitoringsideeffectsaretaughtinallmedicalcolleges.Thedrughaswithstoodthetestof time.When the chikungunya pandemic

seeded epidemics in various states in Indiaduring2002through2006,manypatientsinthe post-chikungunya-fever phase devel-opedpersistentanddisablinglargejointpainand swelling, lastingmonths to years. HCQcame to their rescue and physicians havebeen using it with remarkable success, butwithalldueprecautions.

HCQ in Covid pandemicThe story of HCQ and Covid-19 began in

Wuhan,China,wherepatientswhowereonHCQ,attendingrheumatologyclinics,seemed

toberelativelyprotectedfromseriousCovid-19thanthoseattendingotherclinics.Lookingforpossibletreatmentoptions,Chinesephysi-ciansstumbledonHCQ.SotheybeganusingHCQempirically for treatingCovid-19.Frenchphysicians,familiarwithHCQused

againstanendemicbacterialdiseasecalledQfever, followedupwith scientific studies forseeking objective evidence for HCQ use inCovid-19.TherewaslaboratoryevidencethatHCQ acts against SARS coronavirus type 1and,more recently, also against type 2 thatcauses Covid-19. The French reported thatHCQreducedboththeviralloadanddurationof virus shedding in the upper respiratorytractofCovid-19patients.Thatpavedthewayfor global use of the drug for Covid-19,withbelieversandscepticsraisingacacophonyofcontroversies. Adding fuel to the fire, indis-criminateusewithoutdueprecautions,over-dosing,andprolongedusageresultedinmanyadverse side effects described in the books,even deaths. So the pendulumswung awayfromitsuse inmanycountries.IntheUS,rheumatologistswereunhappy

becauseofshortageofHCQforthelegitimateneedsof theirpatients, onaccountof heavy

demand for the drug to prevent and treatCovid-19—basedmoreonempiricismthanevidence. India,theworld’slargestproducerof HCQ, exportedhuge supplies of the drugto theUSandBrazil inApril.Therewasawidespreadclamourforcon-

trolledclinicaltrials.TherewastheRecoverytrial in the UK and the VeteransAdministration trial in theUS, both on seri-ously ill Covid-19 patients. HCQ did not re-ducemortality and the pendulum swungagainst HCQ use in Covid-19. TheWorldHealth Organization (WHO) had theSolidarity trial with HCQ in one arm. A sci-entific paper on a largenumber of patients,published in The Lancet, reported an unac-ceptable frequency of serious HCQ side-ef-fects,basedonwhichWHOhastilywithdrewitfromthestudy.Withindays, itbecameev-ident that the Lancet article was based ondoubtfuldataandthe journalwithdrewthearticle with alacrity. Immediately WHOmadeavolte faceandre-introducedHCQintheSolidarity trial, only towithdrawit soonafter the UK Recovery trial showed lack ofbenefitswith thedrug.The Detroit study on Covid-19 patients

aged18to76,themajoritywithco-morbidi-ties, was protocol-driven. In one group ashortcourseofHCQwasstartedearly,prefer-ablyon the first or latest seconddayof hos-pitalisation. Inordertoavoidserioussideef-fects, thedrug regimenwas short –400mgtwiceondayone, followedby200mgtwicedaily for four more days. Corticosteroidswereusedasadjuncttherapyinaproportionof patients in both groups. The in-hospitalmortality for Covid-19was 26.4 per cent inthosenotgivenHCQ,reducedto13.5percentin theHCQ-treatedgroup.TheDetroitstudyhasswungthependu-

lumall thewayback, favourable toHCQusein Covid-19. If the scientific evidence fromFrancewas for reductionof viral load in theupperrespiratorytract,wasitnot likelythatit reflected a reduction of viral load in allother infected body tissues also? Whenshouldtheviral loadbereduced–lateinthecourseofdiseaseorearly? Doesitnotmakesense touse thedrugearlyandnot late?

The road aheadHCQisobviouslynotapanaceaforsevere

casesofCovid-19.Givenearly,ithelpsreducemortality by about half, compared to thosenot given HCQ. In India the drug is widelyavailable and not expensive. A number ofIndian states have already incorporated ashort courseofHCQ in theirCovid-19 treat-mentprotocol,andstatesthathavenotdonesowill dowell to implement thisquickly.Twoother therapies formortality reduc-

tionareashortcourseofdexamethasoneandconvalescentplasma. Indianphysicianshaveagoldenopportunitytousethethreemodal-ities in sequence – dexamethasone in thosewho do not improvewith early use of HCQandconvalescentplasmaforthosewhodonotimprovewithdexamethasone. Theoutcomeof this treatment sequencewill inform themedicalcommunityhowtosavemanylives.

DrSeshadri is retiredProfessorofmedicalendocrinology,ChristianMedicalCollege,VelloreandcurrentlyDirector, Thirumalai

MissionHospitalRanipet.Dr John is retiredProfessorofClinical

Virology,CMC,VelloreandPastPresidentofIndianAcademyofPediatrics.

16WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SADAFMODAKMUMBAI, JULY13

LASTWEEK,asessionscourtlastupheldtheacquittal of Abdul Latif AdamMomin and18 others including passport office clerks,motor training school employees and apassport agent in a case linked with the1999 Kandahar hijacking. The court dis-missedapleabytheMumbaipoliceagainstthe acquittal of these 19 by amagistrate'scourt in2012.

The hijackingOnDecember 24, 1999, Indian Airlines

flightIC-814fromKathmandutoDelhiwith179passengersand11crewmemberstookoff at 4.10 pm. Forty-fiveminutes later, itwashijackedbyfivemenwhomadeit landatvariousplacesincludingAmritsar,Lahoreand the UAE for refuelling, before finallylandingatKandaharinAfghanistanat4am.

The hijackers demanded the release ofMaulanaMasoodAzhar,adesignatedglobalterrorist, whowas lodged in a Jammu jail,thereleaseof35othermilitants,andaran-som of $2million. After negotiations, theIndiangovernmentagreedtoreleaseAzhar,UmarSheikhandMohammedZargarinex-changeforallthepassengers.Theexchangetook place on December 31, 1999. One ofthepassengers,a25-yearold,waskilledandanother injuredduring thenegotiations.

Who isMominMomin, a Mumbai resident, was ar-

rested on December 30, 1999, in connec-tionwithabankrobbery thatOctober.TheMumbaipoliceclaimedthatamongthere-coveries made fromMominwere Indianpassports,drivinglicencesanddocumentspertaining to hotel reservationswhich ledthemtowardshisinvolvementinthehijack-ing. Thepassportswere in thenameof thehijackers thoughtheywerenotusedinthe

hijacking,police told thecourt.Mominwas then named as one of the

10accusedinthemainhijackingcasealongwith another Indiannational, Dilip Bhujel,and a Nepali national Bhupal Damai. In2008,aspecial court inPatiala foundthemguilty of murder, criminal conspiracy and

relevantsectionsof theArmsActandAnti-HijackingAct,1982,andsentencedthemtolife imprisonment.TheCBIfiledanappealintheHighCourt

of Punjab and Haryana seeking deathpenalty forMomin. In 2014, the court setaside the punishment awarded to Bhujeland Damai under all sections except theArmsActwhileMomin'sconvictionwasup-held.ThecourttookintoconsiderationthatMomin had been behind bars since 1999and stated that he should not be given thedeathpenalty,butupheldhislifetermwhichhe iscurrentlyserving inaPunjabprison.

TheMumbai caseIntheMumbaicase,Mominwasbooked

forobtainingforgeddocumentstoprocurepassportsforthefivePakistanihijackers.Hewasbookedalongwith22others in a sep-arate case filed inMumbai on charges in-cludingforgery,forgeryofapassport,cheat-ing and relevant sections of the Indian

Passport Act. It was claimed thatMominhadpaidbetweenRs300andRs2500 toapassportagent,hisemployees,passportof-fice clerks, employees of motor drivingschools fromwhere falsedocumentsweregiven toprocuredriving licences innamesof thehijackers.In2012,themagistrate'scourtwhileac-

quittingthe19whostoodtrial (fourotherswere discharged earlier or had died) saidtheMumbaipolicehadfailedtoprovethattherewas anexusbetween the accused toassist thehijackers. The sessions court up-held thisviewlastweek.

Themain caseIn themain hijacking case, the CBI had

alleged that Momin hadmademultipletrips toNepal andBangladesh tomeet theconspirators and provided assistance tothem. The CBI claimed that Momin hadhelpedgive accommodation to thehijack-ers inMumbai, and arranged their pass-

portsanddriving licences.During the trial in Mumbai, Momin's

lawyerhadsaidthattwomennamedashisco-accused, includingtheownerofatravelcompany and a driving school employee,werewitnesses in the trial court inPatiala,andthattheirstatementsthereforeshouldnot be admitted. One of Momin’s lines ofdefencewasalsoofdoublejeopardy,whichmeansthatanaccusedcannotbepunishedfor the same offence twice. The commonchargeinthetwocasesagainstMominwasforgeryunder IPCSection467.In 2014, the Punjab andHaryana High

CourtsaidtheMumbaicasehadnothingtodowith the criminal conspiracy of hijack-ing. ItalsosaidtheevidenceorthefindingsoftheMumbaicasewhichledtoacquittalofMomin cannot be relied uponwhile con-sidering themainhijackingcase.Momin has appealed against the High

Court order which is pending before theSupremeCourt.

The case for using HCQHydroxychloroquineisobviouslynotapanaceaforseverecasesofCovid-19.Givenearly,

ithelpsreducemortalitybyabouthalf, comparedtothosenotgiventhedrug

AMITABHSINHAPUNE, JULY13

LIKE ALL other potential candidates, a vac-cine against Covid-19 being developed inRussia too is far from being ready at thispoint. A number of reports on Sunday hadclaimedthatclinical trials foraRussianvac-cine had been “successfully” completed.Whatmost of these reports did not specifi-callymentionisthatonlyphase-Iof theclin-ical trials had been completed. Phase-II tri-alsweresupposedtostartonMonday,whilethere isnoclarityoverphase-III trials.

