' DeReVd ^`gV D4 e` UVWVc ?66E ;66 - Daily Pioneer

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S ix States on Friday filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against its deci- sion to allow holding of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) despite the coronavirus pan- demic. The States are repre- sented by four Opposition par- ties — Congress, Trinamool Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Shiv Sena. The Congress also held countrywide protests on Friday. Party president Sonia Gandhi and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi expressed soli- darity with the students and asked the Centre to postpone the entrance tests. Cabinet Ministers from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal have sought a review of the August 17 judgment of the SC on JEE Main and NEET 2020. Addressing a Press confer- ence after approaching the court, the parties said they were not for cancelling the exams but wanted them to be deferred till November so that the Government is able assure the safety of the students. The decision to move the Supreme Court was taken dur- ing a meeting convened by Sonia with seven CMs two days ago. Sonia and Rahul continued to target the Government and said the safety of students should not be compromised due to the “failures of the Government”. The Union Government has made it clear that they will be held as per schedule with due precautions. In a video statement, Sonia said, “My dear students, I feel for you because you are now facing a very difficult situation. The issue of your exams, of when they should be held and where, is the most important issue not only for you but your family too. You are our future. We depend on you to build a better India. Therefore, if any decision has to be taken regarding your future, it is important that it is taken with your concurrence. I hope the Government listens to you, listens to your voices and act upon your wishes. This is my advice to the Government. Thank you. Jai Hind.” Rahul also shared a video statement over the issue and said safety should not be compro- mised. “NEET-JEE aspirants’ safety should not compromised due to the failures of the Government. The Government must listen to all stakeholders and arrive at a consensus,” Rahul tweeted, along with a video of his message to the student commu- nity as well as the Government. “What I don’t understand is why you should be held responsible and why further pain should be imposed on you... So why should the Government force anything on you? It’s important that the Government listens to the stu- dents,” he said. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday wrote to the Union Education Minister requesting him to postpone JEE and NEET. “Each these aggressive examinations are extraordi- narily important within the profession of a scholar because the success or in any other case in these examinations would resolve the course of their future life. Each examinee would thus attempt to put his finest foot ahead and, due to this fact, this can be very important to make sure that they take these examinations in surroundings of well being security and psychological peace,” Soren wrote. Senior TMC leader and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’ Brien said the petitioners do not want the students to lose the academic year and the petition aims to ensure better safety and security measures for the students. “The charge here is poor planning; what can one expect from a Government who imposed a 21-day lockdown with merely four hours notice,” O’ Brien remarked at the joint Press conference with Soren and Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi. A s the Line of Actual Control (LAC) remains tense, the coming days will see a flurry of activities beginning with the Corps Commanders of India and China Armies holding sixth round of talks to resolve differences. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar are also likely to travel to Moscow to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conclave. Both the leaders may meet their Chinese counterparts there. These high-level dialogues will take place against the back- drop of China not withdrawing its troops from the “friction points” and further ramping up its infrastructure like 5G net- work all along the LAC. Reports indicated fresh Chinese construction in terms of temporary huts and bunkers have taken place in the Pangong Tso (lake) zone. It is one of the four “friction points” where the stand-offs are on and the Chinese have intruded more than five km into India. On the 5G network, sources said the Chinese engi- neers were seen laying fibre optic cables and installing relat- ed equipment along the LAC in the Demchok region. I n an apparent attempt to keep dissenters in the party in check, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed several leaders to new positions in the party. This comes fol- lowing the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting early this week after 23 party leaders wrote a letter to the party chief expressing concern about the state of affairs and demanding appointment of a full-time president. Sonia, who continues to be the interim chief of the Congress, appointed Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi as deputy to legislature party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu as the whip. Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari, another dissi- dent and a signatory of the let- ter to Sonia has been down- graded despite being much senior to Gogoi in the party. Also ignored was Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, one of the signatories. “Both Tewari and Tharoor have lost out because they were signatories to the letter,” said a party leader. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of the signatory of the letter to Sonia, and AlCC general secretary (organisa- tion) KC Venugopal, who made his debut in the Upper House recently, have been made part of the new five-member deci- sion-making group. Both Gogoi and Venugopal are con- sidered close to former party chief Rahul Gandhi. Jairam Ramesh has been appointed the Congress’ chief whip in the Rajya Sabha. The five-member group in the Rajya Sabha includes Azad, Venugopal, Anand Sharma, Ahmed Patel and Ramesh. The move to constitute a five-member group in the Rajya Sabha is also seen as an attempt to sideline Azad and Sharma. T he Ministry of Civil Aviation has permitted the airlines to serve pre-packed snacks, meals and beverages on domestic flights and hot meals on international flights. It has also said airlines could put a passenger on the no-fly list if s/he refuses to wear a face mask — considered a vital safeguard against the coro- navirus on board. Passengers can only remove face masks if absolutely neces- sary for “legitimate reasons”. The Ministry has also issued a standard operating procedure for this. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, in-flight meal ser- vice was not permitted on domestic flights since their resumption on May 25. On international flights, only pre- packed cold meals and snacks were being served depending on the flight duration since May this year. In an order issued on Thursday, the Ministry said, “Airlines may serve pre-packed snacks/meals/pre-packed bev- erages on domestic flights depending on the duration of flight.” Airlines and charter flight operators can “serve hot meals and limited beverages” on international flights “as per the standard practices”. The Ministry said only single-use disposable trays, plates and cutlery should be used while serving food or bev- erages in domestic and inter- national flights. “Crew shall wear a fresh set of gloves for every meal/bev- erage service.” The Ministry also permit- ted the aircraft operators to let passengers use the in-flight entertainment system on inter- national as well as domestic flights wherever available. J apan’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, said on Friday he is stepping down because a chronic health prob- lem has resurfaced. He told reporters that it was “gut wrenching” to leave many of his goals unfinished. Abe has had ulcerative col- itis since he was a teenager and has said the condition was con- trolled with treatment. Concerns about his health began this summer and grew this month when he visited a Tokyo hospi- tal two weeks in a row for unspecified health checkups. He is now on a new treatment that requires IV injections, he said. While there is some improvement, there is no guar- antee that it will cure his condi- tion and so he decided to step down after reatment Monday, he said. “It is gut wrenching to have to leave my job before accom- plishing my goals,” Abe said on Friday, mentioning his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted years ago by North Korea, a territorial dispute with Russia and a revision of Japan’s war-renouncing constitution. He said his health problem was under control until earli- er this year but was found to have worsened in June when he had an annual checkup. Chennai: Congress MP from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu H Vasanthakumar died of Covid-19 at a hospital here on Friday, the party said. The 70- year old first time MP, who was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals on August 10 after he tested positive for coronavirus, succumbed to the illness, a party spokesperson told PTI. Earlier, in a statement, Apollo Hospitals said the MP was in critical condition and treated by a team of doctors for severe COVID pneumonia. Vasanthakumar was a two- time MLA and elected to the Lok Sabha in the 2019 elections. President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday con- doled the death of H Vasanthakuma. L ok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday said that all MPs have to undergo Covid-19 test for the forthcoming Parliament Session starting September 14. All staffers and Ministers’ staffers and media personnel will also be checked and no vis- itors will be allowed this time, said Lok Sabha Secretariat in a statement. The MPs attending the Session has to undergo the Covid-19 test 72 hours before and would be allowed to speak while sitting in their chairs. The Speaker said all prepa- rations based on expert advice will be undertaken to ensure smooth conduct of the Session and prevent spread of infection. New Delhi: In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, IIT- Delhi has appealed to its students and alumni to help those appearing for the JEE-Advanced next month with transport to reach their exam centres. T he Supreme Court on Friday said that States and universities cannot promote students without holding final year exams by September 30. Upholding the UGC deci- sion to hold final year exams, a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said if any State feels they can’t conduct final year examinations by that date amid the coronavirus pan- demic, they must approach the UGC for new dates to hold the exam. The bench also comprising justices RS Reddy and MR Shah, said States are required to hold final year exams as per UGC guidelines and for any exemption they will have to seek permission. “States can postpone final year exams under Disaster Management Act but fresh dates have to be fixed in con- sultation with UGC,” it said. Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena, is one of the petitioners in the apex court and has questioned the UGC’s directive to hold exams amid the coronavirus pandemic. The UGC had earlier said that the July 6 guidelines are based on recommendations of experts and have been made after due deliberation and it is wrong to claim that it will not be possible to conduct the final examinations in terms of the guidelines. Assailing the decisions of some states like Maharashtra and Delhi to cancel final year examinations, the UGC had said that such decisions direct- ly affect standards of higher education and will be an encroachment on the legislative field of coordinating and deter- mining the standards of high- er education that is exclusive- ly reserved for Parliament under Schedule VII of the Constitution. I n view of heavy rains in the upper catchment area of Hirakud Dam, a medium-level flood situation is likely to emerge in the Mahanadi river system in coming two days, said Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena on Friday. “Due to inflow of water from the Hirakud Dam and other rivers, Mahanadi will receive 10 lakh to 10.5 lakh cusec water at Mundali in com- ing 36 hours. The Mahanadi had earlier received water up to 16 lakh cusec water at Mundali. Thus, a medium-level flood sit- uation is likely to occur in the State,” Jena said. He said the district Collectors of Cuttack, Jagatsingpur, Kendrapada, Puri, Nayagarh and Khordha have been advised to remain alert and take immediate measures to contain the flood situation. By Friday evening, the Hirakud dam was releasing floodwater through 40 sluice gates. The reservoir was receiv- ing 8 lakh cusec water due to heavy rains occurred in upper catchment area in Chhattisgarh and inflow of water from Ib and Veden rivers. The water-level of the Hirakud Dam was 625 feet against its water-holding capac- ity of 630 feet, said reports. In the lower catchment area of the dam, floodwaters from rivers like Tel, Suktel, Jira are also entering the Mahanadi. Water Resources Engineer- in-Chief Jyotirmaya Rath said senior officials have been asked to keep a close watch on the flood situation in Devi, Kandal, Bhargavi and Daya rivers. Detailing status of major rivers, he said the Baitarani was receding since Thursday. Four gates of the Rengali Dam were opened following heavy rains in the upper basin of Brahmani river. Around 10 Test Relief Embankments (TRE) in Bari and one in Duttapur in Jajpur district have breached, he added. The Subarnarekha was flowing above danger level after release of floodwater from the Galudih barrage. Around 10 gram panchayats under Baliapal block and five GPs under Bhograi block in Baleswar district would be hit by flood, informed Rath. T he State Government has decided to provide trans- portation and accommoda- tion free of cost to the needy examinees of this year’s JEE and NEET, informed Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy on Friday. Free transportation would be provided to the examinees not having their own arrange- ments. The district adminis- trations have been appraised accordingly so that such examinees do not face any dif- ficulty in transportation, Tripathy said. Beside, free accommoda- tion for needy examinees would be arranged at poly- technic institutes, engineering colleges and ITIs, he said and urged the candidates to contact nearby nodal centres if they face any difficulty in trans- portation or accommodation. There will be no restric- tion on movement of the candidates or their par- ents/guardians, he said. T he State BJP would hold its executive meeting on September 5 to discuss about various issues concern- ing the State. The meeting to be presided over by State president Samir Mohanty will be attended by party’s national president JP Nadda, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Pratap Sarangi, national joint general secretary (organisa- tion) Saudan Singh, national vice president Baijayant Panda, national general secretary and Odisha-in-charge Arun Singh, MP Suresh Pujari, Leader of Opposition in State Assembly Pradipta Naik, all party MPs and MLAs of the State and all State fuctionaries and State Executive members would attend the meeting. The meeting would begin at 10 am and continue till evening. Issues relating to migrant workers, flood situa- tion, various welfare pro- gramemes of the Union Government would be dis- cussed in the scheduled executive meeting, said a party release. T he State on Friday record- ed its highest single-day spike of 3,682 Covid-19 posi- tive cases pushing the total tally to 94,668, including 28,836 active cases. Of the new cases from across all 30 districts, 2,241 were reported from var- ious quarantine centres while 1441 were local contact cases, the Information and Public Relations Department said. Khordha district reported the day’s highest 775 cases fol- lowed by Rayagada 495, Cuttack 369, Mayurbhanj 272, Ganjam 174, Bargarh 152, Koraput 140, Sambalpur 128, Puri 115, Nayagarh 109, Jajpur 88, Baleswar 87, Malkangiri 86, Balangir 68, Dhenkanal 61, Keonjhar 59, Angul 56, Bhadrak 51, Gajapati 48, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada 44 each, Jharsuguda 43, Kalahandi 41, Nabarangpur 38, Kandhamal 36, Subarnapur and Sundargarh 27 each, Nuapada 23, Boudh 14 and Deogarh 12. Meanwhile, eight more patients succumbed to the dis- ease on the day while under- going treatment. With this, the total death toll reached 456 in the State. Two deaths each were reported from Khordha district (Bhubaneswar) and Ganjam while one each was reported from Bhadrak, Bargarh, Balangir and Rayagada. The Bhubaneswar deaths were of a 65-year-old man and a 56-year-old man. The deceased in Ganjam were a 55-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man. The other deceased includ- ed a 61-year-old woman of Bargarh, a 62-year-old man of Bhadrak, a 40-year-old man of Balangir and a 60-year-old man of Rayagada, the Health and Family Welfare Department said. T he Covid-19 tally in Bhubaneswar surged to a total 9,001 with detection of 354 new positive cases on Friday. Of the new cases, 152 were from quarantine and 202 were local contacts. The quarantined cases included 12 of Chandrasekharpur 7th Battalion; eight of Jagamara Mallick Complex; five of Nayapalli Behera Sahi; five of Kharavel Nagar; four of Naharkanta Sundhi Sahi; four of Vivekananda Marg; four of Old Town Darzi Sahi; three of Nuagaon; four Health Department staffs; three cases of Brahmeshwarpatna Surya Vihar; three of CRPF campus; two of Shashtri Nagar; two of Satyanagar; two Central Government staffs; two private hospital staffs; two cases of Baramunda; two of Jharpada Mahaveer Nagar; two of Budheswari Colony; two of Jharpada Jagannath Nagar; and two of Niladri Vihar. The local contacts includ- ed six cases of Nayapalli Behera Sahi; six of Bharatpur; five of Chandrasekharpur 7th Battalion; five of Unit-1; five of Unit-6; four of Kalinga Vihar; four of Baramunda HB Colony; four of Nayapalli; four of Income Tax Colony; three of Dumduma; three of Dumduma Housing Board Colony; three of Bomikhal; three of Bhimatangi; three police staffs; three cases of Jayadev Vihar; two of Pokhariput; and onee of Pokhariput Ananta Vihar. However, 295 persons recovered on the day taking the total recoveries to 5,914 in the city. In Cuttack, 204 new pos- itive cases were registered tak- ing the city’s total tally to 4,375. Out of the new cases, 74 were from home quaran- tine, 74 local contacts and 56 institutional quarantine.

Transcript of ' DeReVd ^`gV D4 e` UVWVc ?66E ;66 - Daily Pioneer

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Six States on Friday filed areview petition in the

Supreme Court against its deci-sion to allow holding of theNational Eligibility cumEntrance Test (NEET) andJoint Entrance Exam (JEE)despite the coronavirus pan-demic. The States are repre-sented by four Opposition par-ties — Congress, TrinamoolCongress, Jharkhand MuktiMorcha and Shiv Sena.

The Congress also heldcountrywide protests on Friday.Party president Sonia Gandhiand former Congress chiefRahul Gandhi expressed soli-darity with the students andasked the Centre to postponethe entrance tests.

Cabinet Ministers from

Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,Maharashtra, Punjab,Rajasthan and West Bengalhave sought a review of theAugust 17 judgment of the SCon JEE Main and NEET 2020.

Addressing a Press confer-ence after approaching thecourt, the parties said theywere not for cancelling theexams but wanted them to bedeferred till November so thatthe Government is able assurethe safety of the students.

The decision to move theSupreme Court was taken dur-ing a meeting convened bySonia with seven CMs two daysago. Sonia and Rahul continuedto target the Government andsaid the safety of students shouldnot be compromised due to the“failures of the Government”.

The Union Government

has made it clear that they willbe held as per schedule withdue precautions.

In a video statement, Soniasaid, “My dear students, I feel foryou because you are now facinga very difficult situation. Theissue of your exams, of whenthey should be held and where,is the most important issue notonly for you but your family too.You are our future. We dependon you to build a better India.Therefore, if any decision has tobe taken regarding your future,it is important that it is takenwith your concurrence. I hopethe Government listens to you,listens to your voices and actupon your wishes. This is myadvice to the Government.Thank you. Jai Hind.”

Rahul also shared a videostatement over the issue and said

safety should not be compro-mised. “NEET-JEE aspirants’safety should not compromiseddue to the failures of theGovernment. The Governmentmust listen to all stakeholdersand arrive at a consensus,” Rahultweeted, along with a video of hismessage to the student commu-nity as well as the Government.

“What I don’t understandis why you should be heldresponsible and why furtherpain should be imposed onyou... So why should theGovernment force anythingon you? It’s important that theGovernment listens to the stu-dents,” he said.

Jharkhand Chief MinisterHemant Soren on Friday wroteto the Union EducationMinister requesting him topostpone JEE and NEET.

“Each these aggressiveexaminations are extraordi-narily important within theprofession of a scholar becausethe success or in any other casein these examinations wouldresolve the course of theirfuture life. Each examineewould thus attempt to put hisfinest foot ahead and, due tothis fact, this can be veryimportant to make sure thatthey take these examinations insurroundings of well beingsecurity and psychologicalpeace,” Soren wrote.

Senior TMC leader andRajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien said the petitioners donot want the students to losethe academic year and thepetition aims to ensure bettersafety and security measuresfor the students.

“The charge here is poorplanning; what can one expectfrom a Government whoimposed a 21-day lockdownwith merely four hours notice,”O’ Brien remarked at the jointPress conference with Sorenand Senior Congress leaderAbhishek Manu Singhvi.

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As the Line of ActualControl (LAC) remains

tense, the coming days will seea flurry of activities beginningwith the Corps Commandersof India and China Armiesholding sixth round of talks toresolve differences.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh and External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar are alsolikely to travel to Moscow totake part in the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation(SCO) conclave.

Both the leaders may meettheir Chinese counterpartsthere.

These high-level dialogues

will take place against the back-drop of China not withdrawingits troops from the “frictionpoints” and further ramping upits infrastructure like 5G net-work all along the LAC.Reports indicated freshChinese construction in termsof temporary huts and bunkershave taken place in thePangong Tso (lake) zone. It isone of the four “friction points”where the stand-offs are on andthe Chinese have intrudedmore than five km into India.

On the 5G network,sources said the Chinese engi-neers were seen laying fibreoptic cables and installing relat-ed equipment along the LAC inthe Demchok region.

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In an apparent attempt tokeep dissenters in the party

in check, Congress presidentSonia Gandhi has appointedseveral leaders to new positionsin the party. This comes fol-lowing the Congress WorkingCommittee (CWC) meetingearly this week after 23 partyleaders wrote a letter to theparty chief expressing concernabout the state of affairs anddemanding appointment of afull-time president.

Sonia, who continues to bethe interim chief of theCongress, appointed Lok SabhaMP Gaurav Gogoi as deputy tolegislature party leader AdhirRanjan Chowdhury andLudhiana MP Ravneet SinghBittu as the whip.

Anandpur Sahib MPManish Tewari, another dissi-dent and a signatory of the let-ter to Sonia has been down-graded despite being muchsenior to Gogoi in the party.Also ignored wasThiruvananthapuram MPShashi Tharoor, one of thesignatories.

“Both Tewari and Tharoorhave lost out because theywere signatories to the letter,”said a party leader.

Leader of Opposition in

Rajya Sabha, Ghulam NabiAzad, one of the signatory ofthe letter to Sonia, and AlCCgeneral secretary (organisa-tion) KC Venugopal, who madehis debut in the Upper Houserecently, have been made partof the new five-member deci-sion-making group. BothGogoi and Venugopal are con-sidered close to former partychief Rahul Gandhi.

Jairam Ramesh has beenappointed the Congress’ chiefwhip in the Rajya Sabha. Thefive-member group in theRajya Sabha includes Azad,Venugopal, Anand Sharma,Ahmed Patel and Ramesh.

