"% TZgZ]ZR_d \Z]]VU Z_ ?RXR]R_U - Daily Pioneer

12
I n one of the most serious incidents of violence in the past few years in northeast India, at least 14 civilians and a soldier were killed in Nagaland on Saturday after an Army squad reportedly fired on a mini-bus carrying labour- ers returning home, after mis- taking them for insurgents. The incident took place at Tiru in Mon District of Nagaland. Irate villagers later ran amok and in the resultant riot- ing, a soldier was killed. Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Sunday promised a high-level probe into the inci- dent and appealed for peace. The State Government consti- tuted a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT). He was in the national Capital for a meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and rushed back to handle the sit- uation. The State Government has banned mobile internet and data services as well as bulk SMSs in the district to curb “circulation of inflammatory videos, pictures or text.” The incident triggered protests in some parts of the State with the mobs setting an Assam Rifles camp on fire. Home Minister Amit Shah in a tweet expressed “deepest condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives. A high-level SIT constituted by the State Government will thoroughly probe this incident to ensure justice to the bereaved families.” Given the nature of the incident, the Army ordered a Court of Inquiry (CoI) and said: “The incident and its aftermath is deeply regretted. The cause of the unfortunate loss of lives is being investigat- ed at the highest level and appropriate action will be taken as per the course of law. The security forces have suffered severe injuries in the incident including one soldier who suc- cumbed to the injuries.” The Army said that based on credible Intelligence of the likely movement of insurgents, a specific operation was planned to be conducted in the Tiru area. Reports from the ground indicated that the incident took place when some daily wage labourers were returning home in a pick-up van at about 5 PM. The security forces report- edly mistook the workers to be insurgents belonging to the Yung Aung faction of the pro- scribed group NSCN(K). Six workers were killed in the fir- ing on the spot and two died in the hospital. When the workers did not reach home till late in the evening, villagers began look- ing for them. When they came to know of the firing, they sur- rounded the Army vehicles and set some of them on fire. The Army jawans then report- edly fired in self defence. Six more civilians were killed and a solider died in the attack by the villagers. The incident triggered protests in some parts of the State on Sunday afternoon as mobs vandalised the offices of the Konyak Union and an Assam Rifles camp. T he super mutant Omicron, a variant of Covid-19, is spreading fast across the country. As many as 17 new cases were reported on Sunday — Jaipur (9), Pune (7) and Delhi (1) on Sunday — taking the tally to 21 so far. Delhi on Sunday reported its first case of the Omicron infec- tion. State Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that a man of Indian origin who had come to Delhi from Tanzania a few days ago and was infected with the Omicron variant. The patient, a resident of Ranchi, had travelled from Tanzania to Doha and from there to Delhi on a Qatar Airways flight on December 2. He stayed in Johannesburg, South Africa, for a week, officials said. The per- son is “fully vaccinated” and is currently admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital with “mild symptoms”, an official said. Elsewhere, as many as seven people tested positive for Omicron in Maharashtra’s Pune district on Sunday. A 44-year-old woman from Lagos, Nigeria, who had come to visit her broth- er on November 24 in Pimpri- Chinchwad, along with her two daughters, has been found to be infected with the new variant by the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Her 45-year-old brother and his two daughters aged two and seven, were also found to be infected with Omicron. Additionally, a 47-year-old man, who had recently travelled to Finland, also tested positive for the variant in Pune. Four of those found positive were fully vaccinated, while the other three are minors, said the officials. Meanwhile, nine members from a family in Adarsh Nagar in Jaipur tested positive for Omicron after returning from South Africa. The family of nine recently returned from South Africa. The family members, resident of the Adarsh Nagar area, had tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday. Their samples were sent for genome sequencing and the report confirming Omicron infection came on Sunday. As per a senior medical offi- cial, the family had already been admitted to the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences (RUHS). Five other people who came in contact with the family and were found Covid-19 posi- tive are also being admitted to the RUHS. In the wake of the new Omicron cases, the Rajasthan Government imposed a curfew in the Rohisa area of Nagaur. In the meantime, five pas- sengers, who came from Omicron-affected countries of Africa, were detected Covid pos- itive in Bihar’s Gopalganj district on Sunday, and their samples have been sent for genome testing. The new variant of Covid-19 was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on November 25. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year. India has added several countries ‘at risk’ to the list from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in the country, including post-arrival testing for infection. I n a mark of protest, one of the 12 suspended Rajya Sabha MPs, Priyanka Chaturvedi on Sunday resigned from Sansad TV where she was roped in to host a TV show Meri Kahani’. In a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, the Shiv Sena MP expressed her wish to step down as the host of ‘Meri Kahaani’ following her suspension from the House during the Winter Session of Parliament. “After my arbitrary sus- pension, that has totally disre- garded established Parliamentary norms & rules, to stifle my voice, my party’s voice inside the chamber, I am unwilling to continue taking space on Sansad TV when my primary oath to the constitu- tion is being denied to me,” the Shiv Sena leader wrote. She and some other MPs, including Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, were roped in by the Parliament secretariat to host a series of human interest program on Sansad TV. “That this suspension also chose to disregard my parlia- mentary track record and my contribution beyond the call of duty so as to give a platform to women parliamentarians to share their journey, I believe injustice has been done but as it is considered valid in the eyes of the chair, I must respect it,” Priyanka said in her letter to Naidu. Priyanka Chaturvedi, along with 11 other Members of Parliament, was suspended from the Upper House for alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the monsoon session in August when marshals were called after Opposition mem- bers stormed the Well of the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021. Chaturvedi further wrote to Naidu, saying, “It is with great anguish but with a sense of responsibility and having thought through this, I wish to inform you that I would like to step down as an anchor for Sansad TVs show Meri Kahani.” “I believe it is my duty that when today the highest num- ber of women MPs have been suspended in the recorded his- tory of Rajya Sabha for an entire session for speaking up for the people of this country then I need to speak up for them and stand in solidarity for them. Also, not to forget 12 MPs being suspended for an entire session for their conduct in previous session has never happened in parliament’s his- tory,” she added. T he Nagaland incident is set to rock Parliament on Monday with the Congress and several Opposition parties on Sunday attacking the Centre over the killing of civilians during an anti-insurgency operation by the Army. Declaring that they will take up the issue in Parliament, they said the Government must answer what the Home Ministry is doing as “neither civilians nor security personnel are safe in our own land.” Demanding Home Minister Amit Shah’s sacking over this crisis, the Opposition parties also announced that the Nagaland issue would be taken up in Parliament on Monday. Reacting to the incident, for- mer Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “This is heart wrenching. GOI must give a real reply. What exactly is the Home Ministry doing when neither civilians nor security personnel are safe in our own land?” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee demanded a thorough investigation into the incident which took place in a district along the border with Myanmar. “Worrisome news from Nagaland. Heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of those who were injured. We must ensure a thorough probe into the incident and ensure that all victims get justice,” Banerjee tweeted. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi asserted that he will raise the Nagaland civilian killings in the Lok Sabha on Monday. He further demanded that Union Home Minister Amit Shah be sacked. “Shah should not be allowed to resign. Only sacked. I will be giving an Adjournment Motion tomorrow in Lok Sabha,” the Lok Sabha MP said. The Nagaland Congress general secretary GK Zhimomi regretted that ultimately, inno- cent civilians continue to suf- fer and die. T he United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) have made it mandatory for all incoming passengers, including those from India, to carry a negative Covid-19 test report or proof of recovery from the contagion amid the rising number of Omicron cases. In the US, the new proto- col will come into effect from December 6. The UK will implement the measures from December 7. As per the new amended order, effectively for flights departing to the US from a for- eign country at or after 12:01 AM EST (5:01 AM GMT or 10:31 AM IST) on December 6, 2021, passengers are required to show a negative Covid-19 viral test result taken no more than one day before travel. Documentation of a negative SARS-CoV-2 viral test result from specimen collected no more than one calendar day preceding the passenger’s flight to the US or documentation of having recovered from Covid- 19 in the past 90 days, before they board their flight. Air passengers will also be required to confirm in the form of an attestation that the information they present is true. The one-day period is one day before the flight’s depar- ture. The order uses a one-day time frame instead of 24 hours to provide more flexibility to the air passenger and aircraft operator. C hief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has congratulat- ed the people of the State for completing more than 9 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine in Madhya Pradesh. He has expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the social workers, voluntary organizations, members of Crisis Management Committee, health workers and public representatives actively engaged in this pious work. Chouhan has said that vaccination is very necessary to prevent the arrival of new vari- ants and third wave of corona in the State. Chouhan has appealed to all eligible citizens who have not yet got the first or second dose of vaccine so far, to fulfill their responsibility, and get vaccinated and ensure their participation in averting the possible crisis. He said that Prime Minister Shri Modi has given excellent leadership to all of us in every crisis. He has directly given this message to the public, as to what precau- tions should be taken. The Chief Minister has said that in the last few days, positive cases are constantly coming up in many districts of the state including Bhopal, Indore. In the last few days their number has increased. This is enough to warn us. All the symptoms that are visible are a sign of the coming crisis. It is necessary that we take utmost care. Chouhan said that it is necessary for everyone to get the second dose of the vaccine, this is our biggest pri- ority. Ensure all necessary arrangements tight, do not let the third wave of corona come, this is the challenge. Chouhan said that public representa- tives and members of the Crisis Management Committee should motivate citizens to apply face masks, and get the second dose of the vaccine. Chouhan said that the new variant of corona infection, Omicron, should be tackled on the basis of public-participation model. Availability of oxygen plant, ventilator and all other emergency necessary arrange- ments are available in the state. We will try that they are not needed at all. At present, the process of creating an envi- ronment is being accelerated for strict adherence to masks, social distancing and other precautions. F ive persons were killed, while 20 others injured in two sep- arate road accidents in Rajgarh and Panna districts of Madhya Pradesh. In Rajgarh, a brother- sister duo and another girl died on the spot on Saturday night when a speeding truck hit their motorcycle on National Highway-52, Khilchipur police station in-charge Pradip Golia said.A case was registered against the truck driver and the vehicle has bee seized. In Panna, two persons were killed and at least 20 other peo- ple injured when their tractor- trolley overturned near Kishangarh village on Saturday evening, district Collector Sanjay Kumar Mishra said. The victims were returning to their village Bhupatpura from Jatashankar Dham in neighbouring Chhatarpur dis- trict, the police said.The deceased included a woman and the tractor driver, they said. Three persons were seriously injured in the accident and referred to the Rewa Medical College for further treatment, Mishra said. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

Transcript of "% TZgZ]ZR_d \Z]]VU Z_ ?RXR]R_U - Daily Pioneer

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In one of the most seriousincidents of violence in the

past few years in northeastIndia, at least 14 civilians anda soldier were killed inNagaland on Saturday after anArmy squad reportedly firedon a mini-bus carrying labour-ers returning home, after mis-taking them for insurgents.The incident took place at Tiruin Mon District of Nagaland.

Irate villagers later ranamok and in the resultant riot-ing, a soldier was killed.

Chief Minister NeiphiuRio on Sunday promised ahigh-level probe into the inci-dent and appealed for peace.The State Government consti-tuted a five-member SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT). Hewas in the national Capital fora meeting with DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh andrushed back to handle the sit-

uation.The State Government has

banned mobile internet anddata services as well as bulkSMSs in the district to curb“circulation of inflammatoryvideos, pictures or text.” Theincident triggered protests insome parts of the State with themobs setting an Assam Riflescamp on fire.

Home Minister Amit Shahin a tweet expressed “deepestcondolences to the families ofthose who have lost their lives.A high-level SIT constituted bythe State Government willthoroughly probe this incidentto ensure justice to thebereaved families.”

Given the nature of theincident, the Army ordered aCourt of Inquiry (CoI) andsaid: “The incident and itsaftermath is deeply regretted.The cause of the unfortunateloss of lives is being investigat-ed at the highest level and

appropriate action will be takenas per the course of law. Thesecurity forces have sufferedsevere injuries in the incidentincluding one soldier who suc-

cumbed to the injuries.”The Army said that based

on credible Intelligence of thelikely movement of insurgents,a specific operation was

planned to be conducted in theTiru area.

Reports from the groundindicated that the incident tookplace when some daily wagelabourers were returning homein a pick-up van at about 5 PM.

The security forces report-edly mistook the workers to beinsurgents belonging to theYung Aung faction of the pro-scribed group NSCN(K). Sixworkers were killed in the fir-ing on the spot and two died inthe hospital.

When the workers did notreach home till late in theevening, villagers began look-ing for them. When they cameto know of the firing, they sur-rounded the Army vehiclesand set some of them on fire.The Army jawans then report-edly fired in self defence. Sixmore civilians were killed anda solider died in the attack bythe villagers.

The incident triggeredprotests in some parts of theState on Sunday afternoon asmobs vandalised the offices ofthe Konyak Union and anAssam Rifles camp.

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The super mutant Omicron, avariant of Covid-19, is

spreading fast across the country.As many as 17 new cases werereported on Sunday — Jaipur (9),Pune (7) and Delhi (1) on Sunday— taking the tally to 21 so far.

Delhi on Sunday reported itsfirst case of the Omicron infec-tion. State Health MinisterSatyendar Jain said that a man ofIndian origin who had come toDelhi from Tanzania a few daysago and was infected with theOmicron variant. The patient, aresident of Ranchi, had travelledfrom Tanzania to Doha and fromthere to Delhi on a Qatar Airwaysflight on December 2. He stayedin Johannesburg, South Africa,for a week, officials said. The per-son is “fully vaccinated” and iscurrently admitted to the LokNayak Jai Prakash Narayan(LNJP) Hospital with “mildsymptoms”, an official said.

Elsewhere, as many as sevenpeople tested positive forOmicron in Maharashtra’s Punedistrict on Sunday. A 44-year-old

woman from Lagos, Nigeria,who had come to visit her broth-er on November 24 in Pimpri-Chinchwad, along with her twodaughters, has been found to beinfected with the new variant bythe National Institute of Virology,Pune. Her 45-year-old brotherand his two daughters aged twoand seven, were also found to beinfected with Omicron.Additionally, a 47-year-old man,who had recently travelled toFinland, also tested positive forthe variant in Pune.

Four of those found positivewere fully vaccinated, while theother three are minors, said the officials.

Meanwhile, nine membersfrom a family in Adarsh Nagar inJaipur tested positive for Omicronafter returning from South Africa.

The family of nine recentlyreturned from South Africa. Thefamily members, resident of theAdarsh Nagar area, had testedpositive for Covid-19 on Friday.Their samples were sent forgenome sequencing and thereport confirming Omicroninfection came on Sunday.

As per a senior medical offi-cial, the family had already beenadmitted to the RajasthanUniversity of Health Sciences(RUHS). Five other people whocame in contact with the familyand were found Covid-19 posi-tive are also being admitted to theRUHS. In the wake of the newOmicron cases, the RajasthanGovernment imposed a curfew inthe Rohisa area of Nagaur.

In the meantime, five pas-sengers, who came fromOmicron-affected countries ofAfrica, were detected Covid pos-itive in Bihar’s Gopalganj districton Sunday, and their samples have been sent forgenome testing.

The new variant of Covid-19was first reported to the WHOfrom South Africa on November25. As per the WHO, the firstknown confirmed B.1.1.529infection was from a specimencollected on November 9 thisyear. India has added severalcountries ‘at risk’ to the list fromwhere travellers would need tofollow additional measures onarrival in the country, includingpost-arrival testing for infection.

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In a mark of protest, one ofthe 12 suspended Rajya

Sabha MPs, PriyankaChaturvedi on Sunday resignedfrom Sansad TV where she wasroped in to host a TV show‘Meri Kahani’.

In a letter to Rajya SabhaChairman M Venkaiah Naidu,the Shiv Sena MP expressed herwish to step down as the hostof ‘Meri Kahaani’ followingher suspension from the Houseduring the Winter Session of Parliament.

“After my arbitrary sus-pension, that has totally disre-garded establishedParliamentary norms & rules,to stifle my voice, my party’svoice inside the chamber, I amunwilling to continue taking

space on Sansad TV when myprimary oath to the constitu-tion is being denied to me,” theShiv Sena leader wrote.

She and some other MPs,including Lok Sabha MPShashi Tharoor, were roped inby the Parliament secretariat tohost a series of human interestprogram on Sansad TV.

“That this suspension alsochose to disregard my parlia-mentary track record and mycontribution beyond the call ofduty so as to give a platform towomen parliamentarians toshare their journey, I believeinjustice has been done but asit is considered valid in the eyesof the chair, I must respect it,”Priyanka said in her letter to Naidu.

Priyanka Chaturvedi, along

with 11 other Members ofParliament, was suspendedfrom the Upper House foralleged unruly conduct towardsthe end of the monsoon sessionin August when marshals were

called after Opposition mem-bers stormed the Well of theHouse during the passage ofthe General Insurance Business(Nationalisation) AmendmentBill, 2021.

Chaturvedi further wroteto Naidu, saying, “It is withgreat anguish but with a senseof responsibility and havingthought through this, I wish toinform you that I would like tostep down as an anchor forSansad TVs show Meri Kahani.”

“I believe it is my duty thatwhen today the highest num-ber of women MPs have beensuspended in the recorded his-tory of Rajya Sabha for anentire session for speaking upfor the people of this countrythen I need to speak up forthem and stand in solidarity forthem. Also, not to forget 12MPs being suspended for anentire session for their conductin previous session has neverhappened in parliament’s his-tory,” she added.

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The Nagaland incident is setto rock Parliament on

Monday with the Congressand several Opposition partieson Sunday attacking the Centreover the killing of civiliansduring an anti-insurgencyoperation by the Army.

Declaring that they willtake up the issue in Parliament,

they said the Government mustanswer what the HomeMinistry is doing as “neithercivilians nor security personnelare safe in our own land.”

Demanding HomeMinister Amit Shah’s sackingover this crisis, the Oppositionparties also announced that theNagaland issue would be takenup in Parliament on Monday.

Reacting to the incident, for-mer Congress president RahulGandhi tweeted, “This is heartwrenching. GOI must give a realreply. What exactly is the HomeMinistry doing when neither

civilians nor security personnelare safe in our own land?”

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee demanded athorough investigation into theincident which took place in adistrict along the border withMyanmar. “Worrisome newsfrom Nagaland.

Heartfelt condolences tothe bereaved families. I pray forthe speedy recovery of thosewho were injured. We mustensure a thorough probe intothe incident and ensure that allvictims get justice,” Banerjeetweeted.

AIMIM presidentAsaduddin Owaisi assertedthat he will raise the Nagalandcivilian killings in the LokSabha on Monday. He furtherdemanded that Union HomeMinister Amit Shah be sacked.“Shah should not be allowed toresign. Only sacked. I will begiving an Adjournment Motiontomorrow in Lok Sabha,” theLok Sabha MP said.

The Nagaland Congressgeneral secretary GK Zhimomiregretted that ultimately, inno-cent civilians continue to suf-fer and die.

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The United States (US) andthe United Kingdom (UK)

have made it mandatory for allincoming passengers, includingthose from India, to carry anegative Covid-19 test report orproof of recovery from thecontagion amid the risingnumber of Omicron cases.

In the US, the new proto-col will come into effect fromDecember 6. The UK willimplement the measures fromDecember 7.

As per the new amendedorder, effectively for flightsdeparting to the US from a for-eign country at or after 12:01AM EST (5:01 AM GMT or10:31 AM IST) on December 6,2021, passengers are requiredto show a negative Covid-19viral test result taken no morethan one day before travel.Documentation of a negativeSARS-CoV-2 viral test result

from specimen collected nomore than one calendar daypreceding the passenger’s flightto the US or documentation ofhaving recovered from Covid-19 in the past 90 days, beforethey board their flight.

Air passengers will also berequired to confirm in theform of an attestation that theinformation they present istrue. The one-day period is oneday before the flight’s depar-ture. The order uses a one-daytime frame instead of 24 hoursto provide more flexibility tothe air passenger and aircraft operator.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has congratulat-

ed the people of the State forcompleting more than 9 croredoses of Covid-19 vaccine inMadhya Pradesh. He hasexpressed his heartfelt gratitudeto the social workers, voluntaryorganizations, members ofCrisis ManagementCommittee, health workersand public representativesactively engaged in this piouswork. Chouhan has said thatvaccination is very necessary toprevent the arrival of new vari-ants and third wave of coronain the State.

Chouhan has appealed toall eligible citizens who havenot yet got the first or seconddose of vaccine so far, to fulfilltheir responsibility, and getvaccinated and ensure theirparticipation in averting thepossible crisis. He said thatPrime Minister Shri Modi hasgiven excellent leadership to allof us in every crisis. He hasdirectly given this message tothe public, as to what precau-tions should be taken.

The Chief Minister hassaid that in the last few days,positive cases are constantly

coming up in many districts ofthe state including Bhopal,Indore. In the last few daystheir number has increased.This is enough to warn us. Allthe symptoms that are visibleare a sign of the coming crisis.It is necessary that we takeutmost care. Chouhan saidthat it is necessary for everyoneto get the second dose of thevaccine, this is our biggest pri-ority. Ensure all necessaryarrangements tight, do not letthe third wave of corona come,this is the challenge. Chouhansaid that public representa-tives and members of the CrisisManagement Committeeshould motivate citizens toapply face masks, and get thesecond dose of the vaccine.

Chouhan said that the newvariant of corona infection,Omicron, should be tackled onthe basis of public-participationmodel. Availability of oxygenplant, ventilator and all otheremergency necessary arrange-ments are available in the state.We will try that they are notneeded at all. At present, theprocess of creating an envi-ronment is being acceleratedfor strict adherence to masks,social distancing and otherprecautions.