What is thecandidatevaccinebeingdevelopedinRussia?There is only one candidate vaccine be-

ingdevelopedinRussiathathasreachedthehumanclinicaltrialstage.Thatcandidate,be-ing developed by the Gamalei NationalResearch Centre for Epidemiology andMicrobiology, in partnership with theRussianDefenceMinistry,hadbegunphase-IhumantrialsonJune18,with18volunteersfrom the armed forces having been chosenforadministering thevaccine.AreportbytheTASSnewsagencyofRussia

onJuly10saidthephase-Iclinicaltrialswould

endonJuly15,whilephase-IIwouldbeginJuly13.“...Anin-wardtreatmentofthefirstgroupof volunteers,whoweretested for thesafetyandtolerabilityofthevaccine,willendonJuly15,” the TASS agency quoted the RussianDefenceMinistryassaying.

What isphase-I invaccinetrials?Phase-I iswhere ‘safetyand tolerability’

ofavaccineistested,onasmallgroupofvol-unteers. The news report said theMinistryhadclaimedthatnoneof thevolunteershadreported any complaints, experienced noside effects, andwould be discharged fromthehospital soon.“OnMonday, July13, the secondgroupof

volunteers,whoare tested for the efficiencyandimmunogenicityofthevaccine,willbein-jectedwiththesecondcomponentofthevac-cineagainsttheCoronavirus,”theagencysaid.This roundwould involvethe injectionof thevaccineamongcivilianvolunteersaswell.

What is thepurposeof thisround?This is phase-II, inwhich ‘efficiency and

immunogenicity(generationof immunere-sponse)’ is tested. It is in this stage that re-searchers try to seewhether the vaccine istriggering the desired immune response inhumans,andwhatcouldbethesuitabledose

togenerate this response.

Andthere isathirdphaseaswell?Usually, yes; vaccine development in-

volves a third phase. In fact, no vaccine forlarge-scaleusehasbeenapprovedwithoutthe third phase of trials till now. A largenumber of volunteers, usually numberingseveral thousands,areenrolledforthethirdphase inwhich researchers try to ascertainwhethertheimmuneresponsetriggeredbythe vaccine is able to fight the virus in real-life situations. This process could take sev-eralmonths.In thecaseofRussiancandidatevaccine,

aswith any other candidate, the success ofphase-II trials, which could take at least acoupleofmonths,isnotguaranteed.Thesuc-cess can only be ascertained after the com-pletionof the trials.

So,will therebephase-III if phase-IItrialsdosucceed?It is not clear as of now whether the

Russiancandidatevaccinewouldgothroughphase-III trials. Usually, that is the case, butrecently,consideringthecurrentemergencysituation, a candidate vaccine developed inChina has been approved for use after justthephase-II trials,althoughit ismeanttobe

administered only on army personnel as ofnow.ItwilldependonRussianregulatoryau-thorities to decide whether the country’svaccinewouldneedphase III trials aswell.Thereareover150candidatevaccinesfor

coronavirus being developed all over theworld.Nearlyhalfofthesearestill inpre-clin-ical stages,meaning they are being tried onanimals or are still in early stages of devel-opment.About15vaccinesareinphase-Itri-alsandaboutteninphase-IItrials.Threevac-cinesare inphase-III trials.

Whathappensafterphase-III?Even after the successful completion of

phase-III, itusuallytakesseveral monthsbe-foreavaccine isaccessible toageneralpub-lic.Several roundsof regulatoryandadmin-istrativeapprovalsare required.That iswhyseveral scientists, and evenWHO officials,havebeenmaintainingthatitwouldbetakeatleast12-18monthsbeforeanycoronavirusvaccine isable tohit themarket.Even then, the vaccine is unlikely to be

availableforallatonego.Initially,itisexpectedtobemadeavailableonlytopeoplewhoareathigherriskofgettingtheinfection,likehealth-care workers. A universal immunisationagainstcoronaviruscantakeseveralyears,justlikeithasbeenthecasewithothervaccines.

Why Russian vaccine still has miles to go

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to explained@indianexpress.comE EXPLAINED

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

Curious case of AbdulMomin, convicted in hijacking, acquitted in related trial

IndianAirlines flight IC-814,whichwashijacked inDecember1999. File

MSSeshadri &T Jacob John

Hydroxychloroquine,pulledoutofWHOSolidarity trial,hasnowshownfreshpromise inaDetroit study.Reuters

VULNERABILITY AMONG YOUNG ADULTS

Vulnerable

31.5%NonVulnerable

68.5%Vulnerable

16.1%NonVulnerable

83.9%

SMOKERSANDNON-SMOKERS

NON-SMOKERS

FACTCHECK, GROUND REALITY

Source:UniversityofCalifornia—SanFrancisco

New Delhi

17THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,JULY14,2020

THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MEANWHILE

US, CHINA, UAESET FORMARSMISSIONSThreecountries—theUS,ChinaandtheUnitedArabEmirates—aresendingunmannedspacecrafttoMarsinquicksuccessionbeginningthisweek, inthemostsweepingeffortyettoseeksignsofancientmicroscopic lifewhilescoutingtheplaceforfutureastronauts.

USA

JerryMaguireactorKellyPrestondiesLosAngeles:KellyPreston,whoplayeddramaticandcomic foil to actors rang-ing from Tom Cruise inJerry Maguire to ArnoldSchwarzeneggerinTwins,died Sunday, husbandJohn Travolta said. Shewas57.TravoltasaidinanInstagram post that hiswifeof28yearsdiedaftera two-year battle withbreastcancer.“It iswithaveryheavyheartthatIin-formyouthatmybeauti-fulwifeKellyhas losthertwo-year battle withbreast cancer,” Travoltasaid.“Shefoughtacoura-geous fightwith the loveandsupportof somany.”

The57-year-oldwasmarriedtoHollywoodstar JohnTravolta

TOPOFTHEWORLD

NEPAL

BanonIndiannewschannelspartially liftedKathmandu:Nepal's cabletelevision operators onMonday partially lifted theban imposedon Indianpri-vatenewschannels.Ameet-ingofthecableoperatorsde-cided to lift the ban on theIndiannews channelswithonlyafewnewschannelsstillbannedinNepal,Vicepresi-dentof televisionoperators'associationDhurba Sharmatold reporters. “A fewnewschannels airing objection-ablecontentarestillbannedinthecountry,”Sharmasaid.OnThursday,cabletelevisionoperatorsstoppedthetrans-missionof all Indianprivatenews channels exceptDoordarshan,accusingthemof airing reports hurtingNepal'snationalsentiment.

SAUDIARABIA

Houthissayhitoilfacility,SaudissaybidthwartedDubai:YemeniHouthiforceshit a large oil facility in thesouthernSaudiArabian cityof Jizan indroneandmissileattacks overnight, aHouthimilitary spokesmansaidonMonday. But the Saudi-ledcoalitionfightingtheHouthissaidearlierithadinterceptedanddestroyed fourmissilesandsixexplosivedronesfiredbytheHouthisoverthebor-dertowardsSaudiArabia.OilcompanySaudiAramcoop-eratesa400,000-barrel-per-day refinery in the Red Seacity of Jizan, which liesaround 60 km from theYemenborder. Aramcodidnot immediately reply to arequestforcomment.

NEWZEALAND

MosquegunmantorepresentselfatsentencingWellington: The Australianwhite supremacistwhoad-mitting killing 51worship-pers in amass shooting attwoNewZealandmosqueshas dismissed his lawyersandwill represent himselfwhen he is sentenced nextmonth. Brenton HarrisonTarranthadpleadedguiltyinMarchto51chargesofmur-der,40ofattemptedmurderandone chargeof engagingin a terrorist act for theshootings targeting peopleprayingatthetwomosquesinthecityofChristchurchin2019. His sentencing hear-ing, delayed by the coron-avirus pandemic, is sched-uledtobegininChristchurchonAugust24andcould lastmorethanthreedays.

YEWLUNTIANBEIJING, JULY13

CHINAANNOUNCED“correspon-dingsanctions”againsttheUnitedStates on Monday afterWashington penalised seniorChinese officials over the treat-mentofminorityUighurMuslimsinthewesternregionofXinjiang.China’smovecomesasrela-

tions between the world’s twobiggesteconomicpowerhouseshave slumped over disagree-ments on issues including thecoronavirus pandemic, trade,Huawei and a sweeping na-tional security law imposed onHongKong.The sanctions targeted

Senators Ted Cruz and MarcoRubio, US Representative ChrisSmith,AmbassadoratLarge forInternational ReligiousFreedom Sam Brownback andtheUSCongressional-ExecutiveCommissiononChina.Rubio and Cruz have both

sponsoredlegislationthatwouldpunish China’s actions inXinjiang. Smith has also been avocal critic of China on issuesranging fromXinjiang to HongKongandthecoronavirus.All three are members of

President Donald Trump’sRepublicanParty.“TheUSactionsseriously in-

terfereinChina’sinternalaffairs,seriouslyviolatethebasicnormsof internationalrelationsandse-

riously damage Sino-US rela-tions,”ChineseForeignMinistryspokeswoman Hua Chunyingtold reporters.“Chinawillmake further re-

sponses based onhow the situ-ationdevelops.”Huadidnotelaborate.

