2e ( (* Z_W]ReZ`_ d`Rcd e` ) jVRc YZXY Cef^S]Vd

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S tating that India has adopt- ed a people-centric strategy against the Covid-19 pandem- ic that continues to disrupt lives and test the resilience of open societies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for building a resilient global supply chain and enabling equitable access to vaccines and medicines. The PM also said the WTO rules should be made more flexible and the WHO must be reformed and strengthened to build a more “resilient global health security architecture”. Speaking at the second Global Covid virtual Summit hosted by US President Joe Biden, the Prime Minister said, “We have made the highest- ever allocation to our annual healthcare budget. Our vacci- nation programme is the largest in the world. We have fully vac- cinated almost 90 per cent of the alien population and more than 50 million children. India manufactures four WHO approved vaccines and has the capacity to produce 5 billion doses this year.” Modi had also taken part in the first global virtual sum- mit on Covid hosted by Biden on September 22 last year. The summit intends to galvanise new actions to address the challenges of the pandemic and build stronger global health security architecture. The Prime Minister further stated that “we must build a resilient global supply chain and enable equitable access to vaccines and medicines.” “We also call for stream- lining the WHO’s approval process for vaccines and ther- apeutics to keep the supply chain stable and predictable. As a responsible member of the global community, India is ready to play a key role in these efforts,” he said. “Last month we laid the foundation of WHO Centre for Traditional Medicine in India with an aim to make this age- old knowledge available to the world. It is clear that a coordi- nated global response is required to combat future health emergencies,” the Prime Minister added. “India’s genomics consor- tium has contributed to the global database of the virus. We will extend this network to our neighbouring countries. In India, we extensively use our traditional medicines to supplement our fight against Covid and to boost immunity saving countless lives,” Modi said. He pointed out that India’s vaccination programme is the largest in the world. “We have fully vaccinated almost 90 per cent of the adult population and more than 50 million children. India manu- factures four WHO-approved vaccines & has the capacity to produce 5 billion doses this year,” he said. “We supplied over 200 mil- lion doses to 98 countries bilat- erally and through ‘Covax’. India has developed low-cost Covid mitigation technologies for testing, treating and data management. We have offered these capabilities to other coun- tries,” Modi said. I ndia on Thursday expressed concern over human rights condition in Ukraine and appealed for immediate cessa- tion of hostilities there. New Delhi called for respect and protection of human rights of the people there and reiterated its “abiding commitment” to the global promotion of human rights. Making this assertion at a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Ambassador Indramani Pandey also said India has been sending human- itarian supplies, including med- icines and other essential relief materials, to Ukraine and its neighbours. “Impact of the situation is being felt beyond this region; oil prices are skyrocketing, there is shortage of food grains and fertilisers,” he said, adding the developing and least devel- oped countries were bearing the brunt of the conflict. Addressing the 34th Special Session of the Human Rights Council on the deteri- orating situation in Ukraine stemming from the Russian aggression, he said, “We call for respect for and protection of the human rights of the peo- ple in Ukraine and reiterate our abiding commitment to the global promotion and pro- tection of human rights.” He said it is evident that women and children have been disproportionately impacted, and they form a bulk of those who shifted to neighbouring countries and were displaced internally. India supports all efforts to alleviate the suffering of the people of Ukraine, he said, adding, “We believe that the immediate priority should be evacuation of innocent civil- ians from areas witnessing intense fighting.” Colombo: Opposition leader and former premier Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn-in as Sri Lanka’s 26th Prime Minister on Thursday, days after his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced to resign following violent protests over the worst economic crisis in the debt-ridden island nation. The 73-year-old United National Party (UNP) leader took oath before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at a cere- mony in the president’s office after they held closed-door discussions over formation of a new government to address the economic crisis. “My best wishes to the newly appointed PM of #LKA, @RW_UNP, who stepped up to take on the challenging task of steering our country through a very turbulent time. I look forward to working together with him to make Sri Lanka strong again,” President Gotabaya tweeted along with a picture of him and Wickremesinghe. Sri Lanka was without a Government since Monday when Gotabaya’s elder brother and Prime Minister Mahinda resigned after violence erupted following an attack on the anti-Government protesters by his supporters. The attack triggered wide- spread violence against Rajapaksa loyalists, leaving 9 people dead. Mahinda quickly congratulated Wickremesinghe, saying that he wishes him all the best as he navigates “these troubled times.” “Congratulations to the newly appointed Prime Minister of #lka, @RW_UNP. I wish you all the best as you navigate these troubled times,” tweeted Mahinda, who is under protection at a naval base fol- lowing violent attacks on his aides. The High Commission of India in Colombo said it looks forward to working with new Government of Sri Lanka formed in accordance with democratic processes. “High Commission of India hopes for political stability and looks forward to working with the Government of Sri Lanka formed in accordance with democratic processes pursuant to the swearing in of Hon’ble @RW_UNP as the Prime Minister of #SriLanka,” it tweeted. PTI Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking a ‘’fact-finding inquiry’’ into the history of the Taj Mahal and the “opening of 22 rooms’’ on the monument’s premises, saying the petition- er failed to point out which of his legal or constitutional rights were being infringed. The Lucknow bench of justices DK Upadhyay and Subhash Vidyarthi pulled up the lawyer of petitioner Rajneesh Singh, who is the media in-charge of the BJP’s Ayodhya unit, for filing the PIL in a “casual” manner and said it cannot pass an order under Article 226 of the Constitution in the matter. The article empowers a high court to issue to any per- son or authority in the area under its jurisdiction orders or writs to enforce the funda- mental rights. The bench said that the petitioner could not point out as to which of his legal or con- stitutional rights were being infringed. The petitioner’s lawyer Rudra Vikram Singh urged the court to permit him to withdraw the petition and file a fresh plea, but the bench did not accept his request and dismissed the peti- tion. T he Delhi Police’s Crime Branch has arrested an Indian Air Force (IAF) sergeant for allegedly leaking classified and sensitive information about defence installations and per- sonnel to Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The police suspect that he was honey-trapped. The accused has been iden- tified as 32-year-old Devender Sharma, who was working as an administrative assistant (GD) at the IAF Record Office at Delhi’s Subroto Park. According to a senior police official, a complaint was received from the IAF authorities alleging that Sharma had leaked sensitive information about defence installations and Air Force personnel through electronic means to the agent of an adver- sary country. B reaching several layers of tight security cover, two unidentified terrorists on Thursday killed a young Kashmiri pandit, Rahul Bhat, who was working in the office of Tehsildar Choodara in the central Kashmir district of Budgam. The killing took place a day after Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha chaired a meeting of Unified Headquarters in Srinagar where he took stock of the prevailing security situation and discussed measures need- ed to ensure peaceful conduct of the Amarnath pilgrimage from June 30. Panic stricken migrant employees camping at different transit accommodations react- ed strongly to the killing and staged protest demonstrations. Large number of them also blocked traffic on the National Highway near Qazikund. Till the time of filing the report a huge number of employees gathered at the Mattan transit camp to chalk out their future course of action. Kashmir zone police in a tweet said, “The injured was immediately brought to SMHS Hospital, Srinagar, for treat- ment where he succumbed to his injuries. Preliminary inves- tigation reveals that two ter- rorists are involved in this heinous crime and have used pistol for committing this crime”. Reacting to the targeted killing, LG Manoj Sinha tweet- ed, “I strongly condemn the barbaric killing of Rahul Bhat by terrorists at Budgam. Those behind this despi- cable terror attack will not go unpunished. J&K Govt stands in solidarity with the bereaved family in this hour of grief.” According to initial reports, terrorists reportedly pumped bullets from a close range using pistols. It could not be ascertained whether other employees were present in the office along with Rahul or he was alone. There was no report of any scuffle or attempts made by local employees to save Rahul Bhat from the terrorists. R etail inflation spiked to an eight-year high of 7.79 per cent in April this year, while industrial production growth remained subdued at 1.9 per cent in March compared to a year ago. At the same time, bench- mark indices sank for the fifth session on the trot on Thursday, with the Sensex and Nifty tanking over two per cent each, tracking extremely weak global trends and selling in index majors HDFC twins, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank. On the currency front also there was little to cheer. The Indian rupee hit a fresh all-time low before it settled at 77.40 against the US dollar on Thursday, following risk-off sentiments amid increasing concerns over inflation glob- ally. The spike in inflation is driven by rising food and fuel prices, which may prompt the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to go in for another interest rate hike in the next month policy review to tame price rise. Worried over the rising inflation, the RBI in a surprise move raised the repo rate by 40 basis points to 4.40 per cent last week. Inflation has remained above the RBI’s comfort zone of 6 per cent for four months in a row mainly due to the Russia- Ukraine war which has impact- ed the prices of commodities across the globe. The previous high in the consumer price index (CPI)- based retail inflation was recorded at 8.33 per cent in May 2014. CPI inflation was 6.95 per cent in March this year and 4.23 per cent in April 2021. Inflation in the food basket rose to 8.38 per cent in April from 7.68 per cent in the pre- ceding month and 1.96 per cent in the year-ago month, showed the data released by the Centre. Meanwhile, industrial pro- duction remained subdued at 1.9 per cent in March com- pared to a year ago, mainly due to poor performance by the manufacturing sector which showed staggered impact of the third wave of the pandemic. Factory output measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had record- ed a growth of 24.2 per cent in March 2021, as per govern- ment data released on Thursday. The IIP growth was 1.5 per cent in January as well as February this year amid the third wave of COVID-19. It was just 1 per cent in November and December last year. Factory output grew by 4.2 per cent in October 2021. After recovering for two consecutive days, the rupee slumped by 15 paise to end at 77.40 against the US dollar on Thursday. Weak domestic equities, surging US dollar in overseas markets and persis- tent foreign fund outflows also weighed on the rupee which plunged to its all-time intraday low of 77.63 against the US dollar, forex traders said. At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened steeply lower at 77.52 against the greenback and moved in a range of 77.36 to 77.63 in the day trade. The rupee finally ended at 77.40, down by 15 paise over its previous close. The rupee had settled at 77.25 against the US dollar on Wednesday. On May 9, the domestic unit had closed at the record low of 77.44 against the green- back. Global equity markets went into a tailspin after high- er-than-expected US retail inflation data for April fanned fears of aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve which could hamper growth, ana- lysts said. A Sri Lankan court on Thursday banned for- mer prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, his politician son Namal and 15 allies from leaving the country over acts of vio- lence against anti-govern- ment demonstrators. A Varanasi court on Thursday ordered to con- tinue the survey of Gyanvapi premises and rejected the peti- tion seeking removal of the advocate commissioner. The court directed the advocate commissioner to furnish the survey report by May 17 and appointed two commissioners to accompany him during the survey. Delivering the judgment on a petition seeking permis- sion for the survey of under- ground sites of Shringar Gauri temple too besides the temple, Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar ordered that the survey and videogra- phy of temple and other idols on Gyanvapi premises would continue. The court rejected anoth- er petition praying for removal of the advocate commission- er and raising questions on his fairness. However, the court appointed two commissioners, Vishal Singh and Ajay Pratap Singh, to accompany the Advocate Commissioner dur- ing the survey. In its order, the court made it clear that the survey work would be conducted jointly by Advocate Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra and Vishal Singh and in the absence of the former, the latter would conduct the survey and similarly, in the absence of the latter, the advo- cate commissioner would con- tinue the process of commis- sion.

Transcript of 2e ( (* Z_W]ReZ`_ d`Rcd e` ) jVRc YZXY Cef^S]Vd

Page 1: 2e ( (* Z_W]ReZ`_ d`Rcd e` ) jVRc YZXY Cef^S]Vd

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Stating that India has adopt-ed a people-centric strategy

against the Covid-19 pandem-ic that continues to disrupt livesand test the resilience of opensocieties, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Thursdaycalled for building a resilientglobal supply chain andenabling equitable access tovaccines and medicines.

The PM also said the WTOrules should be made moreflexible and the WHO must bereformed and strengthened tobuild a more “resilient globalhealth security architecture”.

Speaking at the secondGlobal Covid virtual Summithosted by US President JoeBiden, the Prime Minister said,“We have made the highest-ever allocation to our annualhealthcare budget. Our vacci-nation programme is the largestin the world. We have fully vac-cinated almost 90 per cent ofthe alien population and morethan 50 million children. Indiamanufactures four WHOapproved vaccines and has the

capacity to produce 5 billiondoses this year.”

Modi had also taken partin the first global virtual sum-mit on Covid hosted by Bidenon September 22 last year. Thesummit intends to galvanisenew actions to address thechallenges of the pandemicand build stronger globalhealth security architecture.

The Prime Minister furtherstated that “we must build aresilient global supply chainand enable equitable access tovaccines and medicines.”

“We also call for stream-lining the WHO’s approvalprocess for vaccines and ther-apeutics to keep the supplychain stable and predictable. As

a responsible member of theglobal community, India isready to play a key role in theseefforts,” he said.

“Last month we laid thefoundation of WHO Centre forTraditional Medicine in Indiawith an aim to make this age-old knowledge available to theworld. It is clear that a coordi-nated global response isrequired to combat futurehealth emergencies,” the PrimeMinister added.

“India’s genomics consor-tium has contributed to theglobal database of the virus. Wewill extend this network to ourneighbouring countries.

In India, we extensively useour traditional medicines tosupplement our fight against

Covid and to boost immunitysaving countless lives,” Modisaid. He pointed out that India’svaccination programme is thelargest in the world.

“We have fully vaccinatedalmost 90 per cent of the adultpopulation and more than 50million children. India manu-factures four WHO-approvedvaccines & has the capacity toproduce 5 billion doses thisyear,” he said.

“We supplied over 200 mil-lion doses to 98 countries bilat-erally and through ‘Covax’.India has developed low-costCovid mitigation technologiesfor testing, treating and datamanagement. We have offeredthese capabilities to other coun-tries,” Modi said.

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India on Thursday expressedconcern over human rights

condition in Ukraine andappealed for immediate cessa-tion of hostilities there. NewDelhi called for respect andprotection of human rights ofthe people there and reiteratedits “abiding commitment” tothe global promotion of humanrights.

Making this assertion at aspecial session of the UnitedNations Human RightsCouncil, AmbassadorIndramani Pandey also saidIndia has been sending human-itarian supplies, including med-icines and other essential reliefmaterials, to Ukraine and itsneighbours.

“Impact of the situation isbeing felt beyond this region;oil prices are skyrocketing,there is shortage of food grainsand fertilisers,” he said, addingthe developing and least devel-oped countries were bearingthe brunt of the conflict.

Addressing the 34th

Special Session of the HumanRights Council on the deteri-orating situation in Ukrainestemming from the Russianaggression, he said, “We call forrespect for and protection ofthe human rights of the peo-ple in Ukraine and reiterateour abiding commitment tothe global promotion and pro-tection of human rights.”

He said it is evident thatwomen and children have

been disproportionatelyimpacted, and they form abulk of those who shifted toneighbouring countries andwere displaced internally.India supports all efforts toalleviate the suffering of thepeople of Ukraine, he said,adding, “We believe that theimmediate priority should beevacuation of innocent civil-ians from areas witnessingintense fighting.”

Colombo: Opposition leaderand former premier RanilWickremesinghe was sworn-inas Sri Lanka’s 26th PrimeMinister on Thursday, daysafter his predecessor MahindaRajapaksa was forced to resignfollowing violent protests overthe worst economic crisis in thedebt-ridden island nation.

The 73-year-old UnitedNational Party (UNP) leadertook oath before PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa at a cere-mony in the president’s officeafter they held closed-doordiscussions over formation ofa new government to addressthe economic crisis.

“My best wishes to thenewly appointed PM of #LKA,@RW_UNP, who stepped up totake on the challenging task ofsteering our country through avery turbulent time. I lookforward to working togetherwith him to make Sri Lankastrong again,” PresidentGotabaya tweeted along with apicture of him andWickremesinghe.

Sri Lanka was without aGovernment since Monday

when Gotabaya’s elder brotherand Prime Minister Mahindaresigned after violence eruptedfollowing an attack on theanti-Government protesters byhis supporters.

The attack triggered wide-spread violence againstRajapaksa loyalists, leaving 9people dead. Mahinda quicklyc o n g r a t u l a t e dWickremesinghe, saying thathe wishes him all the best as henavigates “these troubledtimes.” “Congratulations to thenewly appointed PrimeMinister of #lka, @RW_UNP.I wish you all the best as younavigate these troubled times,”tweeted Mahinda, who is underprotection at a naval base fol-

lowing violent attacks on hisaides.

The High Commission ofIndia in Colombo said it looksforward to working with newGovernment of Sri Lankaformed in accordance withdemocratic processes. “HighCommission of India hopes forpolitical stability and looksforward to working with theGovernment of Sri Lankaformed in accordance withdemocratic processes pursuantto the swearing in of Hon’ble@RW_UNP as the PrimeMinister of #SriLanka,” it tweeted. PTI

Lucknow: The Allahabad HighCourt on Thursday dismisseda plea seeking a ‘’fact-findinginquiry’’ into the history of theTaj Mahal and the “opening of22 rooms’’ on the monument’spremises, saying the petition-er failed to point out which ofhis legal or constitutional rightswere being infringed.

The Lucknow bench ofjustices DK Upadhyay andSubhash Vidyarthi pulled upthe lawyer of petitionerRajneesh Singh, who is themedia in-charge of the BJP’sAyodhya unit, for filing the PILin a “casual” manner and saidit cannot pass an order underArticle 226 of the Constitutionin the matter.

The article empowers ahigh court to issue to any per-son or authority in the areaunder its jurisdiction orders orwrits to enforce the funda-mental rights.

The bench said that thepetitioner could not point outas to which of his legal or con-stitutional rights were beinginfringed. The petitioner’slawyer Rudra Vikram Singh

urged the court to permithim to withdraw the petitionand file a fresh plea, but thebench did not accept hisrequest and dismissed the peti-tion.

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The Delhi Police’s CrimeBranch has arrested an

Indian Air Force (IAF) sergeantfor allegedly leaking classifiedand sensitive information aboutdefence installations and per-sonnel to Pakistan’s spy agencyInter-Services Intelligence (ISI).The police suspect that he washoney-trapped.

The accused has been iden-tified as 32-year-old DevenderSharma, who was working asan administrative assistant(GD) at the IAF Record Officeat Delhi’s Subroto Park.

According to a seniorpolice official, a complaintwas received from the IAFauthorities alleging thatSharma had leaked sensitiveinformation about defenceinstallations and Air Forcepersonnel through electronicmeans to the agent of an adver-sary country.

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Breaching several layers oftight security cover, two

unidentified terrorists onThursday killed a youngKashmiri pandit, Rahul Bhat,who was working in the officeof Tehsildar Choodara in thecentral Kashmir district ofBudgam.

The killing took place a dayafter Lieutenant GovernorManoj Sinha chaired a meetingof Unified Headquarters inSrinagar where he took stock ofthe prevailing security situationand discussed measures need-ed to ensure peaceful conductof the Amarnath pilgrimagefrom June 30.

Panic stricken migrantemployees camping at differenttransit accommodations react-ed strongly to the killing andstaged protest demonstrations.Large number of them alsoblocked traffic on the NationalHighway near Qazikund. Tillthe time of filing the report ahuge number of employeesgathered at the Mattan transitcamp to chalk out their futurecourse of action.

Kashmir zone police in atweet said, “The injured wasimmediately brought to SMHSHospital, Srinagar, for treat-ment where he succumbed tohis injuries. Preliminary inves-tigation reveals that two ter-rorists are involved in thisheinous crime and have usedpistol for committing thiscrime”.

Reacting to the targetedkilling, LG Manoj Sinha tweet-ed, “I strongly condemn thebarbaric killing of Rahul Bhatby terrorists at Budgam.

Those behind this despi-cable terror attack will not gounpunished. J&K Govt standsin solidarity with the bereavedfamily in this hour of grief.”

According to initialreports, terrorists reportedlypumped bullets from a closerange using pistols. It could notbe ascertained whether otheremployees were present in theoffice along with Rahul or hewas alone.