The move to constitute afive-member group in theRajya Sabha is also seen as anattempt to sideline Azad andSharma.

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The Ministry of CivilAviation has permitted the

airlines to serve pre-packedsnacks, meals and beverages ondomestic flights and hot mealson international flights.

It has also said airlinescould put a passenger on theno-fly list if s/he refuses to weara face mask — considered avital safeguard against the coro-navirus — on board.Passengers can only removeface masks if absolutely neces-sary for “legitimate reasons”.The Ministry has also issued astandard operating procedurefor this.

Due to the coronaviruspandemic, in-flight meal ser-vice was not permitted ondomestic flights since theirresumption on May 25. Oninternational flights, only pre-packed cold meals and snackswere being served dependingon the flight duration sinceMay this year.

In an order issued onThursday, the Ministry said,“Airlines may serve pre-packedsnacks/meals/pre-packed bev-erages on domestic flightsdepending on the duration offlight.” Airlines and charterflight operators can “serve hotmeals and limited beverages”on international flights “as perthe standard practices”.

The Ministry said onlysingle-use disposable trays,plates and cutlery should beused while serving food or bev-erages in domestic and inter-national flights.

“Crew shall wear a fresh setof gloves for every meal/bev-erage service.”

The Ministry also permit-ted the aircraft operators to letpassengers use the in-flightentertainment system on inter-national as well as domesticflights wherever available.

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Japan’s longest-serving PrimeMinister, Shinzo Abe, said on

Friday he is stepping downbecause a chronic health prob-lem has resurfaced. He toldreporters that it was “gutwrenching” to leave many ofhis goals unfinished.

Abe has had ulcerative col-itis since he was a teenager andhas said the condition was con-trolled with treatment. Concernsabout his health began thissummer and grew this monthwhen he visited a Tokyo hospi-tal two weeks in a row forunspecified health checkups.He is now on a new treatmentthat requires IV injections, hesaid. While there is someimprovement, there is no guar-antee that it will cure his condi-tion and so he decided to stepdown after reatment Monday, hesaid. “It is gut wrenching to haveto leave my job before accom-plishing my goals,” Abe said onFriday, mentioning his failure toresolve the issue of Japaneseabducted years ago by NorthKorea, a territorial dispute withRussia and a revision of Japan’swar-renouncing constitution.

He said his health problemwas under control until earli-er this year but was found tohave worsened in June when hehad an annual checkup.

Chennai: Congress MP fromKanyakumari in Tamil NaduH Vasanthakumar died ofCovid-19 at a hospital here onFriday, the party said. The 70-year old first time MP, who wasadmitted to the ApolloHospitals on August 10 after hetested positive for coronavirus,succumbed to the illness, aparty spokesperson told PTI.

Earlier, in a statement,Apollo Hospitals said the MPwas in critical condition andtreated by a team of doctors forsevere COVID pneumonia.

Vasanthakumar was a two-time MLA and elected tothe Lok Sabha in the 2019 elections.

President Ram NathKovind and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Friday con-doled the death of HVasanthakuma.

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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlaon Friday said that all MPs

have to undergo Covid-19 testfor the forthcoming ParliamentSession starting September 14.All staffers and Ministers’staffers and media personnelwill also be checked and no vis-itors will be allowed this time,said Lok Sabha Secretariat in astatement.

The MPs attending theSession has to undergo theCovid-19 test 72 hours beforeand would be allowed to speakwhile sitting in their chairs.

The Speaker said all prepa-rations based on expert advicewill be undertaken to ensuresmooth conduct of the Session and prevent spread ofinfection.

New Delhi: In view of theCovid-19 pandemic, IIT- Delhihas appealed to its students andalumni to help those appearingfor the JEE-Advanced nextmonth with transport to reachtheir exam centres.

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The Supreme Court onFriday said that States and

universities cannot promotestudents without holding finalyear exams by September 30.

Upholding the UGC deci-sion to hold final year exams,a bench headed by JusticeAshok Bhushan said if anyState feels they can’t conduct

final year examinations by thatdate amid the coronavirus pan-demic, they must approachthe UGC for new dates to holdthe exam.

The bench also comprisingjustices RS Reddy and MRShah, said States are required tohold final year exams as perUGC guidelines and for anyexemption they will have toseek permission.

“States can postpone finalyear exams under DisasterManagement Act but freshdates have to be fixed in con-sultation with UGC,” it said.

Yuva Sena, the youth wingof the Shiv Sena, is one of the

petitioners in the apex courtand has questioned the UGC’sdirective to hold exams amidthe coronavirus pandemic.

The UGC had earlier saidthat the July 6 guidelines arebased on recommendations ofexperts and have been made

after due deliberation and it iswrong to claim that it will notbe possible to conduct thefinal examinations in terms ofthe guidelines.

Assailing the decisions ofsome states like Maharashtraand Delhi to cancel final yearexaminations, the UGC hadsaid that such decisions direct-ly affect standards of highereducation and will be anencroachment on the legislativefield of coordinating and deter-mining the standards of high-er education that is exclusive-ly reserved for Parliamentunder Schedule VII of theConstitution.

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In view of heavy rains in theupper catchment area of

Hirakud Dam, a medium-levelflood situation is likely toemerge in the Mahanadi riversystem in coming two days, saidSpecial Relief Commissioner(SRC) PK Jena on Friday.

“Due to inflow of waterfrom the Hirakud Dam andother rivers, Mahanadi willreceive 10 lakh to 10.5 lakhcusec water at Mundali in com-ing 36 hours. The Mahanadihad earlier received water up to16 lakh cusec water at Mundali.Thus, a medium-level flood sit-uation is likely to occur in theState,” Jena said.

He said the districtCollectors of Cuttack,Jagatsingpur, Kendrapada, Puri,Nayagarh and Khordha havebeen advised to remain alertand take immediate measuresto contain the flood situation.

By Friday evening, theHirakud dam was releasingfloodwater through 40 sluicegates. The reservoir was receiv-ing 8 lakh cusec water due toheavy rains occurred in uppercatchment area in Chhattisgarh

and inflow of water from Iband Veden rivers.

The water-level of theHirakud Dam was 625 feetagainst its water-holding capac-ity of 630 feet, said reports.

In the lower catchmentarea of the dam, floodwatersfrom rivers like Tel, Suktel, Jiraare also entering the Mahanadi.

Water Resources Engineer-in-Chief Jyotirmaya Rath saidsenior officials have been askedto keep a close watch on theflood situation in Devi, Kandal,Bhargavi and Daya rivers.

Detailing status of majorrivers, he said the Baitarani wasreceding since Thursday. Fourgates of the Rengali Dam wereopened following heavy rains inthe upper basin of Brahmaniriver. Around 10 Test ReliefEmbankments (TRE) in Bariand one in Duttapur in Jajpurdistrict have breached, he added.

The Subarnarekha wasflowing above danger levelafter release of floodwater fromthe Galudih barrage. Around10 gram panchayats underBaliapal block and five GPsunder Bhograi block inBaleswar district would be hitby flood, informed Rath.

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The State Government hasdecided to provide trans-

portation and accommoda-tion free of cost to the needyexaminees of this year’s JEEand NEET, informed Chief Secretary Asit Tripathyon Friday.

Free transportation wouldbe provided to the examineesnot having their own arrange-ments. The district adminis-

trations have been appraisedaccordingly so that suchexaminees do not face any dif-ficulty in transportation,Tripathy said.

Beside, free accommoda-tion for needy examineeswould be arranged at poly-technic institutes, engineeringcolleges and ITIs, he said andurged the candidates to contactnearby nodal centres if theyface any difficulty in trans-portation or accommodation.

There will be no restric-tion on movement of the candidates or their par-ents/guardians, he said.

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The State BJP would hold itsexecutive meeting on

September 5 to discuss about various issues concern-ing the State.

The meeting to be presidedover by State president SamirMohanty will be attended byparty’s national president JPNadda, Union MinistersDharmendra Pradhan andPratap Sarangi, national jointgeneral secretary (organisa-tion) Saudan Singh, nationalvice president Baijayant Panda,national general secretary and

Odisha-in-charge Arun Singh,MP Suresh Pujari, Leader ofOpposition in State AssemblyPradipta Naik, all party MPsand MLAs of the State and allState fuctionaries and StateExecutive members wouldattend the meeting.

The meeting would beginat 10 am and continue tillevening. Issues relating tomigrant workers, flood situa-tion, various welfare pro-gramemes of the UnionGovernment would be dis-cussed in the scheduled executive meeting, said a partyrelease.

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The State on Friday record-ed its highest single-day

spike of 3,682 Covid-19 posi-tive cases pushing the total tallyto 94,668, including 28,836active cases.

Of the new cases fromacross all 30 districts, 2,241 were reported from var-ious quarantine centres while 1441 were local contactcases, the Information and Public RelationsDepartment said.

Khordha district reportedthe day’s highest 775 cases fol-lowed by Rayagada 495,Cuttack 369, Mayurbhanj 272,Ganjam 174, Bargarh 152,Koraput 140, Sambalpur 128,Puri 115, Nayagarh 109, Jajpur88, Baleswar 87, Malkangiri 86,Balangir 68, Dhenkanal 61,Keonjhar 59, Angul 56,Bhadrak 51, Gajapati 48,Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada44 each, Jharsuguda 43,Kalahandi 41, Nabarangpur38, Kandhamal 36, Subarnapurand Sundargarh 27 each,Nuapada 23, Boudh 14 andDeogarh 12.

Meanwhile, eight morepatients succumbed to the dis-ease on the day while under-going treatment. With this,the total death toll reached 456in the State.

Two deaths each werereported from Khordha district(Bhubaneswar) and Ganjamwhile one each was reportedfrom Bhadrak, Bargarh,

Balangir and Rayagada.The Bhubaneswar deaths

were of a 65-year-old man anda 56-year-old man.

The deceased in Ganjam

were a 55-year-old woman anda 45-year-old man.

The other deceased includ-ed a 61-year-old woman ofBargarh, a 62-year-old man ofBhadrak, a 40-year-old man ofBalangir and a 60-year-oldman of Rayagada, the Health and Family WelfareDepartment said.

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The Covid-19 tally inBhubaneswar surged to a

total 9,001 with detection of354 new positive cases onFriday. Of the new cases, 152were from quarantine and 202were local contacts.

The quarantined casesincluded 12 ofChandrasekharpur 7thBattalion; eight of JagamaraMallick Complex; five ofNayapalli Behera Sahi; five ofKharavel Nagar; four ofNaharkanta Sundhi Sahi; fourof Vivekananda Marg; four ofOld Town Darzi Sahi; three ofNuagaon; four HealthDepartment staffs; three casesof Brahmeshwarpatna SuryaVihar; three of CRPF campus;two of Shashtri Nagar; two of

Satyanagar; two CentralGovernment staffs; two privatehospital staffs; two cases ofBaramunda; two of JharpadaMahaveer Nagar; two ofBudheswari Colony; two ofJharpada Jagannath Nagar;and two of Niladri Vihar.

The local contacts includ-ed six cases of NayapalliBehera Sahi; six of Bharatpur;five of Chandrasekharpur 7th

Battalion; five of Unit-1; five ofUnit-6; four of Kalinga Vihar;four of Baramunda HBColony; four of Nayapalli;four of Income Tax Colony;three of Dumduma; three ofDumduma Housing BoardColony; three of Bomikhal;three of Bhimatangi; threepolice staffs; three cases ofJayadev Vihar; two ofPokhariput; and onee ofPokhariput Ananta Vihar.

However, 295 personsrecovered on the day takingthe total recoveries to 5,914 inthe city.

In Cuttack, 204 new pos-itive cases were registered tak-ing the city’s total tally to4,375. Out of the new cases,74 were from home quaran-tine, 74 local contacts and 56institutional quarantine.

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Researchers from theNational Institute

of Science Educationand Research (NISER)in collaboration with agroup from theInstitute ofMathematical Sciences(IMSc), Chennai, haveidentified certain nat-ural products thatcould help in treatingCovid-19.

Their work hasbeen recently pub-lished in an interna-tionally reputed journalnamed ‘Molecules’ on the holyday of Ganesh Chaturthi.

The research team consti-tuted of two Professors, DrHimansu Sekhar Biswal fromNISER and Dr Arijeet Samalfrom IMSc, PhD student RPVivek-Ananth and internNithin Rajan from IMSc, andintegrated MSc student AbhijitRana from NISER.

The research team has

developed a computer-aideddrug design methodology thatidentifies potential drug can-didates to treat Covid-19 froma phytochemical library.Traditional systems of Indianmedicine including Ayurveda,Siddha and Unani have overcenturies acquired invaluableknowledge on medicinal plantsspanning the rich biodiversityof the subcontinent for treating

various ailments, including theviral infections.

It is one of the foremostreasons that the authors decid-ed to explore the largestresource on Indian phyto-chemicals called IndianMedicinal Plants,Phytochemistry andTherapeutics (IMPPAT) data-base in order to find appropri-ate drug candidates.

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Bidyashree, wife of deceasedsocial activist Aditya Dash,

knocked at the doors of theOrissa High Court on Fridayappealing for a CBI investigationinto her husband’s death case.

Bidyashree along withAditya’s parents approachedthe court seeking an order foran inquiry by the Central inves-tigating agency.

Currently, the case is beinginvestigated by the CrimeBranch (CB). Earlier, theGovernment Railway Police(GRP) was probing the case.

Meanwhile, after conduct-ing Bidyashree’s lie-detectortest on Thursday, the CB onFriday conducted polygraphtest of three members of NGO‘People for Seva’, which Aditya

established.The CB conducted tests of

Smruti Ranjan Sethy, BikashBaral and Deepak Behera at theState Forensic ScienceLaboratory here.

The probe team decided togo for the lie detection test afterstatements of Bidyashree andthe NGO members mis-matched with each other dur-ing questioning.

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Scientist Dr BinayKumar Das has

been appointed asDirector of theInstruments Research& DevelopmentEstablishment (IRDE).

The outstandingscientist is the firstOdia to head theIRDE, a laboratory ofthe Defence Research& DevelopmentO r g a n i s a t i o n(DRDO), located inDehradun.

Source said Dr Das tookover the charge as the IRDEDirector on Friday.

Following Dr Das’ transfer,DK Joshi, who is the Directorof Proof and ExperimentalEstablishment (PXE), has beenappointed as the Director-in-Charge of ITR, Chandipur.

Dr Das had started his

career at Integrated Test Range(ITR) in Chandpur. InNovember 2015, he wasappointed as the Director ofITR.

Notably, the IRDE is devot-ed to research, design, devel-opment and technology trans-fer in optical and electro-opti-cal instrumentation primarilyfor the Defence services.

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The plastic footprint is asimilar metric; only it is

used to judge how much plas-tic our lifestyle will contributeto the worldwide trash pile. Ifwe are serious about reducingour carbon footprint, then thebest way to start is by reducingour plastic footprint.

Producing plastic createscarbon dioxide. Using five plas-tic bags at the grocery storeadds one kilogram of carbondioxide to our carbon footprint.

It is estimated that it takes morethan 500 years for plastic todegrade. Millions of gloves,masks and other form of(Personal ProtectiveEquipments) PPEs areobserved to be used worldwideto protect ourselves from dead-ly Covid-19 virus and thenthrown away every day as suchincreasing our plastic footprint. Disposal of PPE wastecorrectly and safely is animportant part of the overallsafety programme of any med-ical facility. Most of these wastePPEs contain plastic as ingre-dients. These wastes may beconsumed by land animals likecows, dogs, goats etc, which canprevent food digestion andcan lead to a very slow andpainful death.

Waterlogged masks, gloves,hand sanitizer bottles and otherCorona virus waste are alreadybeing found on our seabedsand washed up on our beach-es, joining the day-to-day detri-tus into the ocean water. Everyyear, about 300 million tons ofplastic is produced and 5 to 13million tons of it wash into the

ocean, according to the 2015data. It has been analysed thatabout 269,000 tons of the plas-tic floats in the ocean currents.Corona virus waste has becomea new form of pollution inaddition as single-use person-al protective equipment (PPE)floods our ocean. As largerplastic debris breaks into small-er pieces, birds, turtles, and fishmistake it for food and gobbleit up, which can perforate theirstomachs, damage theirintestines, or deprive them ofnourishment, leading to star-vation. Marine mammals andturtles commonly consume thediscarded hand gloves resem-bling jelly fish. Over the years,

plastic has emerged as one ofthe major reason behind thedeath of many cows and otheranimals in India. One of thebiggest reasons behind it is thepeople who throw away foodwaste inside plastic bags (poly-thene bags) without any hesi-tation. Ingestion of plasticmaterials may not result inimmediate death, but there areseveral difficult symptoms seenin the victim animals. Theseplastics are indigestible andtherefore pile up in their stom-achs (rumen for cattle) withtime and get entangled withdifferent materials, forminghard cement like ball.

After some time, the ani-mal shows signs of being weakand tired then goes off feed andat times experiences bloat dueto stomach blockage. As asymptom the animal may alsostart drinking a lot of water. Inone such case, doctors in Patnamanaged to remove 80 kg ofplastic waste from the stomachof a cow. In another incident atOUAT, Bhubaneswar, veteri-narians surgically removedmore than 70 kg of plastic from

a bull’s stomach.One study estimates that in

the UK alone, if every personused a single-use face mask aday for a year, it would createan additional 66,000 tonnes ofcontaminated waste and 57,000tonnes of plastic packaging.Humans live on land, but theysuffer from marine pollutiontoo. The trash we toss awaycomes back to us, and as themasks example above demon-strates, it only takes a fewweeks. Plastic leaches into ourdrinking water too. Researcheshave found that we consume aspoonful of plastic a week.The microscopic plastic dis-solved in the ocean water inter-fere with the food chain whichcan be fatal. All these PPEwastes need attention ofauthorities like Central andState Pollution Control Boardand municipalities for safe dis-posal.

(Dr Senapati is DeanScience, Biju Patnaik Universityof Technology & Professor ofChemistry, Trident Academy ofTechnology, Bhubaneswar)

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Youth leader Ranjit (Litu) Mohapatra hasthanked BJD president and Chief Minister

Naveen Patnaik for appointing him as a partyState secretary and entrusting him with theresponsibility of youth affairs.

Mohapatra, who has been discharging var-ious party responsibilities successfully since hisstudent days, said “I am thankful to the partypresident and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikfor having confidence in me. I will try my bestto discharge the party responsibility given anewto me.” He was Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD)Bhubaneswar district president from 2000 to2002, BCJD State vice-president from 2002 to2008, BCJD State president from 2008-2012 andBiju Yuba Janata Dal (BYJD) State vice-presi-dent from 2012 to 2014 and State advisor toBYJD from 2017 to 2020.

After he was appointed BJD secretary, peo-ple from different sections of the society hascongratulated him.

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The State Government hasannounced to disburse

pension under the NationalSocial Assistance Programme(NSAP) and the Madhu BabuPension Yojana (MBPY) to thedeserving persons even if theydo not have Aadhaar Cards.

However, steps would betaken to provide AadhaarCards to such beneficiariesbefore the next phase of dis-bursement. The Governmenthas written a letter in thisregard to all district Collectors.

“It is found that pension-ers without Aadhaar Cards arefacing difficulties in receivingpension. The State

Government has now decidedthat eligible beneficiariesshould not be denied pensionfor not having Aadhaar. If abeneficiary is alive he shouldnot be denied pension for nothaving a Aadhaar Card,” readthe letter.

The Government furthersaid that it would be theresponsibility of the localadministration to identify thesecases and facilitated them getAadhaar ID before the nextphase of pension disbursal.

Block/ULB-wise databaseof pensioners having noAadhaar Cards would be madeavailable in the departmentalwebsite (www.ssepd.gov.in) forthe purpose of monitoring andreporting.

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Lakhs of students and parentsin the country demanding

postponement of the JEE andNEET examination in view ofserious Covid-19 pandemicsituation is justified, said for-mer MP Rama ChandraKhuntia.

The active positive caseshave stood at 33,10,234 and60,472 have died of the Coronavirus disease. Yet, the CentralGovernment is insisting onholding the examinationputting lives of lakhs of stu-dents and staff members to beengaged for conducting theexam at risk. In some States like

Odisha, Bihar and Assam floodsituation is very bad, adding tothe Covid woes, he said.

