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

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

!������"��������������#$������!����%��&�� *� �#��������"������������������+������������&��,%��������������������������#�����������������������#���������-��.�/���0�������"�"��&���1���2�������!��������&���������������!������

�������

���'���� ��+���3-4

The Centre on Thursdaywidened stimulus measures

to boost the economy byannouncing a “AatmanirbharBharat” package that includestax relief on select home saledeals, enhanced credit guaran-tee programme for small busi-nesses and incentives for newjob creation.

The measures that alsoinclude additional fertilisersubsidy and already announcedproduction-linked incentivescheme for manufacturingunits totalled �2.65 lakh crore,taking the cumulative stimuluspackage announced since thelockdown to almost �30 lakhcrore, or 15 per cent of theGross Domestic Product(GDP).

It also includes additionalfunding for real estate devel-opers and contractors, a newemployment scheme and addi-tional spending on the ruraljobs plan.

Prime Minister NarendraModi has asserted that the“Aatmanirbhar Bharat” packagecontinues his Government’sefforts to help all sections ofsociety. In a tweet, he said theseinitiatives will help create jobs,alleviate the stressed sectors,ensure liquidity, boost manu-facturing, energise the realestate sector and support farmers.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman cited data, includ-ing increase in tax collections

for goods and services, rise inenergy consumption andimprovement in bank credit, tostate that the economy was see-ing “strong recovery” takingroot.

The Indian economy hasrecovered from its worst-evercontraction of 24 per cent inthe April-June quarter but willend up shrinking by close to 10per cent in the fiscal year toMarch 2021. But she saw hopein the RBI predicting a stronglikelihood of growth in the cur-rent quarter.

Doubling down on thepreviously announced mea-

sures, she said Income Tax lawwill be relaxed to allow prima-ry or first sale of housing unitsof up to �2 crore at a price thatcan be 20 per cent below thestamp duty circle rate.

Currently, the law restrictsdifferential between circle rateand agreement value at 10 percent, and “the move will helpreduce hardships faced by bothhome-buyers and the develop-ers and help clear unsold inven-tory,” she said.

Under the new job creationscheme, the Government willprovide a subsidy equal to thecontribution that an employee

and the employer have to maketowards the retirement fund(totaling 24 per cent of thewages) to establishments thathire new employees or re-hirethose it fired during Covid-19pandemic, she said.

The �3 lakh croreEmergency Credit LineGuarantee Scheme (ECLGS),under which small businessescan get collateral-free loans, hasbeen extended till March 31,2021.

The same has also beenextended to 26 stressed sectorsidentified by a high-level com-mittee as also the healthcare

sector. The companies will geta one-year moratorium onloans and four more years torepay the amount, she said.

Sitharaman counted a pro-duction-linked incentive pro-gramme worth �1.46 lakh crorefor manufacturing units,already approved by theGovernment, as part of the 12support measures unveiled onThursday.

In the past, �51,355 croreof incentives has been provid-ed for mobile manufacturing,drug intermediaries and man-ufacturing of medical devicesand now automobiles, tele-com, textile and food products,white goods, specialty steeland electronic products havebeen included.

An additional outlay of�18,000 crore will be madetowards the affordable urbanhousing programme, she said.

To provide higher liquidi-ty to contracts, theGovernment has decided tolower the earnest moneydeposit for projects tillDecember 31, 2021.

Also, �10,000 crore wasprovided for rural employ-ment, �3,000 crore to EximBank for extending lines ofcredit, and �10,200 crore addi-tional budget outlay for defenceand infrastructure.

A �900 crore grant wasmade to the Department ofBiotechnology for Covid-19vaccine research, she said,adding this did not include thecost of procuring and distrib-

uting the vaccine which will beestablished later.

Sitharaman said theGovernment will provide�65,000 crore of additionalsubsidy on fertiliser to ensurethe crop nutrient is available tofarmers during the currentseason.

The measures are theGovernment’s latest efforts toboost the economy, whichslipped into an unprecedentedrecession after gross domesticproduct probably declined fora second straight quarter in thethree months endedSeptember.

The �29.87 lakh crorestimulus package, spread overfive announcements over thepast few months, includes�12.71 lakh crore of liquidityboosting measures by the RBI.

India Inc on Thursday welcomed the bouquet of measures and said these woulddeliver festive cheer and havea multiplier effect on thegrowth trajectory through support to stressed sectors, thrust to job creation and increased private investments.

“It is heartening to notethat despite fiscal constraints,the Government chose to has-ten the recovery process byspending an additional Rs 2.65lakh crore, thus taking thecumulative fiscal stimulus (tilldate) to Rs 17.2 lakh crore or9 per cent of GDP,” said UdayKotak, CII president.

Continued on Page 12

���������������� ������ ���������

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

���������������� �� ��� �������������� *��*

Nitish Kumar may take oathas Bihar Chief Minister

for a fourth successive termnext week but the date has notbeen finalised yet, a close aidesaid on Thurday.

However, speculation isrife in political circles that hewill be sworn in on Monday,the day “Bhaiyya Dooj” festivalwill be celebrated, as it is con-sidered an auspicious day.

He will visit the State partyheadquarters later Thursdayto meet the newly electedMLAs and other JD(U) func-tionaries.

Raj Bhavan sources saidthey have not received anycommunication about whenthe swearing-in ceremony willtake place.

Before he is sworn-in as theChief Minister again, NitishKumar has to tender his resig-nation to the governor.

The newly elected MLAs ofthe NDA are yet to meet for-mally and elect Kumar as theirleader.

However, with top BJPleaders, including PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,strongly endorsing Kumar asthe Chief Minister, there are nodoubts over a fourth straightterm for him in the high office.

Chief Electoral Officer H RSrinivas, meanwhile, submittedthe list of winning candidatesin the Assembly elections to

Governor Phagu Chauhan atRaj Bhavan.

Talking to reporters forthe first time after the NDA’svictory, Nitish said the date forhis swearing-in ceremony willbe discussed at an “informal”meeting of all the four NDAconstituents on Friday.

He said it is for the alliancespearhead BJP to take a call onwhether to retain the LJP in theNDA. “You make suggestionsto this effect,” Nitish repliedlaughingly when asked whetherhe would ask the BJP to dropthe LJP from the NDA at theCentre in the wake of itsbrinkmanship that scupperedthe chances of JD(U) candi-dates in several seats.

“In any case, it is for theBJP to decide. I have nothingto say in the matter,” saidNitish.

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

����� ��+���3-4

Ministry of Electronics andInformation Technology

has issued showcause notice toTwitter for not showing Leh aspart of Ladakh.

The notice datedNovember 9 asked Twitter toexplain within five workingdays as to why legal actionshould not be initiated againstit for disrespecting India’s ter-ritorial integrity.

Earlier Twitter faced sum-mons from Parliament panel forshowing Leh as part of Chinaand Twitter India representativesapologised. The IT Secretaryalso wrote to Twitter head JackDorsey on this matter.

After the Parliamentarypanel headed by MeenakshiLekhi warned the Twitter rep-resentatives of facing sevenyears in jail, the US-basedcompany submitted a writtenapology.

Ministry in its notice sentto global vice president of

Twitter has mentioned thatshowing Leh as part of Jammu& Kashmir is a deliberateattempt by Twitter to under-mine the will of sovereignParliament of India which haddeclared Ladakh as a UnionTerritory of India with itsheadquarters in Leh.

Incidentally, Twittershowed Leh as part of People’sRepublic of China after whichthe Secretary, Ministry ofElectronics and IT, wrote to

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey rais-ing objection to that.

In response to that Twitterremoved showing Leh as partof People’s Republic of China,but it has not corrected the mapto show Leh as part of theUnion Territory of Ladakh.

It is still showing Leh aspart of Jammu & Kashmir,which is against the officialposition of the Government ofIndia,” said the Ministry in astatement.

(��)� �������)����������������)����'�� ��' � ��# �� ����� ��+���3-4

The Pune-based SerumInstitute of India (SII) and

Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) on Thursdayannounced the completion ofenrolment of phase-3 clinicaltrials for potential Covid-19vaccine “Covishield” in India.

The world’s largest vac-cine manufacturer SII andUnion Health Ministry’sresearch wing ICMR are cur-rently conducting phase 2/3clinical trials of Covishield at 15different centres across thecountry. The drugmaker said ina statement that as many as1,600 participants wereenrolled on October 31.

“The strategic alliancebetween SII and the ICMR willadvance India’s role in theglobal race to develop Covid-19 vaccines,” further said thestatement.

The ICMR has funded theclinical trial site fees whileSerum Institute has fundedother expenses for the vaccine.

The SII said that the trialsof the Oxford vaccine haveshown promising results, which

“so far give confidence thatCovishield could be a realisticsolution to the deadly pan-demic”.

Among the vaccines beingdeveloped in India, Covishieldis in the most advanced stageof human testing. Based on thephase 2/3 trial results, SII withthe help of ICMR will pursue

the early availability of thisproduct for India, the compa-ny said, adding that it hasalready manufactured 40 mil-lion doses under the at-riskmanufacturing and stockpilinglicense from DCGI.

Apart from Covishield,developed at the Pune labora-tory with a master seed from

Oxford University/AstraZeneca,ICMR and SII have also collab-orated for clinical developmentof Covovax developed by US-based Novavax. The OxfordCovid vaccine is currentlybeing tested in large efficacytrials in the UK, Brazil, SouthAfrica and the US.

Continued on Page 12

������ ������ ����������������������������� �(����������������� $5�,$�6,, 78�89(�����������$8�:5�%88�������#� 6�88�:$%������������$$�757�����������6�$7�:7:*����� ����� 6�7:�5(8 9�6,5�������������6�%%�($$�������� 5�8%�8%$���� $$�77(�����������5�$,�867������ 8�(6�%85 $�5:5 7�%6�8%:;����� ����� 8�(,�$8: 5�%6$�������������7�5,�,$9����� 7�8:�:58 )*$$+�������������7�$(�$$6+����<��!�� 7�%(�67( 5�8(9�������������,�6$�$7:=��� ,�(8�:69 $�8,9�������������%�:,�57$�����!��� %�87�999 $�,:,�������������%�,8�:8(<����� %�%8�8(( $�$95 %�$5�:86 �>������ %�$:�,%5 %�(,%�������������$�::�:7,*���� %�(:�9,, :88����������������%�(,�,(8?������!��� %�(8�:%,���� %�8(5�������������$�6,�$:(-������ $�:,�$$$ $�:5:�������������$�5%�%98��>������������ $�67�:97 ,�568�������������$�96�:86�

����� +)*$#*#,-��������-*$+*./#�� �(�����+-*0.*.$-��� �(���1*+)*#,+�

���������������������

�!������"������#$� ����������� ���%�

����� ��+���3-4

With the likelihood of with-drawal of tanks and

heavy guns from the Line ofActual Control (LAC), Indiaand China may also dismantlenew structures in the PangongTso (lake) area.

The two sides had builtstructures like barracks to lodgeadditional troops rushed tothe LAC as part of militarybuild-up. China had also builta jetty at the lake leading tostrong protest by India.

The proposed removingof the structures is part of theproposed three-step plan todisengage and de-escalate fromthe LAC in eastern Ladakh. Ifthe proposals, including pullingback tanks and additionaltroops from the border, areagreed upon in the ninth roundof talks between the CorpsCommanders in the next fewdays, the disengagement maybegin in middle of next month.

Elaborating upon the

three-stage proposed plan,which was discussed during theeighth round of CorpsCommander talks onNovember 6, sources said hereon Thursday the two sidesmay also agree to have a bufferzone between “Finger 4” and“Finger 8” area at the Pangonglake. Mountain spurs arereferred to as Finger.

This comes against thebackdrop of the face off therein early May starting after theChinese troops blocked anIndian Army patrol between“Finger 4 and 8”. While India

reiterated it was within itszone, China claimed it was notso. It led to exchange of blowsbetween the two armies.

The two armies may alsopull back partially from southbank of the Pangong lake. TheIndian Army had occupiedcrucial high points after theChinese tried to forcibly enterthat zone in August. The Indiantroops occupied strategicheights in the Mukhpari,Rezang La and Magar hill areasaround the southern bank ofthe Pangong lake.

Continued on Page 12

����� /-4�3*

Bollywood actor Asif Basraallegedly committed sui-

cide on Thursday at his palatialrented residence inDharamshala in HimachalPradesh.

The 53-year-old actor com-mitted suicide by hanging him-self with a leash of his pet dogaround 12-12.30 on Thursday,Superintendent of PoliceVimukt Ranjan told the medi-apersons.

No suicide note has beenrecovered, he added.

As per the police, justbefore the alleged suicide, the“Jab We Met” actor hadreturned from a stroll in thelocality along with his dog. Theactor was staying in the townfor nearly four years.

Basra is known for hisroles in films like “BlackFriday”, “Parzania”, “Jab We

Met” and “Kai Po Che”, amongmany others. He played thefather of Emraan Hashmi’sShoaib Khan in Milan Luthria’s“Once Upon a Time inMumbaai” (2010).

His most recent outingwas in Amazon Prime Video’ssmash-hit series “Paatal Lok”.

He was last seen in the webseries Hostages, which releasedearlier this year.

Continued on Page 12

���������������� � ���! � �� �������� ��������

������ ������ �� ����� ������������%�� ����&� ��������� �

'����� ��������� ���� ����(��������������%����������� �)�*�+���������� ��������������� ���

@������� ����� �������#����A���������"������� ���#

������������� ���

����!�������A���������A

3����?�� (��2�$89�33�� ,(6B*��/������!���C������*��������

�������D�������3-4��3;?��=+ <-= *3��<-;<*��/+*

*�?-4� *4 ; ?-*��4�* -���- *�;� -E�� *<*��F4�*E+*�*

�34%5� 3��6�-+/1���������� ��������������������������� ��

�� "��7*��������(����� -#*�$0$08�������-1��#

�$%���$��&�*�/�*��*���-��-4�-��*<3�

�$'(���)4/3*�4?�/�*���� =; �?3*4�/�

*��*?��*��/*;�4�++4�?� ��=�E

�*%$'+��,

;?=F/�4����/�=G�?*33�;

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

��-� � .������������!� �� ���/� ������������� ����� 3;?��=+

In the first crackdown oncops-criminal nexus in the

Bikru ambush case of Kanpur,the Uttar Pradesh governmentplaced DIG PAC inMoradabad, Anant Deo Tewari,under suspension on the rec-ommendation of the specialinvestigation team and ordereda departmental enquiry againsthim. The suspension orderwas issued on Thursdayevening, confirmed AdditionalChief Secretary (Home)Awanish Awasthi.