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Five persons were killed, while20 others injured in two sep-

arate road accidents in Rajgarhand Panna districts of MadhyaPradesh. In Rajgarh, a brother-sister duo and another girl diedon the spot on Saturday nightwhen a speeding truck hit theirmotorcycle on NationalHighway-52, Khilchipur policestation in-charge Pradip Goliasaid.A case was registered againstthe truck driver and the vehiclehas bee seized.

In Panna, two persons werekilled and at least 20 other peo-ple injured when their tractor-trolley overturned nearKishangarh village on Saturdayevening, district Collector SanjayKumar Mishra said.

The victims were returningto their village Bhupatpurafrom Jatashankar Dham inneighbouring Chhatarpur dis-trict, the police said.Thedeceased included a womanand the tractor driver, they said.Three persons were seriouslyinjured in the accident andreferred to the Rewa MedicalCollege for further treatment,Mishra said.

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Akums Drugs &Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a

New Delhi-based pharmaceu-ticals contract research andmanufacturing servicesprovider, recently announcedthat the company has receivedthe ‘India Pharma Award 2021’during the CphI at the IndiaExpo Center.

The 8th edition of theannual award recognizesAkums’ contribution to thehealthcare sector. It alsoacknowledges Akums Drugs &Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for excel-lence in contract research &manufacturing.

Earlier, Akums Drugs &Pharmaceuticals has baggedthe prestigious India PharmaLeader Award for the year2018 & 2019. Moreover, theorganization has been featuredin the 2020 issue of NextFortune 500.

Akums is India’s largestContract Research andManufacturing (CRAMS)

organization responsible formanufacturing approximately12% of all drugs consumed inthe country. The organizationoffers a comprehensive range ofservices starting from formu-lation development to marketlaunch all en suite.

The company offers exclu-sive services in the field of com-mercial drug development fromthe point of formulation till itsmarket launch. The organiza-tion has 13 advanced manu-facturing units which collec-tively are producing 12 percent of the nation’s drug supply.

Commenting on theaward, DC Jain, Chairperson ofAkums said, "This recognitionand subsequent felicitation ofour enterprise is going to fuelus to work even harder and tokeep delivering the best thereis in the health industry. Wethank the India PharmaAwards for its recognition; wewill continue to work harder toserve our nation and take itsname across the world."

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On Sunday, play Artu Jitu -Rang Rangeela Gittu

Girgit was presented at theShadow Box Theatre Festival,raising the concern and manyserious questions.

To mark the 20th anniver-sary of the shadow box,Sunday's presentation focusedexclusively on children at thefestival. Dhanendra Kawande ofBalaghat, had brought this pre-sentation. Dhanendra is alsoknown for children's theatre.

Regarding his presenta-tion, he told that we all wear

different colors figuratively andliterally. But a chameleon hasno colour, it changes colouraccording to its surroundings.Nature has given chameleons atool for survival. But what if

nature itself starts running outof colours. The trees are losinggreen colour. There is no bluecolour left in the sky. The sunis turning red. In short, natureis losing a war.

A phenomenon is hap-pening continuously which wecall global warming. Gittu is asimple chameleon who wantsto bring color back to life. Thatis his mission. Which forcespeople to think about what weare doing for our planet.

The story is of RangRangeela Gittu Girgit.GittuGirgit wants to become a painterand paint the whole world withhis paints but he thinks that hedoes not have enough colours.Later it is learned that nature hasalready given them all thecolours. Now it is their respon-sibility to use it frugally and paytheir dues towards the earth ontime. Gittu does not give anysermon to save the earth. Ratherhe wants to bring back the col-ors of the earth.

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The scope of power of PublicAccounts Committees

should be increased, this wasemphasised in the argumentput by Madhya PradeshLegislative Assembly in thetwo-day centenary celebrationsof the Public AccountsCommittee of India.

Speakers of LegislativeAssemblies across the countryand chairpersons of PublicAccounts Committees partici-

pated in this program orga-nized by the Lok Sabha in theCentral Hall of ParliamentHouse, New Delhi.

Madhya Pradesh was rep-resented by PC Sharma,Chairman of Public AccountsCommittee in the presence ofSpeaker Girish Gautam. On thelast day of the program, onSunday, along with membersRampal Singh and RajendraShukla, Principal Secretary APSingh also attended.

On the first day of this two-day event, Madhya Pradesh hasdrawn attention to the func-tioning and challenges of thePublic Accounts Committeesin the present times anddemanded that the jurisdictionof the examination of the com-

mittee should not be limited tothe departments of the gov-ernment, but non-governmentfinance within its purview.

It is important that so farthis committee only examinesthe paragraphs contained inthe reports relating to revenuereceipts, civil and surplus, pre-sented by the AccountantGeneral on the basis of the auditof these departments. This is thereason why Madhya Pradeshside was also presented here tostrengthen the systems of PublicAccounts Committee and pro-mote good governance. Inwhich the existing system oftimelines and administrativemachinery for strict complianceof the recommendations hasbeen prominent.

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In the 64th National RifleShooting Championship-

2021, women players per-formed brilliantly in the qual-ification round on Sunday.

Shruti Parihar, SharanyaLakhan, Mantasha Akil, YanaRathore, Ashlesha Sapre of MPperformed well in the qualifica-tion in their respective categories.

The championship is beingorganized under the joint aegisof Sports and Youth WelfareDepartment and National RifleAssociation of India at MPShooting Academy, Bisankhedifrom November 25 toDecember 10.

Shruti Parihar of MP

Academy has secured thefourth position with 1147marks in 50m rifle three posi-tion women's category.

In this category, ChetnaRahi of ITBP remains at the topwith 1158 points. Army's Priyais second with 1157 marksand Railways' Savita Thakur isthird with 1148 points. In 50mRifle Three Position JuniorWomen's category SurbhiBhardwaj Rapol of Telanganastood first with 1145 points,Ramita of Haryana came sec-ond with 1145 points andMehek Jatana of Punjab stoodthird with 1143 points.

Madhya Pradesh'sSharanya Lakhan is eighth with1128 points, Mantasha Akil is15th with 1117 points, YanaRathore is 20th with 1114points and Ashlesha Sapre is21st with 1109 points.

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Koh-e-Fiza police havebooked a miscreant for

stealing a bag carrying valu-ables worth lakhs of rupeesfrom Gulmohar Garden Cityduring marriage ceremony onSaturday; accused was spottedin CCTV footage which weremade viral to nab.

Police have registered acase of theft and started inves-tigation of theft which tookplace late in the night at themarriage venue.

According to the police,victim Waqaq Ahmed’s daugh-ter marriage function was atGulmohar Garden City andduring the marriage a bag hav-ing the valuables was stolenfrom the venue which was car-ried by Waqar’s wife Sultana.The bag was having keys ofnew car, cash, jewelry andmobile phone.

In his complaint, the victimstated that his wife was carry-ing the bag which was havingRs 50000 to Rs 60000 cash,mobile phone and a gold chainand two gold finger rings, keysof new car and at around 10when she was asked to havephotographs she kept the bagbehind the chair within fewseconds accused stole it. Thewhole incident was captured inthe CCTV footage.

The victim informed thefamily members and searchwas conducted at the venue butnothing was found at the venueand later a complaint waslodged with Koh-e-Fiza police.After preliminary investiga-tion, the police registered a caseunder section 379 of the IPCand have started further inves-tigation.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said that Nar

Sewa is Narayan Sewa. Serviceto the suffering person is equalto the service of God. Serviceto the sick person is para-mount. The way in whicharrangements have been madefor investigation and treatmentfor all, including the poor, theunderprivileged in the medicalcamp organized by Late KailashPrasoon Sarang Foundation, iscommendable. Chouhan wasaddressing a medical camporganized by Kailash PrasoonSarang Foundation at AshokaGarden, Bhopal.

Chouhan said that thecamp has provided facilities fortesting with state-of-the-artmachines and treatment fromspecialist doctors of the coun-try in their own city. Thiscamp will prove to be effectivein providing relief from thestress of costly treatment to thesuffering persons. All necessaryarrangements and public con-venience have been taken careof in the camp. This camp is aunique example of micro plan-ning. The cordial behavior ofthe experts and paramedicalstaff is commendable.

The Chief Minister met Dr

Yugal Mishra, Heart Surgeon ofManipal Hospital New DelhiDr. Amit Joshi of Tata CancerHospital, Mumbai Dr. DilipNikam, Cancer Specialist ofBombay Hospital, Mumbai Dr.Suyash Kulkarni, Radiologist ofTata Memorial Hospital AshokAnand of JJ Hospital Mumbai,Dr. Srirang Bichu, KidneySpecialist from BombayHospital, Dr. Mohit Bhandariof Indore and Dr. RakeshTaran, Cancer Specialist fromIndore, etc who came to givetheir services in the camp.

Chouhan visited the campfor registration and admissioncenter, pathology sample col-lection center, OPD, free med-icine distribution center, stallsset up by Gandhi MedicalCollege, stalls of ChirayuMedical College and HospitalBhopal and Sri AurobindoInstitute of Medical ScienceIndore, sickle cell anemia testand counseling center and freemedicine distribution center.

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An exhibition of paintings ofGond artist Mangroo Uike

'Shalaka 20' is being displayedin the 'Likhandra Gallery' of theMadhya Pradesh TribalMuseum.

This painting exhibitionwill continue till December30. The displayed paintingswill also be available for sale,which can be purchased fromthe painter. Ink and acrylic col-ors have been used in thesepaintings.

Along with this, paintingsrelated to environment, ani-mals, fort and many other sto-ries are seen.

Paintings include fox andbird group, deer bird pair,bassin girl, tree and tiger, deerand bird, deer and bird, fishship, deer and bird, tree anddeer, peacock and tree andtiger, birds eating fruit fromtree, fruit, creatures and othersubjects are visible.

Painter Mangroo Uikeywas born in the year 1977 inPatangarh village of Dindori,Madhya Pradesh. MangrooUike is a young painter ofPardhan, a sub-caste of Gond.

Mangroo's childhood wasspent in the village and his earlyeducation was also done in thevillage itself. Whatever story heheard from father and elderbrother while collecting forestproduce and collecting wood,it would get recorded some-where in his mind.

Considered Jangarh SinghShyam as his art guru andlearned from him the nuancesof painting, color combina-tions, variety of shapes etc.

Mangroo lived with his artguru for about 10 years and,collaborating on the paintingsmade by him, began to paintfor himself.

In the last 20 years,Mangroo has exhibited hispaintings in many art galleriesof the country and has also par-ticipated in painting campsorganized in different cities ofthe country including Bhopal,New Delhi, Bangalore.

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Shahpura police have bookeda Senior Manager of a Dilip

Buildcon Ltd(DBL) companyfor cheating lakhs of rupees; acomplaint was lodged by GMafter the company found thataccused had fraudulently col-lected money from vendorsand cheated company.

Police said that the GM ofDBL Satyanaryan Purohitlodged complaint after fraud bySenior Manager Sunil Kumarsurfaced.

In his complaint, Purohitstated that the Sunil used towork as Senior Manager andcollected Rs 5 lakh from a ven-dor for clearing payment ofcement and other material sup-plier worth lakhs of rupees.

He was working for longand was assigned for differentworks, and used to facilitatepayment of vendors and theyhave informed that Rs 4 lakh toRs 5 lakh were collected fromvendor. In the same mannerother vendors have also lodgedcomplaint of same nature.

After it was found that thefunds were transferred in herpersonal bank account a com-plaint was lodged with thepolice.

Based on the complaintafter the preliminary investi-gation the police have regis-tered a case under sections 406and 420 of the IPC and start-ed further investigation.

The police suspect that theaccused might have embezzledmore funds which would berevealed in the further investi-gation.

On Monday the bankdetails of the accused would bechecked and which would helpin revealing other frauds.

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Bhopal : The Baghsewaniapolice have arrested a fraudsterwho duped victim by posing asReliance Wholesale in the nameof investment in company andduped to the tune of �7000.

The victim, Anil Kumaroperates a shop in Baghsewaniawhere accused came and dupedto the tune in the name ofReliance Wholesale. The victimwas lured of making the invest-ment and earn with Reliance

Wholesale. Providing modus operandi

the accused told that he was fondof luxurious life and to maintainsuch life he dupe victims in dif-ferent frauds. Police registered acase under section 420 of the IPCand section 66(D) of IT Act.

During the investigationwith technical assistance, accusedRavindra alias Rehan (36) ofDilkusha Bagh, was arrested,who accepted the crime and dur-

ing interrogation and other such incidents. The accused is beingquestioned regarding the detailsof the mobile bank used in theincident. In his complaint, thevictim stated that the accusedprovided a receipt of Rs 500 andtransferred Rs 6500 through e-wallet. The victim lodged com-plaint and based on the com-plaint after preliminary investi-gation police registered a case offraud . SR

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will inaugurate the

fully functional All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) in Bilaspur next year.

This was stated by BJPnational president and RajyaSabha MP JP Nadda on Sundaywhile inaugurating the outpa-tient department of AIIMS inBilaspur. Nadda also congrat-ulated Himachal Pradesh ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur andfrontline workers for makingthe state the first in the coun-try to fully vaccinate 100 percent of its adult populationagainst COVID-19.

He said that AIIMS

Bilaspur would be made fullyfunctional within next sixmonths and hoped the PrimeMinister will inaugurate it. Asmuch as Rs 2,000 crore will bespent annually to run the insti-tute while a total of Rs 44,000crore will be set aside for the 22AIIMS, he said during the pro-gramme organised to celebratethe state’s remarkable feat.

Nadda, who is a native ofBilaspur, said though AIIMSDelhi and the Post GraduateInstitute of Medical Education& Research (PGIMER),Chandigarh, had been built inand around 1960, no other pre-mier health institute had beenbuilt in other parts of thecountry until 2014. UnderModi's leadership, 22 AIIMS

are being built across the coun-try, he said.

Praising Modi and Thakur,Nadda said that the publicshould pat on the backs of thetwo leaders for carrying outunprecedented developmentalworks in the country and thestate respectively.

Speaking on the occasion,Union Health MinisterMansukh Mandaviya said Indiawas able to manufacture 31-32crore COVID-19 vaccines permonth under Modi's sincereand active leadership and thatthe Prime Minister had relaxednorms, besides providing thevaccine makers every possiblehelp in research and manufac-turing. “India has manufac-tured vaccines not only for its

citizens but also exported it tovarious countries, includingthe developed ones,” he said.

Speaking about the chal-lenges faced in vaccinating cit-izens in the hill state, the ChiefMinister Thakur said that aspecial chopper had beenarranged to reach out to peo-ple in the remote Bara Bhangalarea of Kangra district.

He said that the doctors,health workers, ASHA workers,had done wonderful work andmade the people of the Stateproud.

Thakur further said thatthe State is also fully preparedfor tackling any possible thirdwave of Corona, for which thecapacity of beds in hospitals hasbeen increased from 3804 to

8765 and it would be furtherincreased to 11000.

Union Minister and localMP Anurag Thakur said thatno citizen from the state willhave to go to PGIMER orAIIMS Delhi once the 750-bed-ded facility in Bilaspur will startfunctioning in its full capacityby June. Several COVID-19workers were honoured duringthe function. As many as53,87,714 eligible adults havebeen administered the seconddose of COVID-19 vaccine tillSaturday evening, accordingto the State Government.

Himachal Pradesh was alsothe first state to achieve 100 percent first dose vaccination ofthe adult population by the endof August.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar on

Sunday inaugurated and laidthe foundation stone of ninedevelopment projects worthRs 190 crore in district Karnal,including a new building of theMunicipal Corporation con-structed at a cost of Rs 16 crore.

The Chief Minister alsoinaugurated the IntegratedCommand and Control Centre(ICCC) set up at a cost of Rs153 crore.

While addressing a gath-ering, the Chief Minister con-gratulated the residents of thecity on the inauguration of thenew Municipal Corporationbuilding, ICCC and otherdevelopment projects and saidthat these projects will providemany facilities to the peopleand their lifestyle will becomebetter. He said that the newbuilding of MC will houserooms of Mayor, MunicipalCommissioner, Senior andDeputy Mayor, two lifts andtoilets for differently-abled andgeneral people. Centralizedair-conditioning and 10 win-dows of civic amenities havebeen made available as well.The new building is situated ata place where places of public

dealing like mini secretariat,judicial centre, electricity,HSVP and big branches ofvarious banks are situated.With this, all government facil-ities will be provided to thepublic at one place, he said.

The Chief Minister saidthat Smart City Limited has notone but different dimensions.Under this, many projects havebeen materialized, most ofwhich have already been com-pleted. ICCC is also one ofthem. Although the ICCC hasbeen set up in Gurugram andFaridabad but the centre estab-lished in Karnal has some fea-tures, which are not in any cen-tre across the country.

To control the traffic, thetraffic lights installed at the

intersections are controlledwith the help of thermal cam-eras, for example, the greenlight will remain on for a longtime to move the lane in whichmore vehicles are stopping.The aim of the centre is to inte-grate all the civic services of thecity on a single platform andprovide better services to thecitizens by connecting variousdepartments and agencies onone platform. Traffic light sen-sor cameras have been installedat intersections to facilitatetraffic flow, he added.

In this arrangement,Adaptive Traffic ControlSystem and Automatic NumberPlate Recognition cameras areinstalled at various intersec-tions of the city. Apart from

this, there are also emergencycall boxes and panic buttons,which on pressing will alert thepolice directly in the controlroom. Message display boardshave also been installed atintersections from where pub-lic information and directionsare given to citizens, the ChiefMinister said.

The Chief Minister alsohinted that such centres wouldbe set up in other districts ofthe state as well.

Deputy Commissioner andCEO, Karnal Smart CityLimited, Nishant Kumar Yadavinformed that 105 ThermalCameras under ATCS, 211cameras at 35 intersectionsunder ITMS, Speed Violationcameras at 10 locations, more

than 300 CCTV cameras, 35variable message boards andenvironment sensors at twoplaces have been installed.

Earlier, the Chief Ministerinaugurated open air gyms con-structed at a cost of Rs 4.5 crorein the parks of Karnal Smart Cityand laid the foundation stone ofgreen belt parks of Sector-6, 13and 14 to be constructed at acost of Rs 2.34 crore, the foun-dation stone for developmentand beautification work fromNamaste Chowk to Mira GhatiChowk at a cost of Rs 4.83 crore,and foundation stone for thestrengthening of the road fromHansi Chowk to NamasteChowk at a cost of Rs. 4.86 crore.

The Chief Minister alsolaid the foundation stone of a

digital library to be built at acost of Rs 71.23 lakh at RamNagar and Budha Kheda. Healso inaugurated oxygen plantsof capacity of 250 liters perminute and 600 liters perminute at General Hospital,Nilokheri and CHC,Gharaunda, respectively.

Efforts are being made toextend the benefits of schemesto the poorest

The Chief Minister saidthat following the idea ofAntyodaya as envisaged byPandit Deendayal Upadhyay,for the upliftment of all sectionsof the society, the StateGovernment is striving toextend the benefits of govern-ment schemes to the poorest of

the poor. Online transfer poli-cy, CM window, governmentjobs on the basis of merit andefforts to take their income upto Rs. 2 lakh per annum byidentifying families with lessthan Rs. 1 lakh income are apart of these efforts, he said afterthe inauguration of PunjabiBiradari Bhawan in Karnal.

Khattar said that thePunjabi fraternity has erecteda grand building in this 1700square yard space, which wouldcater to the needs of peoplefrom all sections of the society.A grant of Rs 46 lakh has beengiven by the government for itsconstruction, he added. Healso announced to give histwo month’s salary for theBhawan.

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As part of its crackdown onthose violating anti-pol-

lution norms, the Delhi TrafficPolice issued 108,004 chal-lans in the last two months forrelated offences as the city con-tinues to battle high air pollu-tion levels, officials said onSunday.

The crackdown was under-taken to execute the Delhigovernment's Winter ActionPlan against rising air pollution.

According to the datashared by the Delhi TrafficPolice, 32,343 of the total chal-lans in the last two monthsfrom October 1 to November30 were issued to owners ofvehicles found without validpollution under control cer-tificates.

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The Delhi Government willinstall automated driving

test tracks at eight education-al institutions in the city tobring down the waiting periodfor applicants seeking theirpermanent licences.

The transport departmenthas floated tenders for con-struction of the automatedtracks at Indira Gandhi DelhiTechnical University forWomen in Keshmere Gate,Delhi Technological Universityin Bawna and five IndustrialTraining Institutes (ITIs) inPusa, Jaffarpur Kalan, MayurVihar, Shahdara, Jail Road andNarela, officials said.

The tracks will cost aroundRs 10 crore and are expected tobe constructed in two monthsafter successful bidding, theysaid. "These new automateddriving test tracks will helpreduce the waiting time forapplicants seeking permanentdriving licences. Currently, thewaiting period before taking upthe test is around two months,"said a senior transport depart-ment officer. The departmenthas 10 automated driving testtracks at its regional offices indifferent parts of the city.

The automated tracks areused to test the skill of an appli-cant driver through up-gradi-ent, forward-8, reverse-S andtraffic junctions.

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Over 260 trees will be felledand 280 transplanted in

the capital for the implemen-tation of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid TransitSystem (RRTS), according toan official notification.

The environment depart-ment has exempted an area of1.69 hectare for this purpose. Atotal of 543 trees will make wayfor the RRTS corridor.

The user agency, NationalCapital Region TransportCorporation (NCRTC), hasbeen asked to transplant 280trees to the land adjoining theDelhi-Noida Direct Flyway onthe western bank of theYamuna.

It has been directed todeposit �3.09 crore as securityamount for compensatoryplantation of 5,430 saplings ofneem, amaltas, peepal, pilkhan,

gular, bargad and desi kikaramong others.

“Compensatory plantationof 5,430 saplings of nativespecies shall be raised andmaintained by the user agency(through the horticulturedepartment of the DelhiDevelopment Authority) forseven years and monitored tillits successful establishment,”the notification said.

