1LWLVK YHQWV LUH DW 6SHDNHU LQ +RXVH RYHU ...

12
N ot letting its guards down against the Covid-19 pan- demic, the Centre has given go- ahead for vaccination of chil- dren in the age group of 12 -14 years from March 16. Also, the co-morbidity clause for admin- istering precaution doses to senior citizens would be removed. Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya took to his official Twitter handle to make the announcement, “I am happy to inform you that from March 16, Covid vaccination of children in the age group of 12 to 13 and 13 to 14 is starting.” “Also, everyone aged 60+ will now be able to get precau- tionary doses,” he added. Till now, apart from health-care workers, only those over the age of 60 who have comor- bidities were eligible for the precautionary doses. According to reports, Hyderabad-based pharmaceu- tical company Biological E’s Corbevax Covid vaccine will be administered to children in this age group. The vaccine received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on February 21 for use in children and adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. Corbevax is a protein subunit vaccine. Back when it was granted emergency use authorisation (EUA), Mandaviya had called the Corbevax vaccine, “India’s 1st indigenously developed RBD protein subunit vaccine against Covid-19.” When Covid vaccines were first rolled out for 15 to 18- year-olds on January 13, only Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin was allowed to this age group. According to official data, Over 3.5 crore children between the ages of 15 and 18 have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine since they were rolled out for this age group on January 3. Meanwhile, India saw a further dip in daily Covid-19 cases as 2,503 new infections were recorded on Monday, the lowest in 680 days, while the active cases dipped to 36,168. With the fresh cases, the total tally of Covid-19 cases rose to 4,29,93,494. On May 3, 2020, 2,487 cases were recorded. The death toll climbed to 5,15,877 with 27 fresh fatalities. The 27 new fatalities included 15 from Kerala. A total of 5,15,877 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,43,752 from Maharashtra, 66,808 from Kerala, 40,018 from Karnataka, 38,023 from Tamil Nadu, 26,141 from Delhi, 23,492 from Uttar Pradesh, and 21,187 from West Bengal. The Ministry stressed that more than 70 percent of the deaths occurred due to co- morbidities. B ihar Assembly on Wednesday witnessed an unprecedented scene when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lost his cool and expressed his outrage at Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha over whether a matter probed by the Government which has also been referred to the Privilege Committee could be raised on the floor of the House “again and again”. Wagging his fingers at the Speaker, Kumar accused him of flouting the Constitution and said, “this will not be allowed at any cost”. A stunned House watched the CM vent his ire at the Speaker, who tried to put a word or two in between, but Kumar ignored his intervention and continued to warn him about the breach of proce- dure. The CM stood up and slammed the Speaker after Sinha asked Cabinet Minister Bijendra Yadav to appraise the House in a couple of days about action taken on an inci- dent in Lakhisarai, which also happens to be Sinha’s Assembly constituency. Sinha was elect- ed to the Assembly on a BJP ticket. “The Minister has been authorised to reply on behalf of the Government. When he has submitted that inquiry is underway, you ask him to come up with a fresh reply the day after tomorrow. This is against the rules. Please look at the Constitution,” said the Bihar Chief Minister. The privilege committee of the House has directed the DGP to conduct an enquiry into the alleged misbehaviour, with the Speaker, of a Deputy SP in Lakhisarai and the SHO of the police station concerned a few days back. The conflict between the Speaker and the CM over the probe is also being viewed by some as a reflection of the strained relations between the JD(U) which Kumar leads and its ally the BJP to which the Speaker belongs to. It is for the Government and the police to take action in such matters. The report of the investigation has to be sub- mitted before the court, the CM said. “Is the House empowered to intervene in the matter? I am serving my fourth term as the CM. I was also a member of the Assembly once. Never have I seen such a procedural anom- aly. Please don’t run the House in this manner,” Kumar said. It’s not what Kumar said, but the tone and gesture of a leader like him, who is seen as a picture of composure, has baffled everyone. Sinha began on a pacifying note, expressing the immense respect he had for the CM’s knowledge and experience, besides acknowledging the lat- ter’s support “which helped my elevation to this Chair”. “But please understand my predicament. Initially, I had tried not to indulge any dis- cussion in the matter after it was referred to the Privilege Committee. But members from the Treasury Benches and the Opposition have created a ruckus again and again. After all, I am supposed to be the custodian of the House,” plead- ed the Speaker. Sinha was upset over the alleged wrongful arrest of a number of people in Lakhisarai for violation of prohibition law which was in news last month. The CM again rose upon the Speaker’s statement and said, “I will inquire today itself into the progress in the inves- tigation. The Government will look into whatever recom- mendations the committee has made. But this matter must not be discussed on the floor of the House again and again.” T he Government on Monday assured that it would help Indian students brought back to the country from the war-torn East European Ukraine under “Operation Ganga” to com- plete their education. Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan said in the Lok Sabha that Operation Ganga, carried out under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to evacuate Indian students from Ukraine, is proof of the “collective wisdom of 130 crore Indians”. He also said the Opposition party should have congratulated the Modi Government for its effort in evacuating the Indian nation- als. “I was expecting that from his party (Congress) and the House, the Prime Minister will be congratulated for Operation Ganga...,” he told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour. “When we have brought them, you remain assured that Government will ponder over making arrangements, what- soever is required, to enable them to become doctors in future,” the Minister said. “At present, it is time for getting them out of the shock. We are all engaged in that,” the Minister said Earlier, DMK leader TR Baalu while congratulating the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar for the safe evacuation of students from Tamil Nadu also asked in the House whether “they could be admitted in Russia?” to which some MPs reacted say- ing “why not in India?”. Congress member Gaurav Gogoi wanted to know if the Government was considering working out “any policy or holding talks” with universities in countries neighbouring Ukraine to enable Indian stu- dents to complete their studies. “Any policy or holding talks” with universities in coun- tries neighbouring Ukraine to enable Indian students to com- plete their studies, he asked. In the Rajya Sabha, cutting across party lines, several MPs expressed concern over the plight of Indian medical stu- dents evacuated recently from Ukraine and urged the Government to take effective measures to help them com- plete their courses here. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will give a detailed account on Tuesday in the Upper House on the situation in Ukraine and efforts made by the Indian Government to bring out more than 18,000 Indian citizens including stu- dents since February 22 as part of Operation Ganga. Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said a large number of Indian students in Ukraine needed to be evacuat- ed in the current situation. “This was a very challeng- ing task. The Government of India rose to the occasion by evacuating Indian students as well as some students of other nationalities. These efforts are praiseworthy,” he said. Naidu also informed mem- bers that members can seek clarifications after Jaishankar makes a statement. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour on the first day of the second half of the Budget session, Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar (TDP) noted that many students from India were pursuing medical educa- tion in Ukraine. He said though safety and security of the students was ensured, their future is at stake and urged the Government to take necessary steps to safe- guard their future. KC Venugopal (Congress) said students who have returned from Ukraine are in a very difficult situation and their families are also con- cerned about their future. Noting that the education of these students has come to the standstill, he said the Government needs to clarify what steps it will take. Continued on Page 2 A Delhi court on Monday remanded former Managing Director and CEO of National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramakrishna in 14-day judicial custody in connection with the co-location scam case. Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal ordered that Ramakrishna be physically produced before the court on March 28 and rejected her counsel’s request for home- cooked food in jail. Turning down her request for certain facilities in jail, the court said, “VIP prisoners want everything. Every prisoner is the same. She does not have to be treated differently because of what she has been.” However, the court allowed the request made by Ramakrishna’s lawyer for spec- tacles, prayer books, including Hanuman Chalisa and medi- cines inside the jail. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) produced the accused before the court upon the expiry of her 7-day custody and urged the court to remand her in judicial custody. The CBI counsel said the inves- tigation in the case was going on and Ramakrishna was eva- sive and uncooperative as well as a highly influential person. Continued on Page 2 A fter incorporating sugges- tions made by the associ- ate members of the BJP and the National Conference, the three- member Delimitation Commission headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai has posted the draft pro- posals in the public domain and has invited objections from the public till March 21. The suggestions will be considered by the commis- sion in its public sitting in Jammu and Srinagar on March 28 and 29, the location and timing of which will be notified later. The first ever Assembly elections in the Union Territory of J&K are most likely to take place after the conduct of the Amarnath pilgrimage this year. Soon after the submission of the final report of the Delimitation Commission, the Election Commission is expected to announce a fresh summary revision of the elec- toral rolls. According to the notifica- tion issued by the commission, it is clear the commission has only accommodated sugges- tions made by the associate members in terms of changing names of certain assembly con- stituencies and reorganising boundaries of a few others after objections were raised by the associate members. Continued on Page 2 T ata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran has been appointed as the chairman of Air India. Chandrasekaran’s appointment comes after for- mer Turkish Airlines chairman Ilker Ayci, earlier this month, declined the Tata Group’s offer to be the CEO and managing director of Air India. Ayci declined the offer say- ing, “some sections of the Indian media have attempted to colour his appointment in an undesirable manner”. Sources said the appoint- ment was cleared at a board meeting held last week by Air India. Tata Sons will soon announce a new CEO for Air India. Meanwhile, Alice GeeVarghese Vaidyan, former CMD of General Insurance Corporation, will be inducted as an independent director on board, on Monday. Continued on Page 2 R ussian and Ukrainian nego- tiators held a new round of talks on Monday, even as Russia’s military forces kept up their punishing campaign to capture Ukraine’s capital with fighting and artillery fire in Kyiv’s suburbs. After an airstrike on a mil- itary base near the Polish bor- der brought the war danger- ously close to NATO’s doorstep, the talks raised hopes for progress in evacuating civilians from besieged Ukrainian cities and getting emergency supplies to areas without enough food, water and medicine. “Everyone is waiting for news. We will definitely report in the evening,” Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a new video address. The negotiations taking place by video conference are the fourth round involving higher-level officials from the two countries. The previous discussions took place in per- son in Belarus, and did not pro- duce breakthroughs to end the fighting in Ukraine or lasting agreements on humanitarian routes. “Communication is being held, yet it’s hard,” Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted along with a photo of the two sides meeting by video link. Earlier, Podolyak said the negotiators would dis- cuss “peace, ceasefire, imme- diate withdrawal of troops & security guarantees.” Air raid alerts sounded in cities and towns all around the country overnight, from near the Russian border in the east to the Carpathian Mountains in the west, as fighting continued on the outskirts of Kyiv. Ukrainian officials said Russian forces shelled several suburbs of the capital, a major political and strategic target for their invasion. Ukrainian authorities said two people died and seven were injured after Russian forces struck an airplane fac- tory in Kyiv, sparking a large fire. The Antonov factory is Ukraine’s largest aircraft man- ufacturing plant and is best known for producing many of the world’s biggest cargo planes. Russian artillery fire also hit a nine-story apartment building in the northern Obolonskyi district of the city, killing two more people, authorities said. Firefighters worked to rescue survivors, painstakingly carrying an injured woman on a stretcher away from the blackened and still smoking building. A town councilor for Brovary, east of Kyiv, was killed in fighting there, officials said. Shells also fell on the Kyiv sub- urbs of Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, which have seen some of the worst fighting in Russia’s stalled attempt to take the capital, local officials said. Airstrikes were reported across the country, including the southern city of Mykolaiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv, where heat was knocked out to most of the town. Explosions rang out overnight around the Russian- occupied Black Sea port of Kherson.

Transcript of 1LWLVK YHQWV LUH DW 6SHDNHU LQ +RXVH RYHU ...

����� ��������

Not letting its guards downagainst the Covid-19 pan-

demic, the Centre has given go-ahead for vaccination of chil-dren in the age group of 12 -14years from March 16. Also, theco-morbidity clause for admin-istering precaution doses tosenior citizens would beremoved.

Health Minister DrMansukh Mandaviya took tohis official Twitter handle tomake the announcement, “I amhappy to inform you that fromMarch 16, Covid vaccination ofchildren in the age group of 12to 13 and 13 to 14 is starting.”

“Also, everyone aged 60+will now be able to get precau-tionary doses,” he added. Tillnow, apart from health-careworkers, only those over theage of 60 who have comor-bidities were eligible for theprecautionary doses.

According to reports,Hyderabad-based pharmaceu-tical company Biological E’sCorbevax Covid vaccine will beadministered to children inthis age group.

The vaccine receivedapproval from the DrugsController General of India(DCGI) on February 21 for usein children and adolescentsaged 12 to 18 years. Corbevaxis a protein subunit vaccine.

Back when it was grantedemergency use authorisation

(EUA), Mandaviya had calledthe Corbevax vaccine, “India’s1st indigenously developedRBD protein subunit vaccineagainst Covid-19.”

When Covid vaccines werefirst rolled out for 15 to 18-year-olds on January 13, onlyBharat Biotech’s Covaxin wasallowed to this age group.

According to official data,Over 3.5 crore childrenbetween the ages of 15 and 18have received at least one dose

of the Covid vaccine sincethey were rolled out for this agegroup on January 3.

Meanwhile, India saw afurther dip in daily Covid-19cases as 2,503 new infectionswere recorded on Monday, thelowest in 680 days, while theactive cases dipped to 36,168.With the fresh cases, the totaltally of Covid-19 cases rose to4,29,93,494. On May 3, 2020,2,487 cases were recorded. Thedeath toll climbed to 5,15,877with 27 fresh fatalities.

The 27 new fatalitiesincluded 15 from Kerala.

A total of 5,15,877 deathshave been reported so far in thecountry, including 1,43,752from Maharashtra, 66,808 fromKerala, 40,018 from Karnataka,38,023 from Tamil Nadu,26,141 from Delhi, 23,492 fromUttar Pradesh, and 21,187 fromWest Bengal.

The Ministry stressed thatmore than 70 percent of thedeaths occurred due to co-morbidities.

�������������� �������������������� ���������� ���� ��� � ����� ��� �

����� ����

Bihar Assembly onWednesday witnessed an

unprecedented scene whenChief Minister Nitish Kumarlost his cool and expressed hisoutrage at Speaker Vijay KumarSinha over whether a matterprobed by the Governmentwhich has also been referred tothe Privilege Committee couldbe raised on the floor of theHouse “again and again”.

Wagging his fingers at theSpeaker, Kumar accused him offlouting the Constitution andsaid, “this will not be allowedat any cost”.

A stunned House watchedthe CM vent his ire at theSpeaker, who tried to put aword or two in between, butKumar ignored his interventionand continued to warn himabout the breach of proce-dure.

The CM stood up andslammed the Speaker afterSinha asked Cabinet MinisterBijendra Yadav to appraise theHouse in a couple of daysabout action taken on an inci-dent in Lakhisarai, which alsohappens to be Sinha’s Assemblyconstituency. Sinha was elect-ed to the Assembly on a BJPticket.

“The Minister has beenauthorised to reply on behalf ofthe Government. When he hassubmitted that inquiry isunderway, you ask him tocome up with a fresh reply theday after tomorrow. This isagainst the rules. Please look atthe Constitution,” said theBihar Chief Minister.

The privilege committee ofthe House has directed theDGP to conduct an enquiryinto the alleged misbehaviour,with the Speaker, of a DeputySP in Lakhisarai and the SHOof the police station concerneda few days back.

The conflict between theSpeaker and the CM over theprobe is also being viewed by

some as a reflection of thestrained relations between theJD(U) which Kumar leads andits ally the BJP to which theSpeaker belongs to.

It is for the Governmentand the police to take action insuch matters. The report of theinvestigation has to be sub-mitted before the court, theCM said.

“Is the House empoweredto intervene in the matter? I amserving my fourth term as theCM. I was also a member of theAssembly once. Never have Iseen such a procedural anom-aly. Please don’t run the Housein this manner,” Kumar said.

It’s not what Kumar said,

but the tone and gesture of aleader like him, who is seen asa picture of composure, hasbaffled everyone.

Sinha began on a pacifyingnote, expressing the immenserespect he had for the CM’sknowledge and experience,besides acknowledging the lat-ter’s support “which helpedmy elevation to this Chair”.

“But please understand mypredicament. Initially, I hadtried not to indulge any dis-cussion in the matter after itwas referred to the PrivilegeCommittee. But members fromthe Treasury Benches and theOpposition have created aruckus again and again. Afterall, I am supposed to be thecustodian of the House,” plead-ed the Speaker.

Sinha was upset over thealleged wrongful arrest of anumber of people in Lakhisaraifor violation of prohibition lawwhich was in news last month.

The CM again rose uponthe Speaker’s statement andsaid, “I will inquire today itselfinto the progress in the inves-tigation. The Government willlook into whatever recom-mendations the committee hasmade. But this matter must notbe discussed on the floor of theHouse again and again.”

������� ����� ����� �� ��������� ��� ������ ����� ������������ ���������������������������������������

����� ��������

The Government onMonday assured that it

would help Indian studentsbrought back to the countryfrom the war-torn EastEuropean Ukraine under“Operation Ganga” to com-plete their education.

Union Minister forEducation DharmendraPradhan said in the Lok Sabhathat Operation Ganga, carriedout under the leadership ofPrime Minister Narendra Modito evacuate Indian studentsfrom Ukraine, is proof of the“collective wisdom of 130 croreIndians”.

He also said theOpposition party should havecongratulated the ModiGovernment for its effort inevacuating the Indian nation-als. “I was expecting that fromhis party (Congress) and the

House, the Prime Minister willbe congratulated for OperationGanga...,” he told the Lok Sabhaduring Question Hour.

“When we have broughtthem, you remain assured thatGovernment will ponder overmaking arrangements, what-soever is required, to enablethem to become doctors infuture,” the Minister said.

“At present, it is time forgetting them out of the shock.We are all engaged in that,” theMinister said

Earlier, DMK leader TRBaalu while congratulating thePrime Minister and ForeignMinister S Jaishankar for thesafe evacuation of studentsfrom Tamil Nadu also asked inthe House whether “they couldbe admitted in Russia?” towhich some MPs reacted say-ing “why not in India?”.

Congress member GauravGogoi wanted to know if theGovernment was consideringworking out “any policy orholding talks” with universitiesin countries neighbouringUkraine to enable Indian stu-dents to complete their studies.

“Any policy or holdingtalks” with universities in coun-tries neighbouring Ukraine toenable Indian students to com-plete their studies, he asked.

In the Rajya Sabha, cuttingacross party lines, several MPsexpressed concern over theplight of Indian medical stu-dents evacuated recently fromUkraine and urged theGovernment to take effectivemeasures to help them com-plete their courses here.

External Affairs MinisterS Jaishankar will give a detailedaccount on Tuesday in theUpper House on the situationin Ukraine and efforts made bythe Indian Government tobring out more than 18,000Indian citizens including stu-dents since February 22 aspart of Operation Ganga.

Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu said a largenumber of Indian students inUkraine needed to be evacuat-ed in the current situation.

“This was a very challeng-ing task. The Government ofIndia rose to the occasion byevacuating Indian students as

well as some students of othernationalities. These efforts arepraiseworthy,” he said.

Naidu also informed mem-bers that members can seekclarifications after Jaishankarmakes a statement.

Raising the issue duringthe Zero Hour on the first dayof the second half of the Budgetsession, KanakamedalaRavindra Kumar (TDP) notedthat many students from Indiawere pursuing medical educa-tion in Ukraine.