There was no report of anyscuffle or attempts made bylocal employees to save RahulBhat from the terrorists.

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Retail inflation spiked to aneight-year high of 7.79 per

cent in April this year, whileindustrial production growthremained subdued at 1.9 percent in March compared to ayear ago.

At the same time, bench-mark indices sank for the fifthsession on the trot onThursday, with the Sensex andNifty tanking over two per centeach, tracking extremely weakglobal trends and selling inindex majors HDFC twins,Reliance Industries and ICICIBank.

On the currency front alsothere was little to cheer. TheIndian rupee hit a fresh all-timelow before it settled at 77.40against the US dollar onThursday, following risk-offsentiments amid increasingconcerns over inflation glob-ally.

The spike in inflation isdriven by rising food and fuelprices, which may prompt theReserve Bank of India (RBI) togo in for another interest ratehike in the next month policy

review to tame price rise.Worried over the rising

inflation, the RBI in a surprisemove raised the repo rate by 40basis points to 4.40 per cent lastweek. Inflation has remainedabove the RBI’s comfort zone of6 per cent for four months ina row mainly due to the Russia-Ukraine war which has impact-ed the prices of commoditiesacross the globe.

The previous high in theconsumer price index (CPI)-based retail inflation wasrecorded at 8.33 per cent inMay 2014. CPI inflation was6.95 per cent in March this yearand 4.23 per cent in April2021.

Inflation in the food basket

rose to 8.38 per cent in Aprilfrom 7.68 per cent in the pre-ceding month and 1.96 per centin the year-ago month, showedthe data released by the Centre.

Meanwhile, industrial pro-duction remained subdued at1.9 per cent in March com-pared to a year ago, mainly dueto poor performance by themanufacturing sector whichshowed staggered impact of thethird wave of the pandemic.

Factory output measuredin terms of Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP) had record-ed a growth of 24.2 per cent inMarch 2021, as per govern-ment data released onThursday.

The IIP growth was 1.5per cent in January as well asFebruary this year amid thethird wave of COVID-19. Itwas just 1 per cent inNovember and December lastyear. Factory output grew by4.2 per cent in October 2021.

After recovering for twoconsecutive days, the rupeeslumped by 15 paise to end at77.40 against the US dollar onThursday. Weak domesticequities, surging US dollar inoverseas markets and persis-tent foreign fund outflows alsoweighed on the rupee whichplunged to its all-time intradaylow of 77.63 against the USdollar, forex traders said.

At the interbank forexmarket, the rupee openedsteeply lower at 77.52 againstthe greenback and moved in arange of 77.36 to 77.63 in theday trade. The rupee finallyended at 77.40, down by 15paise over its previous close.The rupee had settled at 77.25against the US dollar onWednesday.

On May 9, the domesticunit had closed at the recordlow of 77.44 against the green-back. Global equity marketswent into a tailspin after high-er-than-expected US retailinflation data for April fannedfears of aggressive rate hikes bythe US Federal Reserve whichcould hamper growth, ana-lysts said.

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ASri Lankan court onThursday banned for-

mer prime ministerMahinda Rajapaksa, hispolitician son Namal and 15allies from leaving thecountry over acts of vio-lence against anti-govern-ment demonstrators.

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AVaranasi court onThursday ordered to con-

tinue the survey of Gyanvapipremises and rejected the peti-tion seeking removal of theadvocate commissioner. Thecourt directed the advocatecommissioner to furnish thesurvey report by May 17 andappointed two commissionersto accompany him during thesurvey.

Delivering the judgmenton a petition seeking permis-sion for the survey of under-ground sites of Shringar Gauritemple too besides the temple,Civil Judge (Senior Division)Ravi Kumar Diwakar orderedthat the survey and videogra-phy of temple and other idolson Gyanvapi premises wouldcontinue.

The court rejected anoth-er petition praying for removalof the advocate commission-

er and raising questions on hisfairness. However, the courtappointed two commissioners,Vishal Singh and Ajay PratapSingh, to accompany theAdvocate Commissioner dur-ing the survey.

In its order, the courtmade it clear that the surveywork would be conducted

jointly by AdvocateCommissioner Ajay KumarMishra and Vishal Singh andin the absence of the former,the latter would conduct thesurvey and similarly, in theabsence of the latter, the advo-cate commissioner would con-tinue the process of commis-sion.

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Page 2: 2e ( (* Z_W]ReZ`_ d`Rcd e` ) jVRc YZXY Cef^S]Vd

PNS JAMSHEDPUR

NITYANAND DUBEY GARHWA

M FAIYAZ AHMAD DALTONGANJ

PNS LOHARDAGA

Hindalco Industries LimitedMines Division- Lohardaga or-ganized a long service awardceremony at Ghumkudiya, Bag-du Hill on Thursday.The program was organized bythe Human Resource Depart-ment by providing silver plates to101 workers and officers whohave been serving continuouslyfor the last 25 years in Hindalco.Hindalco President BK Jha,Head of Human Resources De-partment Vivekananda Thakurand Senior Vice President-

Mines, Prateek Kumar werepresent on the occasion. Simul-taneously, Reena Devi, wife ofDinesh Ram, who died duringCovid-19, was honoured by giv-ing a shawl and financial assis-tance.BK Jha said, “You are a greetingto all the workers and officers.Due to your phenomenal contri-bution and continuous service,the company is continuouslyscaling new heights. You are aninspiration for all the future gen-erations.”A total of 101 workers and offi-cers from Gurdari Seregdag Lo-hardaga Tori Siding were present

in the programme. On this occa-sion, Sukhair Bhagat, RajvanshSingh and Ram Chandra Gopewere present as representativesof the trade union.The programme started with thewelcome address by SudhirChaudhary, Assistant GeneralManager, Human Resources.Manoj Kumar, Ajit Singh, Abhi-nav Thakur, Vishnuchandra Pal,Pradumna Kumar, Rakesh Shar-ma etc of Human Resource De-partment made commendablecontributions in the successfulorganisation of the programme.The vote of thanks was given bythe Assistant Manager Shivam

jharkhand 02RANCHI | FRIDAY | MAY 13, 2022

AVINASH ANJAN HAZARIBAG

PANKAJ KUMAR DHANBAD

RAHULSHARMA BOKARO

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PNS HAZARIBAG

PNS BOKARO

PNS JAMSHEDPUR

Homage paid to PN Bose onhis 167th birth anniversary

Awareness Workshop on Green Technologiesand Practices for MSMEs at BSL

Jamshedpur writer in the list of leading writers DC inspects material cell inCollectorate building

Panchayat polls in Latehar a big challenge

Dalmia Cement Bokaro organises Free Eye Check-uup Camp

International Nurses Day celebrated by HZB Arogyam Hospital

NHES felicitates nurses for their dedication

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VK Bist is new NABARD J’khand ChiefVK Bist took over thecharge of NABARDJharkhand Regional Of-fice as Officer – in –charge on Thursday onaccount of transfer of DrGopa Kumaran Nair G,Chief General Managerto NABARD, Kerala, Re-gional Office. Bist has aMaster’s degree in Fisheries Management fromBombay University. He joined NABARD as an of-ficer at Punjab & Haryana Regional Office in theyear 1988.

RRB, Patna and Muzaffarpur holdNTPC (CBT-2)CBT-2 (Computer Based Test-2) Phase I Exam-ination for the Recruitment of Level 6 and Level4 of Non Technical Popular Categories (NTPC)was conducted by Indian Railways on 09 and10th May, 2022. Out of total 14,399 candidatesscheduled under the jurisdiction of Railway Re-cruitment Board, Patna and Muzaffarpur, 8,893candidates appeared in the examination. Aad-haar based authentication done for the candi-dates for the first time. For Level 6 and 4 of thefirst phase of CBT-2, the examination was con-ducted at 8 centres located in Patna, 3 centreslocated in Muzaffarpur, 01-01 centers located inArah and Darbhanga under the jurisdiction ofRailway Recruitment Board, Patna and Muzaf-farpur. The scheduling was done in such a waythat the candidates of a Railway RecruitmentBoard were given a uniform question paper sothat there was no need for normalisation. The to-tal attendance in the examination was about61.76 per cent. Special trains were run by IndianRailways to facilitate the movement of candi-dates.

Singh celebrates birthday withCheshire Home inmates

City based businesman and social worker, RKSingh celebrated his birthday with specially chal-lenged children at Cheshire Home, Bariatu.Singh on the ocassion distributed food packetsand other essential items among children. On

the occassion Cheshire Home sisters and otherstaff were present. Singh said that he has beencelebrating his birthday with poor people espe-cially children who are financially weak, this timehe choose to celebrate the day with speciallychallenged kids of Cheshire Home.

CID arrests accused in paper leak caseCyber Crime police station of CID has arrestedan accused in the question paper leak case onYouTube channel. The accused Vinay Utpal is aresident of Pathuria village of Jaridih police sta-tion area ofBokaro district.A dialogue andvideo related tothe leaking ofJharkhand Aca-demic Council’sclass XI ques-tion paper on alaptop mobile,WhatsApp,YouTube,Telegram havebeen recoveredfrom the accused. The accused has been ar-rested from Ranchi Hatma Basti Sarna Toli. OnMay 10, a case was registered in the CyberCrime Police Station regarding the matter, Jhark-hand Adhividya Parishad, Ranchi had registeredthis case.

DRM rewards the railway workers

Divisional Railway Manager Pradeep Gupta re-warded four railway personnel of Ranchi RailwayDivision, Mechanical Department by giving thema citation for their courageous work on Thursday.On 07-04-2022, a fire broke out in the ATMcounter of State Bank of India located at HatiaRailway Station. And in a very short time the firehad assumed a formidable form. Rajiv Ranjan,Umesh Prasad, Sandeep Runda and DevNarayan Diwakar of Mechanical Departmentalong with other railway personnel present onthe spot, with their understanding and coura-geous efforts, not only prevented the fire fromspreading further before the arrival of the firebrigade. It also reduced the severity, and playedan important role in extinguishing the fire andpreventing a possible major accident. The DRMappreciated the courageous efforts of the railwaypersonnel of the Mechanical Department and ho-noured them with a citation.

jharkhand 03RANCHI | FRIDAY | MAY 13, 2022

Interrogation ofPooja Singhal, herhusband continues

PNS RANCHI

Who gave cleanchi t to Singhal ,

asks JMM

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IAS Pooja Singhal arrives at the zonal office of En-forcement Directorate for questioning in connec-tion with the multi-ccrore scam, in Ranchi onThursday. Pix by Vinay Murmu

Security personnel stand outside the Enforce-ment Directorate office during the ongoing inves-tigation of IAS officer Pooja Singhal case, inRanchi on Thursday. Pix by Vinay Murmu

NEWS IN PIX

State BJP President cum Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash, BJP Legislature party leader BabulalMarandi, former Chief Minister Raghubar Das and other leaders giving a memorandum to GovernorRamesh Bais at Raj Bhawan in Ranchi on Thursday. PNS

Nurses of Sadar Hospital show victory signs as they celebrate International Nurses Day in Ranchi onThursday. Pix by Vinay Murmu

A woman shields her face from the heat with a scarf while riding a scootyon a hot summer afternoon, in Ranchi on Thursday. Pix by Vinay Murmu

Most of the cash belongsto Pooja Singhal, claims CA

Deputy Mayor SanjivVijayvargiya during apress conference atRMC in Ranchi onThursday. Pix by VinayMurmu

PNS RANCHI

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JMM General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya,MLA Sudivya Kumar Sonu during a press confer-ence at the party office in Ranchi on Thursday.Pix by Ratan Lal

FormerChiefMinisterRaghubarDasalongwith formerMLARamKumarPahanduringapressconferenceatthepartyofficeinRanchionThursday.PixbyVinayMurmu

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The CBI on Thursdayarrested four of its

own Sub-Inspectors post-ed here on certain allega-tions and conductedsearches at their premises.All these officers have alsobeen dismissed from ser-vice as part of zero toler-ance for corruption.

The searches yieldedincriminating documentsand they are being scruti-nized for further action.

“CBI has registered acase against its Sub-Inspector posted at NewDelhi and unknown offi-cials/private persons on a com-plaint. The Complainant whois running a partnership firmin Chandigarh had alleged thaton 10.05.2022, six personsincluding CBI officials enteredhis office and threatened himthat he would be arrested forsupporting and providingmoney to terrorists as they haveinformation regarding thesame,” the CBI said in a state-ment.

It was further alleged thatthe accused forcefully took thecomplainant in a car and alsodemanded Rs 25 lakh fromhim, said.

The agency further said,"As part of its zero tolerancepolicy towards corruption andother offences, not only inrespect of those from outsidebut its own officials, CBI onreceipt of the complaint, imme-diately registered a case, iden-tified its three other officials

allegedly involved in the mat-ter and effected their arrests.”

“Taking a serious note ofthis act on part of these delin-quent officials, all four of themwere dismissed from service,”it said, adding the arrestedaccused are being producedbefore the Competent Court atChandigarh.

The arrested accused Sub-Inspectors are Pardeep Rana,Ankur Kumar and AkashAhlawat.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday said

that total coverage of theGovernment schemes brings anend to "discrimination" and"policy of appeasement".

Addressing "UtkarshSamaroah" in Bharuch,Gujarat, the PM advocated 100per cent coverage of beneficia-ries and delivering to "everycreed and every section equal-ly".

The programme marks thecelebration of 100 per centsaturation of four key schemesof the State Government in thedistrict, providing timely finan-cial assistance to those in need,according to the PrimeMinister's Office (PMO). Theschemes relate to social secu-rity and providing financialassistance to widows, elderlyand destitute citizens.

The Prime Minister whointeracted with the beneficia-ries via videoconferencing saidmany citizens from tribal, SC,and minority communities aredeprived of the benefits of theschemes due to lack of infor-mation. He said that everyentitled person should get thefull benefit of the scheme.

Women of the region pre-sented a huge "Rakhi" to thePrime Minister wishing himhealth and long life. ChiefMinister of GujaratBhupendrabhai Patel wasamong those present on theoccasion.

The Prime Minister saiddue to lack of information, theGovernment schemes eitherremain on paper or ineligiblepeople avail their benefitsadding that although theprocess to reach out to eachand every beneficiary was dif-ficult, it was the "only way" toserve the people.

"Hundred per cent satura-tion of Government schemesends discrimination and needfor a recommendation to getthe benefits, because people areconfident that they will even-tually get the benefit. It alsoputs an end to appeasementpolitics because 100 per centcoverage leaves no space for it,"he said.

Modi said his Governmenthas been trying to cover eachand every eligible beneficiary ofwelfare schemes ever since hebecame the Prime Ministereight years ago.

"Hundred per cent satura-tion is not merely a figure. This

indicates that the Governmentis sensitive and cares for thepeople. On the occasion of thecompletion of eight years of ourGovernment, the country hastaken a vow to reach out to 100per cent beneficiaries," he said.

This (100 per cent cover-age) also finishes the "politicsof appeasement", said thePrime Minister.

Modi said ensuring 100 percent coverage of welfareschemes was his dream, andadded that he would not rest tillit was achieved.

He said when the BJP-ledNDA came to power in 2014,nearly half of the country'spopulation did not have thefacility of toilets, electricity,bank accounts and vaccination.

"Last eight years of myservice to the nation from

Delhi were dedicated to goodgovernance and welfare of thepoor," he said.

"Once again, we all need toget our acts together to reachout to the needy and give themwhat they deserve. This is a dif-ficult task and many politiciansstay away from doing this. But,I am here to serve the people,not to do politics," Modi said.

"After 2014, the countryexpanded the coverage of suchschemes. Now, nearly 50 crorepeople are eligible for freetreatment up to Rs 5 lakh,crores received life insurancecover, elderly citizens receivedpension. We also provide toi-lets, electricity, bank accountsand tap water connections," thePrime Minister said.

"Earlier, it was very difficultfor a poor person to get such

benefits. But our Governmentchanged this scenario and alsomade improvements in theschemes. We have set new tar-gets and we are achieving themwith each passing day" said thePM, adding that hisGovernment has also startedproviding financial assistanceto marginal farmers.

Ahead of his address, Modiinteracted with three benefi-ciaries of these Governmentschemes.

Talking to one Ayyub Patel,a visually-impaired beneficia-ry who came there with hiselder daughter Aliya, Modibecame emotional after thegirl started crying when shesaid she wants to become adoctor as she cannot see herfather's condition.

The Prime Minister askedPatel to fulfil the wishes of histhree daughters and contacthim in case he faces any diffi-culty.

He also interacted withtwo widows — Meena Rathvaand Aruna Vasava — whothanked the Government forthe financial support in suchdifficult times.

Modi thanked nearly 100widows who had prepared agiant rakhi for him.

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The Election Commissionon Thursday announced

that polls will be held on June10 to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seatsfrom 15 States falling vacantdue to the retirement of mem-bers on different dates betweenJune and August.

Prominent among thoseretiring are Union MinisterMukhtar Abbas Naqvi,Congress leaders Ambika Soni,Jairam Ramesh and Kapil Sibal,and BSP's Satish ChandraMisra. Members are retiringbetween June 21 and August 1.

The BJP is set to increaseits members in the UpperHouse from Uttar Pradesh,while the BSP and the Congresswould be the major losers inthe upcoming election to 11seats of the upper house fromthe state.

While 11 seats are fallingvacant in Uttar Pradesh, sixmembers each are retiring fromTamil Nadu and Maharashtra,five from Bihar and four eachfrom Andhra Pradesh,Rajasthan and Karnataka. Three

members each from MadhyaPradesh and Odisha, two eachfrom Telangana, Chhattisgarh,Punjab Jharkhand and Haryana,and one from Uttarakhand arealso retiring. The notificationfor the polls will be issued onMay 24 and voting will be heldon June 10. According to estab-lished practice, counting willtake place an hour after theconclusion of polling. Most ofthe new members who getelected are likely to vote in thePresident's election, due some-time in July.

Uttar Pradesh sends 31members to Rajya Sabha.Among the 11 retiring MPsfrom the state, five are from theBJP, three from the SP, twofrom the BSP and one from theCongress. With 403 electedmembers in the UP assembly,a candidate will require at least37 votes for victory. The out-come of the recently held stateassembly elections has changedthe equation this time. With273 MLAs, the BJP-led NDAwill be able to get seven mem-bers elected easily, while SP andits allies (RLD and SBSP), with

a strength of 125 legislators willbe able to ensure victory ofthree candidates.

For the 11th seat, both SPand BJP will be trying to winthe support of other parties,including Raja Bhaiyya'sJansatta Dal Loktantrik and theCongress which have twoMLAs each and the lone legis-lator of Mayawati's BSP.

After the retirement of Sibal,the Congress'' representation inthe upper house from the statewill be nil. BSP's two senior lead-ers - Satish Chandra Mishra andAshok Siddharth — will retire inJuly after which it will have onlyone member Ramji Gautam inthe upper house. The five retir-ing BJP RS MPs include ZafarIslam, Shiv Pratap Shukla,Sanjay Seth, Surendra Nagar,and Jai Prakash Nishad. Thosecompleting their term in the SPinclude former UP legislativecouncil chairman SukhramSingh Yadav, whose son Mohithas joined the BJP. BesidesYadav, the tenure of ReotiRaman Singh and VishambharPrasad Nishad will also end inJuly.

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The Supreme Court on Thursdayrefused to grant any interim relief and

stay the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)IPO share allotment on a batch of pleasfiled by some policy holders. A bench ofJustices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant andPS Narasimha said that the court shouldbe reluctant to grant any interim relief inmatters of commercial investments andIPO.

“We are not inclined to grant any inter-im relief”, the bench said as it issued noticeto the Centre and LIC on the batch of pleasseeking their response within eight weeks.

The Bench said that on the aspect ofinterim relief the court must be guided bythe well settled principle of prima faciecase, balance of convenience and whetherthere is any irreparable injury. LIC IPOopened on May 4 for retail and otherinvestors and is set to be allotted onThursday. Bench noted that one of thepleas has challenged the interim orderpassed by the Bombay High Court and dis-posed it, saying the writ petition before theHC will be transferred to the apex court.SC tagged the batch of pleas with a pend-ing matter referred to a Constitutionbench on the issue of passage of theFinance Act, 2021 as a money bill.