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As part of the various mea-sures adopted to combat

pollution at its constructionsites, the Delhi Metro RailCorporation (DMRC) haspressed into service 14 ‘AntiSmog Guns’ (ASGs) at its sites,which throws fine mist fromtime to time to check the pos-sibility of dust pollution ema-nating from the constructionwork.

Currently, as part of itsphase 4 corridors as well assome other construction pro-jects, 12 civil contracts areoperational across the nation-al capital, a senior DMRC offi-cial said, adding that thesestate-of-the-art ASGs are capa-ble of spraying fine mist up to70 to 100 metres.

“It is ensured that the waterused for sprinkling is free fromcoliforms, viruses and bacteria.High quality nozzles withdroplet sizes of 10 to 50 micrometres are used for greaterimpact. With the gradualexpansion of constructionwork, more such ASGs shall beintroduced at the sites in thedays ahead. DMRC’sEnvironment department isconducting regular inspectionsto ensure that the ASGs areregularly used at the sites by the

contractors,” he said.Apart from the regular use

of ASGs, DMRC takes a num-ber of other measures to min-imize the impact of pollutionemanating from its sites, theofficial said. “To make it moreeffective daily barricade clean-ing and toe dust cleaning is car-ried out. All construction mate-rials are properly covered withtarpaulin and other materials.Wheels of vehicles leaving thesites are properly cleaned sothat they do not spread dust ormud on the streets. The mate-rials carried by them are alsoadequately covered,” he added.

The entire northern part ofIndia, especially the NationalCapital Region (NCR) grappleswith the menace of severe pol-lution during the months ofOctober to December.

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NEW DELHI:In a first-of-its-kind surgery, a leading city hos-pital used a robotic arm toremove a huge fibroid tumourin the Uterus of a Namibianwoman who visited the hospi-tal complaining of severe painin the stomach.Dr RahulManchanda, head of gynae-cology department in PSRIhospital said “The woman vis-ited the hospital complaining ofsevere pain in the tummy andwas bleeding profusely. Onexamination, the cause wasfound to be a huge fibroidtumour in her Uterus, whichneeded to be removed surgi-cally, he said.

New Delhi:East DelhiMunicipal Corporation(EDMC) has taken strict actionagainst property tax defaultersby issuing notices to propertytax defaulters and sealing 12properties over non-paymentof taxes.A senior EDMC offi-cial said “It has come to noticethat a large number of com-mercial property holders suchas banquet halls, Baraat Ghars,hotels etc have not paid theirproperty tax despite severaldeadlines passed. In view ofthis, an intensive drive hasbeen launched against thedefaulter commercial propertyholders and action has alsobeen taken after inspection.”“Recently, a total of 170 warn-ing letters have been issued bythe EDMC under section 123against property tax defaulters.Apart from this, sealing noticeshave also been issued to 12property holders.

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The Special Cell of DelhiPolice has arrested a 27-

year-old member of KapilSangwan gang, who hadjumped bail earlier this year.

The accused has been iden-tified as Deepak Dhankar, analleged sharpshooter of KapilSangwan alias Nandu gang, isan accused in a murder caseand has been previouslyinvolved in six cases includingattempt to murder, criminalintimidation, assault, robbery-cum-dacoity, extortion, andArms Act.

Dhankar was on interimbail in connection of murder of

rival gang leader ManjeetMahal's father. He did not sur-render after expiry of bail peri-od in May 2021 and has beenabsconding since then, said asenior police official.

According to JasmeetSingh, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Special Cell, a team ledby Inspectors Shiv Kumar andKaramvir Singh supervised byACP Attar Singh arrestedDhankar on December 3 fromKakrola Road here.

"The accused was signaledto stop the car, instead hewhipped out his pistol andaimed towards the police teamwhich rushed towards the car,overpowered the accused anddisarmed him," he said.

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To address the problem ofhousing in Delhi, the Delhi

Development Authority (DDA)has prepared a land poolingpolicy with the aim to acquireland from owners living inrural areas of the national cap-ital.

Moving a step forward inthis direction, the DDA's LandPooling Department onSunday held a meeting with theresidents of Sultanpur Dabasvillage of outer Delhi. TheDDA officials told the villagersthat they can submit their doc-uments with the DDA tillDecember 24, 2021 to becomepart of the land pooling poli-cy.

According to the HomeMulti State CooperativeHousing Society Ltd ChairmanSatish Kumar Aggarwal, DDAofficials met the villagers ofSultanpur Dabas where theyaddressed the problems andissues of the villagers related tothe land pooling policy.

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The current cut-off basedadmission system puts stu-

dents from the boards wherethe marking is "strict" at a dis-advantage, Delhi UniversityVice-Chancellor Yogesh Singhsaid here and expressed thehope that this would change ina year.

Singh said he has consti-tuted a committee to lookinto the admission data andthe recommendations of thepanel will be deliberated uponin the coming AcademicCouncil meeting on December10.

"We have many optionsfor admission - to continuewith the existing system, the

second could be normalisationof marks of various boards,third could be an entrance testand the fourth can be giving 50percent weightage to entrancetest and 50 percent to (board)marks. Let the academic coun-cil and executive council takea call," he told PTI in an inter-view

Talking about his person-al view on the continuation ofthe cut-off (merit-based) sys-tem, Singh said he is "not for it".

Explaining the reasons, hesaid the students from theboards which have a "lenient"marking system have anadvantage over others in thecurrent system, "while thosefrom strict boards are suffer-ing".

"For instance, UP Boardstudents are not getting admis-sions in Delhi University. Someboards are not lenient. Evenstudents from Haryana

Board and neighbouringstates are not getting admissionhere but we are getting a largenumber of students fromKerala, but not from TamilNadu, Andhra Pradesh," Singhsaid.

"It is a good thing we arepopular in Kerala, but we needto resolve this (the other boardstudents not getting admis-sion to DU)," he said.

Stressing that the time hascome to relook at variousprocesses that are in place, hesaid things will change in ayear's time.

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Punjab Chief MinisterCharanjit Singh Channi on

Sunday said that the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) had nowzeroed in on his predecessorCapt Amarinder Singh andformer Akali stalwart SukhdevSingh Dhindsa as new ally tofill the space vacated by theShiromani Akali Dal (SAD) topromote its divisive discoursein the State.

Commenting on the dis-closure made by the UnionHome Minister Amit Shah thatthe BJP was finalising alliancewith Capt Amarinder andbreak away Akali faction leaderSukhdev Singh Dhindsa,Channi said: “Punjab is onestate that rebutted BJP’s anti-people and divisive agendaand the charisma of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inPunjab in 2019.”

“The BJP used the AkaliDal in its anti-farmer agenda toimplement the three black lawsthat the secular Kisan strugglehas forced Modi to repeal. SADhad aggressively supportedthese legislations. Now, CaptAmarinder would function asthe full-time tool of the BJP toimplement its nefarious anti-people designs,” said Channi.

The Chief Minister pointed

out that earlier, “the Akali Dalfunctioned as the vehicle of theBJP to facilitate its parent organ-isation RSS to spread its wingsin Punjab and this body went tothe extent of distorting even theSikh history and thought andthe literature brought out by thisbody about a decade ago is evi-dence of that agenda. The AkaliDal never protested”.

Channi said that the AkaliDal extended full support tothe BJP in its policies of cen-tralisation and culturalhomogenisation despite beinga votary of federalism fordecades. “The interests ofPunjab were mortgaged to theBJP by the Akali Dal firstunder the leadership of ParkashSingh Badal, who had pavedthe way for this alliance byextending unconditional sup-port to Atal Bihari Vajpayee toform BJP-led government in1996 that lasted only 13 days.Badal had betrayed Punjaband the Punjabis by extendingunconditional support. Thatwas a sell out by Badal ofPunjab,” he added.He said thatnow Capt Amarinder was allset to perform that maliciousrole who had been, all along asthe Chief Minister, came to therescue of the ModiGovernment on crucial issues.

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Union Minister of Healthand Family Welfare

Mansukh L Mandaviya onSunday visited the PostGraduate Institute of MedicalEducation and Research hereand assured quick redressal ofthe administrative bottlenecks.

The Union Minister wasaccompanied by AnuragThakur, Union Minister forSports & Youth Affairs andMinister for Information andBroadcasting.

The HospitalAdministration raised the issueof high patient load at PGIMERwith the Health Minister. Whileexplaining the patient load atvarious areas in the hospital,the Union Minister wasapprized that many referralscan be dealt with at the level ofthe District Hospitals andMedical Colleges in the region.However, many patients stillprefer to come to PGIMER fortheir treatment leading to highpatient load in the institute.

The Minister gave apatient hearing to the difficul-ties being faced by the instituteand also sought suggestions forimproving patient care andinfrastructure. He also visitedAdvanced Trauma Centrewhere he interacted with doc-tors, paramedics and patientsand enquired about the facili-ties being provided to patientsthere.

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Rubbishing claims made bythe Aam Aadmi Party’s

Delhi leaders of illegal miningin his constituency ChamkaurSahib, Punjab Chief MinisterCharanjit Singh Channi onSunday took a round of themining sites, where he found“nothing illegal” as the sandwas being sold at the rate of Rs5.50 per cusec as stipulated bythe State Government.

Giving a strict warning toAAP leaders landed from Delhi,

the Chief Minister made it clearthat no outsider would beallowed to create unfounded hueand cry just for their vested polit-ical interests and theGovernment would not hesitatein future to initiate action againstsuch acts of political ambitions.

Channi, along with civiland police officials, visited BadiHaveli mining site, where desilt-ing work is going on withGovernment machinery, andinteracted with the drivers get-ting sand loaded in trucks aboutthe price being paid by them.

All the drivers revealed thatafter the policy rolled out by theState Government, the price wasfixed at Rs 5.50 per cusec and alldocuments of mining were validmaking claims of AAP Delhileaders false.

The Chief Minister alsopointed out that he wanted toprovide free of cost sand atmining sites but due to a con-tract made in the past, he wasunable to do so. “The said con-tract is valid up to March 31,”said the Chief Minister addingthat the people would get sand

or gravel at further cheaperrates in future.

Expressing immense satis-faction over legal mining at site,Channi lashed out at AAPleader Raghav Chadha andothers for trying to befool thepeople on sand prices.

“Chadha and other outsiderleaders would not be allowed tocreate baseless issues, which dis-rupts smooth functioning of thestate. Action would be initiat-ed in the future for such the-atrics of Chadha and otherDelhi AAP leaders Manish

Sisodia, who entered in a schoola few days back,” said Channi.

At the same time, Channiwelcomed AAP leaders, work-ers, and general masses inPunjab to bring any illegalactivities to Government’snotice so that necessary stepscould be ensured.

“We have made activities atmining sites open, any Punjabi,Punjab-based AAP leaders orworkers can make video, butwe will not allow any outsiderfor such dramatic acts,” headded.

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The Parliamentary standingcommittee on

Communications andInformation Technology hasexpressed concern that themedia is gradually losing itscredibility and integrity, whichis reflected in the form of paidnews, fake news, TRPs' manip-ulation, media trials, sensa-tionalism and biased reporting.

In its 27th report on'Ethical Standards in MediaCoverage', the panel, headed byCongress MP Shashi Tharoor,said that it is a matter of graveconcern that media which wasonce the most trusted weaponin the hands of the citizenry inour democracy and acted astrustees of the public interest isgradually losing its credibilityand integrity where values andmorality are being compro-

mised. “Rampant instances of vio-

lations of code of conduct ofethics by the media reflected inthe form of paid news, fakenews, TRPs manipulation,media trials, sensationalism,biased reporting, etc. haveplaced a big question mark onits credibility in the minds ofpeople which is not a good signfor the healthy democracy,”

the report said.On the television audience

mechanism in the form of tele-vision rating points (TRP) theCommittee also observed thatthe present TRP system isheavily biased towards urbanareas and there is a need tochange the system of mea-surement by giving equalweightage to rural and semi-urban areas through increasing

the sample size. The Committee said that

the Ministry should study glob-al practices adopted in theTRP system including the pos-sibility of finding a solution tothe privacy issues in the STBsthrough appropriate technicalmeasures such as the use ofscramblers to ensure accuracy,confidentiality and trans-parency within the TRP sys-tem. “The Government hasconstituted a Committee toexamine BARC. TheCommittee desires to examinethe report of the BARC inquiryCommittee, commissioned bythe Government of India. Mustbe placed before them forexamination,” it said.

The committee has alsoasked the information andbroadcasting Ministry to prop-erly define the term “anti-national attitude” used in the

Cable Network Rules, 2014,saying it may be the cause ofunnecessary harassment of pri-vate channels.

The Committee furthersaid that the term 'anti-nation-al attitude' has, however, notbeen separately defined in theprogramme code enumeratedin the CTN Rules, 1994. TheMinistry has justified that 'anti-national' is commonly under-stood as opposed to nationalinterests or nationalism.

There are a total of 1,44,893newspapers/ periodicals whichhave been registered withRegistrar of Newspapers forIndia (RNI), 926 permittedsatellite television channels(with 387 channels being underNews and current affairs cate-gory and 539 being under non-News and current affairs cate-gory), 36 Doordarshan chan-nels with 2 News and 34 non-

News channels, 495 All IndiaRadio FM radio stations and384 private FM radio stations.The Committee finds that inaddition to the above, socialmedia platforms, likeFacebook, WhatsApp,Instagram, Twitter, etc. haveplaced journalism in the handsof the citizens. Citizens usetheir personal recordingdevices including cell phones tocapture events and post themon the internet.

Though, the Ministry ofElectronics and InformationTechnology (MeitY) does nothave a record of the number ofinternet websites in India,according to a popular site‘Internetlivestats.com’, there areat present more than 150 croreswebsites across the world andit is expected that around 20crores out of these are activewebsites across the world.

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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlaon Sunday said that since

the relevance of the PublicAccounts Committee (PAC)and people's expectations fromit have increased over a periodof time, it is the "responsibili-ty" of the PAC "to evolve itselfand be flexible in its processesand procedures" and make the"executive accountable for thedevelopment of the country".He also suggested that it shoulddirectly interact with people.

The Centennial YearCelebration of the PAC, whichwas inaugurated by PresidentRam Nath Kovind in theCentral Hall of ParliamentHouse on December 4. con-cluded on Sunday.

Birla, Deputy Chairperson,Rajya Sabha, Harivansh andChairperson, Public AccountsCommittee Adhir RanjanChowdhury attended the vale-dictory session.

Union Ministers, Membersof Parliament, Presiding Officersof State Legislative Bodies,Chairpersons of Public AccountsCommittees of States and severalother dignitaries also attendedthe valedictory session.

In his valedictory addressto the the Centennial YearCelebration of Public AccountsCommittee of Parliament(PAC) , Birla said that as partof our endevour to ensure thatthe Committee "works for thebenefit and welfare of the lastperson standing in the row, itshould make the executiveaccountable for the develop-ment of the country and ensure

transparency in the working ofthe government."

The Speaker suggested thata common digital platform ofthe Public AccountsCommittees of the Parliament ofIndia and State Legislaturesshould be created where suchCommittees can share their bestpractices and monitor executionof their recommendations.

He said parliamentarycommittees should directlyinteract with people and takeinputs from them. The morethey will interact with people,the more effective and mean-ingful their recommendationswill be, said Birla.

Emphasizing on furtherstrengthening PACs and bettercoordination among the PACof the Parliament of India andState Legislatures, he advocat-ed that there should be aCommittee of Chairpersons ofPAC and that committeeshould have a comprehensivediscussion on the working ofthe PACs and brainstorm onthe manner in which the work-ing of such committees can bemore effective.

The report or suggestionsmade by this committee can bediscussed among the PresidingOfficers for implementationof the suggested reforms"which will make PACs moreaccountable, transparent andbeneficial to the public."

Highlighting the wider ambitand scope of the Public AccountsCommittees in the contemporarytimes, Birla called for more andmore use of information tech-nology tools for ensuring trans-parency in governance.

NEW DELHI: After severaldays of the ongoing winter ses-sion of Parliament beingwashed away due to "disrup-tions and forced adjournments"amid Opposition ruckus, RajyaSabha showed signs of a returnto normal functioning as theproductivity remained above95 per cent on the last two daysof the first week of the wintersession.

The best productivity of100 per cent was reported onFriday and 95 per cent on theprevious day last week show-ing signs of a return of the House to normal func-tioning.

Rajya Sabha ChairmanVenkaiah Naidu on Fridaymet with some oppositionleaders and ministers andurged both sides to further dis-cuss their views on the sus-pension of 12 members of theHouse in the wake of theOpposition's demand for itsrevocation.

During the first week of thecurrent monsoon session, two

Bills-- the Farm Laws RepealBill and the Dam Safety Bills-- were passed by the House. Asmany as 27 Zero Hour and 15Special Mentions were made inthe House. 23 of the listed 67Starred Questions were orallyanswered. 8 listed Questionshad to be deleted further to sus-pension members who raisedthose questions.

Rajya Sabha has taken upthe Private Members' Businessfor the full scheduled time of

two and half hours on Friday,doing so after one year ninemonths and 24 days and after66 sittings. The last time it hap-pened was on February 7,2020, during the Budget ses-sion, the 251st session of theHouse.

The Upper House has lost52.30 per cent of the scheduledsitting time during the firstweek of the ongoing winter ses-sion that concluded Friday onaccount of disruptions and

forced adjournments.The productivity of the

House during the last week hasbeen 47.70 per cent of thescheduled time. However, withthe House sitting for 33 min-utes beyond the scheduledtime on Thursday last, theoverall productivity for thefirst week against the scheduledtime has improved to 49.70 percent.

On Friday last week, 22Private Members' Bills wereintroduced in Rajya Sabha andone was discussed. The intro-duction of one such bill seek-ing to amend the Preamble ofthe Constitution was put onhold.

Private Members' Businesswas not scheduled during the252nd session, the first full ses-sion held under Covid proto-col. It was dispensed with dur-ing the 252nd to take up otherbusiness. No business could betransacted during the 254thsession on Fridays, meant forPrivate Members' Business dueto disruptions. Agencies

Jaisalmer: India is developingindigenous anti-drone technol-ogy to thwart the growing threatfrom these devices on the coun-try's borders and it will soon bemade available to the securityforces, Union Home MinisterAmit Shah said on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasionof the 57th Raising Day of theBorder Security Force (BSF) inJaisalmer, Mr Shah said for theModi government, bordersecurity is national securityand it is committed to provid-ing the best border guardingtechnologies in the world to theforce.

He noted that it is the firsttime since 1965, when the BSFwas raised, that its RaisingDay function is being cele-brated at the border.

"A country can prosperand move ahead in the worldwhen it is safe. You ensure thesafety of the country... Alwaysremember that by guarding theborders you are ensuring thesafety of the country and pro-viding a platform to it global-ly," Mr Shah told the BSF per-sonnel.

He said the governmentwill ensure that the world's besttechnologies are made availableto the BSF.

"It is the commitment ofthe government. There was amention of a growing threatfrom drones. BSF, DRDO and

NSG are trying to develop ananti-drone technology. I havecomplete faith in our scientiststhat we will be able to developan indigenous anti-drone tech-nology soon," he said.

Mr Shah said since 2014,the Modi government hasgiven special emphasis to bor-der security.

"Wherever there wereattempts of incursion on theborders, attack on securityforces and CAPFs, we haveensured immediate retaliation.

India has ensured that noone can take our borders or sol-diers lightly. The central gov-ernment under (Prime MinisterNarendra) Modi ensured astrong retaliation in the form ofsurgical and air strikes after Uriand Pulwama attacks, respec-tively. The entire world appre-ciated this action," he said.

In order to fill vacancies inthe BSF, the government hasrecruited 50,000 jawans andtheir training has started, hesaid.

"The road constructionbudget for border areas was ?23,000 crore during 2008-14.Between 2014 and 2020, theModi government increasedthe budget from ? 23,700 croreto ? 44,600 crore. This showsthe commitment of the Modigovernment to improve theborder area infrastructure," hesaid. PTI

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Ulvan, the major water-sol-uble polysaccharide

extracted from the cell wall ofgreen seaweed, an ediblemarine algae, could help stopCoronavirus from infectinghuman cells, according to ateam of researchers from TelAviv University.

“The lack of access to vac-cines takes the lives of manyvictims and even accelerates thecreation of new variants,” saidTAU’s Prof. Alexander Golberg,who led the study on ulvan thatwas recently published in PeerJ- a peer-reviewed science jour-nal. “The study is still in itsearly stages, but we hope thatthe discovery will be used inthe future to develop an acces-sible and effective drug, pre-venting infection with the coro-navirus.

Golberg and his teamhave been working with sea-weed for the past eight years,looking for different com-pounds, mainly for the foodindustry. But he said that dur-ing the first lockdown, theystarted to think about how theycould play a role in helping findsolutions for the pandemic.Through other research theyknew that certain seaweedcompounds had antiviral prop-erties and so decided theywanted to evaluate themagainst Covid.

“Ulvan is extracted frommarine algae called Ulva,which is also called ‘sea lettuce,’and is food in places likeJapan, New Zealand andHawaii,” Golberg explained.“It has previously been report-ed that ulvan is effectiveagainst viruses in agricultureand also against some of thehuman viruses - and whencoronavirus arrived, we askedto test its activity.”

They grew Ulva algae,extracted the ulvan from it andsent it to the Southern ResearchInstitute in Alabama. There, theUS team built a cellular modelto assess the activity of the sub-stance produced in Golberg’s

laboratory.The cells were exposed to

both the coronavirus and toulvan. It was found that, in thepresence of ulvan, the coron-avirus did not infect cells.

“In other words,” he said,“ulvan prevents the cells frombeing infected with coron-avirus.”