Facing allegations of nexuswith criminals, Tewari wasearlier shunted out from primeposting as DIG of Special TaskForce and posted as DIG ofProvincial ArmedConstabulary (PAC) inMoradabad.

The action was taken afterTewari was alleged to have

overlooked a letter that sur-faced after the Bikru incident,written by slain DySPDevendra Mishra, alleging anexus between gangster VikasDubey and suspendedChaubeypur police station in-charge Vinay Tewari.

Anant Deo Tewari, whowas posted as SSP of KanpurNagar, is considered to be closeto Dubey’s aide and had givenpatronage to the Chaubeypurpolice station incharge.

Sources said that thoughTewari got relief in the inquiryconducted against him by IG,Lucknow Range, LakshmiSingh, but the SIT formed bythe state government to lookinto the role of police officersfor giving patronage to VikasDubey indicted him and rec-ommended action against himalong with some other officers.

Many of the local police-men then posted in Kanpur

Nagar are already behind thebar for helping Vikas Dubey torun his empire.

It may be mentioned thatthe state government had con-stituted the SIT underAdditional Chief SecretarySanjay Bhoosreddy. The othermembers are ADG Hari RamSharma and DIG RavinderGoud.

The SIT had to submit itsreport by July 31 after lookinginto all the angles, studying allrelated documents and spotinspection in Kanpur Nagar.However, it got an extension.

On July 3 last, eight policepersonnel, including a DySP,were gunned down in Bikruvillage by the henchmen ofDubey. Seven others, includinga civilian, were injured in theattack from the rooftop afterthe police team entered the vil-lage past midnight on July 2 toarrest Dubey.

<4� ; /-==�=;� 4� *?�

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

������������ ������������������������������� �������������������� ��! ����������""����������!�#��$���������%&''()*(����������+��+�����������,�������&--./���0������� .���1������������%�2�����3����������$�������2�����3���������������$101��')*(456�������%+� �"�����32�.783 )-(())!93'- 55:'�. ���;�����3<)5-'=' '):*:�' '*)*:�-'>) ()���"��;�����3<)5*'='-) ))(�'-) *(������;�����3<)5 '=' * '> �' * '>5�?� ��;�����31��(�7�����@� �7�%��7�������A������1�%?� ��&**)))'������3)**& )**) 55���//��������;�����3!&-*�������(�1;0?.�@��/7���1��&')*-)*�B��������3)*')& :6>:))C :6>>))

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

��+0�'�1"*

����� 3;?��=+

Directing officials to remaincautious and vigilant in

view of COVID-19, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onThursday said that in view ofthe upcoming festivals, peopleshould be constantly cautionedto take protection against thenovel coronavirus.

The chief minister, whowas presiding over an Unlockreview meeting at his officialresidence, said that to ensurebetter recovery rates inLucknow and Meerut districts,the treatment facilities shouldbe strengthened further.

Asking officials to maintainspecial caution in view ofDeepawali, he said that emer-gency facilities of all the med-ical colleges, district hospitals,community health centres andprimary health centres shouldremain active.

In view of the ongoing

Mission Shakti campaign toensure safety, security and self-reliance of women and girls, thechief minister said that itshould be carried out with full

commitment and alertnesstowards their safety and secu-rity, adding that there should beno laxity in it.

Directing all the depart-

ments to prepare their employ-ment plans on the lines of thefinancial plans, the chief min-ister asked the infrastructureand industrial development

commissioner to conduct aweekly review in view of thecomprehensive possibilities ofemployment.

While directing officials

to ensure the distribution ofsweaters to students ofprimary schools beforewinters, the chief minister saidthat special attention should bepaid on the quality of thesweaters.

Directing officials toensure security arrangementswith all necessary facilities atthe night shelters, the chiefminister also asked officialsto pay special importancetowards security of womenbesides making all arrange-ments for protection fromCOVID-19.

Instructing officials toensure all arrangements at thepaddy purchase centres, thechief minister said that itshould also be ensured that thefarmers got the minimum sup-port price.

He also asked officials tocheck the burning of stubble bycreating awareness about itsdemerits.

?�����������!'�������������������������>�������!���������� 3;?��=+

While distributing appointment let-ters to junior engineers of the

Irrigation department, Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath said these newly-appointed officers were expected towork with honesty because thoseappointed in transparent manner showedhonesty in their work.

Appointment letters to 1,438 juniorengineers of the Irrigation and WaterResources department were issued acrossthe state. “When a person gets a govern-ment job in a procedure which is trans-parent his honesty is reflected in thework. He is not in a race to make moneyto replenish what he had spent to get ajob. That person works with passion andthis is reflected in his work,” Yogi saidduring a function in which he also inter-acted with a few candidates who gotappointment letters.

The chief minister gave the appoint-ment letters to five of the selected juniorengineers at a programme organised athis official residence here.

During his interaction throughvideo-conferencing, Yogi Adityanathasked one of the appointees whether hehad to pay bribe to anyone for getting thejob. The appointee replied in the nega-tive and said that the whole process wastransparent. The chief minister said thatthe youth who were getting jobs todaywere capable and competent and the statewould benefit from their abilities.

He congratulated the new appointeesfor getting their appointment letters onthe occasion of Dhanteras.

“As I cannot give you anything on thisauspicious day, so I thought I should giveappointment letters,” the chief ministersaid. He also stressed that the thrust ofhis government was on honesty andtransparency in the recruitment processand merit was the main criterion for get-ting jobs.

He also praised the working of theIrrigation and Water Resources depart-ment during the past over three years andsaid that it was exemplary. Several of theappointees said that they were selectedon the basis of their merit.

����� 3;?��=+

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath greeted the peo-ple of Uttar Pradesh on the auspicious occasion

of Dhanteras and wished them happiness and pros-perity.

In his message, the chief minister said, “On thisday, the vaidyagan worship Lord Dhanvantari. It iswell-known that happiness and prosperity can beattained only through good health. Therefore, on theoccasion of Dhanteras and Dhanvantari Jayanti,everyone should promise to achieve good health sothat a healthy and prosperous society can be built.”

Promising to bring smiles on the faces of everyresident of Uttar Pradesh, the chief minister added,“Dhanteras signifies wealth and I promise that everyperson of the state will get a life full of happinessand prosperity.”

����� 3;?��=+

Acting on the inputs givenby the Military Intelligence

(MI), the Shahjahanpur policebusted a fake Army recruit-ment racket in which men inkhaki were also involved.

The officials investigatingthe racket, which facilitatedrecruitment of people in theArmy on the basis of fakedocuments, are also lookinginto the possible involvementof Pakistan’s notorious InterServices Intelligence (ISI) orsome other subversive forces.

Confirming the develop-ment, Superintendent of Policeof Shahjahanpur, S Anand,said that a recruitmentracket was running for over ayear and around 300 peoplewere facilitated jobs in theArmy on the basis of fakedocuments.

“The gang operating theracket also facilitated policeverification of successful can-didates. We came to knowabout a gang working in theBanda area. It took heftyamounts from candidatesoutside Shahjahanpur andfacilitated their recruitmentin the Army with fakedocuments. After they got the

jobs, they also got their policeverification done with thehelp of two constables,” Anandsaid.

He further disclosed thatthe investigation made so fardid not confirm involvement ofany terror outfit, subversiveforces or anti-national angle,but they were still looking intoall angles, and particularly ver-ifying the involvement of ISI.

Anand said that after theygot some vital inputs, a teamwas formed under ASP (Rural)Aparna Gautam to investigatethe racket.

He said after a detailedinvestigation, Suresh Som (55),Hukum Singh, ParamveerSingh, Mukesh Kumar andpolice constable Manveer Singhwere arrested.

Suresh Som was a havildarin 26 Rajput Regiment and

retired in 2010. The policesaid that Suresh was the king-pin of the gang and Rs 1 lakhto Rs 5 lakh was taken from thecandidates to prepare the fakedocuments.

Fake stamps of SHOs, vil-lage heads and 300 officershave been recovered from thegang. To nab all the people whogot jobs through the gang,police verification of all therecruits after January 1, 2019 isbeing done.

“The Bareilly unit is thor-oughly investigating the casewith police. A separate internalinvestigation is also going on.The possibility of the involve-ment of anti-national groupslike ISI cannot be ruled out asSom had leaked inside infor-mation to recruit the candi-dates on fake documents,”Anand added.

����� 3;?��=+

As Ayodhya gears up for the Deepotsavcelebration, the first one after the

commencement of Ram Temple construc-tion, the focus will be on the government’sefforts to attempt a Guinness Book recordwhen 5.51 lakh diyas will be lit on the banksof the river Saryu.

“In Ayodhya, which has become thecentre of attraction and curiosity around theworld in the recent past, the YogiAdityanath government is also going toconvey the message of India’s culturalglory to the entire world,” senior govern-ment official Mukesh Meshram said.

This will be a three-day celebrationwhich started on November 11 and willcontinue till November 13. Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath will attend the programmein the evening and take part in the lamplighting celebration.

The cultural rainbow of the entire coun-try will be witnessed this time at theDeepotsav celebrations in Ayodhya onFriday as artists from many states, includ-ing Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,Uttarakhand and the Braj and Bundelkhandregions of UP exhibit their skills. The focus

of the event will be on promoting theMission Shakti campaign.

With lakhs of diyas (lamps) illuminat-ing the bank of the river Saryu, these artistswill further glorify the festive celebrationsof the holy city. The folk artists ofBundelkhand will platform to showcasetheir rich heritage as the Culture depart-ment has specially included the Diwari Toliof Bundelkhand in the Deepotsav this year.

The dance groups of the Bundelkhandyouths will also make the celebrations spe-cial in their own traditional style.

Along with the other artists, the teamof Ramesh Pal of Banda district, whosegroup has performed Diwari Toli in manycountries, has been invited to perform atthe celebrations.

“With this, the intent of the governmentis to give a stage to the artists ofBundelkhand and a further boost to theeconomy and culture of the region,” the offi-cial said. The official said that all the Covidprotocols would be strictly adhered to andall roads leading to the Saryu river and RamJanmabhoomi would be barricaded.

“Nobody other than the invitees will beallowed at the Deepotsav venue,” the offi-cial said.

�7��� ���������Diwali and Children’s Day were cele-

brated by the department of PaediatricOrthopedics, Shatabdi phase-II hospital(KGMU), on Thursday. A drawing compe-tition was organised on the occasion andchildren from various schools took part init. The competition was based on topicssuch as ‘Diwali’, ‘My Childhood and Covid-19’, and ‘My Lovely India’. On this occasion,sweets, balloons and colouring materialwere distributed among over 25 children.Shikhar Dixit (9), Paridhi Singh (3) andDua Zehra (10) grabbed the top three spotsin the competition. All the children werefelicitated.

���� ���������������Qasim Mohammad Anees, a talented

student of City Montessori School,Rajajipuram Campus I, has been selectedfor admission by the Kazan FederalUniversity of Russia. His academic excel-lence and diligence got him the opportu-nity to get into this prestigious foreign uni-

versity. He has given credit for his achieve-ment to the robust academic atmosphereof CMS. Qasim has been selected by theRussian university for pursuing SpecialistDegree Diploma in General Medicine.

������Principal Secretary, UP Housing and

Development Board, Deepak Kumarpresided over the 251st divisional levelmeeting on Thursday. The meeting resolveto appoint the board as the consultant ofBhumi Vikas Evam Grahkar Yojana,Ayodhya. It was also decided to fix themonthly rent of houses built underAffordable Rental Housing Scheme at Rs4,000. It was also decided to hand over 20acres of land of Awadh Vihar Yojana to UPHandloom Coporation.

���������� ��������The qualifying round of speedster

competition to find India’s fastest bowlerwill be held at Seth AR Jaipuria School onNovember 30.

�����# ��� ��� � �����������2���!������*���������#�#�����+� ��� �

�3��3��!��� ��.� ������.�� ��

, �-��������������� ������������(� �� � �#��

�-��4�F�/�4�*�4=���*���/=�D* ��4��=��?=�D4 ��4�F=3F������=D�*�E�� = �=;�D4���/;<F� /4F��D= ?�/= �*��4"�*�4=�*3�*��3���<;���-�E+� ��/�433�3==�4���4��=�*33*��3�/��*��� * �4?;3* 3E�F� 4DE4���-��4�F=3F������=D�4/4

,�!�����������-���� ������ ��������� ��.������� ���� ����������-������������!�����&�����������������������

�������� �������� ����� !" � #$%�&'&'���..������

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

����� 3;?��=+

A40-year-old doctor died ina road mishap in

Indiranagar on Wednesdaynight. Police said the victimrammed his motorcycle into anelectric pole while his father sus-pected foul play.

The deceased was identifiedas Ashish Bajpai of Indiranagar.A native of Unnao, he had hisclinic in Khurramnagar. As perreports, he left for his housearound 11 pm on Wednesdayand his motorcycle rammedinto an electric pole. He sufferedserious injuries and was rushedto a hospital where he wasdeclared brought dead.

Meanwhile, a 20-year-oldBBA student committed suicide

at her house in Gudamba onThursday morning. Around 5am, the girl, identified as Savitriof Gudamba, was found hang-ing from a hook with a sareetied around her neck. Her par-ents rushed her to a hospitalwhere she was declared broughtdead. Police said the girl’s fatheris a farmer. The body was sentfor autopsy.

����� ����7��"������With the arrest of four

persons, Ashiyana policeclaimed to have worked out atwo-month-old loot case inwhich a woman was targeted inDevi Kheda locality. On the dayof the incident on September 7,the police had doubted victim’sclaim that she was deprived of

Rs 3.5 lakh by unidentified mis-creants. The accused were iden-tified as Vishal Kanaujia, AryanRawat, Lalit Kumar (all ofAshiyana) and Faizan Khan ofSarojininagar. The police recov-ered Rs 46,500 in cash, twomotorcycles and a country-made pistol.

A police team was tippedoff about the presence of foursuspects in Ratan Khand in thearea and the police conducteda raid. The suspects attemptedto flee the scene but were over-powered by the police. Theytold the police that the cashrecovered from their posses-sion was looted from a womanon September 7 while themotorcycles were used to exe-cute crimes.

����� 3;?��=+

Aday after AbhishekKesarwani, a jewellery

shop owner, was shot at inVikas Nagar on Wednesdaynight, police detained a prop-erty dealer identified asAshtbhuja Pathak of PGI policestation area for his alleged

involvement in the crime.Abhishek’s father Sudhir

Kesarwani of Mahanagar had

����� 3;?��=+

Coronavirus failed to cast itsshadow in markets on the

first day of Dhanteras onThursday. Traders said thoughthere was brisk shopping late inthe evening, there was nodearth of buyers. Gold worth Rs15 crore and utensils worth Rs6-7 crore were sold on the firstday. Traders said they areexpecting huge crowds on thesecond day of Dhanteras onFriday.

