€¦ · sue peaceful resolution. japan also hopes for peaceful resolu-tion through dialogues. ......

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P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning sprang a major surprise by visiting Ladakh and sent a terse message to China that the era of “expansionism” is over , asserting that India’s quest for peace should be not be misconstrued as a sign of weakness. As the Line of Actual Control (LAC)in Ladakh remains tense for the seventh week, the Prime Minister also paid tributes to 20 Indian Army personnel who were killed in a bloody skirmish with the Chinese on June 15 in the Galwan valley. Addressing the troops in the forward areas of Nimu at a height of 11,000 feet in Ladakh, he said the era of expansionism is over and that India’s enemies have seen the “fire and fury” of its Armed forces. Tales of the bravery and valour of the Armed forces are echoing in every part of the country, he said in an obvious reference to the fight put up by the Indian soldiers in free for all on June 15. The Prime Minister said the world has taken note of India’s strength due to the “exemplary bravery” of the Armed forces in the recent weeks, adding history is proof that expansionists have either lost or perished. “The era of expansionism has come to an end. This is the era of development... History has proved that expansionist forces have either lost or were forced to turn back,” he said, without directly naming China. Incidentally, the Leh-based 14 Corps is also known as “fist and fury.” Modi further said, “Your courage is higher than the heights where you are serving today. When the safety of the country is in your hands, then there is a belief. Not only me, but the entire nation believes in you. We all are proud of you.” He was accompanied by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief Gen MM Naravane. In his address, Modi spoke at length about how the virtues of peace, friendship and courage have been a part of India’s culture since time immemorial. He recalled that India has always given a befit- ting reply to anyone who has tried to disturb the prevailing atmosphere of peace and progress. The Prime Minister affirmed that India is commit- ted to peace and friendship but this commitment to peace should not be seen as India’s weakness. Today, India is becoming stronger, be it in naval might, air power, space power and the strength of our Army, he said, adding mod- ernisation of weapons and upgrading of infrastructure have enhanced the country’s defence capabilities manifold. A n ill-planned police raid to arrest a notorious history- sheeter Vikas Dubey from his residence in Kanpur’s Bikaru village went awry as the cops were ambushed by the ganglo- rd’s henchmen leaving a Deputy SP, three sub-inspectors and four constables dead in the wee hours of Friday. Several teams have been formed and forensic and electronic sur- veillance teams, along with STF and ATS officials, have been pressed into service to track down the prime accused and his aides who managed to escape, taking advantage of the dark. Seven other police per- sonnel, including a Station House Officer Vinay Tewari, and a Home Guard, suffered gunshot wounds and are being treated at a Kanpur hospital where the condition of four was stated to be serious. Dubey is involved in 60- odd heinous crime cases and being a gram pradhan and zila panchayat chairman, his crim- inal activities are spread up to Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Kanpur Dehat. He is a known for extort- ing money from businessmen and traders. Also, he is accused of killing BJP leader Santosh Shukla (State Minister rank) in Sheoli police station on November 11, 2001. He had been arrested by police in this case but during trial, as most of the witnesses turned hostile, he was acquitted. According to reports, police teams from Bithhoor Chaubeypur and Shivrajpur led by Circle Officer of Bilhaur, Devendra Misra, reached Bikru village in Chaubepur police cir- cle to arrest Dubey around 12.30 am on Friday. To thwart the force team, Dubey and his aides placed a JCB machine about 30 metres from his house. As officers and personnel alighted from their vehicles and approached the house, they faced a hail of bul- lets fired from sophisticated rifles and handguns from rooftops. The indiscriminate firing resulted in the death of Devendra Misra, Station Officer of Shivrajpur Mahesh Chandra Yadav, Mandhana outpost incharge Anoop Kumar Singh, sub-inspector Nebu Lal, constables Sultan Singh, Rahul, Bablu and Jitendra. Those who suffered gun- shot wounds were identified as SHO of Bithoor, Kaushlendra Pratap Singh, constables Ajay Singh Senger, Ajay Kashyap, Shiv Murat Nishad of Chaubepur police station, sub- inspectors Sudhakar Pandey and Vikas Babu and Homeguard Jairam Patel. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday told the sol- diers injured in the violent face off with Chinese troops in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley last month that they gave a befitting reply. Interacting with the injured personnel at an Army hospital in Leh, he said their bravery will be a source of inspi- ration for 130 crore Indians for times to come. “The bravehearts who left us, have not gone without a rea- son. Together, you all also gave a befitting reply (karara jawab bhi diya hai),” he told the injured soldiers. New Delhi: In a strong support to India over its border stand- off with China in eastern Ladakh, Japan on Friday said it opposed “any unilateral” attempts to change the status quo in the region. After a meeting with Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Japanese Ambassador Satoshi Suzuki said Japan hoped for peaceful resolution of the row through dia- logues. “Had a good talk with FS Shringla. Appreciated his brief- ing on the situation along LAC, including GOI’s policy to pur- sue peaceful resolution. Japan also hopes for peaceful resolu- tion through dialogues. Japan opposes any unilateral attempts to change the status quo,” he said on Twitter. C hief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday strongly objected to several provisions in the draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020, while interacting with Union Minister of Power Rajkumar Singh, Chief Ministers and energy ministers of different states. The CM said the draft Electricity Bill must ensure the system of protecting the inter- ests of the power consumers of weak and backward States. The Central Government is preparing changes to improve the power system. In this connection, the Electricity (Amendment) Bill-2020 is to be tabled in Parliament. The consent of the State Governments is also required on the draft of this (Amendment) Bill. Union Minister of Power Rajkumar Singh today held discussions with the Chief Ministers/Power Ministers of the States through video conferencing. He said that the important suggestions given by the State Governments will be included in the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill. The CM, while objecting to the proposal of centralisation of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, said that this would be a violation of the jurisdiction of the State Governments. “The chances of getting any additional benefit from the for- mation of a single committee for the whole country are very less,” he said. Soren objected to the removal of the power of SERC under Renewable Purchase Obligation, saying that renew- able energy potential and effi- ciency of additional power capacity are different for all States. Therefore, the State gov- ernment will suffer from inte- grated RPO. Therefore, it should be maintained with SERC. While objecting to the pro- posal to make SERC a separate authority for Dispute Redressal, the Chief Minister said that SERC is capable of all these matters and centralised author- ity can increase the problems of the states. The CM also said that at present subsidy to con- sumers is transferred through reduction in electricity bills and this system should be contin- ued even further. The CM apprised the Union Power Minister that a large population of Jharkhand lives below the poverty line and in rural areas. “The state govern- ment is committed to providing electricity at affordable rates to their homes. Therefore, the power to determine the value of cross subsidy in the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill-2020 should be retained with the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) to deter- mine tariffs for domestic and agricultural consumers,” he said. While objecting to the process of taking out of the area of cross subsidy Electricity Regulatory Commission through the National Tariff Policy, the CM said that this would violate the powers of the State Governments. The CM told the Union Power Minister that power is supplied by DVC in seven dis- tricts of the State, but it repeat- edly interrupts power supply for several days and hours, say- ing that it has arrears. “The areas where DVC provides electricity, there are mostly industrial areas. In such a sit- uation, the DVC should be issued an order to stop such repeated interruption in power supply. DVC has once again warned to stop power supply if the dues are not paid again, while it makes full use of the resources of the State govern- ment,” said the CM. Soren also informed the Union Minister that his gov- ernment has given the dues till March this year to DVC, whereas the earlier arrears are of the tenure of the previous government. Because there was zero arrears in 2014, the Central Government should direct the DVC that it will not cut power in Jharkhand. Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh, Additional Chief Secretary L Khiangate, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Rajiv Arun Ekka and Executive Director of Jharkhand State Electricity Distribution Corporation cum KK Verma were present on the occasion. J harkhand’s Covid-19 tally rose to 2,697with 63 more people testing positive on Friday, a government bulletin said. With the recovery of 63 positive cases, the State has now 681 active cases, while 2001 people, including 13 during the day, recovered from the disease, it said. The number of death stood at 15 as no casualty was reported on Friday. The State’s recovery rate stood at 74.19 per cent, while the mortality rate is 0.60 per cent, the bulletin added. In terms of recovery rate and mortality rate Jharkhand stands better than the national aver- age. The national recovery rate is 60.73 while the mortality rate is 2.91 per cent. In Jharkhand there are eight districts out of total 24 where corona death has occurred, while in rest 16 dis- tricts no corona death has occurred. The eight districts where corona deaths have occurred include Ranchi, Hazaribag, Giridih, Bokaro, Simdega, Koderma, Gumla and Sahibganj. In rest 16 deaths in last 100 days no corona deaths have occurred. Moreover the 15 persons, who died due to corona leaving one all the casualty age was above 50 years, and all of them were suffering from other ailments. In recovery rate, Simdega has the best recovery rate with 97 per cent patients recovering from disease. In Simdega dis- trict out of 353 patients, 343 patients have recovered from infection. The other districts having better recovery rate is Ramgarh, Garhwa, Latehar, Palamu, Khunti, Pakur. In these districts the recovery rate is more than 90 per cent. East Singhbhum has the lowest recovery rate. In this dis- trict the number of active patients is 44.64 per cent. Sources said that though State Recovery rate is better but as preventiion State has taken several measures. On June 30, Jharkhand Government announced an extension of the lockdown till July 31 on Friday to contain the spread of Covid- 19. “Considering the serious- ness of the situation, the state government has decided to extend the lockdown till July 31,” Chief Minister Hemant Soren said in a tweet. Moreover, here will be no ‘’Shravani’’ Mela this year at the famous Shiva temple of Deoghar district, the Jharkhand govern- ment has decided. Fearing the spread of coronavirus infection, the State Government has expressed its inability to organ- ise the world famous Shravani Mela at Deoghar, which is one of the 12 ‘’Jyotirlings’’ of Lord Shiva. T he head constable of 118 battalion of CRPF Kuldeep Oraon hailing from Shahibganj district of Jharkhand made the supreme sacrifice on Thursday night during a fierce encounter with terrorists at Zakoora local- ity of Srinagar of Jammu & Kashmir. “We salute the valour of steadfast devotion to duty of the Shaheed Head Constable Kuldeep Kumar Oraon who attended martyrdom while valiantly fighting in an opera- tion in Zakoora, Srinagar, J&K. We stand with the family of our brave martyr,” CRPF Tweeted. Wreath laying ceremony of the brave cop was held at CRPF camp in Jammu where- as sources in Jharkhand sector of CRPF told The Pioneer that his body is likely to be flown to Ranchi by Friday morning. “We are making necessary arrangements in this regard. It is quite likely that his body will be taken to his native district on Saturday for the last rites. He died as a hero in the line of duty,” said a senior CRPF official. Chief Minister Hemant Soren also paid tributes to Oraon. Born in 1984 Oraon joined the CRPF in 2000 and rose to become head constable. Oraon was part of a quick action team when CRPF cops cordoned an area on getting information of presence of ter- rorists. Oraon and two other CRPF cops sustained bullet injury and immediately rushed to hospital where Oraon took his last breath. Oraon’s father Ghanshyam Oraon is a retired CRPF con- stable and he is also ward councilor at Sahibganj Nagar Parishad. Oran was blessed with two children who stay along with their mother in Kolkata who is a constable at Kolkata police. About a fortnight back Kundan Kumar Ojha, of Bihar regiment of Indian Army sac- rificed his life during a skirmish with Chinese army in Galwan Valley of Ladakh. He also belonged to Sahibganj district. S he was probably one of our first women to be called “Masterji” in the gendered matrix of Bollywood, the term commanding respect for the craft that she had perfected rather than the person she was. Choreographer Saroj Khan, who died after a cardiac arrest yes- terday, changed the contours of popular dance as we knew it and ensured that the film industry rated her the same way they would a music director and not consign her to the credits of being a dance instructor/train- er. And she became a much big- ger cultural phenomenon before youtubers and TikTok influ- encers copied her footprints. For the life of me, I am yet to understand why back in the day, the canteen at Presidency College, Kolkata, that would pride itself in following Kurt Cobain and the like, so breezily embrace Ek Do Teen. Not so much for Madhuri, whose cute smile and sensuous eyes had boys rooting for her but the entire dance sequence she executed and what it represent- ed. Everybody would line up free tables, join them, sing the song while a boy or girl would mimic the steps on the temporary plat- form. Gender didn’t matter, nor did the absence of beer as stu- dents cheered with their cups of sugary tea. It was about being footloose and fancy-free, not worrying about whether you could do the steps or not. Needless to say, no other Hindi song was allowed to be played with such gusto. And if Madhuri Dixit became the nation’s “dhak dhak” girl, much of that credit would have to go to Saroj Khan. If Sridevi made the blue sari the immaculate benchmark of sex appeal, that originality, too, should be attributed to her. Bollywood had many male choreographers who played up the stereotypical requirement of projecting the film’s heroine — back then nobody used the term “female lead” — as the ultimate object of desire with gyrating thrusts and over-the-top expres- sions, the come-hither eyes and the not so suggestive and in-your- face gestures and pouts.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday morning

sprang a major surprise byvisiting Ladakh and sent aterse message to China that theera of “expansionism” is over , asserting that India’squest for peace should be notbe misconstrued as a sign ofweakness.

As the Line of ActualControl (LAC)in Ladakhremains tense for the seventhweek, the Prime Minister alsopaid tributes to 20 IndianArmy personnel who werekilled in a bloody skirmish withthe Chinese on June 15 in theGalwan valley.

Addressing the troops inthe forward areas of Nimu at aheight of 11,000 feet in Ladakh,he said the era of expansionismis over and that India’s enemieshave seen the “fire and fury” ofits Armed forces. Tales of thebravery and valour of theArmed forces are echoing inevery part of the country, hesaid in an obvious reference tothe fight put up by the Indiansoldiers in free for all on June15.

The Prime Minister saidthe world has taken note ofIndia’s strength due to the“exemplary bravery” of theArmed forces in the recentweeks, adding history is proofthat expansionists have eitherlost or perished.

“The era of expansionismhas come to an end. This is theera of development... Historyhas proved that expansionist

forces have either lost or wereforced to turn back,” he said,without directly naming China.Incidentally, the Leh-based 14Corps is also known as “fist andfury.”

Modi further said, “Yourcourage is higher than theheights where you are servingtoday. When the safety of thecountry is in your hands, thenthere is a belief. Not only me,but the entire nation believes inyou. We all are proud of you.”

He was accompanied byChief of Defence Staff (CDS)General Bipin Rawat and ArmyChief Gen MM Naravane.

In his address, Modi spokeat length about how the virtues

of peace, friendship andcourage have been a part ofIndia’s culture since timeimmemorial. He recalled thatIndia has always given a befit-ting reply to anyone who hastried to disturb the prevailingatmosphere of peace andprogress.

The Prime Ministeraffirmed that India is commit-ted to peace and friendship butthis commitment to peaceshould not be seen as India’sweakness. Today, India isbecoming stronger, be it innaval might, air power, spacepower and the strength of ourArmy, he said, adding mod-ernisation of weapons and

upgrading of infrastructurehave enhanced the country’sdefence capabilities manifold.

����� ��� ��

An ill-planned police raid toarrest a notorious history-

sheeter Vikas Dubey from hisresidence in Kanpur’s Bikaruvillage went awry as the copswere ambushed by the ganglo-rd’s henchmen leaving aDeputy SP, three sub-inspectorsand four constables dead in thewee hours of Friday. Severalteams have been formed andforensic and electronic sur-veillance teams, along withSTF and ATS officials, havebeen pressed into service totrack down the prime accusedand his aides who managed toescape, taking advantage ofthe dark.

Seven other police per-sonnel, including a StationHouse Officer Vinay Tewari,and a Home Guard, sufferedgunshot wounds and are beingtreated at a Kanpur hospitalwhere the condition of four wasstated to be serious.

Dubey is involved in 60-odd heinous crime cases andbeing a gram pradhan and zilapanchayat chairman, his crim-inal activities are spread up toAllahabad, Gorakhpur andKanpur Dehat.

He is a known for extort-ing money from businessmenand traders.

Also, he is accused ofkilling BJP leader SantoshShukla (State Minister rank) inSheoli police station onNovember 11, 2001. He hadbeen arrested by police in thiscase but during trial, as most of

the witnesses turned hostile, hewas acquitted.

According to reports,police teams from BithhoorChaubeypur and Shivrajpurled by Circle Officer of Bilhaur,Devendra Misra, reached Bikruvillage in Chaubepur police cir-cle to arrest Dubey around12.30 am on Friday.

To thwart the force team,Dubey and his aides placed aJCB machine about 30 metresfrom his house. As officers andpersonnel alighted from theirvehicles and approached thehouse, they faced a hail of bul-lets fired from sophisticatedrifles and handguns fromrooftops.

The indiscriminate firingresulted in the death ofDevendra Misra, StationOfficer of Shivrajpur MaheshChandra Yadav, Mandhanaoutpost incharge AnoopKumar Singh, sub-inspectorNebu Lal, constables SultanSingh, Rahul, Bablu andJitendra.

Those who suffered gun-shot wounds were identified asSHO of Bithoor, KaushlendraPratap Singh, constables AjaySingh Senger, Ajay Kashyap,Shiv Murat Nishad ofChaubepur police station, sub-inspectors Sudhakar Pandeyand Vikas Babu andHomeguard Jairam Patel.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday told the sol-

diers injured in the violent faceoff with Chinese troops inLadakh’s Galwan Valley lastmonth that they gave a befittingreply. Interacting with theinjured personnel at an Armyhospital in Leh, he said theirbravery will be a source of inspi-ration for 130 crore Indians fortimes to come.

“The bravehearts who leftus, have not gone without a rea-son. Together, you all also gavea befitting reply (karara jawabbhi diya hai),” he told theinjured soldiers.

New Delhi: In a strong support to India over its border stand-off with China in eastern Ladakh, Japan on Friday said itopposed “any unilateral” attempts to change the status quo inthe region. After a meeting with Foreign Secretary HarshVardhan Shringla, Japanese Ambassador Satoshi Suzuki saidJapan hoped for peaceful resolution of the row through dia-logues. “Had a good talk with FS Shringla. Appreciated his brief-ing on the situation along LAC, including GOI’s policy to pur-sue peaceful resolution. Japan also hopes for peaceful resolu-tion through dialogues. Japan opposes any unilateral attemptsto change the status quo,” he said on Twitter.

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Chief Minister HemantSoren on Friday strongly

objected to several provisionsin the draft Electricity(Amendment) Bill 2020, whileinteracting with UnionMinister of Power RajkumarSingh, Chief Ministers andenergy ministers of differentstates. The CM said the draftElectricity Bill must ensure thesystem of protecting the inter-ests of the power consumers ofweak and backward States.

The Central Governmentis preparing changes toimprove the power system. Inthis connection, the Electricity(Amendment) Bill-2020 is tobe tabled in Parliament.

The consent of the StateGovernments is also requiredon the draft of this(Amendment) Bill. UnionMinister of Power RajkumarSingh today held discussionswith the Chief Ministers/PowerMinisters of the States throughvideo conferencing. He said thatthe important suggestions givenby the State Governments willbe included in the ElectricityAct (Amendment) Bill.

The CM, while objecting tothe proposal of centralisation ofthe State Electricity RegulatoryCommission, said that this

would be a violation of thejurisdiction of the StateGovernments.

“The chances of getting anyadditional benefit from the for-mation of a single committee forthe whole country are very less,”he said. Soren objected to theremoval of the power of SERCunder Renewable PurchaseObligation, saying that renew-able energy potential and effi-ciency of additional powercapacity are different for allStates. Therefore, the State gov-ernment will suffer from inte-grated RPO. Therefore, it shouldbe maintained with SERC.

While objecting to the pro-posal to make SERC a separateauthority for Dispute Redressal,the Chief Minister said thatSERC is capable of all thesematters and centralised author-ity can increase the problems ofthe states. The CM also saidthat at present subsidy to con-sumers is transferred throughreduction in electricity bills andthis system should be contin-ued even further.

The CM apprised the UnionPower Minister that a largepopulation of Jharkhand livesbelow the poverty line and inrural areas. “The state govern-ment is committed to providingelectricity at affordable rates totheir homes. Therefore, the

power to determine the value ofcross subsidy in the ElectricityAct (Amendment) Bill-2020should be retained with theState Electricity RegulatoryCommission (SERC) to deter-mine tariffs for domestic andagricultural consumers,” he said.While objecting to the processof taking out of the area of crosssubsidy Electricity RegulatoryCommission through theNational Tariff Policy, the CM said that this would violatethe powers of the StateGovernments.