He noted that the ulvan theteam used was actually a mix-ture of many natural substancesand therefore more work isneeded to determine specifi-cally which is the one that pre-vents infection. Additionally,tests need to be done on smallanimals, monkeys and then, ofcourse, humans.

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Amajority of patients withsevere Covid-19 develop

unusually pronounced scar-ring of the lungs, due to mis-guided immune response,according to a team ofresearchers led by Charite -Universitatsmediz in Berlin,in the journal Cell.

They said thatmacrophages - immune cellswhich engulf and digest foreignsubstances - play a central role.In patients with severeCOVID-19, damage to thelungs is so severe that thebody can no longer absorb suf-ficient oxygen from the air - acondition known as AcuteRespiratory Distress Syndrome(ARDS).

"At the very least, SARS-CoV-2 is a potential trigger fora misguided macrophageresponse," explained Prof. Dr.Matthias Selbach, from theMax DelbrAck Center forMolecular Medicine (MDC).

"Rather than replicatinginside the immune cells, thevirus appears to reprogrammethem," he added.

The researchers consid-ered a number of potentialcauses for this prolonged lung

failure, including a particulartype of ARDS, which causespulmonary scarring leading totissue thickening and stiffness.

Tissue remodelling of thistype (known as fibrosis) hadbeen observed in certainpatients relatively early on inthe pandemic.

As part of their research,the team used a number ofmicroscopic imaging tech-niques to study lung tissuefrom deceased Covid-19patients.

"Almost all affectedpatients showed extensive tis-sue damage. The majority ofthe alveoli had been destroyedand the alveolar walls showedextensive thickening. We alsofound ubiquitous deposits ofcollagen, the main componentof scar tissue. All of this is char-acteristic of severe fibrosis,"said Prof. Dr. Peter Boor, leadat the RWTH AachenUniversity Medical Center's

Institute of Pathology.The reason for this phe-

nomenon was initially unclear.In patients with Covid-19,

respiratory failure typicallyonly develops in week two orthree after symptom onset, ata point when viral loads havestarted to decline.

"This suggests that lungfailure is not caused by theuncontrolled viral replication,but by secondary host respons-es, including those involvingthe immune system," explainedProf. Dr. Leif Erik Sander ofCharite's Department ofInfectious Diseases andRespiratory Medicine.

The researchers, therefore,analysed the composition andcharacteristics of immune cellstaken from bronchioalveolarlavage and lung tissue samplesof severe and deceased COVIDpatients.

They found that the pro-nounced accumulation ofmacrophages is one of the keyfeatures in Covid-19 patientswho develop respiratory failure.

Using cell cultures, theresearchers discovered thatSARS-CoV-2 exerts an effecton macrophages which may, inturn, accelerate the process offibrosis.

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Amid fears of the newOmicron variant of coro-

navirus, the number of Covidvaccine doses administered ina day crossed one crore onSaturday after more than twomonths, taking the total jabsgiven so far to over 127.5 crore.

Senior officials from theUnion Health Ministry saidthat the vaccination has gath-ered pace in the country overthe last one week after SouthAfrica reported the new vari-ant which has been designatedas a variant of concern by theWorld Health Organisation(WHO).

“India achieves another1,00,00,000 #COVID19 vacci-nations today! With The#HarGharDastak campaign infull swing, the world's#LargestVaccinationDrive istouching new heights &accomplishing new feats underPM @Narendra Modi ji's lead-ership,” Union health ministerMansukh Mandivya tweeted.

The daily vaccination tallyis expected to increase with thecompilation of the final reportsfor the day by late Saturdaynight.

According to the govern-ment data, 59.32 lakh vaccine

doses on an average wereadministered per day inNovember compared to 19.69lakh doses per day in May thisyear. Besides, 55.77 lakh doseson an average were adminis-tered per day in October, 78.69lakh in September and 59.29lakh in August.

Officials said around 84.8per cent of the adult populationin India has been given the firstdose of the Covid vaccine,while 50 per cent has receivedthe second dose.

The countrywide vaccina-tion drive was rolled out onJanuary 16 with healthcareworkers (HCWs) getting inoc-ulated in the first phase. Thevaccination of frontline work-ers (FLWs) started fromFebruary 2.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commencedfrom March 1 for people over60 years of age and those aged45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The country launched vac-cination for all people agedmore than 45 years from April1.

The government thendecided to expand its vaccina-tion drive by allowing everyoneabove 18 to be vaccinated fromMay 1.

NEW DELHI: Former a underthe law as he chose to speak outagainst alleged corruptioninvolving former home minis-ter Anil Deshmukh only afterhis transfer, the MaharashtraGovernment has told theSupreme Court seeking dis-missal of his plea.

A bench headed by JusticeS K Kaul had granted a majorrelief to Singh on November22 by directing theMaharashtra Police not toarrest him in criminal caseslodged against him and hadwondered if he was beinghounded for filing cases

against police officers andextortionists, "what could hap-pen to a common man".

In the affidavit, JointSecretary of MaharashtraHome Department VenkateshMadhav said, "Petitioner(Singh) cannot be considered awhistleblower. I state and sub-mit that, contrary to what isstated in the SLP (special leavepetition), I deny that petition-er is a whistleblower as con-templated under the WhistleBlowers Protection Act, 2014 orthat the ratio laid down in thecase of....applies to the facts ofthe present case."

"As evident from the peti-tioners own letter dated March20, 2021, the petitioner citesinstances of alleged corruptionthat took place few monthsprior to March, but onlysought to expose these allega-tions on March 20, that is threedays after he was transferred.Thus it is denied that thepetitioner's letter dated March20 was issued in public inter-est or for a bonafide purposeand therefore it is denied thatthe petitioner is a whistle-blower."

In the 83-page reply, thestate government said Singh

who was recently suspendedfrom the Mumbai Police overallegations of misconduct isindirectly trying to seek a stayon the criminal investigationspending against him throughthe petition and has failed todisclose material and relevantfacts.

"At the outset, I say thatthis court in a catena of judge-ments....has observed that itmust be left to the discretion ofthe investigating agency todecide the course of investiga-tion and that a court shouldinterfere with an investigationonly in rare cases.

"The Petitioner has filedthe SLP against the impugnedjudgement dated September16, 2021, passed by the BombayHigh Court , but is really seek-ing a stay of further proceed-ings into various criminalcomplaints registered againsthim and this, with greatrespect, ought not to be per-mitted by this court," the stategovernment said.

The state government saidthat various enquiries againstthe suspended police officerare pending and being con-ducted.

"The following instances of

negligence in performance ofservice by the petitioner wereto be enquired into....Whetherthe petitioner failed to controland supervise his subordinateMr Sachin Waze (who wasappointed as the head of theCrime Investigation Unitdespite the opposition of theJoint Commissioner of Police(Crime), against whom a casehas been registered by the NIAin view of his involvement inparking an explosive-laden carnear the Antilia building ,Mumbai, which was found onFebruary 25, 2021," it said.

PTI

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Chikkamagaluru (K'taka): Asmany as 69 people including 59students of the JawaharNavodaya Vidyalaya here havetested positive for Covid-19and all are asymptomatic, ahealth officer said.

"We had conducted testson 457 people in the JNVhere, of which 59 students and10 staff tested positive forCovid-19 . They are asympto-matic but we have isolatedthem," District Health OfficerDr S N Umesh told PTI.

The officer said the testreports of all the people whowere tested have arrived andonly 69 were found infected.

Umesh also said the teach-ing and other staff in the JNVhave been vaccinated.According to sources in the dis-trict authorities, the school

has been sealed temporarilyand doctors and paramedicalstaff have been deployed there.Rooms are also being sanitised,they added.

The schools and colleges,especially residential ones inthe state, are witnessing a spurtin Covid-19 cases. However,the severity of the infection and

fatality are almost nil in theseplaces as most of the studentsand staff are asymptomatic.

Chief Minister BasavarajBommai had recently said thatthe Covid-19 cases are appear-ing in two types of clusters --one is the schools and colleges,and second one is the residen-tial apartments. PTI

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Kerala on Sunday recorded4,450 fresh Covid-19 cases

and 161 deaths, raising thecaseload to 51,54,092 and thetoll to 41,600 respectively, theState government said.

Of the 161 deaths, 23 werereported over the last few daysand 138 were designated asCovid-19 deaths after receivingappeals based on the newguidelines of the Centre and thedirections of the SupremeCourt, an official press releasesaid. With 4,606 more peoplerecovering from the virus sinceSaturday, the total recoveriesreached 50,80,211 and theactive cases dropped to 43,454,

the release said. As many as 57,722 samples

were tested in the last 24 hours,it said. Among the 14 dis-tricts, Thiruvananthapuramrecorded the highest with 791fresh cases followed byErnakulam 678 and Kozhikode523. Of the new cases, 35were health workers, 26 fromoutside the State and 4,163infected through contact withthe source of it not being clearin 226.

There are currently1,67,693 people under surveil-lance in various districts, ofwhom 1,63,323 are in home orinstitutional quarantine and4,370 in hospitals, the releasesaid.

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The city police conducted ananti-riot drill to check its

preparedness against the threatby right wing groups to placea Krishna idol in a mosque onDecember 6, an official saidhere on Sunday.

Even though the call waswithdrawn last week by thegroup which planned it, policeare not taking any chances.

The drill was conductedon Saturday at Police Linesarea, SSP Gaurav Grover onsaid.

He said proper function-ing of weapons was alsochecked in presence of DistrictMagistrate Navneet SinghChahal.

Police had earlier beefedup security in the city after theannouncement by right winggroups to install the deity's idolinside the Shahi Idgah Masjid.

The Aurangzeb-eramosque shares its premiseswith Keshav Dev Temple herein the city.

Police imposed sec-tion 144 in the city banning anypublic gatherings. Securitychecks including frisking beganto be conducted at borders

from Saturday evening, SP cityMartand Prakash Singh said.The city has been divided intotwo super zones, four zones,and eight sectors with seniorofficers in charge of eachzone/sector. Para-mil-itary forces were deployed fromSunday morning at differentpoints, officials said.

Traffic restrictions havebeen imposed till December 7,with complete suspension ofany vehicle movement nearthe temple and mosque area, SPtraffic Harendra Kumar said.

Speaking to media lastmonth, Akhil Bharat HinduMahasabha leader RajyashreeChoudhary had called forinstallation of the Krishna's idolinside the mosque after con-ducting a ‘jalabhishek'

The group, along with afew others, has claimed that theactual birthplace of LordKrishna is inside the mosque.The administration has sincerefused to allow any such activ-ity, with Chahal earlier sayingthat no permission was soughtfor any such act in first place.

December 6 alsohappens to be the date whenBabri Mosque was demolishedin 1992 by kar sevaks. PTI

New Delhi: From a startup aim-ing to make hybrid aerial vehiclesto the ones working on convert-ing waste to crude oil and efficientwater transport solutions, facultymembers at the Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT), Madras found-ed at least 94 enterprises having acombined valuation of over �1,400 crore.

According to officials, the IITfaculty members have founded,mentored or advised over 240startups in the past decade whichtoday have a combined valuationof � 11,500 crore.

The number of companiesdirectly founded by IIT-Madrasfaculty members stood at 94 inOctober this year. These have acombined valuation in excess of �1,400 crore, based on investmentraised by these startups fromangel investors or venture capitalfirms.

According to data shared bythe IIT Madras Incubation Cell(IITMIC), the number of faculty-

founded startups rose sharplyfrom 37 in April 2017 to 69 in June2019 and 80 in 2020 before touch-ing 94 by October 2021. Thesestartups were incubated by the IITMadras Incubation Cell, one ofIndia's leading deep technologystartup hub.

As many as 77 faculty mem-bers from various departments ofthe institute were involved in set-ting up startups. This figure isnearly 13 per cent of the total insti-tute faculty strength of around600, which is considered on parwith the best universities in theworld, the IITMIC claimed.

A startup is aiming to make anew breed of aircraft called hybridaerial vehicles for vertical takeoffand landing as well as long-dis-tance flight to carry goods andpassengers, ultimately leading toair taxi operations.

Another working on minilaunch vehicles to launch micro-and nano-satellites into spaceorbits.

A startup aiming to producemicro gas turbines for decentral-ized power generation and anoth-er aiming to convert any kind ofwaste -- from municipal solidwaste to agri waste -- into crudeoil are among the notable ones.

Another enterprise aims tomake earth observation satelliteswith multi-sensor fusion andedge-computing in space.Tamaswati Ghosh, ChiefExecutive Officer, IIT MadrasIncubation Cell, said, "over 12 percent of institute faculty are co-founders in our incubated startupsworking across a breadth of glob-ally critical domains. This under-lines our ability to translate cut-ting-edge scientific innovations tothe field."

The highest numbers of asso-ciated startups or spin-outs arefrom the Departments ofElectrical, Mechanical and CivilEngineering, followed byAeronautics and AppliedMechanics.

New Delhi: The ED on Sunday stopped actorJacqueline Fernandez at the Mumbai airport pre-venting her from flying abroad, stating that she maybe required to join an ongoing money launderinginvestigation against alleged conman SukeshChandrashekhar and others, officials said.

The 36-year-old actor was first stopped by theimmigration authorities at the airport on the basisof a Look Out Circular (LoC) issued by the federalprobe agency, they said.

Agency sleuths then reached the Mumbai air-port and disallowed her travel, asking her toremain in the country as she may be required to jointhe probe, they added.

It is understood that she was either travellingto Dubai or Muscat and after she was stopped, sheleft the airport around 6 pm.

The Sri Lankan-origin actor was questioned bythe Enforcement Directorate (ED) in multiple ses-sions in connection with the over � 200 crore moneylaundering case being probed againstChandrashekhar and his actor wife Leena Maria Paul.

The agency on Saturday filed a charge sheetbefore a special Prevention of Money LaunderingAct (PMLA) court in this case and namedChandrashekhar, his wife and six others in itIt had alleged in the charge sheet that

Chandrashekhar had gifted the actor numerous cost-ly gifts, including some Persian cats and a horse. Heis accused of cheating some people, including somehigh-profile individuals such as former FortisHealthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh'swife Aditi Singh.

Another Bollywood actor-dancer Nora Fatehihas also been grilled by the ED in this case

Investigation found that Chandrashekhar waslodged in the Rohini jail here when he allegedly ranan extortion racket using phone spoofing technol-ogy.

The ED had arrested the couple and two co-accused, Pradeep Ramnani and Deepak Ramnani,in this case.

In August, the ED raided some ofChandrashekhar's premises and seized a sea-facingbungalow in Chennai, � 82.5 lakh in cash and overa dozen luxury cars.

It had claimed in a statement thatChandrashekhar is a "known conman" and is beingprobed by the Delhi Police in a case of alleged crim-inal conspiracy, cheating and extortion to the tuneof about � 200 crore. "Chandrasekhar isthe mastermind of this fraud. He has been part ofthe crime world since the age of 17. He has multi-ple FIRs against him...," the ED had said.

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Upset over regular fightswith her husband, a 40-

year-old woman allegedlyjumped into a well with her fiveminor daughters, all of whomdied, when the man had goneto attend the condolence meet-ing of a relative, police saidSunday.

They said the villagersspotted the six bodies Sundaymorning and informed thepolice who rushed the bodiesto a local hospital. T h edeceased woman has beenidentified as Badamdevi, amother of seven and the wife ofShivlal Banjara, a resident ofBanjaron Ka Dera at Kaliyahedivillage under Chechat policestation. The five minordeceased girls are Savitri (14),Ankali (8), Kajal (6), Gunjan(4) and one-year-old Archana.

Police said the two otherdaughters -- Gayatri (15) andPunam (7) -- escaped the ill-fate as they remained asleep.

Chechat CircleOfficer DSP Praveen Nayaksaid prima facie the routinefights between the woman andher husband was the reasonbehind the woman taking theextreme step. S h i v l a lworked as a blanket and clothvendor.

The CO said the man wasnot present at his home whenthe incident occurred on theintervening night of Saturdayon Sunday as he had gone toattend the condolence meetingat his relative's home in anoth-er village.

Chechat police stationSHO Rajendra Meena said thewell is just 100 meters from thehouse of the woman. Shivlalreturned to home Sundaymorning after being informedof the incident but he did nottell the police why his wife tookthe extreme step, the SHOsaid. A case under section174 of CrPC would be lodgedin the matter to investigate car-ried out, he said.

The postmortem of the sixbodies is underway, he said. PTI

Ballia (UP): SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbharon Sunday said the Samajwadi Party will con-duct a caste census and give representation toall sections of the society as per their numbers,if voted to power in the 2022 Uttar Pradeshassembly elections.

Rajbhar, whose party entered into analliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) for thepolls, told reporters in Rasra that Akhilesh Yadavwill be the chief minister if the alliance comesto power.

Asked to comment on his idea of five chiefministers and 20 deputy chief ministers on arotational basis, he clarified that his statementwas applicable in case the Bhagidari SankalpMorcha had formed the government.

"Our aim is to remove the BJP, and makeAkhilesh Yadav the chief minister," Rajbhar said.

On Deputy Chief Minister Keshav PrasadMaurya's recent remarks regarding Lord Krishnatemple in Mathura, the SBSP leader calledMaurya “BJP ka tota” (parrot of BJP).

Maurya had on Wednesday stirred a con-

troversy by apparently supporting the con-struction of the Krishna temple in Mathura,where a temple and a mosque are located closeto each other.

"The construction of grand temples is on inAyodhya and Kashi, and preparations are on forone in Mathura (Ayodhya Kashi bhavya mandirnirmaan jaari hai, Mathura ki tayaari hai),” hehad tweeted. Mathura is considered to be thebirthplace of Lord Krishna and some Hindu out-fits have claimed that the "actual birthplace" islocated inside an Aurangzeb-era mosque builtnext to a prominent temple in the holy city.

Meanwhile, talking about an alliance withAIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for, the SBSPchief said Owaisi should first make up his mindfor "an alliance with the SP”.

“If Owaisi demands 100 seats, how can therebe an alliance with him?" he asked.

The AIMIM had announced that it wouldcontest on 100 seats in the upcoming state pollsby tying up with SBSP and its BhagidariSankalp Morcha.

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Trinamool Congress president MamataBanerjee is expected to visit Varanasi next

month amid indication that her party will sup-port Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party in theupcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

"Didi has already said in Delhi that ifAkhilesh Yadav needs our help, we are ready toextend help. The gesture of senior SP leader JayaBachchan seeking votes for the TMC during theWest Bengal Assembly elections will be recipro-cated in Uttar Pradesh," said Laliteshpati Tripathi,who recently joined the TMC.

"The target is the same and we have to leaveno stone unturned to ensure that these forces (ledby the BJP) are defeated. We are also with SP chiefAkhilesh ji in his fight," Tripathi told PTI onSunday.

He said Banerjee would visit Varanasi prob-ably around the second week of January."The TMC is holding meetings and deliberatinghow to strengthen itself in Uttar Pradesh. As faras party chief Mamata Banerjee's visit to Varanasiis concerned, we have not finalised the dates. Wewere planning to organise her visit in December,but owing to her previous engagements, we couldnot get the dates," Tripathi said.

Uttar Pradesh is not the immediatefocus of the TMC, he said. For the TMC, Goa andTripura are the states of immediate focus,Tripathi said, adding his party is not in the frayin the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election due earlynext year.

Lucknow: The BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh has failedto provide security to traders, Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav claimed Sunday, alleging the dial-100helpline started by his Government has been rendered "use-less" as it has been tinkered with by the ruling dispensa-tion.

"If any trader has come to seek security from the chiefminister (Yogi Adityanath), he was also not spared. A trad-er had come from Pratapgarh and told the CM that heneeds security. When he reached Pratapgarh, he was killed,"the former chief minister alleged.

Addressing a meeting of traders organised by his party,Yadav also said his government launched the dial-100helpline on the lines of the one in New York in the US forpeople to reach out to the police for any help.

"The police would reach the spot and help the caller.But, the Dial-100 was changed to 112, and the arrange-ment was rendered useless," he claimed.

The SP chief also asserted that traders, youths andfarmers have made up their mind to vote out the BJPGovernment. He said wherever he visited in the state inthe recent past people told him that they don't want theBJP Government anymore. "Not only traders, evenfarmers and youths are facing problems," he claimed.

He also mocked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for"working 24 hours a day". "We have no doubts aboutit. And since he works for 24 hours, there is so much ofunemployment, and the farmers and the youth are facingso much of problems besides the traders.

"People's earnings have halved. There is a dipin profit, but the inflation has doubled. Do you think thatthis will usher in prosperity in your family and in yourlives?" Yadav asked.

He further attacked the BJP government over the man-agement of the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming that traderscommitted suicide during the pandemic. H ealso attacked the Government over demonetisation.

Lucknow: Aggressively positioning itself against theBJP in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls,the Samajwadi Party seems to have found a new iconfor itself -- former president APJ Abdul Kalam -- whoshares space with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and social-ist leaders on Akhilesh Yadav's campaign rath.

The 'Samajwadi Vijay Yatra' rath -- AkhileshYadav's personalised campaign vehicle -- carries pic-tures of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and socialist iconslike Acharya Narendra Dev, Ram Manohar Lohia andBabasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, apart from that offormer president Kalam.

The use of the former president's picture for elec-tion purposes appears uncommon, but SamajwadiParty leaders justify it, citing his proximity to partypatriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav who they claimedwas the first person to propose his name for presi-dency in 2002.

They dismissed charges that it was an attempt bythe party to compensate for the loss of the party's“Muslim face” Azam Khan, who is lodged in a jailin Sitapur with dozens of cases registered against him.

“The Samajwadi Party respects all the great per-sonalities, and an attempt has been made to incor-porate photographs of a large number of eminent per-sonalities who have given a direction to the countryand the society,” SP Chief spokesperson RajendraChaudhary told PTI,

“It was Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) who hadproposed his (Kalam) name for the presidential elec-tions in 2002,” Chaudhary said.