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The Supreme Court on Thursdaytold the Enforcement Directorate

(ED) that they can go to Kolkata andconduct the investigation in amoney-laundering probe, linked tocoal scam in West Bengal, in whichthe agency had issued summons toTMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and hiswife Rujira Banerjee.

As the ED referred to how theCBI officials were ‘gheraoed' (sur-rounded) in Kolkata earlier and saidthat Abhishek Banerjee is political-ly “influential”, the apex courtobserved it may say the KolkataPolice shall extend all cooperationand the state would be bound by that,the moment the agency would makea requisition 72 hours in advance.

A bench headed by Justice UULalit was hearing an appeal ofAbhishek Banerjee and his wifeRujira Banerjee against a Delhi HighCourt order dismissing their petitionseeking quashing of summons issuedto them in the money-laundering

probe linked to a coal scam case inWest Bengal. Senior advocate KapilSibal, appearing for the petitioners,said they are not preventing investi-gation in the matter and the ED cancome to Kolkata and conduct theprobe.

“Supposing in case we say what-ever documents, whatever recordsyou need, every page shall be madeavailable and you can come down toKolkata,” the bench, also comprisingJustices S R Bhat and SudhanshuDhulia, told Additional SolicitorGeneral (ASG) S V Raju who wasrepresenting the ED. “Mylords areaware … I should not say, there areinstances where the CBI officerswere ‘gheraoed' also," Raju said.

On May 17 last year, a high volt-age political drama was witnessed inKolkata as TMC supporters helddemonstrations at various places,while Chief Minister MamataBanerjee had offered to court arrestprotesting detention of two WestBengal ministers in the Narada caseby the CBI.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi, former party

chief Rahul Gandhi, the twoCongress Chief Ministers andparty's State presidents areamongst the 400 leaders whohave gathered at the city oflakes Udaipur in Rajasthan fora three-day brainstormingsession called 'Chintan Shivir'beginning Friday.

With the primary aim tofocus on time-bound partyrestructuring and findingways to combat politics ofpolarisation the grand oldparty will have an unfettereddiscussion to take on theforthcoming electoral chal-

lenges including that inGujarat and then to be battleready to take heads on theBJP’s juggernaut led by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

At a curtain raiser Pressconference ihere, Congress'chief spokesperson RandeepSurjewala said the 'NavSankalp Chintan Shivir' isalso aimed at deliberating onchallenges facing the countrysuch as "freefall of the econ-omy", increasing inequalityof wealth, price rise of essen-tial commodities, "deep-root-ed conspiracy" to hand overfarming sector to a selectgroup of private corporates,"attack on India's territorialintegrity by China, "attack" on

rights of Dalits, SCs/STs,minorities and attempts todivide by using Hindu-Muslim rhetoric.

Congress has chosen sixsubjects and constitutedgroups to examine and submittheir primary reports onactionables for the same, hesaid. These groups are politi-cal, social justice and empow-erment, economy, Congressorganisation, Kisan and KhetMazdoor and Youth. Thesegroups will present their firstimpressions for a conclusivediscussion during the 'ChintanShivir' (brainstorming session).

The roadmap will providea way forward not only to theCongress to meet up with the

current set of "reverses andchallenges", but will also pavethe way for a resilient, strongand inclusive nation, he said.

The issue of leadership inthe Congress is not likely to bediscussed at the Udaipur con-clave, party sources said, evenas several leaders at the shiv-ir are likely to rake up theissue of Rahul Gandhi takingover the party leadership.

Former Union MinisterSachin Pilot said Congress isand will have to remain the"pivot" around which an anti-BJP coalition is formed and a"UPA plus plus'' formationwould be the "best one" to takeon the BJP-led NDA in the2024 general elections.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will visit Lumbini in

Nepal on May 16 on the occa-sion of Buddha Purnima at theinvitation of his Nepalese coun-terpart Sher Bahadur Deuba.Both the leaders later will alsohold bilateral meetings toreview the historic ties.

Announcing Modi’s sched-ule, the Ministry of ExternalAffairs said here on Thursday,"At Lumbini, the PrimeMinister will visit the sacredMayadevi temple to offerprayers. The prime ministerwill also deliver an address ata Buddha Jayanti event organ-ised by the LumbiniDevelopment Trust under theaegis of the Government ofNepal."

It is Modi’s fifth visit to theHimalayan nation since 2014.

Separately, the prime min-ister will participate in the"shilanyas" (foundation stonelaying) ceremony of a centre forBuddhist culture and heritagein a plot belonging to theInternational BuddhistConfederation (IBC), NewDelhi within the LumbiniMonastic Zone, the ministrysaid.

It said both the prime min-isters will hold a bilateral meet-ing adding "PrimeMinister Modi's visit continuesthe tradition of regular high-level exchanges between Indiaand Nepal in furtherance of our

Neighbourhood First policy."The ministry statement alsosaid "it underscores the sharedcivilisational heritage of thepeople of both countries."

Nepal Prime Minister SherBahadur Deuba, accompaniedby his spouse Arzu Deuba, paidan official visit to India fromApril one to three. It was hisfirst bilateral visit abroad afterassuming his office in July2021. Besides official engage-ments in New Delhi, Deubaalso visited Varanasi.

Ahead of Deuba’s visit lastmonth, the external affairsministry had said India andNepal enjoy age-old and specialties of friendship and cooper-ation. In recent years, the part-nership has witnessed signifi-cant growth in all areas ofcooperation.

The upcoming visit willprovide an opportunity to thetwo sides to review this wideranging cooperative partner-ship and to progress it furtherfor the benefit of the two peo-ples, it had said.

Nepal shares a border ofover 1,850 km with five Indianstates – Sikkim, West Bengal,Bihar, Uttar Pradesh andUttarakhand. Later this month,Modi will travel to Japan to takepart in the Quad summit there.Heads of states of US, Japanand Australia will be there onMay 23 and 24. The four headsof states had met in person forthe first time last year inWashington at the invitation ofPresident Joe Biden.

The Quad grouping is pri-marily aimed at ensuring a freeand rule based Indo-Pacificregion. China has repeatedlycriticized the Quad and claimit will lead to militarization ofthe strategic region.

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The Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) has

written to the Union HealthMinister Mansukh Mandaviyarequesting postponement ofthe NEET-PG 2022 examina-tion slated to be held on May21.

In its letter, the IMA point-ed out that the NEET-PG 2021was held 5 months after thescheduled date in September2021. “Then the counsellingscheduled to begin fromOctober 25, 2021 was also ini-tiated (in January, 2022) aftera delay due to pending decisionon seat reservations and wasfurther delayed owing SupremeCourt ruling of March 31,2022, which ordered the can-cellation and conduction ofspecial round of counselling forthe Mop-up round.”

It further pointed out that,“as a result of the delayedcounselling schedule, NEETPG 2022 was deferred from

April 2022 to May 2022, so thatthe candidates could appear forthe final stray vacancy round ofNEET PG 2021 and can stillhave plenty of time for prepa-ration and reappearance for thenext NEET PG 2022 exam, ifthey failed to secure a seat thisyear.”

However, the AIQCounselling, anticipated to becompleted by the end of March2022, is still in process and isuncertain that it will end byMay 7th. Several States will alsobe finishing the counselingaround the middle of May2022. The difference betweenNEET PG 2022 exam date andcompletion of 2021 counselingis too short for an aspirant to

prepare and appear for anextremely difficult exam likeNEET-PG, the IMA said in theletter, as it sought postpone-ment of the examination.

Another "innocent five toten thousand interns, whoserved as Covid warriors dur-ing Covid-19 pandemic, areineligible to appear for NEET-PG due to delay in completionof their final examination andconsequently their internshipbeyond eligibility criteria set forthe examination", the letterhighlighted.

"Since the NEET PG 2022examination date is 21st May2022, we request your timelyintervention and urgent con-sideration of postponement ofthe NEET PG 2022 for a rea-sonable period of time, so that,the current NEET-PG2021aspirants have adequate time toprepare and appear for theupcoming NEET-PG 2022examination and the eligibili-ty of all interns is also ensured,"the medical body said.

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The Centre on Thursdaysaid it is committed to

expand the national highwayand expressway networksacross the country with the aimof constructing 18,000 km ofhighways in the current finan-cial year at a record speed of 50km per day. Union road trans-port and highways ministerNitin Gadkari said the gov-ernment's overall target is todevelop two lakh km ofNational Highway Network by2025.

India's national highwayconstruction slowed to 28.64km a day in 2021-22 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic-relateddisruptions and a longer-than-usual monsoon in some partsof the country. At one point oftime the pace of national high-way (NH) construction in thecountry had touched a record37 km per day in 2020-21.

The road transport and

highways minister emphasisedthat constructing world classroad infrastructure in a timebound and target oriented wayis essential. "Ambitious targetsto fulfil the ambitions of NewIndia! Under the leadership ofPM Shri @narendramodiji, weare committed to expandingthe NH network across thecountry with the aim of con-structing 18,000 km of NHs in2022-23 at a record speed of50km per day," Gadkari men-tioned in a tweet.

The National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI)

and the National Highwaysand InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation Ltd(NHIDCL) are primarilyresponsible for the constructionof national highways andexpressways across the country.

Gadkari also informed thatthe National HighwayAuthority of India (NHAI) isbuilding over 1.47 lakh km ofroads in the country. "TheNHAI is also building 22 greenhighways and by the end of2024, we want to expand ourroad network matching withthe US," Gadkari stated.

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has writ-

ten yet another letter to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, thistime for clearance of centralfunds for 100 days’ work thatcomes under the MahatmaGandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act(MGNREGA).

The Chief Minister onThursday wrote that theCentre owed the State funds tothe tune of Rs 6,500 crore outof which Rs 3,000 crore againstthe “wage liability” and Rs3,500 crore against “non-wageliability.”

In her letter Banerjeewrote “…wage payment ispending for more than fourmonths as the Government ofIndia is nor releasing funds to

the State … you are aware thatthe wages for MGNREGAform an important part oflivelihood of rural people andconsidering this importance,the Act mandates that thewages must be paid within fif-teen days.”

Apart from this the ChiefMinister also drew the PrimeMinister’s attention towardsthe held up funds for the con-struction of about 32 lakhhouses during 2016-2017.

“Considering the signifi-cance of the projects and thehardships being faced by thecommon people I wouldrequest you for your immedi-ate intervention and direc-tion to the concerned ministryto release the funds withoutany further delay,” she furtherwrote.

Earlier in a meeting withthe West Bengal Civil Services

(WBCS) officers Banerjeeattacked the Centre for notreleasing the funds due to theState.“I have been told that theCentre is not releasing fundsto the tune of Rs 6,500 crorefor the payment of the poorpeople engaged in 100 days’work … already these are hardtimes in an inflationary mar-ket … and if the funds areblocked like then how theState will take care of thoseexpenses,” Banerjee saidadding “the Centre takes awaythe taxes and does not releasethe State’s share … how we willwork in this manner… notonly the MNREGA funds theCentre is not clearing funds forAwas Yojnas… this notwith-standing the fact that we havebeen the best performers inhousing scheme.”

Regarding the housingprogrammes she wrote in her

letter to the Prime Minister,“in Awas Yojana, West Bengalis No. 1 in the country andfrom 2016-17, more than 32lakh houses had been con-structed in the state.”

Despite this performancefresh allocation of funds werepending with the Ministry ofRural Development “and along list of beneficiaries isawaiting sanction in the State,”she wrote.

BJP leader and formerState party president RahulSinha promptly reacted toBanerjee’s statements saying“she is telling only the half-truth … firstly she is guilty ofdiverting funds or else theNREGA expenditures wouldhave been managed and sec-ondly she demands for moneybut never accounts for it andthen blames the Centre … thisis not done.”

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In what is being viewed as a“special treatment” being

accorded to the State rankcivil services officers ahead ofnext year’s panchayat electionsand 2024 general polls, BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee on Thursdayannounced a whole range ofsops for the West Bengal CivilServices officers.

The WBCS officers whoare working as BlockDevelopment Officers, Sub-Divisional Magistrates andDistrict (or Additional)Magistrates would hence for-ward get special allowances onpar with the IndianAdministrative ServicesOfficers, the Chief Ministersaid amid a big round ofapplause. She was speaking ina meeting with the State levelbureaucrats.

Banerjee also said that theofficers who had reached the

maximum pay scale would geta monthly allowance of Rs10,000 till their retirement,adding “in order to avoid stag-nation in salary at the top level,we will also add four additionalpay scales.”

Apart from this a couple ofhundred new posts would becreated for the WBCS cadre,the Chief Minister said.

“The WBCS officers whoare the sons of the soil are alsothe face of our government…they have all the capabilities tobecome DMs and evendepartmental secretaries …we have been promoting moreWBCS officers as DMs than inthe earlier regime ... this willencourage the promising offi-cers to do better work.”

Banerjee also said thatnew posts would be created forWBCS rank so that they couldbe accommodated in the newdistricts that the State waslikely to create in future.According to sources the StateGovernment was planning to

create four more districts inaddition to the present 23.

The Opposition BJP wasprompt to react to the ChiefMinisterial announcement,saying instead of paying theState employees the salary rec-ommended by the seventh PayCommission and instead ofclearing their dearnessallowances the Chief Ministerwas trying to create a new sys-tem of State created bureau-

crats.CPI(M)’s Sujan

Chakrabarty said “while theBJP Government is trying tocover its failures by creatingnew controversies like demo-lition drive and other reli-gious sentimental issues theBengal Chief Minister was try-ing to cloak her failures by buy-ing away the bureaucrats sothat they could help her inelections.

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After setting the tone offuture negotiations aimed

at resolving the boundaryissue with China along theLine of Actual Control (LAC),Indian Army chief GeneralManoj Pande Thursdayarrived in Ladakh on his maid-en visit to review the prevail-ing security situation & oper-ational preparedness.

During his stay GeneralPande is expected to visit theforward areas in the easternLadakh sector and hold inter-action with the soldiersdeployed in the region.

During his visit GeneralPande would be briefed by theChief of Northern Commandheadquarters Lt-Gen UpendraDwivedi and ‘Fire and Fury’Corps Commander Lt Gen ASengupta on the prevailing sit-uation along the China andPakistan border in the region.

According to an officialrelease, "General Manoj Pande

COAS is on a visit to LadakhSector to review the prevailingsecurity situation & opera-tional preparedness".

While referring to Chinaduring his maiden interactionwith the media in New Delhi,the Army Chief had clearlystated, “The basic issueremains resolution of the bor-der. What we see is that China’sintent has been to keep theboundary issue alive.”

According to officialsources, on his arrival inLadakh General Pande

reviewed the equipment usedby the Army in the Ladakhsector including unmannedaerial vehicles along with other‘Made-in-India’ defence equip-ment.

The Army Chief as aMajor General had com-manded the 8 MountainDivision responsible for theoperations along the Pakistanborder in the sector.GenPande’s own unit 117Engineers Regiment is alsodeployed in operations alongthe Eastern Ladakh sector.

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Bahujan Samaj Party chiefMayawati on Thursday

joined several other parties intheir campaign to capitalise ondispleasure of MohammadAzam Khan with SamajwadiParty chief Akhilesh Yadav.

Mayawati made threetweets after a long time. In these,she raised a big question on theprocess of keeping Azam Khanin jail for more than two years.The former Chief Minister ofUttar Pradesh came out in opensupport of Azam Khan.

The BSP chief said in atweet on Thursday that theBharatiya Janata Party was alsofollowing the path of Congressand targeting people in its ruledstates. She said like theCongress, the BJP was harass-ing people in Uttar Pradesh andother states ruled by it.

Mayawati said the way thepoor, Dalits, Adivasis andMuslims were being harassed bytargeting them and makingthem victims of atrocities,excesses and fear, it was very

sad.Mayawati said that keeping

senior MLA Mohammad AzamKhan in jail for about two-and-a-half years was like strangu-lating justice.

Khan, a senior SP leaderand MLA from Rampur, is cur-rently in jail on several charges,including corruption. He hasbeen lodged in Sitapur jail forover two years.

In a major relief to him, theAllahabad High Court onWednesday granted Khan bailin the case of illegal possessionof enemy property. Khan, a for-mer state minister, has got bail

in 88 out of 89 cases. He will bereleased from jail only after thebail is granted in the last case.

Earlier, Mayawati slammedthe anti-encroachment drivecarried out in some places,including the national capital, bycivic authorities. "The mannerin which migrants and workingpeople are being made victimsof fear and terror in the nameof encroachment by adopting amalicious attitude in manystates of the country and theirlivelihood is being snatched,raises many questions and isalso a matter of concern," shesaid.

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Dismissing speculation onthe stability of the Bihar

Government, senior BJP leaderand Bihar Minister ShahnawazHussain on Thursday affirmedthat the Nitish Kumar-ledGovernment will complete itstenure till 2025.

Hussain said there shouldbe no "ifs and buts" as far as thestate government's stability isconcerned and added thatKumar, the JD(U)'s face, willcontinue to lead it to usher indevelopment. He was speakingto newspersons at the Biharinvestors meet here.

Speculations on the ‘newcombinations’ emerging in thestate were rife after theOpposition RJD leaderTejashwi Yadav's met NitishKumar on the issue of castecensus on Wednesday andKumar attended ‘Iftar’ at theinvitation of former state CMRabri Devi .

Hussain made the remarks

on the BJP-JDU alliance com-pleting its term in the state inreply to a question about thestate government's stability.

Expressing confidenceabout growing industrial pres-ence in the state, the Ministersaid the meeting drew betterthan expected response, addingthat similar investor meetingswill be held in cities likeMumbai, Ahmedabad andKolkata before a final one isheld in Patna where MoUs forinvestments are expected to besigned.

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Arejuvenated and re-ener-gised Pinarayi Vijayan,

chief minister of Kerala, lam-basted the BJP-led CentralGovernment on Thursday,accusing it of resorting to dirtypolitics to get the LeftDemocratic Front Governmentdefeated in the May 2021assembly election. Making hisfirst public appearance at Kochiafter a three week-long treat-ment at Mayo Clinic in USA,Vijayan said that the CentralGovernment had unleashedagencies like the CBI, ED andNIA against his governmentand officials under fictitiouscharges like gold smugglingand allegations of corruption inLIFE Mission, the LDFGovernment’s flagship pro-gramme.

“What happened to thoseprobes and investigations? TheBJP Government even tried tobrainwash the voters of the Stateby spreading falsehoods and

lies. But the good works doneby the LDF Government dur-ing 2016 to 2021 made the peo-ple to re-elect the Governmentfor another term belying theexpectations of the BJP,” saidVijayan while inaugurating theelection convention of the LDFcandidate Dr Jo Joseph atThrikkakkara for the May 31bye-election.

He said the continuation ofthe BJP Government at theCentre is a big threat and dan-ger to the integrity and com-munal harmony of India. “TheBJP Government has beenmaking the rich more richwhile making the poor morepoor. Massive privatisation ishappening across the countryunder the leadership of the BJPGovernment. They are sellingoff all the public sector under-takings to aid and help big cor-porates. But their evil designswould not work in Kerala as theLDF Government will not allowany kind of privatisation in theState,” said the chief minister.

Vijayan also said that the

BJP Government was trying tosabotage the development ini-tiatives like Semi High SpeedRail Project connectingThiruvananthapuram andKasaragod. “But I assure youthat the Rail Project wouldbecome a reality despite theefforts of the Centre and theopposition parties in the State.Since 2016, Kerala has been wit-nessing unprecedented growthin all fields like agriculture,industry, education andInformation Technology,” hesaid.The chief minister alsoattacked the union minister oflaw for the reported statementmade by the latter warning theSupreme Court. “The BJP isdestroying the Constitutionalframework by issuing threats tothe judiciary. The comment bythe union minister to theSupreme Court’s action of freez-ing Section 124A of the IPC isproof of this stance,” he said.