The CM told the UnionPower Minister that power issupplied by DVC in seven dis-

tricts of the State, but it repeat-edly interrupts power supplyfor several days and hours, say-ing that it has arrears. “Theareas where DVC provideselectricity, there are mostlyindustrial areas. In such a sit-uation, the DVC should beissued an order to stop suchrepeated interruption in powersupply. DVC has once againwarned to stop power supply ifthe dues are not paid again,while it makes full use of theresources of the State govern-ment,” said the CM.

Soren also informed theUnion Minister that his gov-

ernment has given the dues tillMarch this year to DVC,whereas the earlier arrears areof the tenure of the previousgovernment. Because there waszero arrears in 2014, theCentral Government shoulddirect the DVC that it will notcut power in Jharkhand.

Chief Secretary SukhdevSingh, Additional ChiefSecretary L Khiangate, PrincipalSecretary to Chief MinisterRajiv Arun Ekka and ExecutiveDirector of Jharkhand StateElectricity DistributionCorporation cum KK Vermawere present on the occasion.

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Jharkhand’s Covid-19 tallyrose to 2,697with 63 more

people testing positive onFriday, a government bulletinsaid. With the recovery of 63positive cases, the State has now681 active cases, while 2001people, including 13 during theday, recovered from the disease,it said. The number of deathstood at 15 as no casualty wasreported on Friday.

The State’s recovery ratestood at 74.19 per cent, whilethe mortality rate is 0.60 percent, the bulletin added. Interms of recovery rate andmortality rate Jharkhand standsbetter than the national aver-age. The national recovery rateis 60.73 while the mortality rateis 2.91 per cent.

In Jharkhand there areeight districts out of total 24where corona death hasoccurred, while in rest 16 dis-tricts no corona death hasoccurred. The eight districtswhere corona deaths haveoccurred include Ranchi,Hazaribag, Giridih, Bokaro,Simdega, Koderma, Gumla andSahibganj. In rest 16 deaths inlast 100 days no corona deaths

have occurred.Moreover the 15 persons,

who died due to corona leavingone all the casualty age was above50 years, and all of them weresuffering from other ailments.

In recovery rate, Simdegahas the best recovery rate with97 per cent patients recoveringfrom disease. In Simdega dis-trict out of 353 patients, 343patients have recovered frominfection. The other districtshaving better recovery rate isRamgarh, Garhwa, Latehar,Palamu, Khunti, Pakur. In thesedistricts the recovery rate ismore than 90 per cent.

East Singhbhum has thelowest recovery rate. In this dis-trict the number of activepatients is 44.64 per cent.Sources said that though StateRecovery rate is better but as

preventiion State has takenseveral measures. On June 30,Jharkhand Governmentannounced an extension of thelockdown till July 31 on Fridayto contain the spread of Covid-19. “Considering the serious-ness of the situation, the stategovernment has decided toextend the lockdown till July31,” Chief Minister HemantSoren said in a tweet.

Moreover, here will be no‘’Shravani’’ Mela this year at thefamous Shiva temple of Deoghardistrict, the Jharkhand govern-ment has decided. Fearing thespread of coronavirus infection,the State Government hasexpressed its inability to organ-ise the world famous ShravaniMela at Deoghar, which is one ofthe 12 ‘’Jyotirlings’’ of LordShiva.

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The head constable of 118battalion of CRPF Kuldeep

Oraon hailing from Shahibganjdistrict of Jharkhand made thesupreme sacrifice on Thursdaynight during a fierce encounterwith terrorists at Zakoora local-ity of Srinagar of Jammu &Kashmir.

“We salute the valour ofsteadfast devotion to duty ofthe Shaheed Head ConstableKuldeep Kumar Oraon whoattended martyrdom whilevaliantly fighting in an opera-tion in Zakoora, Srinagar, J&K.We stand with the family of ourbrave martyr,” CRPF Tweeted.

Wreath laying ceremony ofthe brave cop was held atCRPF camp in Jammu where-as sources in Jharkhand sectorof CRPF told The Pioneer thathis body is likely to be flown toRanchi by Friday morning.

“We are making necessaryarrangements in this regard. Itis quite likely that his body willbe taken to his native district onSaturday for the last rites. Hedied as a hero in the line of duty,”said a senior CRPF official.Chief Minister Hemant Sorenalso paid tributes to Oraon.

Born in 1984 Oraon joinedthe CRPF in 2000 and rose tobecome head constable.

Oraon was part of a quickaction team when CRPF copscordoned an area on gettinginformation of presence of ter-rorists. Oraon and two otherCRPF cops sustained bulletinjury and immediately rushedto hospital where Oraon tookhis last breath.

Oraon’s father GhanshyamOraon is a retired CRPF con-stable and he is also wardcouncilor at Sahibganj NagarParishad. Oran was blessedwith two children who stay

along with their mother inKolkata who is a constable atKolkata police.

About a fortnight backKundan Kumar Ojha, of Bihar

regiment of Indian Army sac-rificed his life during a skirmishwith Chinese army in GalwanValley of Ladakh. He alsobelonged to Sahibganj district.

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She was probably one of ourfirst women to be called“Masterji” in the gendered

matrix of Bollywood, the termcommanding respect for thecraft that she had perfectedrather than the person she was.Choreographer Saroj Khan, whodied after a cardiac arrest yes-terday, changed the contours ofpopular dance as we knew it andensured that the film industryrated her the same way theywould a music director and notconsign her to the credits ofbeing a dance instructor/train-er. And she became a much big-ger cultural phenomenon beforeyoutubers and TikTok influ-encers copied her footprints.

For the life of me, I am yet tounderstand why back in the day,the canteen at Presidency College,Kolkata, that would pride itself infollowing Kurt Cobain and thelike, so breezily embrace Ek Do

Teen. Not so much for Madhuri,whose cute smile and sensuouseyes had boys rooting for her butthe entire dance sequence sheexecuted and what it represent-ed. Everybody would line up freetables, join them, sing the songwhile a boy or girl would mimicthe steps on the temporary plat-form. Gender didn’t matter, nor

did the absence of beer as stu-dents cheered with their cups ofsugary tea. It was about beingfootloose and fancy-free, notworrying about whether youcould do the steps or not.Needless to say, no other Hindisong was allowed to be playedwith such gusto.

And if Madhuri Dixitbecame the nation’s “dhak dhak”girl, much of that credit wouldhave to go to Saroj Khan. IfSridevi made the blue sari theimmaculate benchmark of sexappeal, that originality, too,should be attributed to her.Bollywood had many malechoreographers who played upthe stereotypical requirement ofprojecting the film’s heroine —back then nobody used the term“female lead” — as the ultimateobject of desire with gyratingthrusts and over-the-top expres-sions, the come-hither eyes andthe not so suggestive and in-your-face gestures and pouts.

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The banned outfit CPI-Maoist has embarked on a

drive to connect with Mundas,Gram Pradhans and `Dakuas’(village messengers) seekingtheir support for an aggressiverecruitment drive of young-sters, including girls to join theoutfit in Kolhan, sources said.

Recently the naxal outfithas also resorted to posterscampaigning in support of therecruitment drive atSarjamburu located CPI-Maoist rebels resort to aggres-sive recruitment drive as theirinfluence starts to wane inWest Singhbhum. The ultrashave also delivered letters to thevillage and block level naxaloperatives for making the driveeffectively successful. TheMaoists have started a similardrive in East Singhbhum and

Seraikela Kharasawan too.Revealing about the devel-

opment, a police official saidthat after naxal activities hadalmost been eliminated inSaranda, the rebel leadershiphad changed their strategy andwere trying to regain theirposition in the tribal-domi-nated West Singhbhum districtand Seraikela Kharswan.

The official confirmedabout the rebel outfit to havestarted an aggressive recruit-ment drive in the district forthe first time.

“We have recovered sever-al hand-written letters thathave been sent to the Mundas,Gram Pradhans and Dakuabeside the local operatives ofthe outlawed organisation by atop naxal leader, PrashantBose, polit bureau member ofthe CPI-Maoist,” he said.

The top leadership wants

an aggressive recruitment driveas the credibility and influenceof the outfit has started to waneamong the tribal populace.

Meanwhile the official said,“The ultras have becomeaggressive after three younglady naxals were killed in apolice encounter inChirungbari in Goelkera inApril this year. For the first timewe had got the bodies of thethree lady naxals identifiedand delivered them at their par-ents’ houses which had becomea shocking issue for villagers”.

He said in the letter whichwas written in Hindi, PrashantBose who carries a reward of Rsone crore on his head hasasked the village functionariesas well as the subordinatecadres of the outfit to convinceboth the parents as well as theirchildren time and again tojoin the outfit.

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Jamshedpur: Despite the reces-sion that may follow postCOVID, one can still success-fully plan an MBA duringCOVID 19 crisis. However,students now will have to uptheir skill and adapt to the cir-cumstances forced upon themby the pandemic.

Sunstone Eduversity, anedtech startup is addressing thiswith technology led pedagogyand a highly attractive businessmodel. The Pay AfterPlacement model brings inaccountability for the students.On completion of the courseand only after getting a job, thestudent is required to pay thecourse fee which is ten times anindividual’s monthly salary

Ashish Munjal, CEO & Co-founder, Sunstone Eduversitysaid that Sunstone’s unique Payafter Placement model is offeredin partnership with several col-leges and private universities.Sunstone works closely withcorporates to develop industryready specializations such asBFSI, Logistics, SalesManagement, Digital Marketingand others. PNS

Bokaro: Sports need a revampin India. Traditionally, sportshave never been an integratedpart of the Indian education sys-tem in general. We can easily seein every school that PhysicalTraining classes were replacedby the science or math’s classunder the pretext of “syllabuscompletion”. However, the inclu-sion of sports in the syllabus isjust for the sake of formality,said Nikky Pradhan the firstwoman Hockey Olympian fromJharkhand.

She was expressing herviews in a webinar organised bythe Indian Pierre De CoubertinAssociation (IPCA), a nodalnational entity with interna-tional recognition assigned forthe dissemination of OlympicEducation & Olympism intothe grassroots of Indian Sports.

The First InternationalWebinar was organised on the eve of World SportsJournalist Day.

“Sports play a vital role inmaking children strong frominside while inculcating theimportance of maintaining a fitand sound body. It helps in thedevelopment of focus and con-centration, in-turn assists dur-ing studies,” she said. PNS

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The 168th meeting of syndi-cate of Vinoba Bhave

University was organized in theAryabhatt seminar hall here onFriday. The meeting waspresided over by the vice chan-cellor Mukul Deo Naryan. Thiswas the emergent meeting ofsyndicate, which was called onlyfor one agenda. Registrar ofuniversity Bansidhar Rukhiyarwelcomed all the members andofficials in meeting. He placedonly one agenda of UniversityGrant Commission regulation2010 in the meeting.

All members unanimouslypassed the regulation. This willbe helpful in the promotion of

the university Post Graduateteachers and college teachers,who had been appointed in theyear 1980, 81, 82, 83, 85, 89, and2008. On this occasion VCMukul Naryan Deo said thatafter joining as vice chancellor inthe university he has cleared themaximum pending files of theretired teachers of the universi-ty. Now his first priority will bepromotion of the teachers.

In the meeting Pro vicechancellor Ajit Kumar Sinha,Inderjeet Kumar, PC Devgharia,Chandra Sekhar Singh,Sawarmal Agarwal, Rekha Rani,LP Mishra, Ajit Kumar Pathak,Jai Prakash Ravidas, VimalRevan, Ranjeet Rai and PankajMehta were present.

Bokaro: In a major narcotichaul, the Bokaro police seizeda consignment of marijuana,which was being smuggled,two were arrested in this con-nection, informed B Das SDPOChas.

“The arrested were identi-fied as Binod Kumar (49) andSarover Kumar (32) both arethe residents of Chas. Around10 kilograms ‘ganja’, valued ofrupees about 1.20 lakhs in theinternational market wereseized from their possession.They were found ferrying it,”added the SDPO.

Working on a tip-offBokaro Police intercepted amotorcycle (JH09E 2158) nearDharamshala More Chas and asearch led to the seizure of 10kgs ‘ganja’ kept hidden inside ajute bag. PNS

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Eighteen cops have soughttransfer from Palamu.These cops are using

Abhiyan Samman, a pro-gramme launched by Statepolice headquarters on June 21for a period of 60 days to makebelieve cops, havildars andfourth grade police staff that‘their services and lives mattermost to the senior and top copsof the state’ said sources.

SP Palamu, Ajay Linda saidState police headquarters underorder of DGP MV Rao haslaunched this AbhiyanSamman from June 21 toenable constables, havildarsand fourth grade staff of policedepartment to say their thingsto the top cop of the district fortheir redressal.

A dedicated cell phonenumber has been floated forthis. ADG police CID AnilPalta has issued this order.

Linda said the DGP and histeam in Ranchi appreciate thehard work, sense of duty anddischarge of responsibility ofthese policemen duringextreme hard times like Corona

surge and lockdown phases allover the State.

Linda said these policemendid twin job one for the covid19 and the other their normalpolicing and presented a bril-liant landscape of their perfor-mance. However taking advan-tage of this Abhiyan Samman18 police men here have soughttheir transfer from here.

“As transfer of a policeofficial from one district toanother is not within thedomain of the SP this matterhas been referred to policeheadquarters for a final call onthem” said the SP.

In the same vein Linda said17 police men have asked fordisengagement of them fromnaxal duty/ operation citing ageold pretext of parents’ growingage or their sickness.

Linda said, “I understand acop looks for an opportunity toprove his mettle and anti naxaloperation or drive offers thatchance where risk is there butto seek disengagement fromanti naxal operation does not fit well with this jobfor the cops who have sosought this relief.”

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Citing the threat of commu-nity spread of the Covid 19

pandemic, the division benchof Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjanand Justice Sujit NarayanPrasad of Jharkhand HighCourt on Friday stated that per-mission for Shravani Mela inDeoghar can’t be granted.

The court was convincedwith the logic of Jharkhand gov-ernment that there will be massgathering during fair and this willincrease chance of communitytransfer of Covid-19 virus.

However, the court direct-ed the Government to makearrangements and develop

modalities for virtual darshan.“No Shravani mela this year

is indeed painful. But we can’tendanger life of people. Thegovernment can make arrange-ments of virtual darshan fordevotees,” the court observed.

The court passed the orderin the wake of a Public InterestLitigation filed by BJP’s GoddaMP Nishikant Dubey who hadchallenged decision of theHemant Soren Governmentnot to organise Shravani meladue to Covid-19.

This year one and halfmonth long Shravani mela isscheduled from July 6.Apparently, this is for the firsttime when there will break with

the tradition.The fair is annually orga-

nized on the premise of BabaBaidyanath Dham temple fromthe past couple of centuries.

Lakhs of devotees acrossthe world visit Deoghar tooffer prayer. Besides, an equalnumber of devotees throng atBasukinath temple for prayer;one of the important shrines ofLord Shiva situated in Dumkadistrict about 60 km fromDeoghar district.

Including BaidyanathDham temple all places of reli-gious worship were shut downfollowing the order of theGovernment owing to out-break of Covid-19.

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With widespread rainfallbeing forecast for the

coming days, there seems to besome respite from the heatand humidity for the people ofJharkhand.

The humidity being expe-rienced for the past few dayshas been due to less rainfallalong with an increase in tem-perature and high moisturecontent in the atmosphere.

According to theMeteorological Centre, Ranchifrom July 4 to July 7 widespreadshowers of light to moderatecategory are expected all over

the State. Isolated places in the north

east can witness heavy showersfrom July 4 to July 6. On July5 isolated places in the south-ern parts where as on July 6 iso-lated places in central andsouth east may also receiveheavy rainfall. The Departmenthas also issued a warning ofthunderstorm and lighting forall the days.

“A deep trough is passingthrough central India becauseof which there will be increasein the rainfall activity inJharkhand as well. There is alsoa circulation present in easternparts of Uttar Pradesh because

of which showers are expected in northwest parts of Jharkhand. A downwardtrend in the temperature will also be observed and themaximum temperature is like-ly to drop by 2-3 degreeCelsius,” said Deputy Director MET Centre, RanchiAbhishek Anand.

As per the data providedout of the 24 districts, present-ly six are facing a rainfalldeficit namely Deoghar (-63),Gumla (-46), Khunti (-38),Pakur (-44), Sahibganj (-37)and Saraikela- Kharsawan (-21). The remaining 18 districtshave received either normal or

near normal rainfall.The statistics also state that

from June 1 to July 3,Jharkhand has received a totalof 214 mm of rainfall as against the normal amount of228 mm and is facing a deficitof 6 percent.

However, the weathermenare hopeful that with sufficientrainfall expected in the comingdays, the deficit will soon becovered.

As per the communiqué,from July 4 to July 7 the max-imum temperature in Ranchi and its surroundingareas will be around 32- 30degree Celsius.

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BJP State president andnewly elected Rajya Sabha

MP Deepak Prakash on Fridayannounced his new team bymaking several changes in theorganization. BJP sources saidthat several of the office bear-ers in the former organisationalstructure have been replaced.

BJP’s Rajya Sabha MPSamir Oroan, who was holdingthe post of State vice president,has been made as State gener-al secretary.

The other State generalsecretaries are Aditya Sahuand Pradeep Verma. A seniorBJP leader requestinganonymity said, “The posts ofstate general secretary is impor-tant and vital posts as generalsecretary after the presidentremains active in day to dayaffairs.” The leader added,“Caste configuration andregional balance has beenmaintained in forming neworganisations. There are mem-bers from ST, SC, OBC andupper caste among others.”

For Vice President’s posts,the party has given the jobs toseven leaders, some ministers in

Raghubar Das Cabinet andMPs, MLAs. The seven vicepresidents are Neelkanth SinghMunda, Raj Paliwar, MPs SunilSingh, Annapurna Devi, formerMLAs Gangotri Kujur, MLAAparna Sen Gupta and seniorleaders, including PranavVerma and Vinod Sharma.

The party has made eightState secretaries retainingSubodh Singh Guddu, Hatia

MLA Naveen Jaiswal, ManduMLA Jai Prakash Bhai Pateland others. Deepak Banka hasbeen made party treasurer.Hemant Das, who was holdingthe post of office secretary, hasbeen retained.

The post of State generalsecretary (organisation) hasbeen given to Dhrampal Singh.Sources said that in BJP organ-isation the post of general sec-retary (organization) is given toa man from RSS backgroundand in Jharkhand tooDhrampal Singh comes fromRSS background. PradeepSinha has been made as partySpokesperson while the othernames figuring in statespokespersons are PratulShahdeo, Saroj Singh, AvineshKumar. Misfiqa Hassan is thelone minority and women facein BJP spokesperson list.Former MLA Kunal Sarangihas been made as another statespokesperson.

Shivpujan Pathak the statemedia in-charge has beenretained while co-mediaincharges are Prem Mittal,Yogendra Pratap Singh,Ramesh Pushkar, Rajiv Tiwariand Ashok Bariak.

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In a bid to grab attention of theCentral Governments towards

steep hike in prices of petrole-um products, on the last day ofits ongoing agitation on July 4,Jharkhand Pradesh CongressCommittee (JPCC) on Fridayannounced that it will organisea sit-in protest on every blockoffices of the State and submit amemorandum to the concernedofficials in this regard.

JPCC Chief RameshwarOraon informed this during apress meet in Lohardaga that hewill lead the protest inLohardaga and a similar pro-gramme will be organised atevery block offices.

Rajya Sabha MP andCongress leader, Dhiraj PrasadSahu, JPCC Spokesman AlokKumar Dubey, Lal KishorenathShahadeo, Rajesh Gupta, SunnyTappo, Lohardaga DistrictCongress Committee PresidentSabbir Khan, Congress leaderAshok Yadav were present onthe occasion.

The State CongressCommittee expressed deepcondolence over the death of asoldier of Sahebganj, KuldeepOraon in a terrorist incident inJammu and Kashmir late onThursday night and prayed forthe peace of his soul and

strength for the family mem-bers in the hour of grief.

