2Congress CWC passes resolution on Covid, fuel priCe, disCusses galWan

10sporting events Can start froM august: Kiran riJiJu

8Covid-19 lessons in sChooling: in line With online

india pushes russia to speed up defenCe ContraCtsNew Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his team are in Russia’s capital Moscow to attend world war ii Victory Day celebrations as well as speed up various defence contracts, including the S-400 missile defence system as ties with China deteriorate. After reaching Russia, Singh on Tuesday laid a wreath at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the indian embassy. he is on a three-day visit to Russia. earlier in the day, Defence Secre-tary Ajay Kumar met with Russia Deputy Defence Minister Col General A V Fomin in Moscow to work on the modalities of speed up various defense contracts.

reduCe paK high CoMMission staff strength by 50%: indiaNew Delhi: in a strong diplo-matic offensive, the government on Tuesday decided to reduce the staff of Pakistan’s high Com-mission in india by 50 per cent, in view of their espionage activities and links with terror groups. india will reciprocally reduce its own presence in islamabad to the same proportion. The decision is to be implemented in seven days. The move comes after two indian high Commission officials in islamabad were abducted on gunpoint and tortured by Paki-stani security agencies.

China oCCupies nepal village, leaves oli govt red-faCedNew Delhi: China has occupied a village of Nepal and allegedly removed the boundary pillars to legitimise its annexation, leaving the Oli government red-faced, top government sources said on Tuesday. it has also been learnt that China has gradually made inroads into several Nepalese territories with an ulterior aim to seize complete control. The latest in the line is Rui village in Gorkha district, which is now in total control of China. “The Chinese have occupied Rui Vil-lage,” iANS quoted top sources as saying.

24 june 2020 | Issue 53 | new delhi

The ongoing tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) be-

tween India and China has posed a threat to the territo-rial security of the country. While the defence forces hold their ground in the Galwan Valley of eastern

Ladakh, a new front has opened up in this conflict. Cyber attacks are being used to target IT, infra and banking sectors.

The confirmation has come from the IG Yashaswi Yadav of the Cyber Depart-ment of Maharashtra. This is the biggest cyber attack ever launched by China, he emphasised.

Yadav said, “The cyber-space of India has been attacked not once but 40,300 times by China and we are yet counting more and more. Maha-rashtra’s cyber department rapidly engaged in investi-gation of such cyberspace attacks. According to the Maharashtra cyber de-partment, all these attacks

have been done from the Chengdu area of China.”

Chengdu is the area in China from which the ongo-ing cyber warfare is waged on India.

The Daily Guardian, on Monday, had reported about intelligence agen-cies issuing warnings the authorities about cyber attacks from China. “Ac-

cording to them, Indian users may receive an email in the name of ncov-id2019@gov.in, which will be used as a bait to steal personal and financial data. The agencies have al-ready informed the users not to open or download attachments from this e-mail ID, which is designed to drive recipients towards

fake websites,” the report had said.

According to highly placed sources, there are three types of attacks on India’s cyberspace. “The cyber attack this time is three-pronged: One, de-nial of service attack; two, Internet protocol hijacking attack; and three, phishing attack,” said a source, add-

ing the authorities in India fear more such deadly cy-ber attacks and the coun-try must be prepared to deal with them.

“China is trying to target the government sector in particular. The cyber de-partment has asked every-one to be vigilant and ap-pealed to strengthen cyber security,” he added.

China launChes Massive Cyber attaCK on india

when lord travelled without devotees!

Priests take part in the Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri, amid Covid-19 precautions on Tuesday. ANI

neW Warfront

revelation

‘unfair praCtiCes’laC standoff good saMartian

Chinese general ordered attack on Indian troops: US intel report

US restricts India’s Vande Bharat Mission from 22 July

india, China Military reaCh Consensus to disengage

Mumbai barber opens shop for corona warriors

More than 40,300 cyber attacks have taken place on IT, infra and banking sectors in last five days. Intelligence agencies warn of more such targeted attacks in near future.

As tensions escalate be-tween India and China after the recent standoff between these two countries in Galwan Valley, a US intel-ligence report has now said that Chinese General Zhao Zongqi who heads the Chi-nese Army’s West Theatre Command was the one who ordered his soldiers for this action on the Indian border. Thirty-five Chinese soldiers were killed in the clash, it said.

The American intelligence report also claimed that China’s attack on Indian soldiers was a well thought out move. Zhao had been

taking a lot of action against India in the past and he believes that China should not be weakened in front of America and its allies thus the attack on Indian sol-diers was one of his tricks. It further said that China faced several casualties and Zhao held a memorial ser-vice for the Chinese soldiers killed in the standoff.

The skirmish was already planned in China. As per the report, China accumu-lated a lot of weapons near the Galwan Valley and built an infrastructure of its own. Regarding the in-cident of 15 June, a senior Indian officer and two non-commissioned officers

Accusing India of resorting to unfair and discrimina-tory practices and violation of the aviation agreement be-tween the two countries, the United States has decided to restrict India’s Vande Bharat Mission from 22 July 2020.

After this decision, now Indian airlines have to apply before the DOT for authori-sation before conducting charter flights to America so that they can scrutinise them. They will also recon-sider the restrictions once India lifts its restrictions on US flight carriers

A statement issued by the US Department of Transport

(DOT) said that Air India Ltd was not only making flights to repatriate its citi-zens during the travel dis-ruptions during Covid-19 outbreak but was also sell-ing tickets to the public. And at the same time, US airlines were prohibited from flying to India by Indian aviation regulators. The situation created a competitive disad-vantage for US carriers. “We are taking this action because the government of India has impaired the operating rights of US car-riers and has engaged in dis-criminatory and restrictive practices with respect to US carrier services to and from India,” the order said. It fur-

this is the initial step in the path toWards the Country's finest daily neWspaper.

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top of the day

The Indian and the Chinese military have agreed to dis-engage after the 11-hour-long Corps Commander level talks on Tuesday, govern-ment sources. The dialogue, they say, was held in a cor-dial, positive and construc-tive atmosphere and there was a “mutual consensus to disengage”.“Modalities for disengage-ment from all friction areas in Eastern Ladakh were dis-cussed,” they added.

The corps commanders of two countries’ military met at Moldo on Monday to resolve the border issue and ease tension in Eastern Ladakh. This is the second

such meeting after the first one on 6 June defuse the ten-sions in eastern Ladakh.

The meeting between 14 Corps commander Lieuten-ant General Harinder Singh and South Xinjiang Military District chief Major General Liu Lin happened on the lines of the one they held at the Chushul-Moldo border personnel meeting (BPM) point in eastern Ladakh on 6 June.

Before this, Major General level dialogue took place for three consecutive days after the barbaric attack at pa-trolling point 14 in Galwan Valley on 15-16 June night where 20 Indian soldiers were killed. The three talks were to ease out the tense situation and to get released

10 Indian soldiers, includ-ing four officers, who were in Chinese captivity.

The clash occurred at the South bank of Galwan river, which flows in an east-west direction before its conflu-ence with Shayok river, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed. It is the first casualties faced by Indian Army in a clash with the Chinese People’s Libera-tion Army since 1975 when an Indian patrol was am-bushed by Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh.

China’s PLA troopers “savagely attacked” Indian Army personnel, accord-ing to sources in the gov-ernment with knowledge of the details of the June

Santosh Borhade has emerged as a hero for many frontline workers in this coronavirus pandemic. A barber from Dongri, he gives free haircut and grooming services to all Covid-19 war-riors that come to his salon. As of now, he has served around 500 frontline work-ers including policemen, doctors, hospital staff and sanitation workers.

In times when incidents of misbehaviour with corona warriors are being reported across the nation, this brings relief and hope. Speaking with The Daily Guardian, he said, “There is no lockdown

for these front line workers, policemen particularly re-quire my services. They are selflessly working for us in such times and I think this is the best way to give back to them and thank them for their service.”

Taking utter precautions while cutting hair, Borhade who has been into the busi-ness of hair cutting since 2003, wears masks, gloves and before every cut he properly sanitises every equipment, including chair where anyone sits for hair-cut. Precaution is necessary for Borhade who has three kids and wife who is a staff nurse at JJ Hospital.“Police, doctors are battling the pandemic from frontline however there are many other heroes like Borhade who are working in shadows, there work also needs to be appreciated,” said Avinash Dharmadhikari, Assistant Police Commissioner of Dongri division.

urvashi KhonaMuMbAi

CorrespondentNew Delhi

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raKesh singhNew Delhi

arun dhantaNew Delhi

aBhisheK sharMa MuMbAi

Barber Santosh Borhade is giving free hair cut to all frontline workers during lockdown.

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opposition speaKs

Chinese general ordered attack on Indian troops: US intel report

india, China Military reaCh Consensus to disengage

2 news t h e da i ly gua r d i a n2 4 j u n e 2 0 2 0n ew d e l h i

Due to the rising tensions with China in eastern Ladakh, Indo-Tibetan Bor-der Police (ITBP) personnel who are deployed for inter-nal security or in Covid-19 duty may now be sent back

to the LAC. The Home Min-istry is expected to decide soon. According to sources, 35 companies of ITBP are deployed in different areas for internal security or in coronavirus duty. Earlier, 15 companies, which were posted on duties in Jammu and Kashmir for internal se-

curity purposes, were sent to the LAC. 

Vigi l and patrol l ing on the border have been heightened. Over 180 bor-der outposts on the Indo-China border in Uttara-khand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh have been put on

high alert. A total of 1500 personnel have been moved to Ladakh by the ITBP. 

Sources have revealed that ITBP personnel have increased the number of Long-range patrolling (LRP) and short-range patrolling (SRP) to keep a close eye on Chinese troop

movement. China’s every move is being closely moni-tored.  Sources have said that heightened security measures will ensure China behaves itself and in case they make any aggressive move, the Indian side would have adequate manpower to respond. 

Amid LAC standoff, 50 ITBP companies to be sent to Ladakh 

Congress CWC passes resolution on Covid, fuel price, discusses Galwan

raKesh singhNew Delhi

ashish sinhaNew Delhi

navtan KuMarNew Delhi

rajat raKesh tandonNew Delhi

Yatendra sharMaNew Delhi

shiv pujhan jhaPATNA

Fuel price hike, Covid-19 pandemic and the emerging health crisis along with the Galwan Valley standoff with China were the main issues discussed in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Tuesday.

Called by Congress presi-dent Sonia Gandhi on 23 June, the meeting discussed the government’s actions on the standing policy with China over the Ladakh is-sue at a priority basis. It also discussed fuel price hike and the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sonia Gandhi attacked

the Modi government on the border issue and in her opening remarks said that there is a full-blown crisis on the LAC with China and the undeniable fact is that since April-May 2020 till date, Chinese troops have com-mitted brazen transgres-sions into the Indian territo-ries of Pangong Lake and the Galwan Valley in Ladakh. She also said that “true to its character, the government is in denial.”

She said that the intrusion was detected and reported on 5 May 2020. Instead of a resolution, the situation deteriorated rapidly and there were violent clashes on June 15-16.  Twenty In-

dian soldiers were mar-tyred, 85 injured and 10 went “missing” until they were returned.

The Prime Minister was called out when he an-nounced that “no one had intruded into Indian terri-tory in Ladakh”. On matters of national security and ter-ritorial integrity, the nation has always stood together and this time too, there is no second opinion.

As per the grand old par-ty’s statement, the Congress was the first to offer its total support to the armed forces and the government and accused the government of mishandling the situation. In a statement, it said, “We

urge upon the government that peace, calm and the restoration of the status quo ante along the LAC be the only guiding principles in our national interest. We will continue to closely watch the situation.”

Former PM Manmohan Singh too endorsed Sonia Gandhi by adding that the crisis on the border, which if not tackled firmly, can lead to a serious situation. 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was also present in the CWC meeting and on the issue of LAC he said: “China has brazenly occupied our territory.  PM Modi has de-stroyed our position and be-trayed our army by accept-

ing their position that they occupied no Indian land. The Chinese can’t be permit-ted to get away with this un-acceptable usurpation of our land. Everything needs to be done to ensure that sacrifice of our martyrs is not in vain. One reason why China has acted is a complete and total failure of foreign policy.”

