& a`Z_e T`_dV_dfd e` V_U =24 Z^aRddV - Daily Pioneer

12
I ndia and China have formu- lated a five-point plan for speedy de-escalation and dis- engagement from the friction points at the tense Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. The broad outline to dif- fuse the tension at the LAC was arrived at the meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet. But in the statements issued by both the countries, there was no mention of the restoration of the status quo on the LAC as it existed in April or set any timeframe for com- pleting the disengagement and de-escalation. Jaishankar expressed con- cern over amassing of the Chinese troops at the border while his counterpart Wang Yi claimed the Indian troops opened fire thereby worsening the situation at the border. The meeting between Jaishankar and Wang Yi lasted more than two hours. This was the first direct meeting between them since the stand- offs began in early May on the LAC. They had talked to each other on the phone two days after the bloody brawl in the Galwan valley on June 15 leav- ing 20 India Army personnel, including the commanding officer dead. Incidentally, this was the second political-level parleys at the ministerial level to break the four month long logjam. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held detailed discus- sions on the issue last week with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe in Moscow. However, things did not improve on the ground with the Chinese on September seven opening fire at the LAC for the first time in the last 45 years. Though no breakthrough was expected in the latest round of talks between the two Foreign Ministers, the two sides exchanged views on the current hostilities at the LAC. The joint statement issued later said the two Ministers agreed that both sides should take guidance from the series of consensus of the leaders on developing India-China rela- tions, including not allowing differences to become disputes. Secondly, the two Foreign Ministers agreed that the cur- rent situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side. They agreed there- fore that the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disen- gage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions. The third part of the plan saw the two Ministers agreeing that both sides shall abide by all the existing agreements and protocol on China-India boundary affairs, maintain peace, tranquility in the border areas and avoid any action that could escalate matters. C ongress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday carried out a major revamp in the party organisation by reshaping the all-power Congress working committee (CWC) and brining new faces as general secretaries in place old guards. Sonia apparently paid heed to the churning call given by 23 party leaders through a letter to her. The letter created a lot of flutter when Sonia offered to quit in the CWC meeting. On Friday night, Sonia released a new list of CWC members, general secretaries, general secretaries incharge of States. The lists reflect a mix of youth and experienced but preference is clearly tilted towards the former. While several old guards have been sidelined, leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, who were among the prominent signatories of the recent letter written to Sonia have found a place in the CWC. But Azad is no more general secretary. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is now part of the CWC, which decides all important decisions of the party. Another interest- ing inclusion in the CWC is that of Tariq Anwar, who had walked out of the Congress along with Sharad Pawar on the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s for- eign origin issue. The composition of the team of general secretaries shows that Sonia has gone by Rahul Gandhi’s vision of youth- ful squad to take on the BJP. Ageing veterans like Azad, Moti Lal Vora, Mallikarjuna Kharge, Ambika Sonia, and Luizinho Falerio, have been removed as general secretaries. Azad was among 23 lead- ers who had written a letter to Sonia calling for a complete overhaul of the organisation, a full-time president and elec- tions to the CWC. Another surprise was non inclusion of Sachin Pilot, who had recently opened a rebelion against the party leadership both at Central level and State level for almost more than a month and was accomodated after being promised to “place him suitably”. AICC sources said he can be again installed as the Rajashthan unit chief. Sonia also constituted a 6- member special committee to assist her in organisational and operational matters. AK Antony, Ahmad Patel, Ambika Soni, KC Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Singh Surjewala are members. I t will be the RJD vs the Janata Dal (U) for the post of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman. RJD leader Manoj Jha on Friday filed nomination for the post of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman as the Opposition’s candidate. Manoj Jha will be taking on NDA nominee and JD(U) MP Harivansh Narayan Singh. The election to the post is likely to be held on the first day of the Monsoon Session on September 14. Harivansh had filed nom- ination for the post on Wednesday. He was the RS Deputy Chairman till his pre- vious term ended in April. He has since been re-elected to the Upper House from Bihar. Jha was teaching at the Delhi University when he entered politics and became a Rajya Sabha member. He is also the national spokesperson of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). While the JD (U) candidate has the full force of the NDA behind it, the RJD candidate comes with the support of the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the TMC, Left parties, the DMK, the AAP and the Loktantrik Janata Dal, besides the RJD. The NDA nominee and JD(U) leader Harivansh has a higher probability of winning the seat. Harivansh had defeat- ed Congress leader BK Hariprasad last time and won by 125-105 votes in elections held in August 2018. Since then, the NDA has strength- ened its position in the Rajya Sabha further. BJP floor managers are confident of securing the sup- port of about 140 MPs, includ- ing the fence-sitters YSR Congress, TRS and BJD. The strength of the BJP-led NDA has also gradually increased to more than 114 in the House with an effective strength of 244 members as there is one vacan- cy. However, floor managers of NDA are trying to build a con- sensus among all parties so that Harivansh could be elected unanimously. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already spoken to his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik to seek BJD’s support for JD(U) candidate in Rajya Sabha poll. T he CBI has sought sanction to prosecute former Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, who also later served as Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in connec- tion with the alleged corruption in the 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal that was scrapped subsequently after scam came to light. The agency is likely to file a supplementary chargesheet outlining the role of the alleged middleman in the deal Christian Michel, who was deported from the UAE and is currently undergoing judicial custody, officials said. In its supplementary charge sheet, the CBI is also likely to mention the alleged roles of some former public servants, who were hold- ing key decision-making posi- tions when the deal for the heli- copters was in progress, they said. B ased on the findings of serosurvey, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that 64 lakh Indians had been ready infect- ed by Covid-19 by May. These were undiagnosed and the infected people had developed antibodies against the novel coronavirus. The sero-survey further revealed that for every con- firmed Covid-19 case in May, there were 82-130 infections that went undetected. Incidentally, by midway India had just around 90,000 cases. The national serosurvey was conducted from May 11 to June 4 on 28,000 individuals. Their blood samples were test- ed for IgG antibodies using Covid Kavach ELISA kit. According to the survey, seropositivity was found to be the highest in the 18-45 age group (43.3%), followed by the 46-60 age group (39.5%). It was found the lowest among those aged over 60 (17.2%). “The findings of our survey indicated that the overall sero- prevalence in India was low, with less than one per cent of the adult population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by mid-May 2020,” the survey said. I ndia may have become the second worst Covid-19 glob- al hotspot in the world, but BJP’s West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh has declared that that corona pandemic is “gone’. He has also accused Mamata Banerjee of gagging the Opposition voice by imposing lockdown in the name of tack- ling coronavirus pandemic. Ghosh, who is known for courting controversies in search of quick political rele- vance, said, “There is no coro- na in the market… the pan- demic is a thing of past but the Chief Minister is imposing lockdowns in the name of pan- demic so as to thwart the BJP’s political programmes from tak- ing place.” Reacting strongly to his comments senior TMC leader and MP Kalyan Banerjee said that Ghosh was out of his minds and was behaving like an irresponsible politician. “He is showing all kinds of insanity and has become a fit case to be sent to an asylum,” Banerjee said adding “at a time when the corona infections are rising by the hour with the country recording about a lakh cases every day which is high- est in the world this man is say- ing that there is no corona… In doing so he is contradicting his own BJP Government’s state- ments on the pandemic.” CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakrabarty questioned the political sincerity and social responsibility of Ghosh saying he is aspiring to come to power in Bengal and is in such a hurry that he wants to put the people and even his own supporters at risk by not only calling them to crowded programmes but also by making them corona insen- sitive with such kind of asser- tions that the pandemic has gone. Meanwhile, three senior IPS officers, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma, were reported corona positive, sources said adding Sharma has been sent to isola- tion with minor symptoms and was carrying on his duties from his home A mid speculation that the Maharashtra Government has written to the Mumbai Police to look into news reports that she had consumed narcotic drugs, actress Kangana Ranaut on Friday needled Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her “silence” and “indiffer- ence” over the “harassment” meted out to women by the MVA Government. Kangana, who has been targeting the ruling Shiv Sena viciously ever since the alleged “illegal” portions of her bun- galow at Bandra’s Pali Hill area was demolished on Wednesday, enlarged her target to single out Sonia, albeit in the guise of seeking the latter’s intervention in the issues related to her. In one of the tweets put out by her during the day, Kangana said, “You have grown up in the west and lived here in India. You may be aware of the strug- gles of women. History will judge your silence and indif- ference when your own Government is harassing women and ensuring a total mockery of law and order. I hope you will intervene.” “Dear respected hon- ourable Congress president Sonia Gandhi ji, being a woman aren’t you anguished by the treatment I am given by your Government in Maharashtra? Can you not request your Government to uphold the principles of the Constitution given to us by Dr Ambedkar?,” Kangana asked. S ocial activist Swami Agnivesh, who was suffering from liver cirrhosis for a long time, died of multi-organ failure at a Delhi hospital on Friday, doctors said. He was 80. His last rites will be per- formed on Saturday at Agnilok Ashram in Behelpa, Gurgaon at 4 pm. Before that, his body will be kept at his office in 7, Jantar Mantar Road so that people can pay last respects. Those coming to pay last respects have been urged to fol- low Covid-19 protocols. Agnivesh was critically ill and admitted to an ICU of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, and was on ventilato- ry support since Tuesday. “He was suffering from liver cir- rhosis and died today due to multi-organ failure as his con- dition deteriorated and he went into cardiac arrest at 6 pm,” said a spokesperson of the hospital. W ith no let-up in tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday reviewed the ground situation with the mil- itary top brass and National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval. The high-level meeting also took stock of the outcome of talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and prepared the roadmap for forthcoming Corps Commander-level talks likely to take place next week. The nearly two-hour long meeting was also attended by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and three Services chiefs. In a briefing to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on defence on Friday, Rawat assured that the Armed forces are ready for any eventuality. The meeting was attended by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. The CDS informed the committee that the Armed forces had taken adequate steps and measures to thwart any attempt by China to further change or alter the status quo along the LAC, sources said. Defence forces are alert and will give a befitting reply to the Chinese in case of any misad- venture that takes place along the border, Rawat said. Rajnath’s fact checking ses- sion comes a day after the Foreign Ministers of India and China agreed on a five-point plan for speedy disengagement and de-escalation besides con- tinuing the dialogue process. A special court on Friday rejected the bail applica- tions of actress Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and four others in connection with a much-dis- cussed drug case relating to Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. Following the rejection of her bail plea, Rhea — who was arrested in connection in con- nection with a drug case on Tuesday — will remain in Byculla women’s jail for anoth- er eleven more days, unless and until she gets some relief from another court. Friday’s was the second occasion when Rhea’s bail application was rejected by a court. Earlier, hours after her arrest on September 8, a city court had rejected her bail application remanded in judi- cial custody for 14 days i.e. till September 22. Rhea is likely to move the Bombay High Court in the coming days for bail. “Once we get the copy of the order, we will decide next week on the course of action i.e., about approaching the high court,” Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde said. Apart from Rhea and Showik, the four other accused who were denied bail by the court were: Sushant’s house manager Samuel Miranda, house help Dipesh Sawant and two alleged drug peddlers Abdel Bashit Parihar and Zaid Vilatra. While Rhea and Showik were represented by advocate Satish Maneshinde, the NCB was represented by Special Public Prosecutor Atul Sarpande. New Delhi: China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is like- ly to hand over five youths missing from Arunachal Pradesh to the Indian author- ities on Saturday, Union min- ister Kiren Rijiju said. The PLA on Tuesday had conveyed that the five youths, who went missing on September 4 from the Sino- Indian border in Upper Subansiri district, were found by them across the border. “The Chinese PLA has confirmed to the Indian Army to hand over the youths from Arunachal Pradesh to our side. The handing over is likely to take place anytime tomorrow i.e. 12th September 2020 at a designated location,” Rijiju tweeted on Friday. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

Transcript of & a`Z_e T`_dV_dfd e` V_U =24 Z^aRddV - Daily Pioneer

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India and China have formu-lated a five-point plan for

speedy de-escalation and dis-engagement from the frictionpoints at the tense Line ofActual Control (LAC) inLadakh.

The broad outline to dif-fuse the tension at the LAC wasarrived at the meeting betweenExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar and his Chinesecounterpart Wang Yi inMoscow on the sidelines of theShanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) meet.

But in the statementsissued by both the countries,there was no mention of therestoration of the status quo onthe LAC as it existed in Aprilor set any timeframe for com-pleting the disengagement andde-escalation.

Jaishankar expressed con-cern over amassing of theChinese troops at the borderwhile his counterpart Wang Yiclaimed the Indian troopsopened fire thereby worseningthe situation at the border.

The meeting betweenJaishankar and Wang Yi lastedmore than two hours. This wasthe first direct meetingbetween them since the stand-offs began in early May on theLAC. They had talked to eachother on the phone two daysafter the bloody brawl in theGalwan valley on June 15 leav-ing 20 India Army personnel,including the commanding

officer dead.Incidentally, this was the

second political-level parleys atthe ministerial level to breakthe four month long logjam.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh held detailed discus-sions on the issue last weekwith his Chinese counterpartWei Fenghe in Moscow.However, things did notimprove on the ground with

the Chinese on Septemberseven opening fire at the LACfor the first time in the last 45years.

Though no breakthroughwas expected in the latestround of talks between the twoForeign Ministers, the twosides exchanged views on thecurrent hostilities at the LAC.The joint statement issued latersaid the two Ministers agreed

that both sides should takeguidance from the series ofconsensus of the leaders ondeveloping India-China rela-tions, including not allowingdifferences to become disputes.

Secondly, the two ForeignMinisters agreed that the cur-rent situation in the borderareas is not in the interest ofeither side. They agreed there-

fore that the border troops ofboth sides should continuetheir dialogue, quickly disen-gage, maintain proper distanceand ease tensions.

The third part of the plansaw the two Ministers agreeing

that both sides shall abide by allthe existing agreements andprotocol on China-Indiaboundary affairs, maintainpeace, tranquility in the borderareas and avoid any actionthat could escalate matters.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Friday carried

out a major revamp in the partyorganisation by reshaping theall-power Congress workingcommittee (CWC) and briningnew faces as general secretariesin place old guards.

Sonia apparently paidheed to the churning call givenby 23 party leaders through aletter to her. The letter createda lot of flutter when Soniaoffered to quit in the CWCmeeting.

On Friday night, Soniareleased a new list of CWCmembers, general secretaries,general secretaries incharge ofStates. The lists reflect a mix ofyouth and experienced butpreference is clearly tiltedtowards the former.

While several old guardshave been sidelined, leaderslike Ghulam Nabi Azad, whowere among the prominentsignatories of the recent letterwritten to Sonia have found aplace in the CWC. But Azad isno more general secretary.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra isnow part of the CWC, whichdecides all important decisionsof the party. Another interest-ing inclusion in the CWC isthat of Tariq Anwar, who hadwalked out of the Congressalong with Sharad Pawar onthe issue of Sonia Gandhi’s for-eign origin issue.

The composition of the

team of general secretariesshows that Sonia has gone byRahul Gandhi’s vision of youth-ful squad to take on the BJP.Ageing veterans like Azad,Moti Lal Vora, MallikarjunaKharge, Ambika Sonia, andLuizinho Falerio, have beenremoved as general secretaries.

Azad was among 23 lead-ers who had written a letter toSonia calling for a completeoverhaul of the organisation, afull-time president and elec-tions to the CWC.

Another surprise was noninclusion of Sachin Pilot, whohad recently opened a rebelionagainst the party leadershipboth at Central level and Statelevel for almost more than amonth and was accomodatedafter being promised to “placehim suitably”. AICC sourcessaid he can be again installedas the Rajashthan unit chief.

Sonia also constituted a 6-member special committee toassist her in organisational andoperational matters. AKAntony, Ahmad Patel, AmbikaSoni, KC Venugopal, MukulWasnik and Randeep SinghSurjewala are members.

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It will be the RJD vs the JanataDal (U) for the post of Rajya

Sabha Deputy Chairman. RJDleader Manoj Jha on Fridayfiled nomination for the post ofRajya Sabha Deputy Chairmanas the Opposition’s candidate.

Manoj Jha will be taking onNDA nominee and JD(U) MPHarivansh Narayan Singh. Theelection to the post is likely tobe held on the first day of theMonsoon Session onSeptember 14.

Harivansh had filed nom-ination for the post onWednesday. He was the RSDeputy Chairman till his pre-vious term ended in April. Hehas since been re-elected to theUpper House from Bihar.

Jha was teaching at theDelhi University when heentered politics and became a

Rajya Sabha member. He is alsothe national spokesperson ofthe Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

While the JD (U) candidatehas the full force of the NDAbehind it, the RJD candidatecomes with the support of theCongress, the Samajwadi Party,the TMC, Left parties, theDMK, the AAP and theLoktantrik Janata Dal, besidesthe RJD.

The NDA nominee andJD(U) leader Harivansh has ahigher probability of winningthe seat. Harivansh had defeat-ed Congress leader BKHariprasad last time and wonby 125-105 votes in electionsheld in August 2018. Sincethen, the NDA has strength-ened its position in the Rajya

Sabha further.BJP floor managers are

confident of securing the sup-port of about 140 MPs, includ-ing the fence-sitters YSRCongress, TRS and BJD. Thestrength of the BJP-led NDAhas also gradually increased tomore than 114 in the Housewith an effective strength of 244members as there is one vacan-cy. However, floor managers ofNDA are trying to build a con-sensus among all parties so thatHarivansh could be electedunanimously.

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar has already spoken tohis Odisha counterpart NaveenPatnaik to seek BJD’s supportfor JD(U) candidate in RajyaSabha poll.

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The CBI has sought sanctionto prosecute former

Defence Secretary Shashi KantSharma, who also later servedas Comptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG), in connec-tion with the alleged corruptionin the �3,600-croreAgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal that wasscrapped subsequently afterscam came to light.

The agency is likely to filea supplementary chargesheetoutlining the role of the alleged middleman in thedeal Christian Michel, who

was deported from the UAEand is currently undergoingjudicial custody, officials said.

In its supplementarycharge sheet, the CBI is alsolikely to mention the allegedroles of some former public servants, who were hold-ing key decision-making posi-tions when the deal for the heli-copters was in progress, they said.

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Based on the findings ofserosurvey, the Indian

Council of Medical Research(ICMR) has said that 64 lakhIndians had been ready infect-ed by Covid-19 by May. Thesewere undiagnosed and theinfected people had developedantibodies against the novelcoronavirus.

The sero-survey further

revealed that for every con-firmed Covid-19 case in May,there were 82-130 infectionsthat went undetected.Incidentally, by midway Indiahad just around 90,000 cases.

The national serosurveywas conducted from May 11 toJune 4 on 28,000 individuals.Their blood samples were test-ed for IgG antibodies usingCovid Kavach ELISA kit.

According to the survey,

seropositivity was found to bethe highest in the 18-45 agegroup (43.3%), followed bythe 46-60 age group (39.5%). Itwas found the lowest amongthose aged over 60 (17.2%).

“The findings of our surveyindicated that the overall sero-prevalence in India was low,with less than one per cent ofthe adult population exposed toSARS-CoV-2 by mid-May2020,” the survey said.

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India may have become thesecond worst Covid-19 glob-

al hotspot in the world, butBJP’s West Bengal presidentDilip Ghosh has declared thatthat corona pandemic is “gone’.He has also accused MamataBanerjee of gagging theOpposition voice by imposinglockdown in the name of tack-ling coronavirus pandemic.

Ghosh, who is known forcourting controversies insearch of quick political rele-vance, said, “There is no coro-na in the market… the pan-demic is a thing of past but theChief Minister is imposinglockdowns in the name of pan-demic so as to thwart the BJP’spolitical programmes from tak-ing place.”

Reacting strongly to hiscomments senior TMC leader

and MP Kalyan Banerjee saidthat Ghosh was out of hisminds and was behaving likean irresponsible politician.

“He is showing all kinds ofinsanity and has become a fitcase to be sent to an asylum,”Banerjee said adding “at a timewhen the corona infectionsare rising by the hour with thecountry recording about a lakhcases every day which is high-est in the world this man is say-ing that there is no corona… In

doing so he is contradicting hisown BJP Government’s state-ments on the pandemic.”

CPI(M) leader SujanChakrabarty questioned thepolitical sincerity and socialresponsibility of Ghosh sayinghe is aspiring to come to powerin Bengal and is in such a hurrythat he wants to put the peopleand even his own supporters atrisk by not only calling them tocrowded programmes but alsoby making them corona insen-sitive with such kind of asser-tions that the pandemic hasgone.

Meanwhile, three seniorIPS officers, including KolkataPolice Commissioner AnujSharma, were reported coronapositive, sources said addingSharma has been sent to isola-tion with minor symptomsand was carrying on his dutiesfrom his home

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Amid speculation that theMaharashtra Government

has written to the MumbaiPolice to look into news reportsthat she had consumed narcoticdrugs, actress Kangana Ranauton Friday needled Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi forher “silence” and “indiffer-ence” over the “harassment”meted out to women by theMVA Government.