Speaking on the occasion,Congress MP Dheeraj PrasadSahu said that the decision ofthe Central Government tostop the money of the MPLADSis beyond comprehension dur-ing the time of global epidem-ic, the public expects supportand help from the representa-tives in the time of crisis.

Addressing the gathering onthe occasion JPCCSpokespersons Alok Dubey, LalKishore Shahdeo, Rajesh Guptaand Sunny Toppo said that theparty’s agitation against the anti-people policies of the CentralGovernment will continue.

Dubey said that the infla-tion is rising due to increase inprices of petroleum products,the silence of the CentralGovernment on the question ofunemployment is beyond

comprehension, the PM is con-stantly telling lies to the peopleof the country on this issue.

Attacking the CentralGovernment, Shahdeo said thatthe Government is constantlyincreasing prices of essentialcommodities to benefit its busi-nessmen friends. “TheGovernment is working to sellthe undertakings, destroyingthe interest of coal laborers, achaotic situation has arisen allover the Country. BharatiyaJanata Party and its workers arenot deterred from singing in thesame tune of the PrimeMinister. The Congress believesthat the time has come for thecurrent Central Government togo only due to its arrogance.

Gupta said against the ris-ing prices of petrol and diesel,crores of people have raisedtheir voice in support of JPCCChief, Oraon. The party willsend a message to the PrimeMinister in this regard throughsocial media also, he added.

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The strike of Coal India tradeunions continued for the

second day on Friday and thetrade unions claimed that thestrike was completely success-ful, while the coal company’smanagement claimed that it haspartially affected the work.

The strike has been calledin protest against allowing com-mercial mining in the coal sec-tor and almost all major centraltrade unions — Hind MazdoorSabha, INTUC, AITUC, CITUand Rashtriya SwayamsewakSangh backed BMS were agreedto go on a three day strike tocatch the attention of theCentral Government’s decisionin this regard.

Some union leaders saidthat the management tried toforce the workers to return ontheir work but it did not mate-rialise. Hind MazdoorMazdoor Federation support-ed by Hind Mazdoor Unionpresident, Nathulal Pandey saidthat the trents of the becamemore widespread on Fridaydue to various reasons, theworkers who could not attendit on Thursday also supportedthe strike on Friday.

CITU-backed All IndiaCoal Workers Federation,Jharkhand General Secretary,DD Ramanandan said that as

of now there is no news of theweakening of the strike or anyhindrance in it. Also, there is nonews of any major violence dueto the strike, he added.

The major demands of theagitating workers are to with-draw the decision of commer-cial mining, stop the privatisa-tion of Coal India and SCCL,stop the conspiracy to separateCMPDI from Coal India, paythe contract workers accordingto the High Power Committee’srecommendation and demandsare being made to make pay-ment and implement all thepoints of the wage agreement.

The unions said that on thefirst day of the strike, the pro-duction of coal has come to astandstill with loss of about 2

million tonnes (MT) of output.“The despatch of coal is

also adversely affected and thefigure of participants in strikeis above 95 per cent,” saidRamanandan. Union CoalMinister Prahlad Joshi urgedthe employees of Coal India toend the ongoing strike andresume work.

“It is estimated that Stateswill lose more than Rs 319crores as part of revenues. A lossof this magnitude is a nationalloss and I urge employees of CoalPSUs to end the ongoing strikeand resume back their work,”Joshi tweeted. CIL ChairmanPramod Agrawal on Thursdayevening appealed to the work-men to resume their duties in theinterest of the PSU.

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Jh a r k h a n dP r a d e s h

P r o f e s s i o n a lCongress presi-dent AdityaVikram Jaiswalvisited the locali-ty of Vikas Nagarto take stock ofthe water loggingproblem in theneighbourhoodon July 3. Thelocal people told Jaiswal thatthere is a lot of difficulty inmovement due to the stagnantdirty water which has alsobecome a breeding ground formosquitoes and if a proper out-let is not made, it could lead toan epidemic as well.

Hearing the problems,Jaiswal said, “Former CityDevelopment Minister andcurrent MLA CP Singh hasalways kept Vikas Nagar awayfrom development. If he heardthe problems faced by the pub-lic and paid attention then a sit-uation of water logging wouldnot arise in any street ofRanchi. Drainage work worthRs 360 crore has been done inthe City but it is incomplete. Rs

140 crore was spent in the con-struction of drains underMomentum Jharkhand andthat too is not complete.”

“A high level investigationshould be done for all thedevelopment work done in thepast so that scams can beexposed. BJP government hasdone a lot of corruption in theState capital in the name ofdevelopment and graduallyeverything is being exposed,”said Jaiswal.

Former councilor GeetaKujur, State General SecretaryRajesh Chandra Raju, OBCMahanagar President SumitSahu, Krishna Sahay, ParvatiSingh and others were presenton the occasion.

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Budding cricketers can soonpractice, perfect and exe-

cute the ‘helicopter shot’ of MSDhoni from his cricket acade-my online, the registration forwhich started on Thursday.The ‘helicopter shot’ is a TeamIndia former captain MahendraSingh Dhoni speciality.

As the entire globe is facingCovid-19 pandemic withrestrictions and social distanc-ing norms, Dhoni Ranchi crick-eting sensations has decided toreach out to his fans and crick-et lovers through online class-es. Interested budding cricketershave to get registered withAarka Sports which is a leadingSports Management Company,which specializes in athleteand player management.

Aarka Sports manages MSDhoni Cricket Academy inIndia & Abroad. Currently MSDhoni Cricket Academy islocated in Gurugram, Bareilly,Bokaro in India and Dubai,Singapore in abroad. The com-pany is in talks with several

institutions & will come upwith many more academies innear future.

Aarka Sports director MihirDiwakar, a former Ranji playerand a childhood friend of“Captain Cool” Dhoni, said:“The idea behind starting onlinecricket coaching is to providecricketing skills and techniquesto budding players in the state.The online classes started onThursday at 4 PM and CaptainCool gave vital tips.”

Diwakar said that theonline coaching session has

been divided in different cate-gories: cricketing tips for play-ers at the age of six to eightyears, initial cricketing tips(bowling, batting and fielding)tips to cricketers at the agegroup of nine to eleven years.Also there will be cricket tipsfor those senior players whowant to horn their games.Senior players will be giventraining on footwork, defenseand other cricketing skills.

The online classes are openfor all and anyone interested inlearning cricketing skills can

register with Aarka Sports.However, the registration ischargeable. Budding cricketersgetting registered with AarkaSports will not only be trainedonline but the Academy isgoing to create a pool of 200experienced coaches across thecountry who will train buddingcricketers’ offline. The job ofcoaches will be to clear thedoubts of budding cricketers onground getting classes online.

Banshidhar Sarangi, whoruns a cricket coaching acad-emy in Ranchi said, “This agood step as during lockdownwhen there are restrictions onopening stadiums and parks,such type of online classes canhelp cricketers in continuingtheir games.”

Echoing the views ofSarangi, Aashish Kumar a bud-ding cricket player said, “Dhoniis Indian Cricket Team one offinest players. His style andtechnique of batting and field-ing has become trademarks ofgames. If he is imparting onlineclasses budding players will bebenefitted.”

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As almost every second hos-pital and clinic across the

country has been convertedinto Covid-19 facilities, it is thenon-Covid patients who are atthe receiving end. They are fac-ing the impact of this pandemicwith deteriorating health con-ditions due to inaccessibility forscreening, diagnostics andtreatment, health experts havepointed out.

Dr Anil Jain, pulmonolo-gist, National Institute ofTuberculosis and RespiratoryDiseases (NITRD), Delhi, said,“As the novel coronavirus out-break continues to push thecountry’s healthcare systems,substantial health service dis-ruption in the country hasdecreased clinic visits by TBpatients drastically.

“Thus, it is of high impor-tance that patients should getaccess to screening, diagnosticsand utilisation of advanced tech-niques like automated diagnos-tic instruments for early detec-tion and treatment to reduce TBtransmission and deaths.”

According to the CentralTB Division’s Nikshay portal,capturing the real-time data, the

diagnosis of new tuberculosiscases had witnessed a declineduring the pandemic due to theinaccessibility of screening anddiagnostic facilities.

Dr Parimala Devi John,Consulting gyne specialist andcolposcopist, Fortis Hospitaltalked about the impact oflockdowns and travel restraintson cancer patients.

“Lack of timely diagnosisand treatment also the fear ofcontracting the infection hadled to a surge of advanced casesacross the country.”

Haematology specialist DrRahul Bhargava who had start-ed Virtual Hospital CancerRounds, was of the opinion thatthe telemedicine facility asone-step destination for onlineconsultation and cancer treat-ment management has been ofgreat help to the cancer patientsamid Covid pandemic.

“During the initial lock-down phases, most of the

scheduled chemotherapy ses-sions and cancer surgeries werepostponed. Even after the lock-down was relaxed, cancerpatients remained in the four-walls, as they are at a greaterrisk of Covid infections.

“ In such a situation, ourvirtual hospital continueddelivering services and reach-ing out to the patients facinguncertainty,” said Dr Bhargava,who is also the serving Directorof Fortis Hospital’s BoneMarrow Transplant facility

Dr. SPGanesan — HitechDiagnostics, Chennai felt thatwith the government’s decisionto lift the lockdown and open-ing of OPDs, there is a need tounderstand the importance oftaking strict precautionary mea-sures and follow guidelines forsafe specimen management.

“Proper collection of spec-imens is the most importantstep in the laboratory diagno-sis of infectious diseases. Yet,equal importance needs to begiven to staff and patient safe-ty. It is important to treat everyspecimen as potential Covidspecimen and take proper pre-cautions while handling andcollecting blood & urine sam-ples,” he added.

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Even though the monsoonhas covered the entire coun-

try two weeks earlier thanusual, north and central Indiacontinue to face swelteringheat these days. The aboveaverage temperatures com-bined with high relative humid-ity has raised “discomfort”.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on Fridaypredicted that over the next fivedays, northwest India, includ-ing Punjab, Haryana andChandigarh will experience“fairly widespread to wide-spread rainfall with isolatedheavy falls”.

Meanwhile, moderate tointense thunderstorms andlightning are also very likelyover southeast Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, east Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand, east Vidarbha andOdisha over the next 12 hours.According to the IMD, 16

States have received normalmonsoon rains, nine excessrain and two large excess rainso far. Three States —Meghalaya, Sikkim and Goahave received over 1,000 mmrains so far.

According to IMD offi-cials, the discomfort is morebecause of high humidity com-bined with high temperature.High humidity is expected inthis season. In northen States, anaverage humidity level is record-ed between 65 and 90 while ineastern States, and the averagehumidity level is recordedbetween 80 and 95 in July.

“Relative humidity mea-sures the actual amount ofmoisture in the air as a per-centage of the maximumamount of moisture the air canhold,” officials added. In Delhi,the maximum temperature isrecorded 40 degree Celsiuswhile the humidity was 71 onFriday. In Chennai, humiditylevel was 95 while the average

temperature was recorded 34degree Celsius. Kolkata record-ed humidity level 89 whileAhmedabad recorded humid-ity level 69 and average tem-perature 40 degree Celsius.

India received 213.1 mmrain as against the normal of191.6mm, an increase of 11 percent from June 1 to July 4.Meghalaya has received 1149.6mm rain as against the normalof 893.1 mm so far whileSikkim received 1,000 mmrains as against the normal of473.5 mm this season. Thismeans Sikkim has receivedover 110 per cent more rainfallthis year. Goa also reported1,230.4 mm rains as against thenormal of 1016.1 mm.

Bihar has received 62 percent more rains this year. It hasreceived 324.8 mm rain asagainst the normal of 200.8mm. The excess rainfall hascreated flood-like situations innorthern districts. Some majorrivers have started flowing

above the danger mark. Waterlevel in other rivers has risen,threatening thousands of peo-ple living in low-lying areas. Atleast 28 of the State’s 38 districtsreceived large excess rain; sevendistricts recorded excess rainand three recorded normalrain in June. According toIMD’s annual rainfall reports,Bihar receives 1,027.6 mmrainfall in a normal monsoonyear; the average annual rain-fall through the year in all sea-sons is 1,205.6 mm.

The IMD in its forecast saida cyclonic circulation also layover east Uttar Pradesh andneighbourhood while a north-south trough is running till east

Vidarbha. This is most likely tocause fairly widespread to wide-spread rainfall/thundershowerwith isolated heavy to veryheavy falls over Central andadjoining east India during thenext five days, the IMD said.

Meanwhile, due to highconvergence of strong moistwinds from the Arabian Seaalong the west coast and cycloniccirculation over south Gujaratand neighbourhood, fairly wide-spread to widespread rainfallwith isolated heavy to veryheavy falls are most likely to con-tinue over Gujarat, Konkan andGoa, Madhya Maharashtra andcoastal Karnataka over the nextfive days.

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Amid coronavirus outbreak,HRD Minister Ramesh

Pokhriyal on Friday announcedthe decision to postpone theJEE Main and NEET 2020examinations. The JEE exam-ination will now be heldbetween September 1 to 6, JEEadvanced exam will be held onSeptember 27 and NationalEligibility-cum-Entrance Test(NEET) examination will beheld on September 13.

“Keeping in mind the safe-ty of students and to ensurequality education we havedecided to postpone #JEE &#NEET examinations. JEEMain examination will be heldbetween 1st-6th Sept, JEEadvanced exam will be held on27th Sept & NEET examina-tion will be held on 13thSeptember,” the HRD Ministerannounced on Twitter.

With this now it meansthat the results and counsellingexcercise and admission to theinstitutions will be completedby October end and Ministry

sources a couple of educationstakeholders told The Pioneerthat session to the new sessionin higher education or techni-cal institutes will begin onlyfrom November first week.

A panel constituted byUnion HRD Minister, has rec-ommended to postpone themedical entrance examinationand engineering entranceexamination in the wake of

coronavirus pandemic. HRDministry had formed a panel tocheck the feasibility to conductthe examinations in July afterparents and students expressedconcerns about JEE and NEETexaminations in the wake ofCOVID-19 pandemic.

Looking at the prevailingcircumstances and requestsreceived from students & par-ents appearing for JEE andNEEET examinations the com-mittee consisting of officialsfrom the National TestingAgency (NTA) and otherexperts was advised to reviewthe situation and submit its rec-ommendations latest Friday.

While medical entranceexam — NEET — was sched-uled to held on July 26, the JEE(Mains), for admission in engi-neering colleges, was scheduledfrom July 18-23.

The Central Board ofSecondary Education (CBSE)had last week cancelled some

board exam papers scheduledfrom July 1 to 15. The movecame after group of parentsmoved the Supreme Courtraising concerns about Covid-19 exposure risk to students.

“The Covid-19 pandemichas created a challenge as far asconducting exams is concernedand in India, the scale is huge.Therefore, for the future, NTAis looking at building capacityfor holding online exams,which candidates can take fromtheir homes,” a HRD Ministryofficial said.

Students have been signingonline petitions and pursuingTwitter campaigns, andrequesting the Government topostpone the engineering andmedical entrance exams aswell. Parents of nearly 4,000NRI students based in WestAsia also filed a petition in theSupreme Court Wednesdaydemanding the NEET be post-ponement. They noted thatthere are no exam centres out-side India and internationaltravel is still restricted due tothe coronavirus pandemic.

New Delhi: All the BJP Stateunits will give a video presen-tation of their “public out-reach” programme during thelast four months of coron-avirus pandemic before PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSaturday and seek his “furtherguidance” on the issue.

“All the BJP State units willgive a presentation on ‘SEVAHI SANGATHAN’ abhiyan tothe Prime Minister,” BJPGeneral Secretary Arun Singhsaid on Friday. It will be tele-cast on the Narendra Modiapplication and other digitalplatforms. Party president JPNadda, will be present duringthe videoconferencing.

Singh said party will get fur-ther guidance from the PrimeMinister as how to move furtheron the issue. BJP leader first paidtribute to ‘martyred’ eightpolicemen in Uttar Pradeshand told the journalists that noculprits will be spared. PNS

New Delhi: Union Housingand Urban Affairs MinisterHardeep Singh Puri on Fridaylaunched the “SwachchhSurvekshan 2021” — the sixthedition of the annual cleanlinesssurvey —and said the exercisethis year will focus on waste-water treatment and other para-meters. At the event, Puri saidthat every year, the “SwachchhSurvekshan” is redesigned inno-vatively to ensure the processbecomes more robust with focuson sustaining the behaviourchange.

“Like in the last year, keep-ing in mind the ministry’sefforts towards ensuring sus-tainability of the sanitationvalue chain, the SS 2021 indi-cators focus on parameters per-taining to wastewater treatmentand reuse along with faecalsludge,” he said.

The Minister alsoannounced a new category ofawards titled “Prerak DaaurSamman” as part of “SwachchhSurvekshan 2021”. The Prerak

Daaur Samman has five addi-tional sub — categories —Divya(Platinum), Anupam (Gold),Ujjwal (Silver), Udit (Bronze),Aarohi (Aspiring) — with topthree cities being recognised ineach. According to the Ministry,state ranking will also beannounced under the survey, tobe measured based on theirfund utilisation and support torespective local bodies, amongothers.

The Ministry said“Swachchh Survekshan 2020”had seen an unprecedentedparticipation of 1.87 crore citi-zens. The survey will categorisecities on the basis of six indica-tor-wise performance criteria —segregation of waste into wet,dry and hazard categories; pro-cessing capacity against wetwaste generated; processing andrecycling of wet and dry waste;construction & demolition(C&D) waste processing; per-centage of waste going to land-fills; and sanitation status ofcities. PNS

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The Union Health Ministryhas revised guidelines for

home-isolation for Covid-19patients to include asympto-matic positive cases in the listof mild or pre-symptomaticcoronavirus infection cases.The move follows in view ofincreasing number of Covid-patients showing no sign ofvirus infection.

Also, elderly patients above60 years and those with comor-bidities shall be allowed homeisolation only after proper eval-uation is done by a medicalofficer, as per the guidelinesissued by the Ministry.

However, the patients whoare suffering from immunediseases (such as HIV, trans-plant recipients, cancer thera-py) will not be eligible forhome isolation.

Additionally, elderlypatients who are aged above 60years and those with comor-bidities such as hypertension,diabetes, heart disease, chron-ic lung/liver/kidney diseasesand cerebro-vascular diseases(the primary concerns for coro-navirus) shall be allowed homeisolation only after proper eval-uation is done by a medicalofficer.

The patients who go into

home isolation will be dis-charged after a period of 10days since the onset of symp-toms, with no fever for threeconsecutive days, the guidelinesstressed.

“Thereafter, the patient willbe advised to isolate at homeand self-monitor their healthfor further seven days. There isno need for testing after thehome isolation period is over,”as per the revised guidelines forhome isolation of verymild/pre-symptomatic/asymp-tomatic Covid-19 cases.

According to the revised

directive, asymptomaticpatients such as the ones whoare pre-symptomatic and/orhave very mild symptoms canchoose home isolation if theyhave the required self-isolationfacility at their residence so thatthey can avoid contact withtheir family members.

Furthermore, patients alsohave to give an undertakingstating that after being diag-nosed as a confirmed/suspect-ed case of Covid-19, s/he shallvoluntarily undertake strictself-isolation at all times for theprescribed period.

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After Bharat Biotech IndiaLtd, Ahmedabad-based

Zydus Cadila Healthcare Ltdhas been given green signal toconduct phase 1 and 2 clinicaltrials of its indigenously devel-oped Covid-19 vaccine.

Preclinical studies haveshown experimental vaccineproduced antibodies againstthe virus. The company isexpected to begin enrollment ofsubjects soon.

The Drugs ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI) gavego ahead to Cadilla to conductphase I and phase II humanclinical trials after animal stud-ies were found satisfactory.

The vaccine approvalprocess was accelerated afterrecommendation by the subjectexpert committee on Covid-19.

“The company has sub-mitted data to DCGI based onanimal trial, they conducted.Animals like- mice, rabbits,guinea pigs, rats were used andthese animals developed anti-bodies against the virus,” asenior Government official wasquoted as saying to an agency.

“Their animal trial datawas inspected thoroughly andwas found satisfactory. Andnow, DCGI has granted per-

mission to Zydus Cadila toconduct Phase I & II clinicaltrial for COVID -19 vaccine onhumans after successful animaltrial,” the official added.