He also dismissed the “loss of Muslim face” the-ory. “There is no communal angle involved inthis, and it is purely a nationalist angle. Azam ji enjoysthe same respect, which he was getting earlier in theparty.”

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Seven more cases of Omicronwere detected in

Maharashtra, as six members ofa family that returned fromLagos, Nigeria on November 24and a man from Pune testedpositive for the new Covid-19variant.

With the seven latest cases,the total number of Omicronpositive patients in Maharashtrahas gone up to eight. The firstcase of “Omicron” was detect-ed in the twin township ofKalyan-Dombivli in Thane dis-trict where a 33-year-old man -who had arrived from SouthAfrica to Mumbai via Dubaiand New Delhi - tested positivefor the Covid-19 variant onSaturday.

Of the latest seven cases, a44-year-old woman who hadcome from Lagos, Nigeria onNovember 24 to meet herbrother in Pimpri-Chinchwadmunicipal area, her two daugh-ters accompanying her, thebrother and his two daughters– a total of 6 persons – have test-ed positive for Omicron variant,according to the report receivedfrom the National Institute ofVirology (NIV), Pune onSunday evening.

Additionally, a 47-year-oldman from Pune has also testedpositive for the Omicron vari-

ant, as reported by the NationalChemical Laboratory (NCL). “Thirteen contacts of these threewomen were traced and tested,and her 45-year-old brotherwith his daughters, 7 and 1.5years old, have also tested pos-itive. The Omicron variant hasbeen found in all three contacts,”a state health department offi-cial said.

Three out of the six personshave come from Nigeria, whilethe rest are their close contacts.

“The Nigerian woman hasmild symptoms and other fivehave no symptoms at all. Out ofthe six persons, three are under18 years of age and thereforehave not taken any vaccine. Thethree adults have taken bothdoses of vaccine – 2 have takenCovishield and 1 has takenCovaxin. All these patients arebeing treated at the JijamataHospital in Pimpri-Chinchwadand they are stable,” the healthofficial said.

Giving details of the situa-tion in Pune, a statement issuedby the State Health departmentsaid: “A patient was found pos-itive for Omicron variant inPune through routine surveil-lance. He visited Finland from18 to November 25 2021. Hetested owing to mild fever on29th November and was foundCovid positive. He has takenboth doses of Covishield vaccine

and he is completely stablewithout any symptoms”.

Meanwhile, the authoritiessaid the total passengers whoarrived at Mumbai, Pune andNagpur airports sinceDecember 1 was 28,221 (4901from At-risk countries and restof 23,320), while passengerswhose RT-PC has been done are5444 (4901 from high-riskcountries and 543 were othercountry. Similarly, RT-PC sameand samples sent for genomicsequencing was ( all from high-sick countries)

Additionally, field surveil-lance of all international pas-sengers who have arrived since1st November is underway.

“Through airport and fieldsurveillance, 30 samples havebeen sent for genomic sequenc-ing. Genetic changes/mutationin viruses is a natural phenom-enon and people should notpanic, the state health depart-ment said.

The State Public HealthDepartment appealed to the cit-izens that they should followCovid Appropriate Behaviour,inform the Public HealthDepartment authorities if theyhave had an international trav-el history in October and thosewho have not taken Covid-19vaccine or have had only onedose should complete their vac-cination at the earliest.

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The return of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan as secretary ofthe Kerala CPI(M) after a brief spell of ill health and

personal issues has its ramification in the BJP’s State unit.The demand to reconstitute the Kerala BJP has reacheda crescendo with most leaders of the party expressingtheir unanimity in removing K Surendran, the reign-ing president who stands as an accused in many cases.

A senior leader of the party, P P Mukundan, whois a former State president, did not hide his disap-pointment over the High Commnand’s decision toextend the tenure of Surendran. “I do not see any futurefor the party at least for the next 30 years. Surendranhas to go as he has proved to be a liability for the party,”Mukundan told The Pioneer.

The veteran leader, though does not hold any offi-cial position in the party, is in regular touch with thecadre spread across the State. He has his own reasonsto feel dejected over the state of affairs. “Surendran isthe first chief of a political party in the State to be inter-rogated by the police in connection with hawala trans-actions, electoral malpractices and prevention of cor-ruption act,” said Mukundan.

K Sundara, a BSP candidate who had filed his nom-ination papers from Manjeshwar in Kasaragod districtfrom where Surendran was contesting had told the policethat he was pressurised by Surendran to withdraw fromthe race. Associates of Surendran gve Rs 2.5 lakh anda smartphone to Sundara in lieu of withdrawing fromthe race. Police have registered a case against Surendran.

A woman by name Praseetha Azheekode, a closeaide to tribal leader C K Janu, had alleged thatSurendran offered the latter one crore rupees toremain with the National Democratic Alliance duringthe 2021 assembly election.

Despite its best efforts to open its account in theKerala Legislative Assembly, the Surendran-led BJP camea cropper in the hustings failing to retain even the sin-gle seat won by the party in the 2016 election.

“The assembly election in 2021 had offered the BJPa big opportunity to win at least five or six seats. Butthe party squandered the chances with poor manage-ment and propaganda style,” said a senior leader whotoo is disgusted with the style of Surendran.

The BJP which had polled 14.96 per cent of the pop-ular votes in the 2016 assembly election could score only12.36 per cent votes in the 2021 assembly polls, point-ed out Mukundan. The CPI(M)-led LDF polled 1.05crore votes while the Congress-led UDF managed 8.1million votes. The BJP had to content with 2.5 millionvotes which shows that the party is yet to make any kindof inroads in Kerala politics, said a BJP leader who hasbeen with the party since 1980.

P Sujathan, political commentator, said that therewere no leaders in the Kerala BJP who has the statureof leaders in other political parties. Party supportersspread across the State through social media postingshave made their presidential candidate known to all-Valsan Thillankeri, an RSS leader and educationist fromKannur.

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Tirupati: Five pilgrims, including an infant, were killed and threeothers seriously hurt after their speeding car crashed into a roaddivider at Ithepalli near here on Sunday, police said. The acci-dent occurred when the vehicle carrying 8 people fromVijayanagaram district crashed into the divider and flipped ontothe other side of the road before it caught fire.

The passers-by doused the flames and pulled the victims outof the car. However, five people died on the spot and three oth-ers were admitted to a hospital here with injuries. It is not imme-diately known whether the pilgrims were on their way to Tirumalahills, the abode of Lord Venkateswara or returning from the tem-ple as all belongings and other papers related to their identi-ties were completely destroyed in the blaze after the car caughtfire, police said adding efforts are on to establish their identi-ties. PTI

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clergyman was rather obstinateon the issue of women. Mycontention was that shuttingout women means excludinghalf the population from par-ticipating in civilisation’sprogress. If the wheel ofprogress is to move on as wellas accelerate, such exclusionwould mean the loss of half thepeople. Having done so, onecannot complain that one’scommunity is poor and back-ward. Prof Timur Koran of theDuke University, USA, hasdwelt at length on the back-wardness of most of WestAsia. What embarrasses me isthat the community whoseprinces ruled large tracts ofIndia should now claim to bepoor and backward. Somespeakers even compare thecondition of their communi-ty with that of the Dalits.

Uncannily, the USA, theworld’s great democracy, hasyet to elect a woman president.Only recently has a ladybecome the Vice-President ofAmerica after 240 years of thecountry’s flourishing. Thisevokes the question as towhether female backwardnessis an Abrahamic flaw and notmerely an Islamic fault? Theprejudice against women,however, clashes with the cur-rent march of time. Women

have progressed in many fieldsexcept perhaps in the realm ofpower. This is not to suggestthat the current Hindu ethosmerits unqualified applause. Ittoo needs to lockstep with timeand enable its womenfolk toattain and avail of a widerscope, without resorting to theescapism of reservations. Suchmarking out of seats has beenan Indian obsession, which hasnot really taken anyone for-ward.

What is perhaps necessaryis to create special opportuni-ties for women to get educat-ed. Education, rather thanreservation, may well be thekey for women’s emancipationand genuine progress as com-pared to mere tokenism.Especially so if a girl is encour-aged in accordance with heraptitude. This lever of learninghas not been consciouslyattempted even for the Dalits.

It is no mere cliché to statethat empathy for and accep-tance of women as equals inthe endeavour of life bringsabout greater harmony in soci-eties and nations. Setting asidethe religious aspect briefly, wecannot overlook the fact thatsocieties and cultures thathave traditionally relegatedwomenfolk to a subordinateposition have also been less tol-

erant of ways of life that differfrom their own. Historically,this has engendered societaltension, conflict and warfarewhich humankind is stillforced to endure and come toterms with. It is not a coinci-dence that the most debilitat-ing projects of expansionism,wars and civilisationalupheavals emanating fromthem have come from thewestern side of the world.

On the other hand, gen-uine empowerment of wom-enfolk can achieve not onlysocietal balance but also acivilisational ethos based uponempathy, which are naturalfeminine attributes. NobelLaureate Amartya Sen’s con-tention that education andhealth are the best guarantorsof economic development isparticularly relevant when itcomes to the application ofthese two very crucial indicesfor women. It would be noexaggeration to state that thebetter half of humanity mustbe really worshipped, for thesake of not only democracyand progress, but for a securefuture of human society itself.

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist, an author and a for-mer member of the RajyaSabha. The views expressedare personal.)

������������� � ������Sir — The information accessed from theUnion Ministry of Environment, Forestand Climate Change (MoEFCC) via theRight to Information Act by activist RPandiarajan, in wake of the deaths of fiveelephants in railway accidents atMadukkarai in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatoredistrict on November 26, and at Jagiroadin Assam’s Morigaon district onNovember 30, observed that 1160 ele-phants lost their lives to electrocution,train hits, poaching and poisoning in thelast 11 years; it has lent a new urgency toelephant conservation.

The elephant is a fascinating animal;it is a delight to behold; its bigness, its hueand attributes stand out and capture oureyes and imagination. With its thick greyskin, large ears, tusks and a trunk, it is anaesthetically pleasing giant. As per a2017 count, India has a total of 29,964 wildelephants; it is a small number thatshould alert us to take steps in real timeto save them and create an environmentcongenial to an increase in the elephantpopulation. Live wire fences and train col-lisions account for most of the casualties;it should prick our conscience that we aresolely responsible for the avoidable deathsof elephants for ‘reasons other than nat-ural causes’.

G David Milton | Maruthancode

����������������� ������Sir — Despite the concerns over the detec-tion of a new COVID variant Omicron,mask compliance still remains at the low-est. A latest survey conducted by digitalcommunity based platform LocalCirclesreported that one in three Indians, say themajority of people in their area, don't evencarry masks with them when stepping out.The Government’s efforts have not provedenough to educate people about thevirus, spread awareness about mask com-pliance and complete vaccination amidgrowing concerns of the newly emergedvariant.

Getting each person's attention is notan easy task but the Government shouldadopt different mechanisms. The OTP sys-tem for vaccination has achieved its

goals. Now, such systems should bereplaced by a non-OTP system to achieve100 per cent vaccination because a signif-icant number of people residing in ruralareas don't have a mobile number linkedwith their Aadhaar which is mandatoryto receive an OTP. The public shouldrealise that it is the need of the hour tothink out of the box by supporting theGovernment's efforts to combat the newvariant. After the horrific consequencesfollowed by the first and second wave ofCOVID-19, neglecting the new variant isnot a wise move at all.

Shivesh Patidar | Ujjain

������������������������Sir — Goa is in the throes of a peculiarweather pattern which threatens to disruptnormal life in all respects. The ratherstrange phenomenon where the State getsto experience all the three weathers of theyear in the course of 20 hours truly mer-its a discussion in international scienceforums. The region’s ‘sensational’ climat-

ic upheaval which could be hailed as atourism ‘attraction’ leads the locals througha pleasant winter in the early hours of themorning, peak summer in the afternoonand light to heavy showers accompaniedby thunder and lightning thereafter.

This is precisely what has been hap-pening in the past few days. Suffice to saythat the undulating climatic ‘configura-tions’ have left everyone in a state of utterconfusion. However, the erratic weatherconditions are indeed a matter of concern.As two of the most pressing issues of theworld today — global warming and cli-mate change — have purportedly reacheda point where it is almost irreversible. Ifthat in itself is not portentous, the increasein the frequencies of cyclones and othernatural disasters is a veiled warning aboutthe dangers in store for mankind in thecoming future.

Pachu Menon | Margao

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An Arabic proverb says,“Trust neither a king,nor a horse nor awoman”. Another one

questions, “What does a womanhave to do with the council of anation?” A third one says,“Obedience to a woman willhave to be repented of ”(Dictionary of Islam by ThomasPatrick Hughes; Rupa & Co,1999). Prophet Mohammadimproved upon such sentiments.Nevertheless, it is not easy to erasewhat has been part of a culture forlong. As a result, even today, inany matter, if a man happens tobe a witness, two women will berequired to counter him, accord-ing to the Sharia. Which meansa woman is half a person com-pared to a man. But in our sub-continent, we have worshippeddevis — Durga, Lakshmi andSaraswati and many others. As faras I know, the pantheon of noother religion practiced todayworships any goddess.

A possible explanation isthat Hinduism has intuitivelyfollowed nature’s trail of man andwoman being indispensable forthe perpetuation of the species.Hinduism is not the gift of anyprophet, unlike most other faiths.Mostly, religions were founded bymen who assigned a subordinaterole to the woman.

Intriguingly, foreign faithsthat came to India have beeninfluenced by the peculiarity ofHinduism. Devas and Devis bothhave to be worshipped, not justthe male deities or messiahs. It ispossible that other faiths havebeen deeply influenced or affect-ed through the converts whocame into their fold. This possi-bly explains why Bangladesh hashad two women Prime Ministers,Sheikh Hasina Wajed and BegumKhaleda Zia. Pakistan, with com-paratively more imported blood,has had only one lady PrimeMinister, Benazir Bhutto. Thecultures of both countries allowedtheir womenfolk to reach the por-tals of politics, but not into thegates that may lead them to god-liness. We can only hope that theera may not be far when this toowill come about. A clergyman, Iam friendly with, told me that thisis very unlikely as it would threat-en our god-given faith.

Upon arguing further, the

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In 2014, on his visit to Sri Lanka,China's President Xi Jinping launchedthe Colombo Port City (CPC) Projectworth $1.4 Billion, second biggest after

the Hambantota Project. In February2021, the cabinet ousted India and Japanfrom the tripartite agreement and a monthlater, Sri Lanka awarded a contract to ChinaHarbour Engineering Company (CHEC)to construct the second phase of ColomboPort's East Container Terminal (ECT) fora lease of 99 years. The Rajapakse admin-istration further approved the ColomboPort City Economic Commission Bill thatestablished a Special Economic Zone(SEZ).

The most striking feature of the Bill isthat it establishes a "Commission" whosegeographical jurisdiction extends to theentire 'Area of Authority of the ColomboPort City', thereby giving China the 'rightto decline' to any other third country, orto Sri Lanka itself,requests for establishingbusinesses. It also gave China a freeholdover the 'Area' for 99 years as per Clause67, which explicitly states that the "permit"cannot be cancelled before the stipulatedtime or till China wished for it. Thus, anyother foreign presence on the port willrequire a Chinese nod, and even if SriLanka objects to any of the Chinese offi-cials or the activities resulting from theagreement, there would be little that theisland country would be able to do. SriLanka would not be able to oust China ifit increases its hostile behaviour against itsneighbouring states or Sri Lanka itself. Itwould not be wrong to say that it will gen-uinely establish a "Chinese Enclave", a ter-minology coined by the opposition polit-ical parties of Sri Lanka.

The importance of the Project is ascer-tained from the fact that Colombo ranksamong the top 25 busiest container portsof the world and gives access to theArabian sea and the Bay of Bengal. Theapproved Bill thus has international ram-ifications from a security aspect. Locatedin India's strategic backyard, CPC gives thePLA-Navy (PLAN) of China a tactical andstrategic edge. The presence of China inHambantota has already raised the threatperception for India and other countrieslike Australia. The distance between the twoports is approximately 250 nautical miles.The logistical limitation that PLAN had inthe Indian Ocean Region (IOR) nowseems to be done away. The debt trap poli-cies of China aim to disturb the tradition-al balance of power in the IOR. The dual-use capabilities of the Hambantota portmight be an intelligence and surveillancehotspot apart from providing the deepberthing rights to the Chinese submarines.Both the ports are close to Djibouti and cre-ate for Beijing a safety lane for PLAN intimes of open hostilities. The dots of its'ports' can be connected with the Chinesestrategic intent of joining them withChabahar, Gwadar and the Karachi ports,apart from the news of Uganda's airporttakeover. China's peacekeeping force in

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Africa multiplies the magnitude ofthe problem as they can be imme-diately called upon to participate incase of conflict. In this way, Chinais an active threat to the criticalchoke points of world trade.

In the Eastern sector of the IOR,China has overcome its 'MalaccaDilemma' through its presence inMyanmar, and its naval presence inthe Coco and the Greater Cocoislands and Thailand's. The strate-gic experts well understand the useof canals for military purposes.China has militarised the IOR bydisturbing the 'zone of peace', whichIndia has focused on since 1947.The Hambantota and the Colomboports can serve as nodal pointsinvolving future Chinese militarycommunication and intelligencenetwork system.

Apart from the port acquisi-tions, China simultaneously inter-nally balanced itself, which is evi-dent through its Science of MilitaryStrategy (2013) had spoken of localwars and then rapidly shifted to pri-oritising an enhancement of itscapabilities for 'system warfare'(2015). The warfare encompassesoverall strengthening of its recon-naissance, early-warning and com-mand and control systems apartfrom the rapid development ofmedium and long-range precisionstrike capabilities through land, airand sea joint operations.Accordingly, what we see today isthe culmination of its strategy in ini-tiating battles in the enemy land(Galwan) and heightened verticalproliferation of its precision strikecapabilities (hypersonic missilesand quantum increase of missiles).

Nevertheless, China has also madecritical technologies available toPakistan (horizontal proliferation).

Apart from the doctrinal incor-porations at a tactical level, to con-fuse its enemies,the ports of OBORprovide China with a camouflagewherein anything ranging fromcritical arms such as conventionalmissiles to its military personnel canbe hidden to 'act' at a suitable time.The military build-up in theseports can be used for deception pur-poses to hide its 'intent and area ofaction'. The intelligence agenciesneed to keep a stern watch overwhat military facilities are placed inthe Sri Lankan ports apart from theLAC. Indian ministries of foreignaffairs and defence should not missthe rising sentiments against Indiaand Japan in Sri Lanka. The portsof Karachi and Gwadar are feasibleoptions for China, but the SriLankan ports will serve as thenodal points of its future militaryactions given their strategic positionin the IOR. Further, the ports are agateway to the European shippinglanes. A new war theatre near thesouthern coastal states of Indiathus seems to be rapidly building up.

However, most actions have aflip side too. The political resolve ofAUKUS to restrict Chinese hege-monic designs against India andAustralia exposes China to immensevulnerabilities. Whether the Chinesesupply chains use the MalaccaStraits or the Kyaukphyu port, theyhave to pass through the SouthernIOR and cannot solely dependupon the CPEC which lends Beijingto the mercy of the Taliban in thevicinity. The military dependence

on these ports, especially atHambantota as a 'stocking point' ofChinese military assets, can costBeijing significant disadvantagesin a short "local war" or a few hoursof tension build-up.

The democratic nations havealready been vocal about ensuringa free passage of the IOR in othercritical international waters such asthe Taiwan Strait and the SouthChina Sea. The joint naval drillsonly display the building resolveagainst the Chinese hegemony.Multilateral naval presences inbatches of two to three nations atdifferent locations on high seas inthe Southern IOR and Taiwan Straitcan counter the Chinese threat andmilitarily confuse Beijing. Theoptions of various permutationcombinations by the joint armedforces of AUKUS can implementeconomic and military blockages incase of a, first, collusive Sino-Pakthreat to India, second, militaryactions to usurp Taiwan. It is pos-sible that the 'game' that China hasplanned for others, especially India,fails miserably, and it might suffermultiple losses.

For this reason, Xi had statedthat AUKUS aims to "stifle Chinain its Asian areas of influence". Hisstatement was followed by QiZhenhong, the Chinese ambas-sador to Sri Lanka, reiterating thatAUKUS would endanger SriLankan security. The previous week,the Chinese Envoy Wang Qun bit-terly criticised the deal and stated itjeopardised the 'post-war interna-tional security order. Perhaps itbecomes easy to understand who isat more risk — China or Sri Lanka.

(The writer is an AssistantProfessor at Central

University of Punjab,Bathinda. The views

expressed are personal.

Finally, the central govern-ment repealed the threecontentious farm laws

buckling under pressure froma sustained peaceful move-ment of farmers. The victoryof the farmers makes us toreflect on the linkage betweenpublic resistance and policymakers' response. Whetherthe central government is hon-est in its commitment to thefarming community is thecore question.

Though the net outcomepartially meets the SamyuktKisan Morcha (SKM)demands, the governmentfailed to present a reasoningwhy it initially thought thefarm laws would enhance theliving conditions of the farm-ers and why it backed out fromthat stand. In the whole exer-cise, the Union Minister for

Agriculture is nowhere visible.When the three acts werepassed, several commentatorsfrom government andautonomous think tanks seri-ously defended the govern-ment. But such voices aremissing when the laws wererepealed. At the time of pass-ing the repeal bills, surprising-ly, the government was notinclined to debate them clauseby clause. All in all, the timespent on Farm Laws RepealBill 2021 in Lok Sabha was amere two minutes; eight min-utes in the Rajya Sabha.