The Congress has passed a resolution and demanded that the government should put a cap on bills generated by the private hospitals for Covid treatment and more-over strict action should be taken against the insurance companies who are not co-operating with Covid pa-tients.

travelled t o a m e e t i n g place where they expected to be

met by a comparable del-egation of Chinese troops to discuss the withdrawal. Instead, dozens of Chinese troops were waiting with spiked bats and clubs and began an attack. Other Indian troops came in to

support, leading to a melee. Meanwhile, private geo-intelligence firm Hawkeye 360 recently reported that satellite imagery from late-May showed a build-up on the Chinese side which appeared to be armed per-sonnel carriers and self-propelled artillery.

Tensions between India and China have been for

years but the situation has worsened after the death of 20 Indian soldiers on the LAC last week. China wants India to remain entangled with the countries around it, so that the distance from America remains but Indi-ans are constantly taking action against China, both at the government and the individual level.

ther added that through the order it seeks to restore a level

playing field for US airlines under the US-India Air Transport Agreement. The Indian government, citing the coronavirus, has banned

all scheduled services and failed to approve US carriers for charter operations.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Civil Aviation has respond-ed to this decision of Amer-ica and said that it received requests from concerned au-thorities in several countries

including the US, France, Germany among others requesting to participate in repatriation process, in fact had one round of nego-tiations with US on 15 June 2020 with representatives of US Department of Transpor-tation and US Embassy on

this issue. They were invited to submit precise propos-als in this respect.  A com-munication has now been received on 19 June 2020 detailing these requests, the ministry informed,

The action against India comes weeks after US put re-

strictions on Chinese airlines. US agency accused China of unfairly banning American carriers in the wake of the Covid-19. However, on 15 June, it announced that it agreed to allow 4 flights a week from China after the latter did the same.

15-16 night clashes between the two army soldiers. “The

numbers were stacked up against the Indian Army troopers. Yet, the Indian side decided to fight the PLA troopers. The Indian soldiers were outnumbered 1:5 by the Chinese troopers,” the sources told IANS on Wednesday.

China is also said to have used thermal imaging drones to trace the Indian Army soldiers scattered on the treacherous terrain be-fore brutally attacking them.

“It was the deadliest attack carried on Indian Army personnel by the Chinese military personnel to our memory,” the government sources said. with agency inputS

‘unfair praCtiCes’

US restricts India’s Vande Bharat Mission from 22 July

Delhi Police has sought the Home Ministry’s view on whether 16 minors, who were part of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, should be charged as adults. Sources say that 16 minor foreigners participated in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation this year when the government had enforced a ban on any event

with over 50 participants. The government is yet to take a final call on charging three minors from Nepal and Ma-laysia each and the remain-ing from Kazakhstan. Even Delhi Police did not file any chargesheet against them. 

An official reply from the MHA or MEA awaits. The minor foreigners were sent to centres in the national capital after the Delhi court’s order. Delhi Police has filed

59 chargesheets against 956 foreigners from 36 different nations, with most of them belonging to Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and Indonesia.

None of the foreigners charged so far has been ar-rested yet. They are staying at different locations in the national capital, as approved by the Delhi High Court. Fur-ther court proceedings will be held on 25 June, 9 July and 16 July, respectively.

Ahead of the upcoming As-sembly elections in Bihar, five RJD MLCs jumped ships and joined the JD-U. In a major blow to the party, senior party leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh resigned from the post of the national vice president. Sources indicate that he was very unhappy with the induction of LJP MP Rama Singh in the party.

Immediately after resign-ing from the party the JD-U MLCs paid a visit to Nitish Kumar and sources indicate that there can be more such defections.

Those who defected include Sanjay Prasad, Mohmmed Kamar Alam, Radhacharan Shah, Ran-vijay Singh and Dilip Rai. Talking to The Daily Guard-ian, Radha Charan Shah

said, “We were unhappy with the shape of things within the RJD. There is ut-ter chaos there and the party workers are never given any importance. Nitish Kumar is doing a commendable job for the last 15 years so we decided to join him. In the days to come there will be dozens of RJD leaders who will resign from the party and join the JD-U.”

Similar sentiments were echoed by Dilip Rai and oth-ers.

The RJD had 8 MLCs in the Vidhan Parisad and since 5 of the 8 MLCs de-fected to the JD-U the anti-defection law is not applica-ble to them.

Reacting to the defection, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said, “Ntish Kumar did not come out of his house for 90 days during the lockdown. This is not going to ben-efit the people of the state. I

tried to raise issues of grow-ing corona cases, unem-ployment and impending flood but he never paid heed to it. He has slaughtered the mandate of the people.”

On the question of Ragu-vansh Prasad Sngh re-signing from party posts, Tejashwi said, “He is like a guardian to me. He has nur-tured the party. Right now he is undergoing treatment and I pray for his fast recov-ery.”

Things do not seem to be well for the Mahagathband-han as well. With Jeetan Ram Manjhi’s ultimatum to constitute a coordination committee by 25 June hang-ing over, a lot of turmoil can be expected from within the alliance. Elections are slated this year in October and No-vember and the RJD seems to be looking at bleak future with Lalu Prasad Yadav be-ing in jail.

More than 8.78 lakh residen-tial units, which were sched-uled to be delivered in 2020-21, are likely to miss the deadline due to lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prior to Covid-19, top seven cities of the country were supposed to see completion of over 8.78 lakh units in 2020 and 2021 combined. Of this total expected supply, nearly 4.66 lakh units were to be added in 2020 and the remaining 4.12 lakh units in 2021.

Delhi-NCR, Mumbai Met-ropolitan Region (MMR) and Bengaluru had comple-tion of more than 1 lakh units each lined up in 2020. But the work has badly been dis-rupted due to the pandemic.

According to a study con-ducted by property consult-ants Anarock, Pune had more than 68,800 units lined up for completion, Kolkata 33,850 units & Hy-derabad about 30,500 units. Chennai, on the other hand, had least pending delivery at about 24,650 units.

In the normal circumstanc-es, the top seven cities of the country were supposed to see the delivery of about 4.66 lakh units by 2020-end. Launched after 2013, many of the projects were in the final leg of completion, says the study, adding “with almost zero construction ac-tivity in last few months due to the lockdown, the com-pletion deadlines for almost all these projects has got ex-tended”.

With most state RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Au-thority) giving developers a six-month extension on deadlines, homebuyers’ wait can become longer. However, the wait could run into sev-eral additional months for well-funded projects, and as much as two years for oth-ers.

The year 2021 was to see completion of nearly 4.12 lakh units across top seven cities of India -- 12% lower than in 2020. In 2020 and 2021 combined, NCR has the maximum units to be deliv-ered at about 2.40 lakh. Most of these projects are likely to be delayed.

Talking about the man-

power issue due to migra-tion, the study said unless labour shortage is addressed immediately, project deliv-eries will stutter going for-ward.

Chairman of Anarock Anuj Puri said: “Homebuy-ers will have to adjust to new realities. As many as 4.66 lakh units were slated to be delivered in 2020 and another 4.12 lakh in 2021. Maximum completions (in both years) were to happen in NCR (about 2.40 lakh units). This region is set to witness more project delays over and above the backlog of over 2 lakh units already delayed in the region from before.”

He said the government must intervene to address multiple challenges includ-ing labour shortage in top cities. “Even if developers have the financial strength, it will still take a while for most of them to resume con-struction because lakhs of labourers have left cities and migrated back to their vil-lages. Moreover, many of the top cities are still grappling with the virus,” he pointed out.

congress president Sonia gandhi interacts with party leaders during the cwc meeting via video conferencing, in new delhi on tuesday. ani

delhi poliCe seeKs Mha’s vieW on Minor tablighi MeMbers

8 lakh houses scheduled for delivery in 2020-21 may miss the deadline

More trouble for RJD as 5 MLCs leave party

vhp to help Covid-hit priests of delhi’s 1,000 teMples

Amidst the coronavirus outbreak, all the spheres of life, throughout the world, have come to an unprec-edented halt. India, being among the countries worst hit, is struggling to resuscitate the lives of people, medically as well as economically.  The pandemic, leaving no stones

unturned in the capital, has forced people to shut down the religious places, especially temples which are huge in number. In this backdrop, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has come help the priests and their families of more than 1,000 temples in Delhi.

 Although permission was granted during Unlock 1.0 to open the reli-gious places, due to fear of coronavi-

rus, the number of devotees visiting these temples is negligible which is affecting the lives of the priesthood severely.

 According to Vagish Issar, head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, In-draprastha province, VHP is making a list of temples grappling with the economic problem. There are more than 1,000 temples and VHP has decided to help in every way possi-

ble. The VHP has prepared an action plan to help the lockdown-stricken priests and their families by provid-ing them ration. Each affected family would be given a sum of Rs 2,500.

 “According to the present situation, there are still a few more months to go till we get relieved of the coro-navirus, so till then, the VHP will continue to help the priests of these temples,” he said.

Health and disease have often shaped our cities. The Met-

ropolitan Board of Works and the sanitation system in London were developed in the mid-19th century as a response to the cholera out-break. The Spanish Flu of 1918 that hit New York very hard is responsible for shap-ing the current Manhattan. Back home, the city of Surat was hit by the plague in the mid-1990s. The plague is a severe bacterial infection caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacteria carried by rats and transmitted by fleas. Surat’s transformation into one of the cleanest cities in India was not only essential but also much needed.

The current Covid-19 cri-sis has hit cities hard. While cities are working hard on responding to the crisis, weaknesses in the areas of health equity, well-being city components, resilient and healthy planning, and governance frameworks are unfolding. The ongo-ing pandemic has severely impacted some global cities like Seoul, Milan, New York, etc. However, unlike some of the previous pandemics, Covid-19 has a much lower mortality rate. Ebola had a

mortality rate of 60% while SARS and MERS were at 30%. However, the lower mortality rate of coronavirus pandemic is compounded by the higher risk of transmis-sion, and that makes fight the pandemic real tough.

Therefore, as cities shuffle between lockdown and re-covery, the question emerg-es: Will the Covid crisis fun-damentally change the city planning? Two points arise from this question — popu-lation density and public transport. Let’s look at them in a little more detail.

PoPulation density The current Covid crisis has reinitiated the dialogue be-tween compact cities versus sprawled development. The discourse so far has been to “decongest” by limiting den-sity to improve quality of life. Compact development has benefits of less motorised travel, improved safety, less air pollution, etc. However, will compact urban form, which means higher den-sity result in the pandemic spread? Theoretically, dense urban areas lead to a lot of ‘face to face’ interaction, which could make them hotspots for pandemics. But the relation between density

and exposure is not a straight line. That’s because dense areas may also have greater adherence to guidelines, due to the community effect. It means that issues like social distancing, mask-wearing, etc, have higher compliance than a low-density suburb. Also, a dense environment may foster a lot of social in-teraction, making it easier for people to stay connected with friends, families, and communities while remain-ing in their residences. It is also seen that healthcare fa-cilities have better and timely access in a dense urban en-vironment. The issue to be discussed is whether or not the infrastructure can sup-port the density.

Mumbai is the densest city in India, and Dharavi is Asia’s largest slum in the city. Dharavi’s 2.4 sq km is home to over 850,000 people, tak-ing the population density of over 350,000 people per sq km. Is this an ideal density? No, maybe it’s overtly dense, but that is a matter of a sepa-rate discussion. So when Dharavi reported its first Covid case on 1 April 2020, it was thought that high densi-ty would lead to rapid trans-mission. The area would soon become a hotspot for the pandemic. Two and a half months later, the Covid is under control in Dharavi. The new cases have dropped from 47 in May to 27 in June. The doubling of cases has gone up from 21 days in May to 44 days in June. Aggres-sive testing, screening, and treatment have resulted in this turnaround, and den-sity played an essential role in this fight back. A higher density is not just a desirable solution for accommodating a large number of people; it remains critical for effi-ciently running many forms of urban infrastructure.

Public transPort Due to the ongoing Covid crisis, essential travel has

resulted in a massive reduc-tion in transport demand for passengers as well as freight. With social distancing be-coming the new buzzword, the big question is the safety of public transport. The fear of contamination due to the shared journey has resulted in the immediate lockdown of public transport services like buses, trains and metro. There is not enough evi-dence to suggest that public transport has played a sig-nificant role in coronavirus transmission. However, cit-ies have brought these ser-vices to a halt based on the perception rather than any data — also, without un-derstanding how mobility works. The 2011 Census, for the non-agricultural work trips, reveals that of all the people who go to work, only

23% use personal transport, the rest constitute of walking, cycling, or shared transport services. Therefore, it is clear that everyone using individ-ual modes of transportation is neither technically nor fi-nancially feasible.