On Tuesday, 30 June,India’s first Covid-19 vaccineCOVAXIN, developed byBharat Biotech InternationalLimited (BBIL) in collaborationwith the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR) andthe National Institute ofVirology (NIV) received DCGInod to conduct Phase I and IIhuman clinical trials.

Hyderabad based BharatBiotech said trials of the vac-cine are scheduled to beginacross India this month. COV-AXIN was developed usingthe SARS-CoV-2 virus strainisolated at NIV, Pune.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Friday wrote to

Prime Minister Narendra Modidemanding reservation for stu-dents from other backwardclasses (OBC) in the NationalEligibility-cum-Entrance Test(NEET) — the country’s soleentrance exam for undergrad-uate medical and dental stu-dents — in State institutionsunder the All India Quota. Shesaid OBC students have lost11,000 seats since 2017 due tothe denial of reservation.

“I would like to bring toyour attention, denial of reser-vation for OBC candidatesunder All-India Quota beingfilled through NationalEligibility cum Entrance Test(NEET), in State/UT Medicaleducation institutions,” Soniawrote in the letter.

“Under the All IndiaQuota, 15%, 7.5% and 10%seats are reserved for SC(scheduled caste), ST (sched-uled tribes) and EconomicallyWeaker Section candidatesrespectively, in both Centraland State/UT Medical educa-

tion institutions. However,reservation for OBC candi-dates under All India Quota isrestricted to CentralInstitutions,” she added.

Sonia Gandhi said thedenial of reservation to OBCstudents in State medical insti-tutions is a barrier to access ofmedical education for deserv-ing candidates.

“In the interest of equityand social justice, I stronglyurge the Union Government toextend reservation for OBCcandidates in All India Quotaof medical and dental seats,

even in the State/UT Medicaleducation institutions”.

The All India Quota seatscomprise 15 per cent of allMBBS seats and 50 per cent ofPG medical seats surrenderedby State Governments to theCentre. Students from all acrossthe country can apply for thereservation.

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The CRPF, the biggest para-miliatry in the world, has

favoured allowing transgenderas a third gender along withmale and female for theentrance examination forrecruitment of officers.

The move comes a dayafter the deadline for com-ments on the issue as sought bythe Centre expired onThursday. The Union Home

Ministry had on Wednesdaycirculated a memorandum tothe CRPF, ITBP, SSB and CISFto offer comments for incor-porating transgender as a thirdgender in the rules for CAPF(Assistant Commandant)Examination, 2020 latest byThursday for taking a finalview on the matter.

“We fully value the spirit ofthe order of Hon’ble SupremeCourt. CRPF already has agender neutral work environ-ment. In view of impendingpolicy guidelines of MHA, weshall make it further compat-ible as per the need,” a seniorCRPF official said on Friday.

This is the view and rec-

ommendation of CRPF onrecruitment of transgender inCAPF and the same has beenaccordingly communicated tothe Home Ministry, the CRPFofficial said.

The BSF has already com-municated a positive responseon the issue of allowing trans-gender as candidate for takingthe entrance exanination of theAssistant commandant.

The entrance for theAssistant Commandant is con-ducted by the Union PublicService Commission but theCentral Armed Police Forcesor the paramilitary forces havetheir separate rules for recruit-ment of the Directly Appointed

Gazetted Officers or the cadreofficers who are the mainstayof the forces administrative andoperational structure.

The SSB and ITBP arealso likely to follow suit infavouring the allowance of thetransgenders as a separate cat-egory into the recruitmentrules.

Once the responses fromall the paramilitary forces arereceived, the Home Ministrywill take a consolidated viewon the issue of incorporatingtrasngender as a separate category besides male/femalein the recruitment rules of theparamilitary forces, officialssaid.

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In yet another Black Friday,the total number of coron-

avirus cases tested positive tilldate breached the 1,00,000mark while the day saw 64 per-sons succumbing to the pan-demic.

The State has 42,955 activecovid-19 patients undergoingtreatment in various hospitalsas on Friday evening 6 pm. Thetotal number of persons diag-nosed with Covid-19 till datereached 1, 02721 as on Friday.

The State also recorded onFriday 4,329 persons gettingdiagnosed with Covid-19. Outof this, Chennai alone tested2,082 patients while neighbor-ing districts of Chengalpet reg-

istered 330 patients.Kancheepuram (121) andThiruvallur (172) continuedto be the danger zones alongwith Chennai, according tothe medical bulletin issued bythe Tamil Nadu Government.

Out of the 64 deaths regis-tered in the State on Friday, 58had pre-existing comorbidityor chronic diseases. The deathtoll as on Friday in Tamil Nadustood at 1,385.

Tamil Nadu continuedwith its aggressive testing pro-grammes and the day saw34,272 patients getting tested inthe 91 laboratories across theState. Till date the Governmenthas tested 1.21 million personsand counting. The number ofpersons got discharged fromthe hospitals following the cure

from the pandemic reached58,378 on Friday.

Madurai (287) and Theni(126) are the new headaches forthe State administration. Theniborders Kerala and there is pos-sibilities of coronavirus personscrossing over to Tamil Nadu viathe reserve forests and planta-tions. The districts with ruralambience and greeneries con-tinued to be safe places whichhave prevented the coronavirusfrom making any deep dent.

Prsons in the age group of13-60 continued to be the mostvulnerable to covid-19 accord-ing to the bulletin. Out of thetotal number of persons diag-nosed with the pandemic, 85,305 belonged to this group.While the persons above theage of 60 accounted for 12,363

cases, 5.052 kids in 0-12 agegroup too were found to beafflicted with coronavirus.

With the vaccine meant forcovid-19 remaining a mirage,veteran physicians and publichealth specialists are of the viewthat the Government shouldtake into confidence practi-tioners of all branches of med-icine to work out a protocol. “InChennai itself more than 100covid-19 patients including apeople’s representative havebeen cured of this pandemic byAyurvedic medicine.

But we do not want to pub-licize it through the media lestthe authorities think we are try-ing to promote something forour personal gains,” said aneminent physician on condi-tions of anonymity.

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In a unique move the BengalGovernment has decided to slap law suits

against the violators of corona protocols.Unlike Maharashtra where the State

police have started imposing fines on thosewho do not wear masks the Bengal policehave been asked to take “other legal mea-sures” on the violators of corona protocols,sources said.

“It has been seen that with the begin-ning of Lockdown – II the people havebecome reckless and are ignoring the pro-cedures that should be strictly adhered toby them while out of their homes…hence the administration has decided totake some measures,” a senior police offi-cer said. The police at various places onThursday stopped people not wearing

masks, and took down their personaldetails including names, addresses andphone numbers.

“There were many educated citizenswho were seen not following the rules. Letalone the less literate people,” said anoth-er officer from the New Alipore PoliceStation. The names of the violators ofcorona protocols will be noted and sum-mons will be sent to their respectiveaddresses with directions to appear beforethe nearest court where they will berequired to explain their conduct.

“If they fail to convince the judge thenthe provisions of National DisasterManagement Act will apply against them,”an official said.

Though no ruling Trinamool Congressleader would comment on why fines werenot being imposed against erring peoplea South Kolkata MLA said “perhaps theGovernment decided against imposingfines to avoid yet another financial con-troversy.”

Meanwhile, BJP MP from HooghlyLocket Chatterjee has contacted the coro-na virus. The Bengali actor-turned-politi-cian who has been in self-quarantine forthe past one week tweeted on Thursday “Ihave tested positive for Covid-19 thismorning, having mild fever and was in self-isolation for the past one week. I will keepeveryone posted. All is well.”

A close aide later said that her condi-tion was stable with mild fever. “She hasbeen keeping fine and is in isolation insideher home too. There is no need to worry.”

A known star in Bengali moviesChatterjee had joined the TMC in 2012was inducted in the state Women’sCommission. Later she developed differ-ences with Chief Minister MamataBanerjee and joined the BJP in 2015 andbecame its Mahila Morcha chief.Subsequently she was elevated to the postof party general secretary. She won theHooghly parliamentary seat by defeatingsitting TMC MP Dr Ratna De Nag.

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In a first of its kind incident,a police constable posted at

Kolkata’s high-security Writers’Buildings allegedly shot himselfdead, police officials said inves-tigations were on to find out ifthere was any other reasonbesides what prima facie wasbeing suspected.

Bishwajit Karak, a 34-Constable from WestMidnapore was posted alone atgate number 6 of the Writers’Buildings which served as theState secretariat till before ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeshifted the state headquartersto Nabanna.

The incident reportedlyoccurred at 3.25 pm, sourcessaid adding Karak who was sit-

ting on a chair right oppositethe Press corner shot himselfwith his service revolver.

The bullet pierced throughhis jaw and went out of hishead.

He was rushed to theCalcutta Medical College andHospital where he was declaredbrought dead by the doctors.The dead constable was onanti-depressants, sources in hisfamily said.

“As per preliminary inves-tigation we have found that hewas on medication,” DeputyCommissioner (Central) NSudheer Kumar said addingCCTV footages would beexamined before coming toany final conclusion. Otherofficers said “prima facie itseems to be a case of suicide.”

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Sattankulam Police Station which was in thenews recently for the custodial death of the

father-son duo of P Jeyaraaj and J Fenix con-tinued to hog limelight even after the arrestof the culprits on Thursday.

By Friday, the Madras High Court askedthe revenue department which was managingthe day-to-day affairs of the Station to handit back to the police department.

The Revenue administration, led by thedistrict collector, had taken over the police sta-tion last Monday following the direction of theMadras High Court to do so as a follow upto the complaint by the Judicial Magistrate whoheld the preliminary probe.

The Judicial Magistrate was threatenedand insulted by the cops on duty when theformer went to the Station for the probe.

The High Court expressed its displeasurewhen the Magistrate informed the Court whattranspired at the Station and asked the revenue

department to take control of the police sta-tion till the officials of the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) took charge of the station and the probe.

The CB-CID which commenced its inves-tigation on Tuesday arrested on Thursday fourcops (an inspector, two sub-inspectors and aconstable) in connection with the deaths ofJeyaraaj and Fenix.

Though initial reports said on Thursdaythat head constable Muthu Raj was arrested,he evaded the CB-CID net and escaped. Hehas been declared as ‘wanted’ by the CB-CIDand two special teams have been deployed toarrest him.

According to a source in the intelligencedepartment, this is the first time in recent his-tory a police station had been handed over tothe revenue department by a court order toprevent tampering of documents by the cops.The entire police force attached to the stationhas been transferred.

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Situation in Kerala has turnedgrave according to Chief

Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Hesaid on Friday 211 persons werediagnosed with Covid-19 in theState and many cities and ruralareas are under threat.

Vijayan’s May 8 claim thatthe State flattened the coron-avirus curve has come under acloud with his remarks in thepress briefing on Friday. This isthe highest number of personstesting positive for the pan-demic since it was reported inthe State in January 2020.

Though Pinarayi Vijayantold the media that 138 personswho were tested positive onFriday were expatriates and 39

were from other parts of thecountry, doctors in governmentservice said they had reserva-tions about this findings. “TheState is experiencing unprece-dented community transmis-sion and the authorities arereluctant to accept the groundreality. The expatriates and peo-ple from other States have comeas an excuse for them,” said adoctor who spoke on condition

of anonymity.Vijayan said 27 persons were

infected because of social trans-mission. Six soldiers of the CISFand a member of an air crew alsotested positive on Friday. He saidthere were 2,908 covid patientsundergoing treatment in varioushospitals in the State. Kerala hastested 4,964 persons with Covid-19 till date.

While disclosing that theState has 130 hotspots, the ChiefMinister said the pandemic wasspreading all over the State.“There has been an increase inthe number of covid cases all dis-tricts of the State. There arepatients everywhere includingvillages and towns. Situation isserious in Thiruvananthapuramand Ernakulam.

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State Congress president MullapallyRamachandran on Friday accused the

Prime Minister Narendra Modi ledGovernment of foul play over the way theindependent court of the United Nationscame out with its judgment in the case oftwo Indian fishermen who were alleged-ly shot dead by two Italian marines whowere on board the Italian tanker ‘EnricaLexie' off the coast of Kerala.

The Congress party has said that thecase was seen only under the rules of nav-igation , while the criminal case was notlooked into and this is a huge lapse on thepart of the Modi Government.

The incident took place on February15, 2012. The Indian Navy intercepted theItalian tanker and detained the twomarines, triggering an international con-

flict over legal jurisdiction and function-al immunity.

The two marines were released andreturned to Italy after two and four years,respectively. The Arbitral Tribunal of theUnited Nations was tasked to resolve theconflict over jurisdiction.

Ramachandran in a statement won-dered why this particular judgement sur-faced only after a month since it wasannounced.

“This delay is purposefully done toescape the ire of the people and is alsoagainst the directive of the Supreme Court.The then UPA government and also thenKerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandydid their best to ensure justice for the vic-tims. But ever since Modi took over thereins, things went in the wrong directionas he and the Italian Government had asecret understanding,” said Ramachandran.

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The 11-day Goa Assemblysession may be curtailed to

a one-day event, in view of therising number of Covid-19cases in the State, Leader ofOpposition Digambar Kamatsaid on Friday, after an all-partymeeting with Speaker RajeshPatnekar at the state legislativeAssembly complex.

At the meeting, Oppositionlegislators have also recom-mended a virtual session of thestate Assembly.

“Today's meeting was aninformal one called by theSpeaker. There were discus-sions on various aspects takinginto consideration the Covid-19 situation. One suggestion isthat the assembly sessionshould be limited to one day for

passing of vote on accounts,”Leader of Opposition and for-mer Chief Minister DigambarKamat told reporters, afteremerging from the meetingwith other MLAs.

Kamat also said that inview of the Covid-19 pandem-ic, the state budget which waspresented some months backby Sawant “had no meaning”and there was no point in dis-cussing the financial papernow.

“The budget has no mean-ing. It will have to be reset. Allthese aspects will be discussedin upcoming (legislative)Business Advisory Committeemeeting. The Speaker has alsosaid that information abouthow states are managing stateAssembly sessions in otherstates like Maharashtra and

Delhi will be sought, before theBAC meeting,” Kamat said.

Kamat said that theSpeaker as well as other MLAsdiscussed the risks of holdinga prolonged assembly session,at a time when Covid-19 caseswere rising with a record 90plus cases reported onThursday.

“Apart from MLAs, thereare hundreds of persons whoare present during an Assemblysession including civil officers,policemen, Assembly staff,” theLeader of Oppositionsaid.

“There is the air condi-tioning factor, the rainy season.Cases are increasing on the out-side. The Speaker has said letus have a one-day session andthen a full-fledged session at alater date,” Kamat said.

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Four police personnel of the GomtiNagar extension police station in

Lucknow have been suspended followingthe death of a youth in custody.

The youth, police said, was broughtto the police station on Friday morningin connection with a theft and he was laterfound hanging with a belt. PoliceCommissioner in charge, Sanjay Singhal,has suspended an inspector and threeother police personnel in this regard. Hesaid that if found guilty after probe, a FIRwould be lodged against them.

According to reports, the youth wascaught by the caretaker when he tried tobreak into the house of a retired policeofficial in the early hours of Friday andwas later handed over to the police.

Amaravati: Andhra Pradeshreported 837 more coronaviruscases in the 24 hours ending 9am on Friday, taking the state'scorona vases to 16,934, the statenodal officer said. Eight deathsreported from different parts ofthe state took the state's deathtoll to 206.

Health officials said that258 more patients were curedand discharged from hospitalson Friday, taking the tally ofcured persons to 7,632.

As many as 9,096 personsare recieving treatment forCovid-19 at different hospitalsin Andhra Pradesh.

As many as 38,898 testswere conducted in the preced-ing 24 hours, taking the over-all number of tests conductedtill date to 9,71,611 till date.

On Friday, Kurnool report-ed 4 deaths, Chittoor 2 deathsand Krishna and East Godavaridistricts 1 death each in the last24 hours.

Anantapur reported thehighest daily tally of 149 cases,followed by Prakasam with139, and Kurnool with 116cases. Guntur with 80 cases,West Godavari with 57 cases,East Godavari with 56 casesand Visakhapatnam with 54

cases.On Friday, 27 returnees

from Telangana were amongthe new cases, apart from 9returnees from Karnataka, and3 from Delhi. Two cases eachfrom Rajasthan and WestBengal were reported while 1case was reported from TamilNadu. Till date, 2,111 returneesfrom other states have testedcorona positive.

Only two new cases werereported among foreignreturnees on Friday -- oneperson with travel history toSaudi Arabia and a returneefrom Singapore. IANS

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After denying her anyresponsible position in its

State working committee,Maharashtra BJP presidentChandrakant Patil on Fridayclaimed that former Ministerand disgruntled party leaderPankaja Munde would be vest-ed with “a big responsibility” inthe party’s central workingcommittee.

Two months after she was denied party nominationto contest the MaharashtraLegislative Council polls,Pankaja failed to make it to the list of 30 State party office bearers announced byPatil.

The list of state party officebearers comprised 12 vice pres-idents, six general secretaries,a treasurer and 12 secretaries.

Apart from nominating 30State party office bearers, theState BJP president named 68members of the party workingcommittee and 139 others asinvitee-members of the Stateworking committee.

Pankaja and other dis-gruntled party leaders likeEknath Khadse, Prakash Mehtaand Vinod Tawade have beennamed as members in the spe-cial-invitee members of theState Working committee.

Though the names of thestate party bigwigs like NitinGadkari, Devendra Fadnavis,Piyush Goyal and PrakashJavdekar also figure in the listof 58 special invitee-membersof the state party workingmembers, Pankaja and threeother disgruntled leaders will

have little or no say in the stateparty’s affairs in the State.

Asked about Pankaja hav-ing been denied a responsiblepost in the State party set up, Patil said: “Pankajataiwill get an important positionin the Central party set-up andshe will be a member of theparty’s state core committee”.

Given that Pankaja hasbeen consistently sidelined inthe state party set up and noeffort has been made to reha-bilitate her, there were notmany takers for Patil’s claim inthe state party set up.

It may be recalled thatPankaja had created a stir in theBJP in December last yearahead of her late fatherGopinath Munde’s 70th birthanniversary by joining handswith Khadse, announcing herresignation from the party’score group and daring theparty leadership to sack herfrom the party.

Even Khadse has also madeno bones about the manner inwhich he has been sidelined inthe party On December 2 lastyear, after meeting BJP leaderPankaja Munde, Khadse hadmade a shocking allegationafter meeting her that Pankajaand his daughter RohiniKhadse in the recent StateAssembly polls were defeateddue to a conspiracy hatched bysome party leaders.

In an apparent effort tosmooth the ruffled feathers ofPankaja, the party has appoint-ed her MP-sister PreetamMunde as the state party’s vicepresident, while it has nomi-nated Khadse’s daughter-in-law and MP Raksha as theparty's secretary.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Friday reviewed

the preparedness for the mon-soon and floods in the country,and directed officials to devel-op a well-planned scheme toreduce damage and casualties.

The Ministry of HomeAffairs said, in a statement, thatShah also sought action on pri-ority to provide permanentsolutions to the perennial floodproblems in Bihar, UttarPradesh and the northeasternstates.

The Home Ministeremphasised on better coordi-nation between different agen-cies to have a permanent sys-

tem for forecasting floods andrise in water levels in majorcatchment zones and areas ofthe country.

Shah held a high-levelmeeting to review preparednessof measures to deal with mon-soon and flood situation inmajor flood-prone river basinsin the country, the statementsaid. He directed the officials todevelop a well-planned schemeto reduce flooding and min-imise the loss to property andlives.

The Home Minister alsodirected the Ministry of JalShakti and Central WaterCommission (CWC) to reviewand assess data on real storagecapacity of major dams with a

view to ensure timely release ofwater and prevention of floods.

The secretary in theDepartment of WaterResources, River Developmentand Ganga Rejuvenationinformed about the majorfloods that had occurred in thecountry.

He apprised about thestructural measures, includ-ing management of dams,reservoirs, ongoing projects inNepal, flood protection mea-sures and non-structural mea-sures i.e. flood plain zoning,flood forecasting and way for-ward to mitigate effect of floodsin Ganga and BrahmaputraBasins.