Kangana, who has beentargeting the ruling Shiv Senaviciously ever since the alleged“illegal” portions of her bun-galow at Bandra’s Pali Hill areawas demolished on Wednesday,enlarged her target to single outSonia, albeit in the guise of

seeking the latter’s interventionin the issues related to her.

In one of the tweets put outby her during the day, Kanganasaid, “You have grown up in thewest and lived here in India.You may be aware of the strug-gles of women. History willjudge your silence and indif-ference when your ownGovernment is harassingwomen and ensuring a totalmockery of law and order. Ihope you will intervene.”

“Dear respected hon-ourable Congress presidentSonia Gandhi ji, being awoman aren’t you anguished bythe treatment I am given byyour Government inMaharashtra? Can you notrequest your Government touphold the principles of the Constitution given to usby Dr Ambedkar?,” Kanganaasked.

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Social activist SwamiAgnivesh, who was suffering

from liver cirrhosis for a longtime, died of multi-organ failureat a Delhi hospital on Friday,doctors said. He was 80.

His last rites will be per-formed on Saturday at AgnilokAshram in Behelpa, Gurgaon at4 pm. Before that, his body willbe kept at his office in 7, JantarMantar Road so that people canpay last respects.

Those coming to pay lastrespects have been urged to fol-low Covid-19 protocols.

Agnivesh was critically illand admitted to an ICU of theInstitute of Liver and BiliarySciences, and was on ventilato-ry support since Tuesday. “Hewas suffering from liver cir-rhosis and died today due tomulti-organ failure as his con-dition deteriorated and he wentinto cardiac arrest at 6 pm,” saida spokesperson of thehospital.

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With no let-up in tension atthe Line of Actual

Control (LAC) in Ladakh,Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Friday reviewed theground situation with the mil-itary top brass and NationalSecurity Adviser (NSA) AjitDoval.

The high-level meetingalso took stock of the outcomeof talks between ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankarand his Chinese counterpartWang Yi and prepared theroadmap for forthcomingCorps Commander-level talkslikely to take place next week.

The nearly two-hour longmeeting was also attended byChief of Defence Staff (CDS)General Bipin Rawat and threeServices chiefs. In a briefing to

the Parliamentary StandingCommittee on defence onFriday, Rawat assured that theArmed forces are ready for anyeventuality. The meeting wasattended by Congress MPRahul Gandhi.

The CDS informed thecommittee that the Armedforces had taken adequate stepsand measures to thwart anyattempt by China to furtherchange or alter the status quoalong the LAC, sources said.Defence forces are alert and willgive a befitting reply to theChinese in case of any misad-venture that takes place alongthe border, Rawat said.

Rajnath’s fact checking ses-sion comes a day after theForeign Ministers of India andChina agreed on a five-pointplan for speedy disengagementand de-escalation besides con-tinuing the dialogue process.

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Aspecial court on Fridayrejected the bail applica-

tions of actress RheaChakraborty, her brotherShowik and four others inconnection with a much-dis-cussed drug case relating toSushant Singh Rajput’s death.

Following the rejection ofher bail plea, Rhea — who wasarrested in connection in con-nection with a drug case onTuesday — will remain inByculla women’s jail for anoth-er eleven more days, unless anduntil she gets some relief fromanother court.

Friday’s was the secondoccasion when Rhea’s bailapplication was rejected by acourt. Earlier, hours after herarrest on September 8, a citycourt had rejected her bail

application remanded in judi-cial custody for 14 days i.e. tillSeptember 22.

Rhea is likely to move theBombay High Court in thecoming days for bail. “Once weget the copy of the order, wewill decide next week on thecourse of action i.e., aboutapproaching the high court,”Rhea’s lawyer SatishManeshinde said.

Apart from Rhea andShowik, the four other accusedwho were denied bail by thecourt were: Sushant’s housemanager Samuel Miranda,house help Dipesh Sawant andtwo alleged drug peddlersAbdel Bashit Parihar and ZaidVilatra. While Rhea andShowik were represented byadvocate Satish Maneshinde,the NCB was represented bySpecial Public Prosecutor AtulSarpande.

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New Delhi: China’s People’sLiberation Army (PLA) is like-ly to hand over five youthsmissing from ArunachalPradesh to the Indian author-ities on Saturday, Union min-ister Kiren Rijiju said.

The PLA on Tuesday hadconveyed that the five youths,who went missing onSeptember 4 from the Sino-Indian border in UpperSubansiri district, were foundby them across the border.

“The Chinese PLA hasconfirmed to the Indian Armyto hand over the youths fromArunachal Pradesh to our side.The handing over is likely totake place anytime tomorrowi.e. 12th September 2020 at adesignated location,” Rijijutweeted on Friday.

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Lucknow: Seventy-six morepeople died from coronavirusin Uttar Pradesh on Friday asthe state reported its highest sin-gle-day spike of 7,103 cases,pushing the infection numbersto over 2.99 lakh, a health bul-letin said. So far, the state hasreported 4,282 fatalities.

UP Minister of State forJails, Jai Kumar Singh Jaiki, isamong those who tested posi-tive for the infection on Friday.He disclosed this on his Twitterhandle. Meanwhile, theFriday figures surpassed theThursday tally of 7,042, anoth-er record spike since the pan-demic broke out in the state.The total number of COVID-19cases has risen to 2,99,045 while7,103 fresh cases were reportedin the past 24 hours, the healthbulletin said.

Among the 76 fresh deaths,maximum 16 took place inLucknow; seven each inKanpur and Allahabad; andfour from Gorakhpur, the bul-letin said.

As far as fresh cases areconcerned, state capitalLucknow recorded the maxi-mum 1,181 infections; Kanpur413; Allahabad 341; Gorakhpur246; Varanasi 237; Ghaziabad222; Gautam Buddh Nagar 204and Meerut 259 besides others,it said.

So far, maximum 511 peo-ple have died in Kanpur; fol-lowed by 496 in Lucknow; 204in Allahabad; 200 in Varanasi;174 in Gorakhpur; and 161 inMeerut, it added

Additional Chief SecretaryAmit Mohan Prasad said, “Thetotal number of active cases inthe state now stands at 67,321while 2,27,442 patients havebeen treated and dischargedafter recovery. In past 24 hours,76 persons have died due to thedisease, he said.

The officer said the posi-tivity rate stands at 4.14 per centwhich is half of the nationalaverage of 8.44 per cent.

Earlier, Prasad said of the67,321 active cases, 34,920 are

in home isolation. “So far 1,44,147 persons

have opted for home isolation inthe state. Of them, 1,09,227have completed the isolationperiod,” he said.

Prasad said over 72 lakhCOVID tests have been per-formed in Uttar Pradesh, whichhas become the first state toconduct that many tests.

On Thursday, over 1.50lakh tests were conducted,including over 50,000 RT-PCRones in government labs, headded. Meanwhile, Ministerof State for Jails, Jai Kumar SinghJaiki, said he has tested positivefor COVID-19 and is now inhome isolation.

“After detecting primarysymptoms of corona, I under-went a test on September 9,whose results came positive. Asper medical advice, I have iso-lated myself at home,” he said ina tweet.

In another tweet, he urgedthe people who came in his con-tact in the past one week to get

themselves tested. Besides Jaiki, several min-

isters in the Yogi Adityanath-ledUttar Pradesh Governmenthave tested positive for thevirus.

Two of them, ChetanChauhan and Kamal RaniVarun, succumbed to the infec-tion. The other ministers whocontracted the infection areSiddharth

Nath Singh, RajendraPratap Singh, Dharam SinghSaini, Upendra Tiwari, AtulGarg, Baldev Singh Aulakh,Mohsin Raza, Satish Mahana,Pratap Singh, Mahendra Singhand Brajesh Pathak.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Friday directedsenior officials to hold a meet-ing with the authorities inLucknow to chalk out an effec-tive strategy to check the spreadof COVID-19 in the city. He also asked officials toincrease the bed capacity inCOVID hospitals of KanpurNagar. PTI

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Andhra Pradesh on Fridaybroke The 10,000 cases

streak thats been running forthe past couple of weeks,showing a fresh addition of9,999 COVID-19 cases in a daythat saw more than 11,000patients recovering from theinfection.

The latest bulletin said 77more COVID-19 patients suc-cumbed in 24 hours ending 9AM on Friday. For the pastfew days, more number ofRapid Antigen Tests werebeing done rather than the RT-PCR tests,but the positiveswere turning out more or lessin equal numbers.

The bulletin showed5,47,686 total COVID19 casesreported in the state so far,4,46,716 recoveries and 4,779deaths.The number of activecases stood at 96,191.

East Godavari districtreported 1,499 fresh cases in 24hours while West Godavariand Chittoor added more than1,000 each.

Guntur and Prakasam dis-tricts added over 900 each.Kadapa saw nine fresh fatalities,Chittoor, Prakasam and SPSNellore eight each.

Krishna and Gunturreported seven more casualtieseach, Anantapuramu andVisakhapatnam six each,Vizianagaram and WestGodavari five each, accordingto the bulletin.

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JD(S) leader H DKumaraswamy met

Karnataka Chief Minister B SYediyurappa on Friday andsaid it was to highlight thehavoc caused by rains in theconstituency represented byhis party MLA.

However, the sudden meet-ing between the two leaders hasgiven rise to speculationsabout possible political dis-cussions between them.

Kumaraswamy metYediyurappa at the latter'shome-cum- office 'Krishna'here this morning.

According to sources, themeeting lasted for about 20minutes. Speaking to reportersafter the meeting,Kumaraswamy said he hadcome to discuss the havoccaused by the recent rains.

“Especially inDasarahalli, represented by our

party MLA Manjunath, therehas been a lot of damage inareas like Chikkabanavara andPeenya.

When I was Chief Minister,I had given approval to projectsworth about Rs 515 crore inthose areas, but so far only Rs16 crore has been released,” hesaid.

Several layouts have beeninundated and so he, alongwith the legislator, met the CMand requested him to sanctionmore funds and mitigate theproblem arising in those areasevery year during rains, theformer Chief Minister added.

Speaking to reporters laterin the day, Yediyurappa too saidthe discussion was about thesituation in Dasarahalli con-stituency after the recentrains.

“There has been destruc-tion due to rains there.. So he(Kumaraswamy) came along

with the legislator, seeking more funds andrequested that necessary stepsbe taken so such things don'trecur during the next rainyseason... We discussed about it,”he said. Heavy rains inBengaluru and surroundingareas earlier this week hadinundated several low lyingareas.

Though both leaders main-tained that the discussion wason rains, eyebrowswere raised in political circlesas this was the first directmeeting between the two afterBJP came to power last year fol-lowing the collapse of theJD(S)-Congress coalition gov-ernment headed byKumaraswamy.

Kumaraswamy andCongress had alleged thatdefection engineered by BJP,under Yediyurappa, had led tothe fall of the coalition gov-ernment.

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APOCSO court on Fridayframed charges against an

ashram owner and his disciplein connection with the case ofsexual exploitation of childrenat the place in Shukratal areahere.

The owner of the ashram,Bhakti Bhushan GovindMaharaj, along with his disci-ple Krishan Mohan Das werecharged under various sec-tions of the law bySpecial Judge Sanjiv Kumar

Tiwari.The special judge framed

Maharaj under Sections 323,377 and 504 of the IndianPenal Code, Section 5 and 6 ofthe Protection of Childrenfrom Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act, Sections 75 and77 of the Juvenile Justice Act

and Section 3 of the ScheduledCastes and Tribes (Preventionof Atrocities) Act.

Das was charged underSections 323 and 504 of the IPCalong with provisions of the JJAct.

The court fixed September15 for evidence to be put for-ward from the prosecutionside.

According to speciallawyer for POCSO casesDinesh Sharma, police hadfiled a chargesheet against theashram owner and his discipleunder various sections of thelaw in connection with the casethat took place at the ashram.

Maharaj and Das werearrested in July for sexuallyexploiting children and forc-ing them to work as labourers.

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday confirmedthat the state government has no plan to reopen schools any-time soon.

However, he said that classes of X and XII may be resumedafter consultation with Parents Teachers Associations (PTA).

“The central government has allowed classes of XI to XII afterSeptember 20. They are allowing those with the consent of theirparents to attend schools while following all the social distanc-ing norms,” Sawant said, while addressing a press conference here.

The state has so far recorded 22,890 Covid-19 cases.Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Friday said that Goa could

see a further spike in cases with 1,000 cases expected in one day.On September 3, the state witnessed 713, a record number

of Covid-19 cases in 24 hours. IANS

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The Delhi High Court onFriday declined to stay the

evening telecast of SudarshanTV's 'Bindas Bol' programme,whose promo claimed that thechannel was all set to broadcasta 'big expose on conspiracy toinfiltrate Muslims in govern-ment service'. The showis scheduled to be telecast at 8pm on Friday.

Justice Navin Chawla alsoissued notice and sought reply

of the Centre and SudarshanNews and its Editor-in-ChiefSuresh Chavhanke on a peti-tion filed by former and presentstudents of Jamia Millia Islamia(JMI) University challengingthe nod given by Ministry ofInformation and Broadcastingto the channel's broadcast.

The high court grantedtime to the ministry, repre-sented through central gov-ernment standing counselAnurag Ahluwalia, to file anaffidavit in response to the plea

which has sought to set asidethe government's September 9order and to reassess the legal-ity of the channel's show.

It fixed the next date ofhearing on November 18.

Advocate Bijender Singh,who was representing the TVchannel, said “there is no stayon the telecast of the pro-gramme. The court declined it.”

The petition by SyedMujtaba Athar and Ritesh Sirajsought urgent hearing seekinga direction prohibiting the

broadcast of the show titled'Bindas Bol', which is scheduledto be telecast at 8 pm tonighton Sudarshan TV till the timegovernment decides on thelegality of the show.

The plea claimed that theproposed show is full of hatespeech and defamation againstthe petitioners and if the cur-rent petition is not adjudicat-ed prior to its broadcast,irreparable harm will be causedto them and the plea will alsobecome infructuous.

The plea said the ministryhas refrained from exercisingits powers under the Cable TVAct to prohibit the proposedshow.

The plea claimed that theministry passed a non-speak-ing order, which is quoted as,“Having regard to the afore-mentioned facts and circum-stances of the case, SudarshanTV channel is hereby directedto ensure that the programmeproposed to be telecast doesnot violate any of the pro-

gramme codes. If any violationof the programme code isfound, action as per law will betaken.”

The petition also soughtdirection to the channel and itseditor to not broadcast theirshow 'Bindas Bol' on the topicof entry of Muslims and Jamiaalumni into civil services andits promo till the ministryreassess and decides if thebroadcast of the show needs tobe prohibited under the cableTV Act and other laws.

The high court on August28 stayed the telecast of theprogramme which was sched-uled the same evening. OnAugust 29, the high disposed ofthe plea with a direction to theministry to take a decision onthe prohibition of the pro-posed Show pursuant to itsAugust 28 show-cause notice.

The high court had alsodirected the channel and itseditor to not broadcast theproposed show till such timethe ministry takes the decision.

New Delhi: The Delhi governmentis reviewing allotment of play-grounds in its schools to privatesports academies and individualtrainers for coaching purposes, offi-cials said.

“A review of performance isbeing conducted for renewal ofallotment of private academies,individual trainers and clubs whichhave been allotted school play-grounds under the scheme 'involv-ing various sports academies, clubs,individual trainers into coaching ofstudent, players in various sports ingovernment schools',” a senior offi-cial said.

“To evaluate the performanceand decision to be taken accordinglyof those sports academies whichhave completed two years of allot-ment and those who haven't still not

completed two years of allotment,certain supporting documents alongwith application were sought. So faronly 26 of them have submitted thedocuments,” the official added.

For those academies which failto submit documents by September15, it would be assumed that they arenot willing to continue with theircoaching of school students in theallotted school premises and theirallotment will be withdrawn orcancelled without any further com-munication. PTI

New Delhi: Officials at Delhidistrict courts have beendirected to immediately stopusing the banned Chineseapplications like CamScannerfor official work or they wouldinvite disciplinary action, a cir-cular has said.

According to the circularissued by District Judge(Commercial court) ManMohan Sharma, the officialsdealing with the website ofDelhi District Court(s) weredirected to find out alluploaded documents, whichprovided the impression thatthey were scanned with thehelp of banned Chinese appli-cations, and either re-uploadthem fresh or do so in acropped manner.

The circular, issued onSeptember 10, said non-com-pliance of the directions should

be viewed seriously and wouldinvite disciplinary actionagainst the erring officials.

“It has been noticed thatsome of the officials are for-warding scanned copies of cir-culars/bail orders/daily ordersetc which have been scannedwith the help of Chinese scan-ning applications likeCamScanner, which is in vio-lation of directions issued bythe government of India,” thecircular said.

“It has also been noticedthat some circulars and ordershave already been uploaded onofficial website apparentlyscanned with the help of someof the banned Chinese appli-cations.

“Keeping in view of theabove and to comply with thedirections of the governmentof India, all officials of Delhi

District Courts are directed tostop use of all banned Chineseapplications in official workimmediately,” the circular stat-ed.

CamScanner was amongthe 106 apps with links toChina that were banned by theCentre for being prejudicial tothe sovereignty, integrity anddefence of the country.

On June 29, the ITMinistry's statement on ban of59 mobile apps had citednumerous complaints receivedfrom various quarters, includ-ing several reports about mis-use of some mobile apps avail-able on Android and iOSplatforms for allegedly “stealingand surreptitiously transmit-ting users” data in an unau-thorised manner to serverswhich have locations outsideIndia”. PTI

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Aligarh (UP): The AligarhMuslim University (AMU)plans to bury a second timecapsule, nearly 143 years afterthe first capsule was buried onthe campus in 1877.

The second time capsulewill be buried to coincide withAMU's centenary celebrationsin December.

A six-member committeehas been set up by Vice chan-cellor Prof Tariq Mansoor towork out the modalities.

The committee includesMechanical Engineering HoDProf Mirza Faisal, Prof MKPundhir from HistoryDepartment, Rajiv Kumar

Sharma from the BuildingDepartment, Sir Syed AcademyDeputy Director Dr MohdShahid, Urdu AcademyDirector Rahat Abrar, andRegistrar Abdul Hamid.

It has suggested four placesto bury the time capsule --Kennedy Auditorium, Sir SyedAcademy, in front of theVictoria Gate, and in front ofMaulana Azad Library gatenear the fountain.

According to Prof Pundhir,the second time capsule willcontain the university's histo-ry and its achievements.

He said that the universitywill take expert advice from

IIT-Kanpur since it undertooka similar exercise in March2010.

He said that the containerof time capsule made of stain-less steel of Grade 410 will becoated with PVC, as these con-tainers have a life span of morethan 300 years.

It may be filled with aninert gas so that the inneratmosphere of the capsule doesnot react chemically.

Besides, the documents tobe kept inside the capsule willhave to be prepared on acid-free paper and placed in a poly-thene sheet.

“The capsule content may

also be scanned and soft copiesput on multiple servers of reli-able integrity,” Prof Pundhirsaid.Dr Rahat Abrar, mean-while, said that the first time acapsule was buried was on theFoundation Day of theMuhammadan Anglo-OrientalCollege, which later became theAMU in 1920, under theStrachey Hall on the campus, inthe presence of Sir Syed AhmadKhan and then Viceroy toIndia, Edward Robert Lytton,which is clearly mentioned inthe Aligarh Institute Gazette ofJanuary 12, 1877.

He said that according toclippings of newspapers from

1877, the capsule contained therecords of the donors (towardsthe establishment of the collegein 1875) and the struggles of SirSyed Ahmad Khan, its founder.

Some silver and gold coinsof that time were also placedinside the capsule.

He said that the materi-al/documents planned to beincluded in the new capsule areSir Syed's biography written byCol GF Graham, details ofconvocation attended by vari-ous chief guests, history of theuniversity between 1920 and2020 in digital and printedformat, and academic calendarsetc. IANS

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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S.Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday

launched the 'YSR Asara' scheme, whichwill benefit 87 lakh women belonging to8.71 lakh self-help groups (SHGs).

“Today, your Jagan stands before youas someone who is fulfilling the promise hemade. I promised that I will reimburse alloutstanding loans of SHGs as on April 11,2019 in four installments and today, I amreleasing the first,” said Reddy.

He asked if any other state governmentever introduced such a big scheme, bene-fiting so many women.

The Chief Minister had promised thatthe government of Andhra Pradesh willreimburse all the outstanding loans takenby all the women members of the SHGs belonging to the SC, ST, BC, andminority communities on April 11, 2019.