He said though safety andsecurity of the students wasensured, their future is at stakeand urged the Government totake necessary steps to safe-guard their future.

KC Venugopal (Congress)said students who havereturned from Ukraine are ina very difficult situation andtheir families are also con-cerned about their future.Noting that the education ofthese students has come to thestandstill, he said theGovernment needs to clarifywhat steps it will take.

Continued on Page 2

������ ����� ������������������������� � � �� ������������ ��������������������������������������

������������ � ��� ������ ���� ����� ����� �� ������������������� ������������� ��� � ����� ���������� ����� ��� ��������

����� ��������

ADelhi court on Mondayremanded former

Managing Director and CEO ofNational Stock Exchange (NSE)Chitra Ramakrishna in 14-dayjudicial custody in connectionwith the co-location scam case.

Special Judge SanjeevAggarwal ordered thatRamakrishna be physicallyproduced before the court onMarch 28 and rejected hercounsel’s request for home-cooked food in jail.

Turning down her requestfor certain facilities in jail, thecourt said, “VIP prisoners wanteverything. Every prisoner isthe same. She does not have tobe treated differently because ofwhat she has been.”

However, the court allowedthe request made byRamakrishna’s lawyer for spec-tacles, prayer books, includingHanuman Chalisa and medi-cines inside the jail.

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) producedthe accused before the courtupon the expiry of her 7-daycustody and urged the court toremand her in judicial custody.The CBI counsel said the inves-tigation in the case was goingon and Ramakrishna was eva-sive and uncooperative as wellas a highly influential person.

Continued on Page 2

�� � !�� "�������� ����#��������$%����

������� ����� ����

After incorporating sugges-tions made by the associ-

ate members of the BJP and theNational Conference, the three-member DelimitationCommission headed by Justice(Retired) Ranjana PrakashDesai has posted the draft pro-posals in the public domainand has invited objections fromthe public till March 21.

The suggestions will beconsidered by the commis-sion in its public sitting inJammu and Srinagar on March28 and 29, the location andtiming of which will be notifiedlater.

The first ever Assemblyelections in the Union Territory

of J&K are most likely to takeplace after the conduct of theAmarnath pilgrimage this year.Soon after the submission ofthe final report of theDelimitation Commission, theElection Commission isexpected to announce a freshsummary revision of the elec-toral rolls.

According to the notifica-tion issued by the commission,it is clear the commission hasonly accommodated sugges-tions made by the associatemembers in terms of changingnames of certain assembly con-stituencies and reorganisingboundaries of a few othersafter objections were raisedby the associate members.

Continued on Page 2

!"�#������� ��$����$ ����������������� %&��� ��

����� ��������

Tata Sons chairman NChandrasekaran has been

appointed as the chairman ofAir India. Chandrasekaran’sappointment comes after for-mer Turkish Airlines chairmanIlker Ayci, earlier this month,declined the Tata Group’s offerto be the CEO and managingdirector of Air India.

Ayci declined the offer say-ing, “some sections of theIndian media have attemptedto colour his appointment in anundesirable manner”.

Sources said the appoint-ment was cleared at a boardmeeting held last week by AirIndia. Tata Sons will soonannounce a new CEO for AirIndia. Meanwhile, AliceGeeVarghese Vaidyan, formerCMD of General InsuranceCorporation, will be inductedas an independent director onboard, on Monday.

Continued on Page 2

��������������������� �����

������������������������������� ������������������������������������ �!���"��#����$ �%!������������������#"���������������%��"������"������&��!���!�����"����"��#����'��$���#���������$(��!����������)��������������� ��������*��� +��$����������!�,'�-������� �%!�����������������#"�������)��#���������%��"������"������&��!�������$�������"����"��#����'&������������$�-�� .�(

�������������� ����������������������� �� ����))�������)��!��$�/��-��������$��������*��+�&���%����$���$��&�0�&������))���$���0����������&���"����������$������)#"������$��1"�������������*��+�-��������������$�-����1�������!!��������!2���������"��$��������������$��'���"������))���������$(

��������!"!"������#���� �������� ����� �����!�������������$���������$�-�������)��#�����������������������!��� �!�������!������������������!�������������"������-�!��$��!����!���������)�3�-������4545(�!����$���&���"��������$�-��$$�������� �������� �$���#���-!�6�&��(��������� �!��&���������$�������#�-������� ���4545�)���75�$���(

�������

���� �88�*�96���+

Russian and Ukrainian nego-tiators held a new round of

talks on Monday, even asRussia’s military forces kept uptheir punishing campaign tocapture Ukraine’s capital withfighting and artillery fire inKyiv’s suburbs.

After an airstrike on a mil-itary base near the Polish bor-der brought the war danger-ously close to NATO’s doorstep,the talks raised hopes forprogress in evacuating civiliansfrom besieged Ukrainian citiesand getting emergency suppliesto areas without enough food,water and medicine.

“Everyone is waiting fornews. We will definitely reportin the evening,” UkrainianPresident President VolodymyrZelenskyy said in a new videoaddress.

The negotiations takingplace by video conference arethe fourth round involvinghigher-level officials from thetwo countries. The previousdiscussions took place in per-son in Belarus, and did not pro-

duce breakthroughs to end thefighting in Ukraine or lastingagreements on humanitarianroutes.

“Communication is beingheld, yet it’s hard,” Ukrainianpresidential aide MykhailoPodolyak tweeted along with aphoto of the two sides meetingby video link. Earlier, Podolyaksaid the negotiators would dis-cuss “peace, ceasefire, imme-diate withdrawal of troops &security guarantees.”

Air raid alerts sounded incities and towns all around thecountry overnight, from nearthe Russian border in the eastto the Carpathian Mountains inthe west, as fighting continuedon the outskirts of Kyiv.Ukrainian officials said Russianforces shelled several suburbsof the capital, a major politicaland strategic target for theirinvasion.

Ukrainian authorities saidtwo people died and sevenwere injured after Russianforces struck an airplane fac-tory in Kyiv, sparking a largefire. The Antonov factory isUkraine’s largest aircraft man-

ufacturing plant and is bestknown for producing many ofthe world’s biggest cargo planes.

Russian artillery fire alsohit a nine-story apartmentbuilding in the northernObolonskyi district of the city,killing two more people,authorities said. Firefightersworked to rescue survivors,painstakingly carrying aninjured woman on a stretcheraway from the blackened andstill smoking building.

A town councilor forBrovary, east of Kyiv, was killedin fighting there, officials said.Shells also fell on the Kyiv sub-urbs of Irpin, Bucha andHostomel, which have seensome of the worst fighting inRussia’s stalled attempt to takethe capital, local officials said.

Airstrikes were reportedacross the country, includingthe southern city of Mykolaiv,and the northern city ofChernihiv, where heat wasknocked out to most of thetown. Explosions rang outovernight around the Russian-occupied Black Sea port ofKherson.

������� ��� ���� ��������������

:�!������������ )���-��%(��#;$����"������������������ ��������#(��#;$����"������;

��������� $%�&'( ��)� <4=���� ���!������1�����)��""����-��

�-���!�$�3��#�����������9�>� ��>����������� ��6

6�����6��6 �����.�6�����6���� �?��6�����8 �?����

����*�����+�',-.������������� ����������������������������� �����

�����/�0�� �1�������'(/�!"!!2���#���'!��3

�!"#$�%6�����>� ��3 ��>�3@

���6� ��6���

��&!'()�*

6� ���>����� �69��>��9?8� ���6�

!+,",!"������.�.��>� ����>��>����9�����������6 �

������������� ���

��������������� ��������

RANCHI | TUESDAY | MARCH 15, 2022

PNS JAMSHEDPUR

PNS JAMSHEDPUR

Grand festival to promote indigenous agro-forest flavours

M FAIYAZ AHMAD DALTONGANJ

ASHIS SINHABOKARO

Palamu Cong demands renovationof Gandhi Smiriti Bhavan

ESL Steel Limited honours its woman workforcesPNS RANCHI

PNS BOKARO

Fit Bokaro active Bokaro Run at St. Xavier’s School

PNS BOKARO

PNS DHANBAD

Fire at flat due to incensesticks

Youths from Simdega who were rescued fromTamil Nadu.

Six students of DPS Bokaro qualify for nationals in VVM

Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party-cumChairman of the Public Accounts Committee Ad-hir Ranjan Chowdhury being welcomed by JPCCPresident Rajesh Thakur on his arrival at BirsaMunda airport in Ranchi on Monday.

Pix by Vinay Murmu

RANCHI | TUESDAY | MARCH 15, 2022

1932 land survey can’t be the only cut-off for domicile across state: AlamPNS RANCHI

PNS RANCHI

Organic Gulal under Palash catching peoples eye this Holi

PNS RANCHI

PNS RANCHI PNS RANCHI

PNS RANCHI

PNS RANCHI

Ranchi admin gears upfor board examinations

Sone Chiraiya attracting people in this festive season

���������������� ��������� !�"#"" �������!"

����� ���������

The Supreme Court onMonday expressed concern

over fake claims for getting ex-gratia compensation of Rs50,000, meant for family mem-bers of those who have losttheir lives due to COVID-19,saying it had never visualizedthat this can be "misused" andhad thought that the “morali-ty” has not gone so down. Theapex court said it may entrustinquiry into the matter to theCAG’s office.

“We never expected andvisualized that it can be mis-used also. It is a very piouswork and we had thought thatour morality has not gone sodown that in this also, there willbe some fake claims. We nevervisualized and thought this,” abench of Justices M R Shah andB V Nagarathna said. Thebench, which had last weekexpressed concern over fakeCOVID-19 death certificatesbeing issued for ex-gratia com-

pensation and observed that itmight order a probe into theissue, said if some officers areinvolved in such fake claimsthen it is a “very serious thing”.

The apex court had earli-er directed all StatesGovernments and UnionTerritories to appoint a dedi-cated nodal officer to coordi-nate with the member secretaryof the state legal service author-ity (SLSA) to facilitate paymentof ex-gratia compensation tothe family members ofCOVID-19 victims. During

the hearing on Monday,Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for theCentre, told the bench thatthere are two-fold suggestions,including that the apex courtmay consider fixing some finallimit so that whoever wants toapply, can do the same withina time frame.

The bench told Mehta thaton the last date of hearing, ithad asked the authority to filean appropriate application inthis regard. “We had told youto file an appropriate applica-

tion and that it why the matterwas adjourned for today,” thebench said. Mehta said hewould file an application in thisregard on Tuesday and thecourt may hear the matter onWednesday. “I undertake to fileit tomorrow. Kindly have it dayafter,” he said.

The bench told Mehta thatthe authority is also required tosay something on the issue offake claims in the application.The bench said let the Centrecome with an appropriateapplication then it would con-sider the issue.“Otherwise,what we can do is, that we canentrust the inquiry to theAccountant General office,” itobserved.

The apex court posted thematter for hearing on March 21so as to enable the Centre to filean appropriate application forfurther directions on limitingthe time period to invite theapplications for ex-gratia pay-ment and seeking further direc-tion on fake claims.

����� ��������

About 84.61 tonnes per day(TPD) of incremental

Covid-19 Bio medical wastewas generated between May2020 and February 2022 in thecountry from various sourcessuch as healthcare facilities,quarantine centres/ camps andsample collection centres.

The other sources includ-ed laboratories, home care/home isolation centres engagedin treatment, diagnosis andquarantine of Covid-19 infect-ed or suspected patients,Ashwini Kumar Choubey,Minister of State forEnvironment told Lok Sabhaon Monday in a written reply.

He said that as per theCentral Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB), about 656 TPDof BMW was generated in

2020, out of which 590 TPDwas collected and treated by theCommon Bio-medical WasteTreatment facilities (CBWTFs).

In March 2020, the CPCBhad issued “Guidelines forHandling, treatment and dis-posal of waste generated dur-ing treatment, diagnostics andquarantine of COVID-19patients” and developed anapplication namely,COVID19BWM to track thegeneration and treatment ofCOVID-19 BMW at CBWTFs.

There are no reported casesof violation of Guidelines; how-ever, the CPCB has issuednotices to 33 numbers ofCBWTFs across the countryfor not reporting data onCOVID19BWM.

These were in Karnataka(15), Maharashtra (5) twoCBWTFs each in Bihar,

Gujarat, Jharkhand, MadhyaPradesh and Telangana and oneeach in Odisha, Rajasthan andUttar Pradesh.

There are 208 CommonBio-medical Waste TreatmentFacilities (CBWTFs) opera-tional in the country for treat-ment and disposal of Bio-med-ical Waste (BMW) as per the

information furnished bySPCBs/ PCCs for the year2020. There are no operationalCBWTFs in nine (9) States/Union Territories. The BMWtreatment and disposal in theseareas is done through captivetreatment facilities operatedby healthcare facilities them-selves, said the Minister.

��� � ��������

The government on Mondayinformed the Rajya Sabha

that a total of 1,080 cases ofalleged corruption involvingarmed forces personnel havebeen reported since 2010. TheArmy reported the most with1,046 such cases.

Giving these details, min-ister of state for defence AjayBhatt said the number of caseshad gone down in the last fewyears due to steps like strictaction and sensitizing the per-sonnel about severity of con-sequences.

He said the Indian AirForce reported 29 corruptioncases since 2010 while thenumber in the Navy was five.The number of corruptioncases in the Army was 1,046and the figure is for the peri-od between 2013 and 2021. Heprovided this information inresponse to a question aboutthe number of corruption casesinvolving armed forces per-sonnel since 2010.

The minister said therewas a decrease in the numberof corruption-related com-plaints and the likely reasonsfor the same are: strict actionagainst delinquent personnel,sensitisation of the environ-ment on the severity of conse-

quences and regular promul-gation of advisories and poli-cies. Responding to a questionon criminal cases involvingthe armed forces personnel,Bhatt said they are dealt withvery severely and that the pun-ishment for such offences is"exemplary".

"The personnel of armedforces are dealt with veryseverely for any criminaloffence. Based on the nature ofcrimes committed, either aninquiry is conducted or the caseis handed over to the civilpolice," he said.

The minister said the crim-inal cases are dealt with on a"case-to-case basis" based onthe allegations, either by thearmed force itself or by the civilpolice. Replying to anotherquestion on the selection of

Republic Day tableaux,Bhatt said a well-estab-

lished system is followed for theselection. He was asked whyTamil Nadu's tableau wasrejected for participation in thisyear's Republic Day parade.

Bhatt said the tableau fromTamil Nadu was consideredduring the first three rounds ofthe meetings of the expertcommittee constituted to eval-uate the proposals.

After the third round ofmeetings, the tableau couldnot make it into the final list of12 shortlisted for participationin the Republic Day parade, hesaid.

The minister informed thehouse there is a well-establishedsystem for selection of tableauxfor participation in theRepublic Day parade.

����� ��������

The government on Mondayinformed the Rajya Sabha

42 defence personnel werekilled in accidents involvingaircraft and helicopters of thethree Services in the last fiveyears.

These details came in thebackdrop of the first Chief ofDefence Staff(CDS)GeneralBipin Rawat and 12 othersincluding his wife dying in ahelicopter crash on December8 last year.

Minister of state fordefence Ajay Bhatt said in awritten reply the total numberof air accidents in the last fiveyears was 45 with the IAFreporting a maximum of 29.

He said the number ofaccidents involving aircraft,including helicopters, in theIndian Army in the last fiveyears was 12, while it was fourin the Indian Navy. The min-ister said the IAF lost 34 peo-ple while it was seven in theIndian Army and one in theIndian Navy.

He gave these details inreply to a question about detailsof aircraft accidents in theIndian armed forces in the

last five years.The minister said the

number of defence personnelkilled in air accidents was morein the current financial year as13 armed forces personnelwere killed in the crash of anIAF helicopter on December 8.

"No increase has beennoticed in the number ofdefence personnel to have diedduring such accidents duringthe last five years. "However,during the current financialyear, the number of personnelthat died was more as 13defence personnel died in oneIndian Air Force helicoptercrash on December 8, 2021,"Bhatt said. It was in apparentreference to the crash involvingGeneral Rawat.

He said every accident inthe armed forces is investigat-ed by a board of inquiry orcourt of inquiry. The primaryaim of the investigation is todiscover cause(s) based on fac-tual information and instituteimmediate preventive mea-sures to avoid recurrence ofsimilar accidents, the ministersaid.

"The recommendationsand remedial measures givenby each board of inquiry/court

����� ���������

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday received

a desk-thumping welcome byBJP MPs in the Lok Sabha assoon as he entered the houseafter the proceedings had justcommenced following themonth-long recess in theBudget session.

This is the first time thatthe House is meeting after theBJP's emphatic victory in thejust concluded assembly pollsin five state assembly electionsof which the BJP returned topower in four including the keystate of Uttar Pradesh where itwon successive victory after 37years.

Modi entered the Houseminutes after the proceedingscommenced and immediate-ly all MPs belonging to the BJPgave him a standing ovationand thumped desks whilechanting “Modi, Modi”.

Congress president SoniaGandhi was present in thehouse.

All Union Ministers,including Amit Shah andRajnath Singh, joined the rul-ing party MPs in welcomingthe prime minister to theHouse. The BJP won in UP,Uttarakhand, Goa andManipur while the Aam AadmiParty emerged victorious inPunjab.

The Prime Minister tookhis seat in the House whenSpeaker Om Birla was speak-ing about a Parliamentary del-egation from Austria whichwitnessed the proceedings ofthe House from a 'special box'.

After the prime minister,union ministers and the BJPMPs settled down, the Speaker,while welcoming the Austriandelegation, extended greetingsof the House as well as the peo-ple of India to the AustrianParliament, the Austrian gov-

ernment and the people ofAustria.

The delegation was led byPresident of the NationalCouncil of Austria WolfgangSobotka.

Birla said the team arrivedin India on March 13 and havealready visited Agra. They willproceed to Hyderabad beforereturning to Austria on March17. Modi sat through the partof the question hour whenquestions on child labour andpost-pandemic tourist inflowin the country were beinganswered.

����� ��������

Rajya Sabha member SonalMansingh on Monday crit-

icized the huge discounts thatwere earlier being offered byliquor vendors in the nationalcapital and said there was a needto curb policies that cause painto society.

Raising the issue duringthe Zero Hour, she said, "I urgethe government to take cogni-sance of this issue so that suchpolicies which cause pain tosociety could be curbed."

Criticising the new excisepolicy of the Delhi Governmentand massive discounts that wereoffered on liquor, she said pub-lic opposed it and staged protestsat many places. “But the DelhiGovernment remained unfazed.When the Delhi High Courttook cognisance of this scheme,this scheme was closed in hurry,"

Mansingh said.Following protests from the

public, liquor vendors wereblamed invoking certain claus-es, she added.

The Delhi excise commis-sioner, on February 28, hadpassed an order discontinuingany discount or rebate on theMaximum Retail Price (MRP) ofliquor.

The order referred toreports of large crowds at liquorstores as well as unhealthy mar-ket practices as the reason for thediscontinuation of discounts,and said the vendors areindulging in promotional activ-ities which is prohibited underthe Delhi Excise Act.