A total of 40-million-

hectares area in India is proneto flood in which Ganga andBrahmaputra are main floodbasins and Assam, Bihar, UttarPradesh and West Bengal aremost flood-prone states, thestatement said.

The decisions taken in themeeting will go a long way tomitigate the sufferings of thelakhs of people in the countrywho have to face the fury offloods in terms of damage totheir crops, property, liveli-hood and precious lives, itsaid.

Senior officials of theNational Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) and the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) also gave presentations.

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In a marginal spike in infections and substantialincrease in fatalities, as many 198 people died

of Covid-19 and a record 6,334 others tested pos-itive for the pandemic in Maharashtra onFriday.

On a when the infected cases rose fromThursday’s highest-ever tally of 6,330 to 6,334on Friday, the number of reported deaths in thestate went up from 125 to 198 during the last24 hours.

With fresh fatalities and infections, the totalnumber of deaths mounted to 8,376 while thetotal infected cases jumped from 1, 86, 626 to1,92,990 on Friday. Of the 198 deaths, 150 deathsoccurred in the last 48 hours and the rest 48 arefrom the previous period.

On a day when the total number of patientsdischarged from various hospitals after fullrecovery since the second week of March thisyear touched 1, 04,687, the recovery rate in thestate stood at 54.24 per cent.

The mortality rate in the state is 4.34 percent. The state health authorities pegged the

number of “active cases” in the State at 79,911.Of the total 198 deaths reported on Friday,

Mumbai accounted for 73 deaths taking the totalnumber of deaths in the metropolis to 4,762,while the total number of infected cases shotup by 1,338 cases to touch 82,074.

In addition to 73 deaths recorded inMumbai, there were 50 deaths in Thane, 19 inPune, 15 in Solapur, 6 each in Palghar,Aurangabad and Jalgaon, 5 in Jalna, 4 inRaigad, 3 in Akola, 2 each in Dhule andAmravati and one each in Nashik,Ahmednagar, Nandurbar, Latur and Gondiya.There were two deaths in other states.

With 43634 infections and 1075 deaths,Thane has emerged as the second worst-hit dis-trict after Mumbai in the state.

With 25454 infections patients and 826deaths till now, Pune district has come thirdamong the affected districts. Out of 10,49,277samples sent to laboratories for testing, 1,92,990have tested positive (18.39%) for Covid-19 untilFriday. Currently, 5,89,448 people are in homequarantine while 42,371 people are in institu-tional quarantine.

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For the last two months, India andChina have been involved in a mil-itary and diplomatic stand-offalong the Line of Actual Control(LAC). The current skirmish is not

isolated from the main politics of China. Itis but an extension of the Communist Partyof China’s (CPC) domestic policy. Thedevelopments at the border have come at atime when the CPC is facing internationalbacklash over the outbreak of the pandem-ic. Back home, too, the Chinese are frustrat-ed over the CPC’s role in covering up thespread of the Coronavirus in Wuhan city,which eventually led to the deaths of thou-sands of people. As per the database leakedfrom the National University of DefenceTechnology in Changsha city, China couldhave had 6,40,000 cases instead of the offi-cial 84,000. This revelation has furtheralienated the CPC from the Chinese people.

What, however, is worrying is that 70years on, India’s Tibet dilemma remains.Before Tibet was invaded by China, there wasno sign of well-made road along the India-Tibet border. However, trade routes for packanimals existed. From Srinagar, a route runsto Leh and thence through Southern Tibetto Shigatse and Lhasa. From Lhasa, a much-used route goes to Chamdo. In short, therewas hardly any sign of a good road or anymajor bridge in Tibet. All of this changeddrastically after the Chinese invasion of Tibet.China became India’s new neighbour andwith this new development, the tranquilityacross the Himalayas was hijacked by anauthoritarian party-State.

Ever since the invasion of Tibet, thedevelopment of strategic roads became a toppriority for the CPC. It undertook massiveinfrastructure development projects formore than two decades. And by 1975, Chinahad completed 91 highways totalling 15,800km, with 300 permanent bridges in outerTibet alone, effectively connecting 97 percent of the region’s counties by roads. Thenthe People’s Liberation Army (PLA) startedfocussing on Tibet. Ever since, the numberof exercises and overall military activities inthe Lanzhou and Chengdu military regionshave been noteworthy. In one of the earlyinstances, in October 2011, the PLA wasreported to have carried out two joint exer-cises in the Chengdu and Lanzhou militaryregions.

The Global Times reported on January5, “In the new year exercises, the PLA TibetMilitary Command has deployed heli-copters, armoured vehicles, heavy artilleryand anti-aircraft missiles across the region:From Lhasa, capital of Tibet, with an eleva-tion of 3,700 metres to border defence front-lines with elevations of more than 4,000meters.” It further noted, “China’s latestweapons, including the Type 15 tank and thenew 155-millimetre vehicle-mounted how-itzer, were deployed in Tibet as the PLAbegan the first round of exercises in 2020.”Because of its continuous infrastructuredevelopment, today, the PLA is in a positionto carry out numerous military exercises

even on the inhospitable terrainsof Tibet.

One stone at a time: CPC’sterritorial strategy for futureclaims and control: Early in1995, after the PhilippinesGovernment discovered thatoctagonal bunker-type struc-tures were being constructedon a previously unoccupiedreef, the then Chinese ForeignMinister, Qian Qichen, hadclaimed that it was built by theauthorities of Hainan for theconvenience of Chinese fisher-men around the Spratly Island.Following this incident, therewas a series of diplomaticexchanges and visits by headsof both countries to satisfacto-rily resolve the issue. Despitenumerous diplomatic engage-ments, China continued toupgrade its physical presenceon the Mischief Reef. Laterthese structures became thebase for the CPC laying sover-eignty claim over the islands.

On November 26, 2016,satellite images released by theAsia Maritime TransparencyInitiative (AMTI) showed aseries of hexagonal structuresnow in place on each of theseven islets. They appear to belarge anti-aircraft guns andclose-in weapons systems(CIWS), AMTI said. In fact, thisweapon system can also be usedon land to protect the militarybase. By 2018, the reef hadbeen turned into a militarised

artificial island equipped withanti-ship cruise missiles.

As it is said, “Old habits diehard.” Despite pressurising Indiato stop the construction of roadsin the Galwan Valley andPangong Tso, China continues todevelop an enhanced transportnetwork and military infra-structure across Tibet’s regionsbordering India. The IndianGovernment should not allowthe installation of any temporaryor permanent structures by thePLA on the disputed territory.Any physical structure, eithertemporary or permanent, builtby the PLA should be either dis-mantled or a similar structure beinstalled in the area claimed bythe CPC. Else, it may argue inthe future that the structures arenothing more than shelters forthe PLA soldiers lost in theGalwan Valley. And the con-struction of roads or any otherpermanent military installationnear the disputed border maybecome a source of future claimsand control by China.

Dear CPC, home is whereyour threat is: In the history ofChina, the Chinese populationis a major factor for thedethronement of a number ofdynasties. China was not onlyinvaded many times by nomadicpeople from outside its bordersbut was also turned upsidedown many more times by itsown citizens, mainly peasants. Inall, there were 1,109 main mil-

itary conflicts between theChinese and the northernnomads from 215 BC to AD1684 and as many as 225,887recorded armed rebellionsbetween 210 BC and AD 1910within China. In 20th centuryChina, there were two massmovements, mostly led byyoung students, scholars and lit-erary figures. Later, people fromall walks of life joined in. Thetwo crucial movements were:The 1919 May 4 Movement andthe Tiananmen Square protests.In both these movements, poorgovernance, rampant officials’corruption, high unemploy-ment rate were the main caus-es for the outburst.

Before the TiananmenSquare protests, by October1988, the population of migrantlabourers in Beijing had reachedone million and was growingcontinuously. In Guangzhou,the capital of GuangdongProvince, more than 2.5 millionrural labourers flooded the cityover a short period betweenFebruary and March 1989. Notonly this, thousands of univer-sity graduates failed to get jobsof their interests and the unem-ployment rate was high. Risinginflation added to the woes. Allthese developments sowed theseeds of mass protests. In mod-ern times, too, despite the CPChaving an iron-fist control on theChinese people, between 1993and 2008, there were a total of

614,100 protests across China. This year, with the CPC

attempting to cover up informa-tion pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese peo-ple realised the importance offreedom of expression andaccess to the free flow of infor-mation. It was the denial of theserights that led to the death of LiWenliang and the spread ofCoronavirus in China. Thispandemic didn’t take a long timeto spread and brought the glob-al economy to its nadir.

China, being the source ofthe virus, has been the worst-hiteconomically. In late April, areport by Shandong-basedZhongtai Securities BrokerageCompany in China concludedthat the unemployment rate inChina is at 20.5 per cent withsome 70 million people out ofwork. While the official jobs datareleased by China’s nationalbureau of statistics on May 15put the unemployment rate inApril at six per cent.

Later, the report wasretracted and Li Xunlei, thedirector of the research unit ofZhongtai Securities, wasremoved from his post. Thisshows the CPC’s hyper-sensi-tivity towards unemploymentproblems in China. The onething that the CPC fears themost is the spectre of unem-ployment. During a conferenceon employment and entrepre-neurship related to generalcolleges and universities grad-uates on May 13, ChinesePremier Li Keqiang demandedmore emphasis be put on keygroups by offering college anduniversity graduates targettedjob-seeking services. One of themain reasons behind China’serratic behaviour in Asia is todivert the attention of aggriev-ed, frustrated and millions ofjobless people.

Xi’s predecessor, Mao-Zedong, too, had declared a waron India on account of growingunpopularity in China becauseof his failure of the Great LeapForward, which led to the deathof around 45 million people.Bertil Linter, author of China’sIndia War, concluded that “theborder dispute was only anexcuse to launch the 1962 war.”To secure his power firmly andto divert the attention of theChinese people, war wasdeclared against India amid theCuban crisis. In a bid to divertthe attention of the Chinese peo-ple on account of joblessness,the CPC is behaving erraticallywith its neighbours. In otherwords, in the coming days,developments inside China willshape its foreign policy becausethe real threat for the rulingparty lies within.

(The writer is is a formerresearch fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute)

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Sir — That Prasar Bharati has senta letter to the Press Trust of India(PTI), suggesting that journalismpractised by it was not in “nation-al interest,” wasn’t surprising.The supposedly autonomousbody is now said to be reviewingits future associations with PTI.Prasar Bharati used to pay �9.15crore annually to PTI for its ser-vices. However, since 2017, thepublic broadcaster has allegedlybeen holding back about 25 percent (current figure at �6.75crore) of the contribution as itwants to renegotiate the costs.

In tune with the NarendraModi-led Government at theCentre, Prasar Bharati seems to beequating “national interest” withthat of the Government. It appearsthat Prasar Bharati is upset withthe PTI for not just conducting aninterview with the ChineseAmbassador Sun Weidong —apparently for the first time theofficial conceded that the onus ofde-escalation of tension betweenIndia and China should fall on thelatter — but also for its tweet byIndia’s Ambassador to China,Vikram Misri, where he assertedChina’s obligation to move “back

to its side of the LAC”. In doingso, Misri incidentally acceptedthat the Chinese troops hadindeed ingressed the border and,thus, contradicted the PrimeMinister’s claim. It is likely thatthese two “offences” led PrasarBharati to take steps against PTI.

In the garb of nationalism, Modiand his Government seem to becoercing the media to carry onlythose articles which unfailinglyeulogise the Prime Minister. Thisis shameful.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

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Sir — The situation is still precar-ious in the national capital withmore than 300 active contain-ment zones and ever-rising Covidcases. Concerned authorities

must not only identify varioustrouble spots but also strike at thebasic fault lines.

The Government must con-sider imposing a suitable fine forthose not wearing masks andthose flouting social distancingnorms at public places. The ChiefMinister must think about reim-posing the lockdown in all vul-nerable areas of the capital, irre-spective of their extant promi-nence, proximity and locationsbefore it gets too late.

SwetaVia email

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Sir — In view of China’s nefari-ous design, India, too, must comeup with equal alacrity. A ban onChinese apps is welcome butuncertainty prevails over itsimplementation and the roadahead. Nevertheless, India hassent the message loud and clear:It will not take it lying down andretaliate with full force both onand off the battlefield.

ShantanuVia email

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As the Indian economy witnesses a majordownturn, predictably a negative growth, thedichotomy between monetary and fiscal pol-

icy becomes an irritant. Monetary management byallowing for a nearly �13 trillion loan to the corpo-rate, MSME, agriculture and other sectors of theeconomy is a huge release of capital stuck in thebanking and non-banking sector. Arguably thiswould have turned the wheels of industrial produc-tion but COVID-19, with its multiple slowdowneffects, won’t allow it to happen. Critics have point-ed out that the absence of open chest financing ofGovernment debt and securities, as well as no last-resort cash support to about 14 crore jobless migrantworkers, have depressed the economy both in theshort and long-term. This impacts productive activ-ity negatively in the secondary and tertiary sectorsof the economy with falling demand.

In the absence of fiscal stimuli, distressed andrisk assets in the market stand in the way of anyattempt at recovery. Monetary stimuli in theabsence of effective demand cannot boost the busi-ness cycle. A huge shortfall in revenue, from bothtax and non-tax sources, has only created a spurtin public debt and the consequent rate cut for con-trolling debt has created a precarious imbalancebetween real output and interest rates. Failing inter-est rates create a vicious cycle of inducing stress inasset-based funds that now have to look for stim-uli from financial institutions to survive from debt.In effect, resources of the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) and the available Government funds for loansrun the risk of turning into NPAs even in the short-term. So circulation of higher liquidity in situationsof Corona-induced insolvency presents a slipperyslope for the management of the macroeconomicpolicy.

The stimulus package of �20 lakh crore formacroeconomic management has not shown signsof much-needed neutralisation of the liquidity trapby raising demand for credit. The package establish-es that there is no liquidity crunch and indeed India’sforeign reserve reaches a peak of over $500 billion,covering much of its import bill. In such a situation,the demand for Government securities and bondsshould have gone higher but the demand situationis such that it prods the investors to hold back suchsecurities. In contrast, the Reliance JIO deal, by rais-ing funds through rights issues in the stock mar-ket, received a preferential treatment from theMinistry of Corporate Affairs to only offset its hugedebt without corresponding expansion of the cred-it market, which could have helped the banks to off-set the situation of a liquidity trap. Had theGovernment issued new bonds and securitiesusing the cut in the rate and generated some addi-tional funds like its blue-eyed boy Reliance, thatwould have probably eased excess liquidity. Instead,given the increasing rate of macroeconomic unem-ployment, almost at 14 per cent, the need for addi-tional funds for employment generating activitiesby way of stimulus packages announced by theGovernment got immobile in the widening liquid-ity trap. The Government has already printed cur-rency notes worth �1.6 lakh crore and only succeed-ed in creating a good accounting ratio between itsincome, expenditure and debt instead of flinchingitself out of the liquidity trap.

What can extricate the economy from the liq-uidity trap is the generation of demand, demand andmore demand. Significantly, two correlated and yethighly-fluctuating monetary instruments, likeIndia’s foreign reserve touching a record $500 bil-lion as external trade falls and the Government’s

internal borrowings from the marketplummeting only to pull down reporates, present a hard picture of control offund flows. It is not clear how the RBI shallchannelise reinvestment of cheaper bor-rowings into production, while suchinvestments in the stock market at presentdo not ensure gains. It is in this grim sce-nario that the Centre’s declaration of flex-ibility in tax slabs to industries, as part ofthe stimulus package, only helps thebusinesses to keep afloat. Deflationarypressure continues unchecked in theproduct market as the Government scam-pers for attracting investment throughfloating rate bonds.

The recent increase of employment inagriculture with the Centre’s �1.5 trillionpackage has generated some demand, yetit does not show signs of revival. Reversemigration from cities to rural areas is animmediate cause of such increaseddemand but last-mile delivery issues donot allow it to be an impact of theGovernment’s �1.5 lakh crore package. Ineffect, if one combines a stalemate in for-eign trade and piling reserve with fallingrates of investment and profit, the stimu-lus on the demand side cannot overcomethis simultaneous fall in both supply anddemand. Restarting the economy to off-set the slump in income and demand,combined with fresh doses of investmentin greenfield areas through stocks, are stillto gather much momentum against theearly signs of a recession. Recessionarytrends in the manufacturing sector com-bined with a deflationary fall in theWholesale Price Index produce a cascadeof compression in the economy, makingrating agencies predict negative GDPgrowth for at least the next two years.

A very paradoxical question to ask is,does a programmatic infusion of demandas the stimulus package enforce austerityand fund crunch arising out of an inher-ited fiscal deficit at the level of nearly fiveper cent of the present GDP? The ques-

tion could be further teetered by askingwhether recessionary trends at the macro-economic level require an open chest fund-ing for every sector of the economy, start-ing with the most distressed. The behav-iour of risk assets such as FranklinTempleton and DHFL withdrawing $25billion from the Indian stock market fur-ther depresses the already sluggishdemand. Does this recessionary symptomcause a decrease in the capacity of the Stateand the Government to respond to thechain of fiscal demands without saving itsback by generation of additional incomethrough revenue and extra-revenue routes?

Possibly this question brings out thereason why the Centre is raising the pricesof petrol, diesel and other fuels when crudeprices are at the lowest. Could this be theonly means to generate extra revenue sothat fiscal deficit can be covered up andprofits made by oil companies could beused for funding a longer crisis? Given thelockdown-induced loss of capacity, theGovernment is adopting this easy route inspite of its deleterious impact on the pricesof essential goods. The situation returnsto the same vicious cycle as fall in income,investment, interest, wage and demandmake it impossible to revive the economydespite good supply side management interms of monetary policy. Post lockdown,the economy then looks like a quicksandthat eats up the stimulus without thedesired impact. The economy continuesto move in the trajectory of decline in realGDP and rates of profit. This lies beyondthe scope of monetary and fiscal readjust-ments as the Centre struggles to maintainthe fundamentals of the economy.

Nothing could have been moretreacherous than the Chinese aggressionat this time of crisis. Though theGovernment is able to make large pay-ments for defence purchases such as �3 bil-lion to the US, �2.1 billion to Israel, �16billion to Russia, yet there is a seeming lackof funds for medical preparedness to fight

COVID-19 and defence preparedness tofight China. With a heady mix of grow-ing income inequality, falling consump-tion and revenue and stressed assets inmoney markets, a Government with itshands full of funds does not have manyoptions to spend. As a result, the much-needed panacea of Direct Cash Transferto 25 crore migrant workers and otherrural labourers has not been taken up byan internally and externally-shakenGovernment.

One requires a proper framework tounderstand such a dysfunctional state ofthe economy. Economist Thomas Piketty’sfamous thesis on India’s growth story, interms of the falling contribution of peo-ple at the bottom and an artificial attemptby the Government to keep rate of inter-est lower than the rate of return from cap-ital, seems to dominate the money mar-ket. The absence of an appropriate schemefor re-distribution of profit and income forsocial good turns advantages in themoney market ineffective as prognosticat-ed by Piketty and Paul Krugman.

In the deflationary pressure inducedby the pandemic, what remains inexplic-able is the hoarding of funds, which cre-ates a suffocating liquidity trap in the mar-ket. Piketty’s suggestion that India shouldinitiate a universal basic income schemecould have balanced out this excess liquid-ity in favour of increased demand had theGovernment succeeded in kicking off theeconomy at the level of pre-lockdown pro-ductivity.

Instead, the Government’s austeremove to curtail public expenditure due torevenue shortfall is in sync with the exist-ing recessionary trend in the economy. TheChinese perception of this economicrecession is the salient factor that promptsChina to create a war-like situation withIndia in the interest of augmenting its owninternal demands.

(The writer is a Political Economy ana-lyst and Philosopher based in Shillong)

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Though the economic fallout ofthe pandemic is more vivid, itsimpact has political dimensions,

too. Many short-term measuresimposed now may have a long-terminfluence on both national and inter-national governance and political ide-ology. The political impact, in thenational context, seems to be arisingout of four factors: Nature of responseby countries; manner of response;deepening of societal fault lines andnature of the regimes vis-à-vis theireffectiveness in controlling the virus.

It might impact the world order,too, due to the shifting of the balanceof power and the ideological debate on

global cooperation vs isolationismand liberalism vs authoritarianism.