The statement of objectsand reasons mentioned in theFarm Laws Repeal bill curious-ly sticks to the euphemism thatonly a group of farmers wereprotesting against these laws.This clearly indicates the factthat nothing has changed in

the government's perceptionabout the year-long peacefulagitation and the demands ofthe farmers cutting across thepolitical spectrum. Throughthe repeal bill, the governmenttried its best to miscommuni-cate when it said: "These enact-ments were made for the over-all socio-economic develop-

ment of the farmers and ruralsector after extensive consul-tations with various stake-holders following the felt needand demand of the farmers'organisations, suggestions andrecommendations of theexperts, professionals, agri-cultural economists, expertcommittees over the years."This is exactly contrary to theargument of the SKM whichalleged that the governmentseldom consulted any one ofthem.

There are several other jus-tifications the governmenttried to put forward in therepeal bill that we cannot findin the Prime Minister's addressto the nation on Guru Purabday. That is because it does notwant to expose itself before theglobal investor communityfor buckling under pressure.

The government's dishonestywas evident when it used theAzadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav tosubstantiate backtracking onthe farm bills.

The above facts clearlybring us back to the tendencyof global finance capital thattries until it succeeds in its ven-tures. The creeping-in natureis the most dominant form ofinternational finance capital'smaneuvering capacities. Tobuttress this impending dan-ger, we should recollect whathad happened to power sectorreforms as a whole.

The deregulation and pri-vatization of power sector wasprescribed to India by Fund-Bank think tanks two decadesago. They found their brandambassador in ChandrababuNaidu who wanted to be a pio-neer of reforms at the state

level and often at nationallevel. After resuming power, heimmediately resorted tounbundling of the power sec-tor in the then AndhraPradesh. He had to encountera sustainable resistance fromthe Left as well as governmentemployees. The subsequentagitation culminated in thethen Telugu Desam govern-ment letting loose police actionin which five people died.Following that movement, thepower sector reforms failed topick speed like the proponentsof globalization wanted to andneither Telugu Desam norChandrababu Naidu were suc-cessful in retaining the publictrust. And this was the agita-tion that catapulted the late YSRajasekhar Reddy to powerand played a solid role inmopping up numbers for

Congress during the UPAyears.

Despite the heroic struggleof the people of AndhraPradesh, the internationalfinance capital crept into thepower sector slowly but steadi-ly, charting out the progressivereforms at its own pace by co-opting government after gov-ernment. Now, it is strugglingto push through complete pri-vatization of distributionwhich is being met with stiffresistance.

The two-and-a-half-decade experience with powersector reforms compels anykeen observer of the reformpath in India and warn thefarming community about thecreeping tendency. This is fur-ther buttressed by the govern-ment through what it states inrepeal bill.

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(The writer is an indepen-dent researcher and runsMana Manchi Pustakam

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan has assured Sri

Lanka’s President GotabayaRajapaksa that there will be nomercy to the mob whichlynched Sri Lankan nationalPriyantha Kumara Diyawadanaover allegations of blasphemy,the President’s office here saidon Sunday.

Khan telephonedRajapaksa and said that 113people have been arrested sofar, it said.

“All the videos and infor-mation related to the incidenthave been

obtained by the Pakistanisecurity forces,” a statementfrom the President’s office said.

Prime Minister Khaninformed President Rajapaksathat Diyawadana, who hadserved in Pakistan for a longtime, had shown a high level ofprofessionalism as a manager.

In a shocking incident onFriday, angry supporters of thehardline Islamist partyTehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan(TLP) attacked a garment fac-tory and lynched its generalmanager Diyawadana, whowas in his 40s, before setting hisbody on fire over allegations ofblasphemy.

As pressure mounted onthe Pakistani government tobring the guilty to justice, over800 people have been booked

under terrorism charges while13 prime suspects are among118 arrested so far in the hor-rific lynching of the Sri Lankannational in Punjab province.

Diyawadana, a graduatefrom the University of

Peradeniya, is survived by hiswife and two children. He leftfor Pakistan for employment in2010 and has been working asthe manager of the Sialkot fac-tory since 2012.

He was working as thegeneral manager in the Rajkoindustries (dealing in garments– sportswear) in Sialkot district,some 100 kilometres fromLahore.

Sri Lankan Parliament andPrime Minister MahindaRajapaksa on Saturday con-demned the lynching andhoped that Prime MinisterKhan will keep his commit-ment to bring all those involvedto justice and ensure the safe-ty of the rest of the islandnation’s expat workers.

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Nearly all bones of SriLankan national Priyantha

Kumara Diyawadana were bro-ken and his body was 99 percent burnt in the horrific lynch-ing incident in Pakistan’sPunjab province, a mediareport on Sunday said, citinghis post-mortem report.

Angry supporters of thehardline Islamist partyTehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan(TLP) attacked a garment fac-tory on Friday and lynched itsgeneral manager Diyawadana,who was in his 40s, before set-ting his body on fire over alle-

gations of blasphemy.The post-mortem report of

Diyawadana cited skull and jawfractures as the cause of death,the Geo News reported.

All his vital organs, liver,stomach and one of his kid-neys, were affected, while tor-ture marks were visible all overhis body and his spinal cordwas broken at three different points, the reportsaid.

The post-mortem report ofthe Sri Lankan nationalrevealed that 99 per cent of hisbody was burned, and with theexception of one foot, all hisbones were broken, it said.

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APakistani rights and polit-ical activist has been con-

victed of espionage and sen-tenced to 14 years of rigorousimprisonment, according to amedia report on Sunday.

The verdict on IdrisKhattak was pronounced thisweek after the trial concludedin Jhelum.

“Khattak was found guiltyof espionage and leaking ofsensitive information by a FieldGeneral Court Martial(FGCM). He was handed down14-year rigorous jail term,” asecurity source was quoted assaying by the Dawn newspaper.

The source said he wastried under the Pakistan ArmyAct and Official Secrets Act,1923. He was accused of pro-viding the sensitive informa-tion to a foreign intelligenceagency.

Defending his court-mar-tial, the source said that any

individual accused of espi-onage, whether or not he is aserviceman, can be tried by aFGCM. Khattak has reported-ly been shifted to Jhelum dis-trict jail for serving the sen-tence. The source said he couldappeal before the appellate tri-bunal and subsequently beforethe army chief.

Khattak remained associ-ated with AmnestyInternational and had investi-gated enforced disappearancesin erstwhile tribal areas andBalochistan.

He was travelling fromIslamabad to Peshawar onNovember 13, 2019, when hewas picked by an intelligenceagency near Swabi interchange.

After nearly six months ofa public campaign by his fam-ily and filing of a habeas cor-pus petition at the PeshawarHigh Court, the defence min-istry on June 16, 2020, admit-ted that he was in military’scustody and had been charged

with treason under the OfficialSecrets Act.

Khattak’s brother later fileda petition with the PeshawarHigh Court seeking an end tohis trial by the military court.The high court, however, onJan 28, 2021, rejected theappeal.

Meanwhile, three retiredmilitary officers were givenvarying jail sentences by anoth-er FGCM in Rawalpindi,reported Dawn.

According to the securitysource, Lt Col (retd) FaizRasool was given 14 years rig-orous imprisonment, Lt Col(retd) Akmal 10 years rigorousimprisonment, and Maj (retd)Saifuddin 12 years rigorousimprisonment.

All three officers were alsoconvicted of espionage andleaking sensitive information.

The source said all thethree were retired at the timeof the commissioning of acrime.

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The consequences of China’srise and its growing capa-

bilities are “particularly pro-found”, External Affairs MinisterS Jaishankar has said as heflagged the “sharpening of ten-sions” on territorial issues acrossAsia with Beijing’s actions rais-ing a question mark on theagreements of yesteryears.

Speaking at the fifth IndianOcean Conference — IOC2021 — in Abu Dhabi onSaturday, Jaishankar also saidthat in a globalised world, it isvital that the freedom of navi-gation and overflight andunimpeded commerce arerespected and facilitated.

Noting that a number ofdevelopments have taken placethat have direct bearing on thewell-being of the Indian Oceanregion, the minister said thattwo developments - the chang-

ing American strategic postureand the rise of China - haveinfluenced the evolution of theIndian Ocean in recent years.

“Since 2008, we have wit-nessed a greater caution in USpower projection and an effortto correct its over-extension. Itmay have taken different formsand be articulated in very dif-ferent ways. But there is a larg-er consistency over threeAdministrations that theythemselves may not readilyrecognise,” he said.

“It is expressed in footprintand posture, terms of engage-ment, extent of involvementand nature of initiatives.Overall, the United States ismoving towards greater realismboth about itself and the world.It is adjusting to multipolarityand rebalancing and re-exam-ining the balance between itsdomestic revival and commit-ments abroad,” he said.

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An Army vehicle barreledinto a peaceful march of

anti-government protesters inmilitary-ruled Myanmar’sbiggest city on Sunday, report-edly killing at least three peo-ple, witnesses and a protestorganizer said.

Sunday’s march was one ofat least three held in Yangon,and similar rallies were report-ed in other parts of the coun-try a day ahead of an expectedverdict in the first of about adozen criminal cases against

Myanmar civilian leader AungSan Suu Kyi, who was toppledin a military takeover Feb. 1.

A video posted on socialmedia showed a speeding smallarmy truck heading into themarchers from behind. Voicescan be heard, saying: “The caris coming ... Please help! It hitthe children ... Oh! ... Dead! ...Run, ... run!” The video showsabout a dozen people runningfrom the spot.

A witness told TheAssociated Press that the pro-testers had been on his streetfor just two minutes when the

military truck hit them, leavingthree people without any signof movement lying on theroad.

“About five armed soldiersgot out of the vehicle andchased after the protesters,”said the witness, who insistedon anonymity for fear of arrest.“They opened fire and alsoarrested young people whohad been hit by the car. At least10 people were arrested.”

Security forces have previ-ously used cars to attack pro-testers since the army tookpower. They have also freely

used live ammunition, killingabout 1,300 civilians, accordingto a detailed list compiled bythe Assistance Association forPolitical Prisoners.

The use of lethal force bythe army and police has led toless large-scale street protests,which have been replaced bysmall, quickly organizedmarches that usually break upat the first sight of the author-ities.

Sunday’s deaths in Yangon’sKyeemyindaing neighborhoodcould not be immediately con-firmed.

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Presidents Joe Biden andVladimir Putin will speak in

a video call on Tuesday, theWhite House and Kremlin said,as tensions between the UnitedStates and Russia escalate over aRussian troop buildup on theUkrainian border that’s seen asa sign of a potential invasion.

Biden will press U.S. concernsabout Russian military activitieson the border and “reaffirm theUnited States’ support for the sov-ereignty and territorial integrityof Ukraine,” White House presssecretary Jen Psaki said Saturday,confirming the planned call afterfirst word came from Moscow.

Putin will come to the callwith concerns of his own andintends to express Russia’s oppo-sition to any move to admitUkraine into the NATO militaryalliance. Kremlin spokesmanDmitry Peskov said “the presi-dents will decide themselves”how long their talk will last.

The last known call betweenthe leaders was in July, whenBiden pressed Putin to rein inRussia-based criminal hackinggangs launching ransomwareattacks against the United States.Biden said the U.S. would take

any necessary steps to protectcritical infrastructure from suchattacks.

Ransomware attacks havecontinued since then, thoughperhaps none has been as alarm-ing as the one from May that tar-geted a major fuel pipeline andresulted in days of gas shortagesin parts of the U.S.

Russia is more adamant thanever that the U.S. guarantees thatUkraine will not be admitted tothe NATO military alliance. ButNATO’s secretary-general, JensStoltenberg, said this past weekthat Russia has no say in expan-sion plans by other countries orthe alliance. Numerous formerU.S. and NATO diplomats say anysuch Russian demand to Bidenwould be a nonstarter.

U.S. intelligence officials,meanwhile, have determined thatRussia has massed about 70,000troops near its border withUkraine and has begun planningfor a possible invasion as soon asearly next year, according to aBiden administration official whowas not authorized to discuss thatfinding publicly and spoke on thecondition of anonymity.

The risks for Putin of goingthrough with such an invasionwould be enormous.

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The Biden administration has plenty ofoptions to make good on its pledge to hit

Russia financially if President VladimirPutin invades Ukraine, from sanctions tar-geting Putin’s associates to cutting Russia offfrom the financial system that sends moneyflowing around the world.

The United States and European allieshave made no public mention of any plansto respond militarily themselves if Putinsends troops massed along the border intoUkraine, a former Soviet republic withclose historical and cultural ties to Russia butnow eager to ally with NATO and the West.

Instead, payback could be all about themoney.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken thisweek promised financial pain — “highimpact economic measures that we’verefrained from taking in the past.” PresidentJoe Biden on Friday said the U.S. had devel-oped the “most comprehensive and mean-ingful set of initiatives to make it very, verydifficult for Mr. Putin.”

The United States over the past decadealready has put a range of sanctions in placeagainst Russian entities and individuals,many of them over Russia’s invasion andannexation of Crimea and its support forarmed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014.U.S. sanctions also have sought to punishRussia for election interference, malicious cyber activities and human rightsabuses.

Since 2014, the West also has helpedUkraine build up its military. So while Putindenies any intention of launching an offen-sive, his troops would face a Ukrainian armymuch more capable of putting up a fight.

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Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett onSunday urged world powers to take a hard line

against Iran in negotiations aimed at reviving aninternational nuclear deal, as his top defense andintelligence officials headed to Washington to dis-cuss the flailing talks. Israel has been watchingwith concern as world powers sit down with Iranin Vienna in hopes of restoring the tattered 2015deal. Iran last week struck a hard line as talksresumed, suggesting everything discussed inprevious rounds of diplomacy could be renego-tiated. Continued Iranian advances in its atom-ic program have further raised the stakes.

The original deal, spearheaded by then-President Barack Obama, gave Iran much-need-ed relief from crippling economic sanctions inexchange for curbs on its nuclear activities. Butthen-President Donald Trump, with strongencouragement from Israel, withdrew from thedeal in 2018, causing it to unravel.

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Rescuers were siftingthrough smoldering debris

and thick mud in search of sur-vivors a day after the highestvolcano on Java island eruptedwith fury, killing at least 14people with searing gas andash.

Mount Semeru inLumajang district in East Javaprovince spewed thick columnsof ash more than 12,000 meters(40,000 feet) into the sky in asudden eruption Saturday trig-gered by heavy rains. Villagesand nearby towns were blan-keted and several hamletsburied under tons of mudfrom volcanic debris.

Authorities warned thethousands of people who fledthe volcano’s wrath not to

return during Sunday’s lull inactivity. But some were des-perate to check on livestock andpossessions left behind. In sev-

eral areas, everything — fromthe thinnest tree branch tocouches and chairs insidehomes — was caked with ash.

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The Finance Ministry onSunday said over three

crore income tax returns havebeen filed for the financialyear 2020-21 so far and advisedtaxpayers who are yet to filetheir return to do so at the ear-liest.

The number of ITRs filedper day is over four lakh andincreasing everyday as theextended due date of December31 is approaching, an officialstatement said.

The department has beenissuing reminders to taxpayersthrough e-mails, SMS andmedia campaigns encourag-ing taxpayers to file theirincome tax returns withoutfurther delay.

All taxpayers who are yet tofile their income tax returns forthe assessment year 2021-22 arerequested to file their returns atthe earliest to avoid the last-minute rush, it said.

“The income tax depart-ment strongly urges all tax-payers to view their Form26AS and Annual InformationStatement (AIS) through the e-filing portal to verify the accu-racy of the TDS and tax pay-ments and avail of pre-filling ofITRs,” it said.

It is important for taxpay-ers to cross check the data in

the AIS statement with theirbank passbook, interest cer-tificate, Form 16 and capitalgains statement from broker-ages in case of purchase andsale of equity/ mutual funds,etc, it said.

“Income tax return (ITR)filing has increased to 3.03crore ITRs for AY 2021-22.58.98 per cent of these are ITR1(1.78 crore), 8 per cent is ITR2(24.42 lakh), 8.7 per cent isITR3 (26.58 lakh), 23.12 percent are ITR4 (70.07 lakh),ITR5 (2.14 lakh), ITR6 (0.91lakh) and ITR7 (0.15 lakh).

“Over 52 per cent of theseITRs are filed using the onlineITR form on the portal and thebalance are uploaded usingthe ITR created from the offlinesoftware utilities,” it said.

The process of e-verifica-tion through Aadhaar OTPand other methods is impor-tant for the income tax depart-ment to commence processingof the ITR and to issue refundsif any.

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Ahead of its proposed initialpublic offering (IPO),

insurance behemoth LIC hasimproved its asset quality forthe financial year ended March2021.

The non-performingassets (NPAs) as of March 31,2021, are �35,129.89 crore outof a total portfolio of�4,51,303.30 crore, accordingto the latest Annual Report ofLife Insurance Corporation ofIndia (LIC).

The sub-standard assetsare �254.37 crore whereas thedoubtful assets are �20,369.17crore and loss assets are�14,506.35 crore.

An amount of �34,934.97crore is provided as per IRDAIguidelines in the books of

accounts towards non-per-forming assets, it said.

The percentage of grossNPA is 7.78 per cent while thenet NPA is 0.05 per cent at theend of March 2021. This islower than gross NPA of 8.17per cent (as a percentage of itsdebt portfolio) and net NPA of0.79 per cent in the previousyear.In absolute terms, theNPA was �36,694.20 crore outof a total debt of �4,49,364.87crore in 2019-20. Stress thresh-old for banks is different fromthat for insurers.

LIC usually makes fullprovisions for all NPA in thedebt book. The corporation hasmade provisions to the tune of�37,341.6 crore, of which�34,934.97 crore is towardsdoubtful, sub-standard, andloss assets.

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IT Minister AshwiniVaishnaw on Sunday exhort-

ed the banking industry to cre-ate an innovative digital plat-form - as powerful, seamlessand robust as UPI - for pro-viding quick and easy credit toMSMEs, small businessmen,and those at the bottom ofpyramid.

The building blocksrequired to create such a plat-form are already available,given the strong ecosystem ofAadhaar, mobile phones, UPIplatform and digilocker, hesaid asking the banking indus-try to come up with innovativeidea and solutions in threemonths.

Vaishnaw was speaking at‘Digital payment Utsav’ whichwas part of a week-long show-case of India’s achievements indigital space titled ‘Azadi kaDigital Mahotsav’ in the capi-tal. Throwing a “challenge” atthe bankers present in theaudience, the minister said:“Can we create a platform aspowerful, seamless, good, asdigital as UPI platform forproviding very quick and easycredit to the MSME, smallindustries, small business-men...People really at bottom of

pyramid.” The ministerexpressed willingness to look atpromising concepts that arebrought after three months, inresponse to the poser by him.

“You have today a goodecosystem of Aadhaar, mobilephones, UPI platform, dig-ilocker, practically everythingyou need to create this ecosys-tem is today available.Take this challenge...Next threemonths work on it, come backand I will be very happy tospend one full day with you tolook at concepts you bring,”Vaishnaw said.

Speaking to reporters onthe sidelines of the event, theminister further said the ideais to ensure that easy credit atgood terms, through a seamlessprocess can be made availableto people at bottom of pyramidespecially for micro and smallindustries, small businesses-men, street vendors amongstothers.

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Amid global scare due tonew coronavirus variant

Omicron, the RBI is likely tomaintain status quo in itsupcoming monetary policyand wait for a more opportunetime to calibrate benchmarkinterest rate to promote growthwithout sacrificing the mainobjective of containing infla-tion.

The Reserve BankGovernor-headed MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC) isscheduled to meet duringDecember 6-8, 2021. The deci-sion of the rate setting panelwould be announced onWednesday (December 8). Thecentral bank had kept thebenchmark policy rateunchanged in October.

“...We believe the talks of areverse repo rate hike in theMPC meeting may be prema-ture as RBI has been largelyable to narrow the corridorwithout the noise of rate hikesand ensuing market cacopho-ny,” said an SBI research report.

According to it, the RBI isnot obliged to act on reverserepo rate only in MPC. “Also,change in reverse repo rate isan unconventional policy tool

that the RBI has effectivelydeployed during crisis when itmoved to a floor instead of thecorridor,” it added.

A Kotak EconomicResearch report said withuncertainty around the newCovid variant, the RBI wouldpossibly wait for some claritybefore moving decisively onrates.

“We maintain our call fora reverse repo rate hike inFebruary with the Decembermeeting remaining a close call.We expect the RBI to contin-ue on its path of normalisationwith the reverse repo rate hikein February policy and reporate hike in mid-2022-23,” itsaid.

Property consultantAnarock said there have beenexpectations that the RBI may

raise the reverse repo rate to anominal extent during theforthcoming monetary policy.

“However, it is likely thatthe RBI will hold on to the cur-rent regime in reaction to theflare-up of Omicron concernsat a time of generalised eco-nomic recovery. Therefore,home loan borrowers mayenjoy the ongoing low interestrate regime for some moretime to come,” said Anuj Puri,Chairman, Anarock Group.

That said, an increase inrepo rates and consequentincrease in home loan interestrates is inevitable and will def-initely take place in the future,he added.

If the RBI maintains statusquo in policy rates onWednesday, it would be theninth consecutive time sincethe rate remains unchanged.

The central bank had lastrevised the policy rate on May22, 2020, in an off-policy cycleto perk up demand by cuttinginterest rate to a historic low.

The RBI has been asked bythe central Government toensure that the retail inflationbased on the Consumer PriceIndex (CPI) remains at 4 percent with a margin of 2 per centon either side.