The scheme promises to deposit money

in the bank accounts of eligible women,amounting to Rs 27,168 crore in total, infour installments.

On Friday, Reddy released the firstinstallment of Rs 6,792 crore at the pressof a button in his office, in the presence ofministers and officials.

District collectors, senior officials andseveral beneficiaries also witnessed thelaunch, live through a video conference.

According to the state government'scalculations, the outstanding loans of eli-gible women on the cut-off date were deter-mined to be amounting to Rs 25,383crore.

Most of these women hailing from poorfamilies were compelled to take theseloans for education, healthcare, care ofelderly people at home, daily needs andother emergencies.

This resulted in getting them into avicious cycle of debts due to their incapa-bility to cope with the exorbitant rates ofinterest.

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The number of normalCoronavirus (Covid-19)

patients in Uttarakhand surgedto 29221 on Friday with thestate health department report-ing 995 fresh cases of the dis-ease. Deaths of eleven patientswere also reported on the daywhich took the death toll to 388in the state.

The authorities discharged645 patients on Friday fromdifferent hospitals of thestate.

A total of 19428 patientshave so far recovered from thedisease and the percentagerecovery for Covidd-19patients in the state is 66.49percent. The increase in thenumber of patients has alsoincreased the infection rate(IR) which now is at 6.11 per-cent.

Six patients of Covid-19were reported dead at All India

Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) Rishikesh onFriday. Similarly three patientsexpired at Sri Mahant Indireshhospital, Dehradun while twodied at Sushila Tiwari govern-ment hospital, Haldwani.

The health departmentreported 281 patients of the dis-ease in Dehradun on Fridaywhile 271 were reported inUdham Singh Nagar.

The authorities reported161 patients in Haridwar, 110in Nainital, 43 in Pauri, 39 inPithoragarh, 29 in Tehri, 17 inUttarkashi, 14 in Almora, 10 inChampawat, eight in Chamoli,seven in Bageshwar and five inRudraprayag district on Friday.

The health department dis-charged 235 patients in UdhamSingh Nagar, 206 in Nainital, 93in Pithoragarh, 62 in Pauri, 38 in Uttarkashi, nine inChampawat and two inRudraprayag district.

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STAFF REPORTER nSUKMA

Accusing them of beingspies, Maoists expelled

13 members of two families,one of them blind, in villagePalamdagu in Chhattisgarh'sSukma district, forcing themto walk 5 km in rain to reachanother village with a meagrepossession of ration andcattle.

The incident took placeon Friday in the Polampallypolice station limits. The dis-traught families reachedPolampally village to takeshelter.

Sukma District CollectorChandan Kumar sent anadministrative team to ensurerelief to the homeless. Theteam, led by Tehsildar,ensured food, blankets andother primary relief to them.

Sukma correspondentAman Singh Bhadhauria

reports that Naxalites held a‘Jan Adalat’ or kangaroocourt where allegations ofspying were imposed on thefamily members. A decreewas passed to expel all ofthem from the village.

During interaction withthe correspondent, the familymembers said that they havehad to leave all their land,

house and other materialsbehind.

They demanded a house,land and employment fromthe administration to survive.

The expelled familymembers are MadkamPodiya, Madkam Mase,

Madkam Kosa, MadkamSavitri, Madkam Pandu,Madmak Jogi, Madkam Deve(blind), Madkam Dhurva,Madkam Hadme, MadkamBheema, Madkam Mukke,Madkam Handa, MadkamGangi, and Madkam Moda.

Four children of the fam-ily have been admitted inPOTA Cabin schools at

Polampally.Directives have been

given to Panchayat authori-ties to ensure they get workunder the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Scheme (MGN-REGA).

“This is the brutal face ofNaxalites," said AkhileshKaushik, Sub DivisionalOfficer (Police), Dornapal."On the one side they speakabout the rights of tribals andon the other they level falseallegations and kill or expelvillagers... Earlier, membersof the family had been killedby Naxalites.

RAIPUR | SATURDAY | SEPTEMBER 12, 2020chhattisgarh 03

A statue of Swami Vivekananda was unveiled on Fridayevening at the premises of Swami Vivekananda Airport,Raipur, by Airport Director Rakesh Ranjan Sahai. TheNational Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) hasgifted the statue to the Raipur airport. Pioneer Photo

e-Procurement Tender NoticeMain Portal: http://eproc.cgstate.gov.in

NIT NO: 324/RSCL/2020, RAIPUR DATED: 11/09/2020Online bids are invited for the following of works up to 02/10/2020 at 17:30 hours.

The details can be viewed and downloaded online directly from the Government of Chhattisgarh e-ProcurementPortal https://eproc.cgstate.gov.in and website of Raipur Smart City Limited https://www.smartcityraipur.orgfrom 11/09/2020 17:30 Hours (IST) onwards up to 02/10/2020 up to 17:30 Hrs.For more details on the tender and bidding process you may please visit the above-mentioned portal.

OFFICE OF THE RAIPUR SMART CITY LIMITED

MANAGING DIRECTORRAIPUR SMART CITY LIMITED,

RAIPUR(C.G.)

Sl.No.

SystemTender No.

Name of work/Description of work Tenderamount

EMDAmount

Time Period

1 67721 Construction of Mutton Market near Shastri Market in Raipur ` 198.90 LAKH

` 1.98 LAKH

08 Month includingmonsoon season

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STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Using everything fromposters to rangoli, the

Chhattisgarh government istaking various initiatives toeradicate malnutrition inchildren, pregnant womenand lactating mothers.

To create awareness onthe importance of nutrition,Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel has given specialinstructions to adopt innova-tive approaches to end mal-

nutrition in women and chil-dren, an official release saidon Friday.

The Women ChildDevelopment Department isorganizing SuposhanChaupal in villages to createawareness on the importanceof nutrition during theNational Nutrition Month.

At the Chaupals, pictures,paintings, slogans and rangoliare being used to createawareness.

While following theCovid-19 safety protocol,

parents and guardians areinformed about nutritiousfoods and how to consumethem.

They are also told aboutthe local fruits, vegetables,cereals and their nutritionalcontent, and also the way toconsume these.

Women are educated onthe importance of breastfeed-ing and special care during theinitial first 1,000 days from thebirth of a child. Similaractivities are on in Anganwadicentres for children.

STAFF REPORTER nMAHASAMUND

Awoman and her twochildren were killed by her

relatives over a property disputein Mahasamund district ofChhattisgarh, police said onFriday.

The victim's husband andher mother-in-law were alsoseriously injured, and the latteris in a critical condition,Mahasamund Superintendent ofPolice Prafull Thakur said overtelephone.

Police have arrested twopersons in this connection,Thakur said.

The deceased wereidentified as Jagriti Gaikwad(40), wife of Oas Gaikwad, andtheir children Teena (16) andManish (17).

The incident happened onFriday morning in Joba villagein the Tumgaon police stationlimits.

The victim and a relative,Brijsen, had a property disputeand the matter is in court, theofficer said.

Armed with sharp edgedweapons, accused ParasGaikwad and his son BrijsenGaikwad entered the house ofthe victim. Brijsen threw chillipowder in the eyes of the familymembers and hacked them withan axe, the officer said.

The husband managed torun to a neighbour's house whocalled police.

By the time police reachedthe spot, Jagriti Gaikwad, Teenaand Manish were dead. Theinjured have been hospitalized.

Chhattisgarh takes specialsteps to end malnutrition

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh's HealthDepartment has told private

hospitals, nursing homes anddoctors monitoring patients inhome isolation to provide infor-mation about the patients to theChief Medical and Health

Officers of their districts. The department has issued a

circular stating this to doctorsand directors of private hospitalsas well as nursing homes

The circular states that it hasbeen noticed that some privatehospitals and doctors are notgiving information about such

patients like daily records oftheir temperature, oxygen level,symptoms and end of their homeisolation period.

According to the criteria setby the government, onlyCovid-19 infected peopleshould get the facility of homeisolation.

STAFF REPORTER nMAHASAMUND

The Chhattisgarh Police onFriday arrested three per-

sons and seized gold ornamentsweighing 4.86 kg and valued at`2.22 crore and `32.84 lakh incash in Chhattisgarh’sMahasamund district.

M a h a s a m u n dSuperintendent of Police PrafullKumar Thakur told The Pioneerover telephone that the arrestedmen were Bharat Rajput, SharadSharma and a car driver,Devendra Kumar Sahu.

At a routine vehicle check-ing, police intercepted a car(CG-04, MJ-1150) at the inter-state check post in the Singhorapolice station limitst andsearched it. They found thegold ornaments and cash insidea plastic box in a separatechamber, Thakur said.

The accused claimed that

the gold ornaments belongedto the proprietor of KushalJewellers in Raipur and theywere returning from Odishaafter selling some jewellery. Butthey failed to produce any doc-uments showing the ownershipof the jewellery.

Police seized gold orna-ments weighing 4.86 kg includ-ing 124 gold mangal sutra

weighing 1,555.14 grams, 15kalipot pearl weighing 57.85grams, 54 gold bangles weigh-ing 1,502.67 grams, 189 goldrings weighing 772.05 grams,17 gold bracelets weighing347.830 grams, 40 gold locketsweighing 116.890 grams and 25gold biscuits (piece) weighing510.24 besides `32.84 lakh incash, Thakur added.

Forest Ranger hacked

to death by MaoistsBIJAPUR: A Forest Ranger was hacked to deathby Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district onFriday, police said.

The incident happened around 3 pm whenRathram Patelreached Kondronjivillage in the Janglapolice station lim-its, about 45 kmfrom Bijapur town,Inspector General(Bastar) P.Sundarraj said overtelephone.

The Maoistsabducted him andtook him to aschool in the vil-lage and hacked

him to death, the officer said.The deceased was posted at the Indravati

Tiger Reserve as a Ranger of the BhairamgarhForest Range. He was from Balodabazar districtand lived in Bhairamgarh town.

“The Ranger had gone to the village to distrib-ute remuneration for a road built by villagers. TwoForest Guards had accompanied him but theymanaged to escape," Superintendent of PoliceKamlochan Kashyap said.

Kashyap reached the spot and found the bodyof the Ranger. Police have registered a case.

STAFF REPORTER nJASHPUR

An advocate and a formerteacher, 83-year old

Joseph Lakra on Fridaycomplained to theChhattisgarh Governor andChief Minister against ayoung IAS officer posted asSub Divisional Magistrate(SDM) at Bagicha in Jashpurdistrict.

In his letter, Lakra hasaccused the officer of publiclyabusing him and questionedhis son’s parental lineage.

He said the incidenttook place on September 7when he was to the Tehsiloffice near his home.

“In front of everyone,

the SDM started to use abu-sive language in a fit of rage.He questioned the parent-age of my son and the filingof a FIR against NaibTehsildhar Sanjay Ratore,”says the letter.

Lakra said he was in astate of shock for three days

after the incident.Lakra told the media:

“Let God forgive this youngman who has joined thisdistinguished service. RohitVyas considers his postmore powerful than God. Iwant such an egoisticperson should be taught a

lesson not to insult a seniorcitizen.”

Jashpur correspondentSantosh Choudhary con-tacted SDM Rohit Vyas butthe officer denied to speakon the issue.

Jashspur correspondentreports that Lakra was ateacher with a conventschool in Ambikapur from1964 to 1980. His studentsinclude cabinet ministerAmarjeet Bhagat, KunkuriMLA U.D. Minj, retiredSurguja CommissionerAwadh Bihari and largenumber of IAS and IPS offi-cers as well as doctors andpoliticians. After retire-ment, he took up work aslawyer.

Woman, 2 children killedover property dispute

Doctors monitoring Covid patientsat home, cases on rise in state

Maoists forced 13 villagersto migrate on spy charges

3 members of family killedThe Madkam family has been targeted by the Naxalites

since 2006. Three family members have been killed.Victim Madkam Dhurva told the correspondent: “My

younger brother Madkam Joga used to go to Sukma to study.During the examination period, Naxalites called a meetingin 2006 in the village Palamdagu and he was murdered.

"Another related family member was killed over thesame allegation of being a police informer."

Similarly, a younger brother, Madkam Hidma, waskilled a few months ago. Recently, Naxalites told the familythat Hidma was being taken to ‘Jan Adalat’. When he tried toescape, he was shot by an arrow.

"His body has been cremated near a mountain. Thefamily could not even see his body. This time we were toldthat if we don't leave the village, everyone will be killed."

Ex-teacher complainsagainst IAS officer

Three arrested with4.86 kg gold ornaments

The Maoistsabducted himand took him toa school in thevillage andhacked him todeath, theofficer said

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�����"�,�"4�����<?�"�,�����������/����������-�42��-��*���� 8=:��=>+

For every confirmed case ofCovid-19 in May, there were

82-130 infections that wentundetected and India poten-tially had 64 lakh people infect-ed with the virus, as per theresults of the first sero-surveyconducted by scientists fromthe Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR).

The number could be onthe higher side given that as thesurvey noted there could beunder-detection of Covid-19cases in the zero stratum dis-tricts on account of low testingas well as poor access to testinglaboratories.

“The low prevalenceobserved in most districts indi-cates that India is in the earlyphase of the epidemic and themajority of the Indian popula-tion is still susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection,” said the studyconducted on 28,000 peoplefrom 700 clusters in 70 districtsacross the four strata fromMay 11 to June 4.

The study is published inthe latest issue of Indian Journalof Medical Research (IJMR)

The study wherein bloodsamples were tested for IgGantibodies using Covid-19Kavach ELISA kit, indicatedthat 0.73 per cent adults in Indiawere exposed to SARS-CoV-2,amounting to a total of 6.4 mil-lion infections by early May.

Also, seropositivity was thehighest in the age group of 18-45 years (43.3 per cent), fol-lowed by those between 46-60years (39.5 per cent) and it wasthe lowest among those agedabove 60 (17.2 per cent).

It highlighted the need tocontinue to implement the con-text-specific containment mea-sures including the testing of allsymptomatics, isolating positivecases and tracing high-riskcontacts to slow transmissionand to prevent the overbur-

dening of the health system.Males, living in urban

slums and occupation withhigh risk of exposure to poten-tially infected persons wereassociated with seropositivity.

According to the surveyreport, seroprevalence ranged

between 0.62 and 1.03 per centacross the four strata of districts.

The stratification of dis-tricts as zero cases (15 dis-tricts), low (22 districts),medium (16) and high (17)was done on the basis of thereported number of Covid-19

cases as on April 25.About one-fourth (25.9

per cent) of the surveyed clus-ters were from urban areas.Nearly half (48.5 per cent) of

the participants were agedbetween 18 and 45 and 51.5per cent (14,390) were females.In all, 18.7 per cent of the par-ticipants had an occupation

with a high risk of exposure topotentially infected persons.

In four of the 15 districtsin this stratum, Covid-19 test-ing laboratories were not

available in district head-quarters and the samples weretransported to the state head-quarter hospitals for diagno-sis.

*���� 8=:��=>+

Following reports that Covid-19 recovered patients are

grappling with various healthissues such as poorer func-tioning of their lungs, heart andliver, the Union HealthMinistry is creating a databaseof such survivors to help it for-mulate a long-term clinicalmanagement plan.

The ministry has drafteda format for gathering theinformation while the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) is concurrently work-ing on developing a registry ofpost-COVID-19 sequelae tocapture data on the same.

S o far, a tota l of35,42,663 people from coro-navirus infection have recov-ered in the country, accord-ing to government data.

Instances of patients fac-ing post-COVID complica-tions like respiratory, car-diovascular, neurologicalproblems, immunologicalreactions among childrenand fibrosis in lungs have

come to the fore within thecountry as well as abroad.

A committee of expertsis currently working on aguidance note on possiblecomplicat ions that mayafflict recovered patients.The note would be issued tothe States so that they canshare it with the health facil-it ies in their areas forpatients getting discharged.

As per various studies,coronavirus has the poten-tial to attack many parts ofthe body beyond the respi-ratory system, causing dam-

age from the eyeballs to theto es , t he gut to t he kidneys. Patients’ immunesystems can go into over-drive to fight off the infec-t ion, compounding thedamage done.

Experts from the Delhi-based AIIMS recently havehighlighted the need to havepost-COVID clinics at alltertiary care hospitals whererecovered patients facinghealth issues can be checkedto understand the impact ofcoronavirus on var iousorgans of the body.

��������?������ 8=:��=>+

As the Covid-19 pandemicspreads to small towns

and villages across the coun-try, an alarmed Union HealthMinistry on Friday urgedStates and Union Territories toensure free movement of med-ical oxygen cylinders betweenstates to save the severelyinfected patients.

Oxygen support is one ofthe key clinical managementsin the treatment of Covid-19patients and according to theMinistry, so far, less than 3.7per cent of active patients areon oxygen support in thecountry.

The move followedreports that some states hadeither limited or refused thesupply of oxygen cylinders tothe needy States even as thedemand for the medical-gradeoxygen is shooting up amidthe Covid-19 pandemic fromacross the country.

For instance, accordingto a report four coronaviruspatients died at a hospital inMadhya Pradesh’s Dewas dis-trict, and several others wereleft with inadequate levels ofoxygen for nearly seven hourson Wednesday, afterMaharashtra - from where apercentage of the state’s store

of oxygen is purchased - lim-ited that supply.

In a letter to theStates/UTs, Union HealthSecretary Rajesh Bhushanemphasised on the availabil-ity of adequate and uninter-rupted supply of medical oxy-gen as an important pre-req-uisite for managing moderateand severe cases of Covid-19.

“The Health Ministry hasreiterated the critical impor-tance of oxygen in hospitalsfor the management of criti-cal COVID patients. Medicaloxygen constitutes an essen-tial public health commodi-ty. Any impediment in thesupplies of medical oxygen inthe country may criticallyimpact the management ofpatients suf fer ing fromCOVID-19 disease in otherparts of the country,” said theofficial.

“For moderate and severecases, adequate oxygen sup-

port, appropriate and timelyadministration of anti-coag-ulants and widely availableand inexpensive corticos-teroids, in accordance withthe protocol, can be consid-ered to be the mainstay ofCOVID-19 therapy,” theHealth Ministry said.

As the Covid caseloadsurges, there are reports ofoxygen shortages from vari-ous hospitals, particularlysmall and mid size hospitalsin States like Punjab, Gujaratand Andhra Pradesh.

For example, as per thePunjab health department,the projected requirement ofoxygen for both governmentand private hospitals in thestate will be around 165 MTsdaily by September 30.Punjab is struggling to meetthe increased demand fromgovernment and private hos-pitals.

In Karnataka, toodemand for oxygen supplyhas gone up four to fivetimes. “I have directed theofficials to make necessaryarrangements to ensure anadequate supply of liquidoxygen to all hospitals in theState. Steps will also be takento establish new liquid oxygenplants to meet the highdemand,” said Medical

Education Minister K.Sudhakar.

*���� 8=:��=>+

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday said that

National Education Policy(NEP) is going to give a newdirection to 21st century Indiaand we are becoming part of amoment that is laying the foun-dation for building the futureof our country. He said thathardly any aspect of our liferemained the same in the lastthree decades yet our educationsystem is still running underthe old system. The newNational Education Policy is ameans to fulfil new aspirations,new opportunities of a NewIndia, he said.

Modi said this whileaddressing the Conclave on

‘School Education in 21stCentury’ under NationalEducation Policy’ throughvideo conference. The two-day Conclave on “SchoolEducation in 21st Century”was organised by the Ministryof Education which saw thepresence of Education MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal, Ministerof State for Education SanjayDhotre, Secretary, Departmentof Higher Education AmitKhare, Secretary amongst oth-ers.

The Prime Ministerstressed on the need to increasesuch easy and innovative meth-ods. These experiments shouldbe the core of our new agelearning - Engage, Explore,

Experience, Express and Excel.Modi said that the NEP

2020 is a result of hard work ofpeople from every region, everysector and every language inthe last 3 to 4 years. He said theactual work begins now, withthe implementation of the pol-icy. He urged the teachers towork together for an effectiveimplementation of the NationalEducation Policy.

The Prime Minister said itis legitimate that many ques-tions arise after the announce-ment of the Policy and that itis necessary to discuss suchissues in this conclave to moveforward.

PM stressed the impor-tance of replacing the old 10Plus 2 with the system of 5 Plus3 Plus 3 Plus 4. He said nowplayful education of the pre-school which is limited to pri-vate schools in cities will alsoreach villages once this policyis implemented.