Normally, the response to a dis-aster is 3R: Rescue, Relief andRehabilitation. But in the case of theCorona, a fourth R has crept in and thisis Regulation. The lockdown resultedin complete disruption of all move-ment, the economy and personal lib-erty. Across countries, not only theframework of regulations but themanner of imposition has a commonpattern.

The executive, with or without theconsent of the legislature and otherstakeholders, gave itself absolute pow-ers and responded by executivedecrees. The differential impact of sud-den economic disruption on differentstrata of society has exacerbated thestrain across the existing societal faultlines of rich vs poor, urban vs rural,region vs region, local vs migrants,employer vs employees and so on.

The crisis has also fuelled debateon the effectiveness of authoritarianregimes vis-à-vis democracies as major

democracies like the US, Germany andItaly faltered in their effort whileauthoritarian regimes of Singapore andVietnam controlled the virus well.Now, let us see the likely impact. Thefirst political impact is the centralisa-tion of power. The ruling elite inHungary, the Philippines, China, ElSalvador and Uganda have used thecrisis to accredit themselves withemergency powers, moving them fur-ther away from democracy. In India,the invoking of the National DisasterManagement Act, too, resulted incentralisation of powers in the nation-al executive.

The second is the abridgment offundamental rights, expanded Statesurveillance and banishing of protests.In Hungary, Jordan, Chile, Thailandand so on, punishments were pre-scribed for spreading misinformation,which opens the possibility of muz-zling any voice of dissent. Invasive sur-veillance systems in Israel, SouthKorea and Singapore, unthinkableearlier, are being hailed as effective

measures for slowing infections. Plus, the social strains caused by

economic disruption may changepolitical alignments and the landscapeof political debate by creating morefractured societies. The spirit of fed-eralism has also been impacted due toexcessive centralisation of power.

Another impact of this outbreakmay be reduction in the influence ofthe neo-liberal trend of decreasing roleof the State, considering the strong,dominant and pivoting role played bythe State to counter the virus. Giventhe experience of the current crisis, itwill be difficult to argue that the pri-vate sector and philanthropy can be asubstitute for a competent State dur-ing a national emergency.

While it may be argued that theseare emergency measures and wereneeded to tackle an unprecedented sit-uation with a firm hand, it cannot bepredicted with certainty that all thesemeasures will be done away with oncethe crisis is over. More so because thiscontagion is going to stay for some

time. The longer it prevails, the moredifficult it will be to dismantle emer-gency powers. Forget about authori-tarian or tending to be authoritarianregimes, it may tempt even democra-tically-elected governments to contin-ue the emergency measures in thesame or modified form, to centralisepowers and strengthen their hold onthe polity, given the comfort it providesto the ruling elite. The most danger-ous possibility is posed by the use ofhigh-end technologies for surveil-lance, which opens up many possibil-ities for misuse during normal times,too.

The current crisis has also broughtto the fore the debate over the futureof a new world order. There may betwo types of impacts on the worldorder. First may be the shift in balanceof power and resultant shifting dom-inance over international organisa-tions. The second might be a boost tothe ideology of isolationism vis-à-visglobal cooperation and authoritarian-ism vis-à-vis liberal democracy.

The global distribution of powerseems to be shifting away from the USand Europe, which are faring badly incontaining the disaster as compared tothe East Asian countries which havefared well. The slogan of “AmericaFirst” under the Trump presidency andits unwillingness to take the positionof a global leader, before and duringthe pandemic, has led to the beginningof China’s dominance and aggressionin the new world order. Beijing wasalready silently working towards dom-ination in the economic order, globaltrade balance and supply chains,spreading hegemony over the rulingelite of developing countries, in Africaand Asia through debt-trap diploma-cy and more recently in capturing theUnited Nations institutions. The out-break has only accelerated this process.

At the ideological level, the disrup-tion of global supply chains, the lead-ing role of State actors and centralis-ing tendencies may lead to a domi-nance of nationalist, isolationist andilliberal ideologies on the internation-

al arena. Globally, at the national level,we may see a rise in authoritarian, cen-tralising tendencies and changingpolitical landscape on account of frac-tured societies. At the internationallevel, in the absence of a change in USpolicy and its hesitation in providinga rallying point for liberal democracies,it would be a free road for China toadvance its ideology, technology andpolitico-economic dominance in theemerging world order.

Some scholars point to the lack ofgoodwill of China as a counter argu-ment to its rising influence but wemust remember that global politics isnot a popularity contest. Hard politi-co-economic facts cannot be ignored.Second, the failure to ensure globalcooperation in tackling the pandem-ic may lead to rising nationalist andisolationist tendencies and wear out theeffectiveness of international organi-sations.

(The writer is a senior IAS officerserving in Bihar. Views expressed hereare personal)

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Johannesburg: South Africa onFriday confirmed anotherrecord high number of dailyvirus cases with 8,728 as anx-iety grows in Johannesburg, thecountry's latest hot spot.

The city has more than22,000 cases and Gautengprovince, which also includesthe capital, Pretoria, now hasnearly 30 per cent of the coun-try's cases.

South Africa has Africa'smost confirmed cases withmore than 168,000. AP

Paris: The Paris appeals courton Friday upheld a decision toend a years-long investigationinto the plane crash that sparkedRwanda's 1994 genocide, citinglack of sufficient evidence.

The probe has damagedFrance-Rwanda relations foryears, because it targeted sev-eral people close to currentRwandan President PaulKagame. His supportersdenounce the investigation asan attempt to exonerateFrance's suspected role in thegenocide. AP

Manila: The Philippine foreignsecretary warned China onFriday of “the severestresponse” if ongoing Chinesemilitary exercises in the dis-puted South China Sea spillover to Philippine territory.

Foreign Secretary TeodoroLocsin Jr said China's People'sLiberation Army has been stag-ing exercises off the ParacelIslands since July 1 and Chinesemaritime officials have pro-hibited all vessels from navi-gating within the area of themaneuvers.

After checking the coordi-nates of the no-entry zone,where the Chinese militarymaneuvers are being staged,Locsin said the waters off theParacels, which are also claimedby Vietnam, “do not impinge onPhilippine territory” althoughhe raised some concern.

“Should the exercises spillover to Philippine territory,then China is forewarned thatit will be met with the severestresponse, diplomatic and what-ever else is appropriate,” Locsinsaid in a statement withoutelaborating.

The Philippine warning toChina over their territorialconflicts is the strongest so farthis year and comes despite animprovement in relations sincePresident Rodrigo Duterte took

office in 2016.Vietnam protested in April

after a Chinese coast guard shiprammed and sank a boat witheight fishermen off the ParacelIslands. The Philippines backedVietnam and protested twonew territorial districtsannounced by China in largeswaths of the sea, adding thatChina's assertive actions weretaking place while the regionwas preoccupied with the coro-navirus pandemic.

Locsin said those territori-al districts in the disputed waterswere “null and void” for beingdevoid of basis in internationallaw. “This is the problem withplaying fast and loose with his-torical narratives and historicalnames,” Locsin said. “They openthemselves to error; unless thereal purpose is to excuse unchal-

lenged mistakes that may overtime harden into rights.”

China, like any otherpower, can invoke freedom ofnavigation while carrying outmilitary exercises, Locsin said,but added that such passagesshould be done in a straightand uninterrupted voyage.

“We continue to look toChina, as our nearest andbiggest trading partner,” Locsinsaid, adding that its participa-tion is essential to the successof any post-coronavirus eco-nomic recovery. But he calledon “the erring parties to refrainfrom escalating tension andabide by the responsibilitiesunder international law” andexercise self-restraint in takingactions that could escalate dis-putes, especially during thepandemic. AP

Paris: French PresidentEmmanuel Macron on Fridaynamed Jean Castex, who coor-dinated France's virus reopen-ing strategy, as the country'snew prime minister.

The relatively low-profileCastex replaces EdouardPhilippe, who resigned earlierin the day. Macron is reshuf-fling the government to focuson restarting the economy aftermonths of lockdown.

Castex, 55, is a career pub-lic servant who has workedwith multiple governments.France's gradual reopening

plan has been seen as general-ly successful so far.

Many government mem-bers are expected to be replacedin the reshuffle.

In an interview given toseveral local newspapers onThursday, Macron, said he isseeking a “new path” to rebuildthe country for the two remain-ing years of his term.

He praised Philippe's “out-standing work” in the pastthree years.

“I will need to make choic-es to lead (the country) downthe path,” he said. The reshuf-

fle comes days after a greenwave swept over France inlocal elections. Macron saw hisyoung centrist party defeated inFrance's biggest cities and fail-ing to plant local roots acrossthe country.

It was planned even beforeSunday's voting, as Macron'sgovernment faced obstaclesand criticism before and dur-ing the virus crisis.

As the pandemic was peak-ing in the country in March andApril, authorities came underfire for the lack of masks, testsand medical equipment. AP

Lahore: A Pakistani court onFriday dismissed a formeraccountability court judge overa controversial video scandal inwhich he purportedly confessedto have sentenced deposedPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif toseven years in a corruptioncase under pressure.

The Lahore High Court'sseven-member administrativebody headed by Chief JusticeQasim Khan announced thedecision to dismiss Islamabadaccountability court judgeArshad Malik.

Malik had convicted Sharifin December 2018 in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruptioncase and also fined him USD 25million. In July 2019, Sharif 'sdaughter, Maryam Nawaz,

released a purported video ofMalik in which he confessedthat he had been “blackmailedand pressured” to convict thePML-N supreme leader.

He indirectly referred to theintelligence agencies that putpressure on him. The judge haddenied the allegations, sayingthere was no pressure on him toconvict Sharif and that thevideos shown by Maryam of hisalleged confession at a pressconference were “fake and basedon lies”. Welcoming the LHC'sdecision on Friday, PML-NPresident Shehbaz Sharif andVice President Maryam saidthat dismissal of formerIslamabad accountability courtjudge Malik “proved the inno-cence” of Sharif. PTI

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The Pentagon said it was“concerned” about Chinese

military exercises around adisputed archipelago in theSouth China Sea, warning thatthe maneuvers will “furtherdestabilise” the region.

China's expanding mili-tary presence in the contestedwaters has worried several of itsneighbors, and Washingtonrejects Beijing's territorialclaims to much of the region,including the Paracel Islands.

“The Department ofDefense is concerned about thePeople's Republic of China(PRC) decision to conductmilitary exercises around theParacel Islands in the SouthChina Sea on July 1-5,” thePentagon said in a statement onThursday.

The activities “furtherdestabilise the situation” in thearea claimed by China,Vietnam and Taiwan, it said.

But Beijing rounded on thecriticism, saying Friday that thedrills were “within the scope ofChina's territorial sovereignty.”

“Some countries outsidethis region regularly travel farand wide to the South ChinaSea to put on large-scale mili-tary exercises, flexing theirmuscle,” said foreign ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian at aroutine briefing.

“This is the fundamentalreason impacting the stability

of the South China Sea situa-tion.”

The Paracels are a group ofislands equidistant from thecoast of China and Vietnam,claimed by both countries aswell as Taiwan, and a regularsource of tension.

The US also regularly con-ducts so-called “freedom ofnavigation operations” in theSouth China Sea in order tostand up to Beijing, with the USNavy sometimes sending war-ships to the Paracels. Theregion is believed to have valu-able oil and gas deposits.

In April, a Chinese shiprammed and sunk aVietnamese fishing boat nearthe Paracel Islands, notching uptensions between the two coun-tries.

Vietnam said Friday that ithad also delivered a protestnote to China, warning “not torepeat similar violations in thefuture.”

Such exercises also violateBeijing's “commitments underthe 2002 Declaration on theConduct of Parties in the SouthChina Sea to avoid activitiesthat would complicate or esca-late disputes and affect peaceand stability,” it said.

The declaration, signed bythe Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN) coun-tries, said all parties would“avoid activities that wouldcomplicate or escalate disputesand affect peace and stability.”

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Lahore: At least 20 PakistaniSikh pilgrims returning fromNankana Sahib were killedwhen the driver of the mini-busthey were travelling reported-ly tried to take a short cut toavoid a shut railway crossingand rammed the vehicle into apassenger train in Pakistan'sPunjab province on Friday,officials said.

The mini-bus carryingaround 26 Sikh pilgrims, allfrom Peshawar, hit the ShahHussain Express which wascoming from Karachi to Lahoreat a crossing near Sheikhupuradistrict at around 1.30 pm,police said.

According to Rescue 1122officials, at least eight peoplewere injured in the accident, allof whom were shifted toDistrict Headquarters Hospital,Sheikhupura, Dawn newspaperreported.

The gate at the crossingwas closed and the driverapparently tried to take a short-cut instead of waiting for thegate to open, senior policeofficer Ghazi Salahuddin toldreporters at the crash site.

“Twenty passengers diedthat included women and chil-dren,” he said.

The Evacuee Trust

Property Board (ETPB)spokesperson Amir Hashmisaid the bus was carrying most-ly Sikh pilgrims to GurdwaraSacha Sauda in Farooqabad inthe district.

“They had come toNankana Sahib from Peshawar.After staying in NanakanaSahib, they were leaving forPeshawar. The ETPB securityhad escorted them till the lim-its of Nankana Sahib,” he said.

Police have denied reportsthat the crossing wasunmanned.

Pakistan Railways ChiefExecutive Officer Dost AliLaghari has set up a commit-tee comprising three senior

officers to investigate the inci-dent. It will present its initialreport by Saturday “so that itcan be determined which sidewas at fault”, according to thepress release.

“Action will be taken inaccordance with the law againstwhomever is held responsiblefor this accident,” the Railwaysstatement said.

The rescue teams reachedthe spot and shifted the injuredto the district headquartershospital, a statement by theRailways Ministry said.

The railways said a divi-sional engineer has been sus-pended from service and aninquiry has been launched. PTI

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Istanbul: The fiancee of JamalKhashoggi told a Turkish courtFriday that the WashingtonPost columnist was lured to hisdeath at the Saudi Consulate inIstanbul through “a greatbetrayal and deception,” andshe asked that all personsresponsible for his killing bebrought to justice.

Hatice Cengiz spoke at theopening of the trial in absen-tia of two former aides ofSaudi Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman and 18other Saudi nationals who werecharged in Turkey for

Khashoggi's grisly slaying. Thejournalist's 2018 killing at theconsulate sparked internation-al condemnation and cast acloud of suspicion over theprince.

The 20 Saudi defendants allleft Turkey, and Saudi Arabiarejected Turkish demands fortheir extradition. Some of themen were put on trial inRiyadh behind closed doors.The proceedings were widelycriticised as a whitewash.Khashoggi's family memberslater announced they had for-given his killers. AP

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Dubai: An online video andmessages purportedly claimingresponsibility for a fire that ana-lysts say damaged a centrifugeassembly plant at Iran's under-ground Natanz nuclear sitedeepened the mystery onFriday around the incident.

The multiple, differentclaims by a self-described groupcalled the “Cheetahs of theHomeland” included languageused by several exiled Iranianopposition organizations, aswell as focused almost entirelyon Iran's nuclear program,

viewed by Israel as a danger toits very existence.

The disparate messages, aswell as the fact Iran experts hadnever heard of the group before,raised questions about whetherNatanz again had faced sabo-tage by a foreign nation as it hadduring the Stuxnet computervirus outbreak believed to havebeen engineered by the USand Israel.

“If it is proven that ourcountry has been attacked bycyberattacks, we will respond,”warned Gen Gholam Reza

Jalali, the head of Iran's militaryunit in charge of combatingsabotage, according to a reportlate Thursday by the Mizannews agency.

Iranian officials havesought to downplay the fireearly Thursday, calling it onlyan “incident” that affected an“industrial shed.”

However, a released photoand video broadcast by Iranianstate television of the siteshowed a two-story brick build-ing with scorch marks and itsroof apparently destroyed. AP

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Ankara: An explosion at a fire-works factory in northwesternTurkey on Friday killed fourpeople and injured at least 97others, officials said.

There were 186 workers atthe factory outside the town ofHendek, in Sakarya province,Health Minister Fahrettin Kocatold reporters.

Koca, who travelled to thearea along with two otherministers, said the explosionkilled four workers while 97others were hospitalized.Sixteen of the injured werelater discharged, he said,adding that of the remainingworkers, just one was in criti-cal condition.

The cause of the blast atthe factory, which is awayfrom residential areas, wasunder investigation. AP

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Afemale Islamic State (ISIS) supporter was

on Friday sentenced to lifeimprisonment after pleadingguilty to terrorism charges,including a plot to bombLondon's famous St. Paul'sCathedral.

Safiyya Amira Shaikh, a37-year-old Muslim convertwho was born MichelleRamsden, was arrested inOctober last year following anundercover operation bycounter-terrorism officers.

At a hearing at the Old

Bailey court in London, sheadmitted to terrorism offencesearlier this year and was sen-tenced this week to life impris-onment, with a minimumterm of 14 years behind barsbefore being considered forparole.

“Safiyya Shaikh chose tolive her life as a violent extrem-ist with a murderous hatred ofthose who did not share hertwisted version of Islam,” saidJenny Hopkins, Head of theSpecial Crime and CounterTerrorism Division at the UK'sCrown Prosecution Service(CPS).

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Nicosia: Cyprus' beleagueredtourism sector got some goodnews after the governmentannounced on Friday that trav-elers from the UK will beallowed entry into the eastMediterranean island nationnext month without having toundergo a compulsory 14-dayquarantine.

But Health MinisterConstantinos Ioannou said thatdepends on whether U.K.Coronavirus infection ratesstay at the current low ebb.

Ioannou said that as of

Aug. 1 Britain will be groupedwith 14 other countries includ-ing France, Italy and Spainfrom which travelers will berequired to obtain a health cer-tificate declaring them coron-avirus-free three days prior toboarding a flight.

“The decision will beimplemented on the condi-tion that the United Kingdomcontinues to post the same pos-itive epidemiological results,”Ioannou said after a cabinetmeeting with a scientific advi-sory body. AP

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Johannesburg: The southernAfrica country of Botswana isstruggling to investigate thereasons for the mysteriousdeaths of over 350 elephants inthe popular Okavango Deltanature reserve.

Authorities in Botswana,home to a third of Africa'sdeclining elephant population,are struggling to send samplesfor analysis to internationalagencies to determine the causeof the deaths due to the lack offlights because of the COVID-

19 lockdown in the region.The sudden mass deaths of

elephants, which scientists havecalled a conservation disaster,were first spotted during an aer-ial survey in early May.

The number of elephantsdied have since risen to over350, most of them close towatering holes which haveprompted suggestions that theymight have died from poison-ing. But other scientists point-ed out that if the water wasindeed poisoned, it would have

killed other animals as well.Local experts have already

ruled out anthrax as a possiblecause, after about 100 elephantsdied of that disease last year.

“Some of the elephants weobserved were moving about incircles in a kind of semi-con-scious way before just fallingdown and perishing instantly,”an unnamed pilot involved inaerial surveys told local media.

Scientists believe that theremight be a neurological cause forthe deaths because of this. PTI

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Tata Steel has finally agreedto the demands of workers

at its IJmuiden unit in theNetherlands, saying noemployee will lose his job,according to labour union FNVMetaal. In a statementissued on Friday, the Dutchworkers’ union said it hasreached an agreement with themanagement of Tata Steel inthe Netherlands.

Tata Steel also confirmedreaching an agreement with theunion.

In a statement, the com-pany said it has reached anagreement with its Dutchunions to resolve the differ-ences which resulted in thestrike action in IJmuiden.

As per the negotiations,which finished last late night,the company said in the

Netherlands there will be nocompulsory redundancies fromthe company’s transformationprogramme. RoelBerghuis, director of FNVMetaal, said: After 25 days ofstrike, the management of TataSteel finally listens to the wish-es of the employees.

Hard agreements havebeen made to maintainemployment. No employee willbe fired in IJmuiden during theupcoming reorganisation fromTata Steel Europe. Inaddition, the employment pact,which contains agreements onjob retention, has been extend-ed by five years until October1, 2026, he said in the state-ment. “The pact alsocontains agreements aboutworking less for older employ-ees. The current generationpact has therefore been extend-ed by two years until December

31, 2024. This pact includes the pos-

sibility of working 50 per centafter the age of 60, while retain-ing 100 per cent pension accru-al and 77 to 90 per cent ofwages, depending on theamount of the current salary, “the union said.