Hong Kong has 13 million riders per day on its metro system, and it has not seen a significant decrease in its us-age during the Covid crisis. If public transport was the conduit for the Covid spread, then Hong Kong would have massive infections, but it only has 1,129 cases. Milan, in Italy, which was one of the worst-hit cities due to the pandemic, recently opened its public transport system but has not seen a spike in infections. The post-peak outbreak in Seoul, South Korea, was not due to pub-

lic transport but due to the lack of social distancing at reopened night clubs. Exam-ples demonstrate that many hyper-dense cities — Singa-pore, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Tokyo — have successfully managed the outbreak with-out any massive disruption in public transport services.

The two keenly debated topics in the current en-vironment — density and public transport — are also the two essential ingredients for sustainable cities. India is one-third urbanised, and research shows that urban-isation stops when counties reach 80-85%. This means that about two-thirds of ur-ban India is yet to be built. We need innovative devel-opment solutions that are primarily crafted in India to inform our development agenda and policy choices. Therefore, it is essential to continue to pull all levers to advocate for good density and high-quality public transport as core ingredients for India’s urbanisation. This will not only help in air quality, road safety, and economic devel-opment but also be a useful model for reducing infectious diseases like Covid-19.Amit Bhatt is Executive Director, WRI India, and Hitesh Vaidya is Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs.

Will Covid pandemic change city planning?Coronavirus has hit cities hard. While urban centres are working hard on responding to the crisis, weaknesses in the areas of health equity, resilient and healthy planning, and governance frameworks are unfolding.

The Indian armed forces are well-equipped and prepared to take on China’s People’s Liberation Army, Navy and Air Force.

Ladakh standoff

Corona disruption

Two days ago I got an urgent SOS asking me if I knew any Covid-recovered patient as a colleague’s relative down with the coronavirus needed a plasma do-nor. He needed to undergo the convalescent plasma therapy to build his immunity to fight the virus. The need was urgent, for the patient had already spent over ten days on the ventilator. The plasma therapy uses the antibodies from the blood of a cured patient to treat a current patient. 

Messages were put out on social media from Twit-ter, Facebook and WhatsApp and we were soon directed to Doondh.com, a website de-signed by two Delhi boys to help people in exactly this kind of a situation. The idea behind this website is simple: It asks Covid-recovered patients to register if they are keen to be-come a donor. Pa-tients requiring the plasma therapy too can log on with their details, and what the website does is to match the two depending on blood groups, locations, etc. As the web page explains: “We know what it feels like when a loved one is in the hospital with Covid-19. We know the gut-wrenching feeling you get when the docs tell you that plasma therapy is needed and the helplessness when they inform you that they don’t have enough in the hos-pital and you will have to find some.” Apparently one of the website’s founders Adwitiya Mal went through a similar experience sourcing plasma for his father-in-law, and it was after this that he got together with his childhood friend, Mukul Pahwa, to start this initiative. An investment of Rs 2.27 lakh got this website going mid-June. 

Such gestures are truly to be applauded for they engulf each one of us as part of one family fighting Covid together. These two are not the only ones, for queries on WhatsApp brought back an entire list of donors that’s out on Instagram of Covid-recovered patients, and others helping organise donors work-ing at individual levels. Gestures like these, in times such as this, reaffirm one’s faith in humanity, espe-cially when one has also heard stories of how doctors, nurses, pilots and air hostesses were being banned from their colonies for fear of carrying the infection. 

Those who want to donate plasma need to be at least 28 days (some hospitals are okay with 14 days and two negative tests) recovered before they can donate. Then came another catch. Even though as many as four donors came forward, their blood did not have the requisite antibodies. Informal chats with doctors claim that in order to donate plasma, the titer of antibodies present has to be high. And so not every recovered patient can be a donor. Moreover, there is a much more worrying research coming in from Beijing. A paper published by the Chongging Medical University on 19 June, now claims that there could be a sharp decline in the presence of antibodies as early as two to three months after recovery. Where does this leave the immunity-building theory? 

Clearly this is a virus that will take all our combined grit, scientific temper and humanitarian outreach to combat.Priya Sahgal

PersPectiveHumanity first

fighting Covid the sCientifiC and humanitarian way

India has often been com-pared to an elephant while China is called a dragon. When we compare these two animals, elephants are

real or “Sattology” (opposite of mythology). Its strength is measurable and comparable in our human experience. A dragon, on the other hand, is an imaginary animal from ancient Chinese mythology. First of all, the ignominious defeat of the Indian armed forces in 1962 was already avenged in 1967. Jawahar-lal Nehru’s lack of strategy was responsible for India’s defeat in 1962. Later in 1987 and 2017, the Indian armed forces proved their superior-ity in war-fighting abilities against the Chinese. In the

2020 Galwan Valley inci-dent too, 20 Indian soldiers gave a bloody lesson to at least three-times -- some ac-counts say five-times -- more Chinese troops. With that be-ing said, India must be proud of their military training and fearless war ethos. In any war, it is a soldier behind the weapon that counts. In that regard, India definitely has an upper hand.

China’s insensitive re-sponse to the pandemic has been globally recorded by most countries of the world. Their global public relations (PR) machinery has managed to help them sail through the interna-tional condemnation with a shameless face. Their hold on the World Health Organiza-tion (WHO) and the United Nations has been severely weakened and their cred-ibility will further erode once all countries recover from

Covid-19. To put it mildly, the next couple of years will see a lot of global diplomatic condemnation coming to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Recently the US law-makers have begun to realise the faults of recognising Chi-nese occupation of Tibet and their claims over Taiwan and South China Sea. The diplo-matic arrogance of the CCP and its false sense of invinci-bility made them commit the Ladakh misadventure.

Where does this arrogance come from? The CCP has been making propaganda videos of China’s military prowess for their people in order to create fake pa-triotism and also to prove to Chinese that they are the legitimate rulers. The glori-fication of Chinese missiles and plagiarised planes has already labelled them as the top copycat nation of the world. Needless to say, their

externally similar looking drones and planes have proved to be flying skeletons of comparable Western or Russian models. Their JF-17 is a slightly upgraded MiG-21, almost akin to the Indian MiG-21 Bison. Their JF-16 and 11 are the copied ver-sions of SU-27 and SU-30 of Sukhoi imports from Rus-sians. Are Russians happy? They haven’t even hidden the external appearance of their copies. The GJ2 armed drone looks like an exact copy of American predator drone. Their Type 15 Tank is comparable to T-72 and T-90.

The Indian military’s multinational technical up-grades of SU-30 MKI, Mi-rage 2000-5, MiG-29 UPG, Tejas, MiG-21 Bison, Rafale IN, Jaguars Sepecat, C-17, IL-76, Apaches and LCH give a definitive edge over the Chi-nese Air Force in all theatres of aerial warfare. All Indian

Air force machines have been well maintained and are war ready.

In terms of military train-ing and endurance of sol-diers, Indian troops have proved their mettle right from World War II. The rifles and artillery of India seem to be vastly superior to anything Chinese. Their li-censed production of Bofors guns and other artillery has been world class.

The area in which the Chi-nese military seems to have an edge is the significant mili-tary industrial base that they have created to locally man-ufacture their plagiarised weapons. While India has depended on obtaining legal licences to build Western and Russian weapon systems, the political corruption of Indian political parties has denied them a robust local military industrial complex until 2014. Post-2014, the Central

government has embarked on a massive military capa-bility building in all aspects of military preparedness. The biggest weakness of the Indian military industrial complex is in the areas of ammunition production for their imported guns. Indian Ordnance Board is Asia’s second largest to Russia. But the inherent institution-al corruption has kept them low performing for years. With the indigenisation of their high-calibre guns, the ammunition problems will disappear over the next cou-ple of years. Nonetheless, the Indian political and military leaderships are ready for China and Pakistan.

The Indian naval strength is extremely understated and often ignored by China. The majority of the Indian Navy is built locally and uses Indian weapon sys-tems. Every single weapon

of the Indian Navy fires with high accuracy as dem-onstrated in their multiple tests. As for missiles, both India and China cover each other’s entire territory with high accuracy. And their nuclear forces also carry enough to cause each other equal damage. In case of any eventuality, the In-dian armed forces have the strength to bust the myth of the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Libera-tion Army (PLA), People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and People’s Lib-eration Army Air Force (PLAAF).The major dif-ference between the two is: CCP owns PLA, PLAN and PLAF, while Indian democ-racy owns the Indian armed forces. The clash is between Chinese Communist Party and The Republic of India.The writer is an independent po-litical commentator and analyst.

Debunking the myth of invincible Dragon

3comment & analysisthe daily guardian24 june 2020

new delhi

A paper published by the Chongging Medical University on 19 June claims that there could be a sharp decline in the presence of antibodies as early as two to three months after recovery. Where does this leave the immunity-building theory? 

opinionAMit BhAtt & hitesh VAidyA

opinionAdityA sAtsAngi

The current Covid crisis has reinitiated the dialogue between compact cities versus sprawled development. The discourse so far has been to ‘decongest’ by limiting density to improve quality of life. Compact development has benefits of less motorised travel, improved safety, less air pollution, etc.

Recently, the contro-versy over suspen-sion of the PCPNDT

Act, which prohibits prenatal sex determination, subsided only after the Union Health Ministry clarified that it has not suspended the Act but has only temporarily re-laxed some rules related to submission of reports due to the coronavirus lockdown. Although many people are aware that prenatal diagnosis is misused in India, very few know the extent of this prac-tice and its consequences.

Following the Census of 1991, the subject of declining sex ratio due to prenatal sex determination and selec-tive abortions of girls was extensively reported in the media. To control the situa-tion and regulate the use of such techniques, Parliament enacted a special Act in 1994. In conformity with the vari-ous directions issued by the Supreme Court, Parliament further amended the Act in 2003. It is now called The Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Pro-hibition of Sex Selection) Act (PCPNDT Act).

According to Sections 4 &

5 of this Act, genetic clinics are banned from directly or indirectly revealing the sex of the fetus, except in cases of genetic abnormalities or sex-linked diseases. Several offences and penalties have been included in the Act, in-cluding strict guidelines for the genetic clinics to main-tain and preserve the record of tests as enumerated under form “F” of the said Act. Ev-ery offence under this Act is cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable with punishment which includes imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and on any subsequent conviction, with imprison-ment which may extend to five years.

Problem with the whole scheme of things is that al-though the rules and regu-lations are in place there has been sharp and constant de-cline in child sex ratio. As per

2011 Census report, the child sex ratio in India has fallen to 919 females per 1,000 males, which is the lowest since Independence. Vari-ous studies have found that decline in the child sex ratio is unequivocally linked to the widespread use of prenatal sex determination and selec-tive abortions of girls. Studies have also shown that regions with a higher number of reg-istered prenatal diagnostic fa-cilities per 100,000 women have a lower child sex ratio than where these facilities are less available. Due to gender biased morality of Indian society, there is a demand for sex-selective abortions; those who would not have contem-plated female infanticide are making massive use of selec-tive female foeticide and this generates lucrative business for some greedy medical pro-fessionals.

It is unfortunate that the

science of prenatal diagnosis which aims to protect mother and child by detecting fetal abnormalities is abused in the country by some unscrupu-lous professional for prenatal sex determination and female foeticide just to earn some money. The main reason for the practice going unchecked is indifference on the part of authorities to implement the law. Therefore, it is the role of the media to make the government authorities and human genetics community aware of the magnitude of the misuse of prenatal technolo-gies and its impact on the sex ratio and status of women.

Surat, among all cities in In-dia, is the worst example of widespread use of prenatal sex determination and selec-tive abortions of girls. As per the Census data of 2011, Surat among all districts of the state of Gujarat has the highest lit-eracy rate (85.53%) and yet

has the lowest child sex ratio. It is settled principle of demo-graphic studies that wherev-er literacy rate increases the sex ratio of the population also increases, but Surat is going in reverse direction. This anomaly leads to the conclusion that the growth of girl children is being stopped by applying artificial means. It is for this reason, Surat has emerged as IVF (In Vitro Fer-tilisation) hub of India and consequently the city has become overcrowded with mushrooming of all sorts of maternity clinics.

In the past seven years alone, appropriate authori-ties under the PCPNDT Act have filed as many as 44 court cases against some of these clinics. Taking advantage of the pendency of matters before the court of law and in connivance with the local health authorities, most of these unscrupulous clinics are back in business. This is in violation of the rule 18(A) of the said Act, which prohib-its the renewal of operating licence during the pendency of the case. Out of 16 cases decided so far, only one has been found guilty and rest have either been acquitted or dismissed for default. Sur-prisingly, no appeals against acquittals and dismissals have been made by appropri-ate authority to the superior courts, despite the fact that rule under Section 18(A) of the Act compulsorily man-dates appropriate authority to file appeals immediately.