The Delhi High Court onMarch 8 dismissed pleas seekingto stay the decision of the Delhigovernment prohibiting any dis-count or rebate on the MRP ofliquor in the national capital.

New Delhi: The CBI hasbooked an assistant director ofthe Enforcement Directoratefor allegedly amassing dispro-portionate assets to the tune ofRs 37 lakh in the check periodof four years. The accused offi-cer Rajkumar Ram, who wasthen posted in Bengaluru, hadassets worth over Rs 1.18 lakhon April 1, 2016 in his name aswell as that of his homemakerwife which allegedly swelled toRs 57 lakh as on March 31,2020, according to the FIR.

During the check period,Ram had a total income of overRs 1.34 crore with expenses ofabout Rs 1.16 crore.

After going through hisincome from verified sourcesand expenses, the CBI con-cluded that he has amassed Rs37 lakh as disproportionateassets in connivance with hiswife, alleges the FIR. Ram ispresently posted in the ED’soffice in Guwahati. PNS

����� ��������

Sikh domestic air passengersand employees working at

airports will again be allowedto carry 'kirpan' of a specificlength and specified measure ofblade on flights and airports inIndia.

The restoration announce-ment comes after a Sikhemployee wearing a ‘kirpan’was stopped from performingduty at the Sri Guru Ram DassJee International Airport,Amritsar, last week.

The BCAS order on March4, banning Sikh aviation sectoremployees from carrying kir-pan on person within anyIndian airport premises, wascriticised by the ShiromaniGurdwara ParbandhakCommittee (SGPC).

The order issued by Bureauof Civil Aviation Security

(BCAS) on March 12 said,“Kirpan may be carried by aSikh passenger, on his person,provided the length of its bladedoes not exceed 15.24 cms (6inches); and the total length ofa ‘kirpan’ does not exceed22.86 cms (9 inches). It isallowed while traveling by airon Indian aircraft within India(domestic routes of fullydomestic flights only,’).”

The BCAS order of March12 basically restores the posi-tion before March 4. The pararestricting entry of Sikhemployees inside the airportcarrying kripan of specified sizehas been deleted.

Soon after the order camein, BJP’s Manjinder Singh Sirsatook to Twitter and thanked thePrime Minister’s Office andUnion Civil Aviation Minister

Jyotiraditya Scindia for swiftaction regarding doing awaywith the kirpan restriction.

Sirsa tweeted, “Recentorder of Civil Aviation Ministryrestricting Sikh employeesfrom carrying kirpan at airportduring duty has been changed.The corrigendum removedobjectionable restriction.Employees (and passengers)can carry kirpan at Indian air-ports. Thanking PMO Indiaand Jyotiraditya Scindia ji forswift action.”

The ban had stirred a row,and upset the Sikh communi-ty that termed it as an infringe-ment of their rights. SGPCpresident Harjinder SinghDhami in a letter, had urgedScindia to look into the inci-dent and immediately with-draw the rule. Kirpan, a curveddagger, has to be worn next tothe body in Sikh religion.

'�� ���������������������(�&��������)���*����������������������)������������ ����$��������������������+ ����%��������)������ ���$���� �����,��)������ ���������������� ������*-�#����� ��� ������

�� � �.���*��#��/0���

of inquiry are followed up inletter and spirit and imple-mented immediately to preventa recurrence," he said.

The minister also saidenhanced flight safety measuresare being taken by the IndianArmy to prevent accidents.Remedial measures as recom-mended by the Board ofInquiry constituted by theIndian Navy have been imple-

mented. No accidents of simi-lar nature have recurred sincethe implementation of theremedial measures, Bhatt said.

The recommendationsmade by the court of inquiryconstituted by the IAF havesuggested improvements in theareas of aircraft and systemimprovements by means ofmodifications and additionalchecks, additional training for

aircrew and ground crew andaircraft operating limits in cer-tain cases, the minister said.

He said the reduction inlife of aircraft and engines hasalso been recommended."These recommendations havebeen circulated to all the oper-ating units of the IAF forimplementation so as to reduceaircraft accidents in future,"Bhatt said.

����� ��������

The government on Mondayassured all possible help to

the victims of a road mishap inCanada. Five Indian studentshad died in an accident nearToronto on Saturday and twoothers were admitted to thehospital.

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar on Monday said ina tweet message "Deeplymourn the passing away of 5Indian students in Canada.Condolences to their families.Pray for the recovery of thoseinjured. @IndiainToronto willprovide all necessary supportand assistance." Jaishankartweeted.

Indian HighCommissioner to Canada Ajay

Bisaria said the accident tookplace near Toronto on Saturdayand two injured students wereadmitted to a hospital.

He said the Indian missionin Toronto was in touch withfriends of the victims forrequired assistance. "Heart-breaking tragedy in Canada: 5Indians students passed awayin an auto accident nearToronto on Saturday. Two oth-ers in hospital.

Deepest condolences tothe families of the victims,@IndiainToronto team in touchwith friends of the victims forassistance," he tweeted.

According to reports, themishap took place in Ontariobetween a van in which the stu-dents were travelling and atractor trailer on Highway 401

in the Quinte West city inSouthern Ontario. HarpreetSingh, Jaspinder Singh,Karanpal Singh, MohitChouhan and Pawan Kumarwere pronounced dead at thescene, it said.

The victims were agedbetween 21 and 24 years. Thepolice said they were all stu-dents in the Greater Torontoand Montreal areas.

������-�./������������-���012��������� �����.����������� ��.����������������������� !"�#!$���%���&!����! '��!(�)&���*!(��+�+����,����+��

$&'('�������������� ��������������� ����� �)�� ����� ������ �*'$'��+������,�12�#����$�� ����������������������������������3������(�&�����%���� ���

���������������$������������

Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu on

Monday urged the members tofacilitate a productive secondpart of the Budget Session asthe first part resulted in pro-ductivity of 101.40%.

Making this appeal on thefirst day of the session, hereferred to the first part of theBudget Session that witnessedeight full consecutive sittingswithout disturbances andforced adjournments, afterabout three years and stressedon the need to sustain that spir-it.

Urging the members tofollow Covid appropriatebehavior both within and out-side the House, he informedthe members that another safe-ty measure was recentlyinstalled in the Rajya SabhaChambers to effectively contain

the spread of Corona Virus inthe form of Ultra-Violet C-Band radiation which is veryeffective in killing the virus.

The technology has beendeveloped by CSIR-CSIO.

As the Budget Sessionresumed after a 30-day recessfor Department RelatedParliamentary StandingCommittees to examine theDemands for Grants of variousministries, Naidu gave anaccount of the work done inthis regard by the eightCommittees of Rajya Sabha.

He informed the Housethat these eight Committeeshave held 23 meetings for 73hours and 33 minutes at anaverage duration of 3 hours 30minutes per meeting, the bestin this regard. This marked anincrease of one hour 17 min-utes per meeting over that oflast year, constituting a rise of56%. Three Committees onEducation, Personnel and

Public Grievances andCommerce reported an averageduration of meetings of overfour hours during the recessperiod.

He, however, expressedconcern over decline in atten-dance in these Committeemeetings this year. He reiter-ated the need for nominatingmembers with interest in spe-cialized and technical matterson Committees dealing withthose issues. He further notedthat the members should givepriority for attending the meet-ings of the Parliamentary pan-els even during the time of elec-tions.

Referring to the situation inUkraine, the Chairman notedthat evacuation of studentsfrom Ukraine was a challeng-ing task and complimentedthe Central and StateGovernments for putting inpraiseworthy efforts in thisregard.

*�������)������� ����������$� ����������� �

+�������� ��� ���������������������������������

#�$ ����������� ���������� ���������� ���� ��

�����������������%������&���� ���& � ������ ��������'����

-��������������������������.������� �����/ ���

�01 ������ /2����� �������/2 ��� �

��-'�.!$$��%�&$/���."�(��$� !�#�!&� �&.!�$����)"�%'�$�!���!�&.�&�$ ���� �� � ���� �(���

����� ����� ���� '�� �����

��� � ��������� ���� �%�������� ������������� ��)���$ ����������������$��������������' �� ����&��� ��������

*���+����,

3- � � �� �� ����������4 ���� ����5�4 ������

�������!-���������������� ��������� !�"#""

���������9�>�

The process for the bienni-al election to 36 seats from

the local body constituency ofUP Legislative Council, theUpper House of UP legislature,will commence on Tuesday.

Chief Electoral Officer ofUP, Ajay Kumar Shukla, saidhere on Monday that theElection Commission of Indiahad declared the electionschedule on January 28 and thenotification for the first phaseelection to 29 seats was issuedon February 4 and the nomi-nations for the first phase ofelections had already beenfiled.

He said the process waslater suspended due to assem-bly polls. He said the nomina-tion for the first phase of theseelections could be filed fromMarch 15.

He said the notification forthe second phase election to sixseats was to be issued onFebruary 10, but it wasdeferred due to the ongoingelections to UP assembly polls.He said with the conclusion ofassembly elections on March10 after the counting of votes,the nomination papers for thesecond phase of council elec-tions would be filed fromMarch 15.

The last date for filingnomination for all 36 seats isMarch 22 and polling on allseats will be held on April 9and counting of votes will be

held on April 12.The elected members of

the three-tier panchayat bod-ies and elected members of theurban local bodies and theirheads constitute the electoralcolleges for the election to thelocal bodies constituency of theUP Legislative Council.

Meanwhile, the SamajwadiParty, after losing the closelycontested bipolar UP assemblyelections, has stepped up itspreparation for the election toretain its majority in the UPLegislative Council. In the100-member UP LegislativeCouncil, the SP has a clearmajority with 48 seats whilethe ruling Bharatiya JanataParty has 36 seats. The BJP is

close to majority as eight MLCsof Samajwadi Party and oneBahujan Samaj Party MLChave joined the BJP.

The BJP will leave no stoneunturned to win most of the 36seats to gain a clear majority inthe Upper House.

The SP is likely to consid-er new faces for this electionand many sitting MLCs arelikely to be denied tickets onthe grounds of non-perfor-mance. Sources in the SP saidmany leaders who contestedthe last assembly election andlost by thin margin could begiven tickets for the councilelection. The names of thecandidates are likely to beannounced on Tuesday

+���������3�����������������2���������

��0#������#0���� 9>�9���

Opposition BJP has com-pared Bengal with Syria

and Afghanistan even as ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onMonday held high-level meet-ing with top administrativeand police officials in the wakeof the murder of two munici-pal councilors who were shotdead on Sunday.

Saying that the situation inBengal was no better than thatof Syria and Afghanistan, BJPnational vice president DilipGhosh on Monday said, “thelaw and order situation in ourState is worse in the country …the Chief Minister hadpromised transforming Kolkatainto London but herGovernment has ended upmaking Bengal into a Syria orAfghanistan.”

Alleging that the rulingTMC was steeped in corruptionand criminal activities Ghoshwondered “what guarantee do

you have for the common manwhere the politicians are shotdead in crowded markets.”

Congress sitting councilorof 20 years Tapan Kandu fromJhalda municipality in Puruliadistrict and TrinamoolCongress’ councilor fromPanihati in northern fringes ofKolkata --- Anupam Duttawere on Sunday shot dead byalleged contract killers.

Congress leader AdhirChowdhury who visitedPurulia on Monday said thatthe “TMC is behind the mur-der as Tapan had refused to jointheir party and was trying toform a board in Jhalda whichhad sprung a hung house” inthe just concluded municipalelections. Dutta’s family mem-bers alleged that he was killedby the land mafia.

Even as the BJP MLAsstaged demonstration in StateAssembly party legislatorAgnimitra Paul said, “The mur-der of the councilors, prove that

the law and order situation inBengal is alarming. We demandthat the chief minister who isalso the Home Ministerexplains the deteriorating lawand order situation in theAssembly. This can’t go on.”

The Chief Minister onMonday held a high-leveladministrative meeting withChief Secretary, HomeSecretary, ADG CID and ADGLaw and Order sources saidadding she had directed the topofficials to go after the rowdyelements irrespective of theirpolitical colours.

Meanwhile, four personswere arrested on Monday inconnection of the two murders.While contract killer SumitPandit who was seen in theCCTV firing at the Panihaticouncilor was arrested from ahideout in the northern fringesof Kolkata two persons wereheld in connection with themurder of Purulia murderssources said.

063������� ���04��������&�2�����

0��������������

����� ���9�>�

The State Government hasdirected the police and

administrative officials toremain on high alert andensure peace and order duringthe upcoming Holi and Shab-e-Barat festivals.

Additional Chief Secretary(Home) Awanish KumarAwasthi interacted with senioradministrative and police offi-cers over law and order andpreparedness through videoconferencing in Lucknow onSunday.

The officials were told thatthe festivals of Holi and Shab-e-Barat would be celebrated simul-taneously from March 17 tillMarch 19 and that keeping inview the sensitivity of theseoccasions, effective actionshould be ensured by organisingmeetings of Holika Dahan com-mittee and peace committee atthe earliest. The Fire departmentofficials were directed to deployfire-tenders at appropriate placesfor ensuring fire safety.

The additional chief secre-tary said that in all districts,ADMs and DySPs should forma team and check liquor shopsand stop the sale of illicit/spu-rious liquor at all costs. The offi-cials were also directed to com-plete preventive action againstmischievous elements on time.

Awasthi said thatpolice/PAC personnel had beenallocated for all districts and allpreparations, including theirproper deployment, should be

completed. He instructed offi-cials to keep a strict tab in sen-sitive places/districts and ensurepeace and security duringHolika Dahan (March 17). Holi(March 18) and Shab-e-Barat(March 19).

The additional chief secre-tary also instructed officials toensure uninterrupted supply ofpower and water and ensurecleanliness during these festivals.The officials were told to ensurearrangements in coordinationwith the Food Logistics andFood Safety department.

District officials were alsoasked to coordinate with theMedical and Health depart-ment and ensure the availabil-ity of adequate numbers of doc-tors, paramedical staff andbeds in hospitals. During thevideo conferencing, Awasthicongratulated all senior admin-istrative and police officers ofthe state for the peaceful con-duct of assembly elections.

Officials participating inthe video conferencing saidthat all necessary action andarrangements were beingensured for festivals to be cel-ebrated peacefully and in a cor-dial environment.

��.$����!"�&�����0��)�&���"�/�'!�1�12!&!�

��� .������

Assam Governor JagdishMukhi said on Monday

that as many as 4,052 peoplehave been arrested in the last 10months for their allegedinvolvement in trading drugs,and narcotics worth Rs 427crore seized.

Addressing the Assemblyon the first day of the BudgetSession, Mukhi said the frontalattack on drug menace, whichstarted in May 2021, was stillbeing carried out with "greatforce".

"Since May 2021, 2,363cases were registered and 4,052people arrested. Drugs of esti-mated value of Rs 427 crorewere seized," he added.

The seizures include 72.2kg heroin, 19,207 kg ganja, 49kg opium, around 1,90,000

bottles of codeine-based coughsyrup, approximately 31,00,000tablets and 3.375 kg crystalmethamphetamine, he said.

Talking about anothersocial ill, the governor said 200human trafficking victims havebeen rescued and 78 peoplearrested in connection with 67cases.

On paddy procurement,he said that a target to purchase10 lakh metric tonne fromfarmers had been fixed for thecurrent Kharif MarketingSeason (KMS).

"As on Mar 10, 2022,12,248 farmers have sold86,285 MT of paddy and havebenefitted with MSP amount-ing to Rs 163 crore," he noted.

The Kharif marketing sea-son (KMS) 2021-22 runs fromOctober to September. Mukhifurther said that 4,57,851 hous-

es have been built out of a totalsanctioned 7,68,013 unitsunder Pradhan Mantri AwaasYojana- Gramin (PMAY-G)

"We will also be taking upanother 7 lakh houses in nextfew months. An innovativeidea of Cluster House approachhas been adopted in the state toconstruct houses for landlessPMAY-G beneficiaries," headded.

On the COVID-19 vacci-nation drive, Mukhi said thestate is planning to completesecond dose administration byMarch 31 this year.

According to the NationalHealth Mission (NHM) bul-letin on Sunday, a total of4,36,28,957 jabs have beenadministered thus far --2,34,27,555 first doses,1,99,26,740 second and2,74,662 precautionary doses.

".�� ������/!���������������������"01��������+�����������������

����� �����

In the continuing battle ofnerves between the

Opposition Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) and ruling MahaVikas Aghadi (MVA),Maharashtra Home MinisterDilip Walse-Patil on Mondayordered a CriminalInvestigation Department(CID) probe into the allega-tions raised by Oppositionleader Devendra Fadnavis intothe alleged conspiracies toframe Opposition leaders, evenas the BJP leaders rooted for aCBI inquiry into their allega-tions.

On a day when leader ofthe Opposition DevendraFadnavis upped the ante on apen drive produced by him inthe House on March 8 that itcontained “proof ” conspira-cies hatched by the rulingMVA leaders against the BJP

leaders, Walse-Patil announceda CID probe into theOpposition’s allegations in the“incriminating” pen drive.

Replying to a debate in theMaharashtra Assembly on lawand order situation in the state,Walse-Patil said that SpecialPublic Prosecutor PravinChavan – whose name figuresin the sting operation carriedout by the Opposition BJP –had resigned from his post,pending a CID inquiry into theOpposition’s allegation that the“conspiracies” were hatched atChavan’s office.

“Chavan has resigned asgovernment advocate. The CIDwill examine the pen driveand ascertain if theOpposition’s allegations aretrue. After the receipt of thereport from the CID report, wewill initiate necessary action,”Walse-Patil said.

Earlier, rooting for a CBI

inquiry into the allegationsmade by him, Fadnavis said:The pen drive that I producedin the House contains the con-spiracy behind the raids con-ducted at the residence of ourparty leader GirishMaharashtra and what werethings that were planted atMahajan’s residence. In thevideo and tapes the names ofseveral ministers that theSpecial Public Prosecutor has

taken. How can theMaharashtra police conductan inquiry into our allegationsagainst its own ministers?Hence, we are demanding aCBI probe into our allega-tions”

Maintaining that till thestate orders a CBI probe intotheir allegations in the pendrive and also the alleged linksof the ruling NCP leaders withunderworld don Dawood

Ibrahim, the Opposition BJPMLAs staged a walkout fromthe Stare Assembly.\

It may be recalled that onMarch 8, Fadnavis had sub-mitted a pen drive containing"proof " to Deputy SpeakerNarhari Zirwal and claimedthat the pen drive containedvideo recordings running into125 hours, showing how con-spiracies were hatched by thepolice and the three con-stituents of the ruling MVA –Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress,to “frame” him and other StateBJP leaders in false cases at theoffice of Pravin Chavan.

Fadnavis had said that thevideo footage showed Chavandiscussing details about howmeetings were held at the high-est level -- from the chief min-ister to state DGP to the policecommissioner -- to “frame”BJP leader Girish Mahajanunder MCOCA and arrest him.