Federatie NederlandseVakverenigingen (FNV) said isvery satisfied with the agree-ment and it will now present itto its members as soon as pos-sible.

Berghuis said, “Thisagreement counterbalances therisks we saw coming from TataSteel Europe. It shows thatstriking pays off. I am veryproud of everyone

who helped to achieve thisresult.” The Dutch operations ofthe company were facing con-tinuous protests and demon-strations since June 10.

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The Government is likely toenhance the liquidity pack-

age for distribution utilities to�1.25 lakh crore from �90,000crore announced in May,according to a source.

The liquidity packageannounced by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanas part of more than �20 lakhcrore stimulus for COVID-19-hit economy, would beextended for payment of out-standing dues by two monthstill May 2020.

Initially the package wasfor granting loans by PowerFinance Corporation and RECLtd to discoms for payment oftheir dues till March 2020.

“Ministry of Power hasfirmed up a proposal to hikethe �90,000 crore liquiditypackage for discoms to �1.25lakh crore,” a source privy to

the development said. Earlier in the day, Power

Minister RK Singh in a virtu-al conference with state ener-gy ministers said that the peri-od of outstanding dues wouldbe extended till May 2020 asagainst March 2020 under theliquidity package.

He said that the stateshave requested for a hike in theliquidity package and extensionof period outstanding dues byfew more months due to theimpact of COVID-19 inducedlockdown.He also told thatstates have asked for �93,000crore loans under the packageand �20,000 crore has beensanctioned so far.

At the time of announcingthe package in May,Sitharaman had told that statediscoms dues were �94,000crore. Bearing the brunt oflockdown, the discoms out-standing has swollen further.

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Chinese tech giant unicornByteDance Ltd. Is antici-

pating a loss of over $6 billionafter three of its apps, includ-ing the hugely popular videoapp TikTok, were banned byIndia this week, a media reporthere said. Besides Tiktok, Indiabanned on Monday 58 otherapps with Chinese links,including the popular UCBrowser, for engaging in activ-ities “prejudicial to sovereign-ty and integrity of India,defence of India, security ofstate and public order”. The bancame in the wake of the ongo-ing stand-off along the Line ofActual control in easternLadakh with Chinesetroops.The $6 billion amountis most likely more than thecombined losses for all theother Chinese apps banned byIndia, China’sCaixinglobal.Com reported,

quoting sources close to thecompany’s senior management.

ByteDance became one ofChina’s latest homegrown tech-nology companies to run intogrowing resistance from for-eign governments wary of theperceived ties to the Chinesegovernment and concernsabout protecting user data, itsaid.Describing India’s ban of59 China-developed apps asunprecedented, the report saidit is a huge blow to the globalexpansion of TikTok, which istouted as the most popularChinese app overseas. India isits largest market in terms ofusers outside China, where theservice is called Douyin.

The ByteDance appsbanned were its short videoplatforms TikTok and VigoVideo, as well as its social net-working app Helo. Tencent’smessaging platform WeChatand five of its other apps werealso banned. Other big tech

China firms, including AlibabaGroup Holding Ltd. And BaiduInc., also had their productsbanned.

All the 59 apps have nowbeen removed from Apple Inc.And Google LLC’s app storesfor the Indian market.

TikTok was downloadedin India 611 million times inthis year’s first quarter, equat-ing to 30.3% of its total down-loads worldwide in the quarterand nearly double the totalnumber of India downloads forall of 2019, the report quotedanother publication,SensorTower, as saying.

The consequences ofIndia’s latest decision could bemore long-lasting, analysts toldCaixin.

Responding to the Indiangovernment’s move, TikToksaid it would fully comply withthe decision. ByteDanceemploys over 2,000 full-timelocal staff in India.

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Reliance Jio has openedJioMeet app for general

public, which can support up to100 users in a session, accord-ing to its website.

The application has nowbeen made available for publicafter increase in usage of webconferencing apps like Zoom,Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex,Google Meet, among others, inthe wake of coronavirus out-break.”As a host of thecall/meeting, you can invite upto 100 participants includingyourself,” JioMeet website said.

While prevalent web con-ferencing apps have beencharging fees for getting a largenumber of users in a session,Jio is neither charging any feenor has put any time limit onthe sessions at present.

According to thecompany sources, the app wasbeing used by Jio employeesearlier, but now it has beenopened for the public.

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Reflecting a change in con-sumer behaviour amid the

COVID-19 pandemic, sales ofdo-it-yourself (DIY) productsand repairing tools have surged90 per cent month-on-monthon Snapdeal, the e-commerceplatform said on Friday.

Sales of such productshave increased both in themetros and tier-II cities. WhileDelhi-NCR, Bengaluru andMumbai recorded the highestsales in metros, most non-metro orders came fromChandigarh, Nagpur, Lucknow,Mysore and Coimbatore.

“Increase in the sales ofDIY products and repairingtools indicate people are takingutmost precautions in theirdaily lives. They are choosingsafety over the comfort ofengaging external help and areopting for a more self-reliantlifestyle,” a Snapdealspokesperson said in a state-ment. Most DIY products

doing well are priced under Rs800. The highest-selling DIYproducts on Snapdeal arehousehold hand toolboxescomprising a range of screw-drivers, pliers, vise grips, clawhammer, socket wrench, ratch-et handle, hacksaw frame, tapemeasure, electrical voltagetester and electric tape, amongothers.

The sale of electric ironsand ironing tables has grown5X in the last two monthsfrom previous levels, the state-ment added. Users are alsopicking wall painting brushes,rollers and spray cans for mis-cellaneous painting works athome. There is also anincrease in demand for pestcontrol items, insecticides andspray guns. The sale of sewingmachines and sewing kits forhome tailoring and alterationshas surged, with stapler-likehand sewing machines, whichenable users to complete sim-ple stitching works easily, beingthe best seller.

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The production of state-runCoal India declined by 63

per cent on the first day ofthree-day strike by its workersaffiliated to five trade unions,according to a company offi-cial.

The overburden removal,or clearing of top soil to makecoal seams ready for mining,was 57.84 per cent onThursday, the official said.CoalIndia produced 4,81,000 tonnesof coal on Thursday, which is37 per cent of the last 10 daysaverage production (from June22 to July 1) of 12,96,900tonnes, the official said.Protesting trade unions, how-ever, had claimed that on thefirst day of the strike there wasno production and dispatch.

A coal ministry officialsaid that 37 per cent of pro-duction could happen becauseof around 1 lakh contractworkers employed by CoalIndia. The coal dispatch by CILon the first day of the strike was41.14 per cent at 5,78,000

tonnes, when compared to14,05,000 tonnes of averagecoal dispatched in the last 10days (from June 22 to July 1),the company official said. Theoverburden removal was also58 per cent of the normalremoval, the official said.

Normal removal, he said,has been calculated as averageof previous 10 days immedi-ately prior to the strike day, hesaid.

The ministry official saidthat the “overburden removalwas good due to the contribu-tion made by the contract

workers, mostly engaged inoverburden removal work.”

On Thursday, there wasan attendance of 32.36 percent as 63,581 employeesreported to work, in compari-son to 1,96,487 employees whoreported to work on June 22 inCoal India and it differentsubsidiaries, the official said.Five trade unions, includingRSS-affiliated BharatiyaMazdoor Sangh (BMS), work-ing in Coal India Ltd (CIL)went on a three-day strikefrom Thursday to protest thedecision of the government tostart commercial coal mining.

According to analysts,the coal strike will not impactthe power industry and elec-tricity generation as the powerhouses have sufficient stock ofdry fuel.

The coal stock in ther-mal power plants in the coun-try has increased to the high-est level of 50 million tonnes(MT), sufficient enough for 30days, Coal and Mines MinisterPralhad Joshi said a fortnightback.

New Delhi: Since Lok Nayak hospital and then GTB hos-pital were declared dedicated covid hospital, more than400 Thalassemia patients registered with these hospitalswere facing lot of hardship financially and physically alsofor quite some period. Patients and attendant had to visit other hospitals for bloodtransfusions and drugs therapy. Some times they werereferred from one to another hospital for arranging blooddue to shortage of blood in the absence of adequate blooddonations during this Covid crisis. It is worth mentioning that Thalassemia major patientsrequire repeated blood transfusions every 2 to 4 wks fortheir survival.

We had initially made arrangements in otherThalassemia managing hospitals in Delhi but patients werefinding lot of difficulties in travelling long distances fromone to another hospital and patients were also finding prob-lems in arranging blood.

So Govt of Delhi issued instructions to shift GTB hos-pital Thalassemia branch to Delhi State cancer Instituteand Lok nayak hospital Thalassemia branch to GB Panthospital, said Dr SK Arora, Addl. Director Health with Govtof Delhi.

Noida: Shri MV Ravi Someswarudu has taken over asChief Executive Officer (CEO) of GAIL Gas Limited,a wholly-owned subsidiary of GAIL (India) Limited,engaged in the city gas distribution business. Prior tothis assignment, he was serving as Executive Director& Officer- In- Charge of the Petrochemical Project atGAIL, Pata. He has taken over the charge from ShriAK Jana, who is now the Managing Director forIndraprastha Gas Limited (IGL).

Mr. Someswarudu has rich and diverse experienceencompassing more than 34 years in the Oil & Gas andPetrochemical Sectors covering diverse functions likeProject Development, Operations and Maintenance,Technical Services, Process Design and Engineering,Design of Pipelines & Gas processing plants,Technology Selection and R&D.He has also served inthe Exploration & Production, Petrochemical Groupat GAIL Corporate Office and also held additionalcharge of Project Development Department.

He played a significant role in formulizing thePolicies and Procedures in various divisions of the com-pany.

New Delhi: India’s largestpower generator NTPCLimited and Indian OilCorporation Limited (IOCL)signed a bi-partite MoU and atri-partite MoU amongstNTPC, IOCL and South DelhiMunicipal Corporation(SDMC) on 30th June, 2020 atNew Delhi for “Developmentof Waste to Energy (WtE) facil-ity at Okhla Landfill site” in theaugust presence of ShriDharmendra Pradhan, Hon’bleMinister of Petroleum &Natural Gas and Steel, Shri R.K.Singh, Hon’ble Minister ofState (IC) for Power and New& Renewable Energy &Minister of State (SkillDevelopment andEntrepreneurship) and ShriAnil Baijal, Hon’ble LieutenantGovernor of Delhi.

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National Cyber SecurityCoordinator Lt Gen

Rajesh Pant on Friday askedcompanies to get their cybersecurity audit done as thecountry looks to cut depen-dency on foreign apps andsoftwares.

He also said that compa-nies during the audit shouldfocus on their human resourcesas human beings are the weak-est link in cyber security.”Allcompanies are expected tohave a cyber audit done. Theaudit is done by an empanelledauditor and we have manyauditors empanelled in India ason today. A lot of companiesfocus on minimum auditsbutmore needs to be done. I urgeall enterprises to get their cyberaudits done, it’s for your owngood,” Pant said at a cybersecurity webinar organised byFICCI. He said Indian entre-preneurs should work to reducedependency of foreign soft-wares. “Our focus area today is

on Atmanirbhar Bharat, any-thing indigenous is a priorityfor us. We are promoting indi-genisation and all those whohave capabilities for substi-tutes should come forward,”Pant said. There have been sev-eral reports of cyber fraud anddata leaks of Indian users dur-ing the lockdown.

Several cyber criminalsposted fake links to dupe peo-ple who were willing to con-tribute to PM-Cares fund.

“The human being is theweakest link in the cyber secu-rity chain so whatever you do,human beings become veryimportant. Training, goodcyber hygiene and good socialengineering practices are essen-tial,” Pant said.

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Equity indices advanced forthe third straight day to

close near four-month highs onFriday, propelled by RelianceIndustries which announcedanother stake sale in its digitalunit.

Buoyancy in global mar-kets and a strengthening rupeefurther propped up sentiment,traders said. Investorsalso cheered regulatoryapproval for human trials ofanother potential COVID-19vaccine. After touching ahigh of 36,110.21, the 30-shareBSE Sensex settled 177.72points, or 0.50 per cent, high-er at 36,021.42.

The NSE Nifty rose 55.65points, or 0.53 per cent, to endat 10,607.35. This is the high-est closing for both the bench-marks since March 6. Duringthe week, the Sensex advanced

850.15 points or 2.41 per cent,while Nifty gained 224.35points or 2.16 per cent. BhartiAirtel was the top gainer in theSensex pack on Friday, rallying4.05 per cent, followed by BajajAuto, TCS, Titan and HCLTech.

Index heavyweightReliance Industries spurted1.53 per cent after the compa-ny said Intel Capital will buy0.39 per cent stake in JioPlatforms for �1,894.50 crore.

Intel Capital is 12th com-pany to join the list of marqueefirms who have picked upstake in Jio Platforms, takingthe total investment amount to�1,17,588.45 crore.

On the other hand,IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel,HDFC Bank and Bajaj Financewere among the laggards, shed-ding up to 1.50 per cent.Zydus, part of the CadilaHealthcare group, on Friday

said its indigenously devel-oped COVID-19 vaccine can-didate - ZyCoV-D - has suc-cessfully completed pre-clinicalphase and has received per-mission from Indian authori-ties to conduct human trials.

This comes just a day afterGermany’s BioNTech and USpharmaceutical giant Pfizerreported positive preliminaryresults from a joint project fora potential COVID-19 vac-cine.

Domestic indices also tookcues from Asian peers that fol-lowed overnight gains on WallStreet after positive jobs datarelease in the US, traders saidMarkets during the weekmoved higher on hopes of aCOVID-19 vaccine coming toeveryone’s rescue earlier thanexpected. Bourses across theworld are also riding on earlyavailability of a vaccine inspiteof unstable economic growth.

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State-owned RITES on Fridaysaid it has renewed its pact

with Coal India for projectmanagement consultancy ser-vices of rail infrastructure busi-ness, and construction of rapidloading system, coal handlingplants and silos.

“RITES Ltd has renewedMemorandum ofUnderstanding with Coal IndiaLtd (CIL),” the railway consul-tancy firm said in a statement.The MoU has been renewed forfive years. While in the past, theMoU enabled RITES to achievea fee income of around �100crore per year, the company isexpecting an increase in it dueto additional scope and sever-al projects expected in thepipeline, it added.

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After falling in the previous week, the coun-try’s foreign exchange reserves rose $1.27 bil-

lion to $506.84 billion in theweek ended June 26, accordingto the latest data from the RBI.In the previous week endedJune 19, the reserves haddipped by $2.08 billion to$505.57 billion.

The reserves had crossedthe half-a-trillion dollar markfor the first time in the weekended June 5 after it hadsurged by a massive $8.22 bil-lion and reached $ 501.70 bil-lion.

It had touched a life-timehigh of $507.64 billion in theweek ended June 12.

In the week ended June 26,the reserves rose due to anincrease in foreign currencyassets (FCA), which is a majorcomponent of the overallreserves.

FCA rose by $565 millionto $467.60 billion in thereporting week, the RBI datashowed.

Expressed in dollar terms,

the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of

non-US units like the euro, pound and yen heldin the foreign exchange reserves.

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+��� ����������-���� �� Where do we leave Bruce atthe end of the last film?

Ben Affleck: At the end of thelast film, which is Batman vsSuperman: Dawn of Justice, weleave Bruce fearful that there is anattack going to happen, leading togather up as many superhumansas he possibly can. A nascentstage of team building is where weleft in the last film and this filmstarts with Bruce activelyrecruiting, looking andresearching in the urge to findthese superhumans that hebelieves are out there somewhere.

� What are your views onBatman’s new ride?

Ben: There is a modifiedBatmobile, which is tricked out totake on the alien race, so it ismade up a little bit more lethal.He has got his huge 777, which hejust flies around when he needs tobe transported somewhere,usually a place where he isbuilding a bigger plan of goinglong distances. So Bruce Waynehas got no shortage of way to getaround.

� What is each character’sreaction to being asked to join

the Justice League?Ben: Not every character

shows enthusiasm at first. Somecharacters are reluctant to join theteam like Flash and Cyborg.Aquaman also takes a bit ofconvincing apart from WonderWoman. But together, theycollectively start to assemble. Asthey say unity is strength.Eventually, they come around andrealise that there is a need to worktogether.

� What is the relevance of DCcharacters?

Ben: Batman has devoted hislife to battling the villains of theGotham City’s subculture aseveryone’s favourite Dark Knight.With high-tech weapons, gadgetsand vehicles to assist him in his

fight, Batman rises from theshadows to keep the streets ofGotham City safe. Supermankeeps the bustling hub safe from

the clutches of the super-villainswho would wreak havoc anddestruction. He uses hisextraordinary superpowers —

flight, x-ray vision and manymore — to uphold truth andjustice. Wonder Woman possessesgodlike strength, speed and theability to fly. She championsjustice and equality in a worldwhere evil attempts to triumph.With her bullet-deflectingbracelets and Lasso of Truth, shetakes on the criminals ofMetropolis in a crusade againstevil.All these characters still do notseem dated. They somehow workin stories today and it’s the markof characters that are very welldrawn and they still have a kindof resilience.

� Why Wonder Woman avoidsthe spotlight?Gal Gadot: Diana does good

because that’s the only thing shecares about. She doesn’t careabout fame or glory or even,credit. She is not there for that.And I think maybe that’s why shewasn’t interested in getting tooinvolved out there with the press,people and being a WonderWoman. As far as she isconcerned, she did everything shecould. Wonder Woman came tothe rescue and fought every timeshe was needed.

� What is Wonder Woman’srole on the team?Gal: For me, it was reallyimportant that she would be theglue of the team. We would trackthe same character that wevictoriously established in theWonder Woman film. And Ithink, one of the special and mostbeautiful things that Diana has isthat she cares for the people in themost sincere way. So when I gotthe script, I made points out forthe importance of Diana being aglue to the team, who would makeeach and every one of them feelspecial, capable and loved even inthe smallest of the moments.

�Tell us about the team dynamic

when fighting together?Gal: She enjoys working with theteam, the company of othercharacters. I think she feelsconfident while fighting withthem together and also beingamong people who are similar toher such as Flash, Cyborg,Aquaman and Bruce. They are alloutsiders, abnormal and loners.They have these special gifts andfinally, after so long of being byherself, Wonder Woman hasteammates which is wonderful.

�What makes these superherofilms appealing?Gal: It brings something that iseasy to relate to. Yes, WonderWoman is a goddess, the greatestwarrior of all times but she isvulnerable, sincere and can evenlose her confidence from time totime and she’s hurt too. But on theother hand, she is caring, warmand loving. Films get automaticallyinteresting when the audience isable to relate to it and we allsomewhere possess the abovementioned qualities. These factorsare what make such films moreinteresting.(Watch Justice League on July 6 at7:22 am on Sony PIX.)

It was much before YouTube hadbegun to be identified as a medium ofteaching or learning new skills

digitally when ace choreographer SarojKhan, popularly known as Masterji,taught dance on a Bollywood numberthrough a TV show, one episode at atime. Not only her easy-to-follow stepsbut her art of giving expressions whiledancing became the most sought-afterthing about her show. Nachle Ve withSaroj Khan became the prime time formany young and budding dancers and away to connect with one of their rolemodels distantly. “Saroj Khan se seekhahai maine yeh,” was how dance loverswould flaunt off their steps as it gavethem a kind of recognition.

The dancing maestro, who breathedher last in Bandra, Mumbai yesterday,after suffering a cardiac arrest, has been athree-time National Award Winner.From Rekha to Madhuri Dixit Nene toAishwarya Rai Bachchan to KanganaRanaut, Masterji has choreographedvarious generations of actors. Perhaps,this is why social media has been floodedwith condolences and heartfelt postsabout her.

Actor Madhuri Dixit, whom Khanhas worked with and choreographed for anumber of Hindi film songs, posted a fewold pictures of both of them dancing andwrote, “I am devastated and at an utterloss of words today! Saroj ji was part ofmy journey since the beginning. Shetaught me a lot, not just about dance butso much more. There’s a rush ofmemories in my head thinking of this bigpersonal loss. My heartfelt condolencesto the family.”

Actor Preeti Zinta posted on herInstagram. “So sad to hear that Saroj Ji isno more. Masterji taught me everything— how to lip sync a song, dancegracefully and how to be a Hindi film

heroine. Her priceless expressions andher quest for perfection was a masterclassfor me when I started my career.#RIPMasterji.”