All this has been happen-ing even after the Supreme Court, in its landmark judg-ment on the PCPNDT Act titled ‘Voluntary Health As-sociation of Punjab VS Union of India’ (2016), has removed all anomalies with respect to the implementation of rules and regulations under the Act, with the direction to the concerned courts to prefer-ably decide the pending matters within six months. However, the worst part of the story is that some of these clinics, having made fortune out of the misery of unborn girl children, masquerade as champions of saving the girl child by organising various

functions under the garb of “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” campaign to hide their mis-deeds. To add fuel to fire, some of these so-called sav-iours of girl children, on the strength of their financial power, have managed to ac-quire positions in regional bodies of state medical coun-cil of Gujarat.

It is high time authorities take note of things before the situation goes out of control. To conclude, it would be apt to quote the comment of the Supreme Court in one of its judgments on the PCPNDT Act: “It is unfortunate that in an age where people are described as civilised, crime

against female is committed even when the child is in the womb as the female foetus is often destroyed to prevent the birth of a female child. If that child comes into exis-tence, she starts her life as a daughter, and then becomes a wife and in due course, a mother. She rocks the cradle to rear up her infant, bestows all her love on the child and as the child grows in age, she gives to the child all that she has in her own personality. She shapes the destiny and character of the child. To be cruel to such a creature is un-thinkable.”Abhijit Bhatt is a senior journal-ist based in Gujarat.

PCPNDT ACT & DeCliNiNg ChilD sex rATio iN surATBig CoNCerN

Abhijit bhAttAhmedAbAd

news plus the daily guardian24 june 2020new delhi4

Laxity in the implementation of the PCPNDT Act has made Surat a hub of prenatal sex determination and female foeticide.

cryptocurrency

legally speakingthe daily guardian24 june 2020

new delhi 5

Blockchain is the fla-vour of the times with a lot of organisations

and individuals joining the digital bandwagon. It is not just organisations, but even governments are trying to implement blockchain Tech-nology for their governance and other activities given the immutable nature of block-chain. It is interesting to note that blockchain could be used in the domain of Law. However, blockchain as a technology brings forwards a lot of cyber legal aspects & challenges that need to be addressed in a holistic man-ner of the intersection of law & technology.

Blockchain relates to the concept of distributed led-ger, wherein the blocks are connected in a chain through secured cryptog-raphy methods. Blockchain has numerous advantages like transparency, immuta-bility, decentralisation, scal-ability and security. This ar-ticle intends to put forth and discuss the legalities and legal challenges, aspects re-lating to blockchain technol-ogy focusing on cyber legal perspective.

BLOCKCHAIN IN A NUTSHELLLet us consider the newspa-per publishing this article as a blockchain network. The article published herein is a block and the content in the article is nothing but the data in the block, the article is published on a particular date and day which can be considered as timestamp. This article is circulated among all the subscribers of this newspaper or the mem-bers of this forum. However, no member nor a subscriber to this newspaper can mod-ify or alter the contents of this article but can secure access to the content of this article. However, the non-subscribers of this newspa-per or non-members of this forum shall not be able to access the contents of this article.

From the above one can relate that there is trans-parency, decentralisation, and immutability. This in simple sense, is the concept of blockchain in a nutshell. Further in case of any mod-ifications to this article, the revised article shall be pub-lished by the newspaper on new date and day which is the new timestamp and the original and revised both shall be available to the sub-scribers and members of the forum along with the prop-er and exact timestamp. As they already have access to the original article which was published earlier and since the revised article is

also accessed by them due to the publication of the news-paper now.

However, considering the above in case any alteration or revision is required to be made to the data in the block a new block is created with such revision and is con-nected to the original block as a new block along with the proper and exact time stamp.

In a nutshell, blockchain shall consist of blocks linked together in a chronological order using cryptography. Each block shall consist of data, hash of the previ-ous block. The hash can be compared to as the digital fingerprint and the hash in the previous block in the sequence.

USE OF BLOCKCHAIN FOR PROPERTY OWNERSHIPConsider the details of all the previous owners of the property that are stored in each block and each of the block getting connected in chronological order with the other block along with the date and timestamp fetches the records of the ownership from the previ-ous owner to the present owner.

Using blockchain technol-ogy for verification of clear title can be a good option so as to establish the exact and proper ownership. This can ensure that there is no tam-pering of data anywhere in the chain.

BLOCKCHAIN AND LAWIt is essential to understand the potential benefit block-chain has, however, it is im-perative to also understand the kind of legal conse-quences that visit you while making use blockchain technology. Blockchain as a technology populates le-gal policy regulatory issues and challenges that need to be specifically addressed. I intend to collate various le-gal and cyber legal aspects surrounding blockchain in this article.

LEGAL RECOGNITION AND LEGALITY OF BLOCKCHAINThe primary aspect that blockchain as a technology presents is the aspect of le-gal recognition and legal consideration. Given the kind of adoption of Block-chain it becomes important to grant legal recognition and legality to blockchain transactions. However, from a layman’s perspective blockchain is ultimately in-formation and data in elec-tronic format created using computers, computer sys-tems, computer networks, computer resources and communication devices like mobiles and tablets. Given the fact that a lot of coun-tries have come up with na-tional legislations on cyber law from UNCTRAL (Unit-ed Nations Commission on International Trade Law) model law of electronic commerce, one can perceive that legality may be granted

to blockchain transactions. However, the people from

the conservative school of thought opine that specific and dedicated blockchain Law shall be required with focal thrust on providing le-gality to blockchain and the transactions thereof.

ENTRIES ON BLOCK AND BLOCKCHAIN LEGAL STATUSYet another significant legal aspect that needs to be con-sidered is the legal status on the entries on the block and blockchain. Consider-ing the use of Blockchain Technology for determin-ing the property ownership, the interesting question that crops up is whether a mere entry made on the block conveys, assigns, transfers ownership of one owner to the other? Well the current position is unclear and is ambiguous. I believe that the presumptions relating to the above has to be clearly and specifically addressed. While we are thinking it may take couple of decades for the blockchain Law to be a mainstream, some coun-tries have come up with new manifestations by way of legislations recognising blockchain as a kind of elec-tronic record.

Let’s take the case of Ne-vada, USA, which has amended its Uniform Elec-tronic Transaction Law (UETL) recognising block-chain as an electronic re-cord created by the use of a decentralised method by multiple parties to verify and store digital record of transactions which is se-cured by the use of a cryp-tographic hash of previous transaction information. The law further prohibits imposing of any tax or fee by the government on the use of blockchain by any indi-vidual or an entity. The law also has come up with spe-cific requirement of obtain-ing a certificate, licence or a permit for use of a block-chain by any individual or an entity.

Further, Vermont Law has declared blockchain based digital record as a business record as per the Vermont Rules of Evidence.

While the State of Dela-ware has come up with a law that stimulates the use of blockchain technology for the purpose of creation and maintenance of corporate records including corpora-tions stock ledger.

PRIVACYWith privacy being the tip of the ice-berg, blockchain as a technology is presenting privacy issues concerning personal and data privacy. With the kind of intrinsic nature blockchain demon-strates the moment an infor-mation is generated or en-tered on the block, the same shall be made available to all the stake holders in the said blockchain network. The net effect of this means that the data is transparent evap-orating the concepts of pri-vacy whether be it personal privacy as also data privacy. In the areas where confi-dentiality and privacy are assuming immense signifi-cance the challenges of data privacy in the light of block-chain adoption will have to be addressed from a legal and cyber legal perspective specifically in countries like India where now privacy is made a fundamental right of every citizen.

BLOCKCHAIN AND INDIAN CYBER LAW, IT ACT

While interpreting the ex-isting Indian Cyber Law i.e., IT Act 2000, IT Amended Act 2008 and the rules and regulations made there under, we can understand that any data entered on the block, is information or data in electronic form consti-tuting an electronic record under the IT Act. Further going by the preamble or objective of the IT Act of providing legal recognition and validity to all electronic records or transactions car-ried out using electronic means, as also one can ap-ply and interpret the above to blockchain transactions. This may look fine as we are discussing, however, the specific legislation on Block-chain has to step in giving the exponential growth of Blockchain adoption.

BLOCKCHAIN SERVICE PROVIDERS’ LIABILITY AND COMPLIANCE It is not just creating block-chain by and large, block-chain technology is offered as a service by various blockchain service provid-ers. However, maintenance and preservation of block-chain is also going to be an interesting aspect which the blockchain service pro-viders need to be aware of. While affixing the liability on the blockchain service providers a lot of key legal aspects need to be consid-ered for instance what and how much liability can be affixed on the blockchain service provider for any technical hitches affecting the working, operations of the blockchain, more spe-cifically in case blockchain is offered as a service, then in case of the above will it be considered as a liability for deficient services? Apart from these what consti-tutes the liability will also have to be clearly spelt out from a legal perspective. The blockchain service provider may be consid-ered as an intermediary as also a network service pro-vider under section 2(1)(w) of the IT Act. It is pertinent

to note that the liability of intermediary and network service providers culled out under the IT Act Rules and Regulations made there un-der will be applicable to the blockchain service provid-ers.

While the specific compli-ance laid down under IT Act, rules and regulations made there under will have to be complied with by the blockchain service provid-ers including exercising due diligence. However, one of the biggest chal-lenges that needs to be spe-cifically looked into shall be any order received from competent Judicial Author-ity to remove or disable any information in the block given the working archi-tecture and practical imple-mentation of blockchain as a technology.

BLOCKCHAIN SLASBlockchain service provid-ers shall have in place stan-dard SLAs (Service Level Agreements) while provid-ing Blockchain as a Service where in such services shall be provided on “as-is” basis with very limited or practi-cally no warranty. Further what constitutes the mini-mum level of service stan-dards which the blockchain service providers have to follow has to be specifically addressed from a legal per-spective.

BLOCKCHAIN AND IPOnce the data is created or entered on the block, lot of information is generated thereof. Who owns the in-tellectual property gener-ated on the blockchain, is it the creator or the service provider or the company? Further who owns the on-line data set made available on the blockchain? These IP related legal issues are opening new flood gates.

BLOCKCHAIN AND GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (GDPR)With GDPR providing specific rights to the data subject with regard to their personal data, it is interest-ing to see how these said rights can be enforced in

the light of blockchain tech-nology. I would like to spe-cifically focus and highlight the implementation of right to be forgotten which is the data subject right and how the same can be enforced in blockchain technology given the intrinsic nature of block chain technology.

Further, implementing privacy by design and de-fault as specified by GDPR in blockchain technology specifically will draw a lot of practical legal challeng-es given the architecture of blockchain technology. Blockchain as a paradigm never sleeps and block-chain as a phenomenon never forgets.

BLOCKCHAIN AND CYBER SECURITY Given the immutable func-tionality of the blockchain, one can understand that there is a relatively secured environment in blockchain and its working and opera-tions. However, with cyber criminals being opportu-nistic and weaponizing the atmosphere, they may devise topical methodolo-gies of targeting the cyber security of the blockchain. I think as cyber security driving the economies all around, cyber security legislations have started to emerge as a new ground reality and specific cyber security legal compliance and roles, responsibilities, obligations have to be ad-dressed in the area of block-chain.

BLOCKCHAIN AND JURISDICTIONWhile Blockchain is a dis-tributed ledger operat-ing with data is stored on various blocks to form a blockchain. In case of any blockchain dispute, what has to be looked into the physical location of the re-spective block in dispute in the blockchain. However, in case the block in dispute is forming a part of the block-chain which is on a comput-er, computer network, com-puter resource physically located in one particular jurisdiction, then the courts located in that particular jurisdiction may be able to

adjudicate such issues. Given the intrinsic nature

of the internet adoption by blockchain, any person across the globe may be able to add blocks to the block-chain. This opens up a pan-dora’s box of jurisdictional issues with regard to block-chain and disputes arising thereof.

However, in case of block-chain as a service, the usage of blockchain may be gov-erned by its legal policies like terms and conditions and the like. In such cases, the blockchain disputes arising thereof shall be gov-erned by the jurisdiction outlined in the terms and conditions.

BLOCKCHAIN CONTRACTS: LEGAL ANALYSIS The contracts may be ex-ecuted through self-execut-ing or automatic programs in the blockchain wherein the contract is embedded in the code itself subject to fulfilment of certain condi-tions or criteria specified thereof in such code. Such contracts using blockchain are generally termed as “Smart Contracts”. Given that blockchain technology generates Hash that is used as an identifier to authen-ticate Smart Contract, this brings in cyber legal chal-lenges to the table.