Modi said the studentsengage in activi-ties, events, pro-jects according totheir interest.Then childrenlearn to express ina constructiveway. He said thatchildren shouldbe taken on studytours to historicalplaces, places ofinterests, tofarms, industriesetc, as it wouldgive them practi-cal knowledge.The PrimeMinister said thisis now not hap-pening in all theschools. He saidbecause of this,many students arenot getting prac-tical knowledge.He said that byexposing the stu-dents to practicalknowledge theircuriosity wouldincrease and alsotheir knowledge.If students see theskilled profes-sionals then therewill be a kind ofemotional con-nection, they willunderstand theskills and respectthem. It is possi-ble that many ofthese childrengrow up to joinsuch industries oreven if theychoose anotherprofession it willremain in theirmind of what canbe innovated toimprove suchprofession.

*���� 8=:��=>+

Union Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan on

Friday held a video confer-ence (VC) to review theCovid management strate-gies and actions taken in theeight North Eastern States—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Manipur, Mizoram,Meghalaya, Nagaland,Tripura and Sikkim—andasked the respective officialsto help contain the trans-mission. These eightNortheastern States together account for lessthan 5 per cent of the totalactive cases in the country.With active cases numbering 29,690, Assamtops the list constituting 68per cent share in the total active caseload followed byTripura which has 7,383active cases.

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With viral videos of frenziedmediapersons violating

safety and social distancing pro-tocols onboard a Chandigarh-Mumbai flight that had actorKangana Ranaut as a passengeron September 9, the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) has sought a reportfrom IndiGo.

“We have seen some videoswherein mediapersons are stand-ing too close to each other in the6E264 flight on Wednesday. Itseems to be a violation of safetyand social distancing protocols.We have asked IndiGo to submita report on this incident,” aDGCA official said.

The IndiGo flight, 6E 264,which took off from Chandigarhon its scheduled time at around12 noon, landed in Mumbai ataround 2.15 pm on September 9.The flight had Ranaut on board,

along with her sister, Rangoli,who has been in the news overthe past few days after she hadan argument with one of themembers of Parliament (MPs)on social media.

The airline said it hasresponded. IndiGo said its owncrew followed all protocol on thatflight. “We are committed to pro-viding a safe, hassle-free experi-ence to our passengers,” it added.

The media chaos intensifiedas Mumbai’s civic agency start-ed demolishing what it called ille-gal alterations to her office evenwhen she was on her way.Anticipating drama, the mediafollowed her journey to Mumbai.

In January, Civil AviationMinister Hardeep Singh Puri hadtweeted that “offensive behaviordesigned to provoke and createdisturbance inside an aircraft isabsolutely unacceptable andendangers safety of air trav-ellers”.

*���� 8=:��=>+

Following severe criticismby the BJP for never

attending the parliamentarydefence panel’s meeting andonly “demoralising” the forceswith his comments on theIndia-China face-off at theLAC, former Congress chiefRahul Gandhi on Fridayrecorded his maiden atten-dance even as Chief ofDefence Staff General BipinRawat apprised the MPs thatIndia was prepared for anyeventuality at the border.

The official agenda forthe meeting was listed as‘’provision and monitoring ofthe quality of ration and liv-ery items to the Defenceforces, especially in border

areas’’ and Rahul asked whythere is a difference in food forjawans and officers.

The CDA explained thatdifferences exist in the foodhabits of officers and jawanswho are mostly from ruralbackground. But jawans areserved the same quality andquantity regardless of theirstation, Rawat said addingsoldiers prefer rotis and offi-cers opt for bread, jawansprefer desi ghee while officersmay opt for cheese.

General Rawat alsoinformed the StandingCommittee on Defence thatregional differences in foodhabits also prevail. Soldiersfrom north prefer wheat whilethose from south and east pre-fer rice, he pointed out.

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The National InvestigationAgency has f i led a

chargesheet against TaniaParveen and others in con-nection with the West BengalLashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT)online recruitment modulecase.

The agency filed thechargesheet before the NIASpecial Court, Kolkata onThursday against namedaccused Tania Parvin aliasIsranoor alias Refite of villageMalayapur in North 24Parganas district of WestBengal under various Sectionsof the anti-terror lawUnlawful Activit ies(Prevention) Act.

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The Government has con-stituted an Empowered

Group of Ministers (EGoM)under the chairmanship ofDefence Minister RajnathSingh to oversee the process ofcorporatisation of theOrdnance Factory Board(OFB), the defence ministrysaid on Friday.

As part of the“Aatmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) initiative, thegovernment had announcedon May 16 that it wouldimprove the autonomy,accountability and efficiencyin ordnance supplies by con-verting the OFB, which is asubordinate office of thedefence ministry, into one ormore government-owned cor-porate entities.

On Friday, the ministrystated that the EGoM will“oversee and guide the entireprocess (of corporatisation),including transition supportand redeployment plan of

employees while safeguardingtheir wages and retirementbenefits”.

Others in the EGoM areHome Minister Amit Shah,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, Law MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad andLabour Minister SantoshKumar Gangwar, the state-ment said.

Minister of State forPersonnel, Public Grievanceand Pension Jitendra

Singh is also part of theEGoM, the ministry noted.

“The Terms of Reference(ToR) of the EGoM include:decision on conversion ofOFB into a single defencepublic sector undertaking(DPSU) or as multipleDPSUs; matters related tovarious categories of employ-ees, including protection ofthe salary and pension of theexisting employees; financialsupport that may be provid-ed to the entity/entities tomake them economicallyviable and self-reliant,” it stat-

ed.Other issues included in

the ToR are: “Grandfatheringof orders

already being executedby OFB or for which facilitiescreated in OFB; treatment forland assets of OFB.”

The composition of theEGoM, along with the ToR,has been communicated tothe OFB and various employ-ee unions or associations atthe “Board/Factory/Unitlevel” and they have beenrequested to place their sug-gestions, issues and concernsrelating to the corporatisationof the OFB before the EGoM,the ministry said.

It added that it has select-ed KPMG Advisory ServicesPrivate Limited and Khaitanand Company as consultantsto the Department of Defencefor the corporatisation of theOFB.

The OFB has 41 factoriesunder it to produce ordnancefor the country’s armedforces.

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Gujarat registered its highestSingle-day spike of 1,344

coronavirus cases in the last 24hours, said a release by the statehealth department on Fridayevening.

It took the case tally in theState to 1,10,971, the releasesaid.

16 COVID-19 patientsdied in the state during thisperiod, taking the death toll to3,183, it added.

1,240 patients were dis-charged from hospitals in thelast 24 hours, taking the totalrecoveries to 91,470.

Surat district registered275 new coronavirus caseswhile Ahmedabad was in the

second spot with 174 newcases.

Other districts where sig-nificant number of new casesemerged included Rajkot (150),Vadodara (132), Jamnagar(116) and Bhavnagar (45).

Of the 16 persons who suc-cumbed to the infection duringthe last 24 hours, five died inSurat.

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Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on

Friday said hisGovernment is com-mitted to makingRajasthan a leadingState in the countryin the field of higherand technical edu-cation.

He made theremarks at the e-inauguration of ninehigher education col-leges and 10 engi-neering and poly-technic collegesorganised by theHigher andTechnical EducationDepartment.

The higher andtechnical educationcolleges have beenbuilt at a cost ofabout �62 crore andRs 23.22 crore,respectively. Theypolytechnic collegeswill have girls hos-tels, labs, an innova-tive syllabus, e-con-tent and semestersystem, according toan official statement.

It is our priorityto spread higher andtechnical educationto remote areas ofthe state so that chil-dren living in vil-lages can alsobecome excellent

human resourceslike doctors, engi-neers, scientists andresearch scholars,Gehlot said in thestatement.

He said theunprecedented workdone to open 87 newgovernment collegesin the last one-and-a-half-year showsthe state govern-ment’s determina-tion to promotehigher education.

During the coro-navirus crisis, quali-ty education is beingimparted to studentsby adopting innova-tions like onlineteaching and e-con-tent, he added.

Minister of Statefor TechnicalEducation SubhashGarg said Rajasthan

has emerged as amodel of good gov-ernance even inchallenging times ofthe coronavirus pan-demic.

Minister of Statefor HigherEducation BhanwarSingh Bhati said theGovernment’s aimhas been that chil-dren living in remoteareas should haveopportunities to pur-sue higher educationnear their home.

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The Supreme Court onFriday sought responses

from the Centre and others ona plea which has sought todeclare as “illegal” and “uncon-stitutional” the actions ofStates, including Delhi andWest Bengal, in not imple-menting ‘Ayushman BharatPradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana’.

Besides the Centre, abench headed by Chief JusticeS A Bobde also issued noticesto the National HealthAuthority (NHA), Telangana,West Bengal, Odisha and Delhiseeking their replies on the pleawhich has also sought a direc-tion for implementing thescheme for poor and middleclass people in these States.

NHA is the apex body

responsible for implementing“Ayushman Bharat

Pradhan Mantri JanArogya Yojana”, the flagshippublic health insurance/ assur-ance scheme of the Centralgovernment. “Issue noticereturnable in two weeks,” saidthe bench, also comprisingJustices A S Bopanna and VRamasubramanian.

The apex court was hear-ing a plea filed by Hyderabad-based Perala Shekhar Rao whohas sought direction to theauthority concerned to preparea scheme for providing theoption to people of these states

to either avail ‘AyushmanBharat Pradhan Mantri JanArogya Yojana’ or the insur-ance scheme implemented bythe respective states.

The petition, drafted byadvocate Sravan Kumar, said

that the Centre has been imple-menting the health insurancescheme for 50 crore people ofthe country with an annualbudget of Rs 6,400 crore andunder this scheme, poor peo-ple are entitled to avail treat-ment for various health prob-lems including testing andtreatment for COVID-19.

It alleged that exceptTelangana, Delhi, West Bengaland Odisha, all the states in thecountry are implementing oravailing the Ayushman Bharatscheme.

“This has resulted thedenial of health insurance ben-efit provided by Union of Indiato the people of four stateswhich is contrary to Article 14(equality before law) and 21(protection of life and person-al liberty) of the Constitution,”it claimed.

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All political parties in Kerala,including the BJP, agreed

against holding of by-electionin the State at this juncture.Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayansaid after an all party meetingon Friday that the situation inthe State was not conducive forholding elections. The meetingdecided to write to the ElectionCommission of India not tohold the by-elections from thetwo Assembly constituencies ofKuttanadu and Chavara.

The seats fell vacant fol-lowing the deaths of ThomasChandy and Vijayan Pillai. TheElection Commission hadannounced recently that elec-tion to the legislative assemblyin Bihar and by-election toassemblies and a Lok Sabhaseat would be held together.

“The State of Kerala isscheduled to go for Assemblyelection in March-April 2021 asthe tenure of the presentAssembly is coming to an endin May 2021.

Hence the all party meet-ing felt that it was a waste oftime and money to hold the by-election to these assembly seatsat this juncture.

The elected representativeswould get hardly three monthsto function as MLAs,” saidChief Minister Vijayan whilebriefing the media after themeeting.

He said the State wasalready under the grip ofCovid-19 pandemic and a by-election at this stage wouldresult in the holding back alldevelopment programmes andannouncements because of themodel code of conduct.

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Due to the negligence of the health department corona isspreading in the community. One such negligence came into

light in which a resident of Chamunda temple, Ghudiyabaghwas investigated for the infection through an antigen test. Oninvestigation, he was found infected. However, the lab techni-cian PK Yadav gave the person a handwritten test report of thenegative Covid and the same mistake he did in the register andDSO portal.

When the patient was called from the Corona Control Roomto Isolate, the person stated that he was negative and would notgo for home-isolation. The collector has ordered to terminatelab technician PK Yadav. Also, the CMS of the district hospitalhas been issued a notice to report a justification. DistrictMagistrate Chandra Bhushan Singh said that the matter of neg-ligence is coming out in the whole episode.

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With the increasing patients ofCorona in the district, the

number of people going to homeisolation is also increasing daily,currently there are about 1500people in home quarantine.

Here the monitoring com-mittees and home-to-home surveyteams have found 51800 peoplewho have come in contact withthe infected, in which 103 caseshave been reported positive. Thegovernment has issued instruc-tions for the home quarantinecorona positive patients, by whichyou can not only protect yourselfbut also your family from thisinfection.

16 patients recovered anddischarged from DDU today, 16patients from Deendayal UpadhayHospital were recovered and dis-charged.

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Each time a student commits suicidein Tamil Nadu citing his/her failure

to clear the National Eligibility cumEntrance Test(NEET) for admission tothe undergraduate courses in medicalcolleges, a chorus erupts in the Statefrom Dravidian political parties andfringe elements to do away with the allIndia entrances examination once andfor ever.

The fallout of the suicide by a 19-year-old Vignesh in Ariyallur districtwho resorted to the extreme step out offear that he would not be able to clearthe Saturday’s test was no difference.Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of DMK chiefM K Stalin, was the first VIP to call onthe family of Vignesh to console hisgrief-stricken family.

Chief Minister EdappadiPlaniswami announced a solatium ofRs seven lakh to the family and aGovernment job for a member of thefamily. The DMK and other Dravidianparties have raised the pitch either toabolish NEET or to exempt the Statefrom the screening test.

But politicians cover up the fact that

the victim had cleared the NEET 2019and got admission to the BDS course.“But he did not join. It was his dreamto pursue MBBS,” said Solomon, hisfriend.

Narayanan Tirupati, BJPspokesman, said the demand by theDMK to scrap the NEET is a sign ofhypocrisy. “It was the UPA Governmentof which the DMK was the crucial allythat brought in the NEET system. Stalinand the then party chief M Karunanidhihad wholeheartedly supported themove. Now the DMK is asking for abol-ishing the NEET shows it’s double stan-dard,” said Narayanan.

He pointed out hundreds of stu-dents in Tamil Nadu have committedsuicide after failing in tenth standardand Plus Two examination. “Have theyasked for the abolition of tenth standardand plus two examinations? There aremore which meet the eye. Most polit-ical parties in the State have their ownmedical colleges and they are worriedover the loss of income in the form ofadmission fees,” said Narayanan.

There are some hidden agendasbehind the demand to scarp NEET, healleged.

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A54-year-old woman resident ofKrishna Puri Mathia, admitted to

JN Medical College, died of coronaadding to a total of 44 death in the dis-trict due to corona so far along with164 new corona positive cases.

According to the report released bythe Department of Health, 3 lab tech-nicians working in the leprosy depart-ment of Malkhan Singh DistrictHospital have been found coronainfected in the antigen test. Apart fromthese, 6 people have been found coro-na infected in front of HousingDevelopment Colony Amrit Hospital.Four patients each from RK PuramAgra Road and Sasnigat RussiaHospital and 3 each from PratibhaColony and New Ashok Nagar foundinfected. An employee of ICICI Bankand an employee of HP Tappal havealso been found infected.

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In Bannadevi area, two nephews of the district’s prominentmeat trader Haji Zaheer were brutally attacked by Bolero

driving miscreants in broad daylight. Both were seriouslyinjured after being shot and were admitted to JN MedicalCollege. There is a panic wave among meat businessmen afterthis incident.

Ashraf, a resident of Sarae Miya of Delhi Gate, and Faraz,a resident of Babri Mandi in Kotwali area, has a meat facto-ry named “Al-Hamd” in the udla Gaon of Bannadevi area. Boththe brothers were going to the factory by their I-10 car whenone Bolero car overtook them and tried to stop them.

When the brothers stopped the car, they were told to lowerthe glasses but Ashraf did not lower and ran the car towardsthe factory on which the attackers open fired with a pistol.

Ashraf was shot on the shoulder while Faraz near his ear.

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Kerala was plunged into politicalcrisis as KT Jaleel, Minister for

HigherEeducation, who is a nation-al leader of the banned outfit SIMI,was interrogated by the EnforcementDirectorate on Friday. The interro-gation of the Minister, the first of itskind in State politics, took place at anundisclosed location in Aluwa onFriday morning. The chief of the EDconfirmed the news that Jaleel wasquestioned after summoning him onFriday.

The interrogation was in con-nection with the import of Quransand other “religious materials” sup-plied by the UAE Consulate whichwere accepted by Jaleel . He did notinform the Government at the Centreor the State about his dealings withthe Foreign Mission,

There were reports that the pack-age of Quran contained smuggledgold for distribution among anti-national forces operating from Keralaand Karnataka. The governmentvehicles carrying the “Quran” copiesnumbring more than 3,000 weresent to places in Karnataka. Jaleel wasalso found to be having telephonic

conversations with Swapna Suresh,the kingpin of the gold smugglingthrough diplomatic channel who hasbeen arrested by the NAI.

Jaleel’s relations with the ConsulGeneral, attaché and other officialscame out immediately after theseizure of the smuggled gold atThiruvananthapuram airport. Themedia in the State had released dig-ital evidences like WhatsApp com-munications between Jaleel and theUAE consulate. Foreign policyexperts had made it clear that therewas impropriety in the behaviour ofthe minister and violation of diplo-matic protocol.

The BJP and the Muslim Leaguewere the first to react to the reportsabout interrogation of Jaleel by theED. “If the Kerala Government haslittle bit of decency and honestyremaining with it, chief ministerPinarayi Vijayan should sack Jaleelfrom the council of ministers,” saidK Surendran, state BJP chief.

P K Feroze, the Mulsim Leagueleader said that the interrogation ofa minister by a central agency washitherto unheard in Kerala anddemanded the immediate dismissalof the minister from the government.

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Revamping the existinggrievance redress mecha-

nism in order to make itmore robust and efficient, theLieutenant Governor ManojSinha on Friday launched theJammu & Kashmir IntegratedGrievance Redress andMonitoring System (JK-IGRAMS).

The revamped system shalldecentralize the handling andredressal of public grievances bymaking District Collectors /Deputy Commissioners as theprimary level of receiving, dis-posing and monitoring griev-ances.

As such, the existing portalhas now been integrated down-wards to the district level by

mapping another nearly 1500public offices in 20 districts ofthe Union Territory.

From existing 250 to pro-posed 1500 offices, which is thewidest possible coverage thathas been conceived and enabledin the online management ofpublic grievances in J&K mak-ing it the first online grievancemanagement system / Portal inthe country that is linked withCentral government (at thetop) and districts and even fur-ther downwards to the Tehsilsand Blocks (at the bottom).

Besides, the administrativesecretaries of various depart-ments figuring in the middle ofthe flow-chain are also linked tothe mechanism.

In addition to that, the newsystem would be available 24x

7 with applicant OTP authenti-cation, acknowledgement toapplicant at each stage, feedbackby complainant and on top ofthat grievance submissionthrough call center by makinga phone call between 9.30 AM-5.30 PM on all days exceptSunday.

Speaking on the occasion,the Lt Governor said thatGovernment is committed toundertake all radical reforms toput in place People-CentricGood Governance structurethat has an institutionalizedgrievance redressal mechanism,which he observed as the mostimportant component of a wellgoverned responsive adminis-tration and an indicator of effi-ciency and effectiveness ofadministrative processes.

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New Delhi: Putting stringentnorms to crack down on crim-inals in politics ahead of theBihar Assembly polls andbypolls for 65 seats, theElection Commission (EC) onFriday revised timelines forthe publication of details ofcriminal antecedents by can-didates as well as by politicalparties who have nominatedsuch candidates during elec-tioneering. The EC has takenthe decision after a high levelmeeting by EC officials onFriday.

As per the revised guide-lines, the candidates as well asthe political parties, who havenominated such candidates,will have to publish the detailsof criminal antecedents, if any,in newspapers and television.

Now, the EC has made itclear that the first “publicity” ofcriminal records should bewithin first four days of the lastdate of withdrawal of candida-ture. It said the second public-ity should be within fifth andeight day of the last date of

withdrawal. The third and finalpublicity should be from ninthday till the last day of campaign-- two days prior to the date ofelection. The poll panel alsomade it clear that uncontestedwinning candidates as well asthe political parties who nom-inate them will also publicisethe criminal antecedents, ifany.

Candidates contesting theupcoming Bihar elections aswell as those fighting 64 assem-bly bypolls and one Lok Sabhaby-election in the coming days,will have to adhere to the newtimeline while advertising theircriminal antecedents.

“Commission decided tofurther streamline the instruc-tions concerning publicity ofcriminal antecedents by can-didates concerned and by thepolitical parties, who nominatethem for elections.Commission has alwaysemphasised on this moral yardstick for overall better-ment of electoral democracy,”it said. PNS

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New Delhi: The Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs(MoHUA) on Friday launchedthe Climate Smart CitiesAssessment Framework(CSCAF) 2.0, along with the‘Streets for People Challenge’ ina virtual event organised by theSmart Cities Mission.

The framework has 28indicators across five categorieswhich include Energy andGreen Buildings, UrbanPlanning, Green Cover andBiodiversity, Mobility and AirQuality, Water Managementand Waste Management.

“The objective of CSCAF isto provide a roadmap for citiesfor combating Climate Changewhile planning and imple-menting their actions, includ-ing investments”, said HardeepSingh Puri, Housing and UrbanAffairs Minister.