UN experts and activists sayat least amillionethnicUighursand other Muslims are held indetention centres in Xinjiang.Chinadescribesthemastrainingcentreshelpingtostampoutter-rorism and extremismand givepeoplenewskills.REUTERS

Chinese sanctions onUS target Cruz, RubioRetaliationtopenalties imposedbyUSoverUighurrights

FIRE ABOARD SHIP AT US NAVAL BASE, 57 INJUREDPortofSanDiegoHarborPoliceboatsfightafireaboardtheUSSBonhommeRichardatNavalBaseSanDiegoonSunday.57peoplesufferedinjuriesinanexplosionandfireontheship,militaryofficialssaid.Thecauseof thefirewasunderinvestigation. Itwasn’tyetknownwhereonthe840-footamphibiousassaultvesseltheblastandthefireoccurred.AP

MUJIBMASHAL&NAJIMRAHIMKABUL, JULY13

THETALIBANwagedasustainedassault against an Afghan intel-ligence complex in the city ofAybakonMonday,killingatleast11 people andwoundingmorethan 60 others, part of a bloodywave of violence across thecountry’snorth.With the opening of peace

talks between the insurgencyand the Afghan governmentstalled formonths, the Talibanhaveintensifiedtheiroffensives,creating one of the deadliestyearsof the longwar.OnMonday, insurgents det-

onated a car bomb at the en-trance of the provincial head-quarters of Afghanistan’sNationalDirectorate of Securityin Aybak, the capital ofSamangan Province, about 150milesnorthwestofKabul.Theblast,whichalsostrucka

nearby municipal compound,opened the way for fighters toenter the intelligence agencycomplex,wheretheybattledtheAfghan forces for hours, saidSefatullah Samangani, thedeputygovernoroftheprovince.Samanganisaid11officersof

the intelligence agency, mostlymen but at least one woman,were killed and 63 otherswerewounded. Only 15 of thewoundedwereintelligenceoffi-

cersandtherest civilians.“Theblastwassostrongthat

itbrokepeople’swindowsthreekilometers away,” Samanganisaid. “Thebuildingof theintelli-gence agency and themunici-pality building are not usableanymore.”NYT

ASSOCIATEDPRESSJOHANNESBURG,JULY13

ZINDZIMANDELA,thedaughterof South African anti-apartheidleaders Nelson and WinnieMandela,hasdiedaged59.StatetelevisionSouthAfrican

BroadcastingCorporationhasre-ported that Mandela died at aJohannesburg hospital earlyMondaymorning.At the timeof herdeath, she

was South Africa’s ambassadortoDenmark.TheMandelas’daughtercame

to international prominence in1985,when thewhiteminoritygovernment offered to releaseNelsonMandelafromprisonifhedenouncedviolenceperpetratedby his movement, the AfricaNational Congress, againstapartheid, the brutal systemofracialdiscriminationenforcedinSouthAfricaatthattime.ZindziMandela read his let-

terrejectingtheofferatapackedpublicmeeting thatwas broad-castaroundtheworld.

THENEWYORKTIMESJULY13

SEVENTEEN US states and theDistrict of Columbia sued theTrump administration onMonday, seekingtoblockanewrulethatwouldrevokethevisasof foreign students who takeclassesentirelyonlineinthefall.The rule, issued aweek ago,

wouldupendmonthsof carefulplanningbycollegesanduniver-sities,thelawsuitsays,andcouldforcemanystudentstoreturntotheirhomecountriesduringthepandemic,wheretheirabilitytostudywouldbecompromised.“The Trump administration

didn’tevenattempttoexplainthebasisforthissenselessrule,whichforcesschoolstochoosebetweenkeeping their international stu-dentsenrolledandprotectingthehealth and safety of their cam-

puses,” Maura Healey, theMassachusetts attorney general,said in a statement announcingthe suit, which accuses the ad-ministration of violating theAdministrativeProcedureAct.Theaction,filedinUSDistrict

Court in Boston, is the latest le-

gal effort to contest the federaledict,whichhasbeendescribedby states and universities incourtfilingsasapoliticallymoti-vatedattemptbytheTrumpad-ministrationtoforceuniversitiestoholdin-personclassesthisfall,even asmany have announcedtheywill remain largely onlinebecauseof healthconcerns.California filed its own law-

suit lastweek,afterHarvardandtheMassachusetts Institute ofTechnologyhad already gone tocourt seeking to block the newrule. Arguments in theHarvardandMITcasearescheduledtobeheardonTuesday.The federal guidance issued

by Immigration and CustomsEnforcement,whichsaysforeignstudents earning their degreesentirelyonlinecannotstayintheUnitedStates, has sent studentsscramblingtoenrollinin-personclasses thataredifficult to find.

GAYLEISSAJULY13

THENUMBERofcoronavirusin-fectionsaroundtheworldhit13milliononMonday,accordingtoaReuterstally,climbingbyamil-lion in just fivedays.Thepandemichasnowkilled

morethanhalfamillionpeopleinsix-and-a-halfmonths,andWorldHealthOrganisation(WHO)chiefTedros AdhanomGhebreyesussaid therewouldbeno return tothe “oldnormal” for the foresee-able future, especially if preven-tivemeasureswereneglected.“Letme be blunt, toomany

countriesareheadedinthewrongdirection, thevirusremainspub-

licenemynumberone,”hetoldavirtualbriefingfromWHOhead-quartersinGeneva.“If basics are not followed,

the only way this pandemic isgoing to go, it is going to getworseandworseandworse.Butitdoesnothave tobe thisway.”Reuters’globaltally,whichis

based on government reports,shows the disease acceleratingfastest in Latin America. TheAmericasaccountformorethanhalf theworld’s infections.Partsof theworld,especially

the USwithmore than 3.3mil-lion confirmed cases, are stillseeing huge increases in a firstwave of Covid-19 infections,while others “flatten the curve”andease lockdowns.REUTERS

SenatorsTedCruzandMarcoRubiohavebothsponsoredBillsthatwouldpunishChina’sactionsinXinjiang.Reuters file

17 US states sue Trump adminover order on foreign students

AtHarvardUniversity inCambridge,Massachusetts.A lawsuitagainst theorderwas filedbyHarvardandMIT lastweek.

Nelson Mandela’sdaughter Zindzidies aged 59

ASSOCIATEDPRESSJERUSALEM,JULY13

AN ISRAELI court has rejected arequesttostripthecontroversialIsraeli spyware firmNSOGroupof itsexportlicenceoverthesus-pected use of the company'stechnologyintargetingjournal-ists anddissidentsworldwide.The case, brought by

Amnesty International inJanuary, called on the court toprevent NSO from selling itstechnologyabroad,especiallytorepressive regimes.The Tel Aviv District Court

ruled that Amnesty’s attorneysdid not provide sufficient evi-dence“toprovetheclaimthatanattemptwasmadetotrackahu-man rights activist by trying tohack his cell phone” or that thehackingwasdonebyNSO.“Granting a licence is done

after themost rigorous processand also after granting the per-mit,theauthorityconductsover-sight and close inspection, asnecessary,” thecourt said. If hu-man rights are found to be vio-lated, that permit can be sus-pendedorcancelled, it added.In 2018, Amnesty claimed

one of its employees was tar-getedbyNSO’smalware.NSO, an Israeli hacker-for-

hire company, uses its Pegasusspyware to take control of aphone, its cameras andmicro-phones,andminetheuser’sper-sonaldata.

Israeli courtrejects petitionto curb spywarecompany NSO

ZindziMandelawasSouthAfrica’sambassador toDenmark.Reuters

Covid-19 cases rise by 1 million in 5 days

People takepart inacampaignbyIsrael’sNatureandParksAuthoritycallingonIsraelis to findcomfort intreehuggingamidrisingcoronaviruscases.Reuters

After tight race for Polish President,Andrzej Duda wins second termMONIKAPRONCZUK&MARCSANTORAWARSAW,JULY13

PRESIDENT ANDRZEJ Duda ofPolandwasnarrowlyelectedtoasecondtermafterthevoteswerecounted onMonday followingthecountry’sclosestpresidentialelectionsincetheendofcommu-nistrulein1989,clearingapoten-tial obstacle for the conservativenationalistgovernment.Duda and the governing

partyhave fought tocontrol thecourtsandmedia,whilestokingfearofgaypeople, theEuropean

Union and foreigners. Formanyin the opposition, the racewasnotonlyacontestbetweencom-peting visions for Poland, but a

last chance to save institutionsthat form the bedrock of ahealthydemocracy.While the tight vote under-

scored the extent towhich thedeepdivisionsinPolandhavein-tensifiedafterfiveyearsgovernedbytheLawandJusticeparty,therewas no suggestion the govern-mentwouldnowchangecourse.Duda’s promise to protect

“traditional families” resonatedwitholdervotersandchurchgo-ers,especiallyintheeasternhalfof thecountry,helpinghimfendoff a fierce challenge fromRafalTrzaskowski, the liberal mayorofWarsaw.NYT

DudawonPoland’sclosestelectionsincetheendofcommunist rule in1989

THE PAPERS, WITH HEADLINES ANNOUNCING INDIRA GANDHI BECOMING PM, WERE FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED IN JAN 1966

Indian newspapers from 1966 found on melting French glacierADITIKHANNALONDON, JULY13

INDIAN NEWSPAPER copieswith headlines such as “India’sFirstWoman PrimeMinister”,referringtoIndiraGandhi’selec-tionwin in 1966, have been re-coveredfromthemeltingFrenchglacier of Bossons on theMontBlanc mountain in westernEurope, 54 years after an AirIndiaplanecrashedthere.Thenewspapersgotthereaf-

ter an Air India plane crashed

intoEurope’s highestmountainon January 24, 1966, andwerediscoveredbyTimotheeMottin,whorunsthecafe-restaurant,LaCabane du Cerro, at an altitudeof1,350metresabovetheFrenchresort townofChamonix.“They are drying now but

theyare inverygoodcondition.You can read them,”Mottin, 33,told the local French daily LeDaupine Libere, quoted by TheGuardian newspaper and otheragencies in theUK.“It’s not unusual. Every time

we walk on the glacier with

friends, we find remains of thecrash. With experience, youknowwhere they are. They arebeingcarriedalongbytheglacieraccordingtotheirsize,”hesaid.TheAir IndiaBoeing707had

crashed into themountainaftera verbal flight controlmiscom-munication, leading to the lossof all 177passengersandcrew.Copiesof theNationalHerald

and Economic Times are amongadozennewspapersdiscoveredbyMottin, whose cafe is about45 minutes by foot from theBossonsglacier,wheretheplane

crashedover54yearsago.Mottin said hewas lucky to

discover the papers when hedid because the ice in whichthey had been encased fornearly six decades had proba-bly only just melted. Once thepapershavedriedout, theywilljoin a growing collection ofitems from the crash thatMottinhasputondisplayathiscafe to share itwith visitors.Since 2012, there have been

anumberof findsrelatingtothe1966 Air India crash emergingfromthemelting icecaps.