While Smart Contracts are the contracts executed using blockchain make use of Hash authentica-tion mechanism, the IT Act specifically stipulates that the authentication has to be done using electronic signatures obtained from a certified authority. This brings in cyber legal issues relating to enforcement of smart contracts. Once the Smart Contract is gener-ated, how do we dispute it? Not just that the frustration of Smart Contract is also challenging.

BLOCKCHAINS AND ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (ADR)While Smart Contracts leads the way, arbitrators follow. Building dispute resolution and arbitra-

tion into transactions and blockchain shall seem inter-esting. Crowd sourcing ar-bitration is spinning a new colour to the wheel of dis-pute resolution with plat-forms like Kleros- Block-chain Dispute Resolution Layer, Jury. Online decen-tralised dispute resolution platform using blockchain becoming the new ground reality. Further, bringing together Game Theory (in-centive based decision mak-ing), Cryptography and blockchain will be the new cherry on the cake for ADR.

BLOCKCHAIN EVIDENTIARY VALUEWhile Section 62 of the In-dian Evidence Act, specifi-cally as per explanation 2 which states that if number of copies of documents are created by mechanical pro-cess, every such document is a primary evidence.

While blockchain is a dis-tributed ledger wherein all copies are created by a me-chanical process in one go, considering the immutable and tamper proof nodes of Blockchain, the authencity and veracity of information stored therein is completely upheld.

Applying this proposition, Distributed Ledger can also be considered as a primary evidence.

However, Section 65 B may bring in a legal chal-lenge since establishing the ownership of a Blockchain is challenging.

BLOCKCHAIN AND CRYPTO CURRENCYCrypto currency is a digi-tal currency that runs on Blockchain. While Block-chain is the main domain Crypto Currency is one of its applications. Imagine you are in a movie theatre and you enter the theatre and you exchange your cash for Crypto Coins. You may be able to use this Crypto Coins to purchase refresh-ments in the theatre, how-ever outside the movie theatre these Crypto Coins have no legitimate purchas-ing power. Considering the above scenario, the movie theatre is a blockchain net-work providing an echo system for its viewers, al-lowing the Crypto Coins to come into play and transac-tion.

CONCLUSIONGiven the kind of positive connotation offered by the blockchain technol-ogy, there is a need to have a dedicated blockchain legislation, to address and handle the specific legal, policy, reegulatory issues surrounding Blockchain. I believe that is the way to the future, and we cannot walk the walk without ad-dressing the specific legal nuances brought forth by blockchain. Cyber Law, Cyber Security are going to act as key catalysts in the manifestation of blockchain legislation and blockchain jurisprudence. While Molta is the Blockchain island of the world, as also Estonia, Swiss, Belarus have already made their first step ahead to come up with Blockchain Laws. It will be interesting to see how the Law, Legisla-tion and Jurisprudence will evolve in India and coun-tries of the World as time passes by. Adv. Sai Sushanth, Cyber Law Expert & Techno Legal Con-sultant.

Blockchain and lawThere is a need to have a dedicated Blockchain legislation, to address and handle the specific legal, policy, regulatory issues surrounding Blockchain.

opinionSai SuShanth

In a nutshell, Blockchain shall consist of blocks linked together in a chronological order using cryptography. Each block shall consist of data, hash of the previous block. The hash can be compared to as the digital fingerprint and the hash in the previous block in the sequence.

My thoughts are with Col Santosh Babu and our sol-

diers who sacrificed them-selves for us in Galwan Val-ley. Their bravery will be an example and inspiration for future generations of Indi-ans. They have given their today for our tomorrow. My heart goes to their families and near and dear ones. My salutes to them.

If you are a Chinese, you would say: One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer. If you are an Indian, you would say, Out of Small Acorns Grow Mighty Oaks, whenever Galwan is dis-cussed. However in battle as in life, truth alone prevails, irrespective of the fact that it is the first casualty of war. However the truth I am al-luding to is the sentiment which all Indian soldiers have learned through ages from this saying in the Ma-habharata:

Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati Bharata

Abhythanamadharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham

Paritranaya sadhunam vi-nashay cha dushkritam

Dharmasansthapanarthay sambhavami yuge yuge

There is greater clarity now as to what has happened at Galwan. There is no doubt that China premeditated an ambush. As per an In-dia Today report, ‘outside’ troops planned, instigated, and sprung the ambush. A euphemism for specially trained crack troops for strike operations. I surmise they were handpicked and specially placed there to teach India a lesson using barbaric weapons which are totally in contravention to the Geneva Conventions. It has emerged that apart from casualties, some Indian Officers and soldiers were detained by the Chinese. Equally some Chinese sol-diers were detained by India. Amongst them was the CO of this crack strike force who probably planned this oper-ation. The Chinese agreed to release our boys only since we had their kingpin.

From a Chinese perspec-tive, it is indeed creditable that their Commanding Of-ficer was there on the spot to personally lead and con-trol his men. However the execution of the ambush indicates poor training and battlefield leadership. PLA’s

‘peace disease’, ‘micro cor-ruption’ and ‘lack of combat

experience’ bubbled up in Galwan. Many paid ana-lysts project that fighting in high altitude is a matter of 14 days acclimatization and it is a walkover for China. ‘Battle readiness’ in super high al-titude and ‘acclimatization’ are two different things. In a battlefield tougher than even Siachen, operational ef-fectiveness is much beyond acclimatization. It comes with considerable time spent there. The Chinese are extremely far from that. I hope the Western World realizes that. In fact Chinese deployment in prim straight lines in the Galwan Valley and elsewhere indicates one of the two things. Either they do not know the value of dispersion or they do not want to get into a fight, and all this is a scare and dem-onstration maneuver. Well, time will tell. Their influ-ence machinery has also been mocking at our inferior medical facilities. It boasted how their casualties re-ceived better treatment due to superior medical facilities. By doing so they confirmed that they had significant casualties despite officially denying them. BTW, the Armies are deployed in Ak-sai Chin for battle and not for a medical evacuation or beauty contests. If the bal-loon goes higher, I am sure PLA will sorely need those facilities soon.

A major issue is the “Sta-bility-Instability” paradox in the PLA. The PLA might have great equipment, so-phisticated infrastructure, faster communications, and all those parapherna-lia for the much hyped “lo-cal wars under conditions of informalisation”. Their Command and Control structure at Theater level must be great. At the lower levels, lack of battle experi-ence and operational adapt-ability shines through. The

higher-level Stability and lower-level Instability must be exploited. I also saw a video clip of one of their strategic/ military experts from Beijing. He was talk-ing of getting Pakistan into the fray. WOW. Even with-out the first shot being fired they have already started banking on Pakistan to bail them out on the battlefield! India too hot to handle for

the wannabe superpower. There are reports that some J10s have been deployed at Skardu. Who is going to fly them? Pakistan won’t since they did not dare cross the LC in 2019. They know what is in store for them. Chinese pilots operating from Sk-ardu? IAF is chafing. Or, are these aircraft being shifted to Skardu for safekeeping?

Oh, by the way, the third Chinese aircraft carrier un-der construction at Shanghai has disappeared! Where?

Obviously put under cam-ouflage. Worried that the under-construction behe-moth will be the first casu-alty of a war in that theater? Something is brewing on the Japanese front too. The Chi-nese seem to be sliding into two-front scenario, which is now beyond them. The long-er we keep the Chinese here and under tension the more difficult it will be for them. A

thought for the Command-ing Officer we sent back. Has he been demoted or put against the wall in typical Communist fashion? We will never know. A country which does not honor its fallen soldiers will not hesi-tate to put its soldiers against the wall. Disgrace. There are already questions on Weibo/We Chat after seeing the re-sponse and emotions of last rites of Indian soldiers at their hometowns. In Typi-cal Chinese fashion they

continue to hide casualties as they did with their infec-tions in Wuhan.

On our side, our officers and men are in good fight-ing fettle. Col Babu displayed leadership of the highest or-der in the best traditions of the Indian Army. 16 Bihar, 3 Punjab, 3 Medium Regiment, 81 Medium Regiment and the Sappers and Signalers functioned as a battle team

despite being outnumbered. It just proves the point that modern warfare is an all arms affair and every hand counts. The Biharis and Punjabis were ferocious in that no holds barred hand to hand combat that was on. However, the Gunners of 3 Medium Regiment (Sikh troops) and 81 Medium Regiment (South Indians), both pedigreed and tough unit seems to have tipped the scale in our favor. The role of 3 Medium Regiment

needs elucidation. They nabbed the Chinese CO. Af-ter having caught him they refused to part with him till they were reassured that their officers and comrades detained by the Chinese were returned safe and sound. That is something great. The bonds of loyalty between our men and their officers at unit level are fan-tastic. Irrespective of the consequences, they were not willing to part with the hapless PLA CO. Such men and units are worth their weight in gold. And most im-portantly, Indian Army had four such units lined up that night. There are 1100 more such units lined for the Chi-nese to battle ahead. Eastern Ladakh is an ‘All Arms’ bat-tlefield and I am confident that this incident will take Indian Army beyond the

‘Infantry Only’ mentality and imbalance that had set in some quarters. More about that later. Till then 16 Bihar, 3 Punjab, 3 Medium Regi-ment, 81 Medium Regiment, the Sapper and Signal units whose personnel were in ac-tion need to be commended by the nation. I think these men of ours, representing the best cross section of In-dia, have taught us the value of joint-ness in the larger national sense. I am sure the CDS and all Service Chiefs will take note of this. Let us get back to Galwan.

Curiously, when the CO, 16 Bihar was targeted and killed by the Chinese that fateful night, it unleashed an inner unstoppable fe-rocity in the Biharis, which spread to the Punjabis, Th-ambis and Sikhs. When the Chinese CO was captured, the opposite happened, and it appears that the Chinese

troops cracked. I think the PLA teaches their troops to target the leaders of the op-position with the premise that if the leader is killed the rest will fall. It represents a feudalistic last-generation thinking. It also appears to be a fatal flaw in PLA. I would recommend that hereafter we target their leaders remorselessly. There is no doubt that PLA is in for the long haul. Hav-ing served there, I recom-mend the following to the GOC of the fire and fury corps for his kind consid-eration:1. Please deploy a few low

silhouette, highly mo-bile, 155mm guns with long-range night sights on the south banks of Pangong Tso opposite to Finger 4. Dig them in nicely, camouflage them and put overhead cover with ammunition boxes. After that please insti-tute a direct firing com-petition with an Ex DG Arty Trophy, for which I will pay out of my old age pension. Every Gunner who shoots out a Chinese defensive structure on Finger 4 will be awarded. Flanking fire is always good for safety of own troops. Direct firing into the rear of the Chinese will achieve Kargil type of results or better.

2. Please practice your Gorhka boys in infiltra-tion behind PLA lines with unsheathed Kukris. Every day in the morning, when PLA takes a head count, some heads could be missing. That is ok. Do not let the kukris rust.

3. Send some “Nunnus” for sightseeing in depth. They can burst some

Deepawali crackers in and around Kashgar, Hotan, Ngari airfields or and anywhere else. It will give some sorely needed practice for QRTs of PLAAF.

4. Pun aside. Our opposi-tion is brutal, unsoldier-ly, 100% untrustworthy and 1000% unethical. Do not underestimate these bat eaters. Our troops must never let their guard down. Now that all that nonsense of restraint is over, shoot first and talk later!

5. India is behind you. Do not worry about a few disgruntled voices or our noisy media. We are in a democracy. Let them chatter. They have their role. Ignore them.

I am also talking of unre-stricted, nonlinear, three-di-mensional warfare which is awaiting PLA ahead. Is this a mind game? Yes of course. Mind games are two way. Are they not? PLA troops should be nice and jittery by the time the next action starts so that they can be destroyed in detail. I am an old-fashioned soldier. I am sure the GOC of the Fire and Fury Corps and The Trishul Division and our Command-ers, COs, Officers, JCOs and men have more tricks up their sleeves. By the time PLA leaves ‘Tibet’, it should be a fully battle inoculated force!

Overall, Galwan is not a sole summer swallow but an acorn growing into a mighty oak. It must be built upon. We also need to shift focus back to Pangong Tso and other emerging situa-tions. China is rattled. The mixed signals coming from there indicate that. How-ever we have miles to go before we take the foot off the pedal.