Congress president SoniaGandhi in a virtual meetingwith seven Chief Ministers hasexpressed her concern and all7 Chief Ministers have opposedthe conduct of the examination.CM also has written a letter tothe PM for deferring the exam-ination. Former AICC presi-dent Rahul Gandhi too hasraised the demand to postponethe examination, Khuntia toldurging support of countrymento the country wide strike ofthe NSUI and the Congresswhich will start its demonstra-tion from Friday.

BHUBANESWAR: In view ofthe restrictions imposed bythe State Government due tothe Covid-19 pandemic, thewritten examination for theOdisha Civil Services (OCS)-19has been deferred, informedthe Odisha Public ServiceCommission (OPSC) onFriday.

The OCS-19 main writtenexamination scheduled to beconducted in September, 2020would be conducted tentative-ly in the month of November.The exact date and time ofexamination would be notifiedlater, the OPSC said.

The OPSC advised the can-didates to visit its website atwww.opsc.gov.in regarding theimportant notices related to theexamination. PNS

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An anaconda died at theNandankanan Zoological

Park on Friday. The cause ofdeath of the giant snake wouldbe ascertained after post-mortem, a zoo official said.

Now, only five anacondasare left at the zoo. Last year, twoanacondas had died. A total ofeight yellow anacondas hadbeen brought to the zoo fromthe Madras Crocodile BankTrust and Centre forHerpetology in Chennai onOctober 22, 2019. The first ana-conda’s death had been report-ed on November 28, 2019. The zoo lost its second anaconda in two days, November 30, 2019.

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Noted Gandhian and UtkalSammilani adviser Padma

Charan Nayak and OdiaExcellence Study Centre firstDirector Prof Basant KumarPanda jointly inaugurated the

‘Utkal Sammilani Samachar’magazine here on Friday.

Prof Panda called upon allconcerned to make efforts topromote Odia language and lit-erature to the national level.

Utkal SammilaniMancheswar Industrial Estate

Branch advisers Niranjan Dashand Nimain Charan Das andsecretary Gobinda ChandraSubudhi were present. The cer-emony ended with a vove ofthanks proposed by Branchpresident and Samachar chiefeditor Dillip Dashsharma.

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The Startup OdishaTaskforce has approved a

grant-in-aid of Rs 1.23 crore for15 Startups and an Incubatorunder the State Startup Policy.

The taskforce approved thegrant at its 16th meeting heldon virtual platform under thechairmanship of MSMEPrincipal Secretary SatyabrataSahu.

The taskforce memberswere highly appreciative oftechnology innovations devel-oped by Startups, especially aunique blood clotting powderdeveloped by MiraqulesMedsolutions that claims to

clot the blood of an injured per-son within 40 seconds.

The Startup has been inter-nationally awarded and is aim-ing approval of the USFDA bythe current year-end beforelaunching the product in theopen market.

Other innovations includeposture correction of peopleworking on computers for longhours, solar powered sanitarynapkin insinerator and proteinproducts from rice husk.

The taskforce also accord-ed recognition to four reputedacademic institutions asIncubators under the Startuppolicy.

The institutions include

VSSUT, Burla, CIPET,Bhubaneswar and AIC-Nalanda and AIC-CV Ramanboth located at Bhubaneswar.With these new four, the Statenow has 17 Incubators regis-tered under the Startup OdishaInitiative, working to strength-en the Startup ecosystem.

The taskforce reiteratedthe Government’s commitmentto develop the State as one ofthe top three Startup Hubs inthe country.

The Startup Odisha initia-tive has so far registered 684Startups. Odisha has beenawarded as a top performer bythe Centre in its first StateStartup Ranking 2018.

BHUBANESWAR: The date-line for the Common PGEntrance Test-2020 (CPET-2020) for admissions into var-ious Post-Graduate courses hasbeen extended in the State.

According to the resched-ule done by the HigherEducation Department, onlineCommon Application Form (CAF) would be avail-able in the website from 2 pm on August 12, 2020 andthe last date of applying onlineCAF through www.sam-sodisha.gov.in is September10, 2020 till 11:45 pm.

Available of Hall Ticket inapplicant e-Space for down-loading will begin at 2 pm onSeptember 30.

The entrance examinationwould be held from October 10to 19, 2020.

Applicants would berequired to updateGraduation/equivalent marksby 11.45 pm on October 22.

Concerned universitieswould hand over entrancemarks to OCAC by November2, 2020. Statewide merit listwould be published onNovember 7, 2020.

Admission process wouldbe by November 30, 2020 andPG First Year Classes wouldbegin on December 3, 2020.

Candidates, whose finalUG results are awaited can alsoapply online in the CAF toappear for CPET-2020. PNS

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Atwo-day Mega Digital HRConclave was inaugurated

at the KIIT on Friday on thetheme ‘The Future is now:Rewiring the Workplace’.

Inaugurating the conclave,KIIT & KISS founder DrAchyuta Samanta said thistopic is very relevant in thecurrent context. A lot ofchange has happened in theeconomy because of the pan-demic. Rewiring the work-place will bring in positivity inthe tough times.

Citing he examples of KIITand KISS he said these organ-isations rapidly adapted to thesituation and integrated digi-tal workspace and blendedlearning thereby becomingone of the first educationalinstitutions to respond andovercome the pandemic situ-ation.

The conclave, one of thebiggest digital events to havebeen held in India, is beingparticipated by 200 eminentcorporate personalities from 17countries and having an audi-ence of over 30,000 fromindustry, academia and studentcommunity.

Among others, ScottFriedman, author of“Celebrate! Lessons Learnedfrom World’s Most AdmiredOrganisations”; Manoj Kohli,

Country Head, SoftBank India;Dr Hrushikesh Mohanty, VC,KIIT University; and ProfSasmita Samanta, Pro-VC,KIIT were present on the occa-sion.

The inaugural was fol-lowed by 16 panel discussionsdigitally happening across ninedifferent schools of KIIT. Someof the themes under discussionwere ‘The Altered Workplace-Opportunities and Challenges’,‘Reinventing the RuralWorkplace’ and ‘HR 4.0: Is theworkplace ready for New AgeTechnology like Block chain?’The panellists were eminentspeakers from various nation-al and international corpora-tions.

A total of 100 workshopsare also being organised at theconclave.

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One more doctor inSundargarh district lost

his life battling with the coro-navirus on Friday. The Covidwarrior Rahas BihariMohapatra, who was serving atthe Lathikata Primary HealthCentre, died while undergoingtreatment at the KIMS inBhubaneswar.

Dr Mohapatra had testedCovid-positive on August 3 andwas admitted to the Hi-TechCovid Hospital here beforebeing shifted to the KIMSHospital after his conditiondeteriorated.

The doctor was stayingwith his wife at Utkal Nagar inFertilizer Township here whilehis children reside in NewZealand. After his death, wifeManju, who is also reportedlysick and being treated here, hasappealed to Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik to makearrangements to send his bodyto Rourkela.

Last week, a 60-year-olddoctor of the RourkelaGovernment Hospital had suc-cumbed to the decease at theHi-Tech Covid Hospital. Thecorona warrior Dr ArunKumar Das was given guard ofhonour by the local police.

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The district administrationof Jharsuguda on Friday

announced a seven-day shut-down in the headquarters townstarting from August 30 fol-lowing a steep rise in theCovid-19 positive cases.

However, essential andmedical services will be allowedfor five hours in a day from 6am to 11 am during the shut-down, which will remain inforce till September 5.

As per district CollectorSaroj Kumar Samal, within aweek, more than 180 positivecases have been identified inthe town, which is a matter ofconcern for the administration.This is indicative of a commu-nity transmission.

Factories can run buses

for transport of workers. One-third employees of BhusanPower & Steel staying atJharsuguda will remain inhome isolation from August 30to September 9. For the otherworkers, 10 days’ isolation willbe compulsory as per the listmade by the district adminis-tration.

Notably, the district has sofar reported 1,033 positivecases, including 415 activeones. However, 617 patientshave recovered while one suc-cumbed to the disease.

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Aman and his five-year-oldson were killed in a road

mishap on NH-57 near Singarivillage under the Baunsunipolice limits in Boudh districton Friday.

The deceased was identi-fied as Sudhir Das, a residentof Juramunda village.

The father-son duo died onthe spot when a speeding truckran over the motorcycle bywhich they were travelling.Besides, a pillion rider sus-tained serious injuries in theincident and was admitted tothe Community Health Centre,Baunsuni.

Following the incident,irate locals staged a road block-ade on the NH demandingcompensation to kin of thedeceased.

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The lockdown, social dis-tance, and mobility restric-

tions as measures to stop fur-ther spread of Covid 19 infec-tion have altered the way weconduct our life.

In the changing world,unlike adults, children confrontmany unique problems wheretheir wellbeing, physical andmental health are negativelyimpacted. What is even moreworrisome is that such lock-down-induced child mentalhealth issues often remainunrecognized, unaddressedand strike children silently.

A recently concludedresearch by the School of PublicHealth, Shanghai Jiao TongUniversity with 2,426 childrenand adolescents found that themedian time spent in physicalactivities has decreased drasti-cally, from 540 min/week (pre-

pandemic) to 105 min/week(during the pandemic).Notably, the physical inactive-ness among the students hasincreased from 21.3% to 65.6%.It further revealed, owing toprolonged school closures,home confinement, and cessa-tion of daily activities; the pan-demic exhibited an adverseimpact on children’s mentalwell-being.

Another research study byARNEC (Asian-pacificRegional Network for EarlyChildhood) in 30 countrieswith 684 ECD communities inthe region, has shown thatover 50% of families experi-enced pandemic-induced stressin the Asia-Pacific region.Pakistan, Bangladesh, India,and the Philippines are worstoff with over 70% of familiesunder significant stress.

In a country like India, theimmediate implication isreflected through increased

unemployment, lost income,unorganized reverse migra-tion, food insecurity and pres-sures of being in a risk zone.Needless to say, this stress willfurther multiply in householdshaving low education and lesseconomic means. Childrenwith inadequate socio-emo-tional skills and absence of pos-itive parenting, will struggle tocope with the hard situationand this will consequently aug-ment their psycho-social trou-bles.

A child’s socio-emotionalabilities reflect his mentalhealth and behaviour toaccommodate and grow opti-mally even during a toughtime like Covid 19. Childrenshould be capacitated to bestrong in their socio-emotionskills to manage their emotions,maintain a positive relationshipat home and make rationaldecisions. This not only helpsthem to cope with the stress but

also provides confidence inadapting with the new normalin an evolving situation. Threemajor approaches outlinedbelow will help parents betternurture and raise their childrenin this challenging time.

Productive engagement With schools being closed,

playground shut down, restrict-ed interaction with next-doorfriends, a sheer sense of aloof-ness is slowly creeping intoyoung minds which is often notperceptible by parents. This isthe critical time, parents needto be more engaged andinvolved with their children asthey are away from their peersfor a long time. Parents shouldplay with children indoors,become more interactive withthem, and build a mind equiv-alence with them. These areviewed as therapeutic inter-ventions for children, isolatedduring this pandemic. Parents

when caringly engage withchildren in productive andmentally stimulating activitieslike reading books, writing,local art and craft, traditionalgames, folk song and dance,puzzles, quizzes, role play, etc;it boosts children’s copingcapacity to mitigate the stressand many harmful conse-quences are avoided.

Many parents tend to turnteachers for their children andmount the pressure to completeschool syllabus which isunpleasant intervention andmay prove to be detrimental tochild psychology. However, aresponsible parent will assist hischild in learning exercise in aplayful environment ratherthan creating pressure points.

Effective dealing withemotion

When things around themhappen differently in a toughsituation like this pandemic,

the usual deportment of chil-dren is adversely impacted andit is very likely they exhibitalteration in their emotion.This may bring much of theannoyance to parents, but thisdelicate issue must be handledefficiently. In general, due tolack of self-awareness, most ofthe children are unable toexpress their emotion and itmay lead to toxic stress with-out much knowledge of theirparents. In this unprecedentedenvironment, children mayexperience noxious anxiety, afear of dying, the panic oftheir relatives dying, chances ofinfection, and expensive treat-ment. This is the time whenmany parents themselves con-front some degree of emo-tional disintegration; childrenbecome more vulnerable toviolence, abuse inflicting anuntoward depression.Therefore, parents should bebetter skilled to observe and

manage such changes in theemotion of their children.

WHO suggested simpleapproaches in dealing with thechildren’s emotions are to lovethem, give them attention andcreate scope for them to expressemotions through differentcreative activities, interactionwith the adult especially withthe old people, individual lifeexperience sharing, and rein-stating family togetherness andfun activities.

Better communicationParents must be an effec-

tive communicator not only atwork but also at home withtheir children. Some of thestudies conducted in the recentpast, indicate children belowten years are not cognizantabout the virus and scale ofdamage it is causing; ratherthey pick up bits and piecesabout the pandemic from TV

and adult conversation. Onthe other side, children agedmore than ten years inclined toaccumulating informationabout the disease and its sever-ity. The fear is far more inten-sive and recurrent in the mindsof these children. Such differ-ential perception of childrenwarrants a better, non-judge-mental, and positive commu-nication by the parents aboutthe diseases, precaution, andtreatment. Parents, in this con-text, should bring their childrento the exposure of reliable andunambiguous informationsources and this will debunkmany of their untrue assump-tions and myths surroundingCovid 19. This will providethem mental bliss by reducingunreasonable and exaggeratedthreat perception.

(The authors are develop-ment communication specialists;views are personal)

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Hundreds of residents in var-ious gram panchayats under

Pallahara sub division wereaffected by the continuous rainsince August 24. Over 500thatched houses have collapsedand thousands of acres of agri-cultural lands have been sub-merged and sand cast in 27 grampanchayats due to heavy rain andflooding. Many poor familieshave been rendered homeless.

The most affected pan-

chayats are Iswarnagar,Bandhabhuin, Pechamundi,Nmpasi, Jharbeda, Kardapal,Nizigarh, Dimiria, Chasagurang,Khamar, Inzid , Rohila ,Badsada,and Parachat. Meanwhile, thelocal administration was assess-ing a GP wise loss. Besides, theaffected ones were distributedpolythene sheet and other relief

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The State is implementing itsbest strategies to bring the

economy back on track. TheGovernment ofOdiIndustries Deptreview heldsha hasgeared up to drive theindustrial activity andemployment generationin the State despite lock-down, said StateIndustries MinisterCaptain DibyashankarMishra here.

The Department ofIndustries has been operatingas usual to maintain promotionof all-round industrial devel-opment of the State by gener-ating employment, attracting

investments and becominginstrumental in the economicdevelopment of the State, hetold.

The State has alwaysendeavoured to provide a has-sle-free, prompt and conducivebusiness environment forinvestors under the 5Ts and Mo

Sarkar programnes. To enablethis, the GovernmentDepartments have promulgat-ed new policies and undertak-en business reforms to expediteproject approvals and clear-ances, said a release.

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Even as Covid-19 hasadversely impacted eco-

nomic activities in Odisha dueto lockdowns, the StateGovernment is striving to bringthe economy back on the track.

Amidst pandemic, theGovernment has geared up todrive the industrial activitiesand employment generationprogrammes. This was revealedat the 189th State LevelFacilitation Cell (SLFC) meet-ing held through video con-ferencing with nodal officersfrom different industries onWednesday.

The participants assessedthe proposals of various sectorslike cement, tourism and hotelindustries. The Governmentalso focused on creating indus-try-ready infrastructure andmaking available skilled work-force for the industry.

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The Central University ofOdisha (CUO), Koraput

will celebrate its 12thFoundation Day on August 29in virtual mode. President RamNath Kovind and the visitor ofthe CUO greeted the universi-ty ahead of the event.

Governor Prof Ganeshi Lalwill address the gathering witha video lecture and a message.Union Minister of EducationDr Ramesh Pokhriyal‘Nishank, Minister ofPetroleum and Natural Gasand Steel DharmendraPradhan and Minister of Statefor Education, Sanjay Dhotrewill attend the programme invirtual mode and will lay thefoundation stones of the acad-emic block, library buildingand staff quarters of the uni-versity.

Vice-Chancellor Prof IRamabrahmam will presideover the meeting while

Principal Economic Advisor toGovernment of India DrSanjeev Sanyal will deliver theFoundation Day Lecture.

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik, Minister of HigherEducation, Arun Kumar Sahoo,Koraput MP Saptagiri SankarUlaka, former Chief MinisterGiridhar Gamang andChairman, University GrantsCommission Prof DP Singhhave greeted the university aswell.

On the occasion, a sou-venir commemorating theoccasion will be released. TheVice-Chancellor will unfurlthe CUO flag.

NABARANGPUR: Lawyers ofNabarangpur district wouldrefrain from all sorts of courtwork except urgent matterstill September in view of steeplyrising Covid-19 positive casesin the district and the admin-istration having put severalareas under containment andbuffer zones, for which freemovement is not possible.

Lockdown is in force from2 pm every day along with twodays’ weekend shutdown.

As vehicular movement ishalted, litigant public have noother options left except to stayhome. Hotels and restaurantsare closed down.

Considering the gravity ofthe situation, all the bar asso-ciations of the district haveresolved not to take part in theregular businesses of the courtsexcept urgent matters, saidJhadeswar Mohanty, a seniormember of the Umarkote BarAssociation. PNS

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Kinnars would collect park-ing fees at different market

places in the BehrampurMunicipal Corporation(BeMC) from September 3,said a BeMC release on Friday.

A total of 10 persons of thetransgender community havebeen provided training on useof POC machines for collectionof parking fees from vehicleowners. BeMC corondinatorSmita Dash and MIS BasudebPanda had trained the Kinnars.

The Kinnars would collectparking fees at three differentplaces, Anapurna Bazaar, OldBus Stand, Mayur TowerParking . A total of 20 Kinnarswould be engaged.

While Rs 5 would be col-

lected from each two-wheelerowner for a two-hour parking,the fee for each four-wheelerhas been fixed at Rs 10. Kinnarscan collect such fees in case andby swapping ATM cardsthrough the POC machine.

Kinnars would be givencommission on total fees col-lected by the in the end of theday by the BeMC.

The Kinnar Sangha wouldcollect parking fees from otherplaces in coming days, said.

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District Collector JyotiRanjan Pradhan imposed

a three-day shutdown of theoffice on Friday after anemployee tested positive forCovid-19.

The shutdown will be ineffect August 30, informed dis-trict information and publicrelations officer (DIPRO)Kalyani Dash.

During the three-day shut-down, a fire brigade team willdisinfect the office premises.Employees who had come in

contact with the infected havebeen asked to undergo homequarantine for 14 days.

During their home quar-antine period they will alsoundergo tests. Notably, with152 fresh Covid-19 casesdetected in Bargarh in the last24 hours, the district’s tallyreached 1,797. Out of them thenumber of active cases standsat 850. These patients are beingtreated at different Covid-19hospitals in the district. So far,939 persons have recoveredwhile the death toll in the dis-trict stands at eight.

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To better prepare doctors forchallenges posed by pan-

demics like Covid-19, thecountry’s apex medical educa-tion regulator, the Board ofGovernors of the MedicalCouncil of India (MCI), is inthe process of including pan-demic management along withits social, legal and otheraspects as part of the MBBScourse for medical aspirants.

The BoG said it is expect-ed that the pandemic manage-ment module extending fromfoundation course to the finalyear undergraduate pro-gramme will help in ensuringthe creation of an Indian med-ical graduate “who will servehumanity as doctor, leader andhealer in bleak times such asoccurrence of a pandemic”.

The move aims to preparedoctors for challenges posed byemerging diseases like Covid-19.

The document containingdetails of the module to beadopted by colleges has beenput together by a team ofexperts and the academic cell

of the MCI.“This pandemic manage-

ment module is designed toensure that MBBS studentsacquire competencies in han-dling not only the illness butalso the social, legal and otherissues arising from such diseaseoutbreaks.

“The emergence ofCovid-19 and its rapid spreadacross the globe has furtherunderlined the need to devel-op these skills in our gradu-ates,” Dr V K Paul, the chair-man of the BoG said in theforeword.

The BoG has preparedrevised regulations onGraduate Medical educationand Competency basedundergraduate curricula,accompanied by detailedguidance for its implementa-tion.