K V Thomas, former unionminister and senior Congressleader took part in the con-vention and he was garlanded

by E P Jayarajan, the convenerof the LDF. Thomas, popular-ly known as Thiruta Thoma,has been engaged in a war ofnerves with the Congress HighCommand following the latter’srefusal to make him a candidatein the 2019 Lok Sabha electionand 2021 assembly election.The Congress has not taken anydrastic action against him forparticipating in the recentlyheld CPI(M) party congress atKannur.

The May 31 bye-electionwas necessitated by the demiseof P T Thomas, a popularCongress leader. Uma, hiswidow has been fielded by theCongress in its bid to retain theseat while the CPI(M) hasfielded Dr Jo Joseph, a cardiol-ogist by profession. “The bye-election offers the voters ofThrikkakkara to be a part of ahistorical event. A victory of theCPI(M) means the LDF wouldhave 100 members in the leg-islative assembly, the effectivestrength of which is 140,” saidVijayan.

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Mumbai’s former JointPolice Commissioner

(Crime) Atulchandra MKulkarni has been appointed asthe Additional DirectorGeneral (ADG) in the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)on a deputation.

In a letter written to thechief secretary of theMaharashtra government, theMinistry of Home Affairs(MHA) on Thursdayannounced the appointment ofKulkarni as the ADG in theNIA “on deputation againsttemporarily upgraded post ofInspector General for a periodof one year from the date ofjoining the post or until furtherorders whichever is earlier”

A 1990 batch Maharashtracadre IPS officer, Kulkarni wasearlier the chief of MaharashtraAnti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)and State Crime InvestigationDepartment (CID) earlier.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has car-

ried out search operations atvarious offices and residentialpremises of former MLAJitendra Nath Patnaik and relat-ed entities in Keonjhar andBhubaneswar districts underPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA).

During the searches, theagency seized cash amountingto Rs. 70 Lakh and 124 fixeddeposits worth Rs 133.17 crorebesides seizure of variousincriminating documents anddigital evidence, the ED said in

a statement.Patnaik, popularly known

as Jitu Patnaik, is a former inde-pendent MLA from theChampua assembly con-stituency.

Patnaik "derived unduepecuniary advantage by way ofillegal mining without neces-sary statutory approvals," itsaid.

ED initiated money laun-

dering investigation on thebasis of an FIR and chargesheetfiled by the State VigilanceCell of Odisha against JitendraNath Patnaik and others.

“As per the charge sheetfiled by the State Vigilance, theaccused indulged in illegalmining for a long period caus-ing huge loss to theGovernment exchequer whichamounts to more than Rs. 130crore,” it further said.

Through the attachments,the ED has been able to recov-er almost the entire amount ofproceeds of crime and furtherInvestigation is under progress,it added.

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Around half of the Covid-19 patients who were

admitted to hospital are stillreeling under at least onesymptom--fatigue, shortnessof breath and sleep difficulties---even two years after gettingthe infection, according tothe longest follow-up study todate, published in The LancetRespiratory Medicine.

Mental health assessmentsof long Covid participantsfound 13 per cent displayedsymptoms of anxiety and 11per cent displayed symptomsof depression, while for non-long Covid participants, theproportions were 3 per cent

and 1 per cent, respectively,says the study.

Hence, while physical andmental health generallyimproved over time, Covid-19patients still tend to havepoorer health and quality oflife than the general popula-tion, the study says.

This was specially the casefor participants with longCovid, who typically still haveat least one symptom even twoyears after initially falling ill.

The study followed 1,192participants in China infectedwith SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19)during the first phase of thepandemic in 2020 at Jin Yin-tan Hospital in Wuhanbetween January 7 and May29, 2020 and then at six

months, 12 months, and twoyears.

Findings show physicaland mental health improvedover time regardless of initialdisease severity, with 55 percent reporting at least onesymptom caused by the initialCovid-19 infection at twoyears compared to 68 per centat six months.

“Regardless of initial dis-ease severity, Covid-19 sur-vivors had longitudinalimprovements in physical andmental health, with mostreturning to their originalwork within two years.However, the burden of symp-tomatic sequelae remainedfairly high. Covid-19 survivorshad a remarkably lower health

status than the general popu-lation at two years,” the studysaid.

The findings indicate thatthere is an urgent need toexplore the pathogenesis oflong Covid and develop effec-tive interventions to reduce therisks. “Our findings indicatethat for a certain proportion ofhospitalised Covid-19 sur-vivors, while they may havecleared the initial infection,more than two years are need-ed to recover fully from Covid-19,” says Prof Bin Cao ofChina-Japan FriendshipHospital in China, lead authorof the study.

“Ongoing follow-up ofCovid-19 survivors, particu-larly those with symptoms of

long Covid, is essential tounderstand the longer courseof the illness, as is furtherexploration of the benefits ofrehabilitation programmes forrecovery.

“There is a clear need toprovide continued support toa significant proportion ofpeople who’ve had Covid-19,and to understand how vac-cines, emerging treatments,and variants affect long-termhealth outcomes,” he added.

The authors acknowledgelimitations to their study.Without a control group ofhospital survivors unrelated toCovid-19 infection, it is hardto determine whetherobserved abnormalities arespecific to Covid-19.

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well ensconced in Governmentjobs. Yet, Shari had perceivedenough hurt and wounds fromthe Chinese presence inPakistan to join the MajeedBrigade of the BLA to commitherself to the act willingly.

Contrary to the toxicallyanti-US line driven duringthe Imran Khan era, which ini-tially had wide resonationamong Pakistanis, the Chineseseem to be steadily replacingthe Americans as the newlyperceived imperialists andcolonists on Pakistani soil.The withdrawal of Americantroops from Afghanistan andthe subsequent deterioration ofrelations with its own creationi.e., Afghan Taliban, and theescalation of violence onPakistani soil is making manyPakistanis question the bene-fits of demonising the UnitedStates of America, in favour ofextremists like the AfghanTaliban. The societal fault linesof the dangerous sectariandivide (for Shias, Ahmediyasand other minorities) in theso-called “Naya Pakistan” alsowidened with little respitefrom violence and attacks. Allthis mayhem combined withthe backbreaking inflation andpandemic-led upheaval hasmade the common personfeel extremely vulnerable life-threatening situation. Thecombustive anger is no longer

the exclusive preserve of theilliterate and religious funda-mentalists but has metastasisedeven among those like Shari,who felt China has socio-eco-nomically diminished theircountry Pakistan, effectivelyvassalised by China. NativeBalochis who were historical-ly denied their fair share ofdevelopment in Pakistan sinceindependence are particular-ly peeved by the growingChinese presence which theysee as the bloody usurpers andplunderers of their land,resources, and culture.

Given the financial andstrategic stakes involved inthe China Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) investments,the Chinese will not backdown easily, and that may irkfurther tensions. Already theunofficial mouthpiece of theChinese Government, GlobalTimes, slammed, “We mustwarn that either in or out ofPakistan, forces targetingChinese nationals in attackswill be stricken the hardest.”However, with organisationslike the Voice for BalochMissing Persons (VBMP)claiming more than 53,000Baloch abductions and unex-plained disappearances, theanger against the increasingChinese hubris, privilege andexclusivity over Baloch sensi-bilities will continue rankling

and manifesting violently.15,000 Military personnel ofthe 34th Light InfantryDivision or Special SecurityDivision responsible for pro-tecting the CPEC assets werebelieved to be over-stretchedand inadequate; thereforePakistan raised the seconddedicated 44th Light InfantryDivision in Gwadar,Balochistan. This build-upnotwithstanding, last year nineChinese were targeted andkilled in a bus carrying themin Upper Kohistan, thereafter,the Chinese expatriates inPakistan started arming them-selves. This belligerent posturewith the cultural dissimilaritiesbetween the Chinese and theaverage Pakistani bodes illtowards building trust. It isonly a matter of time before thelid on the hypocriticalPakistani stand on the belea-guered co-religionist Uyghursin China gets blown. Thereturn of the Uyghur resistanceforce i.e., East TurkestanIslamic Movement (ETIM),who were purposely driven outfrom Pakistan is inevitable.

Shari Baloch’s unprece-dented suicide is symptomaticof the all-pervasiveness andintensity of Sino-wariness thatis gripping all stratums ofsociety in Pakistan. Data showsthat women suicide-bombersgather eight times as muchpublicity as male bombers,they typically avoid suspicionand can utilise stereotypes tobypass security defences andare believed to have a kill ratefour times that of men! In tra-ditional societies likeBalochistan such acts can gal-vanise emotions by emasculat-ing and therefore provokingmen to espouse the cause inlarger numbers. This trenddoes not read well for theincreasingly despised Chinese,who are the predominant faceof exploitation and foreigninterference, replacing theAmericans.

(The writer, a militaryveteran, is a former LtGovernor of Andaman &Nicobar Islands andPuducherry. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

������������Sir—The Reserve Bank of India hasincreased the policy repo rate, believed tobe the main tool to keep inflation in check,by 40 basis points to 4.40 per cent. It wasargued that the drastic rate cut wouldimprove capacity utilisation, engineerbuoyancy in export growth and shape upcorporate balance sheets. Surprisingly, theRBI has chosen to increase the rates now,when, according to RBI GovernorShaktikanta Das, there are signs of anincipient revival taking place in theinvestment cycle and a rebound in eco-nomic activity. And the emphasis now ison the “pronounced adverse effects of sus-tained high inflation on the poorer seg-ments of the population.”

In fact, former RBI Governor,Raghuram Rajan had refused to lowerinterest rates until he completed histenure in 2016, insisting that cuts mustwait until “fresh inflationary pressures” areabated. Keeping inflation within the tar-get, while supporting growth, will be a dif-ficult proposition, so long as “self-reliance”(atmanirbharatha) and “Make in India” incore sectors remain mere catchy phrases.

Haridasan Rajan | Kozhikode

���������������Sir— One year into his Chief Ministershipof Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin has come up tothe expectations of his electorate, given thedelivery of his poll-promises. For instance:Free bus service for the women, medicalcare and education for the homeless, notto mention �1,000 per year to the home-makers. Perhaps, that's why the DMK wonthe local body polls without any difficul-ty, despite having had to successfully tack-le the pandemic in the initial quarter ofthe year.

Like his Bengal and Delhi counter-parts, Stalin cherishes a will to make hisnational profile and has succeeded indoing so to some extent given that he hasbeen in news for meeting a number of bigguns from several parties: Sonia Gandhi,Arvind Kejriwal, Sharad Pawar, RahulGandhi, Farooq Abdullah and UdhavThackeray to name a few, with an aim to

stitch an alliance of non-BJP parties wellahead of the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Most importantly, Stalin has present-ed the 'Dravinian Model' to obfuscate PMModi's 'Gujarat model'. However, it is stilla long way to go and, hence, Stalin needsto work like a Trojan so as to keep hisrecently-built image intact. Whether or nothe succeeds in his mission time will tell!

Azhar A Khan | Rampur

�����������������������Sir—Slain Indian photo journalist DanishSiddiqui has been honoured with presti-gious Pulitzer prize 2022 for the secondtime for his Covid photo, this timeposthumously. He, along with three otherIndian journalists, was awarded. Siddiquireceived his first Pulitzer in 2018 for doc-umenting the Rohingya refugee crisis.Siddiqui’s picture of an exhaustedRohingya refugee woman touching theshore after crossing the Bangladesh-

Myanmar border by boat grabbed inter-national headlines. He worked for Reutersand was a very disciplined and dedicatedjournalist.

It is sad that such a bright photojour-nalist is no more as he was killed in July2021, while covering a clash betweenAfghan security forces and Taliban fight-ers near a border crossing with Pakistan.

His photos are heartwarming. A jour-nalist of international acclaim, he was partof the Reuters team that won the Pulitzerin 2018. He extensively covered the bru-tal second wave of the coronavirus pan-demic in April and May as it rippedthrough India's cities and villages. His pho-tographs of funeral pyres were wellreceived. Those who want to become pho-tojournalists should emulate Siddiqui.

Manoj Kumar Jena | Cuttack

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As the global “nursery”and fount for sanctifiedreligio-extremism,Pakistan has paid an

incalculable price towards whatformer US Secretary of StateHillary Clinton had forewarned:“Snakes in your backyard won’tbite only neighbours.” Couple ofyears back then Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan had admit-ted to some “30,000 to 40,000”militants on Pakistani soil! Muchlike its trained and armed prox-ies sent across the Line of Control(LoC), a UN report from 2020stated that conversely there were6,000 Pakistani fighters across theDurand Line (mostly affiliated toPakistan-facing, Tehrik-e-Taliban, or Pakistani Taliban). Butthe terror footprint acrossPakistan is not just in theFederally Administered TribalAreas, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa andPunjab province, but also loom-ing large across the swathes of thebiggest province i.e., Balochistan.Latest report by the PakistanInstitute for Conflict and SecurityStudies reports a shocking 24 percent increase in the number ofmilitant attacks in April, as com-pared to March 2022.Unconvincingly, the official nar-rative in Pakistan attributes the“Indian hand” in supporting ter-ror groups like Pakistan Taliban,ISIS-Khorasan faction!

Beyond the inevitable slidetowards portents of a failed-statein terms of its unwillingness tocorrect the underlying roots ofextremism (hence, the perenni-al sword of getting “blacklisted”by the global watchdog agencyi.e., FATF, for supporting terror),terrorism has taken a dramaticturn with the first recordedfemale suicide bomber attack inPakistan, through one ShariBaloch of the BalochistanLiberation Army. Shockwaves interms of the target and what it sig-nifies and augurs for the futureare disconcertingly obvious. Sharispecifically targeted and killedthree Chinese nationals outsidethe University of Karachi’sConfucius Institute. Significantly,Shari was not a typically illiterate,oppressed or from any unex-posed background, she was ateacher with MPhil, married to adentist with family members

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livelihood of poor and marginalfarmers is negatively impacted dueto the loss of working days. Apartfrom the impact on farmers, heat-waves disproportionately impactthe lives of daily wage laborers,small street vendors, brickmakingworkers, construction workers,and rickshaw pullers. Heatwaveshave an adverse impact on theseworkers’ productivity and therebyaffect the overall economy of India.Prolonged heatwaves adverselyimpact agricultural productivityand affect the livestock sector asanimals are more vulnerable toheatwaves. Moreover, heatwavesincrease the risk of forest fires,causing a sudden rise in demandfor electricity and irrigated water.

According to the InternationalLabour Organization (2019)report, India lost around 4.3% ofworking hours due to heat stressin 1995 and is expected to lose5.8% of working hours in 2030.The report also shows that 9.04%of working hours are expected tobe lost in each agriculture and con-struction sectors, respectively, dueto heat stress in 2030. Workers inthese sectors will be severelyimpacted in 2030 because India’slarge population depends on thesesectors for their livelihoods. Inabsolute terms, India has lostaround 34 million full-time jobs in2030 due to heat stress.

An urgent mitigation andadaptation plan is needed to tack-le the adverse impact of heat-waves in India. Before 2015, nonational-level heatwave action planwas available to fight against suchcalamities. At the regional- level,Ahmedabad MunicipalCorporation (AMC) prepared the

first Heat Action Plan in 2013, fol-lowed by the devastating heatwave-related deaths in 2010. In 2016,NDMA issued comprehensiveguidelines titled ‘Guidelines forPreparation of Action Plan-Prevention and Management ofHeatwave’ to prepare state andnational level key strategies for mit-igating the impact of heatwavesacross Indian states. Althoughsome preventive measures havebeen undertaken to mitigate andadapt to extreme weather-relatedshocks, such initiatives are insuf-ficient to prevent human fatalitiesfrom heatwaves. Still, implement-ing preventive measures, mitiga-tion, and preparedness actionsremains difficult. The substantialloss of human lives and a conse-quent impact on people’s liveli-hoods indicate that effective dis-aster adaptation strategies andmore robust disaster manage-ment policies are required inheatwave zones to lessen theimpact of heatwaves. As deathsdue to heatwaves are preventable,the Government must prioritizethe preparation of a long-termaction plan to safeguard humanlives, livestock, and wildlife.

Death from heatwaves can beprevented or minimised byinstalling improved early warningsystems that communicate heat-wave threats, recommend preven-tive measures, and predict disasterimpact scenarios. Disseminatingpublic awareness through print,electronic and social media, pro-viding heat-proof shelter facilitiesduring summer, easing access topublic drinking water, and hugeafforestation, particularly in urbanand rural areas, would help miti-

gate heatwave fatalities. Reducingoutdoor exercise during heat alertscan protect individuals from theadverse effects of extreme heat.Heatwave is India’s second mostlethal disaster after the flood; thegovernment should declare it anatural disaster to prevent furtherlosses. It helps the State andDistrict administration prepare aheatwave action plan at the region-al level. This indicative will helpbuild resilience infrastructure,develop early warning infrastruc-ture, and create public aware-ness. In order to undertake nec-essary mitigation and preventionmeasures, it is crucial to preparea database at the district levelinvolving the age, gender, andoccupation of people who havedied due to heatwaves.

Effective implementation ofthe Sendai Framework for DisasterRisk Reduction 2015-30, whichemphasizes disaster risk reductionwith the state playing a leading roleand sharing responsibility withother stakeholders such as localgovernments and the NGO sector,is now the need of the hour.Reduced emissions of heat-trap-ping gases such as carbon dioxide,which make the heatwaves moreintense, can help protect humanhealth and properties by reducingthe effects of global warming. Insum, in the face of frequent heat-waves in many Indian states,respective state governmentsshould coordinate with otherdepartments in designing long-term measures to reduce heatwavefatalities. Furthermore, it is essen-tial to create a comprehensive disaster management plan to safeguard our communities.

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(Parida and RoyChowdhury are

Assistant Professors ofEconomics at FLAME

University, Pune. Sahoois a Lecturer of

Economics at VikramDeb (Autonomous)

College, Jeypore, Odisha.The views expressed

are personal.)

On March 11, 2020, theWorld HealthOrganization (WHO)

declared COVID-19, the diseasecaused by the SARS-CoV-2virus, a pandemic. Two yearslater, the shadow of the Covidpandemic is still looming overus. While the world is makingvaliant attempts to move intothe post-pandemic phase, thesituation is akin to “one step for-ward, two step backwards”, asnew variants of this virus are stillemerging.

COVID-19 has taken cen-tre-stage in every facet of life.Policy makers and medical per-sonnel are still caught up in theoverwhelming task of fire-fight-ing and number crunching ofCovid cases, deaths and vaccina-tions. Hence, it is not entirely sur-prising that the mounting shad-ow of another future global cri-

sis is not being given enoughfocus. Antimicrobial resistancecaused by microbes which aresilently and surreptitiously gain-ing power by getting resistant tomost drugs, was already a glob-al concern even before the Covidpandemic had arrived. That wasevident by the fact that theWHO had named it as a globalpriority for public health for theyear 2020. Antimicrobial resis-tance is caused naturally, but iscompounded due to overuse ofantibiotics, non-compliance ofantibiotic dose, improper dump-ing of untreated chemicals fromfactories and hospitals in theenvironment, random dosingof antibiotics to livestock andexcessive spraying of pesticideson crops.

It had been estimated thatmore than one million deathswere occurring every year due to

antibiotic resistant infections inthe world. It was expected thatby the year 2050, this numberwould escalate ten times. It wasalready agreed upon that thetime bomb of antimicrobialresistance was ticking, and thereneed to be urgent, global effortsto diffuse the impending doom.Hence, the fact that several bac-teria were outsmarting the con-ventional antibiotic mode ofaction had set the alarm bellsringing long before the ill-timedSARS-COV-2 made its appear-

ance. The fear of the impendingnose-dive into the ‘pre-antibiot-ic’ era in the future had forcedresearchers to look for urgentand alternative drug therapy forpersistent and resistant bacteri-al infections. There was a glob-al effort to prioritize the antibi-otic stewardship program tomake sure that infections arebeing treated as per the need anddemand.

Amidst this disquieting sce-nario, came the COVID-19 pan-demic in 2019, flipping the bestwell laid plans on their head. Itnot only claimed lives and dam-aged economy but also derailedthe global efforts being made tocombat antimicrobial resistance.