I was tempted to quote from Sun Tzu. However, most of us do not read him. After Galwan, I realised that the Chinese are also igno-rant about him. That is why the quote from the Mahab-harata. For those who do not understand it, the sense is as under: Whenever there is decay of righteousness, and an increase of unrighteous-ness, then I (Indian armed forces) will appear through ages, for the protection of the good, destruction of evil-doers and to firmly establish righteousness.Lt Gen P.R. Shankar was In-dia’s DG Artillery. He is highly decorated and qualified with vast operational experience. He contributed significantly to the modernization and indigenisa-tion of Artillery. He is now a Professor in the Aerospace Dept of IIT Madras and is involved in applied research for defence technology.

Lt Gen P.R. ShankaR

aShiSh SinGhNew Delhi

AnAlysis

6 defence t h e da i ly gua r d i a n2 4 j u n e 2 0 2 0n ew d e l h i

TRUTH AlOnE PREVAilsThe signals coming from China indicate that the communist regime is extremely rattled by the Indian response. But we have miles to go before we take the foot off the pedal.

army Chief General Manoj Mukund naravane leaves for Ladakh, in new Delhi on tuesday. he will review the on-ground situation there with the 14 Corps officials and the progress in talks with the Chinese military. ani

active patrolling through helicopters by indian forces at indo-China borders of Uttarakhand on tuesday. ani

ins AiRAVAT BRinGs BACK 198 CiTiZEns FROM MAlDiVEs

INS Airavat, deployed by the Indian Navy for operation ‘Samudra Setu, entered Tuticor-in harbour on Monday, with 198 Indian na-tionals embarked from Male, Maldives. Thus far Indian Navy has brought back 2,386 In-dian citizens from the

Maldives to India. The embarkation of Indian nationals was facilitat-ed by the Indian Mis-sion in Maldives. Per-sonnel were embarked onboard after carrying out requisite medi-cal screening. Covid-related safety proto-cols were also strictly adhered to during the sea-passage.

The evacuees were re-

ceived by local authori-ties at Tuticorin and arrangements were in place for speedy dis-embarkation, health screening, immigration and transportation of the evacuees. With this evacuation, the Indian Navy has repatriated 3,305 Indian nation-als from Maldives, Sri Lanka and Iran during the ongoing pandemic.

The emancipation of an Indian women has by far covered a long

stretch, from setting the suc-cess stone to Indian Indepen-dence, to being pushed into the dynamics of household chores and now emerging as the today’s superwomen they have seen it all. It’s been more than 70 years that India has made itself independent and being amongst the first very few countries to have its own legal and policy frameworks pertaining to abortion, nev-ertheless women still have limited rather non-existent freedom to her reproductive choices. The barriers include the poor quality of health services, poor legal frame-work and denial of decision-making power.

Right of Rape Victim & Right of foetusA progressive evolution can be seen in the judiciary’s articulation of reproductive rights. Recently, The Hon’ble Rajasthan High Court on

May, 2020 in the case of State of Rajasthan & Ors. v. S. & Anr gave a historic judgement on rape of minor and her choice to terminate her pregnancy. The division bench of the HC comprising Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati and Justice Sandeep Mehta, reiterated that the fundamental right of a child rape victim to abort her preg-nancy “heavily outweighs” the right of her foetus who is yet to be born. It further held that the identity of such victim will not be revealed & immediate assistance in terms of legal and medical will be given to the victim to exercise her reproductive rights in terms of termina-tion of pregnancy and lastly if the time of 20 weeks has been crossed then the dis-trict legal service authority should assist the victim and her guardian in the High Courts to file a petition for termination of pregnancy.

The pregnancy in case of rape victim is a result of the sexual assault and that men-

tal stigma nowhere deserves to be ignored over a fictional right of an unborn foetus. It was rightful of the court to acknowledge that the right of abortion in case of rape vic-tim should solely be the right of the woman herself, doing so will allow her the basic freedom to control her body and reproductive choice. The victim should not be forced to go through the mental and social stigma of being an un-wed mother and carrying the child of her rapist.

LegisLatiVe pRoVisionsSection 3 of The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act reads as below:

When Pregnancies may be terminated by registered medical practitioners.- (1) Notwithstanding any-thing contained in the Indi-an Penal Code (45 of 1860), a registered medical practi-tioner shall not be guilty of any offence under that Code or under any other law for the time being in force, if any pregnancy is terminated by him in accordance with the provisions of this Act.(2) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (4), a preg-nancy may be terminated by a registered medical practi-tioner,- (a) Where the length of the pregnancy does not exceed twelve weeks if such medi-cal practitioner is, or (b) Where the length of the pregnancy exceeds twelve weeks but does not exceed twenty weeks, if not less than two registered medical practitioners are. Of opinion, formed in good faith, that,- (i) The continuance of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave injury

physical or mental health; or (ii) There is a substantial risk that if the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or mental ab-normalities as to be seriously handicapped. Explanation 1.-Where any, pregnancy is alleged by the pregnant woman to have been caused by rape, the an-guish caused by such preg-nancy shall be presumed to constitute a grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman. Explanation 2.-Where any pregnancy occurs as a result of failure of any device or method used by any mar-ried woman or her husband for the purpose of limiting the number of children, the anguish caused by such unwanted pregnancy may be presumed to constitute a grave injury to the men-tal health of the pregnant woman. (3) In determining whether the continuance of pregnancy would in-volve such risk of injury to the health as is mentioned in sub-section (2), account may be taken of the pregnant woman’s actual or reason-able foreseeable environ-ment. (4) (a) No pregnancy of a woman, who has not at-tained the age of eighteen years, or, who, having at-tained the age of eighteen years, is a lunatic, shall be terminated except with the consent in writing of her guardian. (b) Save as otherwise pro-vided in C1.(a), no pregnancy shall be terminated except with the consent of the preg-nant woman.

Thereby the act does not mention about cases of abor-tion exceeding 20 weeks, which gives a weaker hand to

the victims of rape, and sec-ondly, fails to address the is-sue of mothers who come to know about the fatal foetus deformities at a later stage in their pregnancy and thirdly to minors and differently abled women. They are left with no other option but to bear the weights of this preg-nancy throughout their own life and also throughout the life of that born child.

In order to address this lacuna, the Union Cabi-net approved the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020, to amend the Medical Termina-tion of Pregnancy Act, 1971. The bill requires further ap-proval in the ensuing session of the Parliament to form a revised Act. The proposed amendments permit termi-nation of pregnancy up to 20 weeks of gestation the opin-ion of one registered medical practitioner and for termina-tion of pregnancy of 20-24 weeks of gestation opinion of two registered medical prac-titioners will be required. It further permits the upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for special categories of women which includes vulnerable women including

survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulner-able women (like differently abled women, minors) etc.

JudiciaL pRonouncements & Way foRWaRdThrowing some light on the timeline of Indian judiciary vis a vis the matter in hand we can see how far the In-dian judiciary has come.

In 2009, the Hon’ble Su-preme Court of India rec-ognised freedom of women with respect to her reproduc-tive choices under the ambit of “personal liberty” under Article 21 of Constitution.

In 2013, understanding the anguish and humiliation of a rape victim, the Hon’ble Madhya Pradesh High Court in the case of State of Madhya Suchita Srivastava & Anr v. Chandigarh Administration stated that the rape victims should not need any judi-cial authorisation in order to terminate the pregnancy caused due to the rape as it will cause grave injury to the victim.

Court upheld the woman’s right to make reproductive choices as a dimension of ‘personal liberty’ as under-

stood under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The crucial consideration is that a woman’s right to privacy, dignity and bodily integrity should be respected. This means that there should be no restriction whatsoever on the exercise of reproductive choices such as a woman’s right to refuse participation in sexual activity or alterna-tively the insistence on use of contraceptive methods. In a true spirit of finding a logi-cal conclusion, court upheld that the reproductive rights include a woman’s entitle-ment to carry a pregnancy to its full term, to give birth and to subsequently raise children.

The recent judgement by the Hon’ble Rajasthan High Court in State of Rajasthan & Ors. v. S. & Anr Silverline the shadowed laws on reproduc-tive choices in India & fur-ther empowers the rights of rape victim. The court noted that while directing that the rape victim shall deliver the child, the Single Bench failed to consider the fact that the personal liberty of reproduc-tive choice. Indisputably, a woman’s right to privacy, dignity and bodily integrity

is a fundamental right guar-anteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India. When the prospective child has been conceived as a result of rape, the eventuality has been held as causing grave injury to the mental health of a woman. The Rajasthan High Court held that the victim conceived because of the offence of sexual as-sault committed upon her and thus, the pregnancy was a forced one rather than it being of her choice. Victim will carry a stigma for the remainder of her life that the offspring born as a result of the ghastly offence of rape committed upon her therefore her request should have been acceded to over and above the right to life of the child yet to be born. The physical and mental trauma which the victim would have to suffer as a result of unwanted de-livery, would significantly add to her woes and mis-ery. The Hon’ble Rajasthan High Court in its judgement further speaks about the risk of early pregnancy and noted that a serious debate is going on to increase the valid age for marriage of a girl from 18 years to 21 years.

In summary most ad-vanced societies regard teenage pregnancy as being socially as well as medically unacceptable. At a time when there is a significant rise in rape cases, broken criminal justice system and systemic indifferences; judi-cial pronouncements are a beacon of hope for uphold-ing and defending women’s reproductive rights. Adv. Ayushi Agarwal & Adv. Siddhant Mishra practice be-fore the Lucknow Bench of Al-lahabad High Court.

Reproductive choices in India: Legislative, policy and legal perspective A progressive evolution can be seen in the judiciary’s articulation of reproductive rights.

The seven markets most affected are National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Bengaluru, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Real estate

pRegnancy & teRmination

If COVID-19 had not struck India, the top seven real es-tate markets in India were to see the delivery of nearly 4.66 lakh units by end of 2020. Launched after 2013, many of the projects were in the final leg of comple-tion. With almost zero con-

struction activity in last few months due to the lockdown, the completion deadlines for almost all these projects has got extended.

The seven markets most affected are National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai Met-ropolitan Region (MMR), Bengaluru, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Most state Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERA) have already given a 6-month extension to de-velopers on previously com-mitted timelines. However, homebuyers’ wait could run into several additional months for well-funded projects, and as much as 2 years for others. 2021 was

to see completion of nearly 4.12 lakh units across the top 7 cities – 12% lower than in 2020. Most of these proj-ects will probably also get delayed.

NCR, MMR & Bengaluru had completion of more than 1 lakh units each lined up in entire 2020 - then CO-VID-19 struck. Pune had 68,800 units lined up for completion, Kolkata 33,850 units & Hyderabad nearly 30,500 units; Chennai had least pending delivery at approx. 24,650 units. With most state RERAs giving developers a 6-month extension on deadlines, homebuyers’ wait gets lon-ger. 2021 was to see comple-tion of nearly 4.12 lakh units across top 7 cities. In 2020 & 2021 combined, NCR has the maximum units to be de-livered at approx. 2.40 lakh. Unless labour shortage is ad-dressed immediately, project deliveries will stutter going forward

“Homebuyers will have to adjust to new realities.

As many as 4.66 lakh units were slated to be delivered in 2020 and another 4.12 lakh in 2021. Maximum completions (in both years) were to happen in NCR

(approx. 2.40 lakh units). This region is set to witness more project delays over and above the backlog of over 2 lakh units already delayed in the region from before,”

said Anuj Puri, Chairman of ANAROCK property consultants.

“The Government must in-tervene to address multiple challenges including labour

shortage in top cities. Even if developers have the finan-cial strength, it will still take a while for most of them to resume construction be-cause lakhs of labourers have left cities and migrated back to their villages. More-over, many of the top cities are still grappling with the virus.”

 pRoJected compLetions in 2020 and 2021Prior to COVID-19, the top 7 cities were to see comple-tion of over 8.78 lakh units in 2020 and 2021 combined. Of this total expected supply, nearly 4.66 lakh units were to be added in 2020 and the remaining 4.12 lakh units in 2021.