*!'!��*��&��&$�.&���������,!��!��$3 '!&%���)�."������)&!����..�"�!��&$�

����������������&�%�4�5���)����,��)-�����������%�����������)���� ���� ����+ ����%��� ��� ����� ����

������ ���6���6

Braj Holi Mahotsav 2022, athree-day carnival celebrating

the vibrant hues of the festival ofcolour Holi, has begun withfanfare in Braj region ofBharatpur, Deeg and Kaman.

The Rajasthan TourismDepartment and the DistrictAdministration of Bharatpur arehosting the event promote cul-tural tourism.“Bharatpur is partof the Braj region; a sacred landwhere Lord Krishna had spentmany years of his boyhood. BrajHoli Mahotsav is a celebration ofthe rich traditions,” saidRajasthan Chief Minister AshokGahlot.“Our endeavour is topromote Bharatpur as a distinctplace where culture and religionare so beautifully interwoven,”said Rajasthan Tourism MinisterVishvendra Singh.

4�5�6��������������2������4�������

1950, we would get an exam-ple. They chose to carry onwith more or less the systemthat the British rulers hadused. That was introduced bythe Government of India Act,1935, to govern the brightestjewel in the British Crownmore efficiently with greaterpowers devolving to Indians.When it was passed, thePartition of the Indian empirewas not envisaged.

How federal or unitaryIndia’s leaders would wanther to be, the British did notknow. In 1946, a three-leaderdelegation called the CabinetMission proposed such a looseconfederal map of India thatthe Centre would have onlythree subjects; namely, ForeignAffairs, Defence andCommunications. The rest ofthe subjects would devolve tothe provinces, as the Stateswere called those days. Theirmain endeavour was to keepthe Muslim League happywithout dividing the subcon-tinent. When the leaders satdown to write the document,they had in mind the minori-ties, a federal façade but witha strong Centre to ensure thecountry did not break up. Thatexplained the introduction ofthe Concurrent List ofArticles, which dealt withthose subjects in which boththe Centre and the States had

power. Law and Order is aState subject but the CentralReserve Police and the AssamRifles established by theBritish, respectively, were per-sisted with. And in due course,more paramilitary forces wereadded. Yet when inter-com-munal riots broke out, therewere often demands for themilitary to be called out. InGujarat, 2002, the demandswere loud by the third dayafter the trouble began. Themilitary did appear promptly;but then what was the CentralReserve Police for?

Just as Chile has anurgent need to extract morelithium from under the soil,our urgency in 1950 was tokeep the country together inthe face of its diversity, inter-lingual but more so inter-communal. In 1947, weallowed the partitioning ofthe country, losing some 35per cent of our territory.Within a few years, commu-nal riots began. In Pakistan’swestern wing, they continueduntil nearly all Hindus andSikhs had taken refuge inIndia. From the eastern wing,there was a continual outflowbecause of bloodshed andabductions. Neither Partitionnor the Constitution solvedour central problem.

In 1781, the US wrote aConstitution which evidently

answered the questions raisedby its war of independenceagainst the British Empire.There have been only 23amendments over these 240years. Our document hasundergone well over 100amendments in the course of72 years. On balance, the UShas flourished as a civilisation;it is today the wealthiestnation and most of its citizensare prosperous. Certainly, itsConstitution cannot be fault-ed for any of its problems.

The Soviet Union wroteits Constitution under thedirection of Vladimir Leninsoon after the OctoberRevolution of 1917. By 1991,the Soviet Union collapsedand scattered into 16 differentcountries. It was an ideolog-ical failure; Karl Marx over-looked the psychology thathuman beings must haveincentive to work better.Equality might sound anattractive idea but people arenot equal, and do not expectto be treated as such at work.Distribution of goods and ser-vices in a fair manner is impor-tant but their production isequally vital. The Sovietsignored this and perished.

(The writer is a well-known columnist, anauthor and a former memberof the Rajya Sabha. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

������������ ����������Sir — It is indeed a positive change thatPunjab voters elected 13 doctors, includ-ing some specialists, in the recent election.At the time of elections, we generally comeacross many candidates with criminalbackgrounds who get elected to State leg-islatures and Parliament. That’s whyunruly scenes are witnessed duringAssembly and Parliament sessions andmost of the time Bills are passed withoutany discussion. Therefore, in my view, pro-fessionals, intellectuals, academic experts,retired bureaucrats and other societyelite should be given the chance by allpolitical parties to enter Assemblies andParliament to serve people without anypolitical or selfish interests.

Of course, elected on a party’s ticket,they can promote their party but not at thecost of people’s welfare and development.Doctors, engineers, chartered accountants,sitting or retired IAS, IPS, bankers andeducation experts should think of contest-ing elections from their respective areas.The need of the hour for the country isthat such people should be elected to enterthe temples of democracy. Of course, thereare elected people from these groups for-getting the dignity of their profession andbecoming a professional politician with allthe unwanted behaviour. Such peopleshould be shown the door by the bossesof their political party.

JP Reddy | Telangana

���������� ���������������Sir — Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MKStalin expressing apprehension for malev-olent posts in social media that lead to casteand communal clashes, is a matter of seri-ous concern. The instances of online bul-lying, misinformation and spreading fakenews through social media platforms aregrowing by the day. When someoneshares a video on Facebook or you hoponto YouTube, the content reaches youafter it has been passed around, syndicat-ed and filtered through several sources. Butthere is no system for truly identifying theoriginal source of the content.

But that is not the only problem.Across other social media platforms such

as WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram,words and photos are getting shared tomillions across the globe with little to nocuration. Many of the ‘forwarded’ mes-sages that we receive on WhatsApp on adaily basis either have partial or no truthat all. Their contents make it clear that thesubterraneous aim of these ‘forwards’ is tofuel differences, instigate communalhatred and political animosities amongpeople and sections of society. Anonymitydoes breed anti-social behaviour. Fake IDs,pseudonyms and unverified user accountsabound online, giving people ampleopportunity to mask their identities as theypost provocative messages.

Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai

�������������� ���� ����������Sir —This refers to the editorial, ‘Hungryto win’ (March 14). The editorial has aptlypresented the contrasting functioningstyle of the BJP and Congress with refer-ence to electioneering. The foremostobjective of any political party is to pro-vide service to the people and country atlarge. But to attain that goal, winning elec-

tions is imperative and a “pressing need”without which the party would lose rele-vance. The political authority of a party,or its leader, is proportional to its successin elections. This is the formula that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi is following.

On the other hand, the Congress isalmost twice older than India as aRepublic but it has failed to comprehendits current perilous situation. When theBJP won power at the Centre in 2014, theCongress ruled nine States — now thenumber is down to just two. In the lasteight years, the Congress has won only fiveof the 45 elections held in the country.Moving forward, the party has been floun-dering under the leadership of the ‘fam-ily’ for many years. Rahul and Priyankaled its campaign in the Assembly electionswith Sonia Gandhi as an invisible pres-ence in the background, and the rejectionof the party by voters means the rejectionof the family, too.

N Sadhasiva Reddy | Bengaluru

+ / + # ' � & , 7 6 � + / � � , ! "

###4�!�"(.�����&4 ��)���-��%(��#;$����"��������A :�!��������������A ��������#(��#;$����"������;

���������������� ��������� !�"#""

!2

������ ������%������ 6����� ��%4�%5�� 6�7���&8%7�

�!���!��!������0����"������������-��������$������#������&�!'���������B��������))�����$�-������������C���������$�)��������-��������)����C����"���"�����

6>>���� �>3����6�3�6�������8 >����������6��6����������� �6��

�>6���� �6.�� �3>6�

���������� '� �����?�36��

�.��6�������>�������������6�'

� ������� �33>6������>� �.����

�6�� >6���>�

����� � �3���(���4��3

���,0���53 �4��

������������������������"����$��)�)��!�/����-��&���������������������"���)"��"��(���&�����������������������!�

�����)�&��"����-��#����������������$����$����(������-���������������&�!��)������#�����#/"���������������#"���������������������������#(���!������!�'�&����-����������"��������)�#��/%����)�����������������������$�)���&����!(��!�#�����������)����!��6�����/�%������&�������!���%������&��������-���#����#�#-����)��!������#������������"���(�����������������!�""�

&��!����-�������!��$��������&�����%���������!�-��-�&��!�6�����2�����#��������������%��#�����'��������'�3�����'���$������(

��!��%��!����!���&����!���$�����-��"��/�����$������������(��!�����$�����)�-��!��!����������'��������$�D�����%��'��!���$��!��%�-���� "��"��2�� )���$�#'� �!���� �����#���'"����'�!����!���$��$����������"��������)����!��!��$���(��)�����&��&��%��������!���&���&��!�%�����'�6������!�����!����$��������$������/���$�#�����!���������"���$�����!����������)��!�-����������$����)������������"������������$������(��2����$�������������������)���-��!��!��������������"������������$��!��&���$�������/����(� ������$��������$�#������������������$�����-���"�&����!���&���$����$����"��������/�������'���#����������������$�����$��#���)�������%��)��#�$���������������"��!��&���)����#����#������!��������!���$����������$�$����%����������-����������$���)���(

�����������5�� �| ������

����������������� ��!"�

������������������������ ������ ����� �

Chile is rewriting itsConstitution, and thesupposed reasonbehind such a drastic

move is climate change andecological crises. A climate andecological emergency has beendeclared in this South Americancountry; 155 representativeshave been elected to write thenew Constitution. Chile wantsto extract more of the soft shin-ing metal called lithium, meantto be essential for making bat-teries to run vehicles withoutpetroleum. This economic ini-tiative will be part of the consti-tutional agenda. Chile hasreserves of lithium more than allcountries, except Australia.

For decades, Chile has beensomewhat of an outlier in SouthAmerica, enjoying political sta-bility and steady economicgrowth in a region that has beenlong mired in conflict and eco-nomic crises. But Chile’s pros-perity has been unequal, com-ing at a political cost, which issocial inequality and friction.Proponents of the referendumenvision a new charter that willenshrine more basic rights for allChileans, especially free highereducation and healthcare, aswell as affordable housing andtransportation, limit the role ofthe private sector and expandpublic welfare to create a moreequal society. They argue thatwhile Chile’s economy has beencruising for decades, growth hasnot trickled down to the major-ity of its people. After decadesas a regional model for politicalstability and economic growth,Chile finds it can no longermaintain both. Will the newConstitution help the country’sleaders find ways to maintaineconomic success while ensur-ing greater equity? Or, will thisbe a permanent tradeoff?

What is remarkable is thathere is a country deciding to cre-ate a national document with aspecific objective and not just aConstitution. Most countrieshave produced their nationaldocuments without a specificagenda in answer to theirnationally essential needs. Whenwe look back 70 years andreview what Indian leaders didin anticipation of January 26,

����������� � ����������������������������������������������� �������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������� ��� ������� � �������� ������������ !"#�������������������

����$�������������%������� �� �������� ������ ����� ���� ����� ��������������������������������������������� ��� �� ���&��� ���� ��� �$�������'� ����(����) ���������������� ����������������� ���������������������� ����� ��� �����* ���������� ������ ���+ ����+��� ,,,� ��� ������*�� �� �� ���-*�����#.�����

������������ � ����� ������������������$�����-�������� ������� ������� ���*�� ���.������������ ��������������/����� �������������������� ����� �����'� ����������������$���������� ��#����0��� ���� ������������������� ������������������������� ����� �$�������� ���������� ��� �#���� ����$������������� ����� ��������� � ���� � ��� ����� ��������������$���1������������������������ ������������2����3������������)����������������������������������������2���3������� ����� ���*� ����� ��������1� ����� ��*� ��� �������� �����4

3�� ����� � (� �� �3� (��*���1� � ����� ��������� �� ��� ���� �������) ������ �1�������������������������������������������������� ����� ������������5���������������� 666#&"""��7�������������� ��������%����$����������� ��� �������������1������ ���������������8������������� "�� ���� ��������#����������1������� � ��� ����������������� � ����5���������������� �!0������������������������� ������������������������������������� ����������������������%���� � ����� ����� $���������� �19����������� � ������������������������������������������������� �������������������� �����������$���� ���� ������$���������������2������*������������������������ ���������������������� �������������������������� ����,������ ������� ���������'� ����(����1�2����3�������������)���������'� ����������������1��������������������� ������$�������������������������������������������+�������������� ������������ ��� �� ��������� ��� �����$���1���� �������������������������� ����� ����������� �� �����$�������������������������� ������������� ������� ���&��� ���������������

2�$�#�������� ������������ �� �����,������������������������� ���������������� ������ �������� ����������� �������������������������� ����������������� �� ��������������:��������1�� ��$��1����������*�������� �����������5����������� #

��� ���������������� �� �� ������������,�� ������� ��������� ��� ����������� ����������� ���������������������� ���$�� ����������� �#� ���������� �#����������1����� ��%���� ��� ����� ����������� �����������,����������������*����� ������������������� ��� ����������$�#������ �1��������������� ��������1�������� ���� ����������� ������������� ����������1������ ��1�� �������� ��� ��1� ����������� ���%����*��1������5������ ����� ������� ���������������������������#��������������������$�#�������� ������������ �������������) ��� ����������$�� �������������� ������� $�����������3������& � �����) ����� ���2�$�#��������������� 5;�) ������������ �������� ����1����� ���� ����������������� ����������,�������� ���1�� �������� ���� ������������ ����� ������� ������� ��������*#������������ ���������$����������� ���������� ������������������$����/ � ���*������ ������� ������������ �������� �������3��� ������������������� �������$������

������� ������ * ��� ����$�#������������������������ ����� ����� ���������������� ������*� �������������� ��� ��� ���� ���������� $�������������������1���������������������������������� ����

� �������� �����1������������$�#�������� ���������������������� �����������*����� ��� �� ����� ���������� �����$�������� �� �� �������������#���� ������� �������������$���� ����� ���� ���������� ������������1����� ������$���������� ��������)����%������ �� ����������������(��:������/�������/���) ���������������� ��� �����)��������� ���������3�� $�������$�#�������� �#

������������������ ���� ���������������: �����*���� ��� �1���� ����������������� ����� ��� ��������������� ��� ������������1����� �������� ����� ����������� ������������������� ��� ����$�#������ ����1���$�#�������� ���������$���$ �$������*� �:������������$��� ����� ����,��&" !1������������) ������ �� ����� �� ��������� ������������������������������$�#������������������$���������������� #��� �1������������� ��� ������������������ ��� �� ������������ ���������������#��*��������� ���$��:��� ����� ��������������������������������������� ������� ��� ��������������� ��� ������������� �������� ������������������ �������$�#������ ���� ��� � ������#���������5����������� ������������ ����������#� �� ��������������������������������� ��� ��������������������������$��������������������� �� ������������ ��������������� ��������� ������ ��������������� �������������������� ��� �������������������+����$�� ��������������$�#���� ������������� ���������������*����������������� ������������

(����2���8������2���

/� ��2������������/ ��� ��������������������������&�7 ����)����� �������������� ���������# ��� �

�����

#� ����������� ����-����������������� � ����������%�����)�$��� ���������7�����/������� ���

8� ��� ������� ������ �+����� ������� ������������ ������ ��������� �

���C�������#���������������$����$������������/�����������������!�����(

�������E �����$�9�0��&��

������������#����&������&(�����)�����)����2�������)��!��������(

�% 7� ��%)����9 �8��*���� E �����9������

SOUNDBITE

�!���������������"���������!�)��'�����������������"����$����#�(

�)����5�� ���+�5�E 8��$�#�������

�����)����!��"��������$���!�"���$���$��*�)�!�&����������������!��.�����+(

�:�����+� E ��#�$� �&���

2#�����)�����!���������!���������!����2����!�����!���&��%�$����(

�8�% E 6��!���!�$!�

mix of the ‘formula’ and ‘actual’.This is arrived at by adding to therefinery-gate price or RGP (takenas import parity price or IPP andexport parity price or EPP in theratio of 80:20),freight, marketingcosts, marketing margin, dealers’-commission and taxes andduties.This results in inflated payments and avoidable increasein subsidy.

From January 1, 2015, theModi Government launched directbenefit transfer (DBT) of LPGunder a scheme nicknamedPAHAL (Pratyaksha HastaantaritLaabh). Under it, subsidy is notembedded in the price. The mar-keting PSUs deliver the cylinder tothe beneficiaries at full cost-basedprice (say �2000 in our example).They follow it up by depositingsubsidy (�1400) in beneficiary’saccount and claim reimbursementfrom the GOI.

This system addressed theproblem of fake beneficiaries(around 45 million fakes wereeliminated till 2020) and diversionof stocks. However, it failed tomake a dent on the undeservingbeneficiaries as also inflated pay-ments to oil PSUs.

Even as the Governmentadded about 80 million poorhouseholdsover a five-year period,no serious effort was made toexclude the better-off. The movesmade so far, likethe PrimeMinister’s clarion call to surrendersubsidy received a lukewarmresponse. The measure resulted inexclusion of only 25 million. InJune, 2020 (when the Governmentstopped giving subsidy), the unde-serving households

accounted for nearly 60 per-cent of the total beneficiaries atabout 200 million.

Was the stoppage intended? From the way things unfolded,

it appears that it was not. In thebudget for 2020-21, theGovernment had made a provisionof �36,000 crore towards LPG sub-sidy. This allocation albeit for thefull year won’t be necessary if theintent was to discontinue in June2020, that is within three monthsof the year start. During 2021-22also, it had no intention of disband-ing subsidy as it allocated for�14,000 crore under this head.Yet, if the government has not paidfor nearly 21 months now, the rea-son is elsewhere.

It had to do with a fortuitouscircumstances created by world-wide destruction of demand in thewake of the COVID - 19 pandem-ic which led to steep decline in theinternational price of crude oil (inApril 2020, it had plummeted tobelow $20 per barrel).Correspondingly, the price of allpetroleum products including LPGalso declined. As on June 2020, thecost of supplying LPG at the retaillevel was coming to �600 per cylin-der. That indeed was the target priceduring the earlier periodbutreached with subsidy support.

In this scenario and consumersgetting access at a low price of �600even on cost-plus basis, it was onlynatural that the Governmentstopped depositing any amounttowards subsidy. Thereafter, crudeprice started moving northwardfrom US$ 22 per barrel in May 2020to US$ 72 per barrel in August2021; the international price of LPG

too increased in tandem leading tohike in its cost at retail level to �900per cylinder. As a result, con-sumers paid a higher price of �900as they didnot get subsidy.

Now, in the wake of Ukrainecrisis, with crude price skyrocket-ing to $130 per barrel and corre-spondingly, the cost of LPG shoot-ing to over �2000, the questionhaunting Team Modi is: whether toresurrect subsidy or not?

From day one, the very idea ofsubsidizing LPG was flawed. It wasneither meant for the poor, nor anysun-set date was ever fixed. Wayback in 2002-03, then NDA govern-ment under Vajpayee decided tomake it transparent (by givingsubsidy from the budget) and even-tually disbanding it but no deadlineset. In 2012-13, the KelkarCommittee recommended removalof 25 per cent of subsidy and 75 percent in the following two years. This recommendation was notacted upon.

Now that subsidyhas beenstopped, though belated, it makesno sense to resurrect it. Until 2020,over 60 percent of the beneficiarieswere getting unjustifiable access andit must not be restored for them. Asfor the poor (around 80 million)who feel the pinch of price hikes,Modi may consider giving themcash assistance’directly’ for as longas international price remains at ele-vated level.