The panic created by theraging pandemic led to thebreakdown of planning anddiversion of manpower andfinancial assets for the timely and

urgent response to COVID-19, leading to reducedoutput of laboratories due todeployment of healthcare per-sonnel to the front lines for fight-ing the Covid pandemic. As aresult, testing and monitoring ofantibiotic resistance among var-ious strains slowed down.

The unexpected emergenceof this pandemic had caught thehealthcare system with surprise.That led to increased hospitaliza-tion, shortage of protectiveequipment, long hospital stays,increased mortality and theresultant secondary bacterialinfections in Covid patients. Ithas been estimated that approx-imately70 percent of COVID-19patients received antibiotic ther-apy. In most cases, the symptomsof Covid positive patients andthose of pneumonia caused byother viruses and bacteria have

been similar and hard to dis-criminate. Also, getting infectedwith SARS-COV-2 furtherweakens the immune system,leading to more proliferativeoutbreaks of infections by oppor-tunistic bacteria and fungi. Attimes, the delay in testing forCOVID-19, especially when thepandemic was raging amongpopulations led to indiscriminateprescribing of antibiotics upononset of symptoms of respirato-ry tract infections. The problemwas further compounded bylockdowns all over the world,due to which many people werenot able to access the much-needed health care systems. Thatled to inappropriate and unnec-essary sel- medication withantibiotics. Several immuniza-tion programs were halted orderailed due to the pandemic,leading to outbreaks of diseases

caused by drug resistant bacte-ria, which had been kept at bayso far.

The global efforts to com-bat the Covid pandemic havegiven an example of how thejoint, proactive efforts from allthe nations singularly aimed atfighting a health menace canwork spectacularly. There is anurgent need to prioritise antimi-crobial resistance stewardshipprograms with renewed vigorand revised course of action,keeping the demands of the stillongoing pandemic in context.The antibiotic stewardship pro-gramme needs to be updatedand monitored for all healthcare systems. Additionally, thedrug pipeline for new antibioticsneeds to be refurbished at all thelevels, beginning from basiclaboratories to pharmaceuticalcompanies.

����������� ���������� ����������� ������� ���� � � ����������� ������� ��� ������� � ��� ��������� ������ ! �������� �� ����"�

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(The writer is a ProteinStructural Biologist,

professor and author. The views expressed

are personal.)

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*<���'����(�'#�;## Heatwaves are a common phe-nomenon in India during May-June. This year, summer beganearly due to the gradually

increasing maximum temperatures inmany parts of India. According to the statehealth department, this year’s heatwaveshave claimed 25 lives in Maharashtra. Thenumber of heatwave days in India hasincreased from 413 over 1981-1990 to 600over 2011-2020 (India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), Pune).

A sharp rise in the number of heat-waves is due to the increasing impact ofclimate change. The number of peoplekilled due to heatwaves has also increasedfrom 5457 over 1981-1990 to 11555 over2011-2020 (Accidental Deaths & Suicidesin India). Since 1967, the report also con-firms that 39,815 people have been killeddue to heatwaves in different states ofIndia. Heatwave is the second most lethaldisaster after the flood, which resulted in41,333 deaths from 1967 to 2020.

Based on the geo-climatic and socioe-conomic conditions, the highest numberof people have been killed in UtterPradesh (6745), followed by AndhraPradesh (5088), Bihar (3364), Maharashtra(2974), Punjab (2720), Madhya Pradesh(2607), West Bengal (2570), Odisha(2406), Gujarat (2049), Rajasthan (1951),Tamil Nadu (1443), Haryana (1116),Telangana (1067), Delhi (996), Jharkhand(855), Karnataka (560), Assam (348), and954 people killed across the remaining 12states of India.

Per the data, northern India andsome parts of eastern and southern Indiaare more vulnerable to heatwaves.Mortality due to heatwaves occurs becauseof rising temperature, lack of publicawareness programs, and inadequate long-term mitigation measures. According tothe report of the Tata Centre forDevelopment, the University of Chicago(2019), annually, more than 1.5 millionpeople are likely to die due to extreme heatcaused by climate change by 2100. IMDPune atlas shows that 15% of the popula-tion in 13% of the districts is vulnerableto heatwaves.

The increasing cases of heatwavefatalities vary across Indian states due totheir diverse geo-climatic conditions.Rising surface temperatures in the IndianOcean coupled with EI-Nino effect areresponsible for heatwaves in India. Inaddition, deforestation, unauthorizedurbanization, rapid lifestyle changes, andhigher carbon emissions are major reasonsfor the rising number of heatwave daysand fatalities.

Heatwaves have posed severe chal-lenges to human health and have createdpublic health emergencies. Prolongedheat exposure causes heat strokes and heatexhaustion and causes various respirato-ry and cardiovascular diseases.Furthermore, the frequent occurrence ofheatwaves also adversely affects differentsectors of the economy. For instance, the

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Israel advanced plans for theconstruction of more than

4,000 settler homes in theoccupied West Bank onThursday, a rights group said,a day after the military demol-ished homes in an area wherehundreds of Palestinians facethe threat of expulsion.

It was a jolting illustrationof Israel's policies in the terri-tory it has occupied for near-ly 55 years. Critics, includingthree major human rightsgroups, say those policiesamount to apartheid, a chargeIsrael rejects as an attack on its

very legitimacy. Hagit Ofran, an expert at

the anti-settlement watchdoggroup Peace Now, told TheAssociated Press that a militaryplanning body approved 4,427

housing units at a meeting onThursday that she attended.“The state of Israel took anoth-er stumble toward the abyssand further deepened the occu-pation,” she tweeted.

Spokespeople for the Israeligovernment and the militarybody in charge of civilian affairs

in the West Bank did notrespond to requests for com-ment.

It's the biggest advance-ment of settlement projectssince the Biden administrationtook office. The White Houseopposes settlement construc-tion and views it as an obsta-cle to any eventual peace agree-ment with the Palestinians.

There was no immediatecomment from the adminis-tration on Thursday's decision.But last week, when the firstreports emerged of theimpending settlementapproval, State Departmentspokeswoman Jalina Porterreiterated that the U.S. “strong-ly” opposes settlement expan-sion.

Most of the internationalcommunity considers the set-tlements illegal and supports atwo-state solution to the con-flict. But neither the UnitedStates nor other world powers

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Britain's foreign secretarywarned the European Union

on Thursday that the UK willhave “no choice but to act" torevoke parts of a Brexit agree-ment on Northern Ireland if theEU does not show flexibility.

Post-Brexit arrangementsfor border and customs checksin Northern Ireland havebecome “the greatest obstacle”to forming a new governmentin Belfast, Foreign Secretary LizTruss said during a call withEuropean Commission VicePresident Maros Sefcovic.

Border issues betweenNorthern Ireland, which is partof the United Kingdom, and EUmember Ireland have longposed the thorniest problems inthe U.K.'s divorce from the EU.

They resurfaced after theDemocratic Unionist Partyrefused this week to help forma power-sharing governmentwith Irish nationalist party SinnFein unless the post-Brexitarrangements were substantial-ly changed or scrapped.

An open Irish border is akey part of the peace processthat ended decades of violencein Northern Ireland, which isthe only part of the U.K. Toshare a land border with an EUcountry. The EU and the U.K.Agreed to keep the Irish borderfree of customs posts and otherchecks after Brexit, whichbecame final at the end of 2020.

Instead, there are checks onsome goods, such as meat andeggs, entering Northern Irelandfrom elsewhere in the U.K. TheDemocratic Unionist Party isstrongly opposed to the rules,saying the checks have createda barrier that undermines theBritish identity of its members.

Truss' office said Sefcovicreiterated to her Thursday that“there was no room to expandthe EU negotiating mandate orintroduce new proposals toreduce the overall level of tradefriction.”

“The foreign secretarynoted this with regret and said

the situation in NorthernIreland is a matter of internalpeace and security for theUnited Kingdom,” the ForeignOffice said in a statement.

“If the EU would not showthe requisite flexibility to helpsolve those issues, then as aresponsible government wewould have no choice but toact," the statement said.

Tensions over the traderules, known as the NorthernIreland Protocol, were rampingup even before Northern Irelandheld its assembly elections lastweekend.

Northern Ireland has beenwithout a functioning govern-ment since February, when theDUP's leader at the time, PaulGivan, quit as first minister inprotest over the trade rules.

U.K. Officials have repeat-edly warned they might unilat-erally suspend the arrange-ments if the EU did not agree tomajor changes.

British media reported thatBritish Prime Minister BorisJohnson could announce nextweek that his governmentwould legislate to override partsof the Northern Ireland deal.

The Times newspaperreported Thursday that Britain'sAttorney General, SuellaBraverman, issued advice sayingthat such a move would be legalbecause the EU was under-mining Northern Ireland'sGood Friday peace agreementby creating a trade barrier in theIrish Sea.

Any move by Britain to uni-laterally rewrite the rules wouldbring legal action from the EU that could escalate into atrade war.

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Russia on Thursday saidhigh-precision air-based

missiles of the RussianAerospace Forces have hit fourcommand posts, 34 areas ofconcentration of Ukrainianmanpower and military equip-ment, as well as two ammuni-tion depots near Novhorod-Siverskyi, Chernigov Region,during the day.

“The attacks have resultedin the elimination of more

than 320 nationalists and up to72 armoured and motor vehi-cles,” said Dmitry A Solodov,Press Secretary of the RussianEmbassy here quoting theRussian Defence Ministry.

Amid the continuing spe-cial military operation inUkraine, operational-tacticaland army aviation of theRussian Aerospace Force havehit 120 areas of concentrationof Ukrainian manpower andmilitary equipment, he furthersaid.

In addition, one Ukrainian

S-300 anti-aircraft missile sys-tem radar station near Odessaand one missile and artilleryweapons depot nearKrasnopavlovka, KharkovRegion, have also beendestroyed, according to theRussian Defence Ministry.

Missile troops and artilleryhave hit 405 areas of man-power and military equip-ment concentration, 12 com-mand posts and 26 artilleryunits at firing positions. OneS-300 anti-aircraft missile sys-tem has been destroyed near

Koroych, Kharkov Region. 3Smerch multiple-launch rock-et launchers and two ammu-nition depots of the Ukrainianarmed forces have also beendestroyed near Razdolie inKharkov Region andSlavyansk in Donetsk People'sRepublic.

“Air defence means haveshot down 13 Ukrainianunmanned aerial vehicles nearVelikie Prokhody, VelikayaKamyshevakha in KharkovRegion, Panteleimonovka,Avdeevka and Dolya in

Donetsk Region, Oknino andFabrichnoe in Lugansk Region,Glubokoe in ChernigovRegion, Barvinok andVladimirovka inDnepropetrovsk Region.

One Bayraktar-TB2unmanned aerial vehicle hasbeen shot down near SnakeIsland,” the Press Secretarysaid in the statement.

Also, 14 Ukrainian Smerchmultiple-launch rockets havebeen intercepted in the air overZavody, Sukhaya Kamenka,Pimonovka, Izyum, Malaya

Kamyshevakha in KharkovRegion, as well asGoncharovka, Topolskoe andDonetsk, he said.

In total, 164 Ukrainianaircraft and 125 helicopters,821 unmanned aerial vehi-cles, 303 anti-aircraft missilesystems, 3,013 tanks and otherarmoured combat vehicles,364 multiple launch rocketsystems, 1,471 field artilleryand mortars, as well as 2,824units of special military vehi-cles were destroyed during theoperations in Ukraine till now.

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North Korea fired threeshort-range ballistic mis-

siles toward the sea onThursday, South Korea's mili-tary said, in the latest of a seriesof weapons demonstrationsthis year that came just hoursafter it confirmed its first caseof the coronavirus since thepandemic began.

The launches could under-score North Korea's determi-nation to press ahead with itsefforts to expand its arsenaldespite the virus outbreak torally support behind the leader,Kim Jong Un, and keep uppressure on its rivals amidlong-dormant nuclear diplo-macy.

South Korea's Joint Chiefsof Staff said in a statement thethree missiles launched fromthe North's capital region on

Thursday afternoon flewtoward the waters off the coun-try's eastern coast.

It said South Korea's mili-tary has boosted its readinessand surveillance while main-taining close coordination withthe United States.

Japan also detected theNorth Korean launches.

Japanese Prime MinisterFumio Kishida instructed offi-cials to do their utmost to ana-lyze the launch, ensure safety ofaircraft and vessels in the areaand take precaution and readi-ness for any possible emer-gencies, according to his office.

The Japanese coast guardsaid that a possible ballisticmissile from North Korea wasbelieved to have landed at sea.It urged vessels around theJapanese coasts to watch out forfalling objects and report themto the authorities.

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President Joe Biden is hosting leadersfrom the Association of Southeast

Asian Nations as his administrationmakes an extended effort to demonstratethat the United States hasn't lost focus onthe Pacific even while dealing withRussia's invasion of Ukraine.

Biden will begin his talks over dinnerThursday evening with leaders from theeight ASEAN nations attending the two-day summit. It will be the group's firstmeeting at the White House. Leaders willtake part in more formal talks at the StateDepartment on Friday.

The ASEAN nations include Brunei,Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Leadersfrom the other two ASEAN members,Myanmar and the Philippines, are notexpected to attend the summit.

The special summit in Washingtoncomes before Biden departs next week fora whirlwind visit to South Korea and Japan— his first visit to Asia as president — fortalks with those two countries' leaders.He'll also meet during the trip with lead-ers from the Indo-Pacific strategic alliancewith the U.S. Known as the Quad:Australia, India and Japan.

Biden has sought to put greater focuson the Quad and improving relations withPacific nations in the early going of hispresidency as he sees a rising China as themost threatening economic and nation-al security adversary to the United States.

Biden, who vowed to make the Pacifica greater focal point of U.S. Policy, has seenhis attempt at an “Asia pivot” complicat-ed by the most serious fighting in Europesince World War II, which has consumedmuch of his foreign policy bandwidth inrecent months.

A top White House Asia policy advis-er said the administration remains com-mitted to stepping up relations withsoutheast Asian nations to address climate,economic and education initiatives.

“There has been a sense that in pre-vious administrations that we had set offwith a determined pace to focus on EastAsia or in the Indo-Pacific and then findourselves with other pressing challengesthat perhaps draws (us) away a little bit,”Kurt Campbell, coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs on the White HouseNational Security Council, said at an eventon Wednesday hosted by the U.S. Instituteof Peace. “I think there is a deep sense thatthat can't happen again.”

Outgoing Philippines PresidentRodrigo Duterte is skipping the summit.

The bloc has barred Myanmar — it hasbeen gripped by crisis since the army oust-ed the elected government of Aung SanSuu Kyi in February 2021 — from send-ing all but nongovernmental leaders forthe meetings.

The Biden administration condemnedthe military coup that led to the ouster ofSuu Kyi. She was convicted by a militarycourt last month of corruption and sen-tenced to five years in prison in the firstof several corruption cases against her. SuuKyi has denied the charges.

Biden is also expected to address thesituation in Myanmar with ASEAN lead-ers, as well as discuss China and theRussian invasion of Ukraine.

Campbell said the administrationexpects the private talks will be “direct,polite, but maybe a little bit uncomfort-able at times” as the U.S. And ASEANmembers are not on the same page on allissues.

Biden has called for Russia to be dis-invited from November's scheduled Groupof 20 summit because of its invasion ofUkraine. ASEAN member Indonesia,which holds the presidency of the Groupof 20 this year, has resisted the calls to pullMoscow's invitation.

At a virtual summit with ASEANleaders last year, Biden said Washingtonwould look to start talks with Pacificnations about developing a regional eco-nomic framework. Campbell said thatthe Indo-Pacific Economic Frameworkwould be under discussion during thisyear's summit, though it was unclear howsubstantive the talks would be. Japan's Washington ambassador, TomitaKoji, said at another forum in Washingtonearlier this week that the framework couldbe launched during Biden's upcoming visitto Japan.

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Russian forces were contin-uing their airstrikes on the

Azovstal steel mill in Mariupoland pressing their advance ontowns in eastern Ukraine, thegeneral staff of Ukraine'sarmed forces said Thursday.

The bombardment came asUkraine offered to releaseRussian prisoners of war inexchange for the safe evacua-tion of the badly injured fight-ers that remained trappedinside the mill in the ruinedcity.

Ukrainian Deputy PrimeMinister Iryna Vereshchuk saidthat negotiations were under-way to release the injured fight-ers who are holed up in the lastbastion of Ukrainian resis-tance in Mariupol. She saidthere were different options,but “none of them is ideal.”

An adviser to the Mariupolmayor said Russian forces haveblocked all evacuation routesout of the city. PetroAndriushchenko said there arefew apartment buildings fit tolive in and little food or drink-ing water. He said someremaining residents are coop-erating with occupying Russianforces in exchange for food.

Elsewhere, Kyiv waspreparing for its first warcrimes trial of a capturedRussian soldier, who is allegedto have gunned down anunarmed civilian riding a bicy-cle. In its operational statementfor Day 78 of the war, the

Ukrainian military saidRussian forces also firedartillery and grenade launchersat Ukrainian troops in thedirection of Zaporizhzhia,which has been a refuge forcivilians fleeing Mariupol.

The military said Russianforces had fired artillery atUkrainian units north of thecity of Kharkiv in northeastUkraine, and reported Russianstrikes in the Chernihiv andSumy regions to the north.

Across the Donetsk andLuhansk regions of easternUkraine, the site of sustainedfighting since the war began,the Ukrainian general staffnoted “partial success” inRussia's advance. It saidUkrainian forces repulsed nineattacks by Russian forces and

destroyed several drone andmilitary vehicles. The infor-mation could not be indepen-dently verified.

Ukraine's top prosecutorsaid her office charged RussianSgt. Vadin Shyshimarin, 21, inthe killing of an unarmed 62-year-old civilian who wasgunned down while riding abicycle in February, four daysinto the war. Shyshimarin, whoserved with a tank unit, wasaccused of firing through a carwindow on the man in thenortheastern village ofChupakhivka.

Prosecutor General IrynaVenediktova said the soldiercould get up to 15 years inprison. She did not say whenhis trial would start.Venediktova's office has said it

has been investigating morethan 10,700 allegations of warcrimes committed by Russianforces and has identified over600 suspects.

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Top diplomats from theGroup of Seven wealthy

nations are gathering in north-ern Germany to discuss thewar in Ukraine, energy andfood security, relations withChina and climate changeduring a three-day meetingstarting Thursday.

The foreign ministers ofUkraine and neighbouringMoldova, which fears becom-ing Russia's next target ofaggression, have been invitedto attend as guests. Indonesia'sforeign minister, whose coun-try chairs the Group of 20major economies this year,plans to take part remotely todiscuss the global impacts ofthe war. The meeting is takingplace at the Baltic Sea resort ofWeissenhaus northeast ofHamburg. German ForeignMinister Annalena Baerbock,who is hosting her G-7 coun-terparts, recently returnedfrom a trip to Kyiv, Ukraine'scapital.

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have given Israel — thestronger party — any incentiveto accede to such an arrange-ment. Israel says Palestinianleaders have rejected proposalsby previous governments thatwould have given them a state.

Israel views the West Bankas the biblical and historicalheartland of the Jewish people.Prime Minister Naftali Bennett,who once led the main settlerorganization, is opposed toPalestinian statehood, but hisgovernment has taken steps toimprove economic conditionsfor Palestinians.

Israel approved some 3,000settler homes in October,brushing aside a rebuke fromthe U.S., its closest ally. Peacetalks with the Palestiniansbroke down more than adecade ago, in part because ofIsrael's continuing constructionon lands the Palestinians wantfor a future state.

On Wednesday, Israelitroops demolished at least 18buildings and structures in theWest Bank following aSupreme Court decision thatwould force at least 1,000Palestinians out of an areaIsrael designated as a firing

zone in the early 1980s.B'Tselem, another Israeli

rights group, said 12 residen-tial buildings were among thestructures that were demol-ished, in villages in the aridhills south of the West Bankcity of Hebron.