NCR was to see maximum completions in both years, of about 2.40 lakh units. Of this, 1.01 lakh units were to come up in 2020 and another 1.39 lakh units in 2021. MMR is second with nearly 2.10 lakh units expected to be delivered in

two years, 1.07 lakh units in 2020 and nearly 1.03 lakh units in 2021. Ben-galuru was expected to see delivery of nearly 1.51 lakh units in 2020 and 2021. This year the city was likely to see delivery of 1.01 lakh units while in the next year it was just half at nearly 50,000 units. Pune was to see completion of nearly 1.36 lakh units in both years, 69,000 in 2020 and 67,000 in 2021. Kolkata was next with nearly 59,000 units meant to be delivered in two years, 33,900 units in 2020 and nearly 25,100 units in 2021. Hyder-abad was to see completion of more than 45,200 units in both years, 30,500 units in 2020 and another 14,700 units in 2021. Chennai had the least completions in both years, about 37,000 units. Of this, 24,650 units were to complete in 2020 while another 12,520 units in 2021.Tarun Nangia is the host and producer of Policy & Politics.

Labour shortage: 4.5 lakh homes may miss handover deadline in 2020

legislative provisions Ayushi AgArwAl & siddhAnth MishrA

policy & politics tArun nAngiA

Real estate demand to go up in tieR-2 and tieR-3 cities One of the significant trends likely to emerge in Indian real estate in post-COVID-19 world would be that reverse migration could spur housing demand in Tier 2 & 3 cities. Currently, the top 7 cities account for almost 70% of India’s residential market, with the remaining 30% accounted for in Tier 2 & 3 cities. This ratio may well change in the times to come.

Top tier 2 & 3 cities in demand, particularly in North and West regions, include Luc-know, Indore, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Surat and Nashik among others. They would be the main beneficiaries of the reverse migration of professionals who have either lost their jobs in the metros or are likely to. These returnees will benefit from the cost of living and superior infrastructure that many of these Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities provide. Also, cities like Ahmedabad or Kochi in south – that previously also attracted NRIs – will further see rise in demand by them. Many NRIs may want to return to India amidst dwindling job prospects, particularly in the US and European nations which account for more than 65% global cases, said Prashant Thakur, director & head of research, ANAROCK property consultants.

Thakur said that a survey conducted to gauge consumer sentiment revealed that out of all participants who would prefer to buy in any of these Tier 2 & 3 cities, 61% are end-users while remaining are buying for investment purpose. At least 47% of these end-users have a budget of less than Rs. 45 lakhs, followed by 34% whose budget is anywhere between Rs. 45 lakh to Rs. 90 lakh budget.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act does not mention about cases of abortion exceeding 20 weeks, which gives a weaker hand to the victims of rape, and secondly, fails to address the issue of mothers who come to know about the fatal foetus deformities at a later stage in their pregnancy and thirdly to minors and differently abled women. They are left with no other option but to bear the weight of this pregnancy throughout their own life and also throughout the life of that born child.

policy & politicsthe daily guardian24 june 2020

new delhi 7

8 educationally speaking the daily guardian24 june 2020new delhi

APPSC GrouP 1 MAin exAM 2020 dAteS out

The APPSC Group 1 Main Exam 2020 dates have been released by Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission. The Group 1 examination will be held from 2 November 2020 and will end on 13 November 2020. The official date sheet is available on the official site of APPSC at psc.ap.gov.in. The examination was originally scheduled by the Commission in March but was postponed due to the pandemic. Earlier the APPSC Group 1 Main examination was scheduled to be held from 12 December to 23 Decem-ber 2019, which was postponed due to some administrative reasons. The Main examination for the recruitments of Jr. Lecturers, Polytechnic Lecturers, For-est Range Officers, Divisional Accounts Officers, Degree College Lecturers, and Non-Gazetted posts will be conducted. This is the third time in the row when APPSC Group 1 Main Exam 2019 was postponed. This recruitment drive is aiming to fill 169 posts of Deputy Col-lector, Welfare Officer, and others under Group 1 Services in the organisation.

PeArl ACAdeMy joinS hAndS with uK univerSity Leading creative education institutions in India and the UK, Pearl Academy and University for the Creative Arts (UCA), have signed a memorandum of un-derstanding (MoU) that enables Pearl Academy students to progress to the

programs offered by UCA through seam-less transfer of credits. At a time when Covid-19 has put students’ aspirations to study aboard in jeopardy, this academic tie-up enables them to fulfill that dream without wasting an academic year. Pearl Academy’s existing and future students those who will enroll for programmes in 2020 and onwards will benefit from this tie-up. They will be able to transfer their credits to UCA and study at one of the four campuses of UCA. Talking about

the tie-up, Professor Nandita Abraham, president, Pearl Academy, said, “Stu-dents and their parents start planning for higher studies much in advance, but this pandemic has made travelling abroad to study almost impossible. Letting go of an academic year is their choice but not ad-visable for any student. Progression pro-grammes such as the one between Pearl Academy and UCA create a win-win situation for them, wherein they get the best of education, global exposure and an international credit transfer.”

tAMil nAdu CentrAl vArSity CAnCelS online exAMSThe Central University of Tamil Nadu, CUTN, Tiruvarur, has decided to cancel the end semester examinations for final year students. Previously, the university had decided to take the final year exams through online mode. Students of all programmes, except for those in M Phil and PhD, will be assessed based on their continuous assessment during the cur-rent semester. Further, students will be grades on the basis of cumulative grade

point average, CGPA, earned till the previous semester. These norms will be considered for the subjects passed by the students. Semester exams were scheduled for the months of April and May, however, they were postponed due to Covid-19 outbreak. On 9 June, the university announced its decision to conduct the end semester exams in online mode for the final year stu-dents. However, this decision has been scrapped. CGBSe reSultS out, GirlS outShine BoySThe Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education, CGBSE, has declared the Class 10th and 12th result, which is avail-able on the official website of the board

i.e. cgbse.nic.in. This year the pass per-centage for 10th stands at 73.62% and for 12th stands at 78.59%. This year Class 10th topper has scored a perfect 100. Pragya Kashyap from Mungeli district has scored 600 marks out of 600. While in class 12, the topper scored 97.80%.Tikesh Vaishnav emerged as the topper of class 12 with 489/500 score. Further, girls have outshined the boys in both 10th and 12th.

‘God please reboot 2020… it has a virus!’

The line went viral while we wondered how we would be

seen rebooted. As we all make an enormous effort to survive the Covid-19 days, we have to admit that a lot of things shall never be the same. Amongst these, schools in particular shall witness a huge transfor-mation, both structurally and intellectually. Change is not the word here; it’s an evolution of learning that we shall be experiencing. We are definitely looking at “disruptive education mod-els of learning”, so to say, but this disruption is welcome for various reasons.

We used to continuously envision a future with more and more advanced technol-ogy and pedagogy. However, we now realise we are al-ready in the future and all of what we do today to realise it shall transform what we face in years to come.

Before the Covid-19 epi-demic, everything seemed just about perfect. It took a virus to stop us from being complacent on issues that should have been concerns.

Today we realise, especially in the arena of education, that what we were doing, thinking it was right, was rather anchored in the past centuries and failed to suc-cessfully address the digital age whose pervasiveness was fully realised only now. Therefore, we needed to break free from a few estab-lished models and redesign our teaching and learning. This sudden change has re-defined our classrooms and lessons. In addition, it has made us tech-confident. We are all customising educa-tion to adapt it to the needs of the child and the times. It speaks volumes about how teachers have adopted and adapted to technology which was formerly pre-sumed to be a huge threat. This comes with both pros and cons that have chal-lenged educators to now focus on the micro-details.

The first set of challenges starts with our failure to de-marcate the use of technol-ogy to teach versus innova-tive tech-based teaching. A common mistake here is to imitate the physical in-frastructure and design of the school and classroom during online classes. The online classroom is neither a normal classroom nor similar to home-schooling, and teachers and parents do not have to compare the situations. The content cre-ation for the online teach-ing-learning process has to be different from our nor-mal lesson plans. We shall fail miserably in delivery of content and engagement unless we add innovation

and creativity to it. A lot of educators tend to be omit-ting this detail and of course then, the results are not en-couraging.

Once we have handled the content, assessment pres-ents the next hurdle. For once in ages, it brings me pleasure that we will be re-designing assessment. This

was long due and has set the course for innovation, cre-ativity and digitisation. We also know that school is not just about books and assess-ments. But the importance of acting upon such knowl-edge has become crucial for educators now, since rather than the routine enrichment classes and activities in the

child’s day that often made an impact only on the time-tables, lovely modules are being planned and delivered to suit the customisations of a digital learning space that keeps the child engaged and involved. We need to align ourselves with the idea that online is the best option as of now, so let’s create some

magic there.Another concern that we

are all struggling with is the increasing screen time. Well, we will have to man-age that. We have to differ-entiate between the essential screen time and the non-essential one. Parents will have to accept the responsi-bility of being facilitators at

home and step in to moder-ate the child’s daily routine. Just like the way we manage the diet plans. The schools must plan synchronous and asynchronous modules to maintain a balance.

A big challenge staring right at us is how the schools will be like when they re-open requiring huge delib-eration and pre-emptive planning. This pandemic has thrown open new areas of concern which test the strength and sincerity of management, staff and ev-ery other person involved in running a school. We need to think about how to trans-port kids to schools, levels of sanitisation, classroom seating, assemblies, activi-ties, etc, while observing physical distancing all this time. Schools have to gear up for huge investments, both in terms of training and infrastructure. We are human-loaded organisa-tions, a place where sharing and caring have been propa-gated for ages. What is the new normal going to be? A tough, impending question.

One mistake that schools must not commit is go back to the old ways of teaching and learning. We must con-sider this as training for the future and making up for past inefficiencies. This will be the new benchmark and we will have to consciously create it. Technology is here to stay and must be gain-fully embraced and fear of it replacing the teacher has to be shunned — education cannot work without hu-man touch. The position of the teacher cannot be

undermined, for technol-ogy cannot bridge the gaps and build relationships like a teacher can. Let us also not forget that schools have been working while every-thing else closed down. A one-hour class needs hours of preparation, resources, sacrifice of precious family time and a lot of courage besides shuffling tasks at home. It is not easy. Teach-ing is serious business and education is essential to life. There are no options here. Parents will have to under-stand this stage of metamor-phosis and be careful about jumping to conclusions and judgements. Gaps will be there but hopefully not for long.

Experiential learning will continue to be inevitable. In days to come, we shall welcome back a group of children with high anxiety levels, technology prone, dependent and possibly lazy — the levels varying tremen-dously. This in itself will be a task to handle. With the so-cial and emotional quotients visibly low, the balancing will have to be brought in slowly but consciously. This will require sensory-based immersive teaching pro-cesses. We will have to work on the 4Rs in learning -- Re-structure, Redesign, Reimag-ine and Reinvent. Standardi-sation shall not work.

We are looking at a whole new school culture here. The teacher will have to lead this change and the parent has to scaffold it. The writer is director princi-pal, Sarvottam International School, Greater Noida West.

With no signs of relief from coro-navirus and also to protect India’s economy from taking a tailspin, the government announced Unlock 1.0 and allowed domestic flights to con-tinue operations. Now, the challenge before the airport authorities remains to ensure social distancing and other guidelines to avoid crowds, especially at check-in counters, boarding gates, security check, pickup and drop off points, etc. To provide a solution to this, researchers at The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, have developed a man-agement tool “AeroOpt” to help the aviation industry maintain social distancing for passengers and staff. The management tool will work on optimising the airport infrastruc-ture and staff requirements. It has the potential to improve efficiency of counters, immigration, security and boarding gates without compromis-ing on social distancing norms.

Brainchild of senior professors in-cluding Dr Sheetal Khanka, Akhil Damodaran, Dr Tarun Dhingra and aviation veteran Dr Ashwini Khanna (owner of Aerotech Support Service), the tool scientifically calculates the optimum number of resources (staff, passengers, counters, queues, etc) to be allocated to an airline in a given time so that airports follow Covid norms, while knowing that they are utilising their capacity at the level determined.

Talking about how the idea was conceptualised, Dr Tarun Dhingra said, “Our university has a special programme in which we send our faculty for internship in the indus-

try. Dr Khanka and Mr Damodaran was working in an airport where they saw counters used by airlines. They noticed that counters allotted and uti-lised by the airlines were much more than required. In airports, a counter is a big asset. So, they came up with an idea to have a scientific basis of counter allocations. Any counter saved with scientific basis is a counter earned. They came to me and I also became a part of it.”

As the faculty started working on the project, students too helped the team collect real-time data from air-ports. Prof Damodaran added, “Ini-tially only the faculty was involved but when the project came to us, we required real-time data to work on algorithms and at that time stu-dents were involved. Management students from School of Business at UPES collected data from airports which included arrival and departure of flights, footfall of passengers, etc. About 6-10 students were involved in this project”.