One of the desirable out-comes of the competencyderived education programmeis to enable the Indian med-ical graduate to be preparedfor the unknown — to be ableto understand, investigate,treat and prevent new andemerging diseases as clinician,community leader and schol-

ar, stated the foreword.It further said that, “pan-

demic or disease outbreakcalls in to play all the five roles

envisages for the Indian med-ical graduate viz clinician,communicator, leader andmember of the healthcare

team, professional, life-longlearner and committed toexcellence, is ethical, respon-sive and accountable to

patients”The competency-based

undergraduate curriculumwas designed to enable the

Indian medical graduate to beprepared to meet new chal-lenges - to be able to recog-nise, diagnose, investigate and

treat newly emerging diseasesas a clinician and communi-ty health leader.

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Lack of social interactionduring the Covid-19 pan-

demic has taken a toll on peo-ple’s mental health which isalready a neglected issue giventhat more than 75 per cent ofthose with mental, neurologi-cal and substance use disordersreceive no treatment for theircondition at all, the WorldHealth Organization (WHO)has cautioned.

Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus, the Director-General of the WHO, said,“For many people, the lack ofsocial interaction caused by thepandemic has had a profoundeffect on their mental health.”

Sharing his views at a vir-tual press briefing fromGeneva, the WHO chief saidthat people in long-term facil-ities such as care homes andpsychiatric institutions are atan increased risk of infection.

He added that mentalhealth professionals havethemselves been infected withthe virus, and some mentalhealth facilities have beenclosed to be converted intotreatment facilities for people

with Covid-19.He recalled that mental

health was already “a neglect-ed health issue” globally beforethe pandemic, with close toone billion people living witha mental disorder. Yet relativelyfew people have access to qual-ity mental health services.

“In low and middle-income countries, more than75 per cent of people withmental, neurological and sub-

stance use disorders receive notreatment for their condition atall,” Tedros noted.

He declared that for thisyear’s World Mental HealthDay, which falls on October 10,the WHO, together with itspartner organizations, Unitedfor Global Mental Health andthe World Federation forMental Health, would call fora massive scale-up in invest-ments in mental health.

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India is on course to have an“approved” vaccine within

the first quarter of next yearand Pune-based SerumInstitute of India (SII), theworld’s largest vaccine manu-facturer by volume, is wellplaced to deliver the first vac-cine, according to a reportfrom Bernstein Research, atop Wall Street research andbrokerage firm.

“Globally, there are fourcandidates that are close to anapproval by the end of 2020 orearly 2021. Through partner-ships India has access to two ofthose - AZ/Oxford’s viral vec-tor vaccine and Novavax’s pro-tein sub-unit vaccine withAZ/Oxford’s vaccine ahead bya quarter,” said the Bernsteinreport, according to a newsagency.

“With their existing capa-bilities and capacities SII isbest positioned to commer-cialise one or both of the part-nered vaccine candidatesdepending on approval tim-ing, capacities and pricing.”

Data from Phase 1 andPhase trials look promising

for both these candidates “interms of safety and the vac-cines ability to elicit animmune response”. The waythings look now, the reportindicates that both vaccinecandidates “will require twodoses to be administered21/28 days apart”.

The SII, the report said,could supply 600 milliondoses in 2021 and 1 billiondoses in 2022, out of which400 to 500 million “should beavailable in India in 2021” inthe context of the company’scommitments to Gavi, TheVaccine Alliance and lowerand middle income markets.

The report estimates thatvaccine volumes will be split55:45 between the

Government and privatemarket.

“We believe theGovernment channel willhave first access to the capac-ities but also believe there willbe a sizable private market. Interms of funding, manpowerand delivery infrastructurethe Government wil l struggle to shoulder the bur-den on its own and we expectthe private market to step inand supplement.”

Apart from SII, the reportlists at least three other Indianpharma companies - Zydus,Bharat Biotech and BiologicalE - which are working ontheir own vaccine candidates and are currentlyin Phase 1 and 2.

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India on Friday breached itsown previous day record of

single-day spike of over 75,000cases, by registering anunprecedented 77,266 freshcoronavirus infections in 24hours, taking the Covid-19tally to 33,87,500. As the testrate has increased, the countryhas now added almost 4 lakhcases in five days. In fact,India’s journey to over 33 lakhcases took precisely six monthsand 28 days since the emer-gence of the first case in thecountry on January 30.

The toll surpassed 60,000to touch 61,529 mark with1,057 more fatalities on Friday,

said the Union Health Ministry.India though the third

worst-hit at present, after theUS and Brazil, has been report-ing the highest number ofdaily coronavirus cases in theworld for the last three weeks.No other country has reportedsuch continued surge since thepandemic surfaced in China’sWuhan city in December 2019.

The recovery rate in Indiawas recorded at 76.28 per cent,while the Covid-19 case fatal-ity rate has further declined to1.82 per cent.

There are 7,42,023 activecases of coronavirus infectionin the country which com-prises 21.90 per cent of thetotal caseload, the data stated.India’s Covid-19 tally had

crossed the 20-lakh mark onAugust 7 and went past 30lakh on August 23. On July17, the country had logged 10lakh cases, which then dou-bled in 20 days on August 7,and added another 10 lakh onAugust 23. According to theICMR, a cumulative total of3,94,77,848 samples havebeen tested up to August 27with 9,01,338 samples beingtested on Thursday.

In India the fatality rate,which is the proportion ofpeople who die from the dis-ease among individuals diag-nosed, has dropped to 1.81per cent, the Health Ministrysaid. The positivity rate,which is the percentage ofs a m p l e scoming out to be positiveout of the tests conducted,stands at 8.5 per cent.

The overall number ofglobal coronavirus cases hastopped 2 crore 43 lakh, whilethe deaths have increased toover 8,29,000, according toJohns Hopkins University.

The US accounted for theworld’s highest number ofcases and deaths at 58,63,363and 1,80,595 respectively.Brazil came in the secondplace with 37,61,391 infec-tions and 1,18,649 deaths.

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Despite coronavirus pan-demic and incessant rain-

fall, farmers have sowedkharif crop in an area of1082.22 lakh hectare which ismore than the 1009.98 lakhhactare of the correspondingperiod of last year. There hasalso been a substantialincrease in planting of paddyin many States that receivedbountiful rains so far. This isdespite dozens of States reel-ing under floods.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department’s(IMD) latest forecast, Indiawitnessed 9 percent morerainfall so far this monsoonseason. It has received749.6mm rainfall as against thenormal of 689.4 mm.

As per the Ministry ofAgriculture’s data released onFriday, the kharif crops areasacreage went by 7.15 percentso far while kharif plantationis still going on in severalparts of the country.

The data showed that thetotal area under paddy so faris 389.81 lakh hectares, near-ly 35.40 lakh hectare morethan the 354.41lakh hectares

covered in the same week lastyear.

There has been a sub-stantial increase in planting ofpaddy in many States likeTelangana, which has sownpaddy over an additional10.06 lakh hectare, MadhyaPradesh (5.23 lakh hectare),Bihar (5.22 lakh hectare) andJharkhand (5.05 lakh hectare).Among the other States thathave planted paddy in morearea are West Bengal (4.48lakh hectares), Odisha (3.16lakh hectares) and Karnataka(2.18 lakh hectares) com-pared to same period lastyear.

Surprisingly, the paddyarea in Punjab has comedown by 1.78 lakh hectaresfrom the last kharif season.Punjab, Nagaland, Tripuraand Jammu and Kashmirreported less plantation.

As far pulses are con-cerned, there is nearly 134.57lakh ha area coverage underpulses as compared to 128.65lakh hectare during the cor-responding period of lastyear.

Thus 5.91 lakh ha morearea has been covered com-pared to last year.

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Defence Minister RajnathSingh will formally induct

the newly arrived five Rafalefighter jets into the IAF onSeptember 10. His Frenchcounterpart Florency Parly isalso likely to be part of theevent besides holding bilateraltalks on further enhancingdefence ties between the twocountries.

The first batch of fiveRafale jets, manufactured byFrench aerospace majorDassault Aviation, arrived atthe Ambala air base on July 29.The jets are yet to be formallyinducted into the IAF. DefenceMinister, Chief of Defence StaffGeneral Bipin Rawat and theentire top military brass of thecountry will attend the event atthe Ambala air base, sourcessaid here on Friday.

India had signed an inter-governmental agreement withFrance in September 2016 forprocurement of 36 Rafalefighter jets at a cost of aroundRs 58,000 crore.

Out of the 36 Rafale jets,30 will be fighter jets and sixwill be trainers. The trainerjets will be twin-seater andthey will have almost all the

features of the fighter jets.While the first squadron of theRafale jets will be stationed atthe Ambala air base, the sec-ond one will be based at the

Hasimara base in West Bengal.All the 36 jets will be in theIAF by 2022.

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The next edition of the pres-tigious international aero-

space exhibition ‘Aero India2021’ will be held at its tradi-tional venue Bengaluru. The

event will be held fromFebruary 3-5, sources saidhere. The Defence Ministrytook the decision to hold thebiennial event as scheduled fol-lowing inputs from the domes-tic defence industry and glob-al aerospace majors.

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The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) has

created an in-house mobileapp “Pensioners Corner” onandroid platform for pension-ers of the Force.

The latest digital initiativehas been undertaken underthe guidance of CISF DirectorGeneral Rajesh Ranjan and theapp will help the Force to get intouch with the pensioners andto bring them on to the digital

platform. “Pensioners Corner will be

available in both web andandroid platforms with thefacility for pensioners to accesstheir data on the move. Withthe launch of this new digitalinitiative, pensioners will getconnected to the CISF unitsspread across the geographicalstretch of the country. SMS invi-tations will be sent to pension-ers on important occasionshappening in the nearest CISF

unit,” the CISF said in a state-ment on Friday.

Apart from an inbuilt griev-ance redressal mechanism, allimportant circulars like jobopportunities and benefits per-taining to pensioners can alsobe accessed using this App.

To tackle the unforeseenCovid situation and ensure thecontinuity of the functions inthe offices, CISF had recentlyalso launched web application“e-Karyalay”.

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New Delhi: The Delhi HighCourt on Friday restrainedSudarshan TV from telecastingits programme titled ‘BindasBol’, whose latest promoclaimed that the channel was allset to broadcast a ‘big exposeon conspiracy to infiltrateMuslims in Government ser-vice’.

The show was scheduled toair tonight at 8 pm.

Justice Navin Chawlaissued notice and soughtresponses of CentralGovernment, the Union Public

Service Commission,Sudarshan TV, and its Editor-in-Chief, Suresh Chavhankeon a petition filed by formerand present students of JamiaMillia Islamia.

The high court listed thematter for further hearing onSeptember 7.

The plea contended thatthe proposed broadcast soughtto defame, attack and incitehatred against Jamia MilliaIslamia, its alumni, and theMuslim community at large.

PTI

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) has con-

ducted searches at the houseof a suspect in Defence/ISIUP espionage case, RajakbhaiKumbhar of Mundra districtof Gujarat.

This case arose out of UPATS case registered onJanuary 19 this year at GomtiNagar, Lucknow, pertaining to

the arrest of accusedMohammad Rashid, ofMughal Sarai in Chandolidistrict of UP.

The NIA subsequentlytook over the case and theprobe has revealed thatRashid was in touch withDefence/ISI handlers ofPakistan.

NIA reregistered this caseon April 6 this year underIndian Penal Code section.

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Veteran Gandhian and anti-cor-ruption crusader Anna Hazare

on Friday rejected Delhi BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) president AdeshGupta’s recent invitation to come andlaunch an agitation against the AamAadmi PartyGovernment along thelines of a Lokpal agitation he undertookin 2011.

Reacting to a statement issuedrecently by Gupta to the media invit-ing Hazare to co-operate with the BJPby coming to the national capital andlaunching an agitation like the Lokpalstir he had undertaken in 2011, Hazaresaid:,“I felt bad reading your letter. YourBharatiya Janata Party has been rulingthe country for the past six years. Yourparty has a maximum number ofyouths as members. Your party claimsas the biggest party in the world thathas a largest number of members”

“Anna Hazare is an 83-year-old

man who lives in a 10 feet X 12 feetroom located in a temple. He does nothave money. Nor does he have prop-erty or power. It is rather unfortunatethat you are calling such a man tolaunch an agitation in the national cap-ital against the AAP government,”Hazare wrote in his letter.

“You have your government at theCentre. Many of the matters relating tothe Delhi government come under thepurview of your government. Youhave CBI, ED, Vigilance and the Delhipolice are under your control. ThePrime Minister repeatedly claims thatthe Centre is taking stringent steps toeliminate corruption in the country.That being the case, if it thinks that theDelhi government has indulged in cor-ruption, why is the BJP-led governmentnot acting against the Arvind Kejriwalgovernment? Or is its claim of elimi-nating corruption failed,?, Hazareasked.

Maintaining that he had been cru-

sading against corruption in the stateand at the Centre during the last 22years and undertaken 220 fasts duringthe period, Hazare said that he hadundertaken the Lokpal agitation in2011 as the people across the countrywere fed up with rampant corruptionprevalent in the country. There wasunrest in the country.

At such a juncture, Anna Hazarehad undertaken the agitation. Realisingthat Anna Hazare was agitating forthem, the people had taken to streetsthen. Subsequently, your governmentcame to power at the Centre afterpromising corruption-free govern-ment”.

“But, after your party came topower at the Centre, the problems ofpeople remain as before. What we arewitnessing is one party blaming anoth-er party. I feel that a political partyshould indulge in self-introspection andspeak about the faults within its ownset up”.

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What the Opposition BJPcalled her rattling of the

sabre in public a “routine pre-election exercise” Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onFriday dared Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to shun his“Bhashan” (speech-making)arranged before a “pre-deter-mined tutored audience” andface the genuinely concernedstudents appearing for theNEET/JEE and other suchexams in his “so called” Mannki Baat programme.

Banerjee who was speakingat the foundation day pro-gramme of TrinamoolCongress Chatra Parishad —the students’ arm of the rulingTrinamool Congress — came

down heavily on the CentralGovernment for its “insensi-tivity” towards the impendingcorona crisis and “pushinglakhs of students to grapplewith the risks of the pandem-ic.”

Stopping short of namingModi, the Bengal ChiefMinister said “there are somepeople who offer big Bhashan(tall speeches) in Man ki Baat…. I ask them to face the aspi-rants of the NEET/JEE andother exams in the Man ki Baat… and the tutored ones whoare employed for the purpose,”Banerjee said.

On the Supreme Courtorder she however said that herState had no problem holdingthe final exams anytimebeyond September.

Kolkata: If all goes well for thefans then heartthrob of millionsSunny Leone could be sittingalongside many of her admir-ers in a Kolkata classroom or ina classroom of a college some30 miles down the Hooghly.

The Bollywood cine starhas “bagged” the numero unospot in prestigious AshutoshMukherjee College in SouthKolkata. The actor however isnot so lucky in striking it so bigin the second college, this timein the Budge Budge region ofSouth 24 Parganas where hername has appeared in the 151stplace --- both in BA EnglishHonours stream, sources said. PNS

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The joint teams of security forces onFriday gunned down one of the top

commanders of Al-Badr terror outfitalong with three other terrorists in abrief encounter in Kiloora area of South Kashmir's Shopian dis-trict.

The encounter took place in thearea barely hours after the recovery ofthe dead body of a slain Panch fromKhonmoh area of Srinagar.

According to police, Nisar AhmadBhat , an elected Panch, had gone miss-ing since August 19.

His dead body was recovered aftersome locals in the Dangam area raisedan alarm.

The dead body, with marks of bul-let injuries, was buried in an orchard in Dangam area of Shopian.

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Aday after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan declaredKerala as the globally safest region vis-à-vis coron-

avirus, the State diagnosed 2,543 positive cases on Friday,the highest number of patients to be confirmed on a sin-gle day till date. Seven persons died in the State becauseof the pandemic, according to a press release by theDepartment of Health.

The death tally announced on Friday is the numberof fatalities confirmed by the National Virology Institute.Details about deaths in other parts of the State are to beconfirmed by the Institute in coming days before officialannouncement.

The disease is spreading fast in Kerala. In yet anoth-er proof of community transmission, 2,260 persons con-tracted Covid-19 through social transmission/contact. Arecord number of 229 patients failed to furnish the sourcefrom which they contracted the disease.

On Friday, 2,541 persons diagnosed with the pandemicwere admitted to hospitals. The State has increased thenumber of persons who are being tested on a daily basis.On Friday, 41, 860 persons were tested.

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Congress leaders and work-ers in Kerala stand “solid-

ly” behind party chief SoniaGandhi and former party pres-ident Rahul Gandhi, said seniorparty leaders in the State.

“For party workers andleaders in Kerala, Congressmeans Sonia Gandhi andRahul Gandhi. There is noneed to think about any changeof leadership in the party,” saidK Muraleedharan MP whowas former KPCC president.He said it was unfair and an actof indiscipline to speak againstparty leadership when the chipsare down.

Kodikkunnil Suresh MPand former union minister,said that Congress workersand leaders from Kerala areunited in their support forSonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi. “The KPCC hasexpressed its unanimous desireto have Rahul Gandhi as thepresident of the party,” saidSuresh while speaking toreporters at the capital city onFriday.

Both the leaders(Muraleedharan and Suresh)disapproved the kind of dissi-dence being shown by SashiTharoor MP who was one ofthe signatories of the letter sentby a group of veteran leaders tothe party’s High Command.

“Tharoor is a GlobalCitizen and had joined theCongress hardly a decade ago.It would be better if he focussedmore on Global issues than thatof Congress affairs. There aremany leaders and workers inthe Congress who have dedi-cated their lives to the partyand the Nehru-Gandhi clan,”said Muraleedharan.

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Upset with Hathras MP Rajveer Diler, Gram Pradhanof Daurau Chandpur gram panchayat Ashok Azad

and his elder brother Ram Gopal have claimed for reli-gious conversion along with their family. On Thursday,Ram Gopal has asked permission for religious conver-sion in a written letter to the District Magistrate.According to Gram Pradhan Ashok Azad, ladies of thehouse already removed all the idols of Gods from thehouse and all 20 members of the family will accept Islamsoon after getting permission.

According to Ashok Azad and Ram Gopal, HathrasMP Rahveer Diler is a native of gram panchayat DaurauChandpur. In 2015, his wife Rajni Diler contested for thepradhan election against him but faced defeat, since thenHathras MP Rajveer Diler continuously harassing andimplicating the family in false cases.

Ashok Azad said that four-five months ago, on MPinstruction, his house was demolished after beingshowed that it was constructed on the land of GramPanchayat.

The matter is under consideration in court. I own aland in Gata number 86 and there also boundary has beenmade.

It is alleged that the nephew of the MP's relation hasfiled a false case of a deadly attack against six people ofhis family. Ashok Azad said that he is compelled to con-vert his religion along with his family members.

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Despite of the High Court'sorder and complaints of

inhabitants of the city, the ille-gal animal slaughtering hasnot stopped yet.

It is a common practice inMuslim populated areas likeSarai Rehman, Sarai Mian,Makdoom Nagar andShahjamal to slaughter ani-mals. Animals are slaughteredhere in the open every morn-ing.

The animal body partsspread foul smell in the sur-rounding areas and the bloodof slaughtered animals flows inthe colony drains.

Those people, who are notaccustomed to animal slaugh-ter, undergo a harrowing expe-rience while passing throughthese areas and their feelingsare hurt. The illegal animalslaughter if not checked canplunge the hypersensitiveAligarh in an unwarrantedcommunal clash anytime.

Surprisingly, the NagarNigam and the Aligarh districtadministration are turning ablind eye towards this provoca-tive issue. No preventive mea-sures have been taken by them.

A related problem is themushrooming of several meatshops in the entire town againstnorms.

These shops have comeup near schools, colleges, tem-ples and other public places,much to the dislike of residents.In these shops, old andunhealthy goats and buffalo arebeing slaughtered, which maygive disease to the consumers.

The contractor of the gov-ernment slaughterhouse andthe health department staffare also involved in the illegalslaughtering racket.

KOCHI: Despite the NIA andED failing to make any progressinto the gold smuggling scamprobe, the CPI(M)-led KeralaGovernment has lost a lot ofsheen.

Friday turned out to beanother shocker for the LDFGovernment as it was disclosedthat the LIFE Mission apart-ments being built in Thrissurdistrict with financial assistancefrom Red Crescent of the UAEdoes not have the mandatoryapproval from the Centre.