Meanwhile, the Governmentshould focus on reducing price(sans subsidy) by reducing importdependence, fostering competitionin LPG marketing by involving private entities and bringing itunder GST.

�� � ����� ���� �53+�������������

���0������ ����$�� ����������0��������������������;����� ��&�����:������ �$����������������&<�������#������������������������:��

�����������������������1/��0�����1���������� �����������0�����

����$�������=��0� � �$�������&< ����������

����� �����

8� �+������������������� ���������� �9�����������:���������������� � � �� &��� ��������� ����������������������� � ��� ������������������ ��+�8

����� ����������� ������������,��������������� ��� ������,�/��������(������1���������������� ��<1<&1&=6�� ������$����������������$������������ ��������������������������

� ���������������� ��� ����� �� �������: ���� ������$�� �����*�� ������ �����������������$������������� ������ ������������� ������������*��>�����?���������@ !�&��������A1�(��:��@6��������A�����������������������������/�������@! ��������A��+�������)������ ��� �� ����,������B� � ���@)�,BA��������������������� ����������� �C���������������� ����1�������������������������������������������� �����$����� ��<� �������������� ������������� ���/������������������ � ������� �������� ���� ������������ �����$����������������������������������� �:��������� ��� ���� ���������������� ��� ��>�����-�� ������1���

)DE,8# 6 ���������������������������������������������������1������ ����: ��������������� ,���������1����������������$����#� ��� ��������������3������)�,B����1���������� �����������8�������&"& �������������/�������@!0� ��������A1� �� ������.�:������@&C� ��������A1�>���*�����@ C�!��������A�����������@ =�������A��������������� ���#�����$����� ������������ ���������� ��)B83#)�,B�@�������>������1�&" 6�����>����&"& A1�&"&"#& ����0&�0��������������� F# 6������� ������� �������� ������ � �&" 6#&"���������� ��� ��&"#&6���������$������ ��������� �#������������ �� ������ F�=����������3� ������� ���������������� �� $����� ��� ��� ������� �� ��� ��� ��� ����� ��� ���� ����� �������� ������������� $��1������ � �� �� ��� ������ ������ ������������������� ������� ������� ��������� $������������� ��������������������������1������� ������� ��� ����������#������������� ��� ���1�����$����������� �������������:��� ����� ���� �����#� 0�&<���������� ��� �������� ������ �� C�<<���������� �������D�� �� ���1� ������ ����������� ����*�� �*��������������16&� ���������� � �������� �*����������������� ��F0�<���������� �������������������

������������� ��������� ��� ����������$ �$��������������#���: �������������������8��� ����������� �� �����������1�� ���#� �*�� �������: �����*���������������� ������������ �����������#�������������� ��������������� ����1,����%������������������������ ���� ��#������$���������������������������� �� ��������� ����� ��������������� �������������: ������������� �������� ������� �������� �������������������1�� ����������������������1���������1� ���������� ������� ��� ���� � ������������������� �������������#���������������$������������������������������� ������� ��!0�!������������&" � �&C������������&"&"�,��������*������������������������(3�����������������������5������ ������������� ������� ������� ������������� ���$��������� ������#��������� �1���������������� ��������������*��������������� �������*�����������������������*� ������������� ����������� � �#�������� ���������� $�� �����������������*��� ���$�$������� � #�������� $��������������� �� �������������1���������������������������1����B��������� �������� �������������������� ������������$�����$������������ ����*�������������������������� ������� �������������' $��������*��� ���� ��������� �������: ���� ���������� ����� ����

���������������� ������� ����� �������� ���� �������������� ��� ������� ����������������������������� ��������

��������� ���!

���������������� ��������� !�"#""

!1###4�!�"(.�����&4 �� )���-��%(��#;$����"��������A :�!��������������A ��������#(��#;$����"������;

FIRSTCOLUMN�7/��#',"�

9"#�+(!$�#"7

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

0�*�5����

����' $������������� ��*��� �������� �������� ���: ���������� ����

�>������ �� �?���

����� �>��'��>�.�

�������'����9� ��> �� ���>

6� �66�����(�����4545'>8�6�F5��6�����>3����

����3��6� ��6��.����.�� � �3�������� �������� ���>����

6� �>6���3>6����(�� �3>6

����>>6'��>���?��>� ��6.8�.�����

�� �� �����

G�6����?H�3>6� ��>�.��

���6���>���6���6���� ���������8����

��8��

(The writer is a policyanalyst. The views

expressed are personal.)

Two weeks since Russiainvaded Ukraine, and stillno ‘decapitation’ of the

Ukrainian government, no citycaptured except Kherson (whichno non-Ukrainian had everheard of before the war), andmaybe 2,000 military dead oneach side.

It’s not exactly a stalemate,since the Russians have moretanks, more artillery and moreair power, and they have not yetused them as aggressively as theymight. So, we can use this (rel-ative) pause in the fighting toexamine Moscow’s remainingoptions.

The Ukrainians have nooption except to stay on thedefensive, keep fighting andhope for the best, but theRussians have a plethora ofchoices ranging from ‘quit andgo home’ to ‘use nuclear

weapons’. What the Russians have

done up to now is contrary totheir own military doctrines.Indeed, it was probably imposedon the military by PresidentVladimir Putin, because it wasbased on magical thinking.

Standard Russian doctrinefor attacking a country the sizeof Ukraine would require amethodical advance, with mas-sive artillery and air strikespaving the way and logisticalsupport following close behind.Instead, they sent tanks andmotorised infantry on cross-country dashes to grab key tar-gets with only the food andammunition they could carry.

It would have worked ifmost Ukrainians had really beenpraying for Russia to liberatethem from the drug-addledJewish Nazi gangsters who Putin

said ruled their country, but it’sunwise to believe your ownpropaganda. The Ukrainiansresisted and the Russianarmoured columns stalled. ByDay Five Russian troops werebuying or stealing food from thelocals.

The sixty-km-long militaryconvoy that has been stuck onthe road north of Kiev for a weekcould serve as a logo for thewhole misbegotten operation.Now there is a pause while

scapegoats are found (becausePutin must not be blamed) andnew plans are being made (per-haps by new commanders). Butthere will be a second phase.

It will probably be ‘by thebook’, which means that thedefenders will be crushed bymassive firepower in order tospare the lives of Russian troops.

So far only Kharkiv andMariupol have had the full treat-ment, with only occasional rock-ets hitting other big cities. This

is probably because Putinthought he could win withoutdestroying iconic cities like Kyivand Odessa and killing tens ofthousands of people. Even theman who levelled Grozny andAleppo understands that toomuch blood is bad PR.

That possibility no longerexists (indeed, it probably neverdid), so now his choices areretreat or mass slaughter. Sinceretreat would probably mean healso loses power - ‘he led us intoa needless war, he broughtshame and humiliation on us,and he lost the war’ - Putin willsee that as no choice at all, so themass slaughter will probablycommence.

Beyond this, the questionsmultiply. How long will thesieges last? When will the gueril-la war against the Russian occu-pation start? Will the Ukrainian

government retreat to Lviv?Will Russia invade westernUkraine too?

Here’s a more fundamentalquestion: could all this have beenavoided by some different choicein the past?

Not by refusing to let theformerly Communist-ruledcountries of eastern Europe joinNATO. Having suffered underRussian overlords for forty-fiveyears after the Second WorldWar, and in some cases havingbeen invaded to bring them backinto line - Hungary 1956,Czechoslovia 1967 - they desper-ately wanted the protection ofNato membership.

Some of them had evenlonger experience of Russianimperialism - Poles spent theentire 19th century underRussian rule - and they knewRussia’s reflex is always to build

a buffer zone of obedient vassalcountries around it. It wouldhave been unthinkable to leavethem out in the cold.

That whole debate aboutwhether NATO should haverefused to let them in ignores thehistory. A better approach mighthave been to let Russia joinNATO too, but it would havehad to be a very different Russia.

Such a Russia may havebeen within reach in the 1990sif the country had been treatedwith respect, the carpet-baggershad been kept out, and theWest had not put its money onthat drunken fool Boris Yeltsin.But many people think all of thatwas inevitable, and maybe it was.

In any case, we are where weare, and the task for NATO nowis to protect Ukraine, the coun-try it kept out, while avoiding anuclear war.

�������������� ����� ���������������������������� ���������� ����������� � �������������������������������� ���� ��������������� ��2� ��� �����

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘The Shortest History

of War’. The views expressed are personal.)

5�6���46�

2��7�������5����78� The recent spurt in the price of LPGin the wake of Ukraine crisis hastriggereda demand for resurrection

of subsidy which the Narendra Modi gov-ernment had stopped depositing in ben-eficiary’s accounts since June, 2020.

Is the demand justified? By definition, subsidy on purchase of

any given product is subvention or finan-cial assistance provided by the state to acertain class of persons who cannotafford to pay the market-based or cost-plus price from their limited income. Incase of LPG, the current price of a 14.2kg cylinder is around �2000 (in Delhi).Assuming that the person can’t pay morethan �600 the Government will give her�1400 as subsidy so that she is able to buythe cylinder.

How much a person can afford topay? What should be the level of subsidy?Who should be in the beneficiary’s list?

The Government needs to carefullyand comprehensively look into thesequestions even as it decides to spend taxpayers’ money on giving subsidy. While,doing this exercise, it should keep in mindan overarching principle that ‘the bene-ficiaries are poor’. It also needs to consid-er that subsidy cannot be given eternal-ly; it should be withdrawn once theirfinancial status improves.

Yet, in the administration of theLPG subsidy by successive regimes, the-sebasics werethrown to the winds. In thepast, anyone irrespective of his incomewho managed to get an LPG connectionautomatically became eligible. Therefore,it was only natural that all and sundryincluding the rich enjoyed the benefit ofsubsidy. The proof of the pudding is in eating.

According to the Economic Survey(2015-16), only 0.07 per cent of LPG sub-sidy in rural areas went to a fifth of thepoorest households. In urban areas, thepoorest fifth got only 8.2 per cent of sub-sidies. Thus, in rural areas, the pooresthad no access to subsidy at all, whereasin urban, they got a miniscule portion.There were other flaws too.

Prior to January 1, 2015, the subsidywas embedded in the sale price.

TheUnion Government asked thethree major oil marketing PSUs — IndianOil, Bharat Petroleumand HindustanPetroleum to sell LPG to eligible benefi-ciaries at a low price unrelated to the costof supplying it (at the retail point) whichwas higher. The PSUs would then, getreimbursement of theexcess of the costover the price as subsidy from the GOI.

The system was prone to misuse asthehigher market price gave incentive tothe distributors to divert subsidizedcylinders to commercial users such ashotels, restaurants, etc. - using modusoperandi such as fake/non-existent ben-eficiaries or diversion of stocks straightfrom the godowns.

The other aberration has to do withreimbursementof cost to PSUs using a

���������������� ��������� !�"#"" &�����!9

���� �88

Russian forces fired artillerystrikes on suburbs north-

west of Kyiv overnight and tar-geted points east of the capital,the head of the Kyiv region saidMonday. A town councilor forBrovary east of Kyiv was killedin fighting there, regionaladministration chief OleksiyKuleba said on Ukrainian tele-vision. He also reported strikesovernight on the northwesttowns of Irpin, Bucha andHostomel, which have seensome of the worst fighting inRussia's stalled attempt to takethe capital.

The general staff ofUkraine's armed forces saidMonday morning that Russiantroops have not made majoradvances over the past 24 hoursdespite expanding strikes to thewest. Ukrainian forces are tar-geting Russian bases, targetingtheir logistical abilities, thegeneral staff said in a statementon Facebook marking the 19thday of the war. The general staffaccused Russian forces of set-ting up firing positions and mil-itary equipment in churches

and other civilian infrastructureso that Ukrainian forces can'tfire back. The accusation couldnot be immediately verified,though Associated Pressreporters have seen

Russian armoured vehi-cles in residential areas.

An artillery strike hit anine-story apartment build-ing in the Obolonsky district ofnorthern Kyiv on Mondaymorning, destroying apart-ments on several floors andigniting a fire. The state emer-gency agency, which released

images of the smoking build-ing, said no casualties havebeen reported so far.

The attacks around thecapital, Kyiv, came a day afterRussia escalated its offensive byshelling areas close to the Polishborder, including an airbase

critical to Ukraine's defense.The Ukrainian military saidMonday that Russian troopshad not made great stridesover the past day. Russia'sDefense Ministry says its forceshave advanced.

The fighting, now in its

third week, continued to exacta human toll. A pregnantwoman and her baby died afterRussia bombed the maternityhospital where she was meantto give birth. Associated Pressimages of the woman beingrushed to an ambulance on astretcher were circulatedaround the world and encap-sulated the horror of attacks onhumanity's most innocent.

The Ukrainian president'soffice reported Monday thatairstrikes hit residential build-ings near the important south-ern city of Mykolaiv, as well asin the eastern city of Kharkiv,and knocked out a televisiontower in the Rivne region in thenorthwest. Explosions rang outovernight around the Russian-occupied Black Sea port ofKherson.

The Russian DefenseMinistry said Monday its forceshad advanced 11 kilometers (7miles) over the past 24 hours.A ministry spokesman did notcomment in a video statementon humanitarian corridors orthe crisis in the desperate,strategically important city ofMariupol.

'�������������������-�����:����������

������ ��.�>�

The US and China are send-ing top aides to meet in

Rome on Monday amid mount-ing tensions between the twocountries over the Russia-Ukraine war and as the U.S. SaidRussia has asked China for mil-itary equipment to help press itscampaign.

In advance of the talks,White House national securityadviser Jake Sullivan bluntlywarned China to avoid helping

Russia evade punishment fromglobal sanctions that havehammered the Russian econo-my. "We will not allow that togo forward," he said.

U.S. Officials are also accus-ing China of spreading Russiandisinformation that could be apretext for Vladimir Putin'sforces to attack Ukraine withchemical or biological weapons.

Russia's invasion of Ukrainehas put China in a delicate spotwith two of its biggest tradingpartners: the U.S. And EuropeanUnion.

China needs access to thosemarkets, yet it also has shownsupport for Moscow, joiningwith Russia in declaring afriendship with "no limits."

In his talks with seniorChinese foreign policy adviserYang Jiechi, Sullivan will indeedbe looking for limits in whatBeijing will do for Moscow.

"I'm not going to sit herepublicly and brandish threats,"he told CNN in a round ofSunday news show interviews."But what I will tell you is weare communicating directlyand privately to Beijing thatthere absolutely will be conse-quences" if China helps Russia"backfill" its losses from thesanctions.

'���4����������� ��������� ��� ���� ���(�����

������6 ��

As Russia's war in Ukrainebecomes a grim new reality

for millions of Ukrainians, thetens of thousands who make theincreasingly treacherous journeytoward safety in the EuropeanUnion each day are left with nosense of when, or if, they'll everreturn home.

More than 2.8 million peo-ple have fled Ukraine in the wakeof Russia's invasion, according tothe UN refugee agency, the vastmajority seeking refuge inPoland which has taken in morethan 1.7 refugees in the last 19days.

In the Polish border town ofPrzemysl, some of those who arefleeing, mostly women and chil-dren, are exhausted and expressa simple wish that the war andviolence would stop.

"All day crying from thepain of having to part withloved ones, with my husband,my parents," said AlexandraBeltuygova, 33, who fled fromDnipro, a city between theembattled metropolises of Kyivand Mariupol.

"I understand that we maynot see them. I wish this warwould end," she said.

At a refugee center inSuceava in northern Romania,28-year-old Lesia Ostrovskawatched over her 1-year-old sonas her daughter, who is 8, playednearby with other children dis-placed by the war.

"I left my husband, myfather, my mother, my grand-parents," said Ostrovska, who isfrom Chernivtsi in westernUkraine.

"It's hard with kids, in thebus, here in this situation … Wehope that the war is finishedsoon and we can go back home."As the fighting, now in its third

week, continues to exact a griev-ous human toll in Ukraine withRussian troops bombardingmany of the country's mostpopulous cities, the number ofthose crossing into countrieson the eastern edge of the EU hasbegun to slowly wane in recentdays. In Hungary, where around255,000 refugees have entered sofar, only 9,000 people crossed theborder with Ukraine on Sundaycompared to more than twicethat on March 1, according topolice.

In Slovakia, where morethan 200,000 people have fled,fewer than 9,000 crossed the bor-der on Sunday, down from morethan 12,000 four days earlier.And in Poland on Sunday, about82,000 refugees were admitted,down from an earlier daily peakof around 129,000.

Still, those who managed toflee the violence continued toarrive in countries on Ukraine'swestern border.

In Przemysl, some recount-ed being witnesses to militaryattacks on civilians, somethingRussia continues to deny. "I sawdestroyed houses and fighting. Isaw a lot of tanks when I was dri-ving from Kyiv. I know that ahouse near us was completelydestroyed this morning," saidInessa Armashova, 40, a residentof the Ukrainian capital.

���� �> �>�

Long before waging war onUkraine, President

Vladimir Putin was working tomake Russia's internet a pow-erful tool of surveillance andsocial control akin to China'sso-called Great Firewall.

So when Western techcompanies began cutting tieswith Russia following its inva-sion, Russian investigative jour-nalist Andrei Soldatov wasalarmed. He'd spent yearsexposing Russian censorshipand feared that well-inten-tioned efforts to aid Ukrainewould instead help Putin iso-late Russians from the freeflow of information, aidingthe Kremlin's propaganda war.

"Look, guys the only spacethe Russians have to talk aboutUkraine. And what is going onin Russia. Is Facebook,"Soldatov, now exiled inLondon. Wrote on Facebook inthe war's first week. "You can-not just, like, kill our access."

Facebook didn't, although

the Kremlin soon picked upthat baton, throttling bothFacebook and Twitter so badlythey are effectively unreachableon the Russian internet. Putinhas also blocked access to bothWestern media and indepen-dent news sites in the country,and a new law criminalizesspreading information thatcontradicts the government'sline. On Friday, the Kremlinsaid it would also restrict accessto Instagram. By early Monday,the network monitor NetBlocksfound network data showingthe social network restricted inRussia across multiple users.

Yet the Kremlin's latestcensorship efforts have revealedserious shortcomings in thegovernment's bigger plans tostraightjacket the internet. AnyRussian with a modicum oftech smarts can circumventKremlin efforts to starveRussians of fact.

For instance, the govern-ment has so far had only lim-ited success blocking the use ofsoftware known as virtual pri-vate networks, or VPNs, thatallows users to evade contentrestrictions.

�!&� ��$�&$'�.��8.�$�$�9���:$�"�!-(����� ���&�"$

G�&��!�&���&���$��$2I�6�)���������!�4(J�#������

���������������� ��������� !�"#"" &�����!:

���� ����?>69�

Maryland Gov LarryHogan is planningtrips to Iowa and New

Hampshire. Rep AdamKinzinger, R-Ill., is consideringa rough timeline for a potentialpresidential announcement.And allies of Rep Liz Cheney,R-Wyo., are openly talking upher White House prospects.