Secretary, Lucknow SarrafaAssociation, Adheesh Jain saidthat the highlight was a dia-mond kamarbandh worth Rs17.35 lakh, which was sold onThursday. “The sales have beengood and gold worth Rs 15crore was sold. The marketpicked up late in the evening.The sales have been goodbecause of the wedding seasonapproaching. We expect thesales to be even better on

Friday because the date ofDhanteras on social network-ing sites has been highlightedas November 13,” he said.

He said that last year, theyhad sold 50 kg gold worth Rs20 crore. “Coronavirus feardid not impact the market thisyear and items of all kinds weresold,” he said.

President of MetalsMerchant Association andLucknow Vyapar MandalHarish Chandra Agarwal saidutensils worth Rs 6-7 crore weresold on the first day ofDhanteras. He said that thoughthe crowd was less, heavy itemsfor wedding purposes weresold. “The traditional buyer willcome on Friday and we expecthuge crowds since the muhuratof Dhanteras was after 7 pm onThursday. The traders werehappy that they made goodsales and coronavirus did notplay a role,” he said.

Agarwal said they sold

utensils of copper and brass.“The trends have changed inthe recent years. The cus-tomers are more inclinedtowards utensils which pro-mote health and are not toomuch interested in buyingaluminium vessels becausethese are not good for healthand make a person prone todiseases,” he said. He addedthat the most popular werecookers made of brass andcopper, as also utensils ofbronze.

���������( ��������/�������)��������7��

Lucknow Metro train ser-vices will be available from 6am to 7 pm on the occasion ofDiwali. Officials said the ser-vices would start at 6 in themorning from both the termi-nals (Chaudhary Charan SinghAirport and Munshipulia sta-tions) and the last train wouldbe available at 7 in the evening.

����� 3;?��=+

The highest stipend in thehundred percent IIM-L

summer placements this yearis Rs 2.5 lakh per month. IIM-L successfully completed itssummer placements (2020-2021) for the 36th batch ofPGP and 17th batch of PGP-ABM.

IIM-L secured 100% place-ment for the largest batch inthe history of its 36-year lega-cy, placing students across amultitude of roles in market-ing, consulting, finance and

general management with toprecruiters. The highest stipendis Rs 2.5 lakh per month,median stipend Rs 1.2 lakh permonth and average stipend Rs1.1 lakh per month.

“It is noteworthy that thisaccomplishment was achievedthrough entirely virtual con-duct of the recruitmentprocesses. Amidst the globalpandemic, IIM-L took therecruitment processes ontothe online platform, designedspecifically to ensure a smoothinterface among all the stake-holders in the process,” an

official said. The placementdrive saw participation frommany top recruiters. Legacyrecruiters include Accenture,Aditya Birla Group, Alvarezand Marsal, Amazon, AvendusCapital, Axis Capital, Bain andCo, Bank of America MerillLynch, Citi, Colgate-Palmolive,Deloitte, Deutsche Bank,Flipkart, Goldman Sachs,Hindustan Unilever, ITC, JPMorgan Chase, Kearney,MasterCard Advisors,Mckinsey and Co., Microsoft,Nestle, Procter andGamble,etc.

����� 3;?��=+

Lucknow witnessed a spurtin coronavirus cases with

315 persons testing positiveon Thursday. As many as 235patients recovered while thedeath toll has reached 926.

The new patients includ-ed 29 from Gomtinagar, 28from Indiranagar, 27 fromVikasnagar, 21 from RaeBareli road, 17 from Ashiyana16 from Hazratganj, 14 eachfrom Sarojininagar,Hazratganj & Aliganj, 13 eachfrom Alambagh, Chowk &Madiaon, and 11 fromChinhat. Ten Covid patientsdied on Thursday and three ofthem belonged to Lucknowwhile the rest to Rae Bareli,Ayodhya, Balrampur,Sultanpur and Basti. Two

patients succumbed atKGMU, including a 54-year-old man from Faizabad and a67-year-old man fromSultanpur.

Across the state, 2,278persons tested positive,including 214 fromGautambuddh Nagar, 145from Ghaziabad and 160 fromMeerut, taking the UP tally to5,05,426. There were 21 deathsin the state, including three inMeerut, two in Agra, and oneeach in Kanpur, Jhansi,Lakhimpur Kheri,Gautambuddh Nagar,Pratapgarh, Mathura, Hardoi,Deoria, Sonbhadra,Siddharthnagar andKaushambhi, taking the statetoll to 7,302. Besides, 1,870patients recovered, taking therecovery figures to 4,75,175.There are still 22,949 activecases in the state.

Meanwhile, the Healthdepartment’s will be on test-ing those having co-morbidi-ties through RT-PCR methodand those with the slightest ofsymptoms will be tested toprevent deaths due to Covid-19 in Lucknow. Additional

CMO MK Singh, who is alsothe nodal officer for contain-ment, said this strategy wouldhelp in early detection ofcases and decline in the mor-tality rate of the district. Hepointed out that the mortali-ty rate of Lucknow is slightlyless than that of the entirestate.

He said RT-PCR tests arebeing conducted more ascompared to antigen tests forcoronavirus sampling. “Wehave completed the targetedsurveillance today,” he said.

He said no member of thesurveillance & rapid responseteams and health officials willtake leave in the festive peri-od and everyone will contin-ue with the containment activ-ity. “There are 1,200 surveil-lance teams and 160 rapid

response teams and over 4,000health workers are part of theteams that will be workingeven during Diwali holidays,”he added.

Meanwhile, under ‘BasAb to Jeetna Hai’ campaignagainst coronavirus, People’sHealth Organisation (PHO)has appealed to people tohelp those who have beeninfected with the virus insteadof ostracising them.

PHO secretary Dr IshwarGilada said a lot can be donefor Covid patients withoutcatching the Infection. “Callthem up or send them a mes-sage and let them know thatyou are always there to helpthem, if need be. Family andfriends are the biggest supportsystem for Covid patients. It issafe to drop food, groceries,medicines or other items ofneed at the doorstep ofpatients. If everyone at thehouse is positive, it becomesdifficult to get even a parac-etamol or anything else; andin such a situation simplegestures can be of great help,”he said.

“Treatment may get

expensive if hospitalisationor intensive care is needed.Mental stress is a big issuefaced by Covid patients asthey are alone without anyinteraction with others andwith the natural fear of thedisease in their minds. Helpthem establish a daily routineto follow so as to give them asense of normalcy. Be it anhour of yoga, a game playedtogether online or anythinglike that, a daily routine willhelp them feel less stressedand go about everyday feelingmore relaxed and with some-thing to look up to,” saidGilada.

He said there is a highincidence of depression andanxiety amongst Covidpatients which they may notfeel comfortable discussingwith anyone. “Lend them youremotional support and bealert for any signs of depres-sion while talking to them.Keep them cheerful and busy,and simply be patient and lis-ten to whatever they have tosay. Your time and patience isprobably the biggest thingthey need,” he added.

�� � � ��!������4�5�����������.������ ��. �����#�/���������)����#����������� �����

lodged a case against his elderbrother Rajendra Kesarwani ofFaridabad and Pathak. Sudhirsaid land dispute was the rea-son why Abhishek was shot at.The victim himself hadinformed the police about theattack on Wednesday night.

Sudhir further alleged thatPathak had threatened his sonin February earlier this yearand also a week back.

“He threatened to kill myson if they did not get the land,”Sudhir alleged. He said hiselder brother had probablysigned a land deal with Pathak.

On Wednesday night,Abhishek and his wife Nehawere returning home in a carafter closing the jewellery shop.When they reached CIMAProad, two car-borne miscreantsreached there and opened firebefore speeding off the scene.

During investigation, thepolice got a CCTV footage inwhich the car was identified byAbhishek but the police wereyet to reach the attackers.

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

+�) �������0��� ������#���� ��������)����������� ���

Lucknow (PNS): A sum of Rs70,000 and other documentsbelonging to a retired govern-ment employee were stolen byunidentified persons who gavehim a lift in their car in PGIpolice station area onThursday afternoon.

As per report, ShripalYadav of Dehva village inMohanlalganj was going to aautomobile showroom atKamta in Chinhat to pur-chase a motorcycle on theoccasion of Dhanteras. On

the way, he was offered a liftand he sat in the car after theman in the driving seatpromised to drop on the mainroad. There were two otherpersons also sitting in the car.After covering some distance,the man in the driving seatasked Shripal to get downfrom the car as it developed asnag. As Shripal got down, thedriver sped off. “I found mycash missing when I checkedthe pockets of my trousers,”Shripal told police.

'�������!������.��3����.������� ��672777

�������8���������������� �.

44�"3����������H�-!������������%�83�

/����������������-������� ���� ���������������� ���������������� �����

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

����� 3;?��=+

Describing the BiharAssembly elections as more

nail-biting than the US presiden-tial polls, Samajwadi Party pres-ident Akhilesh Yadav said thatRashtriya Janata Dal leaderTejashwi Yadav was set tobecome the chief minister butbecause of irregularities commit-ted in Bihar, theMahagathbandhan was deniedvictory.

“Those having faith indemocratic values are unhappyafter the Bihar Assembly polls.Tejashwi Yadav was poised tomake his government but could

not do so at the last moment,”Akhilesh Yadav said while talk-ing to reporters here onThursday. The SP chief said allthose who valued democraticvalues were unhappy today andwere asking if this was how elec-tions would be fought.

Expressing surprise, heclaimed that with only 14,000more votes, the grand alliancewould have been victorious.

“The Bihar elections weremore nail-biting than the USelections. Don’t know what trickthe Bharatiya Janata Partyplayed. This is the speciality ofthe BJP,” he said. The SP chiefsaid that elections today had

��+0�'�1"*

������������� ���������������!����9%�.��:�.��� #��8���

become mathematics and therewere no issues now.

“The BJP uses everything towin elections. I can present oneexample and also play its videoto prove how all the officialsfrom district magistrate to policechief were involved (in UP). Atsome places, even during thechecking of temperature whenthe voters were going in to casttheir votes they were threatenedthat such a temperature wouldbe given which would directlyshift them to hospital, andambulances were also deployed,”Akhilesh said

He stressed that his partywould not leave the path ofdevelopment come what mayand recalled how the SP schemeswere being repackaged andclaimed as that of this (BJP) gov-ernment.

“I can say on record that wehad given farmers pensions andwomen pensions. The maxi-mum bank accounts and bankbranches were opened duringthe SP regime and online trans-fer of money had also started butthis (BJP) government onlyindulges in publicity and we willalso do the same now,” he said.

Yadav also attacked the gov-ernment for its claim of giving50 lakh jobs and asked thenames of the departments wherethe jobs were being provided. Healso asked what happened to theclaims of over Rs 4 lakh crore

investment in the state asclaimed by the government.“When the time comes, we willbring a scheme and spell out thedetails of where we will be giv-ing jobs to the youth,” he said.At least three farmers ofAyodhya also addressed thepress conference and recountedtheir experiences with the offi-cials over land acquisition intheir native villages for Sri RamAirport and development ofAyodhya. They alleged that theofficials were harassing them forsigning the agreement in whichtheir land was being acquired atvery low rates . They also saidthat they had met Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath over the issueafter which the atrocities of theofficials had increased.

Assuring all possible help byhis party to the farmers ofDharampur, Ganja and Kutiagram sabhas who recountedtheir problems, Akhilesh Yadavsaid the government was takingland for a pious work andshould show big heart and revisethe circle rates as there was nodearth of money to serve thepeople .He demanded that thefarmers of these villages begiven six times more compen-sation for their land .

Giving the example of Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Yadavsaid that land for it was acquiredgiving compensation to the sat-isfaction of the farmers.

������Principal Secretary, UP Housing and Development Board,

Deepak Kumar presided over the 251st divisional level meetingon Thursday. The meeting resolve to appoint the board as theconsultant of Bhumi Vikas Evam Grahkar Yojana, Ayodhya. Itwas also decided to fix the monthly rent of houses built underAffordable Rental Housing Scheme at Rs 4,000. It was also decid-ed to hand over 20 acres of land of Awadh Vihar Yojana to UPHandloom Corporation.

���� ���������������Qasim Mohammad Anees, a talented

student of City Montessori School,Rajajipuram Campus I, has been selected foradmission by the Kazan Federal Universityof Russia. His academic excellence and dili-gence got him the opportunity to get into thisprestigious foreign university. He has givencredit for his achievement to the robust aca-demic atmosphere of CMS. Qasim has been selected by theRussian university for pursuing Specialist Degree Diploma inGeneral Medicine.

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

���������7�����( �����F* *�*/4�

Despite several COVID-19restrictions and tight secu-

rity arrangements, hundreds ofdevotees thronged famousAnnapurna Mandir nearDwadaslinga Kashi VishwanathMandir to take the darshan ofgold idol of Maa Annapurna onthe auspicious occasion ofDhanteras here on Thursday.As the temple is located in redzone of super sensitiveGyanvapi premises, elaboratesecurity arrangements weremade and every devotee wasonly allowed after checkingthrough metal detectors.

In view to check the rushof devotees, the adjoining areaswere barricaded. As Dhanteraswill continue around 4 pm onFriday, it is expected that thetemple would see rush of devo-tees even on the second day.The darshan of gold idol beganafter PeethadishwarRameshwar Puri offeredShodshopchar pujan andMangla arti. During the nextfive days, the people can takedarshan of this gold idol tillAnnakoot Mahotsav dailybetween 4 am to 11 pm except12 noon to 12.30 p.m. whenBhog Aarti would be per-formed. It may be mentionedthat every year, this gold idol istaken out only once on this aus-picious occasion. In the after-noon hours there was a heavy

rush when Anndhan (coinsand lava) was distributed. TheBanarasis believe that keeping

the coins in the houses helpMaa Annapurna’s blessings totheir family.

The reference of this goldidol of Maa Annapurna is seenin Bhishma Purana and otherancient books. According topresent Mahant RameshwarPuri, its evidence is availablesince 1601 AD that was thetime of Mahant Keshav Puri.To maintain law and order,elaborate security arrange-ments were made and seniordistrict and police officers werecamping there to keep watchon the situation.