When Pinarayi Vijayan wasappointed as the Secretary of theCPI(M)’s Kerala wing in 1998,journalists asked V SAchuthanandan, the thenstrongman of the party why theformer who was hardly 53 waselected to the post overlookingother veterans. “It is a longterm investment for the party,”replied VS.

VS was proved right as theCPI(M) grew from strength to

strength over the next twodecades under the watchful eyesof Vijayan. Till three monthsago, the CPI(M) in Kerala wasinvincible and looked like itwould break a jinx haunting theruling parties in the State. Recenthistory has never seen the rul-ing party returning to power inthe next election because ofstrong anti-incumbency wave.Though the CPI(M) had earnedthe wrath of the Hindu votersduring the 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tion on account of its mishan-dling of the Sabarimala Templeissue, the party had recoveredthe lost ground by winningthree of the six assembly seatswhich saw by-elections.

Though there were noshortages of corruption chargesagainst the CPI(M), theCongress-led UDF had failed tocapitalise on them and all alle-gations got washed away onaccount of a pro-CPI(M) mediain the State. PNS

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Taking advantage of the inclementweather conditions prevailing

along the line of control in the fron-tier districts of Rajouri and Poonch,the Pakistan Army is desperatelylooking for an opportunity to launchits Border Action Teams (BAT), com-prising the Pakistan Army regularsand terrorists, in order to inflictmaximum casualties on the IndianArmy.

According to the ground reports,“the alert Indian jawans have beenregularly recording suspicious move-ment of heavily armed infiltratorsacross the line of control near someof the notorious Pakistan Army postsin Poonch and Rajouri sector”.

Some of the recent intelligencereports also suggested that thePakistan Army is desperately tryingto target some of the forward Indianposts and attempting to launch its

Border Action Teams (BAT) to inflictmaximum casualties on the Indianforces. In the recent months, thePakistan Army has suffered extensivedamages in retaliatory action by theIndian Army in the region. Due toheightened alert along the LoC thePakistan Army has failed to push alarge number of infiltrators throughtheir traditional routes of infiltration.

Official sources on ground zerorevealed the Pakistan Army isattempting to mislead the alert Indianjawans by way of resorting to crossLoC firing at different locations at thesame time.

“In some of the cases the Pakistanarmy is attempting to provide coverfiring to the small groups of heavilyarmed infiltrators, stationed acrosslaunch pads in Pakistan OccupiedKashmir (PoK) to infiltrate inside theIndian territory”, official sourcesclaimed.

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Uttar Pradesh BJP presi-dent Swatantra Dev Singh

has appointed regional presi-dents for six regions in the state.

According to an officialrelease on Friday, MohitBeniwal will be the regionalpresident for west UP,Rajnikant Maheshwari will bein charge of Braj region andManvendra Singh will hold charge of Kanpurregion.

Shesh Narain Mishra hasbeen named the head of Avadhregion, Mahesh Srivastava will

be in charge of Kashi regionand Dharmendra SinghSainthwar will be the head ofGorakhpur region.

According to party sources,the six regional presidents havebeen appointed to mobilisethe party cadres for the 2022Assembly polls and also thepanchayat elections that will beheld next year.

“The appointees willensure that the achievements ofthe Modi and Yogi govern-ments reach down to the grass-roots levels and the partymachinery remains well-oiledtill the village level,” said a partyfunctionary.

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In a clear pointer to the fact thatit is still not out of the woods in

terms of the continued spread ofCovid-19, Maharashtra on Fridaywitnessed 14,361 infections, while331 more people succumbed to thepandemic in various parts of thestate.

With fresh infections and fatal-ities, the total number of infectedcases in the state jumped to7,47,995, while the number ofdeaths mounted to 23,775.

Of the 331 fatalities reportedon Friday, Pune topped the list with58 deaths, while there were 32deaths in Thane, 30 in Mumbai, 29in Nashik, 24 in Sangli, 22 inKolhapur, 21 in Nagpur, 13 inJalgaon and 12 inAurangabad.

In addition, there were 9 deathseach in Dhule, Solapur and Satara,8 each in Latur and Amravati, 6each in Palghar and Raigad, 5 inBeed, 4 each in Sindhudurg,Ratnagiri and Parbhani, 3 each inAhmednagar, Nandurbar and

Hingoli, 2 each in Osmanabad,Yavatmal and Washim and onedeath each in Jalna, Nanded andBuldhana.

There was a spurt in numberof deaths in Nashik, Sangli andKolhapur districts, while six dis-tricts in the state reported zerodeaths.

The number of deaths is drop-ping steadily in Mumbai. After itrecorded 20, 22 and 30 deathsrespectively on Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday respec-tively, Mumbai witnessed 30 freshdeaths, tasking the toll in themetropolis increased from 7,535 to7,565 while the number of infect-ed cases increased by 1,217 to touch142,108.

Pune district with 1,65,592infected cases continued to be theworst-affected city in Maharashtra.The number of deaths in Puneincreased from 3,916 to 3974.

Thane district remained on thethird spot --after Pune andMumbai – with 128,685 total cases,while the pandemic toll rose from3,677 to 3709.

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Taiwan has been at thecentre of a global supplychain in recent monthsnot only for its effectiveresponse in handling the

Coronavirus pandemic but alsofor providing medical aid to othercountries and helping them fight thevirus. Simultaneously, there hasbeen increased military and defenceengagement between Taipei andWashington, DC, even as China isincreasingly heaving down on theformer.

Taiwan has also gainedunprecedented attention in India’sforeign policy discourse during thepandemic period. Several expertshave advocated enhanced bilateralties as part of India’s comprehensivestrategy to deal with China, follow-ing the recent military clash betweenthe two countries in eastern Ladakh.Even two BJP MPs — MeenakshiLekhi and Rahul Kaswan — attend-ed Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s swearing-in ceremonythrough video conference in May,indicating a change in the ModiGovernment’s approach.

However, the idea of expandingbilateral relations with Taiwan is notnew. In fact, domestic, regional andglobal factors had led the NarasimhaRao Government to establish an“unofficial relationship” in the1990s, with the establishment of theIndia-Taipei Association (ITA).Ever since, the relationship betweenthe two nations has seen very lim-ited cooperation. But recent devel-opments have underscored theneed for India and Taiwan to trans-form their “unofficial engagement”into a comprehensive partnership.

In doing so, it is imperative forNew Delhi and Taipei to identifytheir shared strategic, economic,regional and other interests as alsocommon means to achieve theirgoals. One such shared interest is,of course, to deal with China’sassertive posturing effectively. Therecent border standoff between theIndian and Chinese armies in east-ern Ladakh once again under-scored the fact that deception anddenial have been the hallmark ofChina’s India policy. Thus, as Indiacontinues to explore diplomatic,political and other channels torestore status quo ante along theborder, New Delhi must also weighin other options to fight back theChinese threat.

While the China factor isresponsible for the transformedrelations between India and the US,

improved ties with Taiwan can beequally beneficial for us. This canbe gauged from the fact thatTaiwan also faces an existentialthreat from the Chinese. More so,it has a better understanding ofChina’s strategic depth because ofits proximity to it. Both nationsalso share linguistic and cultur-al ties. Indeed, Taipei can helpNew Delhi comprehend China’sstrategic thinking in a better way.But for this to happen, Indianeeds to foster military andsecurity engagement at theGovernment level and increaseinteraction between think-tankson both sides.

With Taiwan and Indiabeing the two strong pillars of theTrump administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy, India can take astep ahead to include Taiwan inthe Quadrilateral SecurityDialogue, which now consists ofthe US, Japan, India andAustralia. This move will helpIndia strengthen its counter-Chinese strategy and at the sametime boost Taiwan’s independentidentity. It will also help it ensurethe freedom of navigation in theSouth China Sea through which50 per cent of India’s trade takesplace. At the same time, Indiaalso has an interest in ensuringthe uninterrupted exploration ofoil and gas in the said region.

Ties with Taiwan shouldnot be solely viewed throughChina’s lens. Sure, the econom-ic relationship has been thelynchpin of the unofficial rela-

tionship between India andTaiwan, with the volume of bilat-eral trade having reached to$7.5 billion in 2019. In fact, sev-eral initiatives have been taken toinstitutionalise the economicrelationship between the twosides. In 2014, the IndiaElectronics and SemiconductorAssociation and the TaipeiComputer Association signed amemorandum to promote localmanufacturing in the field ofsemiconductors and electronics.In August 2015, Hon HaiPrecision Industry Co, alsoknown as Foxconn, one of thelargest hardware manufacturersin the world, announced aninvestment of $5 billion in India.

The first Taiwan Expo washeld at Pragati Maidan, NewDelhi, from May 17 to May 19.The Institute for InformationIndustry has joined India’s Centerof Excellence in Wireless andInformation Technology todevelop 4G broadband wirelesstechnologies and other products.Over the past 10 years, Acer, D-Link Corp and Transcend haveinvested about $1 billion in Indiaand China Synthetic Rubber hasexpressed its desire to investabout $330 million in the Stateof Andhra Pradesh. Further,China Steel has also proposed tomake a $180 million investmentin India. CPC Corp, Taiwan, hasproposed a $6 billion investmentin India, which would surelyboost the Make in India pro-gramme in the petrochemical

industry.Despite these investments,

it is true that the two sides are stillfar off from realising the fullpotential of economic coopera-tion. It will be in India’s interestto expand economic and socio-cultural ties. Given its expertisein the fields of hardware manu-facturing, construction, infra-structure, mine exploration, elec-tronic manufacturing, logistics,automobiles, food processingand others, such avenues must beutilised optimally. Taiwan canplay a vital role in the success ofthe Modi Government’s Make inIndia, Digital India and SkillIndia initiatives. It is also a hubof high-tech manufacturing.

Similarly, India, too, shouldexplore the possibility of coop-eration in the fields of artificialintelligence and medical equip-ment. In fact, Taiwan hasreceived global appreciation forsuccessfully controlling the pan-demic.

New Delhi and Taipei needto institutionalise their cooper-ation in the technology sector soas to achieve their shared inter-ests. At the same time, by provid-ing a big market, India can sig-nificantly reduce the deepeningeconomic ties between Chinaand Taiwan, a stated goal of theTsai administration as part of herNew Southbound Policy.Meanwhile, with the use ofTaiwan’s agro-technology, Indiacould transform its agriculturesector as well. Since the Modi

Government has attached hugeimportance to soft diplomacy aspart of India’s foreign policy toachieve its national interests,promoting tourism with Taiwancould also be an attractive way ofcementing ties between the twonations, given that Buddhism isthe religion of the majority ofTaiwanese and India is its home-land.

As the Indian Governmenthas decided to review local chap-ters of Confucius institutes inIndia, agreements betweenIndian and Chinese institutes asalso several MoUs regarding theChinese language programme,New Delhi can strengthen tieswith Taiwan to run the Chineselanguage programme in thecountry. But these efforts wouldbe more effective in cementingties between the two sides onlywhen the Indian leadershipdecides to institutionalise therelationship in an effective form.In this regard, India can take acue from the US’ adherence toimproving ties with Taiwan,despite accepting the “One ChinaPolicy.” It remains to be seen ifIndia and Taiwan succeed intransforming their bilateral coop-eration or the relationship con-tinues to be hostage to the shad-ow of the Dragon.

(SP Shahi is principal, ANCollege, Patna and Sumit Kumaris ICSSR Post-Doctoral Fellow,New Delhi, and former TaiwanFellow, National ChengchiUniversity, Taipei)

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Sir — This refers to the edito-rial, “Strapped for cash” (August28). The Reserve Bank of India’sbleak report on the state of theeconomy only reinforces thatthe COVID relief package hasproved hollow. In this huge dis-ruption to the supply-demandequilibrium, normal financialtools alone are inadequate.Borrowing becomes a must toaddress the health interventioncosts of the virus and for sus-taining an idle economythrough the downturn. Thepost-COVID era belongs toinnovative economies that arecommitted to growth and notshackled by fiscal purity.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Rot within, threats without”(August 28) by Ajoy Kumar.Media and psychic violencehave brought out the sad state ofaffairs in a world which wasonce the hallmark of the truth,but has now become a mediumof promoting and reporting

anything but truth just for TRPs. The owners and anchors of

prominent media channels seemto be guided by political and reli-gious leanings that have plunged

their respectability to a newlow. The media coverage of theSushant Singh Rajput case is allbut repulsive. Television chan-nels are now airing “never-

before-seen” pictures of theactor’s lifeless body, interviewingRhea Chakraborty’s watchmanand deciphering her WhatsAppchats. The so-called “exclusives”

have taken an even uglier turn.The Indian media has hit an all-time new low. This is not whatwas expected of the fourth pil-lar of democracy.

ShishirVia email

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Strapped for cash” (August28). It seems the stage is set fora major confrontation betweenthe Centre and the States overgoods and services tax (GST)compensation. The Governmenthas made it clear that in the cur-rent scenario, it is impossible forit to compensate the States. Onthe other hand, State leadershave contended that the Unionis legally bound to send themoney. Putting the blame-gameaside, what is needed right nowis that the Government mustborrow more. The Reserve Bankof India, too, must work withStates to help them raise moneyto compensate for a shortfall inGST collections.

S ReddyHyderabad

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When patriarchy in the Koraga tribe, a tra-ditionally matrilineal society, began tomanifest itself in myriad ways, including

domestic violence, it sparked a quiet revolutionamong the women. Instead of waiting for someoneelse to make the difference, the women decided totake matters into their own hands. It was theircourage to question the personal laws of the com-munity and demand concrete mechanisms to dealwith the problem of violence that led to the insti-tution of a community court. With the court mem-bers being chosen by the community after beingtrained and vetted by the district legal aid author-ity, the women were satisfied that justice would bedone to reinforce the gender equality that tradition-ally existed in the matrilineal system.

It was this resurgence of women against the dis-regard of matrilineal values that gave those impact-ed by violence the self-assurance to plead their casesbefore the court. The collectivisation also reaffirmedself-belief in many women that they always had theright to take their own decisions. This is whenManjula realised that she had not done herself anygood by keeping quiet about the mental and phys-ical torture by her husband. The support of otherwomen gave Manjula the confidence to finally leaveher violent husband. She has remarried since thenand is happy she was able to take the decision tochange her life.

In fact, when the going gets tough, it is theKoraga women who get going. This is exactly whatMamta Koraga did when she saw her husband slid-ing into indebtedness and poverty because of hisalcoholism. Although alcoholism is a common prob-lem among men of this Karnataka-based particu-larly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG), Mamtadecided it was time for a change. She encouragedhim to join a de-addiction camp. Mamta came toknow of the camp through an awareness andempowerment campaign run by the KoragaFederation, a community organisation, in collabo-ration with the Samagra Grameena Ashrama andActionAid India, two non-profits working for themarginalised. Then, once he successfully complet-ed the treatment, she joined him in cultivating jas-mine as a livelihood rehabilitation option.

However, Mamta did not stop there. Sheensured that they had equal decision-making pow-ers in keeping with the progressive values of thematrilineal system and also shared householdexpenses. A major part of the profits that her hus-band makes from selling the jasmine is ploughedback into improving cultivation. The rest is con-tributed towards household payments.

Mamta, too, contributes an equal share from theincome that she earns from selling costume jewellery.She used the training given by the Government’sIntegrated Tribal Development Programme tolearn how to make and sell costume jewellery afterthe jasmine cultivation venture stabilised. While apart of her income is earmarked for the household,Mamta deposits the remaining into her bankaccount. With both working and sharing expens-es, the couple no longer needs to take loans to maketwo ends meet.

Assertions of gender equality also came fromyounger girls and women of the community.Susheela always wanted to pursue academics but waspersuaded by her father to agree to marriage.However, when realisation dawned that she would

no longer be able to study if she got mar-ried, Susheela, then a student of Class VIII,called off her engagement. She knew shewould be going against traditional soci-etal norms and the diktat of her father. Butso strong was her aspiration for educationthat she was willing to risk her father’swrath. Her gamble and determinationpaid dividends. As the first girl in her vil-lage to acquire a postgraduate degree,Susheela is a role model for many othergirls in the community. She doesn’t con-sider marriage the ultimate goal. It is pos-sible to be single and happy, she tells othergirls in the community as women in amatrilineal society have freedom of choicein all matters.

Manjula, Mamta and Susheela arepart of larger groups of women who reg-ularly meet to discuss how to preservetheir culture, traditional practices and wayof life, especially within the matrilineal sys-tem. They strategise ways to return to thepractices which valued girls and whichwere an inherent way of life for them.

They want equal representation ofwomen in the Koraga Federation, thenodal organisation comprising commu-nity members that takes key decisions.They see it as one way to sustain theprogress achieved by their campaign forgender equality.

In fact, when Gowri Kenjur was elect-ed the first president of the KoragaFederation, it provided a big fillip to theirmovement. A vocal campaigner, Kenjurpressed for greater participation of womenfrom the community and encouragedthem to stand up for their rights. She moti-vated self-help groups (SHGs), formedwith the assistance of Samagra GrameenaAshrama, to take control of their resourcesand fight for their rights.

So inspired were the groups that whenlocal Government authorities overlooked

their concerns while formulating plans forlocal development, over 42 women SHGmembers staged a sit-in protest. They saton the dharna until the heads of the localGovernment agreed to develop an actionplan in accordance with the suggestionsgiven by the women regarding educationand drinking water for the children.

The torch for gender equality lit byKenjur was carried forward by SushilaNada who became a household name notjust in Nada, her village in Udupi district,but also in all districts in Karnataka wherethe federation works.

This was not just because she was anarticulate and innovative federation pres-ident but also because Nada used her pow-ers to promote gender equality. Concernedthat the traditional matrilineal values ofthe Koragas were being eroded by patri-archal attitudes, Nada organised rallies onevents like Women’s Day and theInternational Day for the Elimination ofViolence against Women to sensitise thecommunity.

She also represented the communi-ty at national and international fora toshare how gender equality was an integralpart of their matrilineal system. TheKoragas celebrate the birth of a girl childunlike the practice in other parts of India,including the Koragas’ home State ofKarnataka, where girls are usually killedbefore birth because of the preference fora son. In fact, in Karnataka, the sex ratioat birth declined by 108 points between2007-2016 according to the Office of theRegistrar-General of India.

Incidentally, the sex ratio forScheduled Tribes in Karnataka is 990females per 1,000 males, which is higherthan the national average of 964 forScheduled Tribes as well as the State over-all average of 973 girls per 1,000 boys.

Another big difference is that there is

no system of dowry among the Koragas.So no Koraga woman was killed for bring-ing a poor dowry or for the lack of it. Infact, being a matrilineal society, the girldid not leave her natal home to live in hermarital home after marriage. It was herhusband who left his house to live withher. This system gave Koraga women eco-nomic and social empowerment.

However, the Koragas are the mostbackward of all tribal groups in southernIndia. Nada and the federation havefought hard for the restoration of prideamong the community and to end thepractice of anjalu in which Koragas are fedleftovers by upper castes to ward off evilspirits.

Plus, being considered untouchablemeant that Koraga children were deniedadmission to Anganwadis. Awarenesscampaigns by Nada, also an Anganwadiworker, and the federation, facilitated theentry of Koraga children to Anganwadis.Mamta Koraga was among the first tosend her daughter to the Anganwadi inher village. Although her daughter was theonly Koraga child there, she didn’t haveto face any discrimination thanks to theenabling environment created by womenof the community. Even older women whohad dropped out of school because of dis-crimination have been inspired to restarttheir education.

What makes their movement laudableis that even while pushing for genderequality within, the Koraga women havebeen equally vociferous in drawingGovernment attention to the plight of theentire community. They have been at theforefront of the community’s struggles toreclaim their right to traditional land, evencourting arrest by the police. They are thetrue beacons in the fight for gender equal-ity.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Cultural diversity is a fact ofmodern life and it exists nowin practically all countries of

the world. In addition to convention-al elements such as race, religion andlanguage, cultural diversity is accen-tuated by new factors, includingglobalisation, the breakdown of thetraditional moral consensus, theemphasis on individual choiceregarding issues like the place of reli-gion in public life, family discipline,relations between parents and chil-dren and so on.