In 2012, a bag of diplomaticmail, stamped “On IndianGovernmentService,DiplomaticMail, Ministry of ExternalAffairs”, was recovered, while ayearlateraFrenchclimberfoundametal box containing the AirIndia logo containing emeralds,sapphires and rubiesworth be-tween£117,000and£230,000.Humanremainsfoundinthe

area in2017arealsobelieved tocome from the 1966 crash orthatofanotherIndianplane,theMalabar Princess, that camedownin thearea in1950.PTI

AnAir India flightcarrying177passengersandcrewcrashedintoMontBlanconJanuary24,1966.Reuters file

VIOLENCEUNLEASHEDbytheTalibanhasintensifiedinAfghanistaninrecentmonths,evenafteradealbe-tweenthemilitantsandtheUSwasstruckinFebruaryforthegradualwithdrawalofforeigntroops.ThedealcallsfortalksbetweentheTalibanandtheAfghangovernment,butthathasnotyetmateri-alisedamidarowoveraTalibanlistof5,000prisonersitwantsreleased.Whilemorethan4,000havebeenfreed,Kabulhassofarrefusedtoreleasearound500fromthelistwhoitdeemstoodan-gerous.ThishasresultedinafurthersurgeinviolencebytheTaliban,whichconsidersitsattackingcapabilitytobeleverageinanynegotiation.

Prisonerswapdelaystalks,violencesurges

Taliban stage majorattack on Afghan intelcomplex in Aybak

London:PrimeMinisterBorisJohnson is set to banHuaweifrom Britain’s 5G network ina landmarkdecision thatwillanger Beijing but win plau-dits from President DonaldTrump as the United Statesgrapples with China’srising economic and techno-logical clout.

The US has pushedJohnson to reverse hisJanuary decision to grantHuawei a limited role in 5G,while London has been dis-mayed by a crackdown inHong Kong and by the per-ceptionthatChinadidnot tellthe whole truth over coron-avirus.REUTERS

UK set to ban Huawei from 5G

New Delhi

REVISED NOTIFICATION INVITING TENDER (NIT)(Through e-procurement)

Sd/-Chief General Manager, Electy.

Projects, BESCOM

BESCOM invites tenders for Conversion of 11kV OH lineinto UG cable, Running of new feeder for bifurcation of load,Conversion of LT OH line into UG/AB cable and laying of OpticFibre cable along with 11kV/LT UG cable in 06 sub divisionsunder PHASE-IV on Rate Contract basis on Percentagebasis quoting.

BANGALORE ELECTRICITY SUPPLYCOMPANY LIMITED(Wholly owned by Government of Karnataka undertaking)

(CIN-U04010KA2002SGC030438)

For Electricity related complaints call: 1912Download “BESCOM Mithra” Mobile APP

The Calendar of Events of the tender notification for the saidworks published in this newspaper on 19.06.2020 is reviseddue to technical reasons as detailed under:Availability of Bid documents: 14.07.2020 onwards. Lastdate for bid submission: 17.08.2020 @ 15:00 Hrs. Openingof Technical Bids: 18.08.2020 @ 15:30 Hrs. Pre-Bid meeting:03.08.2020 @ 11:00 AM at BELAKU BHAVANA, Corporateoffice, BESCOM, K.R. Circle, Bangalore-560 001.The bid documents can be downloaded and necessaryassistance can be obtained through the e-procurement portalwebsite https://eproc.karnataka.gov.in or e-procurementhelp desk Phone No.: +91-8046010000 and +91-8022631200,E-mail: support@ihelpdesk.com. Aspiring bidders needto register on e-procurement portal. Bidders can take theassistance from the e-procurement during working hours.

Sl.No. Enq. No’s Name of the Sub Division

1BESCOM/CGM(P)/UG/BMAZ/S-3/BC-14/20-21/23

S-3 Sub division of Koramangaladivision, Bangalore South Circle,BMAZ (South), BESCOM.

2BESCOM/CGM(P)/UG/BMAZ/S-16/BC-14/20-21/24

S-16 Sub division of Koramangaladivision, Bangalore South Circle,BMAZ (South), BESCOM.

3BESCOM/CGM(P)/UG/BMAZ/JAL/BC-14/20-21/25

C-3 & N-9 Sub divisions of Jalahallidivision, Bangalore North Circle,BMAZ (North), BESCOM.

4BESCOM/CGM(P)/UG/BMAZ/E-7/BC-14/20-21/26

E-7 Sub division of White Fielddivision, Bangalore East Circle,BMAZ (North), BESCOM.

5BESCOM/CGM(P)/UG/BMAZ/E-12/BC-14/20-21/27

E-12 Sub division of White Fielddivision, Bangalore East Circle,BMAZ (North), BESCOM.

Department of Water ResourcesOdisha Community Tank Development Management Society

7th Floor, Rajiv Bhawan, BhubaneswarPh. 0674-2391363, E-Mail: spuoiipera.od@gov.in

CANCELLATION OF ITEM 1 OF EOI INVITEDVIDE No. OIIPCRA-EoI-3/2019 DATED 29/03/2019

The Expression of Interest for the "Carrying out study and preparationof Integrated Irrigation and Agriculture Plan (IIAP)" for Odisha IntegratedIrrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture (OIIPCRA) invited forthe Item No. 1 of the EoI No. OIIPCRA-EoI-3/2019 dated 29/03/2019 bythe office of OCTDMS is hereby cancelled. This is for notice of allconcerned.

CANCELLATION OF ITEM 3, 4 & S OF EOI INVITEDVIDE No. OIIPCRA-EoI-2/2019 DATED 08/03/2019

The Expression of Interest for the "External 3rd Party Quality Control &Quality Assurance (QC & QA) Agency, Zone-I (Berhampur), Zone-II(Baripada) and Zone-III (Bhawanipatna)" for Odisha Integrated IrrigationProject for Climate Resilient Agriculture (OIIPCRA) invited for Item No.3, 4 & 5 of the EoI No. OIIPCRA-EoI-2/2019 dated 08/03/2019 by theoffice of OCTDMS is hereby cancelled. This is for notice of allconcerned.

CANCELLATION OF ITEM AT SERIAL NUMBER 1 IN TENDERPACKAGE BGR-08 UNDER RFB - OIIPCRA-W-2-2/2019 DATED

31/12/2019 AND RFB NO. OIIPCRA-W-2-3/2019 DATED 25/02/2020The tender for works in package BGR-08 under RFB-W-2-2/2019 Dt.31.12.2019 and the National Competitive bid invited vide this officeRFB-OIIPCRA-W-2-3/2019, Dt. 25.02.2020 for all packages for Civilconstruction works (Rehabilitation of Minor Irrigation Projects underOIIPCRA) are hereby cancelled. This is for notice of all concerned.

Sd/-Project Director, OCTDMS — cum —

Addl. Secretary, DoWR, OdishaOIPR- 32234/11/0001/2021

A-172

81722/HRY.

81721/HRY.

ACEOSaharanpur Smart City LimitedSaharanpur, Uttar Pradesh

SAHARANPUR SMART CITY LIMITED

1. Renovation & Upgradation - Food for Urban Poor Programme, Defects Liabilities for one yearonEPCContract basis in SaharanpurCity under Smart CityMission.(NITNo. SSCURFP/8/410 dated 29/01/20202. Rejuvenation ofWater BodyDefects Liabilities forOneYear includingOperation &Maintenancefor Five Years on Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) Basis in Saharanpur CityUnder Smart CityMission.(NITNo. 11WATERBODY/SAHART/456 dated 04/03/20203. Selection of Bidder for The Implementation of Smart Classroom Infrastructure in the Govt.Schools of SaharanpurUnder Smart CityMission.(NITNo. SSCURFP/2020/454 dated 24/02/20204. Selection of Agency for Implementing Smart Toilets on Design, Built, Finance and Operate inSaharanpurCity onPPPMode.(NITNo7/SMARTTOILET/SAHART/452 dated 24/02/2020

For the above mentioned Tenders Saharanpur Smart City Limited Following dates arerevised as below:Keydates:

NIT Number: SSCL/RFP/549 Date: 10.07.2020CORRIGENDUM

S.No. Description Date, Time & Place Date, Time & Place(Previous) (Revised)

1. Last date online submission ofproposals

13.07.2020 till 4:00 pm 21.07.2020 till 4:00 pm

13.07.2020 till 4:30 pm 21.07.2020 till 4:30 pmTechnical bid opening

For Other furthur Updates Please visit the website: http://etender.up.nic.in.

nesCo UTiLiTYHead office: Januganj, Balasore-756019Email-purchase@nescoodisha.com

noTiCe inviTinG TendeRTender Notice No. NESCO Utility / MR Materials /08 /20-21/ 5141 Dt: 07.07.20For and on behalf of NESCO Utility , sealed tenders are invited in duplicate in twopart bidding system from intending manufacturers, who comply with the terms& conditions and specification laid down in the tender documents for ‘Supply ofConductor & LT AB Cable’ under MR head .Last date for submission of Tender: Dt 29.07.20 up to 3.00 PM, Date of openingof Tender: Dt.29.07.20 at 3.30 PM. For details please visit our website-www.nescoodisha.com.Corrigendum if any will be published in the website only.

Sd/- General Manager (C&MM)

e-Tender NoticeE-Tender for Annual Maintenance Contract & Facility Management Service forComputer Hardware, Software & Peripherals at Reserve Bank of India, PatnaReserve Bank of India, Patna invites online tenders for Annual MaintenanceContract (AMC) & Facility Management Service (FMS) for Computer Hardware,Software and Peripherals from the eligible firms. The vendors intending to bid forthe above tender may submit their bids online.Detailed information of the tender is available on the RBI website as well as on theMSTC Portal. Last date and time for submission of e-tender is August 14, 2020 upto 14:00 Hrs.The Bank reserves the right to reject any tender without assigning any reasonthereof.

ReseRve Bank of indiaDepartment of Information Technology

Patna

Devesh LalRegional Director, BiharJuly 14, 2020

''IMPORTANT''Whilst care is taken prior toacceptance of advertisingcopy, it isnotpossible toverifyits contents. The IndianExpress (P) Limited cannot beheld responsible for suchcontents, nor for any loss ordamage incurredasaresultoftransactions with companies,associations or individualsadvertising in its newspapersor Publications. We thereforerecommend that readersmake necessary inquiriesbefore sending any monies orentering into any agreementswith advertisers or otherwiseacting on an advertisement inany manner whatsoever.