New Delhi:The Governmenthas expanded the SCALE com-mittee (Steering Committeefor Advancing Local Value-Add and Exports) by addingthree new members, hailingfrom diverse industry back-grounds, according to anindustry insider.The newappointees are Panasonic IndiaChairman and CEO ManishSharma, Toyota Kirloskar Vice-Chairman Vikram S Kirloskar,and Asian Paints co-promoterand Chairman AddverbTechnologies Jalaj Dani, hesaid. Currently, the 14-memberSteering Committee forAdvancing Local Value-Addand Exports (SCALE) com-mittee is headed by formerMahindra CEO PawanGoenka. Besides, Invest IndiaCEO Deepak Bagla, PIIndustries CMD Salil Singhaland JSW Steel Group CFOSehshagiri Rao are on theboard of the SCALECommittee.

It has representation fromindustry bodies such as FICCI,CII, ASSOCHAM and offi-cials from commerce and otherministries. The SCALECommittee is formed by theMinistry of Commerce andIndustry has been workingclosely with the Department forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT) underthe guidance of the Ministry.

���� �()��(*+,

With input costs continuingto rise, automakers like

Tata Motors, Honda andRenault are looking to increasevehicle prices from Januarynext year to offset the impact.Already, car market leaderMaruti Suzuki and luxuryautomakers Audi andMercedes-Benz haveannounced to hike vehicleprices from next month. WhileMaruti said the price riseplanned for January 2022 willvary for different models,Mercedes-Benz said its hike willbe on select models by up to 2per cent due to feature enhance-ment and rising input costs.Onthe other hand, Audi said itsprice increase effective January1, 2022 will be up to 3 per centacross its entire model rangeowing to rising input and oper-ational costs. When contactedover the issue, Tata MotorsPresident Passenger VehiclesBusiness Shailesh Chandrasaid:”Prices of commodities,raw material and other inputcosts continue to rise. Anappropriate price hike to at leastpartially offset this increase incosts seems inevitablein thenear to short term.”

���� �()��(*+,

Volatility is likely to contin-ue in the stock market

this week amid Omicronuncertainty and the RBI mon-etary policy meeting will be akey driver for benchmarkindices going ahead, say ana-lysts.

It will be an event-packedweek for the markets, withRBI policy and several macro-economic numbers scheduledto be announced, they added.

“Volatility is likely to con-tinue amid Omicron uncer-tainty, RBI credit policy, andmacroeconomic numbers.There are lots of news flows onthe Omicron variant whichare causing volatility in themarket while on the domesticfront we will have the outcomeof an important monetary pol-icy of RBI that is scheduled onDecember 8.

“We will also have our IIPand inflation numbers thisweek however they will bereleased on Friday after markethours,” said Santosh Meena,Head of Research, SwastikaInvestmart Ltd.Equity bench-marks on Friday tumbled afterIndia reported its first case ofthe Omicron variant of thecoronavirus.

“We expect volatility toremain high this week as well

as we have some importantdata and events lined up. First,participants will be closely eye-ing the monetary policy reviewmeet outcome on December 8.On the macroeconomic front,IIP number and CPI inflationare scheduled for December10,” Ajit Mishra, VP Research,Religare Broking said.

Yesha Shah, Head ofEquity Research, SamcoSecurities said that with a slewof events on the horizon,traders should brace them-selves for an action-packedweek. Market players willattempt to read between thelines of the RBI’s monetary pol-icy outcome.

During the last week, theBSE benchmark gained 589.31points or 1.03 per cent.

“RBI’s monetary policymeeting which is scheduled tostart this week will be a keymarket driver in the comingdays as investors await MPC’spolicy decision considering theuncertainty surrounding thenew virus which persists in theglobal economy.

“Major domestic datapoints awaiting its release thisweek are November’s inflationdata and October’s industrial &manufacturing productiondata,” said Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices.

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People in India are in“extreme pain” and the

economy is still below the 2019levels, with “small aspirations”of people becoming even small-er now, Nobel laureate econo-mist Abhijit Banerjee has said.

He was virtually address-ing students of the AhmedabadUniversity in Gujarat onSaturday night from the USduring the varsity’s 11th annu-al convocation which was alsoheld online.

The economist was sharinghis observations from a recentvisit to West Bengal.

“You (students) are in aplace where you can give back.Society really needs it. We arein a time of extreme pain inIndia,” he said.

“I just spent some time inrural West Bengal and storiesyou hear about, you know, allthe aspirations that have beena little bit dashed are veryreal...Small aspirations whichbecame smaller now,” Banerjee

said.“I think we are in a

moment of great pain. Theeconomy is still well below asagainst what it was in 2019. Wedon’t know how much below,but it is substantially below.And I am not blaming any-body, I am just saying,” said theeconomist, who won theNobel Prize along with EstherDuflo and Michael Kremer in2019.

He also urged the studentsnot to succumb to pressurefrom family or society inchoosing their career paths, buthave the courage to do whatthey really want to do in life.

Banerjee also informed theaudience that he had spent 10

days in Tihar jail during his stu-dent days at the JawaharlalNehru University (JNU), Delhi.

“When I was about toleave the JNU and go toHarvard, I was in a studentdemonstration and then I wastaken to Tihar jail, and keptthere for ten days. When Icame out, lot of elders told methat I have ruined my career,and Harvard or the US willnever let you in. They thoughtI should be regretful,” he said.

To make his point aboutchoosing careers, Banerjeepointed out that two of India’sgreat filmmakers - Satyajit Rayand Shyam Benegal - wereeconomics graduates but choseto walk a different path.

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The Delhi High Court willon Monday hear a plea by

Delhi Airport Metro ExpressPrivate Limited (DAMEPL)seeking execution of an arbitralaward of over � 4,600 croreagainst Delhi Metro RailCorporation (DMRC).

The matter will be heardby Justice Suresh Kumar Kaitwho had issued notice on theReliance Infrastructure sub-sidiary’s execution plea inSeptember.

Recently, the SupremeCourt had dismissed theDMRC’s plea seeking a reviewof its judgement which upheldthe 2017 arbitration award infavour of DAMEPL, enforce-able against it.

The apex court onSeptember 9 had upheld thearbitration award enforceableagainst DMRC and said therewas a disturbing tendency ofcourts setting aside arbitralawards.The top court hadquashed the order passed by adivision bench of the high

court that had set aside thearbitration award in favour ofDAMEPL which had pulledout from running the AirportExpress metro line over safetyissues.

The arbitral tribunal in itsMay 2017 award had acceptedDAMEPL’s claim that the run-ning of operations on the linewas not viable due to structur-al defects in the viaductthrough which the train wouldrun. The division bench’s deci-sion had come on DMRCappeal against a single judgeorder of March 6 last yearupholding the arbitral award inDAMEPL’s favour.

The concession agree-ment between the two wassigned on August 25, 2008.Under the agreement, DMRCwas to carry out the civil works,excluding at the depot, and thebalance, including the projectsystem works, were to be exe-cuted by DAMEPL, a jointventure of Rinfra and a Spanishconstruction company --Construcciones Y Auxiliar DeFerrocarriles -- with a share-holding of 95 and five percentrespectively.

The Airport Express linewas commissioned onFebruary 23, 2011 after aninvestment of over Rs 2,885crore, funded by the DAMEPLpromoters’ fund, banks andfinancial institutions.

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Bitcoin and other cryp-tocurrencies fell sharply

Saturday, another sign thatinvestors were pulling backfrom riskier bets after thisweek’s stock-market selloff,MarketWatch reported.

Bitcoin, the largest cryp-tocurrency by market value,was down 18 per cent at$46,571.84 according to datafrom CoinDesk. It temporari-ly dipped to $42,000 beforebouncing back. Ether, the sec-ond-largest cryptocurrency,was down close to 16 per cent,the report said.

The declines were wide-spread across the crypto uni-verse. Other widely tradedcryptocurrencies includingSolana, Dogecoin, and ShibaInu coin lost more than a fifthof their value.

Disquiet in the stock mar-ket over the new Omicronvariant of Covid-19 and theFederal Reserve’s response toinflation might have played arole, the report said.

Another possible factoraccelerating the bitcoin selloffwas the unwinding of heavilyleveraged crypto derivatives,said Noelle Acheson, head ofmarket insights at cryptolenderGenesis Global Trading.

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Shares of Tata Teleserviceshave nearly doubled its

investors’ money in the pastone month.

Accordingly, shares of thecompany have risen from �67in early November to �130 onFriday’s session close.

Mumbai-based TataTeleservices, a subsidiary of theTata Group, deals in broad-band, telecommunications andcloud services.

Notably, the shares of thecompany hit the 5 per centupper circuit for several con-secutive days in the recentpast.It is important to note thatthe rise in share prices of thecompany comes at a time whenmajor Indian telecom operatorshave raised their prepaid tariffsby around 20 per cent.In lateNovember, telecom majorsVodafone Idea, Bharti Airteland Reliance Jio raised theirtariffs, which had already comeinto effect.”The tariff hike, ledby Bharti Airtel, is expected toimprove ‘ARPU’ (average rev-enue per-use) and free cashflow of the telcos. Incrementalcash flows would aid the much-needed network expansion and5G rollout,” Mohit Nigam,Head-PMS, Hem Securitieshad said.

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The veteran producer says push-ing OTT premieres by six toeight weeks will boost the busi-

ness of cinemaExhibitors can possibly exhale

with relief once again with studiosshowing the willingness to delayOTT premieres after the theatricalrelease of their films. Veteran produc-er Anand Pandit whose film Chehreenjoyed a theatrical release and anOTT premiere this year, shares,“Longer OTT premiere windows sig-nal that theatres will bounce backsooner than later. Returning to a sixto eight week window will boost thebusiness of cinema and I just hope thatthe sense of normalcy and goodcheer we are beginning to see now willgain even more strength in themonths to come.”

The festive season is usually a verylucrative time for the industry and awave of hope has rippled across the-atres with the success of recent releas-es and Pandit mentions, “There is nobigger high for a producer than to seehis film showcased on the big screenand even for the audience, watching

a film in the theatres is an unmatchedexperience. Production houses arehoping that the pandemic will be con-tained even more in time and thingswill go back to normal as when a film’spremiere and its OTT unveiling werespaced sufficiently. This benefitedeveryone, including the producers,the exhibitors and the audienceswho enjoyed a film in two differentmediums.”

OTT platforms, he says, bailedout the industry during the criticalphase of the lockdown and now theycan play an equally important role bysynergising with the industry cre-atively and commercially. He adds,“Both industries can help each other toshowcase content in a productive wayso that every stakeholder feels includ-ed. Ideally, a six to eight week windowis the best way forward for now.”

Anand Pandit’s next productionis Thank God, a comedy headlined byAjay Devgn, Sidharth Malhotra andRakul Preet Singh. The film hasbeen written and directed by IndraKumar and will release in theatres onJuly 29.

Achannel known for its thought-provoking narratives that ques-

tion people’s mindsets about avariety of subjects relevant toIndian society, Zee TV is back witha story that will make audiencesreconsider their approach towardswomen achieving more than theirmale counterparts. A woman isoften told — ‘focus on your mar-riage, not just your career. If youkeep achieving on the career front,it won’t be long before your rela-tionship slips out of your hand.’And if the woman in questionbegins to make significant stridesat work and is possibly looked uponas more successful than her hus-band, she is warned that her suc-cess could make him insecure andthe marriage itself could fall apart.Such is the conundrum of ParagiParashar, the female protagonist ofIss Mod Se Jaate Hain, who alongwith her love interest Sanjay Pathak,is preparing for her UPSC exam.While both of them are extremelymotivated towards their joint goalof becoming IAS officers, the showcaptures the dynamics betweenthe two families after Paragi clearsher exam with flying colors andSanjay doesn’t.

Iss Mod Se Jaate Hain will fea-ture popular television actressAkshita Mudgal who will be por-traying the role of Paragi, a smart,witty, and studious girl. On theother hand, the role of Sanjay willbe played by none other than

Hitesh Bharadwaj. Both of themwill be seen playing IAS aspirantsand the two actors are kickedabout being part of such a uniqueshow.

Mudgal shared, “I am veryexcited to play the role of Paragi inIss Mod Se Jaate Hain. In fact, assoon as I was approached, I felt that

this part was meant for me. I actu-ally look up to IAS officers andbeing able to play one is really aproud moment. While my charac-ter is quite different from how I amin real life, one thing that is com-mon between us is our firm beliefin gender equality. If men can pri-oritize their careers and be

unapologetic about the same, whyshouldn’t women be accorded sim-ilar freedom? Why are womenasked to focus on the personal frontwhen they make strides at work andachieve more success than theirhusbands? Do women not deserveto scale their fullest potential or dowe need to curtail our growth toavoid denting the male pride? Mycharacter, through her graph, willquestion some of these age-oldthought processes.”

Bharadwaj added, “I am veryeager to play the part of Sanjay asI see a lot of myself in him. He is awell-mannered, hardworking,respectful young man who believesin equal opportunity for all andhow success needs to be merit-linked and earned the hard way. Heis extremely supportive of womenpursuing their dreams and goalsand isn’t one to curb their growth.Other than that, his sunny dispo-sition and affable charm are likelyto win the hearts of audiences as thestory progresses.”

While it will be interesting tosee Bharadwaj and Mudgal’s on-screen chemistry, it will be evenmore intriguing to know – patniagar ho pati se ek kadam aage, tohkya toot jaate hain rishton kedhaage?

(To know more, tune into IssMod Se Jaate Hain which pre-

mieres on December 6 and airsevery Monday to Saturday at 6:30

pm, only on Zee TV.)

On her 40th birthday, DiaMirza pledges 40 lakhs to

the families of forest warriorswho died of Covid-19.

The actor will donate alakh each day over a span of40 days with the hope thatcontributors will also do theirbit to make a collective differ-ence

The actor, producer, andchampion for nature turns 40on December 9. This year, sheis dedicating her special dayto the frontline forest warriorswho lost their lives during theongoing pandemic and havepledged 40 lakhs to their fam-ilies.

In a deeply movingappeal, posted on fundraisingplatform Milaap and on her

social media handles, the starsaid, “On my birthday thisyear, I would like to take theopportunity to request allthose who may want to sendme flowers or gifts to insteadmake a donation to WTI tohelp our VanRakshaks. Therecould be no better birthdaygift! Your gift will help sup-port the bereaved families ofIndia’s ‘Guardians of the Wild’who lost their lives to Covid19 while protecting our nat-ural heritage.”

She added, “Beginningwith my 40th birthday onDecember 9, for the next 40days, I will donate a lakh eachday and hope that you all will(contribute alongside me tothe best of your

abilities/match or better thatamount) as we seek to max-imise our collective impact!”

Mirza further said, “Ourguardians of the wild, our vanrakshaks risk their lives in ser-vice to nature. They often fallto accidents in the toughest ofterrain, inclement weather,attacks by wild animals, orpoachers. When the secondwave of Covid-19 torethrough the country leadingto nationwide lockdowns,these men and women wereout patrolling our country’sforests on foot. BetweenMarch and June 2021, whenmost of us stayed at home,India lost more than 500 ofthese conservation heroes toCovid-19. Most of them were

young, between 30 and 50years of age, and had commit-ted their life to preserveIndia’s wildlife. The suddendemise of so many young,committed people is not onlyheart-wrenching but a blow tonature conservation. The leastwe can do now is to recognisetheir service and stand insupport of the young familiesthey leave behind, who havesuffered the biggest blow.”

Mirza, also the ambas-sador of WTI, concluded, “I appeal to you to join meand donate for the cause.Our target is to raise theremaining amount to coverall 65 families and your con-tribution can bring us clos-er to our goal.”

Bollywood star Bhumi Pednekarhas always been a socially con-

scious citizen and she has starteda much-lauded pan India advoca-cy campaign — Climate Warrior,to raise awareness on environmen-tal conservation and climatechange. Climate Warrior is a con-certed social media initiative thatBhumi spearheads to highlightthe incredible work done by tire-less environmental activists andcitizen groups across India. Sheuses her highly engaged socialmedia following to voice concernsabout the rapidly changing climat-ic conditions in the nation. OnWorld Soil Day, Bhumi requestedpeople to look as sustainable livingas the only way forward to preservethe planet.

Bhumi expressed, “If we allwant to be centred, grounded,patient, we have to form a connec-tion with Mother Earth. I’m blessedthat my parents named me Bhumiaka earth aka soil. So, I guess theypreempted that I would grow up todo my bit for the nature thatnourishes us in every way possible.”

She added, “We are in a reali-ty where we can’t ignore the factthat if we are sustainable, we cansave lives and on World Soil Day,I would nudge everyone to do theirbit to learn, educate and practicethe art of sustainability. It will saveour planet. We’ve seen the worsthappening globally from forestfires, hail storms, cyclones, floods,droughts in the recent past. If we

still do not understand the impor-tance of course correction, we aresoon going to reach a point of noreturn.”

Bhumi has become a biggerchampion of sustainability eversince she built her terrace gardenthat now produces fruits and veg-etables for the Pednekar family.

She said, “Though I had alwaysfelt a deep bond with causes relat-ed to nature and environment, Ithink my connection to what I

believe in grew stronger when Idecided to have a sustainable gar-den at my home. My mother andI spoke about it at length and wedecided that sustainability is theway forward for the Pednekarfamily. The process of building theright soil that nourishes us todaywith so many fruits and vegetablesmade me realise that I must talkabout this to everyone and try andurge people to also look at sustain-ability as the way forward.”

���������The movie revolves around a decorated marine who

goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons froma mysterious threat. As their journey takes them inincreasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need toleave their childhoods behind. It starts premiering fromDecember 10 on Amazon Prime Video.

��� ���������������The serial is set in the timeless lanes of ‘Androon

Sheher’ — a mythicalneighbourhood. Itshowcases stories oflove, lust, power, andredemption wovenin a web of betrayal,angst, and revenge.Each story from theanthology depictsthe fearlessness ofwomen and theirdetermination toavenge deceit. Itstarts premiering onZee5 and Zindagifrom December 10.

�������It follows the journey of a mother combatting the dark worldof crime and enemies closing in on her family and children.The key question the trailer of the second season raised is— ‘Can Aarya Sareen escape her past, or will her own fam-ily betray her, yet again?’ Aarya S2 will premiere on December10 on Disney+Hotstar.

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With a splash of red, a hint ofblack, a deep indigo — Baghprint — made from natural

dyes extracted from various plants andvegetables provides a source of liveli-hood for the people from Bagh village.It also upholds the importance of sus-tainable art.

The renowned traditional Indianhandicraft is believed to be over1,000 years old and is an importantsource of rural livelihood. From theDhar district of Madhya Pradesh, ittypically comprises geometric, pais-ley or floral motifs, predominantly inred or black. Mohammed Bilal Khatri,the master craftsman of Bagh print,has made significant contributions tothe advancement and promotion ofthis traditional art form on bothnational and international levels. InSeptember, he also got the opportu-nity to showcase his handicraft in afour-day long Turtuk Festival, organ-ised by the Ministry of Culture.

This young artisan hails fromBagh village in Madhya Pradesh. Hehas learned this art form from hisfather, Mohammed Yusuf Khatri andgrandfather Ismail Sulemanji. From theage of eight, he has been involved inthis traditional handicraft and hasgained more than 20 years of experi-ence. In 2011, he was awarded theNational Merit Award by the Ministryof Textiles, Government of India, fol-lowed by Russian Diploma Award

from International Ethnomir ‘Dialogueof Cultures- United World’ Fund in2014.

Sharing his experience at theTurtuk Festival, he said, “I was reallydelighted to be honoured by theMinistry of Culture of Government ofIndia and secondly, by the TurtukExecutive Councillor, Ghulam Mehndion behalf of the administration.Furthermore, coming to Turtuk villageand interacting with the locals provid-

ed me with a sense of peace.”Turtuk, the last village of India, is

approximately 203 km away from Lehin the Union Territory of Ladakh. Thevillage was under the control ofPakistan after 1947, but India regainedit after the war of 1971. To mark 50years of this historic accomplishment,the Indian government organizedTurtuk Festival under ‘Aazadi KaAmrit Mahotsav’ — an initiative tocommemorate 75 years of its rich his-

tory, diverse population, culture andachievements. A total of 200 artisansfrom across India participated in thisfestival, Bilal being one of them.

“I provided complete informa-tion to the locals about the historicimportance of this art. They showedgreat interest in knowing more aboutBagh print and also tried their hand atstamping the prints,” informed Bilal.

According to him, the beauty ofTurtuk, which is situated amidst theancient Shyok river and snow-cladHimalayas, coupled with its generouslocals, is unparalleled. “This area issurrounded by the KarakoramMountain range. As far as the eyes cansee, there are mountains. And besidesthe natural beauty, even the peoplehere are so simple,” shared Bilalheartily.

Further, diving deeper into thedetails of this traditional handicraft,Bilal mentioned that the printing ofBagh prints and the treatment of fab-ric is a multi-stage process, whichincludes colour treatment, fabric soak-ing, boiling, drying, washing andprinting. These steps are usuallyrepeated depending on the number ofcolours used on the fabric.

“The process starts with soakingthe fabric in raw salt, hot water andgoat dung. This step is the reason forthe light-yellow colour of the fabric.After this, the fabric is washed, spreadand dried in the open. At this stage,the red colour is extracted by soakingand boiling tamarind seeds and alumin a big copper vessel. The red colourdistinguishes the Bagh print,”explained Bilal.

The blocks are made with greatprecision to complement cotton, crepe,silk and other types of fabrics. Afterthis, the fabric is spread on a plank ora table with many layers of jute,straws and fabrics which provides aflexible base for block printing, whichis done skillfully by the artisans. Thered colour extracted from tamarindseeds is highlighted using differentblocks. There are many patternsincluding flowers, leaves and tradition-al sculptures.

“Till further instructions, theartists use their imagination to bringfabric to life by meticulously emboss-ing the designs,” he added.

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The toughest part of a race isright before the finish line.