As the lockdowns lift, cities

face many challenges in pro-viding safe, affordable, andequitable modes of transportthat enable social distancing.

“Limited public transportoptions, narrow, crowded side-walks particularly in marketplaces and deterioration ofmental health, are key issuesthat must be addressed on pri-ority. Pedestrianisation ofstreets for walking and creatingpublic spaces is a crucial steptowards mitigating these issues.Cities around the world, suchas Bogota, Berlin, and Milanhave responded by transform-ing streets for walking andcycling, to ensure safe mobili-ty during COVID-19,” the min-istry said in a statement.

The Climate Centre forCities under National Instituteof Urban Affairs (NIUA) is sup-porting MoHUA in imple-mentation of CSCAF. PNS

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In its ongoing grim battleagainst Covid-19,

Maharashtra on Friday crosseda milestone of one millioninfected cases, as a staggering24,886 people tested positive forthe pandemic, while a record442 deaths were reported fromvarious parts of the State.

On a day when the Covid-19 surpassed its earlier peak of23,816 cases recorded onSeptember 9, Maharashtralogged an all-time of 24,886fresh infections, taking the totalnumber of infections to10,15,681.

With 442 fresh deathsreported on Friday, the totalnumber of deaths in the statemounted to 28,724.

On the fatalities’ front, 393deaths were reported todaywhile 49 old deaths added afterportal updation. “A total of 442deaths have been included intoday’s report. Out of these 442deaths, 238 are from the last 48hours and 105 are from lastweek. Rest 99 deaths are from

the period before last week,” adaily medical bulletin put outbyb the State Public Healthdepartment said.

Of the 442 deaths, Puneaccounted for 59 deaths, whilethere were 50 deaths in Nagpur,44 in Mumbai, 30 in Sangli, 29in Satara, 26 in Thane, 19 inAhmednagar, 15 in Kolhapur, 11in Dhule and 10 in Aurangabad.

Similarly, in the lower range,there were 9 fatalities in Raigad,8 each in Solapur and Amravati,7 each in Nashik, Jalgaon,Sindhudurg, Parbhani and Beed,6 each in Jalna and Yavatmal, 5each in Palghar and Latur, 3 eachin Ratnagiri and Osmanabad, 2each in Nanded and Akola andone death each in Nandurbar,Hingoli, Buldhana andBhandara. In addition, four per-son from other states/countriesdied in Maharashtra.

The districts of Nagpur,Sangli, Satara, Ahmednagar,Kolhapur and Dhule witnessedsharp spikes in deaths, while 5districts in the state reportedzero deaths.

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Should we hang RheaChakraborty for alleged “pos-session of 59 grams of mari-juana (ganja)” in Shiva’s

India? The noose may be a stairwayto heaven sans the egregious indig-nation, torture and obloquy. Legallyspeaking, India’s Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances (NDPS)Act treats 1 kg or less of marijuanaor ganja as a small quantity, pardon-able after being fined. Rhea report-edly had 5.89 per cent of that limitand yet she is locked in prison dur-ing the COVID-19 lockdown,endangering her life.

Criminalisation of marijuana isa sin committed against our ethos,wisdom of our ancestors and her-alds the complete colonisation ofIndia’s mythology, culture and gods.Marijuana is one of the five sacredplants of our civilisation sinceAtharvaveda. It’s a healing plant, rit-ually associated with Lord Shiva butthanks to Lord Macaulay’s disciples,India has been weaponised againstits own indigenous knowledgeand traditions. Meanwhile devel-oped countries, from Switzerland toCanada, have completely or partial-ly decriminalised cannabis.Nevertheless Rhea becomes anoth-er sacrificial lamb in the “waragainst drugs.”

Would the drug enforcementagency then arrest millions of sad-hus who possess and use cannabisas part of their worship of Shiva?Since eternity, Benaras has beenShiva’s city and bhang and marijua-na have been a sacred part of its cul-ture. The NDPS Act allows forseizure of properties where the“drugs” are used, so would theGovernment also seize the entireKumbh Mela ground in Allahabadas year after year millions of Nagasadhus have openly consumed andstored marijuana (possibly morethan 59 grams)? Meanwhile, NCBmay also arrest thousands of dyingcancer patients who are usingcannabis-based medicines illegallyin India.Chasing the cannabis dollar

But our neighbours are neitherirreverent nor sluggish. Pakistan, ina progressive move to boost its econ-omy by $2 billion, has legalisedindustrial hemp and cannabis. NepalMPs have appealed for its legalisa-tion. Bhutan is already in a joint ven-ture mapping out its marijuanagenetic diversity and China is wayahead with a dedicated R&D depart-ment and thousands of acres undercultivation. The US cannabis indus-

try has reported a 40 per centjump in sales as by December2020, the cannabis dollar wavemay hit $15 billion in the USalone.

We must also revisit 1985,when the US government, led bythe then President RonaldReagan, held a gun to India’s headand said, “Ban it or we shoot.”Buckling under US pressure,India, Nepal and other countrieshad to forcefully ban cannabisand allow for appropriation ofour seeds, biological heritageand culture. As compensation,India pleaded for the exclusion ofbhang due to its religious signif-icance. In 15 years, using the banas cover, the US industrial empirebrought itself up to speed, stud-ied every aspect of the plant andbegan rampant commercialisa-tion. Each part of the plant wasgenetically modified and as earlyas 1996, California, despite theinternational treaty, legalisedmedical marijuana. While Indiawas still trying to deracinatecannabis from its culture, the“American East India Company”had successfully colonised ourcannabis resources and began tosell their goods to India and theworld at huge profit margins.

In 2020, market reports indi-cate that the global marijuanaindustry may touch $100 billionas more countries are opting forlegalisation and exports. Israeland Germany are already import-ing millions worth of medicalcannabis flower. But this is onlythe tip of our iceberg. Marijuanais a super industrial raw materi-al with uses from sustainableclothing to bio-fuel.

And what is India doingabout this opportunity? Almostnothing. Progressive states likeOdisha and Uttarakhand have

taken baby steps but the Centralgovernment is reticent withouttaking into account that India hasa vast plant genetic resource(PGR) of the Cannabis Indicavarieties. We are threatened bybio-piracy and contamination ofour seeds and biological heritage.Illegal under drug control treaty,Marijuana PGR was not coveredin the Convention of BiologicalDiversity. It gave bio-pirates andmafia agents a chance to travel

across India and smuggle out ournative wealth to privategermplasm repositories acrossthe world.

Billions of dollars are beingmade on R&D based on thesweat of our ancestors and noteven a single repository ofcannabis germplasm or seedexists in India. Bhang is legallysold in India, yet the private sec-tor has not been allowed toresearch and conserve cannabis.With a frugal research budget,ICAR or CSIR can’t do this effi-ciently. So what can the cash-strapped Government do?Perhaps look again towards theUS where private industry hassoared. US States have filled uptheir treasuries with the cannabisdollar from Colorado toCalifornia. Developing coun-tries like Pakistan, Uruguay, Peruand Thailand are not behindeither.

India needs to deregulatehemp (fibrous non-intoxicatingvariety) for farmers and privateindustry. The Uttarakhand modelshould be expanded. Agriculturaluniversities, biodiversity andNGOs should be encouraged totake up conservation, whileIndian seed companies should beallowed to set up research stationsand given permission to conserveand co-evolve new varieties ofboth hemp and marijuana. Thenext step? Create a custom exportpolicy linking the farmers,processors and ports to meetinternational demand, which isgrowing every day. This willensure the cannabis dollar startscoming to India.

India can not only meet theworld’s cannabis and hempdemands but also allow our uni-versities and research institutionsto tie up with foreign companies

for “research and make-in-India”and get the awaited funding.

The full potential of cannabisis hard to gauge but expertsbelieve that very soon marijua-na will enter most parts of oureconomy. It has already beenembraced by the pharmaceuticaland cosmetic industry and onceits full potential is realised, thecannabis dollar may be a trilliondollar high. Shiva’s India

Marijuana is deeply embed-ded in our culture. The West hasonly recently discovered what oursages and healers have been say-ing for 5,000 years. We need tobestow sacredness on this plantagain. We need to decriminalisepersonal possession like in manyenlightened countries such asPortugal, Peru, Netherlands andso on. This will reduce addictionand illegal smuggling. TheGovernment will also gain ahuge revenue boost from it andour children will be saved fromthe mafia and drug trade. Weneed to go back to the pre-1985policy for marijuana. Throughlegalisation, India can regulate themarijuana trade and provideemployment in remote and eco-sensitive zones such as HimachalPradesh, Uttarakhand, NortheastStates and so on, boosting theincomes of their farmers, too.

It’s about time our cancerpatients and other terminally illpeople can receive the benefits ofthis miracle plant. The cannabispharma industry can be devel-oped along the lines of the opiumpharma sector. The introductionof hemp will also bolster the tex-tile sector and offer an alternativeto the ecologically destructiveKing Cotton.

We need to cast out Anglo-Saxon prudence as America andBritain themselves haveembraced marijuana for itssacredness and the cannabis dol-lar. Rhea and thousands of otherpeople languish in our prisons forpersonal possessions. It’s abouttime justice is done and cannabisis decriminalised.

India needs to be safeguard-ing its traditions and not allowfurther corporatisation of itsresources. Corporations arealready patenting products cre-ated from PGR from India, whenwill we wake up and prevent thisbio-piracy? Have we not learntour lessons when neem, turmer-ic and basmati rice were beingpatented? Marijuana is a blessingof Shiva for the Indian sub-con-tinent. The lists of benefits of thisplant are endless and India’s bio-logical diversity gives us thepotential to become leaders, butwe go on dishonouring cannabisand along with it our culture andreligion.

(The author is Director,Policy and Outreach, NationalSeed Association of India)

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Sir — The new rules notified bythe Centre for compulsory retire-ment of errant/corrupt staff areapparently intended to improveefficiency and reduce corruptionand other kinds of misconduct.They will enable the Governmentto retire those who complete 30years of service or cross 50-55years of age if they fail their per-formance reviews. From the wayit is designed, the plan seems tobe not just an initiative to weedout errant workers, it may beintended to cut down the numberof employees as such. There wasa similar plan in 2014, too, and ithas been used for forced retire-ment of a number of people. Theyhave gone slow on recruitmentsand many jobs and tasks are nowdone by contract workers.

The problem actually is abouthow well the performance assess-ment of the employees is carriedout, though detailed guidelines onthis have been formulated on thebasis of the Supreme Court’sorders and observations. There areapprehensions that the initiativewill be selective and vindictive,and efficiency, good conduct andintegrity may not always be theyardsticks for performance assess-

ment. Considerations relating toreligion, caste and community,parochial sentiments, gender-related discrimination, politicsspecific to offices, personal ani-mosities and jealousies and manyother issues can vitiate perfor-

mance assessment if there is nostrict monitoring and supervisionof the process. The methods,efficacy and quality of the processwill have to be under scrutiny.There are also fears that the ini-tiative may be used against those

who hold political views differentfrom those of the ruling party. Itshould not lead to a political orany other kind of purge of the offi-cial set-up.

N Sadhasiva ReddyBengaluru

����������� ��Sir — This refers to the edit ‘Opticsor business?’ published onSeptember 11 in The Pioneer. Itwould be naive to believe thatChina means business at thisjuncture because its misdeeds atthe Line of Actual Control (LAC)tell a different story than whatBeijing wants to portray duringthese bilateral meetings with theForeign Minister. China’s doublestandards have been exposedthoroughly in the last two months.With regard to Russia-India-China, indeed Moscow has founditself caught in the crossfire but itwill have to take a clear stand asNew Delhi is well within its rightsto have independent bilateralrelations with Russia and engagein bilateral military cooperation.It is a tightrope walk for ourForeign Minister to not upset theUS, but at the same time we mustkeep China on its toes by strength-ening India’s ties with Russia. Andsigning reciprocal military logis-tics pacts with Japan, after the US,France, Australia and S Korea willsurely put pressure on China.

Bal GovindNoida

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On the occasion of World SuicidePrevention Day on September 11, anewspaper report informed us that a sui-

cide is committed every four minutes within ourborders. That is truly horrendous, overwhelm-ing and tragic, even more so given how littleattention is paid to this issue. However, the fren-zy surrounding the alleged suicide by young andupcoming actor, Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR), isa spectacle we could have certainly done with-out. It reflects very poorly on us as a society andof the times we live in, especially in view of howblatantly this tragedy is being used to further per-sonal agenda and selfish interests. Nobody, butnobody, connected in any manner to this unfor-tunate episode, comes out clean, least of all hisfamily, his so-called friends and well-wishers, thepoliticians and their handmaidens, including ofcourse, the police and investigative agencies.

For all practical purposes, the very founda-tions that go towards making of a just and car-ing society, like the rule of law and ethical con-duct, have been thrown out of the window. Inall of this, the worst offenders, and that too bya huge margin, of course, have been some mediachannels. Their unseemly behaviour and the utterlack of professionalism expected of them just can-not be excused. They have acted as if they arecovering a one-day match, reporting every lit-tle twist and turn as they occur, with expert com-ments and all. Worst of all, the way they have pan-dered to those propagating the most outlandishof conspiracy theories, clearly motivated byrewards they see within their grasp, has beenbizarre, to say the least.

Some would suggest that in their rush to gar-ner TRP, some of the players in the mainstreammedia no longer know any better and haveplumbed depths that were inconceivable just adecade ago. But to draw such a conclusion maybe patently incorrect given the fact that some ofthe smartest minds on the planet are associatedwith these channels. Obviously, what is in shortsupply is the spine required to stand up for whatis correct. It is not that those working in this fieldare the only ones short of moral courage; in factthis malaise has greatly impacted all our publicinstitutions. But what distinguishes the fourthestate from the rest is that it is supposed to bethe conscience keeper of the people and it is thisquality that gives them the moral authority tohold the powers that be to account.

Even those of us embodied with just mod-est intelligence fully understand that the media’sfocus on the most inconsequential of issues atthis critical juncture, when lives and livelihoodsare at stake and unwanted conflict looms largeon the horizon, is a diversionary tactic to keeppublic attention from these very issues. Suspicionsthat this is being done at the behest of theGovernment cannot be overlooked.

One understands that given the complexchallenges it faces, the Government has no inter-est in being further buffeted by the onslaught ofpublic sentiment. However, that is neither herenor there because such an abrogation of one’sduties allows governments, both at the Centreand States, to avoid accountability for their lack-lustre performance and moribund attempts atcontrolling the pandemic and kickstarting theeconomy. It is now fairly obvious that the Union

Government has concluded that ouronly hope of controlling the pandem-ic rests on how quickly an effective vac-cine is developed and distributed. Itbelieves that competing priorities of lifeversus livelihood no longer allow it theluxury of resorting to draconian lock-downs of the kind we had earlier.

They are now leaving it to individ-uals to take protective measures suchas social distancing, wearing of masksand hand-washing to prevent thespread of the virus and avoid gettinginfected. In that sense, the Governmenthas raised the white flag and hasresigned itself to whatever fate awaitsus. Such a hands-off attitude obvious-ly cannot bring our economy back onthe rails or help us confront the chal-lenges we face on our northern borders.

Fortunately, on the issue of theChinese border tangle, we have final-ly taken some positive action, albeitrather late and still only incremental innature. Yet, this was wholly unexpect-ed by the Chinese and has clearlypushed them on to the backfoot andforcibly swung the spotlight directly onPresident Xi. Whichever way this con-frontation goes from here, he cannotavoid being held directly responsible.In this context, while his survival maynot be at stake at present, he willundoubtedly find the going very toughif this initiative, obviously engineeredby him, is seen as unsuccessful.

Clearly, available force levels sug-gest that the People’s Liberation Army(PLA) underestimated Indian resolveand just does not have the requisitetroops to go in for a full- fledged offen-sive to throw out our troops from thedominating heights that they occupy or

even throw us out of Ladakh, as someanalysts envisage, at least not before thenext campaigning season. The ForeignMinister’s meeting with his Chinesecounterpart on the sidelines of theShanghai Cooperation Organisationmeet, and their mutually-agreed state-ment, suggests that the Chinese are buy-ing time and the statement is probablynot worth the paper it is written on.

This is not to suggest that the PLAmight not still attempt limited offensiveaction either against our positions in thePangong Tso heights or elsewhere in anattempt to wrest the initiative forwhich we are undoubtedly fully pre-pared. The additional commitmentsthat have been thrust on us should notbe seen as detrimental to either our eco-nomic health or our military capabili-ties. Our military has been neglected forfar too long and it has taken Chineseperfidy to open Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s eyes and force him toprovide it the requisite funds to upgradecapabilities. It has also made clear thateconomic development and militarycapabilities are directly linked, and wecannot build up one at the cost of theother. Being the politician that he is,Modi will no doubt figure out ways inwhich the military can be funded tomeet future threats without greatlyimpacting our economic development.

In this context, the manner inwhich the formal induction ceremonyfor the first Rafale Squadron had beenorganised, with the Defence Ministersof both countries being present, isinstructive. In the normal course ofevents, the formal induction ceremo-ny would be kept to the level of theChief of Air Staff with representations

from the concerned embassy in atten-dance, with the ceremony being keptlow-key. This was the process fol-lowed when the Jaguars were induct-ed in 1979, the Mirages in 1985 and theSukhois in 1995. However, we knowthat Narendra Modi has never shiedaway from taking political advantagefrom military endeavours to enhancehis nationalistic credentials.

It is indeed ironical that while in hisprevious tenure he used the military toenhance his political credibility, as theBalakot operation and surgical strikesshow, without improving their lot,Modi now finds himself cornered withhis future dependent on how the mil-itary performs in the days ahead.

Finally, a live LAC not only forcesus to keep troops deployed along it butalso compels the PLA to do the samedespite the constraints of distance andinternal disturbances that its troopsalready confront. In effect, China hasconverted Tibet into an unstableKashmir for itself, with an intransigentneighbour to boot. More so, if we refuseto accept Chinese sovereignty over itand use the Tibetan diaspora to ouradvantage.

It also gives us an opportunity tomirror Chinese actions that have result-ed in a gradual loss of territory over theyears and improve our defensive pos-ture, thereby ensuring that as andwhen the LAC is finally delineated, weare not at a disadvantage. One is hope-ful that Modi has the stamina to go thedistance.

(The writer, a military veteran is aConsultant with the Observer ResearchFoundation and a Senior Visiting Fellowwith The Peninsula Foundation)

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The New Education Policy (NEP)focusses on re-orientation ofschool and higher education in

India and inculcation of research-basedstudies and innovation in our education.However, the Indian Council forAgricultural Research (ICAR) hasalready been doing this on the groundfor years and hence is in tune with theobjectives of the NEP. As part of its focuson innovation and research-basedlearning, the ICAR-AgriculturalUniversity (AU) system, through its net-work of 74 universities, offers degreecourses at the undergraduate level in 11disciplines with emphasis on learningthrough hands-on-practice sessionsand field experience training.

As desired by the NEP, the post-graduate programmes in 96 disciplines

and Ph.D. programmes in 73 disciplinesmake it multi-disciplinary. The AU sys-tem has generated the much-needed sci-entists, technologists, teachers,researchers, technologies and technol-ogy transfer systems to transform Indiafrom a “ship-to-mouth” nation to a“right-to-food” one.

Much in line with the aspirationsof the NEP, the curricula has beenresponsible for developing much-need-ed agricultural skills and encouragingan entrepreneurial mindset among thestudents. They are being inspired to takeup self-employment, to sustainablyenhance rural livelihood security, andto propel agricultural transformationthrough science-based policy-optionsand actions.

The Student READY (RuralEntrepreneurship AwarenessDevelopment Yojana) programmeensures hands-on experience and prac-tical training, as does theEntrepreneurship Development andBusiness Management course. Rigorousimplementation of the revised curric-ula has over the years been benefittinglocal communities, and promotingtechnology incubation and dissemina-tion, which is one of the objectives of

the NEP. Many new courses have beenalready introduced by the AUs inemerging fields like Precision Farming,Hi-tech Cultivation, ArtificialIntelligence, Mechatronics,Nanotechnology, Food StorageEngineering, Emerging Food ProcessingTechnologies and so on which align per-fectly with the recommendations of theNEP.

The AUs have developed more than400 virtual classrooms and e-courses fortheir undergraduate programmes andare being supported through a cen-tralised Academic Management Systemand shall be further supported for onlineclasses through the recently-launched“Krishi Megh.” The post-graduatecourses, too, are being converted intoe-courses in all the streams of agricul-ture education.

Multidisciplinary universities:The AUs in India are modelled on theUS land grant university pattern withintegration of education, research andextension and have contributed a greatdeal to propelling agricultural growthin the country. Agriculture is a multi-disciplinary science and AUs are basedon the philosophy that the farmers needholistic solutions for their problems.