Meanwhile, heavy rush ofpeople was seen in almost allthe main markets when thepeople came out from theirhouses to purchase differentarticles on this auspicious occa-sion. As per the tradition, thepeople purchased their Diwalipuja and other articles on thisoccasion. Due to rush, inalmost all the main areas therewere traffic jams like the situ-ation in the entire city in theevening hours.

Even in the lanes and var-ious Mohalla markets therewas rush as thousands of tem-porary shops selling utensils,puja items, sweets, lai andother items, flowers, decorativeitems and others were openedcausing a lot of traffic jam likesituation.

As per the tradition, on thisauspicious occasion the peoplepurchased various utensils,especially made of metals. Rushwas also seen at all the jewelleryshops.

���������7�����( �����*33*-*<*�

For the third consecutiveday on Wednesday, the

number of corona infections isgradually increasing. TheCOVID report of 89 personscame positive in 24 hours. Atthe same time, 76 people beatcorona. It is a matter of reliefthat no infected died.

According to CMO Dr.GS Bajpai, 59 people also com-pleted home isolation. At thesame time, 17 people were dis-charged from various Covidhospitals. The number of activepatients stood at 836.

According to CMO DrBajpai, the Target Group test-ing was conducted in the shop-ping mall. A total of 6,649 peo-

ple were screened during theday. The percentage of infect-ed is negligible. He informedthat 85 infected patients areadmitted in SRN Hospital and50 in Beli Hospital, while 18patients are being treated atUnited Medicity.

According to NodalOfficer for Corona Dr RishiSahai, two doctors includingthe Deputy Commissioner, aprivate and a government offi-cial were infected onWednesday. On the otherhand, a TC of Railway,Commandant of RPF, AuditOfficer of AG Office, a consta-ble posted at SSP residence, thedriver of SP Yamunapar andthe Covid report of the PDAemployee have come positive.

It may be pointed out here

that the infection of COVID-19 is gradually decreasing, butthe danger remains until thevaccine is introduced.

With this, winter has alsoknocked. With the onset ofwinter season, the risk of pneu-monia increases with cold andfever. If left unnoticed, pneu-monia can also be fatal. WorldPneumonia Day is observedevery year on November 12 forpneumonia awareness global-ly for prevention of pneumo-nia.

With the corona pandem-ic, the risk of pneumoniaincreases further, so it is nec-essary that pneumonia berecognised and treated in time.

District ImmunisationOfficer Dr Amit Srivastavasaid that newborns, young

children and old people aremost at risk of pneumonia. Itcan not be openly told about itsproblems, so it is very impor-tant to recognise the symptomsof pneumonia in young chil-dren. If the symptoms of pneu-monia are recognised in time,the lives of various childrencan be saved.

About 16 per cent of thechildren are affected by pneu-mococcal bacteria, to preventthis, PCV vaccine has beenlaunched on all health centreson Child Health and NutritionDay on August 13, which isfree. Pneumonia is spread bothby bacteria and viruses.

COVID-19 is transmittedby virus. Pneumonia canbe prevented if diagnosedearly.

���������7�����( �����*33*-*<*�

North Central Railway iscommitted for safe and

convenient travel experience toits esteemed passengers duringongoing festive and winter sea-sons. In order to ensure avail-ability of trains to various des-tinations and confirmed berths,227 pairs of special trainsincluding 73 pairs of festivalspecials are catering to differ-ent stations over NCR.

Besides punctual runningof trains, various other secu-rity and passenger amenitymeasures have also been takenby Railways. Three divisionsof NCR are ensuring thatcommercial staf fs aredeployed near windows out-

side the reservation countersat all passenger reservationcenters.

They have been asked tocounter-sign the requisitionform after ensuring completefilling of the form, especiallythe address before it is submit-ted to the reservation clerk toexpedite reservation process.These staff shall be availableat PRS counters during peakhours from 07:30 am to 11:30am on all days includingSundays and Holidays.Divisions have been furtheradvised to operate additionalreservation counters wherev-er required and proper dutyroster and availability of ade-quate reservation slips arealso being ensured.

Strict vigil and surveil-lance is being kept over theactivities of touts and anti-social elements by deployingsuff icient number ofC o m m e r c i a l / Vi g i l a n c eInspectors and RPF staff atreservation offices. Drives arebeing launched to avoid com-plaints regarding overchargingby coolies/porters. Squads ofCommercial Officers and tick-et checking staff have beenformed to organise specialsurprise checks to curb theactivities of anti-social ele-ments and to organise specialchecks to detect variousfrauds.

Frequent announcementswith regard to special trainsbeing run and extra coaches

being attached to differenttrains are also being made forinformation of the passengersso that complete occupancy ofsuch trains is ensured andpressure on regular trains isreduced.

Adequate drinking waterfacility, proper upkeep of wait-ing halls/rooms, lightened sig-nage’s etc. are being ensuredalong with maintenance ofproper cleanliness at stationsby deployment of adequatenumber of staff. For the con-venience of senior citizens,availability of adequate num-ber of wheel chairs in work-able condition and other spec-ified facilities for differentlyable “Divyangjan” are alsobeing monitored.

���������7�����( �����F* *�*/4�

Former MLC PramodMishra filed his nomination

papers from Varanasi Teacherconstituency. Though like sit-ting MLC and his arch rivalChet Narayan Singh, he is alsoa senior leader of Uttar PradeshMadhyamik Shikshak Sangh(UPMSS), both belong to dif-ferent factions of the associa-tion They are also close to dif-ferent political parties asPramod is close to Congress,while Chet Narayan Singh toBharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Meanwhile, Nageshwar Singhfiled his nomination papersfrom Varanasi Graduate con-stituency along with seniorCongress leaders including ex-MLA Ajay Rai, former statesecretary Satish Choubey, citychief Raghvendra Choubeyand many others.

With the filing of nomina-tion papers, infighting in differ-ent lobbies of Congress has sur-faced as just a few days agoSanjeev Singh also filed papersclaiming as a Congress candi-date from Varanasi Graduateseat. Actually, earlier Sanjeevwas the regional chief of Aam

Admi Party (AAP) but later on,after resigning from AAP hehad joined the Congress andsince his joining the party itwas expected that he would bethe Congress candidate whichcreated a resentment amongsome old party leaders.

Besides, Ashutosh Sinhaalong with senior SP leadersalso filed his nominationpapers from Graduate seatthough earlier he had also didthe same silently. This time hereached there along with some

senior SP leaders includingcity president RajkumarJaiswal. The attraction of theday was Narendra Dubey ‘Adig’who had fought almost allelections in the recent time ashe also filed his nominationfrom Graduate seat as an inde-pendent candidate. The otherswho also filed papers as inde-pendent candidates wereJaichand Gautam and SantoshKumar Tiwari from Graduateseat while Jitendra Patel fromTeacher seat.

As per the schedule, thescrutiny of the nominationpapers will be held onNovember 13, while the candi-dates can withdraw their namesby November 17.

The election will be held onDecember 1 between 8 amand 5 pm, while the countingof votes will be held onDecember 3.

For electing their represen-tative from Graduate con-stituency, 2,07,039 would casttheir votes from eight districtsof the region includingVaranasi, Chandauli, Jaunpur,Ghazipur, Bhadohi, Mirzapur,Sonbhadra and Ballia while32,649 of the same areas willelect their representative fromVaranasi Teachers constituen-cy. The constituencies includethe entire areas of Varanasi andVindhyachal divisions and onlyBallia district of Azamgarhdivision.

At present, both the seatsare being held by the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) MLCs KedarNath Singh and Chet NarayanSingh from Graduate andTeachers constituencies respec-tively who are also trying thistime to retain their seats.

��%�����%������ ������� ������� ������������ ������ �!���0������������10������������2����� ���0����������� ��������-���� ��/������� �!���������0���������������%������������������ ������%���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

VARANASI (PNS): Propercare of the newborn is veryimportant to make her child-hood happy. Apart from this, italso has a big role in reducinginfant mortality. Keeping this inmind, the Newborn Care Weekwill be observed in the nationfrom November 15 to 21,under which efforts will bemade to make every sectionaware at all the points throughwhich infants can be made'Ayushman'. National HealthMission (NHM), UP’s MissionDirector Aparna Upadhyay hassent a letter to all the ChiefMedical Officers (CMOs) ofthe state and issued necessaryguidelines regarding the majoractivities and awareness pro-grammes of the newborn careweek. During the week, thepublic will be made aware ofnewborn health along withbetter care. Along with promot-

ing kangaroo mother care andbreastfeeding, awareness of theidentity of sick newborns willalso be made. Apart from this,everyone will also be madeaware about the child healthprogrammes being run by thegovernment and help of volun-tary organisations will be takenin this direction so that theinfant mortality rate can bereduced. According to the let-ter, for the necessary care of thenewborn, it is necessary thatthe delivery should be done inthe hospital itself. Stay in thehospital for proper care ofmother and baby for 48 hoursafter delivery. Do not bathe thenewborn immediately, onlywash the body and wear softclean clothes. Within one hourof birth, the mother shouldstart feeding thick yellow milkand breastfeed only and onlyfor six months. Immediately

after birth weigh the newbornand get Vitamin K injected. Getregular and complete immuni-sation. Keep the navel of thenewborn dry and clean, pre-vent infection and take care ofpersonal hygiene of motherand baby. Pay special attentionto low birth weight and prema-ture babies and adoptKangaroo Mother Care (KMC)method to keep the tempera-ture of the baby constant andbreastfeed infants repeatedlyduring the day or night. To pre-vent malnutrition and infec-tion, do not drink only moth-er's milk, honey, puffery, wateretc. for six months at all.

Main objectives of theweek are reducing neonatalmortality by making the pub-lic aware of taking necessarycare of the newborn, breast-feeding immediately after birth,breastfeeding only for six

months, and feeding childrenby giving an upper diet after sixmonths, and regular prematureinfants. During the week, dis-trict level seminars and work-shops will be organised andpresentation will be madeabout better care of the new-born baby, private nursinghomes / clinics will also be pro-vided necessary information byproviding proper information,healthy baby competitions(healthy baby shows) will beorganised, hospital wards In thepublicity materials related tothe care of the newborn will beinstalled, videos related tobreastfeeding will be shown tothe women after delivery. Apartfrom this, better care of new-born baby will be discussedmainly in Mother's meetingsand Village Health, Sanitationand Nutrition Committeemeetings.

&���$;������.������ � �����

!!1�# ��������#���� ����� ������������������� ������������2

345 �����6� ������������������������7�����( �����*33*-*<*�

In the meeting of BharatiyaJanata Party's office-bearers

and office-bearers of Meja, astrategy was chalked out for theelection of Allahabad-JhansiGraduate Constituency in ameeting held on Thursday atSurva Dalapur Square in Madaarea. The meeting was chairedby Yamunapar district presi-dent Vibhavnath Bharti.

The district president ofYamunapar said that BharatiyaJanata Party workers accepteach election as a challenge andmake the candidate victorious.An organisational plan wascreated for this goal comple-tion. The strategy was alsodecided by taking suggestions.The meeting was addressed byDistrict general secretary VijayShankar Shukla, Savita Tripathi,Dilip Kumar, Manoj Gupta,Madvi Sharan Dwivedi, JeetNarayan Srivastava etc.

While conducting themeeting, Vikramaditya Mauryaexpressed gratitude. to divi-sional president includingSubhash Singh Patel, VinayPrakash alias Sanjay Dwivedi,Govind Prasad, KameshwarPatel, Shyamraj Yadav, SanjayKesari, Ramavali Maurya,Bhagwandas Kushwaha, RoopNarayan Mishra, along withdistrict office-bearers andworkers discharging election

responsibilities were present.BJP workers also exchangedsweets in the joy of victory dur-ing the meeting.

BJP won in byelection andNDA victory in Bihar was cel-ebrated by distributing sweetsunder the leadership of divi-sional president Alok BhushanTripathi in Mauaima area.

He expressed happiness bydistributing sweets to theoffice-bearers and workers ofBJP divisional Mauaima Ruralin the joy of BJP's victory in thebyelections of various states ofIndia and the NDA's victoryagain in Bihar elections.

Divisional president AlokBhushan Tripathi said that thisis the victory of developmentand nationalism over the trai-tor and casteist mindset. Onthis occasion, Prakash Tripathi,Ram Palat Patel, Mitha Lal,Adesh Pandey, Vijay Singh,Madan Lal Gupta, Vishwa VijaySingh, Ram Sundar Mishra,Yuvraj Singh, Rajkaran Singh,Kaushal Kishore Shukla,Keshav Prasad Passi, Bal GovidPassi, Amarendra Pasi, BholaSahu, Chhabi Lal Maurya, JaiSingh Yadav, Akash Sharma,Amarnath Patel, Vivek Mishra,Deepak Mishra, JayaprakashPatel, Shiv Babu Modanwal,Pawan Kesarwani, VinodKesarwani, Satyam Shukla,Vikas Gupta, Alok Patel, AshaMishra, Usha Mishra,

Shivkumari Vishwakarma,Nisha Soni, Sona Maurya,Dudhanath Patel etc. were pre-sent.

DELEGATION OF FILM& PUBIC ARTS COUNCILMEETS SN SINGH: Everyonehas to make an effort to han-dle the legacy. All efforts shouldbe made to start the studio ofthe movie corporation whichwas closed in Prayagraj. Everyeffort is being made to makefilms in Uttar Pradesh. If thefilms here are seen all over theworld, then the talent of thestate will also get an opportu-nity to shine.

The delegation of Film andPublic Arts Council met thespokesperson of theGovernment of Uttar Pradeshand Cabinet MinisterSiddharth Nath Singh and alsosubmitted the memorandum. Itdemanded that the closed stu-dio of the Education depart-ment in Prayagraj should bestarted by affiliating with FilmCity. Concrete steps shouldalso be taken to create anatmosphere for films here.Minister Siddharth Nath Singh,after listening to all thedemands, gave them in-princi-ple consent. He also assuredthat the Chief Minister will alsobe made aware in this regard.He said that if there is anyobstacle in the production ofPrayagraj, then immediately

give information so that theproblem can be resolved. Thedelegation was led by VirendraPathak, convenor of the Filmand Public Arts Council. RajivMehra, Pallavi Chandel, AmitMishra, Jatin, Shlok Ranjan etc.were present on this occasion.

The delegation informedthe Cabinet Minister that about10,000 artists from Prayagrajare working in Mumbai. Allthese artists want to stay con-nected here by making a filmin their home district Prayagraj.Various institutions haveformed a council to help suchpeople. There was also a meet-ing over the same issue hererecently.