Residents of the MasaferYatta say they have been livingin the region, herding animalsand practicing traditionaldesert agriculture for decades,long before Israel captured theWest Bank in the 1967 war. TheSupreme Court sided with themilitary, which says there wereno permanent structures in thearea before it was designated atraining zone.

“What's happening now isethnic cleansing," SamiHuraini, an activist and a res-ident of the area, told the AP.“They are trying to expel thepeople from this land, sayingthey never lived here perma-nently, which is a lie.”

He said residents of thearea where the demolitionswere carried out are deter-mined to remain there. “Thepeople are staying on their landand have already started torebuild," he said.

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Sri Lanka's new PrimeMinister Ranil

Wickremesinghe, a lawyer-turned politician who has beenin Parliament for 45 years, hasmade a remarkable come backnearly two years after hisUnited National Party (UNP)was routed and failed to win asingle seat in the general elec-tion held in August 2020.

The 73-year-old leader,who is believed to be close toIndia, was appointed as the26th prime minister of SriLanka by President GotabayaRajapaksa amidst the worsteconomic crisis in the country.He is widely accepted in polit-ical circles as a man who couldmanage the economy with far-sighted policies.

His appointment fills thevoid of a leadership as SriLanka was without a govern-ment since Monday whenGotabaya's elder brother andprime minister MahindaRajapaksa resigned after violentprotests following an attackon the anti-government pro-testers by his supporters.

Wickremesinghe, who isperceived as the Sri Lankan

politician who could com-mand international coopera-tion, has held many importantposts during his political careerspanning four and half decades.

He built a personal rapportwith Sri Lanka's immediateneighbour India and visited thecountry on four occasions —October 2016, April 2017,November 2017 and October2018 — during his previousterm as the prime minister.

During the same period,Prime Minister Narendra Modimade two visits to Sri Lankanand he also responded to a per-sonal request fromWickremesinghe to help theisland nation set up the 1990ambulance system - a freehealth care service whichbecame immensely helpfulduring Covid 19.

Despite the oppositionfrom then PresidentMaithripala Sirisena,Wickremesinghe had backedthe deal with India on theColombo port's eastern termi-nal which the Rajapsksasreneged in 2020.

His party UNP, the oldestparty in the country, had failedto win a single seat in 2020 par-liamentary polls.

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ASri Lankan court onThursday imposed aban on overseas travel

on former prime ministerMahinda Rajapaksa, his sonand MP Namal Rajapaksa and15 others in view of investiga-tions against them for thedeadly attack on peaceful anti-government protesters inColombo this week.

The Fort Magistrate'sCourt asked them to surrendertheir passports to the court dueto the investigations takingplace on the attacks on theGotaGoGama andMynaGoGama peaceful protestsites on Monday. At least ninepeople were killed and over 300others injured in the violence.

The magisterial order cameas a response to a request by thepolice's criminal investigationdivision who are conducting theinvestigations into theMonday's violence. The courtissued the bans on 13 legislatorsrepresenting the ruling SriLanka Podujana Peramuna(SLPP), including JohnstonFernando, Sanath Nishantha,Pavithra Wanniarachchi, C BRatnayake, and SanjeewaEdirimanne. Senior DeputyInspector General (SDIG) ofthe Western ProvinceDeshabandu Tennakoon is alsoin the list of people who needto remain in the country forinvestigations into the violence.

The group was accused ofbrutally assaulting protestersopposite Mahinda Rajapaksa'sprime ministerial residenceand near the secretariat ofPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksa.Mahinda Rajapaksa, in a showof political strength, rallied his

grassroots supporters to forcehim not to resign his positionas the prime minister. By thenthe pressure had mounted onhim from within the rulingcoalition to resign to make wayfor the formation of an inter-im all-party government.

He made a passionatespeech and the charged upsupporters attacked the pro-testers who had been for weeksdemanding the resignation ofthe Rajapaksas, blaming themfor the country's worst eco-nomic crisis.

A number of governmentMPs' homes and offices weretorched by enraged mobsaround the country Mondayand Tuesday, in a wave ofspontaneous violence that wastriggered by the attack on anti-government protestors by sup-

porters of Mahinda Rajapaksa.Mahinda Rajapaksa

resigned a few hours later anda curfew was imposed acrossthe country.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, knownfor his brutal military campaignagainst the Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE) during hispresidency from 2005 to 2015,saw his private residence set onfire on Monday. He, along withhis wife and family, fled his offi-cial residence - Temple Trees -and took shelter at the navalbase in Trincomalee after aseries of deadly attacks on hissupporters.

In a late-night televisedaddress to the nation onWednesday, PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa said actionwould be taken against theinstigators of Monday's “inci-

dent”. Sri Lanka is facing itsworst economic crisis sincegaining independence fromBritain in 1948. The crisis iscaused in part by a lack of for-eign currency, which has meantthat the country cannot affordto pay for imports of staplefoods and fuel, leading to acuteshortages and very high prices.

Thousands of demonstra-tors have hit the streets acrossSri Lanka since April 9 seekingthe resignation of the Rajapaksabrothers.

The powerful Rajapaksaclan has dominated Sri Lankanpolitics for years. Gotabaya isthe last Rajapaksa family mem-ber in office and the resignationof his brother as prime minis-ter did nothing to placatedemonstrators or bring calm inthe island nation.

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Sri Lanka's embattledPresident Gotabaya

Rajapaksa, under immensepressure from the public andthe Opposition to quit over theisland nation's worst econom-ic crisis, said on Thursday thatthe abolition of the executivepresidency, a move that willcurb his powers, will be con-sidered by Parliament.

Abolishing the presidentialsystem of governance, in exis-tence in the country since1978, and replacing it with asystem that reinforces consti-tutional democracy, has beenone of the key demands of theOpposition.

In a series of tweets, thePresident outlined the steps tobe taken to end the currentpolitical impasse after his elderbrother and prime ministerMahinda Rajapaksa resignedon Monday.

“Steps will be taken toform a new gov to prevent thecountry falling into anarchy &to maintain the affairs of thestate that have come to a halt,”Gotabaya said on Twitter.

“A PM who commandsmajority in Parliament & is ableto secure the confidence of thepeople will be appointed with-in this week,” he said.

The new government willbe given the opportunity topresent a new programme andempowered to take the coun-try forward, he said.

“Further, steps will betaken to amend the constitu-tion to re-enact the contents ofthe 19th Amendment to fur-ther empower the Parliament.

“Calls from various fac-tions for the abolition of theexecutive presidency will be

considered. With the new gov-ernment & their potential tostabilize the country, we willhave an opportunity to discussthis & work towards a commonconsensus,” the President saidin another tweet.

“I humbly request assis-tance in maintaining the unin-terrupted function of the statemachinery in order to protectthe lives of the people & theirproperty. To maintain contin-uous supply of essentials with-out allowing the country to col-lapse at any point in time,” hesaid, giving no hint that he hasany plans to quit as demandedby the Opposition as well asanti-government protesters.

His tweets came after hedelivered a late-night televisedaddress to the nation in whichhe refused to quit but promisedto appoint a new PrimeMinister and a young Cabinetthis week which would intro-duce key constitutional reformsto curb his powers.

Meanwhile, the President isreported to have contactedSamagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB)MP and Field Marshal SarathFonseka to offer premiership,the Daily Mirror newspaperreported.

Fonseka categoricallydenied reports that he is toaccept any post in a govern-ment headed by PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa, saying hewill never be a partner inresolving the Rajapaksa crisiswithout consulting those whoare protesting at 'GotaGoGama'site.

Last month, the mainOpposition Samagi JanaBalavegaya (SJB) had present-ed a constitutional amend-ment bill that among other pro-visions cought to abolish thepresidential system of gover-

nance, in existence in the coun-try since 1978, and replace itwith a system that reinforcesconstitutional democracy.

While the president willremain the head of state andthe commander in chief, thepresident has no personal dis-cretion in appointing or dis-missing the prime minister,according to the proposal.

The prime minister shall bethe head of the Cabinet of min-isters and the ministers are tobe appointed by the presidenton the prime minister's advice,it added.

The amendment, whileseeking to annul the 20thAmendment adopted in 2020,aims to restore the 19thAmendment to theConstitution to curb the pow-ers of the president andempower Parliament.

The 19A adopted in 2015pruned presidential powers byempowering the 225-memberParliament above the executivepresident.

However, the 19A wasscrapped after GotabayaRajapaksa won the November2019 presidential election.

The powerful Rajapaksafamily had tightened their gripon power after their massivevictory in the general electionsin August 2020 which allowedthem to amend theConstitution to restore presi-dential powers and install closefamily members in key posi-tions.

Mahinda, the 76-year-oldSri Lanka People's Party (SLPP)leader known for his brutalmilitary campaign against theLiberation Tigers of TamilEelam (LTTE) during his pres-idency from 2005 to 2015,resigned on Monday.

He is being protected at theTrincomalee naval base after hewas evacuated from his officialresidence, Defence SecretaryGen (retd.) Kamal Guneratnesaid on Wednesday.

Mahinda, who served asthe country's prime ministerthrice, saw his private residenceset on fire on Monday. He,along with his wife and fami-ly, fled his official residence -Temple Trees - and took shel-ter at the naval base inTrincomalee after a series ofdeadly attacks on his support-ers.

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An investigation has beenlaunched by Sri Lanka's jail

authorities on the allegationsthat a group of inmates from aprison camp in the islandnation were used to attack anti-government protesters inColombo this week, accordingto a media report on Thursday.

Violence erupted in SriLanka on Monday after sup-porters of former prime min-ister Mahinda Rajapaksaattacked peaceful anti-govern-

ment protesters demanding hisouster over the country's worsteconomic crisis that led toacute shortages of staple food,fuel and power.

Over 200 people have alsobeen injured in the violence inColombo and other cities.

Sri Lanka prisons havelaunched an investigation onthe allegations raised claimingthat a group of inmates fromthe Watareka Open PrisonCamp were used to attack pro-testors in Colombo recently,Commissioner General of

Prisons Thushara Upuldeniyawas quoted as saying by theNews First website.

Footage posted on socialmedia following the attack onpeaceful protests showed localsdetaining a group of men wholater claimed that they wereprisoners from the WatarekaOpen Prison Camp, the reportadded. It was observed that thepants worn by the group of

detained men were identical tothose worn by people whowere among the group thatattacked peaceful protests onMonday in Colombo.

The Commissioner-General of Prisons said that themen were not wearing prisonfatigues, but were wearing auniform provided to them bythe institutions that employedtheir services.

The Commissioner-General of Prisons, and anoth-er officer will be present at theHuman Rights Commission ofSri Lanka on Thursday for aninquiry over the matter.

Several people sustainedinjuries as the supporters fromthe ruling SLPP, armed withpoles and other objects,attacked 'GotaGoGama' pro-testers in Galle Face.

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Sri Lankan Parliament will debate a no-confidence motion against President

Gotabaya Rajapaksa on May 17, theSpeaker's Office confirmed on Thursday,amid the ongoing political turmoil trig-gered by the worst economic crisisplaguing the debt-ridden country.

The decision was taken during theparty leaders' meeting on Thursday. Themotion would be taken up for debateafter obtaining special approval fromParliament, the Daily Mirror newspaperreported.

Speaking at a press conference afterthe party leaders met at the Parliamentcomplex, Speaker Mahinda YapaAbeywardena said that the proposalsubmitted by the leaders will be preparedand handed over to the president

The proposals, including the forma-tion of a stable government and the secu-rity of the members of parliament, willbe handed over to President Rajapaksa.

Parliamentarian MA Sumanthiranemphasised that a stable government wasnecessary for the country to move for-ward.

Sumanthiran noted that while a stip-ulated time duration has not been givenfor the resignation of the president,action must be taken soon with regard tothe appointment of the prime minister,News First website reported.

Parliamentarian Mano Ganeshanadded that no one should suddenlyintervene and take up the position of theprime minister, and the president mustrespect the repeated calls for his resig-nation by the people, the report said.

Sri Lanka's main Opposition partySJB on Friday announced that it willmove a no-confidence motion against thegovernment of President Rajapaksa andis prepared to impeach the embattledleader if he fails to address the concernsof the public facing hardships due to theworst economic crisis.

As protests continued across thecountry, demanding the resignation of

the President and the entire Rajapaksafamily from the government, Oppositionleader Sajith Premadasa also called forthe Executive Presidency to be abolished,saying power should be divided betweenthe Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.

“The government must pay heed tothe public demand for the Rajapaksas toquit, if not we will bring a no-confidencemotion," the leader of the Samagi JanaBalawegaya (SJB) told Parliament.

Premadasa said that he cannot agreeto an interim government with Rajapaksaremaining as the president. The SJB saidthat it was also prepared to impeach thepresident. He also submitted a set of pro-posals to Parliament on behalf of the SJBto address the economic crisis in SriLanka.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economiccrisis since independence from Britain in1948. Clashes broke out on Monday aftergovernment's supporters attacked peace-ful anti-government protest sites in

Colombo and elsewhere, killing at least8 people and leaving over 200 othersinjured in the violence.

Sri Lanka's worst economic crisis hasprovoked widespread protests callingfor political reform and the resignationof President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. OnApril 1, President Rajapaksa imposed astate of emergency, lifting it five dayslater. The government reimposed a stateof emergency on May 6 after police firedteargas and arrested students protestingnear parliament, which was adjourneduntil May 17.

Although the protests have beenoverwhelmingly peaceful, the policefatally shot a protester on April 19, andon several occasions have used teargasand water cannons against protesters. Theauthorities have made numerous arrestsand repeatedly imposed curfews.

The political crisis was triggered inlate March when people hurt by longhours of power cuts and essential short-ages took to the streets demanding theresignation of the government.

President Rajapaksa sacked his cab-inet and appointed a younger cabinet asa response to the demand for resignation.A continuous protest opposite his sec-retariat has now gone on for well over amonth.

Last Monday, his brother MahindaRajapaksa resigned as the prime minis-ter to make way for the president toappoint an interim all political party gov-ernment.

Sri Lankan authorities on Wednesdaydeployed troops and military vehicles inthe streets to ensure public security in theCapital amidst nationwide protests overthe government's failure to tackle theworst economic crisis.

The deployment came a day after thecountry's Ministry of Defence orderedthe Army, the Air Force and the Navypersonnel to open fire on anyone loot-ing public property or causing harm toothers amidst violent protests in theisland nation over the unprecedentedeconomic crisis.

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New Delhi: Gold in the nation-al capital on Thursday jumpedRs 241 to Rs 50,797 per 10grams, supported by a sharpfall in rupee, according toHDFC Securities.

The precious metal hadended at Rs 50,556 per 10grams in the previous trade.

In contrast, silver declinedby Rs 729 to Rs 60,158 per kgfrom Rs 60,887 per kg in theprevious trade. Snapping itstwo-day winning streak, therupee slumped by 15 paise toend at 77.40 (provisional)against the US dollar onThursday.

"Gold prices traded mar-ginally down with spot goldprices at COMEX trading atUSD 1,851 per ounce onThursday.

Gold prices witnessedknee-jerk reaction post USinflation data," said TapanPatel, Senior Analyst(Commodities), HDFCSecurities. PTI

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New Delhi: Equity investorshave become poorer by morethan Rs 18.74 lakh crore as themarket continued to remainbearish for the fifth session onthe trot on Thursday.

The 30-share BSE Sensextumbled 1,158.08 points or2.14 per cent to end below the53,000-level at 52,930.31 pointson Thursday.

Markets have been fallingfor five straight sessions and theBSE benchmark has tumbled2,771.92 points or 4.97 per centduring this period.

A weak trend in equitieshave eroded Rs 18,74,689.98crore from the market capital-isation of BSE-listed firms infive days. The market capital-isation of BSE-listed firms isnow at Rs 2,40,90,199.39 crore.

"Markets continued toremain under pressure in syncwith global markets slump, asworries of more interest ratehikes coupled with sluggisheconomic growth going aheadweighed on sentiment. Theongoing conflict and lock-downs in China due to virusspread is promoting investors

to shun equities," ShrikantChouhan, Head of EquityResearch (Retail) at KotakSecurities Ltd, said.

Among the Sensex firms,IndusInd Bank declined themost by 5.82 per cent onThursday, followed by TataSteel, Bajaj Finance, BajajFinserv, Axis Bank, HDFCBank, HDFC, Titan and L&T.

Only Wipro ended higherfrom the 30-share BSE bench-mark pack. In the broadermarket, the BSE midcap gaugetanked 2.24 per cent and small-cap declined 1.96 per cent.

All BSE sectoral indicesended lower, with power falling4.11 per cent, followed by util-ities (3.90 per cent), metal(3.75 per cent), bank (3.14 percent), finance (3.14 per cent)and telecom (2.81 per cent).

"Inflation continues to be amajor concern for the markets.Weakening economic growthoutlook, prolonged Russia-Ukraine War, volatility in com-modity prices, continued FIIsselling and rising bond yieldshave dented investors' senti-ments. PTI

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New Delhi: India's industrialproduction rose 1.9 per cent inMarch 2022, according to offi-cial data released on Thursday.

As per the Index ofIndustrial Production (IIP)data released by the NationalStatistical Office (NSO), themanufacturing sector's outputgrew 0.9 per cent in March2022. Mining output climbed 4per cent, and power generationincreased 6.1 per cent.

The IIP had grown by 24.2per cent in March 2021.

During 2021-22, the IIPgrew 11.3 per cent as against an8.4 per cent contraction in2020-21.

Industrial production hasbeen hit due to the coronaviruspandemic since March 2020,when it had contracted 18.7 percent.It shrank 57.3 per cent inApril 2020 due to a decline ineconomic activities in the wakeof the lockdown imposed tocurb the spread of coronavirusinfections. PTI

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New Delhi: Homegrown automajor Tata Motors onThursday reported narrowingof consolidated net loss at Rs992.05 crore in the fourthquarter ended March 2022.

The company had posted aconsolidated net loss of Rs7,585.34 crore in the sameperiod last fiscal, Tata Motorssaid in a regulatory filing.

Its total consolidated rev-enue from operations stood atRs 78,439.06 crore in the fourthquarter as against Rs 88,627.90crore in the year-ago period, itadded.

On a standalone basis, theautomaker reported a net prof-it of Rs 413.35 crore in the peri-od under review as against anet profit of Rs 1,645.68 crorein the fourth quarter of 2020-21.Standalone total revenuefrom operations stood at Rs17,338.27 crore in the fourthquarter as compared to Rs

13,480.42 crore in the sameperiod previous fiscal, TataMotors said.

The company's British armJaguar Land Rover (JLR) post-ed revenue of 4.8 billionpounds in the fourth quarterand retail sales of vehicles

stood at 79,008 units.For FY22, JLR's revenue

was 18.3 billion pounds, down7 per cent from the prior year.Retail sales were at 3,76,381units, down 14 per cent com-pared to FY21, the companysaid. PTI

PNS � New Delhi

Best Agrolife Ltd GetsRegistration For The

Indigenous Manufacturing OfCrucial Corn Herbicide BestAgrolife Limited, one of theleading player in the Indianagrochemical industry, onFriday has been granted theregistration for the indigenousmanufacturing of Tembotrionetechnical 94% u/s 9(4) by theCentral Insecticides Board &Registration Committee in the439th meeting.

The company has a pivotalpositioning in Rice andSoybean crops and this regis-tration will help it in consoli-dating its portfolio in the her-bicides segment further.

The company has decidedto launch its commercial for-mulation under the brandname ‘Tombo’ in early June,22.

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Mumbai: The Sensex nose-dived over 1,150 points whilethe Nifty crashed below the16,000-level on Thursday,extending their losing streak tothe fifth straight session, asworld markets were unnervedby elevated US inflation whichtriggered concerns of acceler-ated rate hikes.

The forex market too borethe brunt of heightened riskaversion, with the rupee plung-ing to a fresh lifetime low of77.63 per US dollar intra-dayamid foreign capital outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensextumbled 1,158.08 points or2.14 per cent to finish at an overtwo-month low of 52,930.31.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty tanked 359.10 points or2.22 per cent to 15,808.

Barring Wipro, all Sensexconstituents finished in thered.