However, in recent years, severaldomain-specific universities in horticul-ture, veterinary science and fisheries sci-ences have been established in variousStates, which may need to be re-orient-ed to make them multidisciplinary asper the NEP.

The NEP suggests a four-yearBachelor’s programme with multi-dis-ciplinary education as a preferredoption. In the AUs, the curriculum ofundergraduates has been designed as afour-year residential programme withmore than 15 disciplines. This includesboth theory and practical classes. Thecontents of several courses are designedin such a way that practical classes can be simultaneously conductedmatching with the topics of the theoryclasses.

Attracting talent to agricultureeducation: About 4,500 scholarships areannually granted by the ICAR to mer-itorious students selected through its AllIndia Entrance Examination forAdmission conducted through theNational Testing Agency. The NationalScholarship Portal proposed under theNEP shall afford students more suchopportunities for stipends, boardingand lodging, and not just waiver of

tuition fees. In particular, talented stu-dents from rural India, who have beenexposed to agriculture during their earlyyears and who have deep interest infarm education, will be further encour-aged to build their career in the field ofagriculture and allied sectors.

Internationalisation: The ICARfacilitates annual admission of over 250foreign students from more than 20countries to various degree pro-grammes. To support their higherstudies in India, severalprogrammes/fellowships have been ini-tiated like the Netaji Subhas-ICARInternational Fellowship, India-AfricaFellowship and India-AfghanistanFellowship. The campuses of the exist-ing system of AUs shall immensely ben-efit from various provisions in the NEPto promote HEIs as global study desti-nation hubs and restore India’s role asa Viswa Guru.

Continuous professional develop-ment: Teachers will be given constantopportunities for self-improvementand to learn the latest innovations andadvances in their profession as per theNEP. This fits in well with the ICAR’sschemes through which about 3,500 fac-ulty from AUs are trained every year for

their professional development.The future: AUs have sufficient

land available for experimentation,demonstration of various trials to farm-ers and training. AUs must developschemes for adequate resource gener-ation and convert themselves into self-governing institutions, which is reflect-ed in the NEP.

The AUs need to attain the high-est global standards in quality agricul-ture education through linkages withglobal universities and provide plat-forms for research and innovation infrontier areas of research, greater indus-try-academic linkages and interdiscipli-nary research, including humanities andsocial sciences.

The universities also need to makeprovisions of multiple entry and exit sys-tems in their undergraduate pro-grammes. These reforms shall help inmeeting the challenges of Global GreenEconomy, Knowledge Economy, GlobalZero Hunger Challenge, SustainableDevelopment Goals, 2030, andInternational Agriculture andDevelopment Challenge, 2050.

(Mohapatra is Director-Generaland Agrawal Deputy Director-General,Indian Council of Agricultural Research)

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Beijing: Beijing will impose“reciprocal restrictions” on allAmerican diplomats onChinese soil in response tocurbs on its embassy personnelin the United States, China’sforeign ministry said Friday.

Relations between theworld’s top two economieshave deteriorated in recentmonths, with both sides lockedin fierce recriminations overtrade disputes, human rightsand the origins of the coron-avirus pandemic.

China’s latest move comesdays after Washingtonannounced new restrictionson staff working for Beijing’sforeign missions, such as arequirement to seek approvalfor university visits or meetingswith local officials.

“The Chinese side hasrecently sent a diplomatic noteannouncing reciprocal restric-tions on the US embassy andconsulates,” the ministry said ina statement.

It added that the unspeci-fied countermeasures will applyto all US embassy and con-sulate staff, including the con-sulate-general in Hong Kong

and its personnel.“It must be stressed that

these measures are China’slegitimate and necessaryresponse to the erroneous USmoves,” the ministry said, urg-ing the US to “immediatelycorrect its mistakes” and lift theearlier curbs.

A tit-for-tat dispute overforeign missions flared up inJuly when Washington orderedthe closure of the Chinese con-sulate in Houston, promptingBeijing to shutter the Americanpresence in Chengdu.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo said last week that newmeasures targeting Chineseenvoys were a response tolong-established controls onAmerican diplomats in China.

Washington’s restrictionswill force Chinese diplomats toseek US permission to hold

cultural events involving morethan 50 people outside missiongrounds.

They also require embassysocial media accounts to bepublicly identified as being affil-iated with the Chinese govern-ment. The battle over foreignembassies is only one front in anescalating confrontationbetween the US and China.

Washington has imposedsanctions on officials accusedof helping orchestrate China’smass internment of Uighursand other mostly Muslimminorities in Xinjiangprovince, a programme that hasprompted a global humanrights outcry.

Last month it blacklistedofficials it accused of suppress-ing “freedom and democraticprocesses” in Hong Kong, afterthe imposition of a nationalsecurity law aimed at quellingcivil unrest in the financial hub.

The move prompted Chinato issue its own sanctionsagainst several prominentAmericans, including promi-nent senators and senior figuresin US-based human rightsorganisations. AFP

Beijing: Beijing on Fridaydenied trying to meddle in USpresidential election afterAmerican tech giant Microsoftsaid it had parried cyber attacksfrom overseas groups —including from China —against both the Republicanand Democratic campaigns.

Microsoft warned it haddetected attempts at electioninterference from overseas,including Russia, Iran and theChina-based “Zirconium”,which targeted people linked toDemocratic candidate JoeBiden’s campaign.

But China batted away theallegation, accusing Microsoftof “fabrication” and “creatingtrouble”.

“The US presidential elec-tion is the US’ internal affair,”said Zhao Lijian, spokesman ofthe Chinese foreign ministry.

“We have no interest tointerfere in it, and we neverinterfered in it.”

China and the UnitedStates are trapped in a sprawl-ing power struggle reachinginto trade, the origins of thecoronavirus, defence ambitions

and tech security.Washington has called out

Chinese tech firms — fromHuawei to Tik Tok — as stateactors working for theCommunist Party of China,claims Beijing and the compa-nies vehemently deny.

Zhao returned fire onFriday, warning that the worldshould instead be on “highalert” for American tech com-panies “installing back doors”and harvesting personal datafor security services.

With the US presidentialelection two months away,Twitter, Google and Facebookhave all said they are reinforcingprotections to curb the spread ofmisinformation. AFP

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The headless body of KimJong Un’s executed uncle

was displayed to senior NorthKorean officials, US PresidentDonald Trump told the authorof an upcoming book on the USpresident.

Jang Song Thaek, the North Korean leader’s uncle bymarriage and a hugely powerful figure within theregime, was purged for treasonand corruption in 2013, in whatwas widely seen as Kim merci-lessly asserting his authority.

Kim “tells me everything.Told me everything,” Trumptold the Washington Post inves-tigative journalist BobWoodward, according to hisforthcoming book “Rage”.

“He killed his uncle and heput the body right in the steps,”Trump said, in an apparentreference to a building used bysenior officials.

“And the head was cut, sitting on the chest,” he added in excerpts from the book seenby AFP. The North has neverofficially stated how Jang wasexecuted, although multiplereports say an anti-aircraft gunwas used. Trump’s account is thefirst from any senior official tomention decapitation.

Nuclear negotiationsbetween Pyongyang andWashington have been at astandstill since the collapse ofthe Hanoi summit last yearover sanctions relief and whatthe North would be willing togive up in return.

Manila: The Philippine defensechief told his Chinese counter-part on Friday that Manila willadhere “without any possibilityof compromise” to a 2016 inter-national arbitration ruling thatinvalidated most of Beijing’srival claims in the South ChinaSea, according to a Philippinestatement about the meeting.But the statement was laterwithdrawn and the contentiouscomment removed.

Chinese Gen. Wei Fenghe isin Manila for talks with DefenseSecretary Delfin Lorenzana andPresident Rodrigo Duterte. Hisvisit follows a series of protestsby the Philippines over China’sincreasingly aggressive actionsin the busy waterway.

The territorial disputes

between the countries remainunresolved, although their tieshave improved greatly underDuterte, who has sought invest-ment, infrastructure fundingand military assistance fromChina.

After the defense chiefsmet, the Philippine defensedepartment issued an initialstatement saying Lorenzana hadreaffirmed Philippine adher-ence “without any possibility ofcompromise” to the arbitrationruling that invalidated China’sterritorial claims in the sea onhistorical grounds.

China refused to participatein the arbitration by a U.N.-backed tribunal, and then dis-missed its ruling as a “sham” andcontinues to defy it. AP

Dhaka: A Dhaka Universityprofessor along with two oth-ers is facing sedition chargesfor allegedly defaming SheikhMujibur Rahman, the found-ing father of Bangladesh, anddistorting the history of the1971 Liberation War.

Aminul Islam Bulbul, thepresident of the central com-mittee of the MuktijuddhaMancha, filed a written com-plaint against ProfessorMorshed Hasan Khan, DailyJai Jai Din Editor KaziRokonuddin Ahmed and DailyNaya Diganta Editor AlamgirMohiuddin at the court ofDhaka MetropolitanMagistrate Ziaur Rahman onThursday.

The court has ordered thePolice Bureau of Investigationor PBI to submit a report byOctober 20, after taking theplaintiff ’s statement intoaccount, bdnews24 reported.

“Sedition cases require theapproval of the home ministry.The PBI will submit a report ifthey find any substance in theclaims after investigating theallegations and quizzing theplaintiff,” the court’s clerkRakib Chowdhury told thepaper. PTI

Minneapolis: Attorneys forfour former Minneapolis offi-cers charged in the death ofGeorge Floyd say that eachclient should get his own trial,as the officers try to diminishtheir roles in the Black man’sdeath by pointing fingers at oneanother.

Prosecutors say all fourofficers should be tried togeth-er because the nature of thecharges and evidence is similarand “it is impossible to evalu-ate any individual Defendant’sconduct in a vacuum.”

The former officers arescheduled to appear in courtFriday for a hearing on sever-al issues, including the prose-cution’s request to hold a jointtrial. Other issues that will beargued include defense requeststo move the trial away from

Minneapolis and to sequesterthe jury and keep jurors anony-mous.

Floyd, who was in hand-cuffs, died May 25 after DerekChauvin pressed his kneeagainst his neck as Floyd saidhe couldn’t breathe and becamemotionless. Chauvin is chargedwith second-degree murder,third-degree murder andmanslaughter.

Thomas Lane, J. Kuengand Tou Thao are chargedwith aiding and abetting bothsecond-degree murder andmanslaughter. Defenserequests to dismiss chargeswon’t be addressed at Friday’shearing. A trial is scheduled forMarch.

Friday’s hearing will alsomark the first time Chauvin isexpected to appear in a court-

room. He is in state custodyand has attended previoushearings via videoconference.

Prosecutors say the caseshould proceed with one trialbecause the evidence – includ-ing witness statements, body-camera video and policedepartment policy on use offorce – is similar for each offi-cer. Prosecutors say the officersalso acted in close concert.

“Here, all four Defendantsworked together to murderFloyd: Chauvin, Kueng, andLane pinned Floyd face-down,while Thao stopped the crowdfrom intervening, enabling theother Defendants to maintaintheir positions. Defendantsalso discussed and coordinat-ed their actions throughout theincident,” prosecutors wrotein a court filing. AP

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AGerman federal court hasrejected a former nurse’s

appeal of his murder convic-tion and life sentence forkilling 85 patients by deliber-ately bringing about cardiacarrests.

Niels Hoegel was convict-ed by a court in the north-western city of Oldenburg inJune 2019. On Friday, theFederal Court of Justice said ithad thrown out his appeal in aSeptember 1 decision, findingno procedural or other errorswith the verdict.

Hoegel injected patientswith overdoses of heart med-ication and other drugs becausehe enjoyed the feeling of beingable to resuscitate them.

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������������#!� ����������) ����������������� Kabul: Afghan government

negotiators left for Doha onFriday to begin what promiseto be lengthy and difficultpeace talks with the Talibanafter nearly two decades ofgrinding war that have lefttens of thousands dead.

Negotiations set to beginSaturday were originally slatedto start in March but wererepeatedly pushed back amiddisputes over a prisonerexchange that included therelease of hundreds of battle-hardened Taliban fighters.

“After continuous efforts ofthe government of the IslamicRepublic of Afghanistan tostart direct talks with theTaliban, the peace negotiatingteam of the IRA left Kabul forDoha,” Nader Naderi, a mem-ber of the negotiating team,said on Twitter minutes beforetheir plane took off.

US President DonaldTrump has made endingAmerica’s involvement inAfghanistan a foreign policypriority as he faces uncertainprospects in the November 3election.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo will be attending theopening session of what he said

was a “historic” opportunity toend America’s longest war.

“I’m mindful of how diffi-cult these conversations will beamong the Afghans but it’stheirs for the taking,” he toldreporters onboard his flight toDoha.

Abdul Hafiz Mansour, amember of Kabul’s delegation,said his message to the Talibanwould be that they “cannot suc-ceed by force”.

“The time is ready for rec-

onciliation now, we can resolveour problems by talking toeach other,” Mansour said.

Negotiations have raisedhope across Afghanistan that the conflict might come to a halt. “We are desperate for peace. The killing ofAfghans should be stopped,”said Kabul shopkeeperAbdullah, who lost a relative ina bomb attack that targetedVice President Amrullah Salehthis week. AFP

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Islamabad: Much anticipatednegotiations betweenAfghanistan’s warring partiesare likely to be “contentious”, USSecretary of State Mike Pompeowarned on Friday, but are theonly way forward if Afghans areto find peace after decades ofrelentless conflict.

“It’s taken us longer than Iwish that it had to get fromFebruary 29 to here but weexpect Saturday morning, forthe first time in almost twodecades, to have the Afghans

sitting at the table togetherprepared to have what will becontentious discussions abouthow to move their country for-ward to reduce violence anddeliver what the Afghan peopleare demanding — a reconciledAfghanistan with a govern-ment that reflects a country thatisn’t at war,” Pompeo said on theplane taking him to Doha.

“It’s their country to figureout how to move forward andmake a better life for all Afghanpeople,” he said. AP

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Chittaranjan: The”DIK-SHANT PARADE” of 3rdbatch of Constable Recruits wasorganised on Friday morning atAW parade ground inChittaranjan. Praveen KumarMishra, General Manager,CLW graced the ceremony asChief Guest who received thesalute. “NISSAN TOLI” inparade and retreat was per-formed by the recruited 148constables followed by NationalSalute & National Anthem.Shri Tarique Ahmad, PCSCcum IG/RPF/CLW and Sr.Officers of CLW were presentduring this Passing Out Parade

Ceremony maintaining all pre-caution of COVID-19. A col-orful March past was present-ed by the contingents . ShriPraveen Kumar Mishra,General Manager in his addressappreciated the efforts ofPCSC/RPF and Principal/STC/RPF for training &organising the Passing outParade in a befitting manner.General Manager also pre-sented Best All Rounder Cadet,Best Outdoor & Indoor Cadetand Best Parade Commanderaward with Medal and MeritCertificates to four meritoriousRPF Constable.

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The Adjudicating Authorityunder Foreign Exchange

Management Act has slapped afine of �100 crore on StandardChartered Bank (SCB), �17crore on Tamil NaduMercantile Bank Ltd and �35crore on former chairman anddirector of TMBL, MGMMaran for contravention ofFEMA in a case relating tounauthorised allocation ofshares.

Investigation under FEMAwas taken up by theEnforcement Directorate (ED)on a reference from the ReserveBank of India (RBI) to investi-gate advance remittancesreceived by certain entities forpurchase of the shares ofTuticorin-headquarteredTMBL through an escrowmechanism maintained withSCB, Mumbai.

The ED probe led to showcause notice being issued toTMBL, its directors, SCB andan official of the SCB for vari-ous contraventions of the pro-visions of FEMA.The case wasadjudicated by theAdjudicating Authority, theSpecial Director, ED SouthernRegion. In his order, theAdjudicating Authorityimposed a penalty of Rs. 11.33crore on TMBL for recordingin its books the transfer of46,862 shares of TMBL in thenames of seven foreign entities----RST Ltd. (wholly owned byRavi S Trehan), Katra HoldingsLtd. (wholly owned by RameshVangal), GHI I Ltd. (whollyowned by Rajat Gupta),Kamehameha (Mauritius) Ltd.,

FI Investments (Mauritius)Ltd., Cuna Group (Mauritius)Ltd., and Swiss Re Investors(Mauritius) Ltd., which werenot approved by the RBI foracquiring the shares of TMBL,the ED said in a statement.

A further penalty of � 5.66crore was imposed on TMBLfor its act of recording in itsbooks, the subsequent transferof 27,289 shares out of theabove 46,862 shares in thenames of two foreign entities---Sub-Continental Equities Ltd,Mauritius and Robert & AdrisJames Company Ltd.,Mauritius, without the per-mission of the RBI. Penalty hasalso been imposed on thedirectors of the Board ofTMBL, who approved therecording of the transfer ofshares of TMBL, it said.

“The AdjudicatingAuthority has held SCB guilty ofcontraventions of the provi-sions of FEMA for opening theSCB Project Windmill (SaleConsideration) Escrow Account,without prior permission of theRBI and for having alloweddeposits totalling to Rs 113crore in the said account and forhaving held 1,12,151 shares ofTMBL in SCB Project Windmill(Shares) Escrow Account.Accordingly, a penalty of Rs 34crore has been imposed onStandard Chartered Bank for theabove contraventions,” the EDsaid in its statement.

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Moody’s Investors Serviceon Friday slashed India’s

growth projection for the cur-rent fiscal to (-) 11.5 per cent,from (-) 4 per cent estimatedearlier, saying the economiccontraction would be morepronounced due to the lock-down and continued rise incoronavirus cases.

The US-based ratingagency also projected India’sdebt burden to peak at around90 per cent of GDP in the cur-rent fiscal and the Centre’s fis-cal deficit to be close to 7.5 percent of gross domestic product.

In the previous fiscal,India’s debt burden was 72 percent of GDP, while the fiscaldeficit stood at 4.6 per cent.

India’s GDP contracted by23.9 per cent year-on-year inthe April-June quarter, follow-ing the economic impact of thenationwide lockdown mea-sures, which were in placefrom late March until a phased

lifting of restrictions began inJune.

“The collapse in GDP wasone of the sharpest among allmajor G-20 economies. Wenow expect real GDP to con-tract by 11.5 per cent in the fis-cal year starting April 2020,much weaker than our previ-ous forecast of a 4 per cent con-traction,” Moody’s said.It expects growth to rebound to10.6 per cent in fiscal 2021,reflecting a strong statisticalbase effect from the low GDPlevels of 2020 as economicactivity gradually normalises.

The sharp decline ingrowth will result in material-ly weaker Government rev-enue. Combined with increasedfiscal expenditure in responseto the coronavirus outbreak,this will contribute to a widergeneral government fiscaldeficit, which we now expect toreach 12 per cent of GDP in fis-cal 2020, it said.

Moody’s expects the cen-tral government and states to

run fiscal deficits close to 7.5per cent and 4.5 per cent ofGDP, respectively.

This will drive a substan-tially higher debt burden, theagency added.

It said the economic con-traction in 2020 to be morepronounced because of thelockdown and continued rise incoronavirus cases.

“As the number of dailyreported coronavirus casesincreases, also spreading fur-ther outside major urban cen-tres, the possibility of renewedlockdown measures continues

to present downside risk to ourforecasts. Even in the absenceof renewed official restrictionsoutside of designated contain-ment zones, economic uncer-tainties could weigh on con-sumer demand and invest-ment.“Beyond the pandemic,we see a risk that growthrebounds more gradually thanin other major emergingeconomies, and remains belowour previous expectations, heldback by an increasinglyimpaired financial system, andlimited fiscal capacity to pro-vide support,” Moody’s said.

It joined the chorus ofother global and domesticagencies which have projecteddouble-digit contraction in theIndian economy.

Earlier this week, GoldmanSachs and Fitch projectedIndia’s economy to contract14.8 per cent and 10.5 per cent,respectively, in the current fis-cal. India Ratings and Researchexpected contraction at 11.8per cent. Domestic agencyCrisil estimated contraction at9 per cent.

Moody’s had in Junedowngraded India’s sovereignrating to ‘Baa3’ -- the lowestinvestment grade -- just anotch above junk status, witha negative outlook.

In its credit opinion reporton the Indian government,Moody’s said the country’scredit profile is increasinglyconstrained by low growth,high debt burden and the weakfinancial system, and theserisks have been exacerbated bythe coronavirus pandemic.

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Markets regulator Sebi onFriday tweaked asset allo-

cation framework for multicapmutual funds, asking suchfunds to have a minimum cor-pus of 75 per cent invested inequities as against the presentmandate of 65 per cent.

Further, such funds willhave to make a minimuminvestment of 25 per cent eachin equity and related instru-ments of largecap, midcap andsmallcap companies, Sebi saidin a circular.