N E W P C P O TA K E SCHARGE: A senior IRPS offi-

cer of 1987 batchNand Kishore onThursday tookover as thePrincipal ChiefP e r s o n n e lOfficer (PCPO),North Central

Railway Headquarters. He hasarrived here from Jaipur wherehe served as the ChiefPersonnel Officer of NorthWestern Railway.

Nand Kishore has earlierserved as Chief PersonnelOfficer West Central RailwayJabalpur, and Senior PersonnelOfficer at Ratlam, Ajmer, Kota,Vadodara, and Jaipur divisions.

���������7�����( �����F* *�*/4�

As many as 53 new COVID-19 patients have been

detected in the district onThursday, increasing the totalnumber of cases to 17,686.The day also saw two deaths,increasing the toll to 284.During the day, the follow-upnegative reports included 59and out of them, 55 have beenrecovered from home isolation,while four from the hospitals,increasing the number to13,849 and 2,837 respectively.The total number of patientswho have been recovered so faris 16,686, leaving 716 activecases.

Chief Medical Officer(CMO) Dr VB Singh hasinformed that in the first reportof the day, 20 positive patientswere found out of 2,486 reportsreceived. Till then, the total testreports received were 3,62,331and the results of 4,640 areawaited. Out of them, 3,44,678were negative, while 17,653positive. The total number ofsamples collected was 3,81,391.Earlier, with the addition ofnine new red zones, the totalnumber of hotspots hasincreased to 2,388 including193 red zones. Two green zoneshave been converted into redzones again. There are 2,195green zones with 11 new ones.

Under ongoing mass/ groupantigen tests, all 100 tests atShree Shiv Prasad Gupta(SSPG) Hospital, Kabirchaura,50 at Government Women’sHospital, 35 at CHC Shivpur,42 at Swami VivekanandGovernment Hospital,Bhelupur and 83 at SSH BHUwere found negative. However,two out of 101 at LBS Hospital,Ramnagar were detected pos-itive.

Besides, after the order toimpose ban on the sale of fire-crackers, Sarnath police whilechecking vehicles at Panchkosicrossing, they got informationabout some persons sellingsuch articles in Paighambarpur.

Later, the police raided at ahouse there and seized 45 kgsfirecrackers in three bags, 41kgs explosives in five bags andfour kgs shells in one bag andarrested one person who wasidentified as Raju Khan. Underthe ‘Mission Shakti’ campaign,a total of 5,898 women / girlswere mobilised at 201 placesand 1,590 leaflets were distrib-uted. A total of 1,404 women /girls were sensitised by theAnti-Romeo Squads at 170places. Action was takenagainst three under 34 PoliceAct, 10 under MB Act, fiveunder 290 CrPC, one under107/116 CrPC apart fromwarning 34 eve teasers.

54�������� ��.� ���������;����� �

+������������-�� #��� �� ����

,�������������,����������%�����������%������� ���������������� ������3�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

����� �4�������%������� ��-� ����%�������������!� ��� �����%��������������3�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

1/��(�� ��� ������������.�.�� �

��������� ����� ���������������� ���������������� ���������3��������,����� �� ����3�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

���������������8� ���������5

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

�;$$2��;1?21+� $'��()#*�

The railway administrationfor the convenience of pas-

sengers during festivals hasdecided to run the 09015/09016 Bandra Terminus (T)-Ghazipur City-Bandra (T) pujaspecial train in one trip. Allcoaches in these trains will beof reserved category and pas-sengers traveling in them willhave to follow the Covid-19prevention guidelines CPROPK Singh said. The 09015Bandra Terminus-Ghazipur Citypuja special on November 16 willleave Bandra (T) at 23.30 hrs,Borivali at 00.05 hrs, Vapi at01.55 hrs, Balsad at 02.20 hrs,Surat at 03.30 hrs, Bharuch at05.23 hrs, Vadodara at 05.23 hrs,Ratlam at 09.30 hrs, RamganjMandi at 12.22 hrs, Kota at 13.40hrs, Sawai Madhopur at 15.20hrs, Gangapur City at 16.15 hrs,Hindaun City at 16.45 hrs,Bayana at 17.50 hrs, Agra Canttat 19.10 hrs., Shamsabad Town,at 19.40 hrs, Etawah at 22.20hrs, the third day KanpurCentral at 00.45 hrs, Prayagraj

at 05.20 hrs, Mariyahu at 07:23hrs, Jaunpur at 08:35 hrsGazipur City Dobhi at 09.08hrs, Aunrihar at 20.12 hrs andreach Ghazipur city at 10.30 hrs.During the return journey, the09016 Ghazipur City-BandraTerminus puja special train willon November 18, leaveGhazipur City at 19.30 hrs,Aunrihar at 20.12 hrs, Dobhi at22.35 hrs, Jaunpur at 21.35 hrs,Mariyahu at 22.23 hrs, Janghaiat 23.08 hrs, the second dayPrayagraj at 01.05 hrs, KanpurCentral at 03.35 hrs, Etawah at05.50 hrs, Shamsabad Town at07.30 hrs, Agra Cantt at 08.30 hrs,Bayana at 11.30 hrs, Hindaun Cityat 11.54 hrs, Gangapur City at 12.40hrs, Sawai Madhopur at 13.35 hrs,Kota at 15.10 hrs, Ramganj Mandiat 16.12 hrs, Ratlam at 20.10 hrs,the third day Vadodara at 00.40 hrs,Bharuch at 01.30 hrs, Surat at 03.00hrs, Balsad at 03.55 hrs, Vapi at04.17 hrs, Borivali at 07.05 hrs andreach Bandra terminus at 07.50hrs. A total of 22 coaches, includ-ing two coaches of generator-cum-luggage vans, one AC sec-ond, five AC third, 10 of sleep-

er class and four of general sec-ond class will be attached inthese special trains.

D E L H I - C H H A P R APUJA SPECIAL: The railwayadministration keeping theconvenience of the passengersduring the upcoming festivalshas decided to run04482/04481 Delhi-Chhapra-Delhi puja special train inthree trips. The 04482 Delhi-Chhapra puja special train onNovember 12, 15 and 18 willleave Delhi at 12.00 hours,Moradabad at 15.33 hrs,Bareilly at 16.57 hrs, Sitapur at20.50 hrs, the second dayGorakhpur at 01.25 hrs, andreach Chhapra at 04:30 hrs. The04481 Chhapra-Delhi Pooja spe-cial will on November 13, 16and 20 leave from Chhapra at07.30 hrs, Gorakhpur at 10.40hrs, Sitapur at 16.10 hrs, Bareillyat 19.32 hrs, Moradabad at21.15 hrs and reah Delhi at00.30 hrs on the second day. Inthese special trains, a total of 22coaches, including 20 of generalsecond class and two coaches ofSLRD, will be attached.

�;$$2��;1?21+� $'��()#*�

Rajya Sabha MP Shiv PratapShukla expressed happiness

over Bharatiya Janata Party’svictory in various states, includ-ing Uttar Pradesh and said it isa win of ‘Sabka Saath, SabkaVikas.’ The chief whip in theRajya Sabha Shukla said thistrend of BJP’s victory is going tocontinue. The BJP worked dayand night for the betterment ofall sections of the society with-out any discrimination. TheCentral and state governmentshave in all fields developed allsections, the former Unionminister of state added.

2����� ����� �����

����� ���� �')�"�����������

�;$$2��;1?21+�+,�-�#*�

Keeping the festival in minda route march was taken

out by police which was led bySuperintendent of Police (SP)Ajay Singh on Wednesday.It started from Dankeenganjpolice outpost and passedthrough the main markets ofthe city. During it the SP inter-acted with common people. Hesaid that the march was takenout to warn the miscreants andto instil confidence among thetraders that the administrationwas active to thwart any anti-social activity. During it thecops continued the checking ofvehicles as well as suspiciouspeople. On the occasion the SPdirected the cops to keep a vigilin their areas and gather inputs

about the suspects for main-taining law and order. He madeit clear that no laxity in dutywould be tolerated. Besides, theroute marches were taken outthroughout the district whichwere led by the ASPs, COs andthe SHOs.

EXHIBITION: NABARDDistrict Development ManagerAnupriya during a two-day-long exhibition organised onWednesday said that crafts-manship was a way to strength-en the economy of the nation.During the exhibition organisedby NABARD with the assistanceof Mahila PrabodhiniFoundation Anupriya expressedsatisfaction over the perfor-mance of SHGs. She said thatthe event was the way to high-light not only the product of the

district but to draw attention tothe fact that a district likeMirzapur had the potential tocontribute to the countrythrough its skill. She was of theview that the event will prove tobe a milestone for giving nation-al identity to the artisans of thedistrict. Chief manager, regionaloffice of NABARD, Shikha inau-gurating the programme throughvirtual system said that the prod-ucts of the district like woollendurries, clay idols, clay lamps, pot-tery products should be demon-strated at national level andshould be publicised at interna-tional level too. The welcomespeech was given byFoundation director VibhutiMishra and vote of thanks wasproposed by its chairpersonNandini Mishra.

�;$$2��;1?21+�+,�-�#*�

Under the statewide drive tomake senior citizens aware

about special facilities provid-ed by the government the dis-trict unit of Legal ServicesAuthority organised an aware-ness camp at district jail onWednesday on the direction ofDistrict Judge Lal Chand Guptaon Wednesday. Addressing theprisoners its secretary AmitYadav said prisoners aged 60years and above would be treat-ed as senior citizens so thoseeligible under the provisionshould avail them. He saidprisoners of that category couldapply to the Authority throughjail officials for free legal ser-vices if they were not capable

of affording a lawyer. For smallcases panel lawyers and for ses-sion trial amicus curiae wouldbe provided, he added. In hisaddress jail superintendent AKRai elaborated on the facilitiesfor senior citizens. Amongthose who worked for the suc-cess of the camp were VishnuSingh, Deepak Srivastava apartfrom the jail staff.

'�������������#,��5�%��� � ��%�1���%�� �����������!�67�

"�!'��$�!(�)*�++�!%)!,% ��!)���$�&�;$$2��;1?21+� $'��()#*�

The railway administrationin view of huge rush of pas-

sengers during the forthcomingfestivals has decided to run the09269/09270 Porbandar-Muzaffarpur-Porbandar specialtrain in one trip for their conve-nience. All coaches in this trainwill be reserved category andpassengers travelling in them willhave to follow the Covid-19guidelines, CPRO PK Singhsaid. The 09269 Porbandar-Muzaffarpur special will onNovember 13 (Friday) leavePorbandar at 16:30 hrs, Jamnagarat 19:15 hrs, Rajkot at 21.00 hrs,Surendranagar at 22.41 hrs, onsecond day Viramgam at 00.17hrs, Ampli Road at 00.47 hrs,Palanpur at 04.08 hrs, Abu Roadat 05.00 hrs, Marwar at 07.43 hrs,Ajmer at 11.05 hrs, Jaipur at13.20 hrs, Bandikui at 14.30hrs, Alwar at 15.40 hrs, Rewariat 18.02 hrs, Gurgaon at 18.40hrs, Delhi Cantt at 18.59 hrs,Delhi Sarai Rohilla at 19.33 hrs,Delhi Jn at 20.30 hrs, Moradabadat 23.55 hrs, the third day Bareillyat 01.21 hrs, Shahjahanpur at02.27 hrs, Lucknow at 05.50 hrs,Gonda at 08.10 hrs, Gorakhpurat 11.10 hrs, Siswa Bazar at12.50 hrs, Bagaha at 14.09 hrs,Narkatiaganj at 15.00 hrs, Bettiahat 15.32 hrs, Sugauli at 16.03 hrs,Bapudham Motihari at 16.24 hrs,Chakia at 16.47 hrs, Mehsi at16.57 hrs and reach Muzaffarpurat 18.10 hrs. During the returnjourney the 09270 Muzaffarpur-Porbandar special will onNovember 16 (Monday) leaveMuzaffarpur at 15.15 hrs,Mehsi at 15.45 hrs, Chakia at15.55 hrs, Bapudham Motihariat 16.21 hrs, Sugauli at 16:42hrs, Bettiah at 16.59 hrs,Narkatiaganj at 18.06 hrs,Bagaha at 18.43 hrs, SiswaBazar at 20.31 hrs, Gorakhpurat 22.40 hrs, the second dayGonda at 01.50 hrs, Lucknowat 04.40 hrs, Shahjahanpur at07.12 hrs, Bareilly at 08.12 hrs,

Moradabad at 09.53 hrs, Delhiat 13.05 hrs, Delhi Sarai Rohillaat 13.22 hrs, Delhi Cantt at 13.41hrs, Gurgaon at 13.59 hrs,Rewari at 14.56 hrs, Alwar at15.54 hrs, Bandikui at 16.40 hrs,Jaipur at 18.30 hrs, Ajmer at21.50 hrs, Marwar at 23.56 hrs,the third day Abu Road at 02.45hrs, Palanpur at 04.10 hrs, AmpliRoad at 06.12 hrs, Viramgam at06.52 hrs, Surendranagar at08.22 hrs, Rajkot at 10.45 hrs,Jamnagar at 12.30 hrs and reachPorbandar at 15.10 hrs. A totalof 22 coaches, including one ACsecond, five AC third and ninesleeper class, will be attached inthese special trains.

ANVT-RAXAUL PUJASPL: The railway administra-tion will run 04470/04469Anand Vihar Terminus(ANVT)-Raxaul-ANVT pujaspecial train for three trips andthe 04474/04473 ANVT-Saharsa-ANVT puja special forthree trips. All coaches in thesetrains will be of reserved cate-gory. The 04470 Anand ViharTerminus-Raxaul puja specialwill on November 12, 14 and 16leave ANVT at 10.00 hrs,Moradabad at 13.00 hrs,Lucknow at 18.20 hrs, Sultanpurat 20.37 hrs, Varanasi at 23.45hrs, the second day GhazipurCity at 01.25 hrs, Ballia at 02.52hrs, Chhapra at 04.55 hrs,Hajipur at 06.50 hrs,Muzaffarpur at 08.20 hrs andSitamarhi at 09.35 hrs and reachRaxaul at 12.15 hrs. During thethe return journey 04469 Raxaul-ANVT puja special will onNovember 13, 15 and 17 leaveRaxaul at 14:30 hrs, Sitamarhi at17.05 hrs, Muzaffarpur at 18.20hrs, Hajipur at 19:50 hrs,Chhapra at 21:50 hrs, Ballia at23.42 hrs, on the second dayGhazipur City at 01.15 hrs,Varanasi at 03.00 hrs, Sultanpurat 05:32 hrs, Lucknow at 08.25hrs, Moradabad at 13:50 hrs andreach Anand Vihar Terminus at17.00 hours. A total of 22coaches will be attached.