18 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

New Delhi

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THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

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OFFICE OF THE ADDITIONAL CHIEFENGINEER PHED REGION-I, JODHPUR

Email: rj_acejo@nic.in

No. 1763-78 Date 03.07.2020NOTICE INVITING TENDERS FOR WORKS

Online tender are hereby invited in two envelop system, on behalf of theHon’ble Governer of Rajasthan for the following works from eligibleenlisted contractor / firm as per rules. Details of this tender notificationand pre qualification criteria can also be seen in NIT exhibited on website www.dipr.rajasthan.gov.in, http,sppp.rajasthan.gov.in, inelectronic format on website http://eproc.rajasthan.gov.inThe cost of tender document, RISL fee & earnest money as specified indetailed NIT, in physical through DD/online through single challan onweb portal “http//egrass.raj.nic.in” in budget head of account asspecified in detailed NIT.

NITNo.

Work Description EstimatedCost Rs. In

Lacs

UBN CodeNo.

06/20-21 EXECUTION OF WORKS REQUIRED FORPROVIDING FUNCTIONAL HOUSE-HOLDTAP CONNECTIONS INCLUDINGCONSTRUCTION OF ESR, CWR, PUMPROOM, BOUNDARY WALL AND PIPELINEWORK IN VILLAGE GAJSINGHPURA, ASPER JJM GUIDE LINES, WITH ONE YEARDEFECT LIABILITY PERIOD AND O&MWITHOUT CHARGES, HAND OVER THESYSTEM TO VWHSC OF VILLAGE.

274.10 PHE2021WSOBO 3117

07/20-21 EXECUTION OF WORKS REQUIRED FORPROVIDING FUNCTIONAL HOUSE-HOLDTAP CONNECTIONS INCLUDINGCONSTRUCTION OF ESR AND PIPELINEWORK IN VILLAGE RIYAN, AS PER JJMGUIDE LINES, WITH ONE YEAR DEFECTLIABILITY PERIOD AND O&M WITHOUTCHARGES, HAND OVER THE SYSTEM TOVWHSC OF VILLAGE”

304.81 PHE2021WSOBO 3118

SAVE WATER-SAVE LIFESd/-

Addl. Chief EngineerDIPR/C/5150/20 PHED Region-I, Jodhpur

KARNATAKA INDUSTRIAL AREAS DEVELOPMENT BOARD(A Government of Karnataka Undertaking)

# 49, East Wing , 4th & 5th Floor, Khanija Bhavan, Race Course Road,Bengaluru-560 001. Ph: 080-22265383 Website: www.kiadb.in

No. IADB/ENGG/ETND-TSS-01/2663/2020-21 Date: 10.07.2020SHORT TERM NOTICE INVITING TENDER

(Through GOK e–Procurement Portal Only)KIADB invites tender from reputed consultants / firms under two cover bid system having anoffice at Bengaluru with vast experience and proven record of similar nature of work for projectmentioned “Consultancy Services for Conducting Total Station Survey for Hi-Tech DefenceAerospace Park Industrial Area, Devanahalli Taluk, Bengaluru Rural District. (approximate3000 Acreas)”.The last date and time of receipt of tender is: 27.07.2020 upto 4:00 pm.Applicants May Download Bidding Documents from the E-Procurement Portalhttps://eproc.karnataka.gov.in.

Sd/-Chief EngineerDIPR/BU/552/2020-21

MEGHALAYA POWER DISTRIBUTION

CORPORATION LIMITEDOFFICE OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER (PROJECTS)

SHORT ROUND ROAD, LUMJINGSHAISHILLONG-793001, MEGHALAYA

(Phone: (0364) 2590540 CIN:U40101ML2009SGC008374email: cere.mepdcl@meecl.co.in

No. MePDCL/CE(P)/T-193/2020-21/5 Dated the 13th July, 2020.

TENDER NOTICEThe Submission of BIDs of 2 (two) packages, namely; (1) TenderNo. MePDCL/P/T-193/2020-21/Pkg-1 and (2) Tender No.MePDCL/P/T-193/2020-21/Pkg-2, i.e. Tenders in e-tenderingformat are invited from reputed firms for works of Meghalaya PowerDistribution Sector Improvement Project under Asian DevelopmentBank funding for “Distribution System Improvement: 33KV & 11KVLine Development” in Garo Hills Circle (East & West) and KhasiHills Circle (East & West) respectively. The submission of bids forthe packages has been fixed till the 27th August 2020 upto 14:30IST, the same shall be opened on the same day at 15:00 IST inMeECL Conference Room, Lumjingshai, Shillong.Interested bidders may download the detailed Bidding Documents,Technical Specification, etc. from the websitehttps://www.meghalayatenders.gov.in from 13th July 2020onwards. Details of the NIT are available at above mentionedwebsite.

Chief Engineer (Projects)MePDCL, Shillong

‘PM takes stock offinancial sector,reviews progressof `20 lakh crstimulus package’NewDelhi:PrimeMinisterNaren-draModiMonday took stock ofthe financial sector which hasbeen hit hard by COVID-19. Healso reviewedprogress ofmeas-ures announcedunder theRs20lakh crore Atmanirbhar BharatAbhiyanpackagetohelpMSMEsandpoorsectionsofsociety.All secretaries, including the

FinanceSecretary,werepartofthemeetingandmoresuchmeetingswill takeplace during theweek,sourcessaid. PTI

AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI,JULY13

TWO DAYS after the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(Trai) askedVodafone Idea andBhartiAirteltowithholdtheserv-ices of their premiumplans thatofferfasterspeedsandprioritisedbetter paying customers, Vodaf-oneIdeahasapproachedtheTele-comDisputesSettlementAppel-lateTribunal(TDSAT)againstTrai’sdecision.ThetribunallistedVoda-foneIdea’shearingforTuesday.WhileVodafone Ideamoved

theTDSATMonday, Bharti Airteltooislikelytojoininthepetition.OnSaturdayevening,Traihad

sentletterstoboththetelcos,ask-ing themnot to go aheadwith

their premiumservice offeringsfor the time being as it had re-ceived complaints of the newplans “violating existing qualitynorms”. In its letter, theregulatorhadalso sent a ‘questionnaire’ toboth telcos and sought responsewithin aweek, based onwhichthey would take a call on thewhether the premium servicescould continue or not. The newplans,Traisaidinitsletter,shouldbewithhelduntil furtherorders.AttemptstoreachTraiexecu-

tives to seekmore clarity on theletterremainedunsuccessful.“Wedonot knowwhat trig-

gered this suddenmovement toblock services now,” aVodafoneIdeaexecutivesaid.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

TDSAT to hear Voda Idea’splea against Trai missive toblock premium plans today

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY13

THEDEPARTMENTofPharmace-uticals (DoP) is finalising guide-linesthatwillhelptheCentrepicklocations for the threebulkdrugandfourmedicaldeviceparksan-nounced inMarch to boost do-mestic capacity in these sectorsandreduceimportdependence.The schemes, approved on

March21,areexpectedtoreducethemanufacturing cost of bulk

drugs andmedical devices here.IndiacurrentlyreliesonChinafornearly70percentof itsbulkdrugimports,while 60-70per cent ofitsmedicaldevicesareimported.Punjabhasexpressedinterest

tosetupabulkdrugparkinBhati-ndaandsentarequestforthesa-me toUnionMinisterDVSadan-andaGowda.Asperthebulkdrugandmedicaldeviceparkschemes,theCentrewill extendgrants-in-aidtostateswithacapofRs1,000crore per bulk drugpark andRs100crorepermedicaldevicepark.

Norms being finalised to help govt selectlocations for bulk drug, medical devices parks

BRIEFLYOfficialsatIndiaIdeasSummitNewDelhi:US Secretary ofStateMikePompeo, aswellasunionministersSJaishan-karandNirmalaSitharamanwilladdressthevirtualIndiaIdeassummitnextweek.

RelaxationforITRverificationNewDelhi:TheI-Tdepartm-entgavetillSeptember30totaxpayers to verify ITRs forAY2015-16to2019-20. PTI

`5K-crpackagebyNABARDMumbai:NABARDannou-ncedaRs5,000crorepack-ageforturningPrimaryAgri-culturalCreditSocietiesintomultiservicecentres.

NewUtkarshClassesstudiosNewDelhi:UtkarshClasseswill launch25newstudiosinJodhpuronJuly13. ENS

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY13

ASINDIAlookstoreduceoverde-pendenceonothercountriesandtapnewermarketsduringtheon-going COVID-19 pandemic, thegovernmenthasidentified12pri-oritysectorswithpotentialforim-portsubstitutionandboostingex-ports,saidCommerce&IndustryMinisterPiyushGoyalMonday.“Wealsoappreciatethatevery

countrycannotbecompetitiveineverything andwewill need toimport certain productswherewemayhave certaindifficulties.But theeffort shouldbe tomove

more andmore towards self-re-liance,”saidGoyalwhileaddress-ing the 184th annual generalmeetingoftheBombayChamberofCommerceandIndustry.“COVIDhastaughtusabigles-

son—overdependencecancauseyoualotofdifficultiesinthetimeof stress. And, God forbid, (if)there’sanyothersimilarchallengebeforetherestoftheworld,Ithinknexttimearound,Indiawillbefarbetter prepared (and) farmoreconfidenttofaceanysuchcrisis.“In our own way, we have

been identifying sectorswhereimportsubstitutionorexportpo-tential is there in bigmeasure,”Goyalsaid,addingthattheprior-

itysectorsidentifiedsofarincludefoodprocessing,organicfarming,iron&steel,aluminium&copper,agrochemicals,electronics,indus-trialmachinery,furniture,leather&footwear,autoparts,textilesandmarineproducts.“...we’re lookingatmoresec-

tors.AndIwouldurgeallofyoutoalso look atwhat sectorswecanlook to really promote Indian(manufacturing),justlikewehavedoneforelectronics,medicaldevi-cesorforAPIs(activepharmaceu-tical ingredients) andKSMs (keystartingmaterials),”hesaid.GoyalalsosaidIndiashouldfocusonin-vestment, infrastructure, and in-novationinthepost-COVIDworld.