More than two years beforethe next presidential election,a shadow primary is alreadybeginning to take shape amongat least three fierce Republicancritics of former PresidentDonald Trump to determinewho is best positioned to occu-py the anti-Trump lane in2024.

Their apparent willingnessto run — even if Trump does,as is widely expected — repre-sents a shift from previousyears when “Never Trump”operatives failed to recruit anyGOP officeholders to chal-lenge the incumbent presi-dent. But with the 2024 contestalmost in view, the question isno longer whether one ofTrump's prominent Republicancritics will run, but how manywill mount a campaign andhow soon they will announce.

Those close to Cheney,Hogan and Kinzinger expectone of them, if not more, tolaunch a presidential bid afterthe 2022 midterms. While allthree are nationally known tosome degree, their goal wouldnot necessarily be to win thepresidency. Above all, theywant to hinder Trump's returnto the White House, at leastcompared with 2020, when hisallies cleared the field of anyRepublican opponents and per-

suaded some states to cancelprimary contests altogether.

“It's there as an option, butit's not necessarily because thisis all some big plan so I can bein the White House,” Kinzingertold The Associated Press whenasked about his timeline fordeciding on a presidential run.“It's looking and saying, Is theregoing to be a voice out there thatcan represent from that mega-phone the importance ofdefending this country anddemocracy and what Americais about?' There certainly, I'msure within the next year or so,will be a point at which you haveto make a decision.

“If it's not me doing any-thing, certainly we'll be all infor whoever can represent us,”Kinzinger said. Republican pri-mary voters are expected tohave other options.

Several former Trump loy-alists who have emerged as on-again, off-again Trump criticsare also eyeing the GOP's nextpresidential nomination.Among them: former NewJersey Gov. Chris Christie, for-mer Vice President Mike Pence,Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis andformer UN Ambassador Nikki

Haley. But most in this grouphave offered Trump far morepraise than criticism, leavingthe likes of Cheney, Hogan andKinzinger as the only consistentTrump antagonists in the 2024conversation.

The range of prospectssuggests an openness withinthe GOP to move past Trumpand his divisive politics, even asmany Republican voters sug-gest they would like to see himrun a third time.

About 7 in 10 Republicanssaid the former presidentshould run for president againin 2024, according to a CBSpoll last month. Among themost common reasons theycited: He's the best Republicancandidate and has the bestchance of winning.

Lest anyone question hisintentions, Trump told thou-sands of supporters Saturdaynight in South Carolina, “Wemay have to run again.” Heremains the most popular fig-ure among Republican votersand plans to use the upcomingmidterms to keep bending theparty in his direction. He wasin South Carolina, for instance,to support GOP rivals to two

incumbent members ofCongress who have crossedhim.

But those close to Cheney,Hogan and Kinzinger insist asignificant number of less vocalRepublican voters are eager tomove past Trump, especiallyafter he inspired the Jan. 6,2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.After all, 10 Republican repre-sentatives voted to impeachTrump and seven Republicansenators subsequently votedto convict him.

“There is a large and grow-ing lane of Republicans andAmericans across the politicalspectrum who are fed up withtoxic politics and want to movein a new direction,” Hogan toldthe AP. “While I'm focused onfinishing my term as governorstrong, I'm going to continue tostand up and be a voice for get-ting our party and our countryback on the right track.” For now, Cheney, Hogan andKinzinger remain friendly andin semi-regular contact.

The 65-year-old, term-lim-ited Hogan will leave office atthe end of the year. He alreadydecided against a 2022 Senatecampaign, rebuffing an aggres-sive lobbying effort from SenateRepublican leader MitchMcConnell. He said he sawhimself as an executive morethan a legislator. Kinzinger,among 10 Republican Housemembers who voted toimpeach Trump, chose not toseek reelection after his districtwas redrawn in the Democrats'favour. Only Cheney, who alsovoted to impeach, is running toretain her seat in this fall'smidterms, although she is nolock to win her primary elec-tion in August.

/���17� ��'����������������2�������%�;���������� ��

���� �������)����������� ��� ������������������������� �>�9�>���

European countries bought19 per cent more major

arms in the five years to 2021than they did in the five yearsbefore that, even though theglobal figure was down 4.6 percent, reflecting the buildingtensions with Russia, a Swedishwatchdog said in a reportreleased Monday.

The largest European armsimporters were Britain,Norway and the Netherlands,the Stockholm InternationalPeace Research Institute, orSIPRI, said. Other nations inEurope are also expected toincrease their arms imports sig-nificantly over the comingdecade, having recently placedlarge orders for major arms, inparticular combat aircraft fromthe United States.

"The severe deteriorationin relations between mostEuropean states and Russia

was an important driver ofgrowth in European armsimports, especially for statesthat cannot meet all theirrequirements through theirnational arms industries," saidPieter D Wezeman, a seniorresearcher with SIPRI's armstransfer programme.

Arms exports from thelargest seller, the United States,grew by 14%, increasing itsglobal share from 32% to 39%.That included a 106% rise indeliveries of major arms toSaudi Arabia.

Russian exports shrank by

26% to give it a 19% share ofthe global market. SIPRI saidthe fall was almost entirely dueto a fall in arms deliveries toIndia and Vietnam, noting thatseveral large arms deliveriesfrom Russia to India areexpected in the coming years.

France, the world's third-largest arms exporter, increasedsales by almost 60% in the fiveyears to 2021, SIPRI said.

Fourth-placed China sawinternational sales decline by31%, and fifth-placedGermany's exports were downby 19%.

Globally, "whereas therewere some positive develop-ments, including SouthAmerican arms imports reach-ing their lowest level in 50years, increasing or continuinghigh rates of weapons importsto placeslike Europe, East Asia,Oceania and the Middle Eastcontributed to worrying armsbuild-ups," Wezeman said.

���� �>��>��

Britain's foreign secretary onMonday accused Chinese

authorities of trying to silencefree speech after a UK-basedhuman rights group said HongKong police threatened it witha prison sentence and fines forallegedly violating China'snational security law.

Hong Kong Watch said itreceived a formal warningfrom Hong Kong police accus-ing it of “seriously interfering”in Hong Kong affairs andjeopardising China's nationalsecurity by activities includinglobbying foreign countries toimpose sanctions againstChina or Hong Kong.

The letter warned that thegroup could face a fine ofHK$100,000 (£9,800) and thatits chief executive, BenedictRogers, could face three yearsin prison.

The move is one of thefirst times that a foreigner liv-ing abroad has been targetedunder China's sweepingnational security law, whichwas imposed in 2020 as part ofBeijing's increasing crackdownon dissent in Hong Kong fol-lowing months of anti-gov-ernment protests.

“The unjustifiable actiontaken against the UK-basedNGO Hong Kong Watch isclearly an attempt to silencethose who stand up for human

rights in Hong Kong," BritishForeign Secretary Liz Trusssaid in a statement.

“Attempting to silencevoices globally that speak upfor freedom and democracy isunacceptable and will neversucceed," she said.

Rogers said his group willnot be silenced by the warningand will continue to speak outfor Hong Kong rights andfreedoms.

Hong Kong, a formerBritish colony that longenjoyed civil liberties and free-doms not seen elsewhere inmainland China, waspromised a high degree ofautonomy for 50 years when it

was handed over to Chineserule in 1997.

But in recent years Beijinghas tightened its grip on thecity and many have fledabroad after the introductionof the security law, whichcriminalises what authoritiesdescribe as secession, subver-sion of state power, terrorismand foreign collusion in inter-vening in Hong Kong's affairs.

Since 2020, media outletscritical of the governmenthave been closed, the opposi-tion has been shut out fromelections and all the city'smajor pro-democracy figureshave either been jailed or havesought asylum abroad.

����� ��.�>��

Former US President BarackObama has said that he test-

ed positive for Covid-19 andurged fellow Americans to getvaccinated though the deadlydisease is on the wane in thecountry.

"I just tested positive forCovid," Obama, 60, tweeted onSunday.

"I've had a scratchy throatfor a couple of days, but am feel-ing fine otherwise," he said onhis official Twitter account.

Obama also said that hiswife, former first lady MichelleObama, has tested negative.

"Michelle and I are gratefulto be vaccinated and boosted,"the former President said in aFacebook post.

"It's a good reminder that,even as cases go down, youshould get vaccinated and boost-ed if you haven't already to helpprevent more serious symp-toms and giving COVID toothers." Certain demographicsin the US, such as AfricanAmericans and Republicans,are more hesitant about theCovid vaccine than others.

Obama had recentlyreturned to Washington, DC,after spending much of thewinter in Hawaii. He testedpositive in DC, a person close tohim said, CNN reported.

The diagnosis makesObama the second US Presidentknown to contract the virusafter then-President DonaldTrump announced he testedpositive in October 2020, whichwas before vaccines were wide-ly available in the US.

3��#���� ��B�>-�#�����������$"��������

���� ������

The Philippine Governmenton Monday summoned the

Chinese Ambassador to protestwhat it said was the “illegalincursion” of a Chinese navyship into the country's watersand to demand that Beijingorder its ships to respect thecountry's territory and followinternational law, officials said.

The Department ofForeign Affairs in Manila saida reconnaissance ship ofChina's People's LiberationArmy crossed into the Sulu Seaand cruised off the westernPalawan and nearby Mindoroprovinces from January 29 toFebruary 1 without permissionand in violation of Philippinesovereignty.

Philippine ForeignUndersecretary Maria TheresaLazaro summoned Beijing'senvoy Huang Xilian and“demanded that China respectPhilippine territory and mar-itime jurisdiction and to com-ply with its obligations underinternational law,” the depart-ment said in a statement.

It added that Lazaro askedChina to “direct its vessels todesist from entering Philippinewaters uninvited and withoutpermission.”

A Philippine navy shiprepeatedly ordered the Chinesevessel to leave the country'swaters immediately but thevessel responded that it was

exercising “innocent passage,"a claim which the Philippinegovernment disputed.

The Chinese vessel "did notfollow a track that can be con-sidered as continuous andexpeditious, lingering in theSulu Sea for three days,” the for-eign affairs department said.

Foreign ships can beallowed to pass through arch-ipelagic and territorial waters ofanother country under cer-tain restrictions — includingthat they should not carry outfishing, surveillance andresearch without a permit orconduct any activity that canundermine the security of thecoastal state.

Chinese embassy officialsdid not immediately react tothe Philippine governmentstatement.

The incident sparked a

higher level of alarm because ithappened within the country'sterritory and not in the dis-puted South China Sea, whereChina, the Philippines andfour other governments havehad territorial disputes fordecades, a military official said.

The Chinese navy shipmay have been shadowing anAmerican military ship, whichwas maneuvering off Palawanat the time as part of a gov-ernment-authorized exercisewith Philippine marines, saidthe official, who spoke on con-dition of anonymity because ofa lack of authority to discussthe sensitive issue publicly.

The Philippine navy shipapproached as close as 1 nau-tical mile (1.8 kilometers) fromthe Chinese navy ship to mon-itor its movement until itmoved away, the official said.

���� .���8��

Nearly all the world's coun-tries kicked off a UN-

backed meeting on Mondayaimed at preventing the loss ofbiodiversity — seen as criticalto avoiding the extinction ofmany vulnerable species, theemergence of pathogens likethe coronavirus, and the dam-age to both lives and liveli-hoods of people around theworld, Indigenous peoples inparticular.

The two-week meeting ofover 190 countries on theConvention on BiologicalDiversity, after a two-yeardelay due to the Covid-19pandemic, will be the lastgathering of its kind before amajor conference in the com-ing months in Kunming,China, that will try to adoptan international agreementon protecting biodiversity.

“We have this one goal,which is to bend the curve onbiodiversity loss and really to

build that shared future to livein harmony with nature in thelong term,” the convention'sexecutive secretary, ElizabethMaruma Mrema, toldreporters on Monday.

Possible diplomatic falloutfrom Russia's invasion ofUkraine lurked in the back-ground — potentially dentingany prospects of global unityon the issue.

Russian delegates whohad planned to attend hadtheir travel plans cancelledamid the closure of much ofEurope's airspace to flightsfrom Russia after the invasion,organisers said, expressinghopes that Russian diplomatsbased in Geneva would nev-ertheless participate.

An intergovernmental,science-based assessment ofbiodiversity worldwide threeyears ago cited a decline ofnature at unprecedented ratesand an acceleration of theextinction of species — withup to a million species facing

possible disappearance in thecoming decades.

The US-based CampaignFor Nature says a major themein Geneva will be a target toprotect and conserve at least30 percent of the world's

lands, inland waters andoceans to help stanch habitatloss, the “overexploitation” ofnature by people and busi-nesses, and the emergence ofpathogens that thrive offupheaval in the environment.

Convention managerspoint to five drivers of biodi-versity loss: Changes to theuse of land and sea; unsus-tainable exploitation throughactivities like agriculture; cli-mate change; pollution; andthe spread of invasive alienspecies into new habitats.Indirectly, it says, unsustain-able production and con-sumption also play a role.

Mrema said one key issuewill be efforts toward repur-posing and redirecting harm-ful subsidies — to the tune ofsome USD 500 billion per yearcurrently — and how “thesefinancial flows can move awayfrom nature-negative to bio-diversity-positive outcomes.”A draft proposal for theframework to be adopted inChina would aim to requirethat USD 700 billion would beput into sustaining or improv-ing biodiversity. The issue ofreducing pollution from plas-tics is also part of the draft,she said.

������!�������������"�)���"��!���������"�����H��-��$��������

�'�"�..���$�$9����$��'���$�����(����.&���$���!�!"����&9$���

���� ��.�����

Iran claimed responsibilityon Sunday for a missile bar-

rage that struck near a sprawl-ing US consulate complex innorthern Iraq, saying it wasretaliation for an Israeli strikein Syria that killed two mem-bers of its Revolutionary Guardearlier this week.

Iraq's Foreign Ministry onSunday summoned Iran'sambassador to protest theattack, calling it a flagrant vio-lation of the country's sover-eignty.

No injuries were reportedin Sunday's attack on the cityof Irbil, which marked a sig-nificant escalation between theUS and Iran.

Hostility between the long-time foes has often played outin Iraq, whose government isallied with both countries.

The attack drew harsh con-demnation from the Iraqi gov-ernment, which called it a“violation of international lawand norms” and demanded anexplanation from the Iranianleadership.

Iraq's Foreign Ministryspokesman Ahmad al-Sahhaftold The Associated Press thatthe ministry summoned theIranian ambassador, IrajMasjedi, to deliver the diplo-

matic protest.The United States strong-

ly condemned the strike andsaid it was an unjustified attackon a civilian residence.

“We will support theGovernment of Iraq in holdingIran accountable, and we willsupport our partners through-out the Middle East in con-fronting similar threats fromIran,” the White House nation-al security adviser, JakeSullivan, said in a statement.“The United States of Americastands behind the full sover-eignty, independence, and ter-ritorial integrity of Iraq.”

No US facilities were dam-aged or personnel injured, StateDepartment spokesman NedPrice told reporters inWashington. The US had noindication the attack wasdirected at the United States, hesaid.

��� ��������

Pakistan's InformationMinister Fawad Chaudhry

on Monday urged theOpposition parties to with-draw their no-trust motionagainst Prime Minister ImranKhan and indicated that thegovernment “will see what canbe given in return” to them.

Last week, around 100 law-makers from the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP) submitted a no-confi-

dence motion before theNational Assembly Secretariat,alleging the Imran Khan gov-ernment was responsible forthe economic crisis and the spi-ralling inflation in the country.

Referring to the currentpolitical situation in Pakistan,Chaudhry, a close aide of PrimeMinister Khan, said that theOpposition should withdrawthe no-trust motion as it hadcaused bitterness in the politics.

He feared that the soaringpolitical situation could harmthe country.

8$$��� ����-������-�� 5����� �� ���)���������"���6����

���� �9�6���

Strong, shallow underwaterearthquakes shook western

Indonesia and the Philippinecapital region on Monday, but noserious damage was reported andno tsunami warnings wereissued. In Indonesia, a magni-tude-6.7 quake that was 16 kilo-meters (10 miles) deep struckabout 169 kilometers (104.8miles) west of Pariaman, a townin West Sumatra province, theUS Geological Survey said.

���.��� ����� �1��� ���&3�������� �;������������ �

���� ����.>�

Ashooting outside a pizzashop on Chicago's South

Side has left seven men wound-ed, authorities said.

The men were standingnear the street Sunday after-noon when they were shot,police said. Initial informa-tion from police indicated twowere in critical condition andthe others were in good con-dition.

A car pulled up near theLittle Caesars and someoneinside the vehicle “almostimmediately” opened fire,Chicago Police SuperintendentDavid Brown said during apress briefing Sunday. It wasn'timmediately known whetherthere was an argument justbefore the shooting.

“Whether it was a targetedshooting or an altercation, it'sunacceptable,” Brown said.

�� ���)� �����4����) �$�99���� $�����:�- ����

��������#��#�������-������������� ���������������C

'"���)����)� �$�������������4������-$��)�����������-

��� ��6��

Germany said Monday thatit will replace some of its

ageing Tornado bomber jetswith US-made F-35ALightning II aircraft capable ofcarrying nuclear weapons.

Announcing the decision,Defense Minister ChristineLambrecht said Germany alsowill upgrade its EurofighterTyphoon fighter jets for elec-tronic warfare — a capabilitythat's also currently fulfilled bythe Tornado jets. TheEurofighter will be replacedfrom 2040 with the FutureCombat Air System, or FCAS,that's being jointly developedwith France and Spain, she said.

Germany's air force com-mander, Ingo Gerhartz, said thecurrent war in Ukraine madeit necessary to chooseLockheed Martin's F-35s.Previously, the governmenthad considered replacing theLuftwaffe's Tornados with a

mix of different U.S. AndEuropean-made aircraft.

“There can be only oneanswer to (Russian PresidentVladimir) Putin's aggression,”said Gerhartz. “Unity in NATOand a credible deterrent.

This in particular meansthere is no alternative but tochoose the F-35.” T h eGerman military does not havenuclear weapons of its own, butas part of the system of nucleardeterrence developed duringthe Cold War it maintainedbombers capable of carryingU.S. Atomic bombs, some ofwhich are stationed inGermany.

.��#�������-���� /#�$��3/KL������"������������-�#-���

���������������� ��������� !�"#"" ����� ���/!

����� ��������

Union Civil AviationMinister Jyotiraditya

Scindia on Monday informedthe Rajya Sabha that regularinternational flights can oper-ate with 100 per cent capacityafter the services resume fromMarch 27. During the questionhour in Upper House, Scindiasaid,: "all regular internationalflights will operate in 100 percent capacity by March 27 asthe COVID-19 situation inIndia has improved now."

Replying to supplemen-taries during Question hour, theminister said the civil aviationsector is on its way back torecovery and is roughly about5-6 per cent off from pre-Covid levels. Airline industrythat suffered heavy losses dur-ing the Covid pandemic isreturning to pre-Covid levels,and has recorded a traffic of 3.8lakh passengers per day. "I ampleased to report to the housethat pre-Covid our maximumnumber of passengers in India

per day was about four lakh andwe reached a level of 3.83 lakhper day in the month ofDecember," Scindia said. "Weare looking at resuscitation andwith that we are hopeful that wewill see a rebound in terms ofemployment levels," he said.