ANVT-SAHARSA PUJASPL: The 04474 Anand ViharTerminus- Saharsa puja specialwill on November 12, 15 and 18leave Anand Vihar Terminus at09:00 hrs, Moradabad at 12:10hrs, Sitapur at 17.05 hrs,Gorakhpur at 22.20 hrs, thesecond day Chhapra at 01:30hrs, Hajipur at 03:05 hrs,Muzaffarpur at 04.40 hrs,Samastipur at 05.50 hrs,Khagaria at 07.55 hrs., Mansi at08.17 hrs and SimriBakhtiyarpur at 09.00 hrs andreach Saharsa at 10.00 hrs.During the return journey the04473 Saharsa-Anand ViharTerminus festival special trainwill leave Saharsa on November13, 16 and 19 at 12.30 hrs, SimriBakhtiyarpur at 13:32 hrs,Mansi at 14.17 hrs, Khagaria at14.43 hrs, Samastipur at 14.50hrs, Muzaffarpur at 16.00 hrsHajipur at 17.35 hrs, Chhapraat 19.15 hrs, Gorakhpur at22.25 hrs, Sitapur at 03.50 hrsMoradabad at 09.05 hrs andreach leave Anand ViharTerminus at 13.20 hrs. A totalof 20 coaches, including 10 ofgeneral second class, eight ofsleeper and two SLR/D coach-es will be attached in it.

AGARTALA-CHHAPRAPUJA SPECIAL: The railwayadministration for the conve-nience of passengers will runthe 05675 Agartala-Manduadihsingle journey festival special onNovember 12 from Agartala and05677 Agartala-Chhapra singlejourney festival special onNovember 13 from Agartala. Allcoaches will be of reserved cate-gory. The 05677 Agartala-Chhapra puja special will onNovember 13 for a single journeyleave Agartala at 14:00 hrs,Badarpur at 19.25 hrs, NewHaflong at 21.47 hrs, second dayGuwahati at 04.10 hrs, NewBongaigaon at 07.45 hrs, NewJalpaiguri at 13.10 hrs, Katihar at17.10 hrs, Samastipur at 19.42hrs, Hajipur at 21.20 hrs andreach Chhapra at 23.30 hours.

���!���,,��-%�!.��#,�$

KANPUR (PNS): In a tragicincident, a minor boy waskilled while three others,including two children, wereseriously injured when a speed-ing truck hit their handcartladen with radish behindHanspuram police outpostunder Naubasta police stationon Thursday morning. Thecondition of the injured wasstated to be critical.

According to reports,Chandra Pal, a vegetable ven-dor of Deendayalpuram local-ity in Naubasta, had gone toNaubasta Galla Mandi onThursday morning to buyradish. He along with his sonSanjay and his friends Shakil,son of Mohd Sahil, and Ranjhawas pushing the handcart whena speeding truck the handcartbehind the Hanspuram policeoutpost, killing Shakil on thespot and injuring the otherthree.

The injured Ranjha any-how reached home andinformed the family membersabout the accident and theyrushed to the spot andinformed the police. The seri-ously injured Chandra Pal andSanjay were admitted to theLLR Hospital where their con-dition was stated to be critical.

Police have launched raidsto nab the guilty truck driver.

���������7�����( ������*� ;

The Maharajpur policelaunched a drive against

illicit manufacturing, storageand sale of firecrackers andraided over half-a-dozen placeson Thursday.

During patrolling inSarsaul market, Station HouseOfficer Raghvendra Singhwarned people against sale anduse of firecrackers.

He said if any shopkeeperwas found selling firecrackers,the shop would be sealed andthe shopkeeper would be sentto jail after registering an FIR.

The cops also made the vil-lagers aware of the harmfuleffects of firecrackers on theenvironment and their health.

It may be mentioned herethat Sarsaul town inMaharajpur police station areais considered to be a hub ofillicit manufacturing and stor-age of firecrackers and haswitnessed several powerfulexplosions in the past.

Two persons were killed inan explosion in an illegal fire-cracker manufacturing unitthere before Diwali three yearsago. Earlier to this, a few oth-ers had fallen prey to storage ofillicit explosive material.

Firecrackers of Sarsaul are

also in big demand duringmarriage season and on otherauspicious occasions.

Over half-a-dozen personsare reportedly associated withthe illicit trade of explosivematerial.

In a meeting held onWednesday evening, Senior

Superintendent of PolicePretender Singh ordered crack-down on manufacture, storageand sale of illicit firecrackers.

In the wake of the SSPdirectives, the Maharajpurpolice searched two-wheelersand four-wheelers on Thursdayto nab those carrying fire-

crackers. SHO Raghvendra Singh

said sale and use of firecrack-ers would not be allowed underany circumstances.

He said raids were on tonab suspects involved in theillicit trade of firecrackers andexplosive material.

���������7�����( ������*� ;

Additional DistrictMagistrate (City)

Mahendra Kumar carried outa surprise inspection at UrsulaHorsman Hospital onThursday and directed itsDirector Dr RC Bhatt to displaythe stock of medicine outsidethe OPD room every day.

He said it was the duty ofthe pharmacists to explain tothe patients in simple languagehow the medicines were to betaken.

He said for patients whowere to return after a certainperiod, their documents shouldbe maintained.

The ADM (City) asked thedoctors to advise separatepathological tests as they werefree while for a group of testsa big amount of money had tobe paid.

He said the disposal ofmedical waste should be as perthe bio-medical waste dispos-al norms failing which actionwould be taken against the hos-pital authorities concerned. Heasked the doctors to report onduty at the hospital on timeevery day.

Kumar said there was needfor keeping the hospitalpremises clean especially thewards and their surroundings.

He said as per the norms,

the OPD slip was valid for 15days and if a patient came tothe hospital within this period,he/she should not be chargedany money.

The ADM (City) then vis-ited the pathology and said itwas essential to maintain the

record of the tests carried out. He said the patients need

not be forced to get their testsdone from outside and all thetests should be done in theindoor pathology.

He said each patient shouldbe given a document number

so that when he or sheapproached the hospital, fur-ther treatment could be con-tinued.

Kumar was informed bythe authorities that 80 patientshad been registered onThursday.

���������7�����( ������*� ;

Kanpur Nagar DistrictMagistrate Alok Tiwari has

issued a stern warning toKanpurites to refrain frombursting firecrackers duringthe Diwali period and partic-ularly on the day the festival iscelebrated.

He also imposed a ban onthe sale of firecrackers anddirected the additional citymagistrates (ACMs) and thecircle officers concerned tocarried out patrolling in all theprominent markets and takelegal action against those vio-lating the directive.

The district magistrate saida special mobile van shouldremain active for conductingCovid rapid antigen tests.

Tiwari said as the threat ofnovel coronavirus was stilllooming large and its secondwave was expected in the first

week of December, specialmonitoring of crowd places wasessential to ensure social dis-tancing and that the peoplewore masks. He said medicalteams had been asked to deploystaff to sanitise people movingin the crowded markets.

He said in case of peopletesting positive, they should berushed to the Covid hospitalsfor treatment.

Meanwhile, Chief Medical

Officer Dr AK Mishra said spe-cial teams had been set up tocarry out inspection of hospi-tals, both private and govern-ment, to check their prepared-ness for the second wave ofCOVID-19.

He appealed to the peopleto ensure that at the first symp-tom of COVID-19 they rushtheir patients to the hospital sothat treatment could be start-ed timely. He also advised peo-

ple to regularly check theiroxygen level by oximeter and ifit was lowering, to get them-selves admitted to the hospital.

Meanwhile. GSVMMedical College Principal ProfRB Kamal has ordered aninquiry into one lakh handgloves being consumed in 30days only. He said there wereallegations that the gloves werepurchased from an employee’srelatives on double the rates.

He said when the requisi-tion for another one lakh glovescame up for sanction, it stirredthe hornet’s nest and thus aninquiry was ordered.

However, he admitted thatthe maximum cases ofCOVID-19 were between Julyand August. He further saidthat the government had givena green signal for the purchaseof CT Scan and MRI machineswhich would installed by thenext month.

������� ��!��� ���� ���!�����8��

����� ������/�����8��� ���0�������(� ����0����������!�� ���%%��� �� �� ��� �� ��������%%��� ��1���������������������,�!���� ���������4�5����.�1����� ��� ������������2������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

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

������1%����/9�4���!��������������������-�� �-�������������������������������������������� 2���������������������

����<���3=��� .��� �9� ����>� .����

���� � �0���������(������������� ������%�������% ��������/��/��%� ��������������2��������������������������������������������

7&���������#������KANPUR (PNS):Kanpur Nagar reported 90 more coronaviruspositive cases on Thursday evening. Chief Medical Officer DrAnil K Mishra said that 90 more people had tested positivefor coronavirus infection between Wednesday evening andThursday evening taking the tally of confirmed cases to 28,754cases. He said that 23 cases were discharged from hospital.He said four COVID-19 deaths in the city were reported tillThursday evening keeping the death toll to 750. The CMO saidat present 843 active cases were undergoing treatment. DrMishra said 4147 samples were sent for testing in the city.

� ��������#����+� ��� �����������7�����( ������*� ;

Kanpur markets were deckedup for Dhanteras on

Thursday. The bullion market wore a

festive look after six months oflockdown. Birhana road, whichis the biggest jewellery marketof Kanpur Nagar, appearedspecially prepared for the day.The shopkeepers were keepingtheir fingers crossed for a goodsale following a long slow-down due to the adverseimpact of novel coronaviruspandemic on market.

The malls and automobileshowrooms were closely onthe heels. The massive crowd topurchase four-wheelers wassomething which has surprisedthe common man in the city.

Dhanteras is celebrated bypurchasing some metal and thetop priority is gold .The promi-nent markets like Mall Road,PPN Market, Som Dutt Plaza,Gumti No. 5, Arya Nagar,Rave3 and Rave Moti weredressed like brides and aes-thetically illuminated to lurethe customers. The shopkeep-ers were keeping their fingerscrossed that this Dhanteraswould surely give a new ener-gy to the market.

Besides the shops andshowrooms selling variousbrands as well as local items,roadside stalls selling statues ofLord Ganesh, GoddessLakshmi and other deities,diyas etc. and traditional itemsdotted all market places.

The roadside vends drewbig crowds, especially thoseselling seasonal items related tohome décor like rangoli, arti-ficial flowers, diyas and candles,sweet shops, utensil shops.

The jewellery, automobileand apparels sales were esti-mated to cross the ��200 crore-mark in these three days.

8��������%������ ������������ ��� ��

(��� ����� ���������� �����!� ������� ��� ��� �1�����������7�����( ������*� ;

Kanpur MunicipalCommissioner Akshay

Tripathi said the Kanpur NagarNigam would install a massiverain water harvesting system atMotijheel.

Addressing press personson Thursday, Tripathi said therain water harvesting systemwould prevent Motijheel frombeing inundated with rainwater that made it difficult forpeople to move, especially themorning walkers. He said therain water harvesting systemwould be set up adjacent to themusical fountain.

He said water was a pre-cious, essential and an abioticcomponent of the ecosystemand it would not be any exag-geration to state that today weall were heading toward scarci-ty of water, and this was main-ly because of the lack of waterconservation and pollution ofwater bodies.

Apejorative wisecrack onthe United Nations isthat it has become the“useless non-existentorganisation.” For

example, in 1999, the then UNSecretary-General, Kofi Annan,suddenly flew to Delhi to “mediate”in the Kargil War only to be polite-ly told by the Atal Bihari VajpayeeGovernment to mind his own busi-ness and be gone. It is reported thatthis international body employssome 1,00,000 employees. If theaverage cost of each is taken to be$50,000, it means an expenditure offive thousand million dollars annu-ally. The organisation’s other expens-es are separate.

The late American columnist,Charles Krauthammer, had dubbedthe UN a “corrupt impostor, unde-serving of any American support”.Titled A Table for Tyrants, the for-mer Czech President Vaclav Havelwrote an article in The New YorkTimes saying that he felt scan-dalised when he saw the UNHuman Rights Council filled withmembers like Sudan, Zimbabwe,China and Saudi Arabia, which hadno human rights.

Yet, India continues to be an ele-phantine contributor to the UNpeacekeeping contingents and hassent nearly 2,00,000 peacekeepers to44 missions over the years. This ismore than the national armedforces of most countries. Indianforces working for the UN have suf-fered more casualties than anyother country’s armed forces. Ourpolicy-makers argue that this isbeing done not for any strategicgains but in the service of “globalideals” — like strengthening theworld body and international peaceand security. On the other hand, theUN did not even condemn China’sunprovoked aggression againstIndia in October 1962, leave alonedo anything about it. The irony isthat the dictatorial and communistChina enjoys a permanent seat inthe Security Council while India, theworld’s largest democracy, doesnot.

The UN also did not supportIndia in its Bangladesh War wagedsolely to bring relief to East Bengalis,who were at the receiving end ofPakistan’s genocidal crackdown.The UN passed a resolution mak-ing the State of Jammu and Kashmiran internationally disputed territo-ry despite evidence that it wasPakistan that invaded Indian terri-tory in October 1947. The dispute,

which has seen four wars andcontinuing jihadi infiltration andterror attacks, has been geopolit-ically laid to rest by India’s uni-lateral abrogation of the contro-versial Article 370, and notbecause of the UN.

The world body has failedmiserably in bringing a terrorist-endorsing country like Pakistanto heel or prevent its nuclear pro-liferation. It is India that has hadto deal with Pakistan on itsown. Apart from the importanceof this international organisation,India’s boundless naiveté in theNehruvian era cannot be denied.

The only service the UNarguably performed was to pro-vide a platform for radical com-munist elements and a wholegeneration of dictators and auto-crats to portray themselves asleaders and statesmen. Mostnotable in this regard was India’sKrishna Menon, whose vitriolicanti-Western rhetoric and fire-spitting speeches in the UNearned him the dubious sobri-quet of a “spitting camel” — hewas so dubbed by the Americanswho hated Menon’s patronisinglecturing — but also more seri-ously earned India a lot ofWestern ill will.

The failures of the UN makean unusually long cataloguebeginning with 1948. That year,the Soviet Union blocked Berlin.The only action that preventedthe city’s surrender was theAmerican airlift of all conceivablesupplies in the spirit of Ich bin einBerliner (I am a Berliner), thefamous words of PresidentKennedy in 1961. In the KoreanWar (1950-53), the communistNorth had gone all out to takeover the entire peninsula. Again,the UN could do nothing. Itwatched Vietnam being bombed

more intensively than seen any-where, anytime since or beforeWorld War II. In 1956, theAnglo-French invasion of Egyptover the Suez Canal issue yetagain proved the UN’s incompe-tence. As it did again the sameyear when the Soviet Unioninvaded Hungary. In 1959, theworld witnessed the annexationof Tibet by China. In 1968, theinternational body lookedaskance at the Prague springwhen Soviet tanks rolled intoCzechoslovakia.