Goyal says 12 sectors with potential for importsubstitution and boosting exports identified

Glenmark cutsCOVID drug priceNewDelhi:GlenmarkMond-ay said it has reducedby27per cent thepriceof FabiFlu(favipiravir), itsdrugtotreatCOVID-19patients. FabiFlu,launched last month at amaximumretail price of Rs103per 200mg tablet,willnowbe priced at Rs 75 pertablet,asperarelease. ENS

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY13

RETAIL INFLATION based onConsumerPriceIndex(combined)roseby6.09percentinJune,withfood inflation rising by 7.87percent,datareleasedbytheNationalStatisticalOfficeMondayshowed.Increaseinpricesofmeatandfish,pulses,andoilsandfatscontributedto the increase in food inflationevenas it showedsomemodera-

tionfrom9.2percentinMay.Fortheoverallinflationrate,in-

flationratefortransportandcom-munication,andpersonalcarere-mainedhighat7.14per cent and12.43percent,respectively.At6.09percent,theheadline

retail inflationratehasbreachedtheRBI’smedium-termtargetof4 per cent (with a band of +/- 2percent).Ruralfoodinflationwasat 8.41 per cent in June, higherthan 6.92 per cent urban foodsinflation.

Retail inflation rises in Juneon high food, transport prices

FM reviewsCOVID coverscheme forhealth workersENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY13

IN A reviewmeeting on imple-mentation of insurance schemefor health workers fightingCOVID-19, Finance MinisterNirmalaSitharamanstressedtheneedforaspeedysettlementandbenefitsreachingouttolegalheirs.Atotalof147claimswerereceivedunder the scheme, of which 15have been paid so farwhile 55claimswerefoundineligible.“Of the 147 intimations re-

ceivedtilldate,claimdocumentshavebeensubmittedfor87,outofwhich 15 have been paid, 4 ap-provedforpaymentwhile13areunderexamination,” theFinanceMinistrysaidMonday.“Atotalof55claimshavebeen

found ineligible out ofwhich35claimsfalloutsidethescopeofthecover likepolice personnel,mu-nicipalworkersnotrelatedtohos-pitals,peoplefromeducation,rev-enue departments, etc.whileanother20claimssubmit-tedhavethecauseofdeathotherthanCOVID-19likecardiacarrest,etc,” itsaid.

REUTERSBENGALURU,JULY13

PFIZERINCandpartnerBioNTechSE said onMonday twoof theirexperimentalcoronavirusvaccinecandidates received “fast track”statusfromtheUSFoodandDrugAdministration,whichisdesignedtospeeduptheregulatoryreviewprocess.The US-listed shares of the

German firm climbed about 15percent,whilePfizer’sstockroseabout5per cent. The FDAgrants

fasttrackstatustospeedupthere-viewof newdrugs and vaccinesthatshowthepotentialtoaddressunmetmedicalneeds.Thetwocandidatestowinthe

designation, BNT162b1 andBNT162b2,arethemostadvancedof at least fourvaccinesbeingas-sessedbythefirmsinongoingtri-alsintheUSandGermany.Earlierthismonth, Pfizer andBioNTechsaid early-stage testing of twodosages of BNT162b1 on 24healthyvolunteers showedafter28 days they developed higherlevelsof COVIDantibodies.

Pfizer, BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccinecandidates get FDA’s ‘fast track’ status

SANDEEPSINGH&GEORGEMATHEWNEWDELHI/MUMBAI,JULY13

THENON-FOODcreditoutstand-ing inthe first twofullmonthsofthelockdown—AprilandMay—witnessed a contractionof 2percent, or Rs 1.81 lakh crore, sinceMarch2020despitethebigpushby the government and theReserve Bank for liquidity andcredit flow in theeconomyamidthe COVID-19pandemic and itsimpactoneconomicactivity.The good news though has

beenthatthepaceofcontractioninMaydeclinedoverthatinApril.Whiletheoverallnon-foodcreditoutstandingcamedownfromRs92.11 lakh crore as onMarch27,2020 to Rs 90.29 lakh crore onMay22, 2020, the contraction inMay stood lower at Rs 70,901crore, from contraction of Rs110,896crore inApril in thenon-foodcreditsegment.According to RBI Governor

Shaktikanta Das, the liquiditymeasures announcedby theRBIsinceFebruary2020aggregatetoaboutRs9.57lakhcrore—equiv-alenttoabout4.7percentof2019-20nominalGDP.TheRBIalsocut

the repo rate by135basis pointsto 4per cent since February thisyear, forcingbankstoslash inter-estratesacrosstheboard.Experts say that the contrac-

tionincreditisbotharesultofde-clineinloanofftakeandcontinu-ationinprincipalrepayments.StateBankof IndiaChairman

RajnishKumarsaidborrowers ingeneralarecuttingtheirliabilitiesandSBI has been seeing loan re-payments even from those ac-countsthatwereoverdue.Acloserlookatthedatashows

thattherehasbeenabigrecoveryinthepersonalloan(PL)segmentinMayoverApril.Whiletherewas

a sharp contractionof Rs 62,861crore increditoutstandingtothePLsegmentinApril,itcamedownto Rs 11,928 crore in May. Theoverall credit outstanding in PLsegmentoverthetwo-monthpe-riodhasbeen2.9percent.Butthatdoes not hold true for industryandservicessegment,asthetwosegmentssawanincreaseincon-tractioninMayoverApril.It is, however, important to

notethatinthePLsegment,whilethehousing loanaccounts for54per cent of the loanoutstanding,itsawaverymarginalcontractionof0.7percent.Bycomparison,thecreditcardoutstandingandloans

against fixeddepositswitnessedcontraction of 14.1 and 20 percent,respectively.Creditcardout-standings fell byRs16,000 croretoRs92,887crore,indicatingcardholders prepaid thedues in twomonths.While fresh home loan de-

mandhasbeennegligibleoverthelasttwomonths,bankerssaythatthemoratoriumoptionmayhaveresulted into less contraction asthosewhooptedformoratoriumfor1-6monthswouldseethein-terestfortheoptedperiodgettingadded to the principal amountleading toanexpansion in creditforthebank.Fortheindustrialsegment,the

contractionovertwomonthshasbeenmostly seen inMSME (7.6per cent) andmediumscale in-dustry(5.4percent),andthelargeindustrialunits(0.4percent)havenotseenmuchofcontraction.For theMSME segment, the

credit outstanding contractedfromRs3.81lakhcroreinMarchtoRs3.52lakhcroreinMay.This shows that even as the

governmenthasbeenpushingtofundtheMSMEs,bankswereini-tially reluctant to lend them ahelpinghandbecauseoftheirvul-nerabilityintimesofstress.

AASHISHARYAN&KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI,JULY13

ENTITIESSUCHashospitals,banks,andotherindustrieswhichcollect,store, process ormanagedata inanyformmustalsoregisterthem-selves as a ‘data business’ oncetheycrossacertaindatacollectionand storage threshold, a nine-membercommitteeonnon-per-sonaldatagovernanceframeworkhassuggestedinitsreport.The aimof this data-sharing

regulation is to shift data’s “eco-nomic benefits for citizens andcommunities in India” aswell ashelp the government in policymakingandservicedelivery.“Itisimportantforsuchabusi-

nesstoregisterasa‘databusiness’once it reachesa certaindata-re-latedthreshold.Thiswillbeappli-cable tonotonly commercial or-ganisations,butalsogovernmentsandothernon-governmentorgan-isationsthatcollect,processoroth-erwisemanagedata,” thepanel,headedbyInfosysco-founderKrisGopalakrishnan,saidinits‘Reportby theCommittee of Experts onNon-PersonalDataGovernance

Framework’. They are acceptingpubliccommentstillAugust13.Suchentitiesmustalsodeclare

their businesses, thevariousele-mentsofthedatatheycollect,themechanism for the same andwhetherthedataisstoredinase-cure facility.Metadirectories forsuchdatapointscollectedbythesebusinesses may be made, andopenaccess forother companiesinIndiacouldbeprovidedtosuchdirectories,thepanelsuggested.Though theGopalakrishnan-

headed committee has not de-finedwhatthemaximumthresh-oldof suchdatacollectionwouldbeafterwhichcompanieswouldhavetoregisterthemselvesasdatabusinesses, it has said that thesameshouldbedecidedbyareg-ulator called the non-personaldataauthority.Thenewauthoritywill beon

the lines of theData ProtectionAuthority, envisaged in thePersonal Data Protection Bill of2019.Itshouldhavepowerstoreg-ulatealldatabusinessesandadju-dicateifanymandatorysharingofdataisnotdonebyentitiescollect-ingormanagingsuchinformation.Non-personal data, the com-

mitteesaid,wouldbeanydatathat

doeshaveanypersonallyidentifi-able information suchasdataonweather conditions or collectedfromsensors installedon indus-trialmachines.Data points,whichwere ini-

tially personal, but later madeanonymoussuchas landrecords,publichealthinformationorvehi-cle registrationnumber canalsobe categorised as non-personaldata, the committee said.Informationabout a communityoragroupofpeople,suchasthosecollectedbythemunicipalcorpo-rations, or even private entitiesshall constitutenon-privatedata.“Here, the ‘rawor factual data’,withoutanyprocessingorderivedinsights,maybecharacterisedasthecommunitydata,”itsaid.These regulations, however,

wouldbeeffectiveonlyifthecen-tralgovernmentcomesoutwithanewnational law to regulate theuseofnon-personaldata,itsaid.“Allowingthepossibilityofdata

monopolies, ina largeconsumermarketsuchasIndia,couldleadtothecreationof imbalancesinbar-gainingpower...Therefore,thegov-ernment’s role is to catalyse thedatabusinesses inamanner thatmaximisesoverallwelfare,”itsaid.