All the existing multicapfunds will ensure compliancewith the provisions within onemonth from the date of pub-lishing of the next list of stocksby industry body Amfi

(Association of Mutual Fundsin India), that is January 2021,it added.

“In order to diversify theunderlying investments of mul-ticap funds across the large,mid and smallcap companiesand be true to label, it has beendecided to partially modifythe scheme characteristics ofmulticap fund,” the Securitiesand Exchange Board of India(Sebi) said.

At present, multicap fundsneed to invest 65 per cent oftotal assets in equity and itsrelated securities.

Besides, there is no restric-tion on the exposure suchfunds need to make in large,mid and smallcap stocks, there-fore, experts believe most of themulticap funds have higher

allocation towards largecap,and residual exposure in midand smallcap. “Now with thiscircular in effect, we will seemost funds increasing theirexposure in mid and smallcaps,while largecap already hadlion’s share,” Samco GroupHead - RankMF OmkeshwarSingh said.Jimeet Modi,founder and CEO, of SamcoGroup said the new provisionwill lead to increased buying inmid or smallcap by multicapMFs to the tune of �30,000crore. This will be a disruptionopposite to the one we saw inOctober 2018, when Sebi firstintroduced scheme categorisa-tion. That had led to outflowsfrom small and midcaps. Theinverse will happen this time,he added.

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Industrial productiondeclined by 10.4 per cent in

July, mainly due to lower out-put of manufacturing, miningand power generation, as perthe Government data releasedon Friday.

According to the Index ofIndustrial Production (IIP)data, manufacturing sectorproduction registered a declineof 11.1 per cent, while the out-put of mining and power fell 13per cent and 2.5 per cent,respectively.

“In view of the preventivemeasures and announcementof nationwide lockdown bythe Government to containthe spread of COVID-19 pan-demic, a large number of theindustrial sector establishmentswere not operating from theend of March 2020 onwards.

“This has had an impact onthe items being produced by

the establishments during theperiod of lockdown. With thelifting of restrictions in the sub-sequent periods, industrialactivity is resuming,” theMinistry of Statistics andProgramme Implementationsaid in a press release.

The Index for July 2020stands at 118.1 as compared to54.0, 89.5 and 108.9 in April,May and June 2020, respec-tively, it added.

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The Government hasextended the deadline for

merchant bankers to bid formanaging IRCTC stake sale by4 days till September 14.

The Department ofInvestment and Public AssetManagement (DIPAM) has ini-tiated the process to sell 15-20per cent stake in IndianRailway Catering and TourismCorp (IRCTC) via offer for sale(OFS) and had last monthinvited bids from merchantbankers by September 10.

The last date of submissionof bids has been extended tillSeptember 14, the DIPAM,which manages the govern-ment share sale, said.

The Government current-ly holds 87.40 per cent stake in

v:\moIRCTC. To meet Sebi’spublic holding norm, theGovernment has to lower itsstake in the company to 75 percent.

Shares of IRCTC closed at� 1,374.35 apiece, up 0.27 percent over the previous close onBSE. IRCTC - the only entityauthorised by Indian Railwaysto provide catering services torailways, online railway ticketsand packaged drinking water atrailway stations and trains inIndia - had listed itself on thestock exchanges in October2019. The company had raised

�645 crore through theIPO.

IRCTC OFS would helpthe government inch forwardin meeting the �2.10 lakh croredisinvestment target. Of this, �1.20 lakh crore will come from

disinvestment of public sectorundertakings and another�90,000 crore from stake sale infinancial institutions.

The Government hasalready concluded the OFS ofHindustan Aeronautics Ltd(HAL) and Bharat DynamicsLtd (BDL), which together hasfetched around �5,000 crore tothe exchequer.

The Government is alsolooking at launching initialpublic offering (IPO) of IndianRailway Finance Corp Ltd(IRFC) and had in January fileddraft red herring prospectus(DRHP) with Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)for IPO of over 140 crore equi-ty shares.

The Union Cabinet had inApril 2017 approved listing offive railway companies.

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The Centre has released�6,195 crore to 14 states as

monthly instalment of postdevolution revenue deficitgrant. “The Govt on Sep 10,2020 released �6,195.08 croreto 14 states as the sixth equat-ed monthly instalment of thePost Devolution RevenueDeficit Grant as recommend-ed by the 15th FinanceCommission. This would pro-vide them additional resourcesduring the Corona crisis,” theOffice of Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said in atweet. Andhra Pradesh, Assam,Himachal Pradesh, Kerala,Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram,Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim,Tamil Nadu, Tripura,Uttarakhand and West Bengalare the 14 states to whom thegrant has been released.

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Indian Railways are workingon connecting capitals of all

eight northeastern states andalso executing a project to linkup with Bangladesh’s railwaynetworks to facilitate commu-nication with other parts ofIndia via the neighbouringcountry, Railways MinisterPiyush Goyal said on Friday.

With the Centre’s focus onall-round development of theregion through better link-ages, the Northeast Frontier

Railways (NFR) had alreadyconnected Assam’s main city ofGuwahati (adjoining capitalDispur), Tripura’s capitalAgartala and ArunachalPradesh’s Itanagar.

“A 12-km-long Agartala-Akhaura (Bangladesh) railwayproject is now under executionto link Tripura’s railway net-work with Bangladesh’s railwaynetwork. Once the projectcompleted, the distancebetween Tripura and Kolkatawould be reduced by 1,100 km,”he said.

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Indias total online food deliv-ery gross merchandise value

(GMV) is expected to be $13billion by 2024 by clocking 12million daily orders on anaverage, said a new report onFriday.

While online food delivery,which has scaled to more than500 cities and towns in Indiaand over 10x GMV over thepast three years, will continueto be the core, a significantgrowth is expected in the otherbusinesses such as ads andgroceries, amongst others,according to Bengaluru-basedconsulting firm RedSeer.

These businesses have thepotential to contribute up to aquarter of the total GMV.

“While food delivery initself is likely to be $13 billionby 2024, as the players diversi-fy with a keen eye on prof-itability, we expect further $4billion+ growth in ads andloyalty programmes, Cloudkitchens, hyperlocal deliveryand procurement offerings,”Abhijit Routray, SeniorConsultant at RedSeer, said ina statement.

In June, RedSeer in itsfindings said that while due tothe Covid-19 impact, the num-ber of orders dropped, foodtechplayers evolved themselves intohyperlocal super apps.

“While grocery deliveryboosts fleet utilisation, it ischallenging due to low shelf-life, thin margins, and the needfor specialised infrastructure,”said Routray.

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� How was your time during thelockdown?

Frankly, they have been the bestfour and a half months of my life. Icould enjoy living with peace in mylovely house, without any restrictions,sit out and walk around. With my staffand driver around, I felt like I found anew family. This was also for the firsttime, I and my husband stayed togeth-er for four months. Otherwise, he livesin Delhi and I live in Mumbai.Although, even at home, we bothstayed busy at times. But this has beenthe most amazing time of my life.

� Any everyday issues at home...Majorly, majorly (laughs)! I’ve

learned sign language because my hus-band is mostly busy on his conferencecalls. The adjustment took some timebut I let him be. He too tried to let mebe also because he had no alternative.In any case, he didn’t have time to inter-fere in my life so it was fine. But still,it was interesting. Quite calming, I’d say.

� Your Instagram game is on aroll...

Well, sometimes, I don’t post forlong. I do whenever something hits meor I see something happening aroundme or with me. For instance, the signlanguage. I posted about it because Iused to laugh at how I was doing itevery day.

I also posted about the sweaterswoven by the local girls. So it is all gen-uine and I don’t post for the sake ofposting anything. I do it because I wantto say something through the posts,something that has happened to meand is genuine. Well, I think it’s whypeople like it.

� Did it come from Masaba (Gupta,daughter and fashion designer)?

No. The matter I do, I don’t con-sult. Sometimes, I make a mistakewhile posting. And then, I get a mes-sage from Masaba immediately, “Mom,you’ve done it wrong,” then I tell herto set it right. And then, she sets it right!

� Over the years, how do you thinkthings have changed in terms ofstereotypes and work for women?

It has all changed very recently.Like in past two years only. Everyone,women and actors of my age group, arealso getting some very interestingwork. Otherwise, it hasn’t been verygood. There was nothing at all. Now,I feel that everybody is able to findsomething that suits them, not just theyounger lot.

� What do you have to say about thePR scenario, then and now?

Well, I must say, for me, it’s quite

irritating and a hassle to follow the cor-porate setup. Ek kaam ke liye 10aadmi hote hain (there are 10 peoplefor one chore). With 10 people around,there are a hundred new things to han-dle and listen to. Everyone has theirown perspective and talent. They haveto be paid accordingly. And amidthose, there are some who don’t knowmuch yet because they are not comingfrom the same place. So, I don’t under-stand this business environment at all.

� Have you ever felt out of place ona film set?

So, it was the first day of shoot forShubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. I wasrehearsing a dialogue in a way that itlooks realistic, in front of the camera,and the director came up to me andsaid, “Nahi, iska surr thoda ooncha honachahiye (the pitch should be a bit high-er), let’s begin like that.” I asked why. Iunderstood the reason when heexplained me that I am speaking overthe phone at a noisy place. Toh shorrwali jagah agar aap ooncha hi bolengena. I understood the logic and did thesame.

But as soon as I got back at thehotel, I felt that I have to work on thatlevel now. It’s for comedy that I’ll haveto change the way I act or react in a par-ticular scene. That’s what the scriptdemands. It’s not like Badhaai Ho! Thisreminded me of the series SrimaanSrimati, in which I played a role for ashort duration. I began from a high notein the show. It was a little problematicfor me in the beginning but I realisedthis is how comedy works.

So these are the some of theinstances where I felt a little out of theplace but I won’t say I was caught intodoing it (laughs). Haan, phasi hu ek-dobaar shuru mein, when I had to do roles,which had no beginning, end, logic toit or sense. I have done many of thosebut then you need money, so it’s okay!

� What would you say to youryounger self?

If you want to get better roles, moreroles, you want to become a star, aheroine, whatever is in your head,modesty is not a good policy. You can-not be shy. You have to get going andcall up people. Focus on work, not onmen — two important things.

� What would you say to NeenaGupta 2020?

Well, this year has been a waste.Ek saal toh barbaad ho gaya humara.Now, I’m getting back to work, soevery day is important for me. I tellmyself that it’s very important to lookafter your health because you want todo more work. Don’t let even onemoment of your day go waste. Kuchkaro, padho, suno, baithna nahi, kuchna kuch karte raho. Set your wardrobeup or do anything, but don’t just sit idleand waste time — two importantthings.

� What has Masaba taken fromyou? What have you passed on to her?

I think, children watch their par-ents and learn. There are certainthings which are genetic. I know whatshe has got from me or what she hasgot from her father or even my father.I think it’s all a combination. One day,she shouted at me and I told her, ‘Don’tshout’. She replied, ‘I’ve learnt from youonly’. Well, because she saw me shout-ing at my father once or twice when hewas living with me, her reaction wasthe same for me. That’s the parent-childrelationship, isn’t it? Children learn 40per cent from the parents and theirbehaviour and the rest, 60 per cent isgenetic, DNA!

� List one quality each that Masabashould and shouldn’t take from you.

I feel happy that Masaba hasinherited this very important qualityfrom me — she can laugh at herself.One bad thing she has got is takingimmediate and impulsive decisions.But the good part is that she alreadyknows that.

� What would you say about find-ing love at 50?

We met on a flight from Londonto Mumbai. He’s based in Delhi but hewas coming for some work. I was inbusiness class upstairs and he wassomewhere behind. But one ladywanted him to change his seat andthat’s how he came and sat beside me.This is how it started and that’s why Ibelieve in destiny so much. My lifewould have been so different. Now, hekeeps telling me all the time that youare the one. To tease me, he often saysthat you trapped me intentionally.Earlier, I used to fight that it’s the otherway round but now I say ‘yes I havetrapped you. If you are happy then stay,if not then leave.’

� Is it true that your mother wasagainst you acting and wanted you tobe an IAS officer?

Yes. They were very much againstit. My mother used to look down uponHindi cinema. She only watchedEnglish films during festivals and var-ious occasions. But I forced my way outof it and said that ‘I have to go anyhow.’

� What was your advice for Masabawhile her getting into B-town?

During the initial days itself, I toldher that it’s not sure whether you willbe able to act or not. I also apprised herof the fact that you don’t have a tradi-tional Indian face, so you might not getall the lead roles. I wanted her to knowthis reality and then start acting or goabroad, struggle there and find somework. I was very scared that she mightsay refuse to do so but she understoodand went into a different direction.

Now, in our new series, MasabaMasaba, she has done acting. I am herbest and worst critic. So she was tooapprehensive about my reaction. Andwhen I saw the edits, I was soimpressed by her acting. So, now wejoke about it that I told her not to goafter acting but whatever is destined tohappen, happens.

� How was it sharing the screen withyour daughter for the series, MasabaMasaba?

I was a little hesitant, I said, ‘I don’tknow, we both will be conscious doinga scene together but she was so goodand professional.’ Our scenes went offvery well. The show is a little scriptedbut it looks so real. When you see theshow you’ll feel it’s something that seri-ously happened between the daughterand her mother.

� Did you give any acting tips toMasaba for the show?

Very little, maybe twice. Initially,

when we were doing the readings, Itold her to slow down her pace. Otherthan this, I only advised her once ortwice while she was acting. And shetook that advice very professionally andworked on it. I thought she would say‘Mom I already know.’ But that didn’thappen.

� Badhaai Ho! turned out to be agame-changer for you...

The film changed everything. Itchanged my life because people hadnever imagined me that way. Beforethat film, I had a very differ-ent image, and your actingassignments depends alot on how people seeand imagine you. So,Badhaai Ho had madea great impact. Now Imake calls to direc-tors and other peoplewith great confi-dence. Recently, Isent a message to adirector asking if hehas any role for mein his new film. Ididn’t had this con-fidence earlier. I tellthis film’s directorAmit (Sharma) that Ican do anything foryou because you havechanged my life. I haveso much gratitude andlove for him. Not onlybecause of my role butalso because I love thefilm. I think it’s one of thebest films I have ever doneand seen.

� Did you anticipate thefilm Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro tobecome such a hit?

Not at all. It was very lowbudget film. I did not have anyconveyance, I used to take anauto rickshaw and my ownfood to the shoot. But eventhen we enjoyed the film alot. I was very new at thattime and getting to workwith such good actors in thefirst film felt so good. I neverexpected it to become such ahit.

� Is there a remake inprocess for it?

They were planning tomake Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro 2. Iread the script too, it washuge. The makers said thatthey will come back to me forthe dates but that somehow gotcancelled and never happened.This was long time ago.

Actor Ayushmann Khurrana hasbeen roped in by UNICEF India

as its celebrity advocate for promot-ing rights #ForEveryChild. Theactor will support UNICEF towardsits work around ending violenceagainst children. He will worktowards this initiative in Indiaand has joined the likes of actorDavid Beckham, who works onthis campaign globally.

Welcoming the actor forchildren’s rights, Dr YasminAli Haque, UNICEFRepresentative in Indiasaid, “I am delighted towelcome him as thecelebrity advocate. He’san actor who challengesthe boundary of everyrole he plays. He willbring sensitivity, passionand a powerful voice forevery child, with a spe-cific focus towards end-ing violence against chil-

dren. Ayushmann’s support willhelp increase awareness about thisissue, especially now that COVIDhas heightened the risk of violenceand abuse against children due to theextended lockdown and its socio-

economic impacts.”The actor believes that

everyone deserves the best startin life. He said, “As I watch mychildren play in the safety and

happiness of our home, Ithink about all the chil-dren who never get toexperience a safe child-hood and grow up withviolence in and around.I look forward to sup-porting the rights ofthe most vulnerablechildren, so that theygrow up as happier,healthier, educated citi-zens in nurturing envi-

ronments free from vio-lence.”

Have you ever wonderedwhy only a few in a mil-

lion rise above the ordinaryto become a mega icon?Were they driven by aunique perspective towardslife or was it their choicesthat triggered a journey thatwas destined to draw famefrom all over the world?While making decisions canbe both mentally and phys-ically daunting for us, thereare some, who uncover thehidden power of looking atthings with a unique per-spective, making the rightchoices and go onto becomethe giants, we revere.

Uncovering such truthsabout these personalitiesand building on the the firstseason, which featured thestories of Virat Kohli, APJAbdul Kalam among others,National Geographic is backwith the second season ofMega Icons. The series willexplore the journey ofIndia’s ‘Man of Steel’ —Ratan Tata, world renownedactor and fashion icon —Deepika Padukone,Bollywood singer, compos-

er and music producer — AR Rahman and the firstIndian woman who wentbeyond the skies — KalpanaChawla (told by her par-ents), to decipher variousmilestone moments thatdefined their success.

Featuring these global-ly acclaimed icons from var-ious walks of life, season 2promises to be bigger andbetter. The series will bringviewers closer to these iconsthrough exclusive and inti-mate interviews of themand their close ones. Usingcinematic recreations, theformat will decode whetherit was their conditioning,experiences and hard workor perspective to look atthings dif ferently that

defined their path to suc-cess. The icons featuredhave been carefully selectedkeeping in mind some of thebiggest obsessions of thecountry — Films, music,science and entrepreneur-ship.

Commenting on thelaunch of this season,Anuradha Aggarwal, Head— Infotainment and Kids,Star & Disney India, said,“With an inspiring set ofnew icons, season two buildson the success of the firstseason. The show aims tosatisfy the curiosity of dis-cerning viewers who want tocomprehend the role of lifechoices in defining one’ssuccess. It seeks to inspireand motivate the youth by

diving deep into the lives ofsuccessful personalities tofind the answer to an elusivequestion — What madethem who they are today?”

Talking about the series,Ratan, Chairman TataTrusts and ChairmanEmeritus, Tata Sons said, “Ihave always admired thisplatform’s authentic factualrepresentation of everything— nature, science, cultureand history.”

Hoping that the audi-ence finds inspiration fromtheir stories, A R said, “It’sa pleasure to be a part of thisseries along with Ratan ji,Deepika and the lateKalpana.”

Deepika feels that theplatform embodies credi-bility and iconicity. “I feelhumbled to be a part of theseries which allows me toshare a glimpse of my jour-ney with people across theworld,” said she.

(The series premieres onNational Geographic fromSeptember 20, every Sundayat 7 pm. It will be availableon Disney+Hotstar.)

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They say it takes a village to raise achild — under normal circum-stances. And you can certainly

imagine what a pandemic, which is def-initely not normal, would call for. Today’schildren are facing challenges that wereunheard of even a couple of decades ago.More children are out of schools thanever, confined in their homes. But on theother hand, we are witnessing the tippingpoint of online education with the explo-sion of mobile and digital technology,especially in a country like India, whichhas skipped an entire generation of tech-nology. We are nurturing a breed of inde-pendent thinkers while we navigate theblurring lines between work and life aswe know it.

Such unique times call for the com-ing together of policymakers, educatorsand caregivers to build a better tomorrowfor the world’s children. This is exactlywhat ISEY, one of largest global summitsby KLAY in the ECCE (Early ChildhoodCare & Education) space, aimed atrecently — addressing modern-day issuesof early childhood and charting futurecourses of action. The summit, When TheWorld Unites For Children, saw author,motivational speaker and consultant inearly childhood education, Dr RebeccaIsbell, as one of the key speakers. We talkto her to find out what we can do to sparkconversations for change. Excerpts:

�What according to you are the mod-ern-day issues of early childhood?

As knowledge about children anddevelopment increase, there has beenmore interest in the early years of theirlearning. Many research and scientificstudies have identified that children arecapable learners with brain connectionsbeing formed at an amazing rate duringthese critical early years. Brain imagingand observations have also led to under-standing that ‘windows of opportunity’exist during the early years, specificallyin language, thinking, social and emo-tional and visual domains. Therefore, thisis the prime period for these importantcompetencies to be developed, which willimpact future learning.

The understanding of these criticalearly years has led many countries torecognise that learning begins early andestablishes the foundation for futuredevelopment. We need quality pro-grammes for children that are designedspecifically for their special stage ofdevelopment. Research, studies andexperts have led us to conclude that learn-ing and development in early childhoodis not the same as for older children oradults. Children need their learning to beactive, to be focussed on their real worldand to include concrete materials that canbe explored, manipulated and filled withplay. An essential component of thesequality programmes is interactions withadults, who understand their unique wayof learning and can guide experiences

that are meaningful. One of our chal-lenges is helping parents and communi-ty leaders understand that children arenot ‘small adults’ and the approaches wehave used with older ones are not appro-priate for the younger lot. Their environ-ment must encourage and support theirways of learning.

�What can we, as influencers of changein the education space, do to create abetter tomorrow for children?