The idea of an internationalconcert of nations began in thepost-Napoleonic period withthe primary objective of avoid-ing war. At the start of World WarI, the call for an internationalorganisation to prevent futurewars began to gain considerablepublic support, particularly inBritain and the US. GoldsworthyLowes Dickinson, a British polit-ical scientist, coined the term“League of Nations” in 1914and drafted a scheme for itsorganisation. Together with LordBryce, he played a leading role inestablishing a group of interna-tional pacifists known as theBryce Group, later the League ofNations Union.

The forerunner of the Leagueof Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) wasformed by peace activistsWilliam Randal Cremer andFrederic Passy in 1889 and is cur-rently still in existence as a bodywith a focus on the variouselected legislative bodies of theworld. The IPU was foundedwith an international scope, witha third of the members of worldparliaments serving as its mem-bers by 1914. It aimed to encour-age Governments to solve dis-putes by peaceful means.

The concept of a peacefulcommunity of nations had beenproposed as far back as 1795.Immanuel Kant, German meta-physician and philosopher,whose comprehensive and sys-tematic work on the theory ofknowledge, ethics and aestheticsgreatly influenced philosophy,outlined the idea of a league ofnations to control conflict andpromote peace between States inhis work Perpetual Peace: APhilosophical Sketch. He arguedfor the establishment of a peace-ful world community, not in asense of a global Government,but in the hope that each Statewould declare itself a free Statethat respects its citizens andwelcomes foreign visitors as fel-low rational beings, thus promot-ing a peaceful society worldwide.

International cooperation topromote collective security orig-inated in the Concert of Europe,which developed after theNapoleonic wars in the 19th cen-tury, in an attempt to maintainthe status quo between theEuropean States and avoid war.This period also saw the devel-opment of international law,with the first Geneva Conventionestablishing laws dealing withhumanitarian relief duringwartime. Then the internation-al Hague Convention of 1899and 1907 laid down governingrules of war and the peaceful set-tlement of international dis-putes.

As historians William HHarbaugh and Ronald E Powaskipoint out, Theodore Rooseveltwas the first American Presidentto call for an international league.While accepting his Nobel PeacePrize, Roosevelt said: “It wouldbe a masterstroke if those greatpowers honestly bent on peace

would form a League of Peace.”Such an idea should logicallyhave emerged from Europe,whose long history is a record ofalmost unending wars. At theend of the Great War, the Leagueof Nations came up in the hopeof ending the era of war and heal-ing the West with an age of peace.Yet again, this idea emergedfrom American PresidentWoodrow Wilson.

However, the credibility ofthe League of Nations was weak-ened by the fact that the US neverjoined it and the Soviet Unionjoined rather late and was soonexpelled after invading Finland.Germany withdrew from theLeague, as did Japan, Italy, Spainand others. The onset of WorldWar II showed that the Leaguehad failed its primary purpose,which was to prevent any futureworld war. The League lasted for26 years and the UN replaced itafter the end of World War II,inheriting several agencies andorganisations spawned by theLeague.

True, the League of Nationsdid not last long. Yet, credit mustgo to it for having spawned theInternational Court of Justice andthe International LabourOrganisation and other bodies.It is doubtful that the UN wouldleave behind anything memo-rable except for its performanceof profligacy. It is high time Indiatold the big powers to give it apermanent seat in the SecurityCouncil with veto power. If theCouncil does, well and good, orelse, New Delhi should not be ascommitted to an organisationthat costs it time, money andhonour.

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author. Viewsexpressed are personal)

.������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������!

������������������������������������������� ����������������� �������/�������� ������ ���������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ���� 0�� ���� �� ���� �������� �� /�������*������� ���1���������*������� �����������������������23������������������������"� ������ �� ����� �� �������� �� ������� ���������

����+�������+� ���������������*/��������������������"����� ������������ ������������� ��� �������� ����������������������������������������������������������������"����������������������������������������������"���������������������������4�������������������������� ��� ����������������5�66�666������������������� �����������������������������"���������������������������76�����������������������������������38������������������������"�����$��������������������������������������������� ���������������������������$�������������������� ���������������������������4������������������������������������ �������������� ��������������� ������������������������������������������������

.��������� ��������������������������������������%������� ������������������������� ��������������������� ��96��������������������4��������������������������������������� �������36������������������������ ������������ �������������������������������������!�������� ����:9�������������������������������������������������������!�������������'����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������"� ����������������� ���������������������������������������������������������������0�������������������������������������4�����!���������������������)����+������)����;���������� �����������������������������������������������������"���������������������������������������������������

4���� �� ������������������������ �� ������� ���� ���� ������ �� �� ���� ���������������������������������������

������������,�������� ���� ������������������������������������������������������������ �.�� �� �� ������ ������������������������ ������������ �����������������!�����������*/#�������������������������<"�$����������������������������������.����$�������������� ���������������������������������������������=�����1������+���$�������%����������������������!

��������������� ������������'""���������>�����������������������!������������������������������������������������������������������> ���������������"�$������������������������������������������������������������������������1������ ��+������ ��,�������������0����������� ?,&0@�1������������������������ ������ A������� "����� ���,����������������������������+������ %�������� �����������!�������������"������������������������������������������������������������������";����������������������������������� ��+������ ���� �������� ��������#���4��������,���������������������1��0����������/�������������������?10/�@����������������0��������������������������������!�������!������� ��������� ���������������������������������������������!�������������������� �����������"������������<������=����������� ������������������ ������������.���������������������������������+������ �����������������������������������������������!�������� ����� ��,��������+�����������������,����?,�+�,@��������������� ����'""����!������"�'����4�����4�����#���������'44#������������������B������4�����4�����4���������4������������������!������������/����������������'���������������������������$��������� ������������!����������!����������������������������������������������������� ����,�������������������������������� ����������������������������$����������������������������������������������������������������������� ������,�����������������������������������<�������� =�����������������/���������������������������.������������������������������������ �����������������������������������������������<���=��";����������������������������,�������������!�������������";������� ��������������$����������������������!����������������� ������������������������������������������������������C'�������������������������������������������������� �����������������������������������������������������������CA���������"���������������������������� ���������!�� �����������������������������������������������������.������$�������������������������������������� �������C

������������������������������������,������������������������������������������������������������������������������%���������� ����������������������'����������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������������������������4';,B!72�/������������������������� �0�������������������!��������� ������������������������������� ����������0����������������������!�����������������������������������������������������������������������"������������� �D���������������� ������!������������������������������������������ ��������$�����������%����� ���� �������,������������������� ���������������������!������'""�������������������������������������������������������������������D��������������!���������������������������������������������������� ���$��������������������A��������������������������������������������������������������������� ����������"���������������������������������������������� �"�$����������������������������������������������������������� �� �����������������������������������������������,��������+������ ��E���������&,"?+��F@������������������������������!�������������4���������������������������������������,��������������B���)���4����������,"������,�����#���4���������������������������������������������������������,������/�����52�����,"���������������������!����������������������������� ������������������"�,&0+������ ��� ����������������������������� �������� �"��������������������������������� ���!��������������������������������������D����������������������������"�������,"+����������� �����������������������������+������ ������������������������0����������������������������������������������

��!�������������!

������������ �����Sir — The BJP’s much-improvedtally has enabled the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA) toretain power in Bihar even afterRashtriya Janata Dal leaderTejashwi Yadav gave it a toughfight. The BJP’s scorecardincreased from 53 seats in the2015 Assembly election to 74seats in the 2020 Assembly elec-tion. However, it should notbask in the glory of an increasedtally. Laxity in performanceexacts its price in the next elec-tion and the party cannot bankupon the charisma of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi only.Amid all this, the Congress partyis facing an existential crisis. Theparty had 27 seats in the 2015Assembly election and now hasbeen reduced to 19.

Another reason for the BJP tocelebrate is because of its perfor-mance in the byelections across11 States, including MadhyaPradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh,Manipur, Karnataka andTelangana. Here, too, the BJP wassuccessful in wresting seats fromthe Congress. The latter nowfinds itself in a desperate posi-tion. It is even prepared to allowany regional party to run theGovernment with its support and

play second fiddle to it with a onepoint-agenda of keeping the BJPout of power.

The Congress is being seen asan entitled party by the people.Unless it makes sincere efforts torefurbish its dented image, itspresence in the political mapwould continue to be just sym-bolic.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

���������Sir — The National GreenTribunal banned the sale and useof firecrackers, which is a rightstep as studies have shown thathigh levels of air pollution canaggravate the health condition ofCorona patients. People acrossthe country, especially Delhi,should respect the decision. It istime to observe a green Diwali.

The concentration of sus-pended particulate matter in theair has a significant impact on aperson’s health. Bus drivers, two-wheeler riders and auto-rickshawdrivers are among those who suf-fer most with chronic respirato-ry diseases. Airborne lead fromleaded petrol is a major air pol-lutant and in high concentra-tions, it is known to impair liverand kidney functions. It is also

associated with reduced mentaldevelopment of infants and chil-dren. Thus there is an urgentneed to control the level of sus-pended particulate matter andbring it down to the WHO’s pre-scribed limits.

Abhishek Ramaswamy Mumbai

������������Sir — The sports calendar is fullof cricket tournaments aroundthe year and at various places.While it is the most popular sportin India by far and is playedalmost everywhere, cricketenthusiasts need to respect thebalance players have to maintainbetween their professional andpersonal lives. And understandthat Indian captain Virat Kohli iswithin his rights to seek somepersonal family time in betweenthe Australia tour as he is expect-ing his first child. We shouldrespect his decision and let RohitSharma prove his mettle as theTest captain in the remainingthree Test matches of the series.

Bal GovindNoida

% � % 1 ' � � � + > � % � * * � $ �

���/$�# &%#����!/��-�������#����A�����������I @������� �������I ����!�������A���������A

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

�8

-�� �� ����������� ��4�����������&����������������������������������;��/�������?�������*��������!�����������������������������������"#����!���������������'��������

�������������������������������������������������������!������!���������������������!����������������!������������4��&�����'����'�����!������������!��

��33 %���&�3 6��4�JF����� ���

�������������������

-�&�����<��0��������������������������;/0�������&�����������&�������������!������&����������&�� &��� �������� ������� ���� !������ ���

������"�����0�����!�����������������;/��������&������!���!���������>�����������������!���������4��&�����������������!����������������������������!������&�����������������������������&����������������������������������

4��<��0������!������������"��!�!������&����������'������������������������������������������"'������������������;/�����������������������������&����������������!���������������� ������!����"�!���������������������������'�����������������"�����!�����;/0�����"���������������������������������"��������������������������������������������"�����&�����<��������������������������!�����������)�������&���������������#�!�����������������������#��!�!����������������

-�������������>�������+-=�&��������!���������!����!���������?=F4�"$:���������*�������>���!

����%($8�4������������������!������<����#�=�����&��������������������������������������������������'������������������&�����������4����������������� <��� ����������� &��� ���� ���� �&�� ��� ���������������������!!���������������������������"������&�������!��������������

���%9 6�� �4������������

�������������-��� �:��44�&34�: ����&;<=% �2��=�

*�.�� .������� .��

-��8���#� ������� �������� ����� �������������#����)������9:3��������������� �������������� ��� ��������� ���� ���

-�(� ������;��������������������������� �� ���������� �������� ������� ������������ ���������� ������#��������

"0�12���������

4������1** 2�����������������&�����<��!���������������������������������������������������������?�������������������

���� ���:�4>� �J������/���

��������������&��#����������"����������4�����������������K����������������������������+����������!����������������������������������������������������������������������

���45%���&J/����?�����

� � � � � � ! � � � � � �

� � � " � # � ���������������������������������$$�/��������'�����������������������!�����������$,8����������������4������������!��#�������#�&��� �������������

�� �����=��� � 34�&�J*���/����

+������(� ������-����

7����(����������������� �������������22227����(������� ����������? �����(���@����

����2�����������������������2A���B�������������

!������������

���7����C�����7���D�����C����*D�7����(�����������-*/0*000�����������B�2��������������7�������"����� �(��( ���2�A����"������������7������������ �����������������

"� �����" ��"� ��

Like they do so often these days, pollsters andpundits got it wrong about a so-called massivevictory for Joe Biden propelled by public anger

against Trump’s presidency that had split the US wideopen. They had harped on the social and racial dividethat Trump had engineered and had put all their cardson the table around this core issue, hoping that thisdivide would secure a comfortable win for Biden andheal the present divided States of America. What wegot instead was an election that went down to thewire which Biden managed to scrape through. Evenas Trump was breathing down his opponent’s neck,the pollsters had a tough time convincing the peo-ple, and themselves, where they went wrong and whythey failed to sense the public mood.

If Biden won some key States like Pennsylvania,Michigan and Wisconsin, it was a sigh of relief ratherthan a vindication of poll pundits. To give the devilhis due, Biden in his victory speech, said, “I pledgeto be a President who does not see red or blue States,but United States. For all those of you who voted forPresident Trump, I understand the disappointmenttonight… But now, let’s give each other a chance…It’stime to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the tem-perature, see each other again, listen to each otheragain. And to make progress, we have to stop treat-ing our opponents as our enemies. They are not ourenemies. They are Americans.” It is difficult to findfault with such clarity of thought that offers an insightinto the way he is planning to run the show.

Though statesmanlike, Biden’s speech must beseen in terms of realpolitik. On the face of it, he ismaking an effort to move away from a binary frame-work which many believe was mainstreamed byTrump. It is another story that Biden may not be rad-ically different from Trump in terms of economicpolicies or international relations and in spite of hissage-like calmness vis-à-vis Trump’s abrasivedemeanour, his policies may not reflect that outwardgarb. The declaration of intent by Biden that his firstjob is to unify the country has been celebrated as awatershed development and a moment of awaken-ing of the great nation that is waking up to its Puritanideals of being a city on the hill. But the reality is thatthe US will pursue a politics that favours its own inter-est rather than India’s or China’s. Even if we assumethat Biden will indeed usher in world peace that hasnot been seen before, its reality can only be imag-ined in a time yet to be.