PERSONALLOANSEGMENTSEESMAJORRECOVERYINMAYOVERAPRIL

‘Entities need to register as databusinesses on crossing threshold’

PANELREPORTONNON-PERSONALDATAGOVERNANCEFRAMEWORK

New Delhi: Outward remit-tancebyresident Indianswit-nessedamoderaterevivalafterasharpdeclineinAprilfollow-ingthelockdownandtravelre-strictions on account of thepandemic.While the remit-tance inApril fell sharply to$499million (lowest in fouryears) from a remittance of$1.36billion inMarch2020, it

roseto$617millioninMay.Remittancedue to study

abroadwentupfrom$78.8mil-lioninApril2020to$155.8mil-lioninMay.Remittanceonac-count of travel, whichaccountedfor$6.9billionworthofremittanceoutofthetotalof$18.76billioninFY20,wentupfrom$121million inApril to$157millioninMay. ENS

Outward remittance by residentIndians sees moderate revival in May

Creditofftakefalls`1.81Lcr inApril,May

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI/MUMBAI,JULY13

AHEADOF its first online 43rdAnnual General Meeting onWednesday,where its chairmanMukeshAmbaniisexpectedtolaydownhis vision for the group’sbusinesses going forward, theshares of Reliance Industries LtdonMondayjumped3percentontheBSEtocloseatRs1,934—tak-ing itsmarket capatRs12.7 lakhcrore,or$170billion(includingthepartlypaidshares).Atthecurrentmarket cap, RIL is now the 51stmost valued company in theworld.TCSistheonlyotherIndiancompanyinthelistoftop100mostvaluedcompaniesintheworldasit occupies the 99th spotwith amarketcapofRs832,860croreor$111billion.BetweenApril1andJuly13,RIL

has gained$81billion inmarketcapitalisationandhasclimbed47places frombeing the98thmostvaluedcompanyonApril1to51stmostvaluecompanynow.ThesharepriceofRILhasrisen

120 per cent over the past fourmonthsfromRs883pershareonMarch 23, 2020 to Rs 1,934 onMonday. Since April 22, whenFacebook Inc announced invest-ment of Rs 43,574 crore in JioPlatformsfor9.99percentequitystake,JioPlatformshasannouncedinvestments by 12 otherinvestors.In June, the companyalsoannouncedthatithasbecomenetdebt freeaheadof theMarch2021target,followingfundraisingthroughrightsissueandstakesalein Jio Platforms. “As RIL has

achievedadecentfootholdinbothdigital servicesandorganised re-tail,webelieveitwouldnowturnits focus to the ‘oil-to-chemicals’project,forwhichithassignedanMoUwithSaudiAramco,”saidananalyst with Motilal OswalInstitutionalEquities.In a report releasedMonday,

CreditSuisseincreasedJio’senter-prisevalueto$88.5billion.Whileitmaintainedaneutral stanceonRIL’ssharepriceandmaintaineda12-month target of Rs 1,690pershare,itsaidthatitsblueskyscen-ario(removingthelimitingclouds)forRIL isRs2,300per sharewithJio’sEVat$110billion. Thereporthowever, in its grey sky scenario,projectedatargetpriceofRs1,295overthenext12months.Moreover, lockdownhas al-

readytakenatollonretailandoilcompanies.“WeestimateRILtore-portweakO2C(oil-to-chemicals)andretailperformance,thoughJioshouldbebetter.Lubesectorcouldwitnessa40-50per centvolumehit,” said a report from EmkayGlobalFinancialServices.

Fullreportonwww.indianexpress.com

EXPLAINED

ATTHEcurrentmarketcap,RIL is now the 51stmostvalued company in theworld.TCSistheonlyotherIndiancompanyinthe listof top 100 most valuedcompaniesintheworld.

InaveryselectlistE●

RIL jumps 47 places in threemonths to 51st most valuedcompany in the world$170-billionmarketcapitalisation

New Delhi

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JULY14,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

VolLXXXVIIINo.211 Regd.No.DL-21046/03-05

R.N.I.No.506/57. PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.Malhotraonbehalf of The IndianExpress (P) LimitedandPrintedatThe IndianExpress (P) LimitedPress,A-8, Sector-7,Noida -201301andPublishedatThe IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Editorial office:The IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Phone:0120-6651500.Advertisingoffice: The IndianExpress (P) Limited,B1/B, Sector -10,Noida -201301. Phone:0120-6651291.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha, Editor:UnniRajenShanker, Editor (Delhi):RakeshSinha ** **Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct. Copyright: The IndianExpress (P) Limited.All rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner, electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,withoutpriorwrittenpermission isprohibited. The IndianExpress®

20Theparadox of being JermaineBlackwoodWest Indies’ anchor inSouthampton isessentiallyaTestbatsmantrapped inaT20mould

Stuart’s interview (onSkySports)wasabsolutely brilliant. For a guywhohasplayedover 100Tests and taken the amount ofwickets hehas tohave that emotion anddesire still burning inside is amazing.”

BENSTOKESTOLDBBCSPORT

CROSSWORD4169

ACROSS1 Slowshyessayistgetsaplant(7)

5 Joined inaChineseweddingceremony(5)

8 Advantageouslyplaced foraglamourphotograph?(7,6)

9 Lovesananagramtoworkout(5)

10 Anumberpossibly ignoreaformof restraint (3,4)

11 Adivisionof thechurch(6)

12 More’s ideal land inwhichtolive (6)

15 Amildepithet (7)17 Wants tosoundnegligent(5)

19 Surprisedhaving fortywinks(6,7)

20 Rawmaterialof sails?(5)

21 Apparentlyboardsanother’schild (7)

Down1 Manyitemsenteredbyjoustingknights (5)

2 Distinctions thatmaybestandardised(6,7)

3 Doesn’thurry fromEstoril(7)

4 Highspirits? (6)5 Shoot foralmost thewholeseason(5)

6 Dualpurposestores forlifeboats? (5,8)

7 Denyone isabout tobecomeaseniormember(7)

11 Makesendsmeetsailorfashion?(7)

13 About fiftyoddpiecescauselight interference (7)

14 Attacksone in thestreets(6)

16 Intimethe ladyrevealshername(5)

18 Legendhaspoint forFrenchwriter (5)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Today’sstarsareallaboutdialogueanddiscussion,somakeyourideasplain. It is

absolutelyvitaltoconsiderlong-termpossibilitiesatworkandnottobefazedbydesireswhichcanneverberealised.There’sspaceforromanticdreamsaswell,althoughwhetheryou’relikelytodoanythingaboutthemisanothermatter.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Tworegionsofyourchartareparticularlysignificant,onetodowithbusiness,the

otherconnectedtospiritualityandmysticism.Onelogicalandlikelyoutcomecouldbeagrowinginvolvementinacharitableenterprise.Attheveryleastyoushouldlookatwhatyoucandoforothers,ratherthanatwhattheycandoforyou.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Yourbestcourseofactionnowcouldbetoallowbothprofessionaland

intenselypersonalmatterstotaketheirowncourse.Financially,considerimaginativeproposalsandpurchases,butyoushouldbeverywaryaboutcommittingyourself.

CANCER(June22- July23)Keepyour thoughtstoyourself if that iswhatyouwant,butrealise thatyouwill

havetocomecleanbytheendof theweek.Youshould turnyourattentiontoa legalmatterorethicalquestionsoonerrather than later, for thebetterotherpeopleunderstandyourposition, thesoonerasolutionwillbereached.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Trytorecallwhathashappenedoverthepastsixmonthsandunderstandexactly

howyourpresentsituationdeveloped.Thenyouwillrealisejusthowandwhyotherpeoplearedependingonyou.Ifsomeoneisindeedrelyingonyouthenyouarehonour-boundtodoyourbestbythem.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)Activesocial starsemphasise theextent towhichyouarenowobligedto

consultandcollaborateateveryturn.Yourmission,at themoment, shouldbetosimplifymatterswhichhavebecomeunnecessarilycomplex.Turn foradvice topeoplewhoareolder,wiser, andhavebeenherebefore.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Yourmindwillbeconcentratedwonderfullyonwhatexactlyyou

needfromotherpeople, andonwhether this isa timeforbeingin loveorholdingyourself aloofor,more likely, fluctuatingbetweenthetwo! If you’reconfused, imaginehowotherpeople feel!

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)Atheartyouarequiteacompetitiveperson,andyou’realwaysready fora

fight.Rightnow, thebattle islikely toplayedoutatwork,butyou’reprobablyconcernedmostwithwhatpeoplearethinkingrather thanwhatthey’redoing.Youmayshiftunwantedresponsibilitiesontoothershoulders.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Atheartyouarequiteacompetitiveperson,andyou’realwaysready fora

fight.Rightnow, thebattle islikely toplayedoutatwork,butyou’reprobablyconcernedmostwithwhatpeoplearethinkingrather thanwhatthey’redoing.Youmayshiftunwantedresponsibilitiesontoothershoulders.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Youmightnotbeable topersuadepeople inauthoritytoalter their stance,

so it couldbeuptoyoutoshiftyourposition.Evenslightsignsof flexibilityonyourpartcouldenableotherpeople tocompromise.Anywayofavoidingconflicthas tobeworth it.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Don’t thinktoomuchaboutmoneyas, inspiteofappearances, that

maynotbethemost importantfactor.What is important is thatyoukeepotherpeopleuptodate,otherwise they’llbegin tothinkyoudon’t care. Itwouldbeashameif someonewhohaslookeduptoyoudecidedthattheywerewrong.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Youareanaturallytrustingsoul,butrecentexperiencesshouldhavetaught

youtoquestion others’sincerity.Youmayhavebeentakenforarideoncetoooften,andshouldbedeterminedthatitwillneverhappenagain.Onceyou’ve learnt that lessonthenall shouldbewell.

SUDOKU4169

DifficultyLevel5sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4168

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip._____liesinwildness,notincivilization-CharlesLindbergh(4,7)

SOLUTION:PEWEE,RADAR,LOUDLY,MUFFINAnswer:Realfreedomliesinwildness,notincivilization-CharlesLindbergh

PWEEE LUYDLO

ADARR FINUFM

SolutionsCrossword4168:Across:1Orate,8Category,9Viola,10Skeleton,11Edits,12Arc,16Goblin,17Adrian,18Tat,23Osaka,24Alliance,25Envoy,26Platypus,27Order.Down:2Raindrop,3Talltale,4Backer,5Realm,6Route,7Hyena,12Ant,13Cat,14Prisoner,15Banknote,19Accrue,20Harpo,21Allay,22Satyr.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

SPORTSBAR

HemangAminappointedBCCI’s interimCEOMumbai: Days after relieving RahulJohri from his services as CEO, theIndian cricket board appointed its IPLchief operatingofficerHemangAminasthe interimCEO.TheBCCIis expected to get a newCEO in the next twomonths.Amin,whousedto report to Johri, hasbeenhandlingoperationsdivisionof IPL since2017.Sources in the Indian

boardtoldthisnewspaperthat the new CEO won’tberemuneratedashighlyasJohriwas. In2016,theboardhadhiredwell known consulting agency, KornFerry, tohelpappoint its first-everCEO.However, it isunderstoodthat this timetheboardmightnothireanyagencyandinsteadwill look out for suitable candi-date on its own.