Yet cultural diversity is at the rootof most conflicts, tension and uncer-tainties in the contemporary world.Some have attributed the present“international insecurity” to theclash of civilisations while others

advocate dialogue of religions andcultures to prevent such conflicts andbitterness. In 2001, the UnitedNations General Assembly (UNGA)adopted the Global Agenda forDialogue among Civilisations and theUnited Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organisation(UNESCO) endorsed theInternational Declaration on CulturalDiversity.

A common assumption inspiresboth covenants. A multi-culturalsociety needs to find ways andmeans to accommodate diversitywithout losing its cohesiveness andunity. Two approaches are rejected.Assimilation which requires minori-ties to abandon their own distinctiveinstitutions, cultures and values tomerge into the prevailing culture isto be avoided.

This way is sociologically unlike-ly to succeed and is morally unten-able in view of people’s deep adher-ence to normative values such as reli-gion. Similarly, unbounded multi-culturalism, which entails giving upthe concept of shared values andidentity in order to privilege ethnicand religious differences, presumingthat a nation can be replaced by a

number of diverse minorities, isunacceptable. Such a course of actionusually results in undemocratic back-lash, support for extremist parties,populist leaders and anti-minoritypolicies. It is morally unjustified asit does not accept the values and insti-tutions upheld by society at large.

Regions that break away fromdemocratic societies hoping toachieve a larger measure of self-gov-ernment are not likely to enhanceself-government and may ratherweaken it.

Cultural pluralism values diver-sity and implements policies of inclu-sion that cater to the requirements ofall groups. The sensitivities of theminorities as well as of the majorityneed attention. Fundamental rightsand fundamental freedoms of all areto be protected. The rights of theweaker sections are particularlyimportant in a society that respectscultural pluralism.

Inter-cultural dialogue is neces-sary both at the national and at theglobal levels so that contentiousissues are resolved amicably. Themore a nation harmonises differencesat home, the greater is its ability tocontribute to dialogue at the interna-

tional level. The stronger the coop-eration and goodwill among nations,the lesser the need to spend hugeresources on arms and militarystrategies.

Education has a crucial role toplay in providing ethical and spiri-tual value systems that facilitateunderstanding of other cultures andcivilisations. The UNESCOConstitution begins with the words,“Since wars begin in the minds ofmen, it is in the minds of men thatthe defences of peace must be con-structed.”

Education ought to promote tol-erance, respect for diversity andfriendship among peoples andnations. Educational institutionsmust be provided with a learningenvironment which contributes totolerance, understanding and respectfor diversity. They should be protect-ed from teachings that promoteextremism, intolerance and violence.

The State of Goa has made sig-nificant progress in the field of edu-cation over the last 50 years. This ismainly due to Government-aidedand private institutions. Governmentschools themselves are in anappalling condition. Attendance at

several Government primary schoolswhich I visited over the last few yearswas almost 100 per cent but in thecircumstances in which most ofthem function, there is not muchlearning to be done.

Four classes are often taughtsimultaneously in one classroomand in some cases, eight classes intwo languages. There are no black-boards or they are not repaired. Ricebags (for the mid-day meal), discard-ed furniture, school record and so onare all bundled together in the sameclassroom along with the children.

The teachers in Governmentschools are as hard-working and thestudents are as bright and intelligentas their counterparts in privateschools. What is lacking is the min-imum infrastructure. As a result allthose who can afford it enrol theirchildren in private schools.

The children in Governmentprimary schools come from thepoorer sections of society and theirparents are usually illiterate. Thesestudents require special attention buton the contrary they get no attentionat all. Government primary schoolshave suffered from what might becalled a “social attention deficit”, a

sheer lack of attention and concernby the community at large, includingpolicymakers at all levels.

India is home to diverse lan-guages, religions, races and lifestyles.It is a vast country where questionsof unity and diversity interplay. Yet,India emerges with an excellentrecord at managing diversity. Thismakes it possible to survive as anation and to move ahead as thelargest democracy in the world.

The Constitution of Indiaensures that all citizens have equalrights and equal opportunities. Inparticular, the principle of secularismenshrined in our Constitution is thebest method to accommodate reli-gious diversity and could be emulat-ed across the globe.

In a multi-cultural society, theState cannot be identified with anyreligious or cultural group and itshould either be neutral or even-handed in its approach to all suchgroups. Unity in diversity is the high-est possible civilisational attainment.It is made possible through respectfor choice in an atmosphere of mutu-al trust.

(The writer is a former UnionMinister)

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Beijing: Chinese ForeignMinister Wang Yi, on a rarevisit to Norway, warned Osloagainst granting the NobelPeace Prize to Hong Kongpro-democracy activists muchon the lines of awarding theprize to China’s human rightsactivist Liu Xiaobo and Tibetanspiritual leader the Dalai Lamain the past, causing strains inbilateral ties.

Wang, who is currently ona tour of European Unioncountries to shore-up supportfor China in the face of theincreasing pressure mountedby the US, is the first ChineseForeign Minister to visit Osloin 15 years.

Relations between Chinaand the US are at an all-time lowover the coronavirus pandem-ic and strained trade ties. Thetwo countries also recentlyclosed each other’s consulates inHouston and Chengdu.

Wang’s visit comes in thebackdrop of Norway preparingto take up a rotational seat onthe United Nations SecurityCouncil, of which China is apermanent member.

Wang also held talks withNorwegian Foreign Minister

Ine Eriksen Soreide onThursday.

Later, when asked duringmedia interaction on howChina would react if the Nobelprize would go to Hong Kongprotesters in future, Wang said“I would only say one thing: Inthe past, today, and in future,China will firmly reject anyattempt by anyone to use theNobel Peace Prize to interferein China’s internal affairs”.

“China is rock firm onthis principle. We don’t want tosee anyone politicise the NobelPeace Prize,” the Hong Kong-based South China MorningPost quoted him as saying.

He called on Norway tocherish the current relation-ship, saying “If we can contin-ue to respect each other andtreat each other as equals …

our bilateral relationship cancontinue to develop in a sus-tained and sound manner, andthe political foundation of thebilateral relationship can befurther consolidated.”

Both officials stressed thatthis was the first visit toNorway by a Chinese foreignminister in 15 years – a subtlereference to the previouslyfrozen diplomatic relationshipbetween 2010 and 2016, afterthe Oslo-based Nobel PeacePrize committee awarded theprize to Chinese dissident Liu,the Post report said.

China was also cut up withthe Nobel Peace Prize to theDalai Lama in 1989.

Till 2012, the Nobel Prizewas viewed with contempt byChina and its official media asit was awarded to the DalaiLama for his peaceful strugglefor the betterment of Tibetansand to Liu.

However, Beijing wel-comed the Nobel Prize for lit-erature to Chinese writer MoYan in 2012, saying that Mo’s“victory reflects the prosperi-ty and progress of Chinese lit-erature, as well as the increas-ing influence of China”. PTI

Minneapolis: After a Blackman fatally shot himself on apedestrian plaza in downtownMinneapolis, rumours ofanother police shooting in thecity still reeling from the deathof George Floyd began spread-ing quickly on social media,sending concerned residentsand activists to the area —many of them anxious andsome of them misinformed.

Tensions and anger havebeen running high inMinneapolis since Floyd’s May25 death, and some activists saycommunity members aremobilizing more quickly asincidents occur — refusing towait for explanations from acity police department theydon’t trust.

But others say the unrestthat unfolded Wednesday —

which damaged multiple busi-ness and resulted in more than130 arrests — had nothing todo with anger, but was due toopportunists intent on com-mitting crimes.

“I just think that thingshave reached a boiling pointand people are fed up,” saidcommunity activist NekimaLevy Armstrong. “Now we’re ata breaking point where there isno tolerance for even a hint ofpolice abuse or police murder.”

Emotions have remainedraw over the death of Floyd, ahandcuffed Black man whodied after a white Minneapolispolice officer pressed his kneeagainst Floyd’s neck for nearlyeight minutes. Floyd’s deathsparked protests worldwide,including several nights of vio-lence in Minneapolis. AP

Islamabad: Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan has saidthat allowing former premierNawaz Sharif to leave thecountry for medical treatmentin the UK was a “mistake” andhis government “regretted”the decision.

Sharif, 70, was allowed toleave for London in Novemberlast year after the Lahore HighCourt granted him a four-week permission to go abroadfor treatment.

The three-time premierhad submitted an undertakingto the court to return toPakistan, citing his record offacing the law and justice,

within four weeks or as soonas he is declared healthy andfit to travel by the doctors.

In an interview with ARYNews on Thursday, Khan saidit was a “mistake” on his partto al low Sharif to leavePakistan. He said his govern-ment “regretted” the decisionto lift a ban on Sharif.

“Now we feel embarrassed.Now he (Nawaz) has starteddoing politics [from] there aswell and, when you see him, itseems like there is nothing(wrong) with him,” Khan said.

In May, a fresh picture ofSharif having tea at a Londoncafe along with his family

went viral on social media,sparking a debate on his healthwith the ruling PakistanTehreek-i-Insaf membersdemanding his return to facecorruption cases.

In the picture, he was seensitting at a roadside cafe withhis granddaughters. He sport-ed a blue shalwar kameez anda cap and apparently looked inbetter health.

The government cameunder criticism when last weekSharif ’s photos surfaced,showing him strolling in astreet, prompting calls fromwithin the ruling party tobring him back. PTI

������!�������!����%�����$�� ��$��<�����7=�� ������� Washington: Seeking another

four years in the White House,US President Donald Trumphas slammed Democratic rivalJoe Biden’s record as a “shame-ful roll call of the most cata-strophic betrayals” and said hisvictory will endanger thenation and destroy theAmerican greatness.

Speaking from the SouthLawn of the White House,Trump, 74, said that no one willbe safe under a Biden admin-istration.

Launching a blisteringattack on his November chal-lenger, Trump said: “Joe Bidenis not the saviour of America’ssoul.” “He is the destroyer ofAmerica’s jobs, and if given thechance, he will be the destroy-er of American greatness.”

“Biden’s record is a shame-ful roll call of the most cata-strophic betrayals and blundersin our lifetime. He has spent hisentire career on the wrong sideof history,” Trump said in hisacceptance speech after theRepublican Party re-nominatedhim as its presidential candidate.

Trump and Vice PresidentMike Pence are being chal-lenged by Biden and hisIndian-origin running mateSenator Kamala Harris in theNovember 3 election.

“Biden voted for the

NAFTA disaster, the singleworst trade deal ever enacted; hesupported China’s entry into theWorld Trade Organisation, oneof the greatest economic disas-ters of all time. After thoseBiden calamities, the UnitedStates lost 1 in 4 manufacturingjobs,” Trump alleged.

During the 2016 campaign,Trump had pledged to replacethe North American Free TradeAgreement (NAFTA). Trumplater replaced it with the UnitedS t a t e s - M e x i c o - C a n a d aAgreement (USMCA).

Trump said that despite allof the American greatness as anation, everything that the UShas achieved is now endangered.

“This is the most impor-tant election in the history ofour country. At no time beforehave voters faced a clearerchoice between two parties,two visions, two philosophies,or two agendas,” he said. PTI

Washington: Indian-originSenator Kamala Harris, theDemocratic Party’s vice-presi-dential candidate, has blastedPresident Donald Trump forfailing to protect the Americanpeople from the deadly coron-avirus pandemic by being “fix-ated on the stock market” andcaving in to China.

In a blistering speech hoursbefore Trump delivered hisacceptance speech to theRepublican NationalConvention from the SouthLawn at the White House,Harris alleged that the presi-dent’s policies have been “areckless disregard” for the dan-ger a pandemic would pose toAmerican lives.

“Donald Trump has failedat the most basic and importantjob of a President of the UnitedStates. He failed to protect theAmerican people. Plain andsimple. Trump showed whatwe, in the legal profession,would call a reckless disregardfor the well-being of theAmerican people,” Harris said.

With the Republican lead-ers attending the four-day con-vention largely downplayingthe impact of the COVID-19pandemic, which has killedover 180,000 people and infect-ed over five million others inthe US, Harris pointed out thatTrump’s failure to address thehealth emergency more aggres-sively is emblematic of a tweet-driven presidency.

“Here’s what you have tounderstand about the nature ofa pandemic: It’s relentless. Youcan’t stop it with the tweet,” the55-year-old Senator fromCalifornia told Trump.

Instead of rising to meet themost difficult moment of hispresidency, Trump froze andwas scared. And he was pettyand vindictive, she said.

She said Trump “doesn’tunderstand the presidency” andbelieves it is “all about him.”

The Republican conven-tion is designed for one pur-pose: To soothe the president’sTrump’s ego, to make him feelgood, Harris said. PTI

#��������������- ����%�������% ������.����� �����-��������9+����� Washington: Describing

Donald Trump as the “people’spresident” and listing out hisadministration’s “people-friendly” policies during hisfirst term, his daughter IvankaTrump delivered a fiery speechin support of her father’s re-election bid.

“America doesn’t needanother empty vessel who willdo whatever the media and thefringe of his party demands.Now more than ever, Americaneeds four more years of awarrior in the White House,”38-year-old Ivanka said in heraddress to the RepublicanNational Convention onThursday from the SouthLawn of the White House.

“Tonight, I stand beforeyou as the proud daughter ofthe people’s president. He’s ourcommander-in-chief, cham-pion of the American workers,defender of common senseand our voice for the forgottenmen and women of this coun-try. He is our president, and myfather, Donald J Trump,” shesaid amidst loud cheer fromthe Republican Party support-ers. PTI

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Beirut: The office of Lebanon’spresident said Friday that bind-ing consultations with mem-bers of Parliament to designatea new prime minister willbegin early next week.

Monday’s consultationswill coincide with a visit byFrench President EmmanuelMacron to Lebanon, a formerFrench protectorate. He willoffer French support after the

devastating Aug 4 port explo-sion but also ensure that mil-lions in international aid go tothose who need it.

Prime Minister HassanDiab’s government resigned onAug. 10, six days after nearly3,000 tons of ammoniumnitrate exploded at Beirut’s portwhere they had been stored forsix years. The blast, the mostdestructive single incident in

Lebanon’s history, killed morethan 180 people and left near-ly 300,000 people homeless.

Lebanon is also mired in itsworst economic and financialcrisis in decades and Westernnations have said they will nothelp the tiny country beforeserious reforms are carried outbecause corruption and mis-management are widespread.

AP

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Torrential rains and flashfloods have claimed 39

lives in several areas ofPakistan with its financial hubKarachi pounded by heavyshowers that submerged roadsand underpasses, paralysedbusiness activities and broughtnormal life to a complete halt.

At least 16 people, includ-ing a woman and two children,were killed and eight othersinjured due to flash floodscaused by torrential rains innorthwest Pakistan’s KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KPK) district, a

disaster management officialsaid on Friday.

Eight people died in UpperKohistan district, six in Swatand two in Shangla district ofthe province due to the floodson Thursday night, an officialof the Provincial DisasterManagement Authority(PDMA) said, adding that 40houses were damaged in theseareas.

The flood water inundat-ed houses in Shahgram andTeerat area of Swat districtfrom where six deaths andinjuries to eight people werereported.

Cairo: Egyptian police arrest-ed a high-level leader in the out-lawed Muslim Brotherhood athis hiding place in Cairo, anInterior Ministry statementsaid Friday.

Investigators recentlylearned that Mahmoud Ezzat,the acting Supreme Guide ofthe country’s oldest Islamistorganisation, was hiding in anapartment on the outskirts ofCairo, the statement said.

After searching the apart-ment, the police found com-puters and mobile phones withencrypted software that allowedthe 76-year-old Ezzat to com-municate with group mem-

bers in Egypt and abroad, thestatement said.

Documents bearing thegroup’s “destructive plans” werealso found, according to police.The statement did not say whenthe raid took place.

It wasn’t immediately clearif Ezzat had an attorney.

Ezzat had been at largesince the summer of 2013, afterthe military removed Egypt’sfirst democratically electedpresident, Mohamed Morsi,who hailed from the ranks ofthe Muslim Brotherhood.Morsi’s short-lived rule proveddivisive and provoked massprotests nationwide. AP

Port Louis:At least 40d o l p h i n shave myste-riously diedin an area of Mauritius affect-ed by an oil spill from aJapanese boat, officials andwitnesses said on Friday, as awitness described the momentone mother dolphin died infront of him.

Residents who had ven-tured out in a boat alertedReuben Pillay to a mother dol-phin swimming around herdying baby. He sped off to tryto find them; the baby had diedby the time he arrived, he said,but the mother initially lookednormal.

“But in a few minutes shewent on her side, one fin in thewater, and one out of the waterand then she started flappingher tail really really rapidly,”said Pillay, a professional droneoperator and environmentalistwho is providing video toReuters. AGENCY

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India has been ranked a lowly72nd among 106 countries in

terms of the average wage permonth, while Switzerlandtopped the chart, according toa global ranking of averagewages prepared by Picodi.Com.

With an average monthlywage of �32,800 (USD 437),India has been ranked a lowly72nd among 106 countriessurveyed by Picodi.Com, aninternational e-commerce plat-form which provides discountcoupons.

Switzerland, where theaverage wage converted intorupees amounts to �4,49,000(USD 5,989), topped the rank-ing, while in Cuba the average

wage is the lowest at �2,700(USD 36), it said.

Switzerland was followedby Luxembourg and the UnitedStates, whose citizens on anaverage earn �3,00,900 (USD4,014) and �2,64,900 (USD3,534), respectively.

Others in the top ten listinclude Denmark (USD 3,515),Singapore (USD 3,414),Australia (USD 3,333), Qatar(USD 3,232), Norway (USD3,174), Hong Kong (USD3,024) and Iceland (USD2,844).

India, with the averagewage of �2,800, outrankedcountries such as Kazakhstan(�32,700), Brazil (� 26,000), orEgypt (�16,400), the reportsaid.

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The income tax departmentwill soon start sending out

intimation to assessees under-going scrutiny that such caseswould now be handled underfaceless assessment, a tax offi-cial said on Friday.

CBDT AdditionalCommissioner Jaishree Sharmaalso said that domestic trans-fer pricing cases too will becovered under the facelessassessment mechanism.

Asked whether the previ-ous notices still stand valid,Sharma said, “Previous noticeswill not become redundant.First, an intimation would besent out that your case wouldnow be assessed under facelessassessment scheme and if theAssessing Officer of theAssessment Unit feels that heneeds some more informa-tion, he will send fresh (notice)under 142(1).” A Section142(1) notice is sent to anassessee to inquire about detailsand documents before makingassessment under the IncomeTax Act. Speaking at a webinarorganised by industry body

PHDCCI, Sharma saidreassessment cases would alsobe part of the faceless scheme.

“So all the 148 cases thatwere going on, they have beentransferred to the facelessassessment scheme and NeACwill be sending out intimationin all such cases which wouldnow be assessed under thefaceless assessment scheme. Soby September 15 or before that,you can expect an intimationfrom NeAC,” Sharma said.

The Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT) had ear-lier this month notified theNational e-Assessment Centre(NeAC) at Delhi for all com-munication with taxpayersunder the faceless assessmentscheme. Since August 13, allincome tax returns picked upfor scrutiny, except those relat-ing to search and seizure andinternational tax, are beingassessed under faceless assess-ment. Under faceless scrutinyassessment, a central comput-er picks up tax returns forscrutiny based on risk para-meters and mismatch and thenallots them randomly to a teamof officers.

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The rupee on Friday surgedby 43 paise to close at

73.39 to the US dollar, its bestclosing level in nearly sixmonths, buoyed by sustainedforeign fund inflows and weak-er greenback against key rivals.

At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic unitopened on a flat note but soongained strength and finallyended 43 paise higher at 73.39against the American curren-cy - the best closing level sinceMarch 5.

During the day, the localunit touched an intra-day highof 73.29 and a low of 73.87.

Also, this was the thirdconsecutive day of gains for therupee.

During which it advancedby 94 paise. On weekly basis,the Indian currency appreciat-ed by 145 paise against the USdollar.

Foreign institutionalinvestors were net buyers in the capital market as they pur-chased shares worth ��1,004.11 crore on Friday,according to exchange data.

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The country’s largest lender StateBank of India (SBI) on Friday

said it has got global recognition forits HR initiative ‘Nayi Disha’ whichover the course of 1.5 years hastouched more than 2.40 lakh employ-ees.The bank has won three BrandonHall Excellence Awards, also knownas the Academy Awards of Learning& Development, SBI claimed in astatement. It recognizes the bestorganizations that have successfullydeployed programs, strategies,modalities, processes, systems, andtools to achieve measurable results,it said. Through Nayi Disha, SBIappreciated the workforce for itscommitment towards customer ser-vice excellence while serving with thesame rigour in even the remotest cor-ners of the country, SBI ChairmanRajnish Kumar said.