For domestic sector, theminister said, the governmenthas instituted airfare caps toensure there is no predatorypricing. He said controllingprices for international sectorwas beyond their power. “I amvery confident that with theopening up of the internation-al sector as announced fromMarch 27, when the summerschedule of all airlines comesin, there will be enough supplyof seats, both coming intoIndia and going out of India.

The minister informed thehouse that high fuel rates toohave contributed to heavy loss-es suffered by the airlines. Hesaid fuel contributes to about37 per cent of the cost of run-ning an airline, which suffereda loss of about Rs 19,000 crore

last year because of COVID.Fuel price has gone up close to4.5 times, with 11 states charg-ing VAT on aviation turbinefuel (ATF) ranging from 10 percent to 30 per cent, he said. "Wepleaded with states to reducetax on ATF. Before I tookcharge, we had 11 states thatcharged 1-5 per cent VAT onATF and we had 25 states thatcharged between 15 and 30 percent.

"We have now reversedthat equation and 12 states havereduced VAT from 25-30 percent to 1-4 per cent. There are23 states now that charge VATranging 1-4 per cent, and only11 states that charge it at 15-30per cent," the minister said.

On job losses, Scindia saidthe sector was affected verydeeply world over, but bouncedback with an equal amount ofgrowth as soon as Covid wavessubsided. The minister said hesees civil aviation becoming thebackbone of transportationacross the country and achiev-ing high levels of growth.

��� �����

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Monday allowed

microfinance lenders to fixinterest rates on loans with arider that those should not beusurious for the borrowers.A microfinance loan is definedas a collateral-free loan given toa household having an annualincome of up to Rs 3 lakh.

Each regulated entity (RE)should put in place a board-approved policy regarding pric-ing of microfinance loans, saidthe 'Master Direction – ReserveBank of India (RegulatoryFramework for MicrofinanceLoans) Directions, 2022'.

In the past, the centralbank used to announce therates on quarterly basis."Interest rates and othercharges/ fees on microfinanceloans should not be usurious.These shall be subjected tosupervisory scrutiny by theReserve Bank," it said.

Also, each RE has to dis-close pricing-related informa-tion to a prospective borrow-er in a standardised simplifiedfactsheet. "Any fees to becharged to the microfinanceborrower by the RE and/ or itspartner/agent shall be explicit-ly disclosed in the factsheet.The borrower shall not becharged any amount which isnot explicitly mentioned inthe factsheet," it added.

The directions will comeinto force from April 1.

Further, there should beno pre-payment penalty onmicrofinance loans.

"Penalty, if any, for delayedpayment shall be applied on theoverdue amount and not on theentire loan amount," the RBIsaid.

Regarding limit on loanrepayment obligations of ahousehold, it said each REshould have a board-approvedpolicy regarding the limit onthe outflows on account ofrepayment of monthly loanobligations of a household as apercentage of the monthlyhousehold income. "Thisshall be subject to a limit ofmaximum 50 per cent of themonthly household income," itsaid.

There should also be astandard form of loan agree-ment for microfinance loans ina language understood by theborrower.

Under the earlier guide-lines, an NBFC that does notqualify as a non-banking finan-cial company - microfinanceinstitution (NBFC-MFI), can-not extend microfinance loansexceeding 10 per cent of itstotal assets.

The maximum limit onmicrofinance loans for suchNBFCs (NBFCs other thanNBFC-MFIs) now standsrevised at 25 per cent of thetotal assets.

In December 2021, RBIhad fixed the applicable aver-age base rate to be charged byNBFC-MFIs to their borrowersfor the quarter beginningJanuary 1, 2022 at 7.89 per cent.

MFIN, the association formicrofinance entities has wel-comed the harmonised regu-lations for the sectorannounced by RBI.

Commenting on the reg-ulation, Alok Misra, CEO andDirector, MFIN said the har-monised regulations will usherin a new era/beginning for themicrofinance sector where acommon regulatory frame-work will be applicable to allREs of RBI.

"Besides creating a levelplaying field, the frameworkwill address issues of overindebtedness and multiplelending which were of para-mount concerns for the sector,"Misra said.

����� ��������

Aparliamentary panel hasrecommended a slew of

measures to boost tourism inthe country, including devel-opment of last mile connectiv-ity, regularising the adventuretour markets and introduc-tion of a competitive tourismranking system among cities. Ithas also suggested promotingnight tourism and providingbetter wayside facilities fortravellers to give a boost to thesector.

The ParliamentaryStanding Committee onTransport, Tourism andCulture, in its report also rec-ommended that the Ministry ofTourism should "exercisegreater fiscal prudence" andensure that unspent budgetaryprovisions are surrenderedtimely in future.

"The Committee also takesa serious note of keeping the

unspent provision of Rs1,056.97 crore till the close offinancial year 2021-22 despitereduction in the budgetaryoutlay at the RE 2021-22 stagein disregard of the provisionsof General Financial Rules,"read the report.

The report noted that thereis a substantial under-utiliza-tion of the budgeted fundsduring financial year 2021-22.

"Against the revised esti-mates RE 2021-22 allocation ofRs 969.80 crore, only 47.70 per-cent amounting to Rs 462.55crore could be spent till January31. It means that the remain-ing expenditure would have tobe squeezed in the last twomonths of FY 2021-22. Since asper norms stipulated by theMinistry of Finance, there is aceiling of 25 per cent on expen-diture in the last quarter, occur-rence of huge savings is a cer-tainty," it said.

��� ��������

Retail inflation inched up toan eight-month high of

6.07 per cent in February,remaining above the RBI'scomfort level for the secondmonth in a row, mainly onaccount of a rise in food prices,official data showed onMonday.

The Consumer PriceIndex (CPI) based retail infla-tion was 5.03 per cent inFebruary 2021 and 6.01 percent in January this year. Theprevious high was 6.26 per centin June 2021.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has been asked by thegovernment to ensure that theCPI inflation remains at 4 percent with a margin of 2 per centon either side.

Another set of datareleased by the government

earlier in the day showed thatthe Wholesale Price Index(WPI) based inflation inFebruary rose to 13.11 percent on hardening of prices ofcrude oil and non-food items,even though food articles soft-ened.

According to the CPI datareleased by the NationalStatistical Office (NSO), therate of price rise in the foodbasket was 5.89 per cent inFebruary, up from 5.43 per inthe preceding month.

In the food basket, inflationin cereals moved up to 3.95 percent; meat and fish to 7.45 percent, while for eggs, the rate ofprice rise was 4.15 per cent dur-ing the month. Amongothers, vegetables turned dear-er with an inflation print of 6.13per cent, and for spices it roseto 6.09 per cent. In fruits, the

inflation remained static at2.26 per cent when comparedto the preceding month.

In 'fuel and light', inflationsoftened to 8.73 per cent from9.32 per centin January.The RBImainly fac-tors-in theC P I - b a s e di n f l a t i o nwhile arrivingat its bi-m o n t h l ym o n e t a r ypolicy. TheRBI has notchanged thekey policyrate after May2020, citinginflationaryconcerns andto supportgrowth.

��� �����

Equity indices marched higher for thefifth session on the trot on Monday,

propelled by robust buying in bankingand IT counters along with a decline incrude oil prices as hopes of headway inRussia-Ukraine talks boosted risk-onsentiment globally.

European bourses opened higherfollowing reports of tentative progressin talks between Russian and Ukrainianofficials, even as Moscow continued itsmilitary offensive.

After a cautious start, the 30-shareBSE Sensex gained momentum as thesession progressed to close 935.72points or 1.68 per cent higher at56,486.02. Similarly, thebroader NSE Nifty vaulted 240.85points or 1.45 per cent to settle at16,871.30.

Infosys topped the Sensex gainers'chart, spurting 3.76 per cent, whileHDFC Bank climbed 3.25 per cent afterthe RBI on Saturday lifted all restrictionson the private sector lender, permittingit to launch new digital initiatives.

SBI, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank,ICICI Bank, Wipro and HDFC wereamong the other prominent winners.

Only four Sensex constituentsclosed with losses — HUL, Sun Pharma,

Dr Reddy's and Tata Steel, dropping upto 1.66 per cent.

"We are gaining traction as strate-gy is shifting from tactical sell to tacti-cal buy. Investments are chipping in ascommodities prices are reverting. FIIsselling and crudeprices are subsiding,which is expected tocontinue based ondiplomatic develop-ments and provide anedge to the domesticmarket.

" G l o b a l l y ,investors are bracingfor rate hikes asexpected. DomesticWPI has spiked uphowever market isignoring as futureprices can get gloomy,"said Vinod Nair, Headof Research at GeojitFinancial Services.The wholesale price-based inflation inFebruary rose to 13.11per cent on hardeningof prices of crude oiland non-food items,even though food arti-cles softened.

Kolkata: The ongoing conflict between Ukraine andRussia is unlikely to have any major impact on the Indianrupee and the forex volatility in the country (USD/INR)has been much less now as compared to the global finan-cial crisis which took place in 2008, SBI said in its Ecowrapresearch report.

The report said that though the conflict between thetwo CIS nations may drag on for now, it is expected thatthe USD/INR, the most tracked pair in the local forex mar-ket, will trade at an elevated zone. But ideally, the expect-ed average range of the rupee is expected to be in the bandBetween Rs 76 to Rs 78 to the USD with an appreciatedbias. PTI

,��������2�������������%%<����������� �����= ����

�2��!""�#$�*,�$���)�8�����&�$��&!��$

3������ �������� �� ���� ���� ���� ��������������

(������������ ��;�������� �<=>:?���@%A��������% ��(,�7��� � ���9 �

-��� �������������������<����;�� �� !����� ��=>?������ ������<?������

Mumbai: PayMe India, a Fintech entity, has added anunique application ‘SALT’ to the existing array of com-prehensive services offered by PayMe India whichwould address the exigencies of an immediate credit ofthose individuals who are in dire need of funds for somemedical emergency, job loss, etc.

“By providing an easy credit solution to people nothaving credit card, SALT taps to the rising urge to min-imize the burden on pockets as well,” said PayMe Indiafounder Mahesh Shukla. PNS

���$���)���"��"������$�������$

(�$���������� �%��& �����$�������� �(�����5'������-��6��,��������

Surrogacy is a modern andgrowing means of bringing anew life into the world, wherea woman carries a baby for

another person or a couple. Theintended parents undergo IVF,meaning fertilisation outside of thebody, to transfer their embryo intothe surrogate's uterus.

Before one begins the surroga-cy process, it is important to educateyourself about the risks and bene-fits of surrogacy and ensure that oneis ready to fully commit to theprocess. One must also consult witha surrogacy professional to trulyunderstand if surrogacy is right forthem or not.

Surrogacy is a broad term usedto describe situations when a womanagrees to carry a pregnancy forsomeone else with the intent of giv-ing custody over to the intendedparents. In gestational surrogacy, anembryo is then implanted into theuterus of the surrogate, who willcarry the baby to full term.Gestational surrogacy is an increas-ingly common form of family build-ing that can allow individuals or acouple to become parents despitecircumstances in which carrying apregnancy is biologically impossibleor medically contraindicated. Thepractice of gestational surrogacyinvolves a woman known as a ges-tational carrier who agrees to beara genetically unrelated child with thehelp of assisted reproductive tech-nologies for an individual or couplewho intends to be the legal and rear-

ing parents/intended parents.Every year, surrogacy helps

thousands of aspiring parents over-come fertility challenges to expandtheir families. A few compelling rea-sons to consider surrogacy are:

�Medical problems or illnessesthat affect the health of the uterusPrevious surgeries or hysterectomy

�Conditions that either make apregnancy high-risk or preventpregnancy

�Unexplained infertilitySuccess rates for surrogacy

depend on many factors, including:�the surrogate’s ability to get

pregnant�the age of the woman whose

eggs are being used �the success of the treatment

you’re having (ie, IUI, IVF or ICSI)�the quality of the father’s or

donor’s sperm The age of the woman who pro-

vides the egg is the most importantfactor that affects the chances ofpregnancy.

Commercial surrogacy is ahighly controversial issue that leadsto heated debates in the feminist lit-erature, especially when surrogacytakes place in developing countrieslike ours. The new laws propose toput in place institutions like newNational and State ART andSurrogacy Boards, as well as aNational ART and SurrogacyRegistry, to advise the Governmenton regulation and policy matters.The Registry will also maintain adatabase of the ART treatments

undertaken across the country toensure transparency in such matters.The Surrogacy Bill has been passedas separate legislation primarily forthe protection of the rights of thesurrogate mother in the process.

As per the Surrogacy bill, sur-rogacy is permitted only:

�For couples who possess a cer-tificate of essentiality' that indicatesthey are proven to be infertile

�Altruistic�Not for commercial purposes�Not for producing children for

sale, prostitution, or other forms ofexploitation

�For any condition or diseasespecified through regulations

The criteria listed in the bill forthe individuals looking to be parentsare:

�Heterosexual couple with aman between the ages of 26 and 55years, and a woman between theages of 25 and 50 years

�Married for a period of at leastfive years

�Should have no other biolog-ical, adopted, or surrogate children(unless the child is mentally/phys-ically challenged or has a life-threat-ening disorder)

While the twin laws have nobleintentions, and many of their pro-visions aim to clean up India’sunregulated surrogacy industry bybringing thousands of ART and sur-rogacy clinics under the ambit of thelaw, the claims that they are alsodeficient in many aspects are alsonot untrue.

All pregnant women experi-ence some symptoms or theother and there are n num-

bers of questions and concernsthat a pregnant woman wants toknow from their doctor. Mostwomen have also hesitated to callbecause they don’t want to seemfoolish or bothersome.

Look for these signs if youhave complications:

�If you are having regular con-tractions

Occasional contractions are apart of your pregnancy period,especially when you get closer toyour due date. Some of these earlycontractions could be painful. Butthey are not usually regular. If youare having contractions more thansix times in an hour, this may be asign of preterm labor. Let these beknown to your doctor or gynaecol-ogist for complete instructionsabout what to do at home and whento report to the hospital.

�If your baby has stoppedmoving

If you are less than 28 weekspregnant, it’s likely that your baby’smovements are irregular. But by 28

weeks, most babies are activeenough for their mothers to noticefrequent movement in a pattern. Atthis stage, notice all the movementsof your baby in a pattern and if you

notice that your baby is moving lessthan usual or not at all; immediate-ly call your doctor. You may begiven instructions to follow athome, or you may be advised to goto the hospital for monitoring.

�If your blood sugar is too highor too low

Many women are diagnosedwith gestational diabetes duringpregnancy. It is very important tomonitor your blood sugars and useyour insulin as prescribed. Thereare serious risks during pregnancyfor women with all types of dia-betes. Gestational diabetes needs tobe recognized and treated quicklybecause it can cause serious healthproblems for mother and baby. Ifyour blood sugar falls outside theexpected ranges, and your regularat-home instructions aren’t helping,talk to your doctor then.

�If you're bleeding heavilyA small amount of blood dis-

charge is absolutely normal duringpregnancy but if you are bleedingas heavily as during the menstrualperiod, or more severe than thatthen this could be fatal. Womenwhose placentas are in an abnormal

place should report any signs ofbleeding during pregnancy becauseof the increased danger to bothmother and baby with these diag-noses.

�If you have abrupt severeabdominal pain

Although some abdominalpains in pregnancy are normalfrom contractions to muscle pain oreven constipation makes your bellyhurt. But if you find yourself inabrupt severe pain can be a sign ofa uterine rupture which is a med-ical emergency endangering the lifeof both you and your baby.

�If you feel a flow of runnyfluid

Amniotic fluid in which yourbaby is wrapped is essential to thehealth of your baby. If your waterbreaks too soon, there are risks forboth you and your baby. For moms,there is a risk of getting a danger-ous infection. For babies, there is arisk of impaired growth and devel-opment, preterm birth, and death.

If you feel sudden water flowfrom your vagina, you should con-tact your doctor immediately forfurther procedures.

BLACK COFFEE: Black cof-fee is minimal in caloriesand includes tracelevels of variousvitamins andminerals, aswell as caf-feine andchlorogenicacid, whichare plantchemicals.Black coffeemight give youa surge of energyand help you think moreclearly. Cancer, Alzheimer'sdisease, liver cirrhosis, and

type 2 diabetes may all bereduced as well.

Caffeine overdose can resultin unpleasant s ide

effects such asan increasedheart rate,s t o m a c h

trouble, andinsomnia.

Coffee may alsoaffect your urine and

bowel movements. Caffeine overdose can

result in a variety of symp-toms, the most of which arerelated to your brain anddigestive system.

43������6��9��� ��?���8

����������������������

:��������������>���?�����@����������������� ��������/$�����

Joint pain is not new or unusual these days, since a greater pro-portion of the young and middle-aged population has been iden-tified as suffering from it. While COVID has posed a serious

threat to public health, those infected have been confined to theirhomes or hospitalised for long periods of time. In addition, the virus’sside effects have caused muscular and joint weakness.

Arthritis is a condition in which one or more joints enlargeand become tender. Arthritis is a broad term that encompasses avariety of conditions. Joint pain and stiffness are the most com-mon symptoms of arthritis, which normally worsen with age. Oneout of every four people in the country suffers from some form ofarthritis. And there has been an exponential growth in such situ-ations, particularly among women and youth, which is cause foralarm.

Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are two of the most com-mon types of arthritis.

The most prevalent type of arthritis is osteoarthritis, which caus-es joint pain and stiffness in the knees as people age. It begins withthe roughening of cartilage. Early stages of osteoarthritis can occurwithout producing any pain or discomfort. However, it can causeinternal joint injury, as well as discomfort and stiffness.

Adults of any age are susceptible to rheumatoid arthritis.People between the ages of 40 and 60 are most likely to developit. Women are more likely than men to suffer from this condi-tion. Rheumatoid arthritis usually begins in the minor joints ofthe hands and feet, although it can also affect the same joints onboth sides of the body. It might begin slowly and worsen over time,or it can begin abruptly.

SymptomsArthritis symptoms normally arise gradually, although they can

often appear unexpectedly. The joints are the most prevalent arthri-tis indications and symptoms. The following signs and symptomsmay be present depending on the type of arthritis: Pain, stiffness,swelling, redness, decreased range of motion, obesity, autoimmunedisorders, genes or family history and muscle weakness.

Risk factorsFamily history: If your parents or siblings have arthritis, you

may be more prone to acquire it as well.Gender: Rheumatoid arthritis affects more women than men,

but Gout, a different kind of arthritis, affects mostly men.Joint injury in the past: People who have injured a joint, maybe

while participating in sports, are more prone to develop arthritisin that joint in the future.

Age: Many types of arthritis, such as osteoarthritis, rheuma-toid arthritis, and gout, become more common as people get older.

Obesity: Excess weight puts strain on joints, especially the knees,hips, and spine. Obese people are at a higher risk of developingarthritis.