The IndianExpressunderstands thatApex Council will detail out the crite-ria for its new CEO in their meeting tobe held on July 17 on a video confer-

ence. In the agenda for themeeting, circulated to all theApex Council members, it’sbeenwritten thata ‘discussionon the appointment of newemployees at theBCCI’will beheld.“UntilanewCEOtakesover,

the board has asked Amin tohandle CEO's role for an in-terim period. The board will

discussontheappointmentofnewCEO,advertisementwill be given and appli-cations will be invited for the post incoming days. A new CEOwill only takecharge after nearly two months,”sources in theBCCI said.

DEVENDRAPANDEY

CASoverturnsCity’s2-yrChampionsLeaguebanGeneva:Manchester City’s two-year sus-pensionfromEuropeanfootballwasover-turnedbytheCourtofArbitrationforSport(CAS) onMonday, allowing the club tocompeteinnextseason’seliteChampionsLeaguecompetition.CASruledthatCitydidnotbreachFinancialFairPlay(FFP)rulesbydisguisingequity fundingassponsorship.Sport’shighestcourtalsoreducedafineforfailing to cooperatewithUEFA to10mil-lioneuros($11.30million)from30millioneuros. “Most of the alleged breaches re-ported by the (UEFA) AdjudicatoryChamber of the CFCB (Club FinancialControlBody)wereeithernotestablishedortime-barred,”CASsaidinastatement.European football’s governing body

UEFAruledinFebruarythatCityhadcom-mitted serious FFPbreaches and failed tocooperate with itsinvestigation. PepGuardiolahadpledgedtostayinManchester“nomatterwhathap-pens” in the courts. “The clubwelcomestheimplicationsof today’srulingasavali-dationof theclub’spositionandthebodyofevidencethatitwasabletopresent,”Citysaidinastatement. REUTERS

DoctorwithIndianboxingteamisCovid-19positiveNew Delhi: A doctor attached with theIndian boxing team onMonday testedpositive for COVID-19 even as all thepugilistswhohaveassembled for train-ing in Patiala came out negative butstared at a possible suspension of theproposedcampduetothedevelopment.The11boxers,includingAsianGames

champion and world silver-medallistAmit Panghal, will be retested as theywereatthesamequarantinefacilitywiththedoctor. “DrAmol(Patil)was inquarantineina

centre outside themain campus of na-tional Institute of Sports (NIS) Patiala. Asperprotocol,beforeheisallowedtoentermain hostel and sports arena, he wasgiven the COVID test on the 7th day (ofquarantine) and tested positive,” theSportsAuthorityof India toldPTI.The boxers have, however, tested

negative but will undergo a secondroundof testingonTuesday. “DrPatil iscompletelyasymptomatic,notevenmildsymptoms are there. He will recoversoonenough,” said a source close to theteam. PTI

SANDIPGJULY13

IT’S BEEN five years since JermaineBlackwood featured in a T20 match, andthree years since he enlisted his name in aCaribbeanPremierLeagueauction.Yet,whenyouwatchhimteeawayinTest

cricket, striking sweetly and cleanly, straightoff a bygone Caribbean batting canon, youmusthavepresumed that he’s already aT20glitterati,paychequesflyinginfasterthanthesixesthat flyoutofhisbat.He’s far fromit.HeisoftenspottedwithChrisGayle,his‘fatherfig-ure’andAndreRussell,his ‘brotherandmen-tor’.Yet,hehasadoptednoneoftheirhigh-fly-ing life.Hestill lives inhis functionalhouse inSt. Elizabeth parish, not far fromRussell’ssprawlingmansion,barelyparties,andbyhisownadmission, isan‘indoorsperson’.AttheSabinaParkinJamaica,heisconsid-

ered a chip off the old block, more JimmyAdams thanChris Gayle. So lovedhe is thatheadgroundsmanCharlesJosephbroughtrumandchipstohisstaffwhenBlackwoodmadeasurprise appearance as a concussion substi-tuteinaTestagainstIndia.Hisconfidenceen-dearedhimtoformerWestcoachStuartLaw,whoonce complimented: “He is only5ft 2intallbuthewalksaroundlikeheis10fttallandthatisthesortofattitudethatreallywarmsmyheart.”Yet,attimes,heseemspetulant.It’s the paradox of being Jermaine

Blackwood. A batsman lost in perception. ATestbatsmantrappedinaT20mould;oraT20maverickfrozeninsideaTestbatsman.Orisheneither?Amiserablenowhereman,ashisfirst-classaverageof33suggestsandT20aggregateof12.92vindicates.It’sTestcricketthathecon-siders ultimate, yet it’s Test cricket thatwaspunishinghim.Afterhewasdropped for thesixthtimeintwoyears,inOctober2017,hewasadisturbedman.HesoughtoutRussell,whowas incidentally serving a one-year ban fordoping. “He toldme, ‘why don’t you comeover?Wewillhaveahit’,”BlackwoodoncetoldJamaicaGleaner.For thenext fewmonths, itwas all about

regainingthatmentalspace,theclarityofmindthatmanifests in his stroke-making.Hewasconfusedandtormented,andthestrokesau-tomaticallylackedhiscustomarypunch.

“Therewere a few technical glitchesweironedout,butmostly itwasgettingintothatmental space. Just seeingRussell go about inthenets itself is a great feeling, suddenlyyoufeelconfident.Heiskindofabigbrotherinthatway,”hehadsaid.Amaniac as Russell iswith fitness drills,

Blackwood’s fitness too improved. “He trainslikemad,soyouhavetokeepupwithhim.It’sbloodyhardwork,butyourealiseyoubecomemuchfitterandtougher. Ihaveneverbeensofit in my life,” the interview had quotedBlackwoodassaying.It’snotalwaysnetsanddrills, though.Like

duringthelockdown,aperiodhespentmostlyinRussell’shouse,utilisingthegymandfacil-ities, he learned fishing too. But the over-whelmingfocuswasonthegame,ashecouldnotgetthesportouthishead.Thebreakcould-n’thavebeenmoreuntimely,forhewasscor-ingtruckloadsofrunsintheregionalfirst-classcompetition.Hefearedthebreakwouldmakehimrusty,butRussellassureditwouldn’t.“Hewasalwaystherewithme,guidingme,pump-

ingmeup,bowlingatme.IhavetogivethanksthatIhavesuchagoodfriendandbrotherlikeAndre,whohas a big home that has almosteverything.SoIcandosomeworkinthegymandthenIusethe[practice]netsandfocusonmy skills, batting-wise,” Blackwood told aWICBpodcast.WhileRussellhelpedhimkill themental

demons, Jamaica Scorpions batting coachAndreColeytweakedhisapproach,advisinghimtorefrainfromloftedstrokesintheearlystages of the innings. “When I used to startmy innings, I used to hit the ball in the air alot. CoachColey toldme to try and scoremyrunson theground for at least the first houror two hours and since I havemade the ad-justment, Istartedtospendmoretimeatthecrease and the runs started to accumulate,”Blackwood told reporters before leaving toAntigua,where the teamassembled beforeembarkingontheir trip toEngland.Going over the top is probably too big a

temptationtoresistforBlackwood—afterall,his second scoring shot in Test cricketwas a

meatyblowoverTrentBoult’sheadinPortofSpain.Intemperanceoftencreepsin,likeinthefirst innings in Southampton, thoughhewasrelativelyrestrainedinthesecond.Heneedn’thaveto,becausehehasalltheground-strokesinhisquiverthatthebestofbatsmenpossess.Yet,perhapsthejoyofaballinflighttakesover.It’stheparadoxofhisbatting.But thisyear in the league,heswore tobe

different.Hepractisedmonkishabstinencefromtakingtheaerialpath.Hefaced1,332deliveriesandstruckonlyfoursixes.Hethoughrattledout91fours,themostbyanybatsmanthisseason.Twoofthosesixescameenroutecompos-

ing his maiden first-class hundred—248against Leeward Islands inNorth Sound, thesamevenuewherehehadregisteredhisonlyTest hundred.Hewas relieved, for itwas thefirsttimehemanagedathree-figurescorethisseasonaftergoingpast50onasmanyassixin-stances.ButRussellwasaghastwhenhetextedhim:“Youmissedoutona250.”It’sbeenprettymuchthestoryofhiscareer

—centuriesnippedbeforefruition.It’sevidentinhisfirst-classnumbers:sixhundredsand41halfcenturies;abitunderwhelmingforatop-orderbatsman.Eveninhis‘start-stop’Testca-reer,hehasconvertedonlyoneofhis11fiftiesto a century [three90s, four60s]. Therehavebeen shades of Collis King, to whom VivRichards once likenedBlackwood’s carefreestroke-making. Kingwas a ferocious stroke-playerbutatwo-inningswonder;oncewhenhe carted Richard Hadlee all aroundChristchurch for his only Test hundred andthenoutshiningRichardshimself in the1979WorldCupfinalatLord’s.Blackwood sought the counsel of former

openerDevonSmithduringafirst-classgameinStVincent.Headvised:“Thesamewayyouapproach50,isthesamewayyou’resupposedtoapproachgettingahundred.”Thedoublehundredarrivedsoonafterthe

advice. A Test hundred beckoned inSouthampton too. But howspectacularly hesquanderedit!Theoldhabitkickedin.Aloose,airydrivefailedhim,asoftenasithasinhisca-reer. Inthecontextof thegame, itdidn’tmat-termuch. But for amankeen to debunk theparadoxthathe is,andrunningoutof time, itmust havehurt. Butwhoknows, a few suchknocksmight relight his T20 career instead.TheparadoxofbeingJermaineBlackwood.

JermaineBlackwoodmayhaveplayedacareer-definingknock thatsecuredaWest Indieswin inSouthampton.ButhewouldnothavebeenintheplayingXIhadDarrenBravoandShimronHetmyernotoptedoutof thetour. Reuters

New Delhi