The same is the case with a phe-nomenon called ‘Year-endfatigue’, which means that feel-ings of physical, mental andemotional exhaustion willencompass you. It will leave youfeeling irritability, exhaustion,and low motivation.

Are you just tired or is itsomething more? Fatigue iswhen you perpetually exhaust-ed or weak. You need to remem-ber that fatigue is a symptom,not a condition. If you feel likethis exhaustion is impedingyour daily routine, it may be amedical condition and you areadvised to visit a doctor assoon as possible.

Reasons for year-endburnouts:

The end of the year meansthat people are in a rush to getthings done. From work goals tofamily pressures, you are facedwith the need to get things done.But accompanied by the con-stant sense of fatigue, it makesaccomplishing anything nextto impossible.

Here are a few ways to dealwith this exhaustion and fatigueand begin 2022 with a fresh per-spective.

Take a social media breakYou must have heard about

the phrase — digital detox. Theconstant need to keep in touchthrough social media can getoverwhelming, and while it isdifficult to shut yourself offfrom social media completely,you can fit a mini digital detoxinto your workday. Giving yourcomplete attention to a partic-ular activity -– spending timewith family or friends whileleaving your phone aside is oneway of doing so. Another way isyou can download apps thatlimit screen time and alert youwhen you exceed the set limit.According to UW Health psy-

chologist Shilagh Mirgain, onecan improve productivity, focus,mindfulness and bonds withfriends and family by restrictingthe use of technology.

Rest upA side effect of fatigue is

that it also impacts your sleep.You may experience brokensleep patterns or even fail tosleep peacefully at all. While youmight feel that sleeping for 18hours would help solve yourfatigue, in fact all you need to dois reset your sleep cycle by try-ing to get seven to eight hoursof sleep. Not only will this

improve your mood, but it willalso help you feel revitalised.

Keep your physical activi-ty in check

At such a time, you arebound to get tired with even thethought of picking yourself offthe couch and exercising. Youneed not spend two or threehours a day at the gym, but asimple 30-minutes’ walk or jogwill set a tone for the day and

help reduce stress, eventuallymaking you feel fit and healthy.

Healthy food is a mustYou may not realise the

value of eating healthy and itseffect on your mood, stressand energy. Not only does ithelp in combating stress, but italso leaves your body feelingnourished. Be cautious of skip-ping meals at such a time, as itmay worsen your mood.Instead, include a healthy andbalanced meal plan in your rou-tine. A study published in thejournal Nutrients shows thatconsumption of junk food leadsto increased stress. Also, doremember to not pressuriseyourself at such a time andindulge in comfort food, ifneed be.

Be grateful Dr Guy Winch, author of

the book Emotional First Aidsaid that ‘gratitude is an emo-tion that grounds us and is agreat way to balance out thenegative mindset that uncer-tainty engenders’. It is crucial tokeep in mind that negativefeelings will only bog you down.You must show gratitude andremind yourself of the biggerthings in your life. This helpsrelease dopamine and sero-tonin – happy hormones thatmake us feel light and happyinternally, and in turn helps beatstress.

To stay ahead of the curveand practise the suggestionsabove to beat the year endfatigue. Prevention is betterthan cure, so ensure that you aremindful of your feelings, thepace at which you’re moving inlife. Slow down, take a deepbreathe to start the new yearwith a fresh outlook to explorethe numerous possibilities.

(The author is co-founderand director, Fittr.)

Arecent violent face-off between the two emergingworld powers over a long-disputed border issue has

highlighted the repercussions that this can entail. Unlessthe concerned countries desist from the use of force, evena small, old issue can develop into a big war, with possi-bilities of involving the superpowers and influencing thewhole world. As the world, with a huge nuclear stockpile,has turned into a powder keg, every sane person wantsthat war should be banished from society. But to cure themalady of wars, one will have first to identify the causesof war.

A well-known epi-gram, on this question,says, “Wars are born inthe minds of men.”Though this is true ingeneral terms, it wouldbe better if, to explainthe origination of warsit is said, “Wars — hotor cold — are borneither from the tempta-tion to possess moreterritories or from thefeelings of nationalpride or hurt pride, orfrom hatred, suspicionand fear that grip men’smind and finally, from the will to prove its superiorstrength or to wreak vengeance on the opponent.” Therecent issue between the two powerful Asian countriesis no exception to this rule. One cannot explain as to whythe soldiers of one nation barged into the territory ofanother nation, despite knowing very well that there hasbeen a peace treaty between the two nations for years. Wasit some kind of fear or some insecurity, feelings of nation-al pride or wounded pride? Whatever may be the reason,the fact remains that today the whole world is in dangerof nuclear war and that makes every nation build up heavystocks of weapons of mass destruction in the name of self-defense and security. If, therefore, mankind wants to doaway with wars, once for all, the first thing it must do isto remember well that war is an inhuman, brutish andinsane way of settling disputes.

It would be useful to know, in this context, that behindevery action, there is in one’s mind, “a related convictionor what may be called ‘philosophy of action’”. So also,behind wars, there is what may be called a ‘philosophyof wars’, perverted though it may be. Students of historywould know that by the end of the 19th century, a pow-erful war cult had arisen in Europe, inspired by the beliefthat only the fittest should survive. War, it was argued,was an instinct of mankind. Death on the battlefield wasdescribed as the loftiest of human sacrifices or the mostheroic devotion to society. Philosophers, such as Renan,said, “War is, in a way, one of the conditions of progress,the cut of a whip which keeps a country from going tosleep.” John Ruskin called war, “the foundation of all arts...of all virtues and faculties of men.” Obviously, this warcult ignored war’s brutalising effects and the indelible scarsit inflicted on both the victors and the vanquished.

If, now, the philosophy of Renan and Ruskin and suchother men, as Prussian Marshal Moltke, who said that “waris an element of the order of the world, established by God”,continue to be believed by the nations, then, of course,wars cannot be banished. Nations will take to the path ofreconciliation and non-violence if — like the Indian king,Ashoka — they keep uppermost the suffering wars causeuppermost in their minds. Today, the lack of peace is anoutcome of mankind’s inability to realise the truth behindthe factors that lead nations to race for military superi-ority, build up weapons and subjugate other people andterritories. These are powered by religious bigotry, a scram-ble for power or a spirit of revenge. Because of his lustfor power, man cheats himself of happiness. It is a pitythat he easily forgets that the power of arms or moneywithout the power to rule one’s own mind is pure evil. Also,man does not realise that the political power without thepower to rule one’s physical senses and without the intentto use power for human good, leads to turmoil. Lastinghappiness of the human race depends not on the powerto dominate others but on his mastery over his demoni-ac traits. So, the rub of the matter is that man needs tobe reminded effectively that if he does not kill the demonsof hate, anger and war with the weapons of love and uni-versal brotherhood, the demons will kill mankind.

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Indian badminton ace P VSindhu settled for a silver medal

at the BWF World Tour Finalsafter going down meekly againstKorean teen sensation AnSeyoung in the summit clash, hereon Sunday.

Sindhu, the reigning worldchampion and two-time Olympicmedallist, could neither match thepace nor breach the defence of theworld number six Korean, losing16-21 12-21 in the 40-minute lop-sided clash.

It was Sindhu's third succes-sive loss -- all straight games -- tothe Korean in as many meetings.

With this victory, AnSeyoung became the first ever

South Korean woman to win theseason-ending title.

It was also her third straighttitle in Bali, following wins at theIndonesia Masters and IndonesiaOpen in the last two weeks.

Making her third finalappearance in the year-end tour-nament, world number sevenSindhu looked a pale shadow ofthe player who had claimed thetitle in 2018 to become the onlyIndian to achieve the feat.

"It was a good game. AnSeyoung is a good player so Idon't think it was going to be easy.I was prepared for a good match,"Sindhu said after the title clash.

"From the beginning I shouldnot have given her lead becausein the end I came back covering

few points. It is a bit sad but lotto learn.

"It has been a good threeweeks in Bali. So lot of positives

to take from here and it's time togo back, recover and get preparedfor the world championships,"added the 26-year-old.

Up against the 19-year-oldKorean, Sindhu once again lookedshort of ideas. She couldn't mounther attacking game or make useof the full court.

An Seyoung looked morepolished at the nets and rode onher good quality of strokes. Sheproduced some sensational fullstretch diving saves with herswift movement to blunt Sindhu'sgame plan.

The Indian had a forgettablestart and was left to fight a toughbattle after lagging 0-4.

Sindhu played a good rally tolog her first points with a crosscourt return. She tried to narrowthe gap by engaging her rival inrallies but An Seyoung was quickon her feet and showed better

anticipation to always keep hernose ahead.

The Korean doubled the leadto 16-8 after resumption. Sindhutried to make up the deficit witha few good points but the Koreanmanaged to collect eight gamepoints.Sindhu saved four gamepoints by putting pressure on heropponent's backhand, while theKorean also sent one long.

An Seyoung, however, sealedthe opening game with a bodyreturn.

"During the rally, the shotwhich I wanted to attack, I wasmaking mistakes. It was goingside outs and points which I hadto take were going to net. It is partof the game and it happens attimes," said Sindhu.

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India's middle-order worries going intoSouth Africa series remained but thatdidn't deter Ravichandran Ashwin from

turning the heat on as his three quick blowsleft New Zealand tottering at 140 for five inpursuit of an impossible 540 on day threeof the second Test.

While Daryl Mitchell (60 off 92 balls)and Henry Nicholls (36 batting) added 73runs for the fourth wicket, there is no deny-ing that India in all likelihood will finish itearly on the fourth day with Ashwin (3/27)looking menacing after every passing over.

What will hurt New Zealand team mostin this defeat is the fact that this is the gamewhere one of its own -- Ajaz Patel, equalledthe world record and grabbed a match-haulof 14 wickets, something that no one hasever done against India in Test cricket.

The tall Mitchell at least tried to use hisreach to counter Ashwin and also attackJayant Yadav and Axar Patel but looked morelike the last man standing, trying to delaythe inevitable before a rush of blood saw himbeing holed at deep extra cover. TomBlundell had a suicidal runout going for anon-existent single.

But it was Ashwin, who again got thenew ball and immediately got into the actby removing skipper Tom Latham with anangular delivery while Will Young gave bat

pad to forward short leg and Ross Tayor,who has been a walking wicket, failed mis-erably in his attempt to slog sweep the wilyoff-spinner.

There was one over where Ashwin lit-erally toyed with left-handed Nicholls whocouldn't gauge which one would turn awaylike a classical off-break and the one that willstraighten or come in with the angle.

But there will be some issues that wouldneed coach Rahul Dravid's urgent attention.

For India, even in what could be a facilevictory, the wobbly middle-order wouldkeep them worried going into the SouthAfrica series.

Ajinkya Rahane failed in the first Testand had to be dropped on pretext of ahamstring niggle. Cheteshwar Pujarahad three bad innings and one where helooked better but that was after the pres-sure was released by the bowlers.

Skipper Virat Kohli, whose prima-ry aim of not enforcing follow-on was toget some batting time under his belt, alsodidn't look confident during a scratchyinnings of 36 off 84 balls.

Former India batter said Virat Kohlidoesn't have a technical deficiency or anymental issue that is stopping him fromgetting to a 3-figure score and that theIndia captain has to be patient to end thelong drought for a hundred in interna-tional cricket.

VVS Laxman said the 3-figure scorewill come Virat Kohli's way soon and onceit does, Kohli will be back to scoring bigruns for India. The former batter's com-ments come after Virat Kohli was dismissedfor 36 on Day 3 of the 2nd Test against NewZealand in Mumbai.

India declared their second innings at276 for 7 after Axar hit four sixes and threefours in his 41 off 26 balls to prop up theinnings towards the end.

Their confidence already shattered, theNew Zealand bowlers conceded as many as25 fours and 11 sixes in the 70 overs theybowled in the second innings. In fact, all

Indian batters save Wriddhiman Saha hitat least one six.

Kohli's idea of batting again was par-tially successful because Pujara did lookgood during his 47 and Mayank Agarwal(62, 108 balls) did his cause no harm bysmashing another half-century to top uphis first innings score of 150.

The duo added 107 runs for the open-ing stand to add insult to New Zealand'sinjuries and it was compounded byanother 82 runs that Shubman Gill (47)added with Kohli.

Save a six that he hit off opposition'sweakest link, Will Sommerville, Kohli forthe better part of his 84 balls didn't lookconvincing before playing on to a friend-ly left-arm spin from Rachin Ravindra,who also had three wickets.

Agarwal was looking good for hissecond hundred of the game but in hisbid to hit another six off Patel he couldnot reach to the pitch of the delivery andWill Young comfortably took the catchat long-off.

For Pujara this was the best chanceto get a fifty and increase his confidencebefore the tour of South Africa.

He survived a strong DRS appeal butthen one delivery that was pitchedslightly fuller and turned, got his outsideedge and went to Taylor's safe hands inthe slips.

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The majority of play on daytwo of the second cricket

test between Bangladesh andPakistan was washed out due topersistent rain on Sunday.

Just 6.2 overs from a possi-ble 98 were possible as Pakistanresumed the day on 161-2 andreached 188-2 before theumpires called it a day.

Skipper Babar Azam wasbatting on 71 with Azhar Ali on52 at stumps.

Rain and bad light alsointerrupted the game on dayone, allowing just two sessions.

As the game started afterthe lunch session on Sunday,Babar resumed with a bound-ary through fine leg off pacerKhaled Ahmed, showing hisintention to score quick runs.

Azhar also hit a boundaryin the second ball he faced offpacer Ebadot Hossain.

He then struck two consec-utive fours in Ebadot's next overto reach his 34th test fifty off126 balls just before rain forcedthe postponement. Left-armspinner Taijul Islam, who did-n't bowl on day two, remains

Bangladesh's biggest threatwith match figures of 2-49.

Pakistan won the first testby eight wickets and leads thetwo-match series 1-0.

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The weather gods played hide & seek in thepenultimate round of the 24th JK Tyre-

FMSCI National Racing Championship here inCoimbatore.

Heavy rains halted the session for a coupleof hours on Saturday but then the wet track con-dition made the races in the LGB Formula 4 &JK Tyre Novice Cup category even more excit-ing.

As the drivers & riders got geared up to taketo the track to prove their mettle came the rainand halted the proceedings for over an hour.

But the race officials were determined tocomplete the race for the cars.It continued to rainbut the Formula LGB4 drivers, the experiencedof the lot, were given the task to handle the con-dition.

The race was run under the safety car andyellow flag for the first four laps but Arya Singhof Dark Don Racing did a much better job tobring home his first race win.

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Title hopes already shat-tered, defending champi-

ons India even failed to finishon the podium as they lost 1-3 to France in the bronze-medal play-off match of theFIH Junior Hockey World Cuphere on Sunday. France skipperTimothee Clement slammed ahat-trick. Clement convertedthree penalty corners forFrance in the 26th, 34th and

47th minutes while India'slone goal was struck by SudeepChirmako in the 42nd minute.

It was the second consec-utive flop show from theIndians after their superlativeperformance against Belgiumin the quarterfinals.

The third-fourth placematch was a chance for Indiato avenge their 4-5 defeatagainst France in their tourna-ment opener, but it was not tobe as the European side contin-

ued to dominate the hostswith a superb performance.

France were by far thebetter side on the pitch as theycontrolled the proceedingsafter a sedate first quarter andearned as many as 14 penaltycorners as against India's justthree. India started on a brightnote and exerted pressure onFrance defence in the firstquarter, which resulted in apenalty corner as early as in thefirst minute of the game, but

the hosts failed to utilise thechance. The Indians continuedto press hard and came close tosecuring the lead in the 12thminute when Araijeet SinghHundal's shot from top of thecircle hit the post.

France got their footinginto the match at the fag endof the first quarter when theysecured three penalty cornersin succession but the Indiandefence did just enough to keeptheir rivals at bay.

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The third unofficial Test between India A andSouth Africa A beginning here on Monday

will give the fringe players another opportunityto make their case for national selection ahead ofthe senior team South Africa's tour later thismonth.

A squad of at least 20 is likely to be pickedfor the South Africa tour comprising three Testsand three ODIs beginning December 26.

Hanuma Vihari, who was controversiallydropped for the New Zealand series at home, isexpected to come back into the side. He lookedgood in the drawn second unofficial Test scoringcouple of fifties.

Abhimanyu Easwaran, who could be pickedas a back up batter in the top-order, has been insublime touch on the tour.

He scored a hundred in the series opener andfollowed it up with a fifty in the second inningsof the game held earlier this week.

Prithvi Shaw has not made most of his chancesin South Africa, not helping his case for selection.

After a tough outing in the series opener, thepacers were impressive in the second game withthe young Ishan Porel standing out with a matchhaul of six wickets. Navdeep Saini too wasamongst the wickets, taking five in total.

Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar has not done muchin the series but he is likely to be picked in ODIsquad.

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Germany bowed out of theDavis Cup with a win in

the doubles rubber of theirsemi-final in Madrid againstRussia. Kevin Krawietz andTim Puetz fought back to beatAslan Karatsev and KarenKhachanov 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, but itwas scant consolation as singlesvictories for Andrey Rublev

and Daniil Medvedev had ear-lier given Russia an unassail-able 2-0 lead in the best-of-three tie.

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Barcelona lost its first matchunder Xavi Hernández when it

fell to Real Betis 1-0 at home justbefore its critical trip to BayernMunich.

Striker Juanmi Jiménez finishedoff a well-orchestrated counterattackto take Betis' winner in the 79thminute at Camp Nou on Saturdaynight.

Barcelona had won twice anddrawn once since Xavi took over ascoach from Ronald Koeman. Thedefeat left the team in seventhplace and in danger of falling evenfurther behind leader Real Madrid,which played at Real Sociedad later.

Barcelona visits Bayern onWednesday needing a win to ensureits place in the Champions Leagueround of 16. Bayern, which is

already qualified as the group win-ner, beat Barcelona 3-0 in their firstmeeting this season.

If it loses, Barcelona wouldneed Benfica to not beat DynamoKyiv to avoid elimination.

Before kickoff, Barcelona play-er Alexia Putellas presented the65,000-plus fans her Ballón d'Or forthe world's best women's player.

Barcelona lost teen talent GaviPáez in the 34th when he needed tobe carted off after apparently feel-ing dizzy following the powerfulimpact of a ball to his head.

Manuel Pellegrini's Betis roseinto third place, right behindcrosstown rival Sevilla, which beatVillarreal 1-0 thanks to a goal fromLucas Ocampos.

Sevilla and Villareal also havekey Champions League matches thisweek. Sevilla must win at Salzburg

to move on, while Villarreal playsAtalanta needing a draw to advance.

�������2��������������When Karim Benzema went

down injured, Vinícius Júnior andthe rarely used Luka Jovic steppedup to secure Real Madrid a 2-0 winat Real Sociedad and strengthen itshold of the Spanish league lead.

The young attacking playersstruck goals early in the secondhalf in San Sebastián to giveMadrid its eighth consecutive winacross all competitions and leaveit eight points clear of nearestchaser Sevilla.

Madrid's victory came afterAtlético Madrid and Barcelonawere upset at home, leaving themfurther adrift.

"We knew that this was goingto be a tough game at a difficultground, but we played a greatgame from the very start," Madridmidfielder leader Luka Modricsaid.

"It was a complete game andthese are three huge points.”

Atlético Madrid trailed by 10points in fourth place after thedefending champion was stunnedby Mallorca 2-1 in the capital.

Barcelona was a whopping 16points behind in seventh place fol-lowing a 1-0 loss to Real Betis, itsfirst defeat since Xavi Hernándeztook over as coach.

Manuel Pellegrini's Betis roseinto third place, right behindcrosstown rival Sevilla, which beatVillarreal 1-0 thanks to a goal fromLucas Ocampos.

Jovic never found hisspot on Madrid following his 60million euros transfer fromEintracht Frankfurt in the summerof 2019. He scored two goals in aseason-and-a-half before he wasloaned back to Frankfurt.

��������.��������������Defending champion

Manchester City is on top of theEnglish Premier League for thefirst time this season.

And if Pep Guardiola's teamkeeps playing like this, it could bedifficult to knock City off itsperch — even in a tight title racethat saw three different teamslead the standings duringSaturday.

On a day when previous leaderChelsea faltered, City displayedtotal dominance in a 3-1 win atWatford that showed off the kindof fluid passing game that helpedGuardiola's team win three of thelast four league titles.

Bernardo Silva scored twiceafter Raheem Sterling's early open-er as City proved once again thatit can do perfectly fine without arecognized striker in the lineup. Itwas a fifth straight league win forCity, which is one point ahead ofLiverpool and two in front ofChelsea after 15 rounds.

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New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell onSunday said he took cue from India

opener Mayank Agarwal to counter thehome side's spinners on day three of the sec-ond Test here.

Mitchell (60 off 92 balls) shared 73 runsfor the fourth wicket with Henry Nicholls (36batting) to provide much needed resistancein New Zealand's improbable chase of 540.

"Set the template from Mayank's batting,the way he put pressure on our spinners,"Mitchell said after the day's play.

"Disappointing to not still be out thereand kick on, but nice to get a partnershipgoing."

Mitchell admitted that his team is obvi-ously in a tough situation in the Test.

"They (Indian bowlers) are constantlythrowing things at you and you're trying tocounter that. You have to keep trying to winthe small battles.

"Tough situation we're in, but it was just

about trying to go out and do what we can.Obviously it is very challenging."

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin tookthree quick wickets to leave New Zealand tot-tering at 140 for five at stumps.

Talking about the Wankhede pitch, hesaid, "It's a pretty challenging surface, there'sdefinitely balls turning there with your nameon it. "It's just about trying to put pressureback on the bowlers. That's the beauty of Testcricket."

ASHWIN TURNS IT ON AS INDIA AIM FOR FOUR DAY FINISH

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