Actor Kareena Kapoor Khan, whomKhan choreographed for the song, YehIshq Haaye from Jab We Met (2008), andalso won her third National Award for thesame, posted a few shots from the song’slocation and wrote, “Masterji always toldme… perr nahin chala sakti toh kam sekam face toh chala. That’s what she taughtme… to enjoy dancing, smile and smilethrough the eyes. There can never beanother… Dance and expression can

never be the same for us actors and foreveryone who loved her. Love youmasterji. Till we dance again, RIP.”

Actor Amitabh Bachchan also took toInstagram, sharing a black and whitephotograph of Khan hugging thethespian, and wrote, “Saroj ji, you gave usand the industry, rhythm, style, grace ofmovement and the art of converting thelyrics in a song to a meaning in dance. Ona chance meeting many many years ago,she paid me my best compliment. Shewas living in Dubai then from marriageand when DON was released, she said, ‘Isaw the film and then later, I would go to

the theatre where it wasreleased and at the time whenyour song KhaikePaan was on, see itand come out. Iused to do itregularly. I would tellthe usher to let me injust to see the song andleave, that is how muchI enjoyed your dancemoves!’ (This) comingfrom her was ultimate.A legacy has passedaway.”

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QUEENOF EXPRESSIONS

AN ODE TO THE

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� What is the premise of Evil?I guess it tries to investigate evil

and where it comes from. It tries tofigure out if there’s a scientificexplanation for it or there might besomething else at play.

� Why will Evil resonate withviewers?

We live in a time where a lot ofhorrible things happen, unfortunate-ly. And I think it’s an interestingquestion to see why. Why are peo-ple driven to do things that harmother people? How can we get a gripon that? Evil might resonate for thesereasons and so much more.

� Who is Kristen Bouchard? My character Kristen works

for the DA’s office. She a forensicpsychologist, has four girls and herhusband is away climbing. Shetakes care of the girls on her ownwith some help from her mother.Her work-home life is poles apartfrom each other. During the day, shetalks to these serial killers and thencomes back home to her four greatdaughters.

� How does Kristen rationalisesupernatural phenomenon?

Kristen would like to believethat everything has a scientificexplanation, that science can answerany question, obviously, not all atonce. There are certain things thatare very hard to explain and that

makes her uncomfortable if shedoesn’t find a scientific explanationto things.

� What is the state of Kristen’smarriage at the start of the series?

Her husband’s been away forfive months, out climbing theEverest. Kristen used to be a climberherself too. She was trying to climbup all seven summits, however, shedid five and then quit because shehad children. Her husband, howev-er, wants to climb all seven and sheis okay with it.

� How would you describeKristen’s journey in Season 1?

You follow Kristen and shejoins the team of Ben, played byAasif (Mandvi), and Mike Colter’scharacter, David Acosta. From thenon, the three of us are investigatingall these different things.

� More on Kristen’s journey. In the first episode, we see her

quit her normal job and she engageswith David Acosta about possession.Then she starts getting nightmaresand is visited by this ghost. And thenit turns out that the serial killer thatshe’s interviewing got ahold of thenotes of her therapist, so he knowsall her secrets. She’s also intro-duced to a character called LelandTownsend.

� Is there a scene in the pilot

episode that you feel defines yourcharacter?

Definitely a scene with thedaughters defines my characterbecause they are her loves. And thenmaybe, when she finds out that theevil people, Michael Emerson’s char-acter, stole her therapy notes andthey now have every single secret,or just even things that she said outloud. He now knows everything andwill try to use against her. So, I thinkthose two scenes makes her veryvulnerable.

� Will faith and religion play arole in the show’s exploration ofevil?

The series tries to answer whereevil comes from and see if there isa scientific reason for it, or if theremight be something else. And thatsomething else, I think, could be: Isthere a devil or a god?

� How did you prepare for yourrole?

I talked to a forensic psycholo-gist about what it’s like to have thatkind of a job. And I read a lot ofinterviews with people who have thesame job. I also watched a lot ofclimbing documentaries becauseshe used to be a climber, she did freesolo climbing, climbing withoutropes, so she’s quite interested inwalking on a cliff ’s edge and play-ing with danger. I think part of whyshe is a forensic psychologist and is

drawn to that kind of dangerousplace, or talk with these people whoare that horrible, might have to dowith that she likes challenging her-self.

� What do Michelle King andRobert King bring to the series asExecutive Producers?

I think Robert and Michelle areabsolutely extraordinary writersand producers. Robert is directingthis episode. And they’re also real-ly great people. What I find proba-bly most important to take on a jobis if I like the idea of spending timewith people. And I absolutely likedthat here.

� Have you ever had a supernat-ural experience?

As an adult, I had a lot ofheadaches and I once went tosomeone who could help me withthe headaches. She said, ‘Oh I cansee why you have a lot of headaches.You have thirty-three ghosts on yourback and thirty-three is a lot.’ Andshe’s like, ‘It doesn’t matter if youdon’t believe in it. I’m just going totake them away and you’re going tofeel much better.’ And I was like,‘Okay, sure thing.’ And she tookthem away and talked to them. Idon’t really believe in that, but it didget rid of my headache, so there yougo!

(The series premiers on ZeeCafé.)

They could be two of the filmindustry’s most outspoken

people but Richa Chadha andAli Fazal have been fairly tightlipped about their love story. Sowe know that they met on thesets of Fukrey in 2012 andthen made an announcement atthe world premiere of Victoriaand Abdul in Venice in 2017.

In a cover shoot for BridesToday’s July 2020 issue, theactors gave out the details oftheir story. Though, initiallyintended as the first magazinecover post wedding, the pan-demic has postponed theirwedding plans for the year.

Speaking to the lifestylemagazine, Richa recounted thefirst time she knew this waslove. “We were at my housewatching Chaplin (1992)British-American biographicalcomedy drama starring RobertDowney Jr. I was happy to seehim enjoy the film and wasgrateful to have found someonewith similar tastes. That iswhen I said, “This is reallysweet, I love you.” It took himthree months to say I love youback to me.”

But Ali has a special reasonwhy he loves his Kuki (as heaffectionately addresses Richa).She is Ms Butterfingers, hesays fondly. “She thinks I fell inlove with her only because ofher clumsiness — and it sure-ly is one of the reasons. She isas clumsy as it gets. If she is eat-ing, there will be glassesspilling, food will be all over theplace, and cutlery will definite-ly fall. Her most embarrassingclumsy moment was in Venice.It was at a fine dining event andJudi Dench was sitting at thenext table. Suddenly a beanwent flying over, of course, itwas from Richa’s plate. Shecalls it her Pretty Womanmoment!”

But of all the glorious pro-posal stories you’ll ever hear,here’s the most heartwarming-ly romantic woman. On beingasked how Ali proposed, Richasaid, “He had planned a roman-tic dinner on a small, secludedisland in the Maldives. Ithought it was for my birthday,I didn’t suspect a thing. We hadfinished eating and were sip-ping on champagne when Ali,being his spontaneous self,asked me to marry him. Hedidn’t go down on his knee, nordid he have a ring but that’s allright. After that he took a 10-minute long nap on the sand —I think it was because he mayhave been stressed about theproposal!”

After decades of celebratingstories of elaborate proposals,here’s a couple that committedto a lifetime of companionshipwith a simple promise of beingthere through thick and thin.Richa quotes Javed Akhtar’siconic line, “Hamari dosti itnipakki hai ki shaadi bhi iska kuchnahi bigaad payi…”

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The film is an intriguingcrime-thriller that fol-

lows the journey of Nandiniwho takes on a stand for jus-tice. The edge of the seatthriller has a strong narrative.

Speaking about whyRagini chose Law as herdebut film, she says, “It’s def-initely the script becausedoing films is not somethingI had been planning, it wasdefinitely not in my pipeline.But the script is what got mein especially when our direc-tor Raghu Samarth came inand narrated it.” She added,“He told me about the back-ground of the character andthe complete story thatrevolved around it, which wasa very strong and impactfulplot. I didn’t see myself doinga romantic film as my firstone, so I thought this film isa great first choice for mydebut.”

Law is produced byAshwini Puneeth Rajkumar,M Govinda. The legalKannada drama is led byRagini and MukhyamantriChandru, Achyuth Kumar,Sudharani among others. Thefilm also features Siri Prahladand veteran actorMukyamanthri Chandru inprominent roles. The film hasbeen created by PuneethRajkumar’s PRK Productions.

(The film will release onAmazon Prime Video on July17.)

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Jurgen Klopp admittedManchester City are theone side capable of “smash-

ing” his newly-crownedPremier League winners afterLiverpool’s first match sincebecoming English championsended in a 4-0 thrashing at theEtihad.

City sent a warning shot oftheir intentions to take the titleback next season as Kevin DeBruyne, Raheem Sterling andPhil Foden all struck beforehalf-time to inf lict justLiverpool’s third league defeatin 71 games.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’sown goal rounded off a miser-able night for Klopp’s men, whocould have conceded manymore in the second half.

The gap at the top of thetable between the two remains20 points, but Liverpool’scharge to better a series ofrecords set by City two seasonsago was stalled on a chasten-ing night for the champions.

“I wanted to see a brilliantattitude and I saw that, theboys were really fighting.Nobody was like hey I am com-ing here, we don’t care. We carea lot. That is how it feels, it feelsnot good and it should not feellike it is,” said Klopp.

“If there is a team in theworld that can smash us likethis it is probably City but wewill come again.”

City began the evening bygiving a guard of honour totheir opponents, but showedlittle respect once the actiongot underway.

“I saw them in the guard ofhonour and they were sofocused, they didn’t even saythank you. That is why they are

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Real Madrid took a big step towardswinning La Liga on Thursday by bat-

tling past Getafe to move four points clearof Barcelona, with five games left.

Sergio Ramos’ late penalty proved thedifference at the Alfredo di StefanoStadium where Madrid were made to feeluncomfortable by Getafe but dug out agutsy 1-0 victory worthy of champions.

This was arguably Madrid’s toughestfixture remaining and with a four-pointadvantage over Barca, as well as the supe-rior head-to-head, the trophy is now firm-ly within their grasp.

“We have not won anything,” insist-ed coach Zinedine Zidane.

“We are doing things well, yes, butthere are five games still to go. If we con-tinue like this, staying solid, it will be fine.”

It is Madrid’s biggest lead overBarcelona since September and theirbiggest cushion at the top of the table allseason.

If they can beat Athletic Bilbao at SanMames on Sunday, Madrid could evenpull seven points clear before Barca facea difficult game away at in-form Villarreala few hours later.

Barcelona’s 2-2 draw at home toAtletico Madrid on Tuesday, coming onthe back of another 2-2 draw away atCelta Vigo last weekend, gave Zidane’sside an opening and they have taken fulladvantage.

“My job is to make them calm in thedifficult moments,” said Zidane. “To be

quiet, patient, positive. They believe inwhat we do.”

Six wins out six since the restart, withonly two goals conceded, has made for arelentless run of form and it would takea monumental collapse now to let Barcaback in.

Ramos’ spot-kick with 11 minutes leftwas his ninth goal of the season, the besttally of his career.

“He is our leader,” said Zidane. “He’sunique, unparalleled.”

Earlier, Real Sociedad stayed in therace for European qualification by win-ning 2-1 at home to Espanyol, who staybottom, now 10 points adrift of safety.Osasuna won 2-0 away at Eibar.

-���+�1 Leroy Sane has target-ed Champions League glorywith Bayern Munich after join-ing the Bundesliga giants fromManchester City for a fee ofaround �50 million ($56 mil-lion) on Friday.

The Germany winger hasreturned to his home country ona five-year contract after receiv-

ing the blessing of City coachPep Guardiola.

“Bayern is a very big cluband has big goals — these goalssuit me as well,” said the 24-year-old Sane. “I want to win as manytitles as possible with Bayern,and the Champions League is atthe top.”

The Bundesliga champions

did not give the transfer fee, butSky Sports and the BBC havereported that Bayern and Cityagreed a fee of £54.8 million.German daily Bild claim the feeis around �50 million.

Sane said he is looking for-ward to linking up again withBayern head coach Hansi Flick,who has just steered the club to

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champions of Europe and thePremier League,” said Cityboss Pep Guardiola. “Theydrank a lot of beers in the pastweek but they arrive here with-out beers in the blood to com-pete against us.”

The early signs suggestedLiverpool would be able to pickoff a leaky City defence thathas cost them their title.

Mohamed Salah struck thepost and Sadio Mane headedwastefully wide as chancescame and went for the visitors.“We had our moments wherewe were really close to makesomething,” added Klopp.“They used our mistakes, wedidn’t use their mistakes.”

Liverpool’s first big errorcame when Joe Gomez pulled

Sterling to the ground insidethe area and De Bruyne con-verted the resulting penalty.

Sterling was suspended byEngland manager GarethSouthgate after he squared upto Gomez in the canteen onInternational duty the dayafter Liverpool's 3-1 win overCity at Anfield earlier in theseason.

‘NEXT SEASON STARTED TODAY’The City forward wisely did

his talking on the pitch this timeas he scored for the first time ina competitive match against hisold side by turning insideGomez and sending a shotthrough the defender’s legs asLiverpool were caught on thecounter-attack.

“We had a test against the

current champions to make apoint and we did brilliant,”said Sterling. “Next seasonstarted today and we did well.”

Foden has been hugelyimpressive since the PremierLeague’s restart from a three-month layoff and the 20-year-old combined with De Bruynefor a brilliant one-two to leaveAndy Robertson flounderingbefore lifting the ball over theadvancing Alisson Becker tomake it 3-0.

But for the Brazilian goal-keeper and some wayward fin-ishing, Liverpool could havebeen on the end of an embar-rassing scoreline early in thesecond half as Gabriel Jesusfired straight at his internation-al teammate, Sterling saw a shotdeflected just wide and Virgilvan Dijk cleared off the linefrom Foden.

There was a touch of for-tune when City’s fourth didarrive as Sterling’s shot washeading wide before beingturned into his own net byOxlade-Chamberlain.

Riyad Mahrez had a fifthgoal in stoppage time ruled outby a VAR review for handballas City just failed to match the5-0 scoreline they inflicted onLiverpool at the Etihad in 2017.

But City more than laiddown a marker and also

showed why they are among thefavourites to win theChampions League for the firsttime when European footballreturns in August.

BLADES HURT SPURS�� 22� ��1 Jose Mourinhoclaimed VAR will make fans fallout of love with football afterTottenham were the victims ofa controversial goal reversal intheir 3-1 defeat against SheffieldUnited on Thursday.

Blades took the leadthrough Sander Berge’s first-halfstrike at Bramall Lane.

But Tottenham were deniedan equaliser moments laterwhen Harry Kane’s goal waschalked off by VAR for a dubi-ous handball against LucasMoura.

Lucas appeared to have theball kicked against his arm inthe build-up to Kane’s strikeand Tottenham managerMourinho complained angrilyon the touchline.

Lys Mousset and OliMcBurnie rubbed salt intoMourinho’s wounds as theyboth netted for United after theinterval.

Kane’s last-minute goal wasno consolation for Tottenham,who are now in grave danger ofmissing out on next season’sChampions League.

In a Premier League seasonmarred by VAR making debat-able calls too often, Mourinhosaid he fears for the future offootball if the system is notaddressed.

“I can only say that normal-ly I’m a professional guy on thebench in these moments, Inever complain at the guy withthe whistle because it’s not thereferee anymore,” Mourinhosaid.

“This is the start of every-thing. I think the referee shouldalways be the man on the pitchand the people in the officeshould just support and assist.

“That’s not the way it is.The referee who is not verygood on the pitch, we cannotexpect that he’s good in theoffice.

“We’re going in a directionthat’s really bad for the beauti-ful game, the game that every-body fell in love with.”

United manager ChrisWilder backed Mourinho, say-ing: “I have got a back catalogueof decisions that have goneagainst us. We are the unofficialchampions of Europe on VARdecisions going against us.

“I can understand theirmanager’s frustrations. I wouldbe super frustrated. It’s a non-sense rule, it wasn’t intention-al.”

Tottenham now sit ninepoints behind fourth-placedChelsea and seven adrift offifth-placed Manchester Unitedafter their first defeat since therestart.

While the Blades, winnersfor the first time in five gamesfollowing the hiatus, moved twopoints above Tottenham intoseventh place, keeping alivetheir hopes of qualifying forEuropean action.

* �����$�����( �������� an eighth straight league title inhis first season in charge.

“I know Hansi Flick fromthe under-21 national team.We had a very good relationshipthere,” added Sane.

The 24-year-old spent fouryears at City and scored 39 goalsin 135 appearances in all com-petitions after joining fromSchalke in 2016 and is the win-ner of two Premier League titles,an FA Cup, two League Cupsand two Community Shields.

3�������;� �����3 ����������� �3� ��� ��� �#�����$���� ��������

.������� ���(����� �&��� ������-����1 Lionel Messi was reported onThursday to be planning to leave Barcelonain 2021, but Real Madrid coach ZinedineZidane was hoping that he will stay in Spain.

Messi’s current contract expires nextyear and he has halted negotiations due tofrustrations with the direction of the club, saidSpanish radio station Cadena Ser.

“I don’t know what will happen but wehope not because he is in this league and wewant the best in this league,” said Real coachZidane afterwards, when asked about the pos-sibility of Messi leaving. Messi, who is club’sall time top scorer’s contract, was expected tosign a new deal that would keep him at theclub until at least 2023. AFP

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Formula One worldchampion Lewis

Hamilton posted thefastest time in the first twopractice sessions for theseason-opening AustrianGrand Prix on Friday.

The British drivertwice finished ahead of hisMercedes teammateValtteri Bottas on the 4.3-kilometer (2.7-mile) RedBull Ring circuit inSpielberg nestled at thefoot of the Styrian moun-tains in southern Austria.

Bottas was .356 sec-onds behind Hamilton inthe damp and overcastmorning run andimproved to .197 back as

the track dried andbecame warmer in theafternoon. Late in thatsession, however, he hadto return to the pitsbecause of a braking issue.

Red Bull driver MaxVerstappen, who has wonthe past two races here,was third quickest in thefirst practice but slippedto eighth in the secondsession and encounteredoversteering problems.

Ferrari struggled forspeed in the morning withCharles Leclerc 10thquickest and SebastianVettel only 12th, butimproved in the after-noon with Vettel pushingup to fourth behindSergio Perez in third.

Perez’s Racing Point teamuses Mercedes engines.

Although Vettelshowed good corneringspeed, he was still a some-what distant .657 secondsadrift of Hamilton’s timein the second session.

Ferrari is racing withthe same car it used inpreseason testing inFebruary and has notmade any upgrades, whileMercedes and other teamshave.

After making a latestrategy decision in termsof aerodynamic develop-ment this week, Ferrari isnot upgrading its carsuntil the third race inHungary, where practicestarts on July 17.

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Former Australian batsman MichaelHussey is fearful of the prospect of

Australia hosting the T20 World Cup inOctober-November and says a 16-teamevent amid the raging Covid-19 pandemiccould prove to be a logistical nightmare.Cricket Australia itself has said that it is abit “unrealistic” to stage the T20 World Cupas per schedule in the current circumstancesbut the ICC is yet to take a final call on thematter. Hussey too doesn’t see the showpieceevent taking place this year.

“I am really fearful about the T20World Cup to be honest and the reason forthat is I think it is okay to bring out one teamto play international cricket and get themto isolate and stay safe and prepare well fora series,” he said in a podcast called HotSpot.

“But having to bring a number ofteams and getting them to isolate to prepareand then move around the country to dif-ferent venues I think that will be a logisti-cal nightmare. From what we are hearingperhaps the T20 World Cup will have to bepostponed for 2021 or even 2022,” said thesouthpaw.

The India tour of Australia that has beenscheduled after the T20 World Cup is like-ly to go ahead as per the plan, according toHussey.

“I am a lot more positive about theIndian tour of Australia going ahead and thereason is bringing one team to tour here andgetting them to a hub is easier.

“For example Adelaide Oval has justbuilt a hotel connected to the stadium, sothe Indian team could base themselves there,train and prepare for a series, and playagainst Australia.

“We have all got our fingers crossed, aswe know that this pandemic keeps throw-ing these curve balls and we need to adaptand move quickly,” said Hussey.

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