IndusInd Bank lost 5.82per cent, followed by Tata Steel,Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv,Axis Bank, HDFC Bank,HDFC, Titan and L&T.

In value terms, HDFCtwins and Reliance Industrieswere the top drags on the

benchmark.Global markets were ham-

mered by a fresh wave of sell-ing after US reported con-sumer inflation of 8.3 per centin April, slightly lower than thelevel in March but still waybeyond the Federal Reserve'starget of 2 per cent.

"Yesterday's release ofhigher-than-expected US CPIdata suggests that the infla-tionary pressure will persist inthe near term. However, it ispresumed to have peaked and

will gradually decline in-linewith the ongoing fall in crudeand other commodity prices,and slowdown in the economy.

"The Fed surprised themarket with a hawkish stance,limiting liquidity, which limitsfurther setbacks in the future.We can expect the market tostabilize as FIIs may reduce sell-ing factoring inflation and Fedpolicy," said Vinod Nair, Headof Research at Geojit FinancialServices. PTI

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New Delhi: Prices of homeappliances and consumer elec-tronics, including TV, washingmachines, and refrigerators,are expected to go up by 3 to 5per cent from May end or thefirst week of June as manufac-turers pass on the impact of ris-ing input costs to buyers,according to industry players.

Moreover, the depreciatingIndian rupee against the USdollar has put further woes onmanufacturers as importedcomponents have become cost-lier, with the industry largely

being dependent on importsfor key components.

Adding to the challenges,there has been shortage ofparts triggered by piling up ofcontainers at Shanghai port dueto strict lockdown in the cityfollowing the surge in COVID-19 cases.

This has put pressure onthe inventory of the manufac-turers, and several top lineproducts that have lesserdomestic value addition and arelargely dependent on importsare not available in the market. PTI

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New Delhi: The number ofsubscribers under the two flag-ship pension schemes ofPFRDA increased nearly 23 percent to over 5.23 crore byApril-end 2022.

The subscriber base of thetwo schemes combined was4.26 crore in April last year,Pension Fund Regulatory andDevelopment Authority(PFRDA) data showed.

The flagship schemes --National Pension System (NPS)and Atal Pension Yojana (APY)-- had total asset under man-agement of Rs 7,38,765 crore atApril-end 2022, rising by 25.25per cent from the year-agoperiod.

"The number of sub-scribers in various schemesunder NPS rose to 523.87 lakhby end-April 2022 from 426.75lakh in April 2021 showing ayear-on-year increase of 22.76per cent," it said.

The number of subscribersunder APY grew nearly 30 percent to 3.65 crore by April this

year. The rest 1.58 crore sub-scribers belonged to variouscategories under NPS -- thepension scheme which mainlycaters to the government sec-tor and corporate sectoremployees.

APY is mainly targetedtowards providing a socialsecurity benefit after retirementto those who work in the unor-ganised sector and form a largechunk of employment in thecountry. PTI

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Kolkata: With several organ-ised players in the industryentering the fray, the flavouredtea market is fast growing inIndia, mostly among the youth,a Tea Board official said onThursday.

The demand for such func-tional or herbal teas hasincreased in the country par-ticularly after the onset ofCovid-19, as tea with spices andnatural herbs has proved toboost immunity against thevirus, he said.

The size of the flavouredtea market in terms of volumeand price is around 60 millionkilograms and Rs 3600 crorerespectively. This is, however,an approximate value takingthe flavoured tea market to be10 per cent of the entire pack-et tea consumption, the officialsaid.

Kamakshya Singh, head(business development) ofLuxmi Tea, said that function-al and herbal tea consumption

has gained momentum inrecent years.

"The younger audiencesare indulging in wellness thatcame due to the pandemic.Brands are now focussing onholistic wellness which coversan active lifestyle for whichsuch tea blends are gainingpopularity," he said.

Singh said that e-com-merce volumes for selling suchtea online are rising 30 per centeach year while the estimatedshare of the herbal or func-tional tea market would be lessthan two per cent. PTI

New Delhi: Shares of PunjabNational Bank (PNB) onThursday tumbled nearly 14per cent after the companyreported over 60 per centdecline in standalone net prof-it for the quarter ended March2022.

The stock tanked 13.60 percent to end at Rs 28.60 apieceon the BSE. During the day, ittumbled 13.89 per cent to its52-week low of Rs 28.50.

On the NSE, it plummeted12.53 per cent to settle at Rs28.95 apiece.

In volume terms, 171.82lakh shares were traded on theBSE and over 20.34 crore shareson the NSE during the day.

On Wednesday, state-owned Punjab National Bankposted a 66 per cent decline instandalone net profit at Rs 202crore for the quarter endedMarch 2022 due to a higheramount parked towards provi-sioning, even as the NPA lev-els declined. PTI

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Mumbai: Snapping its two-daywinning streak, the rupeeslumped by 15 paise to end at77.40 (provisional) against theUS dollar on Thursday, fol-lowing risk-off sentimentsamid increasing concerns overinflation globally.

Weak domestic equities,surging US dollar in overseasmarkets and persistent foreignfund outflows also weighed onthe rupee which plunged to itsall-time intra-day low of 77.63against the US dollar, forextraders said.

At the interbank forex mar-ket, the rupee opened steeplylower at 77.52 against thegreenback and moved in arange of 77.36 to 77.63 in theday trade. The rupee finally

ended at 77.40, down by 15paise over its previous close.The rupee had settled at 77.25against the US dollar onWednesday.

On May 9, the domesticunit had closed at the recordlow of 77.44 against the green-back. Global equity marketswent into a tailspin after high-er-than-expected US retailinflation data for April fanned

fears of aggressive rate hikes bythe US Federal Reserve whichcould hamper growth, ana-lysts said.

On the domestic equitymarket front, the BSE Sensexended 1,158.08 points or 2.14per cent lower at 52,930.31,while the broader NSE Niftyfell 359.10 points or 2.22 percent to 15,808.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback's strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, surged 0.52 per cent to104.39. Foreign institutionalinvestors remained net sellersin the capital market onWednesday, as they offloadedshares worth Rs 3,609.35 crore,as per stock exchange data. PTI

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New Delhi: Housing andUrban Affairs MinisterHardeep Singh Puri onThursday said the governmenthas incurred expenditure ofclose to Rs 12 lakh crore in thelast eight years on urban devel-opment schemes as comparedto Rs 1.57 lakh crore during theten years of the UPA-rule.

The minister was speakingat 'PlumbEx India', a three-dayexhibition on plumbing, water,and sanitation products, organ-ised by Indian PlumbingAssociation (IPA) at PragatiMaidan here.

Puri launched 'Bharat Tap'initiative by IPA, which aims toreduce water consumption,and said his ministry will jointhis campaign to save water.Bharat Tap is a concept to uselow flow tap and fixtures.

He also launched NARED-CO MAHI's (women wing ofrealtors body NAREDCO) ini-tiative 'Nirmal Jal Prayaas' to

save water."In the ten years of previ-

ous government 2004-2014,the total amount of expenditureincurred on all the urbanschemes taken together was Rs1.57 lakh crore," he said. Theexpenditure under the Modigovernment has increased byeight times, he added.

"It (expenditure on urbanschemes) should be eight times,close to Rs 12 lakh crore," Purisaid, adding that the numberkeeps changing every day.

The outlay for Amrut 2.0and Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0is Rs 4.71 lakh crore, the min-ister said.

The major programmesunder the Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs are PradhanMantri Awas Yojana (Urban),Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM-U), Atal Mission forRejuvenation and UrbanTransformation (AMRUT)among others.

Citing major urban devel-opment projects being under-taken across various states,Puri noted that the urabn spacein India is slowly acquiring a

new look.The 'Nirmal Jal Prayaas'

scheme was launched in thepresence of NAREDCOPresident Rajan Bandelkarand NAREDCO Mahi (womenwing) President TaraSubramaniam.

"I am pleased to be launch-ing NAREDCO Mahi's NirmalJal Prayaas Mission. I aminformed that this initiative willalso lead to saving almost 500crore litre of water per year,"Puri said.

Bandelkar said, "It is well-acknowledged that water con-servation is the need of thehour. The real estate industryand allied stakeholders, need tobe sensitized in this regard.With our quest for innovationin real estate and related acces-sories, NAREDCO has alwaysstrived to save every drop ofwater possible and promoterecycling of water."Subramaniam said The impor-tance towards water conserva-tion and efforts to promote sav-ing in homes is well-embeddedin our plans and it is one of coretargets. PTI

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Mumbai: Tata Sons onThursday announced theappointment of CampbellWilson as the Chief ExecutiveOfficer and Managing Director(MD) of Air India.

The Air India boardapproved the appointment ofWilson subject to requisite reg-ulatory approvals, the compa-ny said in a statement.

Wilson, 50, is the CEO ofScoot, the wholly-owned low-cost subsidiary of SingaporeAirlines. He has 26 years of avi-ation industry expertise acrossboth full service and low-costairlines, it added.

Tata Sons and Air IndiaChairman N Chandrasekaransaid, "I am delighted to wel-come Campbell to Air India.He is an industry veteran hav-ing worked in key global mar-

kets cutting across multiplefunctions. Further, Air Indiawould benefit from his addedexperience of having built anairline brand in Asia. I look for-ward to working with him inbuilding a world-class airline."

Earlier in February thisyear, Tata Sons had announcedthe appointment of formerchairman of Turkish AirlinesIlker Ayci as the CEO and MDof Air India. PTI

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New Delhi: India may consid-er negotiating a preferentialtrade agreement (PTA) withOman to further boost eco-nomic ties between the coun-tries, Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal said onThursday. India is also underactive discussions with GulfCooperation Council (GCC)for a comprehensive tradeagreement, the minister said.

GCC is a union of sixcountries in the Gulf region,namely Bahrain, Kuwait,Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabiaand the UAE.

"We may consider doing apreferential trade agreementwith Oman to begin with

because we are looking for acomprehensive agreementbetween the GCC region andIndia, (which is) under activediscussion," Goyal said.

In a PTA, trading partnersreduce import duties on certainidentified products to boosttrade.He also said that there isa vast potential to boost bilat-eral trade and investmentsbetween the countries.

The bilateral trade hasincreased from USD 5.4 billionin 2020-21 to USD 9.94 billionduring 2021-2022. Oman hasalso agreed to fast-trackapproval for Indian pharmaproducts that are already reg-istered by the US Food and

Drug Administration(USFDA), UK drug regulatorMHRA and EuropeanMedicines Agency.

Speaking at the India-Oman business council meet-ing, Oman's Minister forCommerce, Industry andInvestment Promotion Qaisbin Mohammed al Yousef invit-ed Indian businesses to exploreopportunities. He is leading a40-member delegation to India.

Vikramjit Singh Sahney,Chair – FICCI India-ArabCouncil and Chairman, SunInternational, said there is hugepotential for both the countriesto further strengthen econom-ic ties. PTI

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Mumbai: Capital markets reg-ulator Sebi is planning to comeout with a framework toencourage more exchange-traded funds in debt securitiesto increase retail investors'interest in the market, a seniorofficial said on Thursday.

The regulator wants toreplicate the story as seen in theequity segment, where theETFs and index funds havedeepened retail investors' par-ticipation in the markets, Sebi'sWholetime Member AnantaBarua said.

"…there is a thrust. We willcome up with a frameworkwhich will encourage moreETFs in debt securities andindex funds," Barua said,speaking at an event on cor-porate bond development con-ducted by industry lobbyAssocham. Barua said Sebi isalso looking at implementingother measures as announcedin the annual budget byFinance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman.He expressed satisfaction

with the bond market devel-opment, saying the totalissuances came at over 16 percent of the GDP last fiscal froma slow start.

Sebi has laid down all thenecessary frameworks for rais-ing money from the bond mar-ket, including newer instru-ments like municipal bondsand green bonds, Barua said.

He said the overall out-standing bonds had stood at Rs40.17 lakh crore at the end ofFY22 against Rs 36 lakh crorein the year-ago period.

There is a need for pullingin the retail investors towardsthe bond markets, he said,adding the new framework is inthe works.

Barua also mentioned ven-ture debt as an interestinginstrument, hinting that star-tups, especially those were pro-moters, are unwilling to dilutetheir holdings. PTI

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Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers,a legendary brand known

for its elegance and finesse, haspartnered with Akshaya.io,World’s first ‘Phygital’ plat-form to develop virtual andaugmented reality (VR/AR)assets for its designs.Akshaya.io will also be devel-oping a Metaverse store for VBJto showcase and trade in itsexquisite and exclusive piecesof jewelry, and their originaldesigns as Non-FungibleTokens (NFTs).

While the technologyworld has been talking aboutaugmented reality (AR), virtu-al reality (VR), machine learn-ing (ML), and artificial intelli-gence (AI), the emergence ofMetaverse, which can bedefined as a simulated digitalenvironment using all the ear-lier mentioned tools along withblockchain, is all set to mimicthe real world.

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Noida: Fortis hospital Noida has bagged the World StrokeOrganization Angels Diamond status in all four quarters of 2021despite the challengesposed by the Covid-19 in treatment of non-communicable diseases. The stroke program at Fortis Noida ledby Dr Jyoti Bala Sharma was realigned to the new safety proto-cols amidst covid and was crucial in saving life of stroke patients.

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New Zealand cricket greatBrendon McCullum was

hired as head coach of England’sTest team on Thursday in anoth-er bold appointment comingsoon after the decision to selectall-rounder Ben Stokes as cap-tain.

The 40-year-old McCullum,who currently coaches IPL teamKolkata Knight Riders, has neverbeen in charge of a Test teamand only retired from playing in2019.

He was regarded as the cat-alyst behind New Zealand'semergence as a major force inthe Test game — the BlackCaps won the inaugural WorldTest Championship last year —and his preference for attackingcricket will be welcomed byStokes at the start of a new erafor England.

"I believe in Brendon andBen Stokes — a formidablecoach and captain partnership,"

said Rob Key, director of men'scricket at the England and WalesCricket Board. "Time for us allto buckle up and get ready forthe ride."

McCullum's first series withEngland will be against hisnative New Zealand in June,with the opening test beginningJune 2 at Lord's.

England has won only oneof its last 17 Tests, a run thatincludes a humiliating 4-0 seriesloss in the Ashes Down Under.That sparked a rush of dismissalsand resignations — at one stage,England didn't have a captain,coach or head of men's cricket— but the leadership roles havebeen filled now, with Stokesreplacing Joe Root as captainand Key the replacement forAshley Giles.

McCullum takes the posi-tion previously held by ChrisSilverwood, who oversaw theTest and limited-overs teams.The ECB has decided the red-ball and white-ball duties should

be split going forward."In taking this role on, I am

acutely aware of the significantchallenges the team faces atpresent," McCullum said, "andI strongly believe in my abilityto help the team emerge as astronger force once we've con-fronted them head-on.

"I've enjoyed several robustconversations with Rob Keyabout the direction of travel forthe team and have found hisenthusiasm contagious. I'm nostranger to bringing aboutchange within a team environ-ment, and I can't wait to getstarted."

McCullum described Stokesas "the perfect character toinspire change around him."

"I look forward to workingclosely with him to build a suc-cessful unit around us,"McCullum said. McCullum willtravel to England after the KKRcomplete their IPL group cam-paign on May 18, subject toobtaining a working visa.

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Kolkata Knight Riders haveacquired the rights to own

and operate a franchise in theUAE's upcoming T20 leagueand it will based in Abu Dhabi.

The franchise will benamed Abu Dhabi KnightRiders.

The investment by theKnight Riders Group, which isled by actor Shah Rukh Khan,along with Juhi Chawla andher husband Jay Mehta, willthus establish their fourth T20franchise around the world inIPL, CPL, MLC and now inUAE's T20 league.

After establishing KolkataKnight Riders in 2008 in theIndian Premier League, theKnight Riders became ownersof the Trinbago Knight Ridersin the Caribbean PremierLeague in 2015.

Recently, the KnightRiders Group made a signifi-cant investment in MajorLeague Cricket (MLC) in theUSA and intends to set up afranchise in the greater LosAngeles area.

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The Indian men's badmintonteam scripted a memorable

3-2 win over Malaysia to enterthe semifinals of Thomas Cupfor the first time in 43 years butthe women's side bowed outafter losing 0-3 to Thailand inthe Uber Cup here on Thursday.

India is thus assured of atleast a Bronze at the ThomasCup. The country has not wona medal at the event since 1979.

India had bagged threeBronze in the past when theyreached inter-zonal finals.However, it is the first time sincethe change in the qualifying for-mat that the country won amedal at the prestigious tourna-ment.

Up against a team that haswon the title five times, theworld number 8 pairing ofChirag Shetty and SatwiksairajRankireddy, world champi-onships Silver medallist KidambiSrikanth and HS Prannoy rose

to the occasion to see Indiahome.

India will next take oneither Korea or Denmark.

A lot of expectation rode onworld championships Bronzewinner Lakshya Sen but hecouldn't go the distance in theopening singles, losing 21-23, 9-21 to reigning world championLee Zii Jia in 46 minutes.

With the Malaysian fansthronging the Impact Arena,Chirag Shetty and SatwiksairajRankireddy took to the courtand the duo dished out asuperlative performance to out-wit world number 13 Goh SzeFei and Nur Izzuddin 21-19, 21-15 to bring India back in thefive-match tie.

Srikanth rode on his supe-rior and varied strokeplay to out-class world number 46 NG TzeYong 21-11, 21-17 and giveIndia a 2-1 lead.

The world number 45 com-bination of Krishna PrasadGaraga and VishnuvardhanGoud Panjala were handed thetask of taming Aaron Chia andTeo Ee Yi and the Indian pairproduced a good effort beforelosing 19-21, 17-21 as the matchwent into the decider.

World number 23 HSPrannoy was all fired up in thefinal contest as he secure a 21-13, 21-8 win over 22-year-oldJun Hao Leong.

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Indian women's hockey team goalkeeperSavita on Thursday said the side's aim is to

"make it to the next level" in this year's FIHWorld Cup after finishing in the last eightstage four years ago.

The event will be jointly hostedby the Netherlands and Spain in July.

In the 2018 edition of theshowpiece in London, Indialost 1-3 to Ireland in penal-ty shoot-out to crash outof the competition.

But this time around,Savita says India are wellprepared to make themedal rounds.

"With more playersgetting international expo-sure, and having gainedconfidence to play topteams in big-match sce-narios, we are heading inthe right direction of build-ing a strong team for theWorld Cup," the seniorplayer said.

"We made it to thequarterfinals last time inLondon, and the aim thistime is definitely to makeit to the next level."

The World Cup will be playedfrom July 1 to 17 but before that theIndians will gain valuable exposurein the FIH Pro League matches inBelgium, where they will take on the

hosts on June 11 and 12.The two matches will be

followed by weekend gamesin the Netherlands, where

India will play Argentinaon June 18 and 19 andthe United States onJune 21 and 22.

The Indian womenare placed in Pool B in

the World Cup alongside England, China and

New Zealand. They willopen their campaign

against England on July 3 inAmstelveen.

Savita said healthy com-petition for places among thejunior and senior players augurswell for India.

"With new players cominginto the group by virtue of goodperformances in the Pro League

and Junior World Cup, there ishealthy competition within thegroup and this is helping inbringing out the best in each one

of us."

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Delhi Capitals openerPrithvi Shaw is unlikely to

available for the team's last twoleague matches as "he has justhad this underlying fever forthe previous couple of weeks",assistant coach Shane Watsonsaid on Thursday.

Shaw missed the team'slast three matches and after itswin against against RajasthanRoyals on Wednesday, DCskipper Rishabh Pant said theMumbaikar could be sufferingfrom typhoid.

Shaw, who has been downwith a fever and admitted to ahospital, last played on May 1,against Lucknow Super Giants.

"I don't know his diagno-sis exactly," Watson told theGrade Cricketer.

"But he has just had thisunderlying fever for the previ-ous couple of weeks, whichthey've had to really get to thebottom of it to find out exact-ly what it was.

"It's not looking great forhim to be available for the lastcouple of games, which is a bigshame because he is an incred-

ibly skilful young batter takingthe best bowlers in the worlddown a lot of the time."