As our world is changing at such arapid pace, it is essential that we nurtureyoung minds into creative thinkers andproblem solvers. In their lives, they willbe dealing with issues that we cannot evenimagine today. There will be no books orexperts who can give them the answersto these new and difficult questions. Theywill have to be problem solvers who canidentify possible ways to deal with theissue, take action and adjust if their solu-tions do not work. Creative thinkers andproblem solvers are developed and sup-ported in the early years as they gain con-fidence in their capabilities and learn touse their thinking abilities in appropri-ate learning environment.

�How do you think we can nurtureyoung minds into creative thinkers?

First, we must recognise and valuechildren’s creative potential. We will haveto engage in conversations about theirinterest, listen to their questions andthen discover possibilities. We candesign rich environment that include‘open-ended’ materials where they canchoose to follow their interest, do it ina different way and make choices. Wecan have conversations with them, lis-ten to their ideas and discuss possibili-ties building on their questions, inter-est and responses. As adults who inter-act with children, we need to developour own creativity so we model ourselvesas a thinker who knows how to solveproblems.

�As children learn to navigate throughthe online and the offline world, thepaths leading to adulthood might betaxing and confusing. What’s your takeon this?

One of the essential life skills for the21st century is critical thinking or prob-lem solving. In a world that is bombard-ed with so much information and a vari-ety of entertainment, both children andadults must be able to determine what istrue and what is real. Developing the abil-ity to think critically is important in mak-ing sense of the world they live in and fil-

tering through the vast amounts of infor-mation.�The virtual world is usually looked atin a bad light for children. However, ifwe look at the current situation, tech-nology has proven its worth. What doyou think about it?

The virtual world may be expandingfor children, especially during this 2020pandemic. But it must be rememberedthat they learn best through real experi-ences, manipulation and exploration ofmaterials and having language interac-tions with people. They need to play withothers, with ideas and with concretematerials. While they do that, they learnhow to collaborate with others, shape thehappenings and get to know what worksthe best for them. Technology is a partof our world but it is not the way childrenlearn best.

�We are all aware of how social mediahas controlled our lives in one way orthe other. What do you think of itsimpact on children?

Social media is just one tool of com-munication. There should be a balance inthe child’s world with conversations withreal people, writing on computers orpaper, stories told and retold, participat-ing in collaboration with peers andexpressing their thoughts in a variety ofways.

�Parents constantly face the dilemmaof giving in to their child’s demands ver-sus what’s right for them. So, is it equal-ly important to address parents’ con-cerns over certain challenges that theyface while handling teenagers?

Being a parent of a teenager can bedifficult, but it is important to establishsome attitudes and patterns when yourchild is young. Teach them about dailychores like cleaning up, washing tables,talking about characters in books, dis-cussing their problems and feelings. Youdon’t wait until they are 14 and then askthem — ‘tell me about your feelings’. Startthe conversations, routines and expecta-tions of behaviour when they are little.

�The new National Education Policy ofIndia provides a broad perspective toearly education. How do you think itwill impact the education system sincechildren won’t be confined to tradition-al methods of teaching?

I have just completed reading the pol-icy of India. I was pleased to find that thepolicies identified in the Early ChildhoodSection recognise the important ele-ments that I believe will move India’s edu-

cational system into the 21st century. Ifthese policies are supported, EarlyChildhood Education will be universal-ly available to all children. This meansthat all kids will have the opportunity tobenefit from participating in quality pro-grammes that will be designed tostrengthen their abilities in a holisticmanner. It will include opportunities toenhance language, literacy, science,mathematics, social skills, collaborationand problem solving while integratingthe arts and the cultural heritage ofIndia. The early childhood programmes,as recommended, would include healthand nutrition elements that are essentialfor developing the mind and body ofchildren. Research has shown that animportant component of a quality pro-gramme for them is to include teacherswho are specifically trained in the edu-cation and development of children. Thisessential requirement is included in thepolicy document and should be support-ed.

The plan to support continuity frompreschool through primary school

would ensure that the gains reached inthe early years could be built on andexpanded in children’s later education.This will enrich and expand the offer-ings and choices that should be availablein the later levels and advanced school-ing. These can have a positive impact onchildren and help develop them to becreative thinkers, communicators, col-laborators and critical problem solvers,ready for the demands of the 21st cen-tury.

�Can you suggest a few ways or tech-niques for a child’s creative growth?

Perhaps, here are some ways to sup-port children’s creativity that I prepared forthe parents:

�Recognise that youngsters are capa-ble learners when experiences, conversa-tions and activities are matched with theirlevel of development and actively engagedin shaping the process.

�Observe your child’s interest at themoment and follow that curiosity support-ing ideas, questions and finding books toconnect to this topic. Note their interest

may change frequently and that is com-pletely fine.

�Read to your child every day. Set thestage for the story with a few questionsbefore you start. Read with expressions,voices and pause to respond to any ques-tions during reading. After the reading iscompleted, talk about the characters,sequence and moral of the story. Alwaysprovide time for them to evaluate the storyand share their feelings. Include in yourreading list some books that provideexamples of creative thinking or problem-solving.

�Play with your child. It is an impor-tant way for children to learn about theworld and how it works. When playing, fol-low their lead, take a minor role and allowthem to determine the direction of the play.Through play, children learn they can influ-ence their world, shape the happenings andadjust as is needed. Gaining the ability toinfluence the play helps them learn thats/he has the ability to shape their world.

�Provide choices during the day soyour children can gain experience inmaking decisions and deciding the bestoption. Simple decisions about ‘what willyou wear today’ or ‘what book do you wantto read?’ help build their confidence in theability to decide things.

�Offer a variety of materials to usewhen drawing, constructing, creating andwriting. Open-ended materials can be usedin many different ways and the way it willbe used is determined by the child.Examples: cardboard boxes, coloured con-struction paper, collection of markers, pipecleaners, glue, novel items (lids, tubes, bolts,containers.)

�Participate in interactive conversa-tions. These responsive languages arewonderful ways to develop language andvocabulary. Research shows that childrenare developing language at an amazing rate,but conversations need to be interactive,impacting the exchange. Think of servingand returning the ball in a tennis game.

�Expose your kids to different expe-riences and people. They learn quicklyfrom different people and new experiences.Plan for the happening before it occurs.Talk to them about what you are going todo and include new words to explain. Helpthem decide what questions they may wantto ask and things they want to know.Reflect on the experience after it hasoccurred.

�Remember to include the music, art,drama and movement. Children enjoymusic and movement from infancy intochildhood. These experiences should beappropriate for their developmental level.For children, a short time that is joyful isbetter than a very long session that is tooconfining for a young developing body.

�Encourage your child’s creative ideas.When your child suggests a different ideaor a novel way of accomplishing a task, sup-port these possibilities. Help him/herlearn that there are different ways of doingthings and it is OK to make mistakes.

�Plan proper time for your child to bewith other kids. When playing with otherchildren, they learn to cooperate and col-laborate. These are skills that take time todevelop, so understand sometimes therewill be conflict or disagreement and theyshould be able to work it out if possible.Part of developing social skills is learninghow to adjust and adapt to working withothers.

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Serena Williams already wasstruggling to keep up in afast-paced US Open semi-

final when she stopped behindthe baseline after a third-setpoint and leaned over.

She held that pose for a bit,then clutched at her lower left legand asked for a trainer.

While Williams took a med-ical timeout for a tape job forwhat she later said was anAchilles issue — her latest bid fora 24th Grand Slam singles title

seemingly slipping away — heropponent, Victoria Azarenka, satin a sideline seat, eyes closed,calm and composed as can be.

After a delay of about fiveminutes at Arthur AsheStadium, action resumed, andwhile Williams raised the forceof her shots and volume of hershouts, it was Azarenka who fin-ished off a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 victoryThursday to return to a majorchampionship final for the firsttime since 2013.

“It’s been seven years? That’smy favorite number. I guess

that’s meant to be. I’m very grat-geul for this oportunity,” saidAzarenka who won theAustralian Open in 2012 and2013 and lost to Williams in theUS Open finals each of thosetwo years.

“On the road to the final,you have to beat the best play-ers and today was that day.”

The loss left Serena justshort of the record-tying No 24yet again.

She was beaten in the finalsof four of the preceding sevenSlams, including at Flushing

Meadows in 2018 and 2019. With her 39th birthday a lit-

tle more than two weeks away,the question will become: Howmany more chanceswill Williams get? Shedid confirm afterwardshe’ll head to Paris;the French Open startsSept 27.

In Saturday’s final,Azarenka will faceNaomi Osaka in a meetingbetween two-time major cham-pions who have both beenranked No 1 in the past and have

been by far the two best playerssince tennis resumed last monthafter a pandemic-forced hiatus.

Azarenka won theAustralian Open in 2012 and2013 and lost to Williams in theUS Open finals those two years.

She’s finally back in a titlematch at a major.

“How is it different? I mean,mentally, I’m in such a differentplace. I think seven years ago,after I won the Australian Openand stuff, and playing kind ofconsistently with good results, itwas kind of I wouldn’t sayexpected but kind of expectedfor me to be in the final. I don’tthink that was the case this year,”

said Azarenka, a 31-year-old from Belaruswho is ranked 27th.

“But it feels morefun this year, more ful-filling, more pleasantfor me,” she said. “Itfeels nice. Nicer.”

This was Williams’ fourthconsecutive three-setter in NewYork and although she was farbetter at the outset on Thursday,

racing to a 4-0 lead inside of 15minutes, Azarenka eventuallydid get going.

Evidence of Azarenka’s bril-liance: She compiled 12 winnersand merely one unforced errorin the second set, then contin-ued her baseline mastery in thethird, especially with her back-hand.

That carried her to her firstwin against Williams in 11career Grand Slam matchupsbetween the pair.

After going a full calendaryear without a single tour-levelvictory, Azarenka has won 11matches in a row. Osaka’s streakis at 10.

Two weeks ago, Azarenkaand Osaka were supposed toplay in the final of the Western& Southern Open — a hard-court event moved from Ohio toNew York this year as part of atwo-tournament “controlledenvironment” with the US Openamid the pandemic — butOsaka withdrew because of aninjured left hamstring.

“Going to be super fun,” saidAzarenka, who sat in herassigned suite in Ashe to watchsome of Osaka vs Brady. “Sheplays incredible.”

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New York: Mate Pavic ofCroatia and Brazilian veteranBruno Soares won the USOpen men’s doubles final instraight sets on Thursday.

The unseeded pair defeat-ed eighth seeds CroatianNikola Mektic and theNetherlands’ Wesley Koolhof7-5, 6-3, in 1 hr 31 min insideArthur Ashe Stadium.

It marked a third GrandSlam men’s doubles title for the38-year-old Soares and a sec-ond at Flushing Meadowsafter his victory with Britain’sJamie Murray in 2016.

For the 27-year-old Pavic,it is a second Grand Slammen’s doubles title after victo-ry at the Australian Open in2018. AFP

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It wasn’t until Naomi Osakagot a little help from a fortu-

nate net-cord and an incorrectline call that she finally was ableto get the better of JenniferBrady in a US Open semifinalfilled with fast serves and strongforehands.

And now Osaka, still just22, is one victory away from athird Grand Slam title.

Osaka finally surged aheadmidway through the last setwith the only service break shewould get on Thursday night —and only she would need — tobeat Brady 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-3,returning to the final at FlushingMeadows two years after win-ning the championship.

“It meansa lot for me. Ikind of con-sider NewYork my sec-ond home,” saidOsaka, who wasborn in Japan andmoved to the UnitedStates as a child. “I kindof love the atmos-phere, even thoughthere’s no peoplehere. I feel likethis court kind ofsuits me well.”

Suited bothplayers just finefor most of theh i g h - q u a l i t ysemifinal. Osakaserved at up to 120

mph; Brady reached 117 mph.And they pounded the ballonce it was in play, too, partic-

ularly off the forehandside.

“I just felt like I wassticking it out. It felt like

we were trading serves,”Osaka said. “I tried to

adjust a little bit on herserve in the third set

so maybet h a thelped.”

T h e ycombined for70 winners —

35 apiece — tojust 42

unforced errors,each as good as the

other, and it took a bit

of luck to swing things after 1hour, 45 minutes.

That’s when, at 2-1 in thethird set, Osaka earned herfirst break point with a back-hand that clipped the net tapeand trickled over. She was ableto convert the chance when shehit a deep return of a 110 mphserve, and Brady’s backhand inresponse was called long —although a television replayshowed it actually caught apiece of the back of the baseline.

Brady did not challengethe ruling.

Ashe is one of only twocourts at the US Open using linejudges this year; to reduce thenumber of people on site, thetournament used electronicline-calling in the other arenas.

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New Delhi: Former Kiwi all-rounderScott Styris feels Ambati Rayudu is theideal candidate to bat at number three forChennai Super Kings after Suresh Raina’spullout from the upcoming IPL.

“Personally, I’d put Rayudu in thereto take that spot,” Styris said on Star Sportsshow Cricket Connected.

Styris acknowledged that Raina’sabsence has left a huge void in the CSKmiddle-order and that it is not going tobe easy to find a substitute for the sea-soned left-handed batsman who lastmonth retired from international crick-et. “...A player of that class, a player whohas been so good for so long. To sudden-ly finds those runs, even in the field andthe odd over as well with the ball, is goingto be a big task.

“I know that the CSK squad is deep,they’ve got a lot of options at the top, butI also believe that as much as the pressureis now on to find that No 3, it’s just prob-ably the most challenging time that I canlook for anyway for CSK. PTI

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South African Sports Confederationand Olympic Committee (SASCOC)

has asked Cricket South Africa’s board tostep aside as it investigates “many instancesof maladministration and malpractice” inthe crisis-ridden organisation.

SASCOC’s action, which means thatthere is no one to run daily affairs of CSA,is another setback to the board which is inthe middle of administrative chaos and fac-ing allegations of corruption and racial dis-crimination.

ESPNcricinfo reported that SASCOCtook the decision unanimously at a boardmeeting on Tuesday alleging “manyinstances of maladministration and mal-practice at CSA which “has brought crick-et into disrepute”.

CSA also faces action from theInternational Cricket Council as SASCOC’saction could also be seen as Governmentinterference.

In a statement, CSA objected toSASCOC’s decision to suspend the board.

“CSA, including its Members’ Council,does not agree with the resolution takenby SASCOC and has not had the oppor-tunity to engage with SASCOC on variousissues raised in the communication.

“In addition, CSA is taking legaladvice regarding the basis on which SAS-COC has sought to intervene in the busi-ness affairs of CSA. CSA does, however,commit to engaging further with SASCOCto understand its position and to find com-mon ground with it in the best interests ofcricket,” said CSA.

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Kuldeep Yadav’s under-whelming show let Kolkata

Knight Riders down in lastyear’s IPL, but the team’s chiefmentor David Hussey believesthat the Indian left-arm wristspinner is at the “top of hisgame” this season and will be aconsistent performer.

The Chinaman bowler gotjust four wickets from ninematches in 2019 and wasdropped from KKR after log-ging an average of 71.50 and aneconomy rate of 8.66.

In an interview to PTI,Hussey said Kuldeep would nothave any confidence issuesgoing into the 13th edition ofthe league.

“I personally believe afterthe last eight-nine days of train-ing camp, he’s at the top of hisgame. He’s fielding well, he is

running well, he’s covering theground very well. And his bowl-ing has a nice rhythm, and

with lots of revolutions on theball,” the 43-year-old Australiansaid.

Skipper Dinesh Karthik hadsaid Kuldeep was dropped forhis poor form as the team want-ed to give him a “break and gethim back fresh”.

“Kuldeep is a very confidentplayer. He knows what he canand can’t do with the ball, hespins the ball both ways. Hereads the game exceptionallywell,” Hussey continued. “I don’tthink he will have any confi-dence issues throughout thetournament and I do say thatwithout putting too much pres-sure on him. I think he wouldbe a very good consistent per-former for the Kolkata KnightRiders.”

Kolkata Knight Riders boastof a fiery pace attack led byworld number one PatCummins. The spin depart-

ment is, however, consideredtheir weak link in the slowconditions of UAE. But Hussey,

who joined this season, backedthe spinners to be led by noneother than Sunil Narine.

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Kloppbranded the decision to not

extend the use of five substitutes inthe Premier League as a lack ofcommon sense as he voiced hisconcerns for player welfare in acongested season.

The Reds begin the defence oftheir Premier League title at hometo Leeds on Saturday in acampaign that is starting amonth later than normal dueto the three-month halt to lastseason caused by the coron-avirus pandemic.

Both domestic cup com-petitions in England havebeen retained, while Liverpool areamong the clubs who will face sixChampions League group gamesin seven weeks between lateOctober and early December.

Despite the fixture pileup, the Premier Leaguehas not followed theexample of other majorEuropean leagues inextending a temporaryrule after the resump-tion of last season thatallowed matchdaysquads to increase from18 to 20 and managers tomake five substitutionsinstead of three.

“We press a normalseason into a shorter peri-od which will be a properchallenge, especially with

the wonderful rule we set up with18 (players) and three (substi-tutes),” Klopp said on Friday.

“It’s only about player welfare,nothing else, but I don’t know whywe have to discuss it at all and not

everybody says yes of course,like the whole world is doing,at least the whole of Europe!”

Two votes on the rulefound a majority of PremierLeague clubs were against therule being extended withthose nearer the bottom of

the table fearing it gave the big-ger clubs with better squads aneven greater advantage.

“I thought from a com-mon sense point of view

that for this year, only thisyear not forever, that wewould have 20 and five,”added Klopp. “What Ireally don’t like is thatwe deal with thisthing based on thewrong facts.

“It is not abouthaving advantages, itis about player wel-

fare and about havingthe highest quality inthe games for all teams.I was really surprisedwhen I heard the

league decided against it.”

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Glenn Maxwell and MitchellMarch put on a 126-run

partnership to lead Australia outof trouble against England to294-9 in the first ODI at OldTrafford on Friday.

England is back to near fullstrength with nine of the sidethat won the World Cup finallast year, and won’t be fazed atchasing a score under 300. But295 would be a record total tochase down on this ground.

Australia was wobbling at123-5 in the 24th over whenMaxwell, whose last ODI wasthe World Cup semifinals lossto England 14 months ago,joined Marsh in the middle.

They gradually turned thepressure back on the bowlers.Marsh played an importantanchor role while Maxwellopened up, hitting spinner AdilRashid twice over the fence. Thenext ball after his second sixearned Maxwell his 20th fifty.

Maxwell hit Archer forconsecutive sixes in the 44th butchopped the next ball on andwas out for 77 off 59 balls.

Following his first fifty in 21/2 years, Marsh departed in the47th, lbw to Wood on 73 off 100balls, including six boundaries.

Chris Woakes baggedZampa in the last over but con-ceded a last-ball six to MitchellStarc, who finished 19 not out.

England won the toss andhad the upper hand for the first

half of the innings.Archer knocked over David

Warner’s off stump in the fourthover, and Wood’s first ball wasedged behind by captain Finch.

Marcus Stoinis batted at No3 in place of Steve Smith, whowas rested after being hit in thehead in the nets on Thursday,and smacked Wood aroundfor three boundaries in one over.

But Wood got Stoinis, whoattempted a drive but edgedbehind after making 43 off 34balls. Rashid removed MarnusLabuschagne (21) and AlexCarey (10) and Australia, sentinto bat, was 123-5.

But Maxwell and Marsh

eased the visitors’ worries.Archer and Wood, playing

their first ODIs since the WorldCup, took three wickets each.

HOLDING CRITICISESFast-bowling great Michael

Holding has criticised theEngland and Australian team-for not taking a knee in supportof the Black Lives Movementduring their ongoing limited-overs series.

“Now that the West Indiesteam has gone home, that does-n’t mean that you still should-n’t be respecting the messageand what it stands for,” Holdingtold Sky Sports.

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+�������������������������>�U��#�� *��) �(%%$�� �+�$��5�&�� �$ �# %�#'4� ��/ ���Abu Dhabi: Star recruits EoinMorgan and Pat Cummins willbe available for Kolkata KnightRiders’ IPL opener onSeptember 23 after authorities inAbu Dhabi have agreed to short-en the quarantine period from14 to six days, according to fran-chise CEO Venky Mysore.

Mysore said negotiationswere still on with the AbuDhabi authorities to furthershorten the quarantine period.

“While they are still nego-tiating with the authorities, weare reconciled to the fact that wemay have to quarantine our

three players,” Mysore was quot-ed as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“They arrive on September17, but our first game is onSeptember 23, by which timethey would’ve finished their(six-day) quarantine. So it’sworked out well, and it’s goodfor the tournament.”

There are three players –Morgan, his England team-mate Tom Banton andAustralian pacer Cummins —who will be joining KKR’ssquad in the UAE capital a dayafter the third and final ODI onSeptember 16. PTI

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