“Our belief that Nayi Disha willinfuse a fresh sense of optimismamongst our valuable employees,has been proven right, and we willendeavour to engage our human cap-ital in best possible manner at alltimes,” he said.

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Equity benchmarks defiedgravity for the sixth straight

session on Friday followingsmart gains in bank andfinance stocks, while globalmarkets were mixed despite theUS Fed outlining a moreaccommodative stance.

A sharp jump in the rupeeand unabated foreign fundinflows further bolstered sen-timent, traders said.

After touching an intra-daypeak of 39,579.58, the BSESensex ended 353.84 points or0.90 per cent higher at39,467.31.

The NSE Nifty surged88.35 points or 0.76 per cent toclose at 11,647.60.

During the week, theSensex soared 1,032.59 pointsor 2.68 per cent, while the Niftyadvanced 276 points or 2.42 percent.

IndusInd Bank was thetop gainer in the Sensex packon Friday, spurting 8.43 percent, followed by Axis Bank,ICIC Bank, Sun Pharma, SBIand Kotak Bank.

On the other hand,PowerGrid, Infosys, NTPC,Asian Paints, HUL, M&M and

Tata Steel were among themajor laggards, shedding up to1.24 per cent.

Global equities weremixed after US Federal ReserveChairman Jerome Powell saidthe central bank will remainaccommodative and shift to amore relaxed approach oninflation. However, lack ofspecifics disappointed mar-kets, analysts said.

“Global markets were trad-ing uncertain following theUS Fed Reserve’s policy shift tofocus on economic growth andless on inflation.

However, the indicationthat the US Fed would contin-ue to let interest rates remainlow and expectation of morestimulus to follow, boosted theIndian markets.

“The stimulus and theassociated liquidity are impor-tant to our markets since thathas been one of the drivers forthe current stock market run.As per NSDL, FPI net invest-ments into equity, as a whole,have been around Rs 45,000crore, which makes it one of thebest months for net inflows,”said Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices.

BSE bankex, telecom,finance, oil and gas, energy andrealty indices rallied as much as4 per cent, while auto, utilities,IT, FMCG and metal closedlower.

In the broader markets,the BSE mid-cap index rose0.55 per cent, while the small-cap gauge fell 0.23 per cent.

Strong foreign fundinflows, led by high global liq-uidity and decline in US dollar,also fuelled the markets, traderssaid.

Foreign institutionalinvestors bought equities wortha net �1,164.32 crore onThursday, exchange datashowed.

The rupee soared 43 paiseto end at 73.39 against the USdollar on Friday.

In rest of Asia, bourses inShanghai, Hong Kong andSeoul ended with gains. Japan’sNikkei tumbled after PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe resigneddue to health reasons.

Stock exchanges in Europewere trading on a mixed notein early deals.

Global oil benchmarkBrent crude was trading 0.35per cent lower at USD 45.44 perbarrel.

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Industry body Solar PowerDevelopers Association

(SPDA) on Friday pitched forpostponement of imposition ofbasic customs duty on solarcells and modules.

The body is of the viewthat the imposition of basiccustoms duty (BCD) canseverely slow down the plan ofhaving 100 GW solar energy by2022. In June, Power MinisterR K Singh had indicated aboutimposition of BCD on solarcells, modules and invertorsfrom August to discouragedumping and encourage thedomestic industry.

SPDA, a national associa-tion representing India’supcoming solar power gener-ators and developers, said in astatement that the governmentmust reconsider its decision ofimposing BCD on solar cellsand modules.

The implementation ofsafeguard duty on cells andmodules has been extended bya year recently, hence settingadditional tariff barriers at thisstage is not appropriate as it willdamage the sector’s prospects,

it noted. SPDA recommends that

the imposition of BCD bepostponed by 18 months so

that financial burden on thealready bid out projects ofcapacity around 50 GWs can beavoided, it stated.

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Housing and Urban AffairsSecretary Durga Shanker

Mishra on Friday hailed theMaharashtra government’sdecision to reduce stamp dutyon registration of propertiesand advised other states to dothe same to boost demand inthe real estate sector.

Addressing a webinarorganised by industry bodyPHDCCI, he assured theindustry that the ministrywould examine its variousdemands, including oneregarding need for a change inincome tax law to enablebuilders reduce their sellingprices of apartments.

The secretary said aninvestment of �9,300 crore hasbeen approved from the�25,000-crore stress fund,which was set up to completethe stalled housing projectsacross the country.

On the demand for stampduty reduction to boost slug-gish sales during this COVID-19 pandemic, Mishra said, “Wehad given suggestions to all thestates to reduce it. TheMaharashtra government hasdone it. We will pursue withothers (states). It’s a good stepby the Maharashtra govern-ment. It will have a positiveimpact on cost reduction.”

On Wednesday, theMaharashtra governmentdecided to slash stamp duty onsale deed documents by 3 percent from September 1 toDecember 31, 2020, and by 2per cent from January 1, 2021to March 31, 2021.

Currently, the rate is 5 percent in urban area and 4 percent in rural area.

Stamp duty is the transac-tional tax, collected by thegovernment on property pur-chases. It is one of the majorsources of revenue.

Bhattacharyajoined NTPC

in the year 1984as Ninth Batch ofE n g i n e e r i n gE x e c u t i v eTrainees and wasinitially posted atNTPC Korbawhich was then situated in MadhyaPradesh. He is an Electrical EngineeringGraduate from Jadavpur University,Kolkata. He has also completed his PGDiploma in Management from MDI,Gurgaon.

Bhattacharya started his career inGreen Field Project Construction, fol-lowed by working in the areas of PowerPlant Operation & Maintenance,Renovation & Modernization,Environment Management and TechnicalServices at NTPC Farakka (1600 MW) inWest Bengal. After serving in Farakka invarious departments, he moved to NTPCTalcher Thermal (450 MW) in Odisha, anold and underperforming asset, taken overfrom State Electricity Board.

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Till now you must haveheard about the incidents

of theft of various types of valu-ables, but the GhaziabadMunicipal Corporation is cur-rently in a dilemma about thecase of mobile toilets, 28installed by the MunicipalCorporation at various placesin the city. Six of the mobile toi-lets have disappeared. The costof a mobile toilet is stated to befive lakh rupees Each. Recently,newly appointed MunicipalCommissioner MahendraSingh Tanwar conducted sur-prise inspection, the mattercame to light. The city com-missioner handed over theinvestigation in this regard toAdditional MunicipalCommissioner RN Pandey onThursday and directed to sub-mit the inquiry report withinthree days. The special thing isthat a few months ago underthe Swachh Bharat Mission,these mobile tiles were pur-chased.

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The Banks Board Bureau(BBB) on Friday recom-

mended SBI’s senior-mostmanaging director DineshKumar Khara as the next chair-man of the country’s largestlender.

Khara will replace SBIChairman Rajnish Kumar,whose three-year term comesto an end on October 7.

Members of BBB, the head-hunter for state-owned banksand financial institutions, inter-viewed four managing direc-tors of State Bank of India (SBI)on Friday for the upcomingvacancy.

“Keeping in view their per-formance in the interface andtheir overall experience, theBureau recommends...DineshKumar Khara for the vacancy

of Chairman in State Bank ofIndia (and) Challa SreenivasuluSetty as the candidate on theReserve List for the said vacan-cy,” BBB said in a statement.

As per convention, the SBIchairman is appointed from apool of serving managingdirectors at the bank.

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The issue price for the sixthtranche of the Sovereign

Gold Bond Scheme has beenfixed at �5,117 per gram, theRBI said in a statement onFriday. The Sovereign GoldBond Scheme 2020-21 seriesVI will open for subscriptionon August 31, 2020 and closeon September 4, 2020.The issueprice for the bonds (series V),which were open for subscrip-tion from August 3 to August7, was �5,334 per gram ofgold.“The nominal value ofthe bond based on the simpleaverage closing price for gold of999 purity of the last three busi-ness days of the week preced-ing the subscription period, i.E.August 26 – August 28, 2020,works out to �5,117 per gramof gold,” the Reserve Banksaid.It further said the govern-ment, in consultation with theRBI, has decided to offer a dis-count of �50 per gram less thanthe nominal value to thoseinvestors applying online andthe payment against the appli-cation is made through digitalmode.

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On April 4, 1984, the thenPrime Minister IndiraGandhi had asked our first

cosmonaut and Squadron LeaderRakesh Sharma, Upar se Bharatkaisa dikhta hai aapko?” When heanswered, “Main bina kisi jhijhakke keh sakta hoon, Saare Jahan SeAchcha,” our national song hadfound a new meaning. Not just that,India herself had found a new iden-tity. For the first time afterIndependence, while Russia and theUS were competing in the spacerace, our country was achieving itslandmark mission of sending thefirst Indian man to space.

India’s passion to reach the starsis that of grit and glory, and at thecentre of that story lies the inspir-ing tale behind the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO),established in 1969. From launch-ing small rockets to heavy-liftlaunchers, from conducting humanspaceflight projects to carryingout communication satellites,ISRO’s journey has stories of greatchallenges but, above all, of evengreater achievements and peoplelike Vikram Sarabhai, HomiBhabha and Aryabhatta.

Documenting the ‘rags-to-Mars’ 60-year-old history andbringing some of these stories tolife, Spotify has launched MissionISRO, a podcast hosted by cricketcommentator Harsha Bhogle.Talking about the iconic conversa-tion between Gandhi and Sharma,he says, “I was 23 when this hap-pened. I had just started out as acommentator at the All India Radioin Hyderabad. Like millions of myfellow Indians at that time, Iremember reading about this con-versation in the newspaper, feelingcompletely exhilarated, even a lit-tle emotional. India’s space aspira-tion had gained its enduring sym-bol. An Indian had finally managedto break free from the glass of gravity.”

Well, as a journalist once said,

“When Harsha Bhogle begins totalk, you cannot but sit and listen!”Excerpts:

�Why do you think talking aboutISRO and India’s space missionsis important?

I think it is very important toknow and celebrate the work ofsome great Indians who achievedoutstanding things with very littleor whatever was available to them.They had this fire of doing good forIndia and putting the country onthe right path. It shows us what ispossible and the benefits havebeen there for everyone to see rightfrom the first site education pro-gramme.

Through this podcast, we havealso tried to bring forward the storyof Vikram Sarabhai, who was unde-terred by the insufficient trainingand basic facilities and a limitedbudget. The team set out to assem-ble and launch their very firstsounding rocket into space!

�Do you think there is also a needto inform the youth about howIndia’s space history has evolvedwith time and what it still lacks?How does the series address this?

Without doubt, yes. It’s impor-tant to make them aware of how lit-tle India had and that what they areenjoying today is a result of the pio-neering work of those who camebefore; to remind them that in theearly years of Independence, Indiahad its priorities right and weshould never forget that. The pod-cast addresses this by celebratingnot just the achievement of thespace programme but the incredi-ble, very romantic stories of someriveting characters like Bhabha,Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan and APJAbdul Kalam, of heartbreakingfailures, and the success of anagency that powered modernIndia’s space fantasy.

�Being a cricket commentator,how did you adapt to narrating

stories of a completely differentsubject — space? Did it come outwith the same level of excitementwhich you have while comment-ing on cricket?

Cricket commentary is one ofthe things I do. I have an enjoyablelife outside it and have alwaysenjoyed the audio format. I washoping someone would ask me totell a story that must stand by itselfwithout the crutch of pictures toembellish it. A good story can besimply told and this is one of those.Yes, it was exciting because it wasbeautifully written and the dramabuilds up. Telling a story is differ-ent from live sport because it buildsup. I hope this works on that front.

�You have recalled a memory inthe podcast that you were 23when you heard about the firstIndian man making it to space...

Yes. I feel it was uplifting to bean Indian because it was still a timeof scarcity and we were still recov-

ering from the plunder of colonial-ism. This news had thrilled me. Itwas wonderful.

�In today’s world of enhancedvisual effects, why do you think apodcast will turn out better forstorytelling?

Well, both have their place.One doesn’t have to be better thanthe other. As long as it tells the storyand takes it to people, it shouldn’tmatter. Also, in many ways, audiois a more intimate narrative. It feelslike you are listening to a friendnarrating a story and that is some-thing that the world of visualeffects cannot do. It does its job dif-ferently but it wows, it doesn’tsoothe as well as a simple voicedoes.

�Why do you think podcasts aredominating the media landscapetoday?

Honestly, I don’t know but theyaren’t easy. The rigour in Mission

ISRO was an eye-opener. I still thinkthese are early days for podcasts inIndia but just remember, our story-telling tradition is quite old.

�What was your research work forthe podcast? How much did youlearn in the process?

To be fair, the research wasdone by the team from all thingssmall. They did a fantastic job andmade it much easier for the narra-tor of the story. In effect, they wrotethe story, and I am telling it.

�Any anecdotes that you’d like toshare.

Just simply that, when I wasgrowing up, scientists were lookedat as heroes and it is good to havereal heroes being talked aboutagain — simple people who didtheir job proudly and put into it allthat they had.

(The first season will have 12episodes, with one episode releasingevery Friday on Spotify.)

�What’s the concept of the show,Funhit Mein Jaari?

It is basically a breather for theviewers. It is going to take the audienceon a two to three-minute-long laugh-ing spree, every weekend. The adbreaks are going to get very interest-ing now as we will bring some funnygags for them, based on a few topicsfrom around the world. It is not a showthat you need to sit and watch for halfan hour altogether. These small gagswill come in between the shows onweekends and will give you the much-needed laughter break. I am sure theviewers are going to enjoy the idea somuch that they will actually findthemselves waiting for ad breaks tocome so that they can enjoy hilariousgags.

�What made you be a part of thisshow?

It is always exciting to be working

with Bharti (Singh). Our camaraderieis on a different level. So, when I wasoffered this show, I was told that I willbe working with Bharti, I didn’t eventhink twice to say yes. The concept ofthe show is very interesting and differ-ent from what I have previously done.It’s basically an attempt to bring hap-

piness in people’s lives during thesechallenging times.

�How does it feel to be a part of theSony SAB family as this is your veryfirst show?

It is a lovely experience workingwith the channel. Since the time I have

started doing television, I have been apart of the Sony family. I have previ-ously performed and hosted the SABke Anokhe ke Awards.

But this is the first time I am doinga show for SAB, it is a very excitingfeeling for me that I cannot express inwords.

�How has the experience been so farworking with the entire cast?

It is really fun shooting for theshow. The entire cast and crew wouldlaugh so much while shooting the gagsthat sometimes our cameras wouldalso shake because of people laughing.Bharti and I enjoyed a lot while play-ing so many different and interestingcharacters for various gags. I hope ourviewers enjoy them too.

�Were you skeptical about shootingin these unprecedented times?

It was very different in the begin-ning and was a little difficult too as wewouldn’t understand who my make-up man or hair dresser is becauseeveryone would be in masks and PPEkits (laughs). However, it wasn’t thatchallenging as we all were more excit-ed to be back shooting after sitting athome for four-five months. Everyonewas very cautious and we all main-tained proper distance and followed allthe safety protocols while shooting.Although it was a bit of a differentexperience, we were more excitedbecause we love doing comedy andentertaining our viewers.

�Any favourite gag that you’d shoot?It’s actually quite difficult to choose

one because all of them are packedwith equal punch and deliver the rightkind of entertainment to the audience.However, for me, my favourite is theBaahubali gag — The Adventures ofRajmata. Its interesting thing is that thelooks have been worked upon so nice-ly and with detail that it actually bringsin the entire vibe of the film.

Actor Ali Fazal has been ona roll lately. After the mas-

sive announcement of Death ofthe Nile last week, the muchawaited Mirzapur’s second sea-son is ready for release. Withthe show’s final edit underway,it’s being said that the show willbe delivered to theplatform by the endof this month. It’sindeed a doublecelebration forthe actor and hisfans. Well, both theprojects arrivetogether onOctober 23.

A l isaid, “Ia mh ap pyt h a tt h eworldw i l lget tos e etheset w ov e r ydiffer-ent cin-e m a t i ce x p e r i -ences ofmine inthe sameyear. Andgiven the fact

that Death on The Nile will beone of the first films to releaseworldwide in theatres, I feel itwill be a fresh change for theaudience across the board. Ifonly there was a panel sittingsomewhere watching my work,they’d see the range I am aim-ing for. Both the releases have

their audiences and certain-ly are two different

ends oft h espec-trum.T h e

oppor-tunities

presentedin front of me

have opened upthis range. And for

an actor, it is nectar.Right now, I am justhoping that Death OnThe Nile gets a the-atr ical release inIndia.”

The first seasonof Amazon PrimeOriginal’s Mirzapurended on acliffhanger and thesecond one promis-es an unseen kindof bhaukaal withAli’s GudduBhaiyya, a centralf igure in thescheme of things.

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Once upon a time, ashow like Star Trek —based in the twenty-

third century — was a fascinat-ing thought. Where would weend up, many of us as kidsasked, our imagination run-ning free and wild. There wereonly trees to climb, so we hadplenty of time for dreaming.Now when we hear that theside-tilting selfie is keepingmany a doctor in business, fix-ing endless instances of cricksin the neck, we know we havereached somewhere “whereno man has gone before” — toborrow the phrase from theoriginal series of the 1960s.Now we have kids lookingalmost robotic, online identi-ties merging into one another,days flowing into nights…This is a generation of childrenthat has an entire galaxy offriends and yet, they could nothave been on a lonelier plan-et...”

Journalist and authorJyotsna Mohan Bhargava pensthese lines in the context of thechanging landscape of theworld of teenagers today. Herbook, Stoned, Shamed,Depressed, is a narrative oftoday’s school life in urbanIndia and an insight into thelives of teens. It attempts toinvestigate and chronicle thelives of children as theyembark on a confused journeyto adulthood — a road that isfull of temptations and easyadventure, where the bound-aries get blurred and wherewhat happens today can haverepercussions for years tocome. Excerpts:

�The book subtly looks attopics like the impact of socialmedia, body neutrality, trustissues, anxiety and morewhile talking of journey toadulthood. How did you con-ceptualise it?

I have written articles onsome of these issues for sever-al publications over a period oftime and the deeper I went, themore I realised that I was onlytouching the tip of the iceberg.Controversial incidents likethe Bois Locker Room disap-pear from public memory aftera news cycle. Yet in the back-ground it all continues to playout. A person I have a lot ofrespect for suggested that I col-late all my work into a holisticnarrative and I realised that itwas indeed the best way to geta reality check on issues thatour urban teenagers are con-stantly facing, away from theoccasional limelight.

�What was your first point ofresearch? How long did it taketo complete the book?

I finished writing the bookin a year but my research start-ed almost two years prior to thatwhen I started writing blogs andopinion pieces on bullying,body shaming and the normal-

isation of the word ‘rape’ in theteenage vocabulary. My sourcesand interviews were made eas-ier because it was already a workin progress when I started onthe book.

�When you began yourresearch, the idea revolved

around late teenage. However,it now speaks broadly aboutmiddle school battlegrounds...

Yes, I would say that wasone of the startling revelationsI made as I went along. Ithought I would be tackling theissues of 17 to 18-year-olds,instead social media and its

repercussions seem to be moreprominent in urban India’s mid-dle schools. In fact, a schoolprincipal told me that whileclass XII is out of her hands, sheis putting all her energy into sav-ing students of classes VI to IX,which are now considered theepicentre of social media use.Today, kids, whose ages are noteven in double digits, are behav-ing the way teens did 10 yearsago. Their exposure is differentand so are the expectations.

�As a society, it seems thatanything uncomfortable is toosensitive to debate or question.But if there’s no conversation,there will be no answers. Howdoes the book aim to initiatea conversation around thiswithout being preachy?

This book is a reflection ofwhat is happening in real timewith children we all know orassociate with. It is not limitedto the rich and the elite and isinstead a narrative across townsand cities. I believe it will res-onate among many families forthe pervasive nature of socialmedia and even addiction.Through the stories of childrenin the book, I hope familiesmake informed decisions goingforward because no two fami-lies may have the same issues.They have to ultimately decide

what works for their childrenand themselves.