"It's a big loss for us to nothave him. The last couple ofweeks he has been under theweather. Hopefully, he getsback to full health soon, but

unfortunately, it's not going tobe in time for the minimum oflast two games that we'vegot."

Shaw had himself sharedan Instagram post from hishospital bed, saying he ishopeful of coming back soon.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore,who have found much-

needed momentum towardsthe business end of IPL, willback themselves to ride past aninconsistent Punjab Kings andget closer to a play-off spot hereon Friday.

Having put up completeperformances in their last twogames, RCB seemed to have fig-ured out their best combination.

Barring Virat Kohli, all oftheir batters are in top form withuncapped Rajat Patidar andMahipal Lomror complement-ing seasoned pros like skipperFaf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwelland Dinesh Karthik, who hasbeen among the best finishers inthe tournament alongsideGujarat's Rahul Tewatia.

The bowling packs a punchtoo in the presence of in-formpacers Josh Hazlewood and theever-reliable Harshal Patel.Mohammad Siraj has not beenat his best but trust him to deliv-er when the team wants it themost.

Maxwell has been handywith his off-spin, both in pow-erplay and middle overs, whileWanindu Hasaranga is amongthe leading wicket-takers in thetournament with 21 scalpsincluding a five-wicket haul.

"What we are trying to getbetter as a team is making surethat one of those top-four cre-ates a bit of a base. We have gotsome really strong hitters at theback.

"The games where we did-n't do so well, there was a bigcluster of wickets in the power-play. Obviously need some sta-bility but at the same time yougonna make sure you don't gointo defensive mode," said duPlessis after the massive winover SRH.

Kohli, who is in the middle

of his worst IPL season, is duefor an impact knock and thatcould come against Punjab. Awin on Friday would take RCBto 16 points though 18 seems tobe a safe number for a play-offberth.

Punjab, who have threegames left, need to win all tohave a shot at the top-four fin-ish. They had started theircampaign with a win over RCBand are on 10 points with fivewins and six losses.

The fact that they have notbeen able to win two games ina row sums up their inconsis-tent run.

Shikhar Dhawan andBhanuka Rajapaksa have deliv-ered at the top, so has LiamLivingstone and Jitesh Sharma

in finishing the innings. JonnyBairstow finally got runs afterbeing promoted to open theinnings alongside Dhawan.

Skipper Mayank Agarwal,who has moved himself downthe order, needs to lead fromthe front.

On the bowling front,Sandeep Sharma has been tidybut could do with some wick-ets in the powerplay. Leadpacer Kagiso Rabada has donewell to take 18 wickets but hasgone for close to 9 runs perover.

Arshdeep Singh has beenbrilliant, especially in the deathovers, and has impressed manywith his ability to land yorkersat will.

Despite a solid squad attheir disposal, Punjab have flat-tered to deceive and they mustraise their game before it is toolate yet again.

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RCB's Mike Hesson-led sup-port staff feels Sri Lankan

leg-spinner WaninduHasaranga has done morethan what was expected of himin the ongoing IPL, havingentered the team as a directreplacement for YuzvendraChahal.

The second highest wick-et-taker in the current editionof the league, Hasarangarecently took a five-for to leadhis team to victory over SRH.

"From the start, Hasarangawas always getting big playersout, he was getting wickets inthe middle that got us back inthe game, even though he

might have got one for 28which does not cause high-lights. He was actually doing anice job for us," said directorof cricket Hesson on RCBBold Diaries.

Chahal, one of RCB's bestbowlers in the last few years,left for Rajasthan Royals aheadof ongoing IPL season to leavea void that was wonderfullyfilled by the Lankan.

"It was very hard toreplace one of our all-timegreats and someone like Yuzi,he is an icon at RCB.Hasaranga comes in as hisreplacement, as the tourna-ment's gone they work out heis a good cricketer as is Yuzi,"Hesson said.

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tial matches left to be played. It will bethe first time in IPL history that neitherMI nor CSK would be part of the play-offs.

Defending 97, Mukesh Choudhary(3/23) struck in the fifth ball of the open-ing over as Ishan Kishan (6) poked wellaway from his body to see a thin edgego through to Dhoni behind the stumps.

MI captain Rohit Sharma found afour each off Choudhary and SimarjeetSingh in the next two overs. ButSimarjeet had the last laugh in the fourthover, having Rohit caught by Dhoni.

Choudhary then raised hopes of aCSK miracle by having Daniel Sams (1)and Tristan Stubbs (0) in the space ofthree balls in the fifth over.

MI were 36 for 4 after powerplay andHrithik Shokeen survived after a review.

Moeen Ali broke the fifth-wicketpartnership between Varma andShooken by having the latter in the 13thover but it was too late as MI needed just

17 runs from 7.2 overs.Earlier, Sams tore apart the CSK top-

order from which the Dhoni-led teamnever recovered.

Riley Meredith and KumarKartikeya chipped in with two wicketsapiece while Jasprit Bumrah andRamandeep Singh got one each as CSKinnings folded in 16 overs.

CSK's woes were compounded withthe non-availability of Decision ReviewSystem (DRS) due to power cut at oneof the floodlight towers at WankhedeStadium after the start of their inningsduring which they lost three wickets,with two being LBW decisions.

Captain Dhoni played a lone handfor CSK with a 33-ball 36 not out withthe help of four boundaries and twosixes. None of his colleagues gave himcompany in a pathetic batting display.

Dwayne Bravo (12), who shared 39runs with Dhoni for the seventh wick-et, the best partnership in the CSK

innings, was the second best batter. Butfor the 15 extras Mumbai bowlers con-ceded, the CSK total would have beenmuch lower.

In the end, Dhoni ran out of part-ners.

Conway, who played a match-win-ning knock of 87 in CSK's match againstDelhi Capitals, was struck on the pad offthe second ball of the innings bowled bySams. The umpire raised his fingerthough the ball hit him just below theknee-roll and looked to be going downthe leg. There was no DRS, and Conwayhad to go for nought.

Two balls later, Moeen Ali (0) edgedanother Sams delivery for HrithikShooken to take a catch at short mid-wicket, as CSK were down two wicketsfor five runs in the opening over.

It was the turn of Bumrah to join theparty as he dismissed Robin Uthappa (1)who could not ask for DRS review of theLBW decision.

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Mumbai Indians on Thursday snuffedout defending champions ChennaiSuper Kings' faint hopes of making

the Indian Super League play-offs with a five-wicket win in a low-scoring match here.

Opting to bowl, MI shot CSK out for 97with pacer Daniel Sams (3/16 from 4 overs)running though the MS Dhoni-led side's top-order with three quick wickets in a fiery open-ing spell, and then huffed and puffed to over-haul the small target of 98 with 31 balls tospare.

MI were four wickets down for 33 runsin the fifth over before Tilak Varma (34 notout off 32 balls) and Hrithik Shooken (18)calmed the frayed nerves with a 48-run standfor the fifth wicket. MI reached 103 for 5 in14.5 overs.

Tim David remained not out on 16 offjust seven balls.

With their eighth loss in 12 matches, CSKare out of reckoning for a play-offs berth. Theyremained at ninth position with eight points.

Already out of reckoning for a play-offsberth long time ago, MI remained rooted atthe 10th and bottom place with three winsfrom 12 matches.

Both CSK and MI have two inconsequen-

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Kevin De Bruyne's four-goal haulkept Manchester City on course forthe Premier League title as the

defending champions thrashed Wolves 5-1 at Molineux on Wednesday.

Pep Guardiola's men move threepoints clear of Liverpool with two gamesto play and boosted their goal differenceto seven superior to the Reds.

City need just four points fromSunday's trip to West Ham and the visitof Aston Villa on the final day of the sea-son to be crowned champions for thefourth time in five years.

And with De Bruyne on this form,they will take some stopping as theBelgian produced his brilliant best toblow away the hosts with a hat-trickinside 24 minutes.

City broke the news on Tuesday thatthey have beaten Europe's top clubs to thesignature of Erling Haaland.

However, even the Norwegiangoalscoring phenomenon would struggleto match the range of finishes off bothfeet dispatched by De Bruyne.

In keeping with their form in recentweeks, City looked to have dispelled anyearly nerves by scoring first as BernardoSilva teed up De Bruyne to fire first timeacross Jose Sa.

The visitors, though, were withoutthree key defenders in Kyle Walker,John Stones and Ruben Dias throughinjury and it showed.

Aymeric Laporte had to make a des-perate last-ditch challenge to denyChiquinho before Wolves levelled on 11minutes.

Pedro Neto was allowed to gallopclear into the City box and picked outLeander Dendoncker to slot pastEderson.

Parity only lasted another five min-utes as De Bruyne was both creator andexecutioner of City's second.

Raheem Sterling failed to connectwith his pass through the heart of theWolves defence, but Sa could only turnthe ball back into De Bruyne's path and

he made no mistake.The best was yet to come from the

30-year-old as he took aim from outsidethe box and arrowed a shot into the bot-tom corner to complete a hat-trick, withall three goals scored by his supposedlyweaker left foot.

De Bruyne's was the third quickest

hat-trick in Premier League history andhis first since he played for Genk 11 yearsago.

But there was even more to comeafter the break as he slotted home on hisright foot after Phil Foden's cross wasdeflected into his path.

An injury to Laporte was the only

negative of the night for City as he limpedoff after a heavy challenge from RaulJimenez.

Yet, any defensive deficiencies arebeing masked by the firepower ofGuardiola's men at the moment.

Since a 2-2 draw with Liverpool leftthe title race still on a knife edge last

month, City have scored 23 goals in fivegames.

Foden hit the post and Sterlingmissed a sitter with the goal gaping at theback post.

But he could not miss another opengoal when Joao Cancelo's deflected crossfell his way six minutes from time.

De Bruyne nearly had time for a fifthof his own in the final minute as he curledoff the post.

However, another five-star perfor-mance was more than enough for City togive Liverpool little sign of encourage-ment they will cede ground down thehome straight.

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Ajax secured a second straightDutch Eredivisie title on

Wednesday with a 5-0 thrashingof Heerenveen at theAmsterdam Arena.

The club's 36th leaguecrown is the third in charge foroutgoing coach Erik ten Hag,who will end his five-year stintat the helm after this season tobecome Man Utd manager.

Ajax have a four-point leadover second-placed PSVEindhoven, who beat Nijmegen3-2, with one match remaining.

PSV missed the chance tocut the gap to two points lastweekend when they concededtwo late goals in a 2-2 draw atFeyenoord.

Nicolas Tagliafico andSteven Berghuis calmed anyhome nerves by giving Ajax atwo-goal lead.

Sebastien Haller netted apenalty before half-time to scorehis 34th goal in all competitionsthis season. Brian Brobbey andEdson Alvarez added furthergloss to the scoreline late on asTen Hag's final home gameended in celebration.

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Inter Milan claimed theireighth Italian Cup on

Wednesday after overcomingold foes Juventus 4-2 in anextra-time victory full of inci-dent and controversy.

Ivan Perisic secured athrilling win with a double inthe first half of extra time butthe match hung on the award-ing of a soft-seeming penaltywhich Hakan Calhanoglusmashed in to take the matchpast 90 minutes.

Juve had been deservedlyleading through quickfire goalsfrom Alex Sandro and DusanVlahovic early in the second halfand referee Paolo Valeri's deci-sion to give the spot-kick afterLautaro Martinez fell followinga slight touch from LeonardoBonucci enraged Juve.

For Inter it is another suc-cess over Juve after winning theItalian Super Cup earlier in theseason and will boost them intheir Serie A title defence.

Inter trail AC Milan bytwo points and could handtheir local rivals the Scudetto ifthey don't beat relegation-threatened Cagliari on Sunday.

Nicolo Barella gave Inter thelead in the sixth minute with along-range effort.

However from then on Juvewere the better team and soon

turned the match on its headthough, with Sandro levellingthe scores five minutes after thebreak when his shot slippedthrough Handanovic's handsas Alvaro Morata tried to deflectthe ball.

The Juve fans were jumpingand their end of the groundexploded with joy seconds later,Vlahovic ending a four-matchdry spell in front of goal afterbeing sent flying through ongoal by Dybala.

The Serbia forward sentDanilo D'Ambrosio packingand although his first effort waskept out, he made no mistake onthe rebound.

Juve looked to have thegame under control until refer-ee Valeri handed Inter an ill-deserved lifeline.

Calhanoglu rifled homefrom the spot and an alreadyfired-up Juve team then lostcontrol when De Ligt was ruledafter a VAR check to have

chopped down Stefan de Vrij.Perisic stepped up to

smashed in the penalty in the98th minute and once theCroat's decisive second flew infrom distance there was chaos,with Massimiliano Allegri sentoff and players and officials tus-sling on the sidelines.

However Juve couldn'tlaunch a fightback and Intertook the honours with theleague season climax around thecorner.

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Giorgio Chiellini will leaveJuventus at the end of the

season, the veteran defender saidWednesday after his team lostthe Italian Cup final to InterMilan.

Juve captain Chiellini saidhe would quit the club where hehas won a host of trophies oncethey complete their final twogames of the current Serie A sea-son.

"We've had 10 magnificentyears, now it's up to the younglads to carry things on. I've doneall I can, I hope I've left some-thing behind," Chiellini toldMediaset after the 4-2 defeat toInter. "On Monday I will saygoodbye to the (Allianz)Stadium (against Lazio)... It's 100percent my decision."

Chiellini said later that hedid not know whether he wouldbe retiring from the game com-pletely after leaving Juve.

"I don't know ... I need tothink about it with my family.I'm happy to leave Juve this sea-

son while I'm still at a high level,"he told reporters.

The 37-year-old will end hisinternational career this summerafter Italy face Argentina in theFinalissima match at Wembley,where last July he won Euro2020 with Italy. He has won nineleague titles since arriving fromLivorno, as well as five ItalianCups.

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Liverpool midfielderFabinho is facing a race to

be fit for the ChampionsLeague final after injuring hishamstring in Tuesday's winover Aston Villa.

A scan revealed that theBrazilian suffered a hamstringstrain that'll keep him out ofSaturday's FA Cup finalagainst Chelsea andLiverpool's final two PremierLeague matches of the season.

His potential absence inthe Champions League finalagainst Real Madrid on May28 would be a huge blow for

the Reds. Fabinho has been aregular at the heart of JurgenKlopp's midfield and wouldlikely be in the starting line-up if fit.

The injury is also a dam-aging blow for Liverpool'schances of catching PremierLeague leaders ManchesterCity.

Liverpool take onSouthampton and Wolves toconclude their Premier Leaguecampaign.

Curtis Jones or JamesMilner will likely see anincrease in playing time andcould be called into action inthe FA Cup final.

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Chelsea moved to the brink of quali-fying for next season's Champions

League as they pushed Leeds closer to rel-egation from the Premier League with a3-0 victory on Wednesday.

Thomas Tuchel's side won for the firsttime since Todd Boehly's consortiumagreed a deal to buy Chelsea fromRoman Abramovich last week.

Mason Mount opened the scoring inthe early stages at Elland Road and Leedssuffered another blow when DanielJames was sent off.

Christian Pulisic bagged Chelsea'ssecond goal after half-time and RomeluLukaku wrapped up the Blues' first winin four games.

Third-placed Chelsea are now eightpoints clear of fifth-placed Tottenham andwill be guaranteed a top-four finish ifAntonio Conte's team fail to beat fourth-placed Arsenal on Thursday.

Arresting their worrying recentslump was the ideal preparation forChelsea ahead of Saturday's FA Cup finalagainst Liverpool at Wembley.

While Chelsea look to end the sea-son on a high, Leeds are in grave dangerof relegation.

Jesse Marsch's men sit third-bottomof the table, behind fourth-bottomBurnley on goal difference.

Burnley have three games left com-pared to only two for Leeds, who hostBrighton and travel to Brentford in thematches that will decide if their two-sea-son stay in the top flight is destined to endwith a return to the Championship.

Leeds fell into the bottom three forthe first time since October 30 after los-ing at Arsenal on Sunday and the lack ofcomposure that unhinged them on thatoccasion was quickly visible again.

Everton moved two points clear ofLeeds after a 0-0 draw at relegatedWatford. Frank Lampard's side have lostjust once in their last six matches to climbout of the relegation zone.

They also have a game in hand onLeeds in the fight for survival, but will feellike a point was a disappointing returnagainst a Watford team with nothing toplay for. Jamie Vardy scored twice andJames Maddison also netted as Leicesterbeat relegated Norwich 3-0 at the KingPower Stadium to end a run of sevengames without a win.

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Erling Haaland's arrival atManchester City will make the

English champions an even moreruthless attacking force, said PepGuardiola afterseeing his sidethrash Wolves5-1.

Haaland's£51 millionsigning endsCity's search fora recognisedstriker toreplace thedeparted SergioAguero.

"Definitelyhe could helpus score more,"said Guardiola when asked howmany his side would have scored withHaaland up front.

"Big congratulations to the club.It is a signing for the next years. Weare very pleased he decided to cometo join us.

"Next season we will work togeth-er, we will help him to settle quicklyin Manchester. I'm sure he is going toadapt quickly to the way we want toplay."

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Atletico Madrid secured qualificationfor the Champions League on

Wednesday as a 2-0 victory away at Elcheguaranteed their place in La Liga's topfour.

Matheus Cunha and Rodrigo DePaul were both on target as Atletico pulledsix points clear of Real Betis in fifth, withtwo games left to play. Atletico also havethe superior head-to-head record overBetis.

Sevilla, though, failed to make sureof their top-four spot as the team's poorend to the season had earlier continuedwith a goalless draw at home to strugglingMallorca.

Atletico look likely now to finishthird and although the defence of theirleague title has been hugely disappoint-ing — they are 14 points behind RealMadrid — Diego Simeone's side have atleast avoided missing out on theChampions League, which for a whileseemed a very real possibility.

In December, Atletico lost fourleague games in a row for the first timeever under Simeone, before defeat byLevante, who sat bottom of the table,prompted crisis talks between coach andplayers in February.

But five consecutive victories in

March proved crucial and while there hasbeen another dip in recent weeks, Atleticohave done just enough to seal ChampionsLeague qualification for a 10th consec-utive year.

Cunha gave Atleti the lead in the 28thminute as Antoine Griezmann picked outRenan Lodi's run down the left andCunha was in the right place to divert inthe cross to the near post.

The visitors made it two shortly afterthe hour, De Paul finishing off a superbmove after a slick exchange with Lodi,who had again broken through theElche defence.

Atletico play at home on Sunday toSevilla, whose stalemate against Mallorcaat the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan shouldonly delay their qualification given theysit five points clear of Betis, with twogames left to play.

Sevilla will need only one more pointto guarantee they finish ahead of Betis,as they also have the better head-to-headwith their city rivals.

But Julen Lopetegui's side do havetwo tricky last games, with Sunday's tripto the Wanda Metropolitano comingbefore a final match at home to AthleticBilbao.

And even if they get over the line,Sevilla are ending what was once apromising campaign with a whimper.

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Four of the ChampionsLeague's top-performing

clubs could headline a newannual preseason tournament inthe United States.

The mini-tournamentwould reportedly run as anappetizer to the ChampionsLeague each season and featurethe four teams that finish atopthe competition's new 36-teamstandings. The preseason tour-nament could replace theInternational Champions Cup,which serves as a top destinationfor clubs on tour during the off-season. UEFA is also discussingchanges to the Super Cup, whichpits the reigning ChampionsLeague and Europa Leaguechampions against each other ina one-off match every August. IfUEFA proceeds with the presea-son event, the Europa Leagueand Europa Conference Leaguewinners could play in the SuperCup instead.

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Celtic reclaimed the Scottishleague title from fierce

rival Rangers after drawing 1-1 against Dundee United onWednesday. It is a 10th ScottishPremiership title in 11 years —and 52nd in total — for Celtic,its only blot in more than adecade of dominance cominglast year when Rangers won theleague under then-coachSteven Gerrard. Celtic onlyneeded a point at Tannadice totake an unassailable lead oversecond-place Rangers.

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