Early treatment helpsEarly diagnosis is critical for preventing further damage, yet

arthritis is frequently misdiagnosed or never diagnosed. This is fre-quently due to a lack of awareness. It’s critical to understand thesigns and symptoms of arthritis and to get medical help if you’reconcerned. Daily activities are affected if not addressed properly,lowering people’s quality of life and decreasing physical ability.

It’s critical to have an early diagnosis if you want to do well withinflammatory arthritis in the short and long run; in fact, a patient’sfuture mobility could depend on it. Arthritis can be treated if thepatient seeks treatment at the appropriate time. It is also advisableto get blood tests done on time and take supplements to avoid devel-oping arthritis later in life. Controlling pain, minimizing joint impair-ment, and improving or maintaining function and quality of lifeare all goals of arthritis treatment.

Treatment is possible if started on time and followed consis-tently. This will aid in the reduction of impairment and the improve-ment of quality of life. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis andosteoarthritis can rehabilitate and lessen intensity to improve theirquality of life.

Unfortunately, rather than seeking help at the Right time, somepeople may wait until the pain and swelling become severe anddebilitating, when their lives are interrupted and they are unableto perform the activities they typically do, to seek medical help.Unfortunately, the disease may have advanced beyond the earlystages by then, and joint damage may have happened.

Exercise can help to keep your joints flexible. Swimming is awonderful type of exercise for those with arthritis since it doesn'tplace as much strain on the joints as running or walking does.Staying active is crucial, but listening to your body when it signalsthat it needs to relax and avoiding overexertion are as important.

������� ����$�%��������������������� ��������� !�"#""//

�����&� '(���'��&� )���( ��'���(�(����������*���$ ���'*!���(����&�(*�

$+���'�(��� �( ��,���(*��-�����'�&����������(�,��(���& ��� ���.��� �$ �'���+,� ����(�������������)�������������(*��*����'(�(������'/���''0

&/����( ��'���(����(

#�����!$�

� � � � � � � �

Any couple planning to have a babymay have already compiled a list ofthe family’s medical history to

analyse whether the future child is at riskfor any disease. But, apart from question-ing your parents or making notes on fam-ily medical history with pen and paper, thereis another type of test that can determinethe possibility of any genetic disorder inyour unborn child. These tests are calledgenetic tests which look for any chromo-somal abnormality in the foetus or look formutated genes which may be carriedthrough from parents to the child.

Genetic tests can be performed evenbefore you conceive or during the pregnan-cy. Early detection can reveal whether youand your partner are at risk of passing alongcertain genetic diseases such as Tay-Sachs’sdisease or cystic fibrosis to your child (children).

There are various types of genetic testsdone during each conception stage, whose results can help in knowing thepregnancy outcome or achieving a healthypregnancy.

Carrier testing is the first step of genet-ic testing even before conception. The testhelps the couples learn if they carry anymutated gene and are at risk of passing thesegenes to their children, thus causing diseasessuch as cystic fibrosis, beta thalassemia,sickle cell anaemia, and Tay-Sachs disease.This type of genetic testing is usually rec-ommended for individuals with a familyhistory of a genetic disorder and people inethnic groups with an enhanced risk of spe-cific genetic conditions. When both the par-ents are tested, it can help provide informa-tion about the couple’s risk of giving birthto a child with a genetic condition.

Prenatal diagnostic testing is done todetect the changes in a foetus’s genes orchromosomes. Couples who are at anincreased risk of having a baby with a genet-ic or chromosomal disorder are recom-mended by the doctor to undergo thesetests. With the help of amniocentesis orchorionic villus sampling, fluid or tissue fortesting is obtained to check for any irreg-ularities.

The most popular genetic testing isnew-born screening. Doctors recommendevery new-born child undergo screening forgenetic diseases. Early detection of diseasescan lead to interventions and aid in prevent-ing or delaying the symptoms of the disease.

There are several options that you canreview with your partner and care team.After you get pregnant, you can take theprenatal screening or a diagnostic test toknow for certain if your baby has anygenetic disorder.

If you and your partners are both car-riers of any genetic disease, then you canget pregnant with donor eggs or sperm viain vitro fertilization (IVF). This processinvolves testing the embryo for genetic dis-orders before it is transferred to the uterus.You can talk to your genetic counsellor ordoctor to help you plan a path for a healthypregnancy.

���-���������@ ���������4�8��B��2�

���� ��������� �� ������ ������ ������������� ����� ������ �� ����

���� �� �@�� ,26�+�382� ������� �������� ����� � ��� ������������ �������

����������� ����������

Nobel Hygiene, India’s private manu-facturer of disposable hygiene prod-ucts, has announced the appointment

of Lara Balsara to their board of directors.Balsara is the first woman independent

director to be appointed to the company’sboard. She brings to the table her vast expe-rience in the advertising and media planningindustry and will add immense value toNobel Hygiene’s brands across their mediaintensive categories.

Kartik Johari, VP-Marketing &Commerce, Nobel Hygiene, says, “We areglad to have Lara onboard with us. She is alegend in the media and advertising indus-try.

Her insight and expertise will add greatvalue to the company especially at a timewhen our brands are embarking on mediaintensive journeys.

There is an emotional connect with her,too—Nobel Hygiene was one of her firstaccounts that she reached out to as a mediatrainee during the beginning of her careerat Madison. Our association has only grownstronger with time. Throughout the years,Madison has been a valued partner and wehope to deepen this relationship over the nextphase of brand building.”

She was inducted into the board of direc-tors on 3rd February 2022.

�������� �,��������5��1��������� ������� ��&��)����4����� ������������������@�-������� ��� &�����������4���� ���� ������4 �������.� �� ������ ����������������������&������/,�2��0�2��1�+��

+ ������������������

��-�������������-���$�)�����)�#������$�"��$���$�������

0 ��� ��� �� ������ ��������������� ��&���������������� ��� ����� ��������� ����������� � ������� ���� ������ ����� ������������������� ����� ��&������/,�,182�027��1�

#������%�������)�B���� � )���������/@��$��������

���������/@�4�����/������/������*-�#���

����������/�@ ������(������/@

�� �� &���&��'��'�� ����'�����

'�� ����������������� � &�7��������������� �� �����

�������%�������+���& ��������7��������� �

�����������% �����%+������$�� ���

5�$ ��� ������ �������������'���%���� ��;��� ���������� ��'��� ����

� '���� �� ���������'�������%������� '��� ����������

������������ ��������� ���� ������� �'�� ���

'���������'���������

�'�����/0���������������� ��������� �"#""

��� ���.���6�

India extinguished whatever littlespark Sri Lanka showed andwrapped up the second Test inside

three days for a comprehensive 238-run win, completing a 2-0 whitewashof the Islanders, here on Monday.

Two wins against Sri Lankafetched India 24 points but RohitSharma's men remain in fifth positionin World Championship table due to'low percentage points' (54.16). Theyhave 77 points in their kitty.

A herculean task at hand, SriLanka took the field on the third daywith a lot of determination but it wasalways going to be tough to negotiatethe Indian attack on a track that hasbeen offering turn and uneven bouncefrom day one.

Resuming at 28 for one in pursuitof an improbable 447-run target, theSri Lankan batters, led by skipperDimuth Karunaratne (107), resistedthe Indian attack for some timebefore folding for 208 in the post-teasession.

Left-handed Karunaratne, one ofthe most consistent performers for SriLanka in recent times, raised his 14thTest century with a boundary offJasprit Bumrah. He took some time tosettle but worked the ball aroundswiftly, consistently placing them inthe gaps. Bumrah (3/23) eventuallysent him back with slightly seamingball that beat his bat to shatter thestumps. The lethal Indian fast bowler,who consistently made life tough forthe Lankans, returned with match fig-ures of 8 for 47, having taken a fiferat home for the first time in the firstinnings.

Ravichandran Ashwin (4/55),Axar Patel (2/37) and Ravindra Jadeja(1/48) did their bit in wrapping up the

Lankan innings.India now have won all three

pink-ball Tests at home, having beat-en beating Bangladesh (in Kolkata,2019) and England (in Ahmedabad,2021) before.

Visitors' early positive intent,something which has not been wit-nessed much in this series, resulted ina rare productive batting session forthe Lankans who collected 123 runs

for loss of three wickets.Adopting a positive yet cautious

approach, both Kusal Mendis (54 off60 balls) and Karunaratne used theirfeet with confidence to counter theIndian spinners.

Mendis was impressive on bothfront and back foot as he pulled andcut the short-pitched stuff and usedhis feet to cut down the spin.

Karunaratne too charged downthe wicket, following a similar plan butMendis was more expressive.

Mendis completed his fifty witha single off Jadeja but was beaten byflight on an Ashwin delivery and wasstumped by Rishabh Pant.

That brought about the end oftheir fighting 96-run stand for the sec-ond wicket.

From there on, it was a downwardslide for the visitors. Jadeja cleaned upAngelo Mathews (1) and Ashwinhad Dhananjaya de Silva (4) caught atforward short-leg.

Karunaratne was ruled caughtbehind by umpire off Jadeja but theLankan skipper survived, using DRSwith replay showing that the ball hadkissed the thigh pad and the bat beforereaching Pant's gloves.

He completed his fifty with a sin-gle off Axar, who replaced Ashwinfrom the pavilion end.

A small partnership began todevelop between Karunaratne andDickwella (12) even as MohammedShami troubled the batters with hispace.

Axar broke the 55-run standwhen he had Dickwella stumped andalso sent back Charith Asalanka (5) byhaving him caught in backward shortleg, where skipper Rohit Sharma tooksimple catch.

Like the first innings, Dickwelladid not build on a start.

��� �����>�

Opener Sidra Ameen's 104went in vain as Pakistan

committed harakiri to handdebutants Bangladesh a nine-run win, their first-ever victoryin the ICC Women's ODI WorldCup here on Monday.

Chasing 235 to win, Ameengave Pakistan a flying start,forging a 91-run partnershipwith Nahida Khan (43) for thefirst wicket and then addedanother 64 rums with Bismah

Maroof (31).With Ameen going strong,

Pakistan were well on course fora successful chase, reaching 183for two but Fahima Khatun(3/38) turned the match on itshead with three quick wickets asPakistan inexplicably lost five oftheir batters for just five runs toslip to 188 for seven and wereeventually restricted to 225 fornine.

Khatun picked up the wick-ets of Omaima Sohail (10),Aliya Riaz (0) and Fatima Sana

(0), while Rumana Ahmedremoved Nida Dar (0) beforecenturion Ameen fell for a run-out to end Pakistan's hope.

Featuring in their firstwomen's World Cup,

Bangladesh had lost their firsttwo games against South Africaand New Zealand, whilePakistan slumped to their fourthdefeat in as many matches and18th successive loss in the event.

Earlier, invited to bat,Bangladesh scored 234 for seven,riding on Fargana Hoque's 71and some useful contributionsfrom Sharmin Akhter (44) andskipper Nigar Sultana (46).

��� 9>�9���

Jharkhand batters showed nomercy against a listless

Nagaland attack as they contin-ued their run-fest on day threeby notching up 880 -- thefourth-highest team total inRanji Trophy, here on Monday.

Resuming at theirovernight score of 769/9 withShahbaz Nadeem unbeaten on123 and No. 11 Rahul Shuklaon 29, there was no declarationcoming as Jharkhand's last pairadded 191 runs (from 323balls) before being bowled outin 203.4 overs.

The last partnership wasalso the highest in the entireinnings as they made full useof the flat batting conditions

and a below-par attack on offerfrom the Plate toppers.

Defending their strategy,Jharkhand batting coach SatishSingh termed it a "dead surface"on offer at the Eden Gardensand said his side gave theirlower order the much-neededbatting practice ahead of theirpotential quarterfinal clashagainst Bengal.

Left-arm spinner ImliwatiLemtur (4/179) finally brokethe partnership when Nadeemtried a reverse sweep in vain tobe trapped lbw.

In reply, Nagaland were130/4 with two days' remainingin the five-day knockout fixtureas Jharkhand put one foot inthe Ranji Trophy quarterfinalslated post IPL in June.

Having kept the wickets forclose to 204 overs across threedays, veteran wicketkeeper-batter Chetan Bist showed nosigns of fatigue.

The 32-year-old formerRajasthan glovesman remainedunbeaten on a dogged 46 from123 balls, while Abu Nechimwas on 13 at close on day three.

During Jharkhand innings,left-arm spinner Nadeem hit 22fours and two sixes for hiscareer-best 177 (from 304balls).

Shukla, on the other hand,dealt mostly on sixes as hesmacked the ball over theboundary six times, and hitseven fours en route to his 149-ball 85 not out.

����� ��������

India batter and newlyappointed Kolkata Knight

Riders skipper, Shreyas Iyerwon the ICC Men's Player ofthe Month award forFebruary 2022, while New

Zealand all-rounderAmelia Kerr was select-

ed for the women'sprize.

The 27-year-oldMumbaikar, who hasimpressed in theongoing second Testagainst Sri Lanka in

Bengaluru, was in greattouch last month and

scored three back-to-backfifties and remained

unbeaten throughout theseries against Sri Lanka andplayed a big role as the Menin Blue whitewashed theislanders in the three-matchT20I series.

Shreyas made a 28-ball57 in the first match inDharamshala and then

scored 44-ball 74 and 45-ball 73in the next two matches, help-ing India chase down the targetto keep Sri Lanka at bay.

It was his excellent run withthe bat that earned him a spotin the Indian Test side as well forthe two Test matches againstDimuth Karunaratne's side, andhe made the most of the givenopportunity by scoring fifties inboth the innings of theDay/Night Test in Bengaluru.However, Iyer's contribution inthe red-ball matches wasn'ttaken into consideration for themonthly award because the Testseries started in March.

Before the Sri Lanka series,Iyer was in good touch againstWest Indies as well, and he made80 off 111 balls in the third One-Day International and 25 in thethird T20I. Iyer, who testedpositive before the start of theODI series and missed the open-ing two matches, was only select-ed to play in the third game ofboth the ODI and T20I seriesagainst West Indies.

�������6�

It didn't take long forBarcelona's offense to regain

its scoring touch.After being held to a disap-

pointing scoreless draw withGalatasaray in the first leg of theround of 16 of the EuropaLeague, Barcelona scored threegoals in less than 30 minutes onSunday en route to a comfort-able 4-0 win over Osasuna in theSpanish league.

Ferrán Torres found the nettwice and Pierre-EmerickAubameyang and Riqui Puigadded a goal each to keep theCatalan club in third place. It hasthe same 51 points as AtléticoMadrid but leads on the head-to-head tiebreaker. Barcelonaalso has a game in hand com-pared to the defending champi-ons.

Barcelona and Atlético trailsecond-place Sevilla by fivepoints. League leader Real

Madrid, which visits relegation-threatened Mallorca on Monday,is 12 points ahead of Barcelonaand Atlético.

Madrid hosts Barcelonanext Sunday at the SantiagoBernabéu Stadium. Barcelonahad scored 14 goals in its lastfour matches in all competitionsbefore the 0-0 home drawagainst Galatasaray on Thursday.

"We didn't do a good job theother day and we know it,"Torres said. "But today the teamresponded well. When you keepcreating chances, the ball willkeep going in."

Torres opened the scoringSunday by converting a 14th-minute penalty kick and addedto the lead seven minutes laterfrom inside the area after a nicethrough ball by OusmaneDembélé.

Dembélé also set up thethird goal by Aubameyang in the27th, making a well-placed crossinto the box from the right flank,

and the fourth by Puig in the75th.

Barcelona defender GerardPiqué, making his 600th appear-ance with the club, had a goaldisallowed for offside in the55th. Xavi Hernández's team isunbeaten in 10 straight games,since a loss at Athletic Bilbao inthe round of 16 of the Copa delRey in January."We had a let-down in intensity againstGalatasaray and paid for it," Xavisaid. "Today it was different. Itwas one of our best matches andit gives us more confidencegoing forward."

Barcelona women's team,

which clinched its third straightleague title earlier in the day, washonored before the match at theCamp Nou Stadium.

SEVILLA HELDSevilla was held again in its

pursuit of Madrid with a 1-1draw at Rayo Vallecano onSunday, and is seven points offthe lead.

It was the second consecu-tive league draw for Sevilla, andsixth in its last eight matches inthe competition. JulenLopetegui's team extended itsunbeaten streak in the league to14 matches, since a loss atMadrid in November.

���� 9�6���

Spearhead Mitchell Starc ledthe Australian pace attack

with three wickets Monday toput the visitors in the drivingseat on day three of the secondTest against Pakistan in Karachi.

The lanky left-armer usedreverse swing to devastatingeffect, taking 3-29 as Pakistanwere bundled out for a paltry148 in reply to Australia's mam-moth first innings of 556-9declared.

Despite a big 408-run lead,Australia did not enforce the fol-low-on and at close were 81-1 intheir second innings to take theirlead to 489 with nine wicketsintact.

Opener Usman Khawajawas unbeaten on 35 and MarnusLabuschagne 37 after DavidWarner fell to Hasan Ali forseven.

Australia have two full daysto enforce a big win and take a1-0 lead in the three-matchseries on their first tour ofPakistan for 24 years.

Pakistan's collapse in 53overs was in complete contrastto Australia, who stayed out for189 overs, plundering runs at

ease. Starc, who went wicketlessin the drawn first Test inRawalpindi last week, had AzharAli (14), Fawad Alam (nought)and Sajid Khan (five) out asPakistan lost six wickets in thespace of 62 runs after being 38-1 at lunch.

Debutant leg-spinnerMitchell Swepson finished with2-32 including the wicket ofAzam, who miscued a drive andwas caught at long-off.

��� �>��������.���

South Africa produced an allround displayto continue their unbeaten run in the tour-

nament, beating defending championsEngland by three wickets to register a hat-trickof wins in the ongoing ICC Women's ODIWorld Cup here on Monday.

South Africa first rode on MarizanneKapp's (5/45), her best bowling ODI figures,to restrict four-time champions England to235 for nine and then Laura Wolvaardt (77 off101 balls) held their innings together as theyovercame a late scare to chase down the tar-get with four balls to spare.

South Africa skipper Sune Luus (36), Kapp(32) and Tazmin Brits (23) also provided use-ful support with the bat.

The win helped South Africa jump to thesecond spot in the eight-team standings withmaximum six points from three games ahead

of India but below Australia on net run rate.England, on the other hand, suffered third

straight loss and are yet to open their accountin the points table.

This is South Africa's first World Cup winagainst England since 2000, while it's the firsttime that a defending champion side of aWorld Cup (men/women or ODI/T20I) losttheir first three matches.

������������� ����4�$�����"��������������)����)�� ��) �������������( ����! 4 �-���,�)����������%��2CD������� ���������

"A�������������*��8 �

�&��&��������������

������� �� �������0"�'�����

���� ����������<��� �� �������������

'����������8����

����'������'���� ��� ���

<��&�' � ���� '�����<�=-";/2>;�� %���$ �11

'����������� �������%;

1� ��4����1���3��� ����� �������4�������B �

������������� ����������������� ��� �����������!��/����%��)�&���

0������ ������������������������������������������������������

>���6�� ���9���� ���� ���������>��KL������6�� ���� ���.��K<��3��6���8���6��6�3����>��� �����3>6� �8��(