�What does the title, Stoned,Shamed, Depressed, signify?

The title reflects the rangeof realities of modern day urbanIndian teens and the issuesthey face, which are not alwayssomething we are willing to faceas a society. For instance, whenit comes to mental health andchildren, it is so far down ourradar that we forget accep-tance, we are not even ready toconfront it. Similarly, bodyshaming is also something wedismiss as a phase that schoolchildren may face. But thesedays, because of social mediacompulsions and desperation,even girls’ behaviour towardseach other is an eye opener.

�Why do you call it “secretlives” of urban teens?

A lot of what this book nar-rates is through stories andcase studies of children whichhave been seconded by coun-selors and school authorities.But as we always say, the fami-ly learns about things the last.In some cases, though they doknow what their child is up to,there is denial. This generationis also very good at hidingthings, whether it is the weedthey are smoking, theirInstagram accounts beinghacked or the sexual bullyingepisodes they may have faced.Many parents will tell you thatfor this generation what theirpeers say is sacrosanct. Most ofthe issues that I covered are noteasy to uncover if you aren’tlooking for them or are aware.

�As children learn to navigatethrough the online and theoffline world, the paths lead-ing to adulthood might be tax-ing and confusing. What’syour take on this?

For this generation, thereare too many temptations andmany counselors admit thatwe adults would perhaps not beable to multi-task the way thesechildren do. We are also send-ing them conflicted signals. Onone hand, you give them freeuse of a gadget and on the otherhand, you have left them opento the repercussions withoutmonitoring their use. As fami-lies we need to sit down and

Even though over the years wehave all witnessed our favourite

film stars play some extremelydiverse roles, there are some char-acters which have not really fadedaway in the Hindi cinema. Speakingof which, we have had variousBollywood actors portraying therole of taxi drivers in some cult films.Right from veteran Dev Anand inTaxi Driver to perfectionist AamirKhan in Raja Hindustani, everycharacter has touched cinegoers init’s own special way, which is whythese films continue to remain trulyiconic.

Meanwhile, in today’s modernera, we now have A Suitable Boyactor Ishaan Khatter who’s current-ly gearing up for his next Khaali Peeli

that features him playing the role ofa young taxi driver. As much excit-ed we are to see him, below we listdown Bollywood’s truly unconven-tional on-screen taxi drivers. Take alook..

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One of the most loved films of

Dev Anand is Chetan Anand’s TaxiDriver. Released in 1954, the filmsaw the actor playing the role of arough and tough taxi driver, Mangal,whose rustic side gets charmed byMala (played by Kalpana Karthik) inthe romantic drama. He rescuesMala when two thugs try to molesther. They fall in love with each other,

but Mangal’s affinity towards a clubdancer drives Mala away.

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Directed by Ravi Tandon,Khuddaar comes with an ensemble starcast of Amitabh Bachchan, ParveenBabi, Sanjeev Kumar, Prem Chopra,

Mehmood, Vinod Mehra, Tanuja andBindiya Goswami in the lead. The 1982release starred Big B playing the roleof a taxi driver and marked his last pro-ject with the late actor Sanjeev Kumar.

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This Dharmesh Darshan directo-rial starring Aamir Khan and KarismaKapoor is the story of a super-richheiress falling in love with a lowlyguide and driver. Portraying the roleof a taxi driver, Aamir shared a greatchemistry with Karisma. His perfor-mance in Raja Hindustani is consid-ered to be one of the finest in his morethan two decade long career. PardesiPardesi continues to be one of the mostpopular songs of Hindi cinema tilldate.

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Helmed by Maqbool Khan andproduced by Ali Abbas Zafar, themasala entertainer features Ishaanplaying the role of a taxi driver for thevery first time. Starring oppositeAnanya Panday, Ishaan has alreadybeen making headlines with hisrugged avatar and tapori dialect in thefilm. The teaser of Khaali Peeli hasalready gone viral and we sure can’twait to see him driving his yellow andblack taxi around the city of dreams— Mumbai, and take us on a thrillingroller-coaster ride.

take the time to really talk to ourchild and teach them how tomake their way through theonline maze. A lot of these temp-tations like vaping, gaming, socialmedia are not going anywhere.Many of the online actions are adirect reaction to what happensoffline and we have to normalisetheir existence without normal-ising their use. For that, ourgeneration first needs to confrontthese issues.

�The virtual world is usuallylooked at under a bad light forteenagers. However, you seemedto balance it with the offlineworld and equally emphasisedits merits...

I am not a fan of kids and thevirtual world, but I also know thatit is an integral part for this gen-eration. COVID-19 has exagger-ated that use, whether it is onlinestudying or gaming excessivelywith no outdoor outlet. I feel theonly solution lies in how respon-sibly we harness its use by ourchildren. I see no reason for a six-year old to be gifted an iPad, nordo I understand why an eight-year old has a smartphone. If weare looking to ease our lives, wemay have a lot to answer in time.There is already a lot of angst andaggression amongst some oftoday’s school children and in bet-ter times, I can’t emphasiseenough the importance of a childplaying a sport.

�How do you think school-leveleducation in India can maketeenagers reflect on their choic-es? What does it lack now?

I think schools have to gobeyond traditional teaching andembrace a wider canvas of learn-ing. It can no longer just be aboutwhat is in the books, we have toteach them about issues like con-sent, misogyny, slut shamingamong others. A classroom is nolonger a place where a childcomes, studies by the textbookand goes home. Social media has

ensured that schools are now aplaying field for many otherthings and just like our society,schools too need to accept thatthings are happening. Recently, Iheard about how a girl questionedher school in the Bois LockerRoom and the school tried tohush it down and clamped downon the girl instead. Sex education,counselors on campus — theseare the issues that schools need tostep up on. From what many chil-dren say, it is still at a nascentstage.

�What do you think socialmedia is — a good or a badinfluencer?

It all depends on how you asa family embrace it. A twelve-yearold may be the smartest kid inclass and yet be outplayed by theanonymity of social media. Theage that you use it at, how you useit, the amount of freedom given,all adds up. I see girls as young aseight and nine constantly makingvideos, I wonder why their par-ents allow it? The thrill for thisgeneration to be online is enor-mous. If they have one upload onInstagram, they will stare at thelikes for the next 24 hours. It isextremely unhealthy and I canonly hope that the older the childis, the more equipped s/he is tohandle its pressure. I have spokento many people in their twentieswho are doing brilliant thingsthrough social media.

�Parents constantly face thedilemma of giving in to theirchild’s demands versus what’sright for them. Does the bookaddress parents’ concerns overcertain challenges they facewhile handling teenagers?

It is not a parenting book butone that highlights the lives thaturban Indian teens are currentlyexperiencing. It attempts to por-tray the true story of a section ofa generation and then hope thatparents can make an informedchoice going forward. As they say,knowledge is power. I sadly feelthat with such intense peer andsocial media pressure, the fairytale is over before its time for thisgeneration.

(The book, published byHarperCollins, releases onSeptember 3.)

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World number one NovakDjokovic’s path to a 2020

US Open title could include asemi-final against StefanosTsitsipas or Alexander Zverevunder the tournament drawunveiled on Thursday.

The 33-year-old Serbianstar, a 17-time Grand Slam win-ner who has captured five of thepast seven men’s singles Slamcrowns, begins his quest for afourth US Open title against107th-ranked Damir Dzumhur.

Austrian second seedDominic Thiem, who pushedDjokovic to five sets beforefalling in this year’s Australian

Open final, was placed on theopposite end of the bracket, set-ting up the possibility of arematch in the championship

match on the Flushing Meadowshardcourts.

With fellow Big Three play-ers Rafael Nadal and Roger

Federer absent, Djokovic has aprime chance to close the gap onhis record rivals in a field of 128that is missing several standouts.

The tournament begins onMonday in a spectator-lessquarantine bubble at the USNational Tennis Center inNew York, with Covid-19testing and other measuresdesigned to safeguard playersfrom the deadly virus that forcedWimbledon to be called off.

Djokovic would meet eitherBritain’s Kyle Edmund orKazakhstan’s Alexander Bublikin the second round with US16th seed John Isner a potentialfourth-round foe. His highest-ranked possible quarter-final

opponent would be Belgian sev-enth seed David Goffin.

The other draw quarter inthe upper half of the men’sbracket has Greek fourth seed

Tsitsipas and Germany’sfifth-seeded Zverev aspossible quarter-finalopponents.

In the women’s sec-tion, third seed Serena Williamshas tricky path in search ofrecord 24th Slam.

Serena could see plenty offellow Americans in her recordquest, including AustralianOpen champion Sofia Kenin ina semi-final match.

She could meet 2017 USOpen champion Sloane

Stephens in the third round and2017 US Open runner-up andseventh seed Madison Keys in aquarter-final before a chance atKenin in the semis and poten-tially Czech top seed KarolinaPliskova in the final.

And that’s not even count-ing a possible fourth-roundmatchup against Greek 15thseed Maria Sakkari, who oust-ed Williams from this week’s USOpen tuneup event in New

York.Williams lost in the US

Open and Wimbledon finalseach of the past two years, andwith the England grass eventwiped off the schedule by thepandemic, the US Open marksa chance to break through andclaim a seventh title on the samecourts where she captured herfirst Slam crown in 1999.

Top seed Pliskova will openagainst Ukraine’s Anhelina

Kalinina with France’s CarolineGarcia or Italy’s Jasmine Paoliniawaiting if she makes the secondround. Croatian eighth seedPetra Martic could await in thequarter-finals.

Japanese fourth seed NaomiOsaka, the 2018 US Open and2019 Australian Open champi-on, could face Czech sixth seedPetra Kvitova in the quarter-finals and Pliskova in a semi-final.

���A������������8 LewisHamilton will not boycott thisweekend’s Belgian Grand Prix insympathy with American sportsprotests following the shootingof Jacob Blake in the UnitedStates, but said he felt unifiedwith their cause.

The world championshipleader and six-time championtold reporters via an official

video news conference that hewas impressed by the athletestaking action, which had led tothe postponement of events.

“I stand unified with themand trying to do what I can overhere (in Europe),” he explained.

“I don’t really know how notdoing the race...it will still go on,but I will speak to Formula Oneto see what else we can do tocontinue to raise awareness andcontinue to push.”

A number of athletes in the

United States led boycotts ofsporting events this week inprotest of Blake’s death.

Hamilton added it was“incredible what many out therein the States are doing withintheir sports all the way down tothe people that are hosting —commentators, for example.

“But that is America and Idon’t know really if me doing ithere will have any affect. We’rein Belgium. We’re not in theUnited States.” AFP

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Jurgen Klopp said onThursday there is “no chance”

of Liverpool signing LionelMessi, but the German admitsthe unsettled Barcelona starwould be a great addition to thePremier League.

Messi has told Barcelona hewants to leave after growingunhappy with the club’s prob-lems on and off the pitch.

The Argentina forward hasbeen linked with a move toManchester City, where hecould link up with his formerBarca boss Pep Guardiola.

Paris Saint-Germain, InterMilan and Juventus have alsobeen mooted as potential des-tinations for Messi if he gets hiswish to quit the Camp Nou.

Klopp insisted he wouldlove to have Messi, but madeit clear the 33-year-oldwould not end up atAnfield.

“Interest? Yeah, who does-n’t want Messi in their team.The numbers are absolutelynot for us. We don’t evenstart thinking about it. Nochance! But... good player,”Klopp told reporters.

Liverpool f inished 18points ahead of second placedCity last season as they won theEnglish title for the first timesince 1990.

And Klopp concededLiverpool’s bid to retain thePremier League crown wouldclearly be under threat if Messijoined City.

But the former BorussiaDortmund boss believes itwould be a significant coup for

English football to have one ofthe world’s greatest ever playersin the Premier League.

“It would make it evenmore difficult to beat them(City) which was already verydifficult,” Klopp told a newsconference ahead of Saturday’sCommunity Shield clash withFA Cup winners Arsenal atWembley.

“For the Premier League, itwould be great having the bestplayer in the world in theleague. I’m not sure the PremierLeague needs a boost but itwould be.

“It would be interestingtoo because Messi has neverplayed in another league apartfrom Spain. I would like to seeit but I’m not sure if I will.”

Klopp confirmed centreback Virgil van Dijk is fit to faceArsenal after recovering from ahead injury sustained duringLiverpool’s pre-season friendlywith RB Salzburg.

Jordan Henderson is alsoset to play but Trent Alexander-Arnold may miss out because ofinjury. “Trent’s very close butwe have to make a decisionabout him tomorrow,” Kloppsaid.

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Cricket Australia (CA) hasrestricted its players from

using sweat from the head,face and neck to shine the ballduring the upcoming limitedovers tour of England in a bidto reduce the risk of Covid-19transmission.

The ICC has banned theuse of saliva on the ball asan interim health safetymeasure in the wake ofthe pandemic. However,a player is still permittedto use sweat from any-where on thebody and rub iton the ball.

But CAis taking ac aut i ou sapproacht or e d u c eany riskof transmissionof the novelcoronavir us .Based on med-ical advice theboard hasasked its play-ers to not use

sweat from near the mouth ornose, according toCricket.Com.Au.

This leaves players withoption of using sweat fromeither their stomach or back,during the white-ball seriesagainst England, startingSeptember 4 in Southampton.

The team’s premier pacerMitchell Starc feels the regu-

lation will not have muchaffect in the limited oversformats.

“It’s probably notsomething that’s too rel-

evant in white-ball crick-et. Once that new ball

starts to go, you’retrying to keep itdry anyway. It’smore of a ques-tion for red-ballcricket,” Starcsaid.

“No doubtwe’ll find out what

it’s like in thesepractice games andif we need to revis-it some planning

around it, I’m surewe’ll have a chat beforethe series gets under-way,” he added.

����� ���

Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldoon Thursday said that his “spir-

it and ambition were as high asever” as he strives to “break recordsand conquer the world” next sea-son. The Portuguese forwardwon his second Scudetto withJuventus, but despite his dou-ble against Lyon the Italiangiants exited the ChampionsLeague to the Frenchclub in the last 16.

“As I’m gettingready for my thirdseason as aBianconero, my spir-it and ambition areas high as ever,” the 35-year-old wrote onInstagram.

“Goals. Victories.

Commitment. Dedication.Professionalism.

“With all my strength andwith the precious help from myteammates and all of the Juventusstaff, we work once again to con-quer Italy, Europe and the World!Breaking records.”

“Overcoming obstacles,” con-tinued Ronaldo of his ambitionsfor next season which starts onSeptember 19.

“Winning titles and achiev-ing personal goals. To do moreand better once and again.

“To reach higher and tosucceed in all challenges thatmay come our way.”

“We are Juventus! We arethe Champions! We are backand stronger than ever! Weare counting on you! Alltogether! Fino Alla Fine!”

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An India T20 specialist isamong multiple members of

the Chennai Super Kings contin-gent who have tested positive forCovid-19, forcing the IPL franchiseto extend its quarantine period inDubai and causing upheaval aheadof the event starting September 19.

The franchise is yet to issue aformal statement but a leaguesource told PTI that the numberof positive cases could be between10 and 12.

“Yes, a right-arm medium fastbowler, who has recently played forIndia in white-ball cricket, alongwith a few staff members have test-ed positive for Covid-19. Thenumber could be as high as 12,” the

senior IPL source said.The development has forced

the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-ledside to extend the quarantineperiod till September 1.

While there is panic in theBCCI’s rank and file after this butit is understood that for the timebeing, there is no imminent threatto the league, shifted out of Indiathis year due to the pandemic.

The scheduling conventionfollowed in the IPL is two finalistsof the previous year playing theinaugural game which would have

been Chennai Super Kings anddefending champions MumbaiIndians this season.

However, it’s still not clear ifCSK would be ready for theSeptember 19 league opener.

The source revealed that allCovid-19 positive results cameduring day 1, 3 and 6 of testingafter the contingent’s arrival inDubai.

“As far as we know, one of thesenior-most officials of the CSKmanagement, an official’s wife, andat least two members of their social

media team are also Covid-19 pos-itive,” he said.

According to the BCCI’sStandard Operating Procedure(SOP), all those who test positiveare mandated to go through anadditional seven-day quarantine.

They can enter the bio-securebubble only after returning nega-tive in tests to be conducted afterthe extended isolation.

It is understood that all themembers of the jumbo contingent,who tested positive, are “largelyasymptomatic”.

The biggest challenge will betracing those who came in contactwith these contingent members asit is understood that most of themcontracted the virus in Chennai,where the team had a short train-ing camp before heading to Dubai.

“If you see, they all had test-ed negative for Covid during thetwo RT-PCR tests conducted inChennai ahead of their departure.Had they been positive, theywouldn’t have been able to boardthe flight in the first place,” theleague source stated.

It is understood those whohave tested negative will be allowedto enter the bio-bubble. However,the IPL source believes that thelikelihood of the team’s campstarting on September 1 is slim.

“I don’t think they can start thecamp from September 1. It willtake at least till September 5before they can even think ofresuming the camp,” he said.

In the BCCI corridors, therewas bewilderment over the team’sdecision to have a camp inChennai before boarding the flightto Dubai. Tamil Nadu has record-ed more than 4 lakh cases so far.

“CSK practised three days inChennai out of the five days. Wasthere any tangible gain achievedfrom that camp?” a BCCI officialsaid.

It remains to be seen what pro-tocols will be followed for allthose players who will be arrivinglate after the conclusion of theCaribbean Premier League and theEngland vs Australia limited-overseries.

It couldn’t be immediatelyconfirmed whether the BCCI willbe coming out with an officialrelease on the issue confirming thename of the player and the staffmembers.

�����?�?���

Rohit Sharma’s childhood coach DineshLad expects nothing less than a World

Cup-winning performance from his protegein the 2023 edition at home following hisstellar show in the 50-over showpiece eventlast year, when he smashed five hundreds butIndia lost in the semifinals.

Rohit was recently announced as one ofthe winners of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratnaaward, India’s highest sporting honour.

“Getting the Khel Ratna is a greatachievement. I should not say this but if apoor boy has talent and he justifies it andhas luck, then that boy canreach the sky and a livingexample of it is RohitSharma.

“All that he has earneddue to his hard work andtalent. My expectationis that the forthcom-ing 50-over WorldCup, Rohit shouldwin it for India onhis own ability,”Lad, a popularcricket coach inMumbai circles,said on Marathicricket chat showCoffee Cricket AniBarech Kahi.

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Manchester United cap-tain Harry Maguire

defended his actions inGreece that led to him beingcharged with assaulting apolice officer and attemptedbribery, saying that hethought he was being kid-napped and feared for hislife.

Maguire was convictedand handed a suspended21-month sentence by aGreek court on Tuesday butwas granted a retrial afterlodging a successful appeal.

Maguire made his firstpublic comments about theincident on the island ofMykonos in an interviewwith the BBC, saying plain-clothed police officers pulledhim and a friend out of aminivan they were travelingin and started hitting them.

“My initial thought, Ithought we were gettingkidnapped.

We got down on ourknees, we put our hands inthe air, they just started hit-ting us,” Maguire said.

“They were hitting myleg saying my career’s over:

‘No more football. You won’tplay again.’

“And at this point Ithought there is no chancethese are police or I don’tknow who they are so I triedto run away, I was in thatmuch of a panic, fear, scaredfor my life. All the waythrough it.”

Maguire claimed thatincident took place outsidea police station after heattempted to take hisyounger sister Daisy to ahospital because sheappeared to be losing con-sciousness having beenapproached by two menduring a night out.

The 27-year-old centerback denied attempting tobribe the police.

When asked about that,he replied: “No, for sure. Assoon as I saw that statement,it’s just ridiculous.”

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India’s Sumit Nagal will takeon United States’ Bradley

Klahn in the first round of themen’s singles draw at US Open.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran,who was among the alternatesand flew to New York, missedthe main draw by one spot and

will not be part of the bio-secure bubble. Due to the newrules, a doubles player will getin the draw now if a singlesspot opens up.

Nagal, ranked 122 in theworld currently, takes on Klahn(world No 128) and should heovercome his opponent, facesa daunting task in the second

round. Second seed DominicThiem, who takes on world No104 Jaume Munar, will face thewinner of Nagal versus Klahnin the round of 64.

The Indian No 1 was thelast man to receive direct entryinto the field of 128, which wasdetermined using the latestATP rankings.

Covid