Aviation veteran Ashwini Khanna informed that a major challenge be-fore the team was to bring this tool in application at airports. “Most impor-tant challenge was applying the tool and finding the results at airports. I am happy to say that when we actu-

ally applied the tool, almost 30% of airport assets were found for utilisa-tion. Airports have a tendency that if any infrastructure was occupied, you needed to build more. But here, with this tool, you get to know scientific ways where instead of building, you get a good way of asset utilisation.”

Currently, the standard AerOpt tool is a tailor-made software which can be used according to the need of dif-ferent areas. The team is also talking to the Airports Authority of India to take this project further. Indian airports are dependent on foreign software for operations but now this tool is seen as a major boost to the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.

However, the lockdown has given a huge jolt to Indian job sectors. As industries remain shut, students who will be entering the job market after the lockdown will definitely face hardships. Professors at UPES are also concerned about the situa-tion and talked about the challenges ahead. Dr Khanka said, “This tool gives exposure to students on airport optimisations. Our students are part-nering with airport operations and the capacity of research projects like AeroOpt to provide jobs is significant. About 5-8 people will get jobs at every airport with this.”

The coronavirus lessons in schooling: In line with online

In BRIEFS

nEW nORMAL

Technology is here to stay; it should be gainfully embraced and fear of it replacing the teacher has to be shunned. We must understand that education cannot work without human touch.dr PriyAnKA MehtA

Akhil Damodaran Ashwani Khanna Prof Tarun Dhingra

Researchers design tool to make airports hassle-free during Covid-19KunAl royNew Delhi

First Sonu Nigam took on T-Series chairman Bhushan Kumar, and

then it was the turn of the lat-ter’s wife Divya Khosla Kumar to hit back at the singer. Divya accused Sonu of “selling lies” as a way of seeking publicity and called the singer “thank-less”.

“Today it’s all about who can run a good campaign… I’m

even seeing people being able to sell lies and deceits with their strong campaigns…. #sonunigam such kind of people know how to play with the minds of the au-dience ... God save our world,” Divya wrote in her Instagram story on Tuesday.

On Monday, Sonu opened up against Bhushan Kumar

in an Instagram video, warning him not to

mess with him. The singer also threatened of leaking a video of Ma-rina Kuwar,

an actress who had reportedly

accused Bhushan Kumar of sexual harassment in an in-terview.

While Sonu Nigam recently spoke about mafias ruling the Indian music industry in an Instagram video post, now singers Adnan Sami and Ali-sha Chinai have come out in his support and spoken on the same.

Correspondent

Actress Megan Fox called Hollywood “ruthlessly misogynistic”, saying

she was mistreated and sexual-ised initially in her career.

“Please hear me when I thank you for your support. But these specific instances were inconse-quential in a long and arduous journey along which I have en-dured some genuinely harrow-

ing experiences in a ruthlessly misogynistic industry,” she wrote on Instagram.

Fox addressed the rumours of her mistreatment by noted di-rectors Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg.

Talking about the time when Bay asked her to wear a bikini and dance under a waterfall in Bad Boys II, Fox wrote: “I was around 15 or 16 years old when I was an extra in Bad Boys II. There are multiple interviews

Charlize Theron has denied rumours that she is getting engaged to actor Sean Penn, saying she never intended to marry him. The Hollywood

actress set the record straight on her former relationship with Penn when she appeared on The Howard Stern Show, reports people.com.

Asked about the rumours, Theron said: “What? That’s not true. no. I did not ‘almost get married to Sean’, that’s such bulls**t. No, we dated, that was literally all we did, we dated… It was a relationship, for sure. We were definitely exclusive, but it was for barely a year. We never moved in. I was never going to marry him. It was nothing like that.”

Penn and Theron began dating in 2013. The two split in 2015. When asked if she ever thought of marriage or felt lonely, Theron said: “I never wanted to get married. That’s never been something that’s important to me. On the lives of my children, I’ve never been lonely. I’ve never felt alone.”

“My life right now just doesn’t allow a lot of room for something like that to happen. But in saying that, there’s not this thing that drives me (to have a romantic relation-ship). I enjoy being set up on dates but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to live with somebody again. To be totally frank, they might have to buy the house next to me. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to deal with that ever again, I’m too old for that s**t,” she added. Correspondent

CorrespondentMuMbai

shivani MishraMuMbai

9entertainment t h e da i ly gua r d i a n2 4 j u n e 2 0 2 0

n ew d e l h i

Divya Khosla accuses sonu nigam of ‘selling lies’

Theron denies geTTing engagedTo sean Penn

megan fox calls hollywooD ‘ruthlessly misogynistic’

TV serials to resume shooting in a week

As the country adjusts itself to the “new nor-mal” during Unlock

1.0, television serials are all set to resume shootings by adhering to guidelines and new protocols issued by the government in Maharashtra. Channels like Star Plus, Zee TV, Colors TV and others are expected to resume shooting of their shows within a week. However, many celebrities have not agreed to shoot at the

moment due to risk of Covid-19.Issuing a Government Reso-

lution (GR), the Cultural Af-fairs Ministry said that pro-ducers will have to conduct pre-production and post-pro-duction works by adhering to the guidelines.

Now, under the new guide-lines, only 33% of cast and crew will be allowed on the set. Make-up and hair artists will have to wear PPE kits. What-ever materials they will use for make-up should be used once. Actors above the age of 60 years will have to sign the

confirmation letter of their willingness to come to work. Child actors below the age of 10 years are not allowed to come on set and shoot. Terms and conditions will be applied to every member of cast and crew. And if not followed then strict action will be taken against them as per the orders.

Meanwhile, members of the entertainment industry including producer Ekta Ka-poor, actor-director JD Maje-thia, filmmaker Ashoke Pandit have expressed their gratitude towards Maharashtra govern-ment for the decision.

Shooting for films and other production activities have remained suspended since mid-March due to the Co-vid-19 pandemic. As of now channels were running old series of Ramayana and Ma-habharata which gained good viewership.

where I shared the anecdote of being chosen for the scene and the conversations that took place surrounding it. It’s important to note however that when I audi-tioned for Transformers I was 19 or 20.”

She, however, added, “When it comes to my direct experiences with Michael, and Steven for that matter, I was never assault-ed or preyed upon in what I felt was a sexual manner.”

The actress hinted at more

traumatic experiences in the in-dustry as she teased that there are “many names” that “deserve to be going viral in cancel cul-ture”.

“I’m thankful to all of you who are brave enough to speak out and I’m grateful to all of you who are taking it upon yourselves to support, uplift, and bring com-fort to those who have been harmed by a violent and toxic so-cietal paradigm,” she said while ending her note.

On 6 June 2020, I had wri t ten a p i e c e i n The Daily Guardian wherein I

had recommended that the recognition of School Games Federation of India (SGFI) should be given top priority as it would help lakhs of bud-ding sportsmen to grow. The Ministry of Youth and Sports Affair had filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court “review-ing its earlier decision” and has now agreed to grant pro-visional recognition to SGFI till September 2020. I wonder what went right in the favour of SGFI between 11 May and 16 June 2020!

Maybe the voice of The Daily Guardian was heard loud and clear by the ministry. As the recognition is granted on the pretext of “Weaker Section of Society”, one has to ask, what will happen till September 2020 in school sports? All of us are aware that amidst the pandemic, schools will not be opening for a while and none of the SGFI events will take place before September 2020 whatsoever. The only reason

for granting the recognition till September 2020 is just to keep SGFI at par with other associations. However, it is solace that the recognition will regularise the certificate of the last session and the students will be having an upper hand to secure an ad-mission in higher education, and in some cases, they can avail scholarships at vari-ous levels. However, it is still under the veil as to why the recognition was not given for the full academic session which would have helped clear a lot of dust regarding the participation in forthcom-ing events.

The saga of “de-recog-nition and recognition of SGFI” involves 91 activities with almost 63,000 players participating at the national, district, and the state level is humongous. The confusion which would be created by this recognition will have a di-rect impact on “the participa-tion and preparation of young athletes”, because they would be uncertain about their future after September 2020. It is pertinent to know that in the Khelo India School Games the top 8 sportspeo-ple are from the SGFI Na-tional Games, and as to how Khelo India School Games

will pick up participants without SGFI, the question lingers. The ministry should consider the career pros-pects of lakhs of upcoming athletes as the short-term recognition of the games will play a spoilsport in young minds. The year 2020 by and large has been a year of mis-fortune and this particular news can shatter the career and dreams of the talent pool of our country. After speaking to a lot of athletes, who are worried and uncertain about their future, I got to know that most of them pin their hopes of pursuing higher education in the country and abroad solely on the SGFI certifica-tion. It’s also important to see that SGFI certification holds considerable weightage in higher education and schol-arship awards.

If confusion of recognition and derecognition can be solved in the sports court rather than the legal court, the budding star of our coun-try will have an easier path in achieving the best rather than living in a state of confu-sion and trauma. I hope that the voice of The Daily Guard-ian will once again be heard by the ministry and we will hear good news soon.The writer is a sports guru.

In their bid to restart the sport after lockdown, Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju engaged in a virtual meeting with representatives of the Indian Olympic Associa-tion and 15 National Federations to discuss the

way forward for the 15 sporting disciplines in terms of training of athletes, participation in national and international competitions and organising sporting events in India.

The minister said, “We are in the first phase of Unlock and as a country we are slowly adapt-ing to the present situation and therefore the time is right to slowly open up sports, while

following safety protocols. Since federations are best qualified to decide the way forward for each sport, the ministry would like to get ideas from federations. Their ideas will be the key in planning India’s post Covid strategy in sports. After today’s meeting the Sports Ministry will review all the ideas and work in tandem with federations to open up sports. I feel from Au-

gust onwards we should be able to start some sporting events as well.”

Rijiju was hopeful of resuming and host-ing sports events in the upcoming months and urged all federations to speak to league managers and propose a few events that can be organised in each sport. “Given the situ-ation, we have to be innovative about events.

We may need to hold smaller events in stadias and not have spectators. But we can surely try and beam the sports on television channels and social media platforms. The resumption of sporting events will boost the confidence of our athletes and also create an atmosphere of normalcy in these trying times. We can plan some events in August onwards,” he added.

The SepTember Saga of SgfI

SporTIng evenTS can STarT from auguST, SayS SporTS mInISTer KIran rIjIju

Q. How do you see the evolution of cricket as a game, especially in the wake of Covid-19?A. It is a stupendous challenge to see how the modus operandi of the game will evolve. There are close-door games, the crowd may not in be the stands; still the cricketers are risking their lives to entertain their fans back home. To keep the environment safe for the players is a vital goal. And in this regard, there will be massive changes, you will get to know. Q. Can you recount the famous incident of the 1996 World Cup when you were batting against India in the quarterfinals, and after hitting a boundary off a bowl from Venkatesh Prasad,

you walked up to him and pointed your bat towards the boundary line and gestured a warning to hit him again?A. The target of 287 runs was a very big one to chase during those days, and our plan to take advantage in the first 15 overs, and we knew that our batting had wobbled, wickets kept falling. After Saeed Anwar was dismissed, I wanted (Javed) Miandad to come on the crease, but Ijaz Ahmed walked in and he was under a lot of pressure. I could see him nervous. I decided as Miandad would teach us, to distract the bowler. So I got the opportunity of distracting

him after hitting a boundary, I didn’t say anything, but my body language suggested. I was expecting a bouncer, but he bowled a good length delivery and scalped my off stump. My sledging did not

work out (laughs)! Q. Can you share some thoughts related to your performances during the World Cups of 1992 and 1996?A. I believe that when a player plays for his country,

the only thing that will come to his mind is that he has to perform and outshine the opposition. It is a will power that comes in you when you are representing your country at the highest stage. You are high on the determination. And I believe it is all about that!Q. People are comparing Babar Azam with Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson, what are your thoughts? A. He is absolutely a gem of a batsman, but you cannot compare him to Kohli or Williamson, because they have proved themselves. Now that he has been appointed as the captain for the shorter formats, it is high time for him to grab the opportunity and lead the team while proving his potential. He is fitter than before, capable of doing wonders. Fingers crossed!

You can’t compare Babar Azam with Kohli: Sohail

graSSrooTS SporTS

new begInnIng

InTervIew

Aamer Sohail talks about Babar Azam, the famous 1996 World Cup encounter with India, and the future of cricket post Covid-19.

Former Pakistani cricketer Aamer Sohail.

Rajeev MishRaNeW DelHI

sports the daily guardian24 june 2020new delhi10

heManshu ChatuRvediNeW DelHI

aishvaRya jainNeW DelHI