Biden’s speech was apparently a clarion call to“make America great again.” What was lost in thecacophony of media analysis is that race ties are muchmore than the Black-White divide. Since the timeof the founding fathers, the idea of frontier has dom-inated the US’ imagination and the worst victims havebeen the native Americans who went on movingwestward while vacating space for the Europeans. Thehistory of slavery is as much a history of disposses-sion and violence as has been the history of the fron-tier. And unlike the visibility and general awarenessof African-American history, it just does not existoutside books and certainly not in the populardebates, maybe because of the numerical weaknessof native Americans. Similarly, the presence ofMexicans in the southern borders and later the influxof Hispanic migrants and Asians in the aftermathof the World War do not count as racial issues. HamidDabashi, an Iranian-American professor fromColumbia, was clear that in spite of the intellectu-als’ fascination for Biden, he is not going to vote forhim. He was convinced that Biden is as much a sym-bol of misogyny as is Trump, one who also support-ed the Iraq invasion. He differed from other lead-ing intellectuals like Cornel West and NoamChomsky, who preferred Biden. This is because

“demonic” Trump is unredeemable where-as Biden can be pressurised to do good.This lesser-evil syndrome in Englishmedia is a lame excuse rather than a posi-tion of conviction. Converting a politicalchoice into a moral one is dangerous to saythe least because it sees things in black andwhite, creates saints out of challengers anddemons out of the incumbent. Now thequestion remains if the media simply rep-resented what they saw taking place or cre-ated a razor-sharp divide. If one believesin the constitutive power of language andimages, then the media, too, created thedivide, gave wind to it so that it could framethe debates along predictable lines.

Unfortunately, most of the mediareduced race relations to Black-Whiteproblems and limited the enormity of theircomplexity to the period of Trump’s pres-idency. What we got in the process is nota substantive engagement with the foun-dation of the US as a nation with multi-ple layers of conflict and collaboration, butsound-bites and clichés that concentratedaround Black-White relations, more or lessthe way Indian problems are framedaround the Hindu-Muslim conflict. Thisvastness got squeezed into the period of2016-2020 and cathected onto a symbolthat is Trump. By reducing him to the beall and end all of everything that ails theUS, most of the media peddled in sloga-neering rather than explaining anything.What we got was a caricatured version ofsocial reality where we have heroes and vil-lains. In the process, the media absolveditself and society at large from taking anyresponsibility for simplifying things andimmunised all possible future perpetratorswith the understanding that all race-relat-ed problems will disappear with Trump’sdefeat. What is disturbing is the ease withwhich experts saw him as the root causeand refused to see the problem in the veryAmerican consciousness and its exception-alism that pervades Biden’s psyche asmuch.

Some commentators believe that

“Trumpism” will continue to live on evenafter his loss. Their understanding is that“if a demagogue has the skill and the cheekto build a dominant majority’s latentinsecurities into a victim complex, he canbuild an impregnable base.” They go on tocompare Trump’s US with NarendraModi’s India, something which betraysignorance of unique historical experiencesof these two nations. What they ignore istheir own position as knowledge produc-ers create and perpetrate the language ofexclusion. In the act of interpreting real-ity, many thought leaders end up produc-ing it and cling on to that as if reality is afiction of journalistic language. US TVanchor Van Jones broke down on live TVwhile covering Biden’s victory. Anothercalled Trump an “obese turtle on his backrealising his time is over.” Yes, Trump wasa sore loser but such language perpetuatesthe divide and conditions intellectualdebates around them.

Now let us face the reality of race pol-itics and the impact of the Black LivesMatter (BLM) movement and to whatextent the social divide actually played outduring the election. It may surprise manythat Trump actually improved his popu-larity among Black voters compared to2016. Even though it stands at a meagreeight per cent, it is still two per cent high-er than what he polled earlier. Even as thisis nothing compared to what Biden got, itwill continue to rile the Democrats andpundits alike as to why eight per centBlacks voted for Trump in spite of BLMreaching its crescendo just before the elec-tion. What we know so far is that the Blacksupport was due to Trump’s performancevis-à-vis the economy and improvedemployment among African-Americans.Another reality is that Democrats them-selves believed that Black youth are preda-tors.

Trump made significant gains amongLatino voters in important States like Texasand Florida. In Democratic strongholds,like Rio Grande Valley region, he got close

to 50 per cent Latino votes. The BLMmovement consolidated the Latinosaround Trump as they predominantlyidentify themselves as White; alsoMexican-American voters are usuallyconservative. Another aspect that weshould not lose sight of is the fact thatmany Latinos fled from their countries toescape the so-called Marxist utopia run byLeft-wing dictators. Among Cuban votersin Florida, Trump had more than 30 percent lead. These nuances are rarely dis-cussed in a mainstream media.

So far as issues are concerned, PewResearch said that Biden and Trump coali-tions fundamentally differ over racialinequality following the killing of GeorgeFloyd, with more than 75 per cent Bidensupporters agreeing that racial inequalitywould be a determining factor for theirvoting behaviour compared to 24 per centof Trump’s. In spite of Trump polarisingand vitiating the climate to an extent, weshould not forget that US voters areentrenched in their political beliefs andonly outliers can be persuaded to vote oth-erwise. This becomes even more pro-nounced in a bi-party system in the US.This election was not as polarising as ismade out to be. To put it in perspective,Trump won 58 per cent of the White votein 2016 and 57 per cent this year. DerekThompson in The Atlantic argued that thiselection may be a case of depolarisationand that demography is no longer goingto be a path to majority for Democrats. Hebelieved that it is polarisation of placerather than race, as urban areas are gettingpro-Democrat whereas rural areas areturning Republican. Regardless of conflict-ing approaches, for the sake of intellectu-al honesty, we must acknowledge that inall societies, political behaviour cannot bereduced to catch phrases such asracial/social divide. That would be intel-lectually naïve and analytically problem-atic.

(The writer is Professor, Faculty ofHumanities & Social Sciences, IIT Madras)

2� ��������������������� ##�� �����)������ ���)������ ����� �����������#������ ���� ������� ����������������� ����#�� �������� ��� �� �<���� ��������

���$��� �9% � � � � � � � & "

����%� #�#�� !�� #�&

32��0���" #�"��'��

�����������������������;/����<������������'���������������������������������������&����������������������'�

4��� 0���� ���� !(

;�D= �;�*��3E�=</� F� /

��;?��� *?� �3*�4=�/��=<3*?�"+-4��

=<3��/�*��34�4�����-���= �4�E�=D

�-�4 ?=� 3�L4�E��=�-�� � 4=��=D

� ;� 0/ �/4���?E�

+-*��+���=��4��-�� =?�//�4/

�=��*/;</�*��4F����*������

+4�-��-�D=;��*�4=��=D

�-��;/�*/�*�*�4=��+4�-

�;3�4 3��3*E� /=D�?=�D34?��*��?=33*<= *�4=��

<;��/=;��<4��/�*��

?34?-M/��-*�?=�?��� *���

* =;���<3*?�"+-4�� �3*�4=�/�

�= ��= �3�//�-��+*E�4��4*� =<3��/�* �

D *����* =;����-��

-4��;"�;/34�?=�D34?�

"�������������������������������������!���� ������������������������������ ����������!��������������������������,����������������� ������

���������������������*/���0����������������������������97������� �������������� ������������������������������������������������������ ���!�� ���������4 �������� ������������������� �����������������������������������������������.���)����,��������������G�0�������������������������������������������������������������������� �����!��� �������������������������� ������������ ����������������������������4����%�� ���������� !������!����������������������!�����������������������"���� ��������� ��������� ������������ !� !�����!� �������������������������������������������������!�������������4����%����������������������,4"����� �������

"����������0����������������������������,������� ���������������������������������0��������!�����������������������������������������"��������������� �������������������� �����������������������/�������������D�������������������������������������� ������� ������������������������������������������������������������������/������!� ���������������!����������������"���������������!�����������4���+����������������!���������������!���������0����%� �������������������������������������������������

'������������ ����������������������������������� ����������������� ��������������������������������,4"������������������������������"���� �����<����������=������������������������� ���!������� <��������=���������������������������������������������"�4���%����������������������!�������������,4"��������������������!���������������������������!�������� ��0����������������������������*����#����������������?������� ����������������� @���!�� ������������������� ����������������� ��!������ ���������������!��������� ��������� ���������������� �

"������������������������������������������������������������������*/�"�0����������������������� �����������������������������������B�����"��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������!�������������"��������������!���������������������������������������������� �������#�B�������������!����������� �����������������������"������� ���������������������������!��!*/�#�B�������������!��������������������D���������*/�

/������� ��� ������������� ����������������0��������������������� ������������ ���������� ������������������������ ���������!����������������������� ����������������������������������������"������!������ ��������������������������������������������������������������0����������������������������� ���������������������������������A����� �����1�����(���������������������������������������!�����4������������!������������������������������������!��������������������������D��������������������������0������������������������������������������� ����������

'������ ���������������0�������������������������������������������������/����"����������� �������������������������������"�4�����$�������������� ������������������������!���������������������������� ���������������������������� �1��������0G#������������������������0����$����������� ����� �������������������������������������������!����������������������� �����/�������������

/������� �������������*/��������������������������������������������������������������������������!������������������������������������������������������������������ ���!���������������E�������������������H9�������������������������������������������.�������������������%�������������#������!���%���������������������D���������������������������������� �����!��� ��������������"������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �,���������������������� ����� �!���������� ����������������������������� ����������� ������ !��������������"��������������*/���0������ ����������������������� ������������!������������������������

?���������������������������@

The result of the bypoll for theBaroda Assembly seat inHaryana may not have any sig-

nificance for the stability of the BJP-JJP (Jannayak Janta Party) coalitionGovernment in the State, nor will itaffect its strength in the Assembly. Butit is expected to have a far-reachingimpact on the politics of the State inthe medium to long-term. Despite aspirited campaign by top leaders,BJP candidate and Olympic medallistYogeshwar Dutt was routed by over10,000 votes by the Congress nomi-nee Indu Raj Narwal in a constituen-cy dominated by Jats.

Political precedence and elec-toral behaviour of the past suggest that

candidates from the ruling party orcoalition usually have an edge in thebypolls and they win two times out ofthree. Even in the bypolls in differentStates this time round, the ruling par-ties or coalitions in Madhya Pradesh,Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Odishahad it easy and they won handsome-ly. But the Baroda bypoll proved to bedifferent as the combined might of theBJP-JJP could not consolidate enoughto get victory for Dutt, the Olympianwho was defeated in the 2019Assembly polls as well.

Interestingly, the margin of defeatincreased in his second electoral out-ing. He was routed by around 4,800votes in 2019 by Congress candidateShri Krishan Hooda. This time, themargin has doubled to over 10,600votes. What could be a matter of con-cern for the ruling dispensation inHaryana is the fact that in 2019, theJJP and BJP fought against eachother; this time around they fought inan alliance but still lost by a biggermargin.

The bypolls were held in the back-

ground of the farmers’ agitation inPunjab and Haryana against the threefarm Acts. The Congress has beenhammering the point that the laws areagainst the interests of the farmers andthe regime of Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) has been threatened bythem. The BJP, on the other hand, hasbeen repeatedly stressing that theseActs are for the benefit of the farm-ing community and are set to increaserural prosperity by giving more moneyinto the hands of the tillers.

Baroda is largely a rural con-stituency with the dominant Jats in aposition to determine political out-comes. The defeat of the ruling BJP-JJP combine in Baroda seems toclearly suggest that farmers are not yetconvinced that the farm laws are intheir favour. They have rejected thearguments of the BJP-JJP leadership,forcing the alliance partners to havea rethink on the way forward.

Of course, there is no election inHaryana in the near future. The ear-liest one could be in May 2024 whengeneral elections are scheduled and theBJP-JJP combine could perhaps get

enough time to make a course correc-tion. Alliance or not, the BJP will haveto woo the farming community backinto its fold. Particularly the Jats if itwants to be close to its spectacular per-formance in the next Lok Sabhapolls. On the defensive now, BJPstrategists are insisting that Baroda hadalways remained a Congress strong-hold and the result should be seen inthat context. They are also arguingthat the BJP got more votes than lasttime and “all is well” in the alliance andthis was one “stray and local” politi-cal incident, which cannot have anyimpact on the politics of the State.

Clearly, the outcome has put theruling coalition on the defensive andmany in the JJP know that it wasentirely owing to the mistrust over thefarm laws that the alliance could notmake any headway.

The Baroda seat fell vacant inApril following the death of sittingMLA Hooda, who had won it threetimes in a row in the 2009, 2014 and2019 Assembly polls. It is adjacent tothe Garhi Sampla-Kiloi constituency,represented by Congress strongmanand two-term Chief Minister of theState, Bhupinder Singh Hooda.Another question which wouldemerge at this point is the winningpotential of the BJP-JJP combine andwhether they will stick together in thenext elections.

The alliance was formed after theBJP won 40 of the 90 Assembly seatsin the 2019 polls and needed a post-election partner to give a stableGovernment in the State. Though thetwo parties formed the partnership,many in the JJP have been openly voic-ing concerns and have repeatedlyraised the issue of the three Central

farm laws. Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant

Chautala, who belongs to the JJP, hasfaced protests in several parts of theState for backing these laws. Being agrassroot politician, he is aware thatthere are strong apprehensions andresentment among the land-holdingcastes about the impact of the Acts.

The Baroda result has undoubt-edly made it clear that the JJP has notand may not be able to transfer itsvotes to the BJP. In fact, many on theground believe that whatever votes theBJP got was entirely from its vote bank.They say the JJP was defensivethroughout the campaign and couldnot garner any support for the BJPcandidate.

This was the only electoral testwhich the BJP-JJP alliance facedjointly after the 2019 tie-up and itfailed miserably. It is more or less amarriage of convenience. For the BJP,it is a route to a stable Governmentand for the JJP it is a shot at being inpower before going solo again in thenext general elections. BJP poll man-agers have more or less realised now

that it would be futile to fight futureelections jointly with the JJP.

The message of the Baroda bypollis also clear for the Indian NationalLok Dal (INLD), the parent party ofthe JJP, led by Om Prakash Chautalaand his elder son Abhay Chautala.The people of Baroda and the Statehave made it clear that the JJP is thetorchbearer of the legacy of formerDeputy Prime Minister ChaudharyDevi Lal. The INLD will have tobecome a really serious Oppositionwith an accompanying strategy toreplace the JJP.

If there is one person who has aplace on the victory podium besidesthe winning candidate Narwal, it is theLeader of Opposition in the State,Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He notonly managed to retain his familypocket borough but also harvested theanti-farm law feelings to his electoraladvantage. At present, he has no chal-lenger in the State Congress and thisunchallenged reign is likely to contin-ue till the next elections.

(The writer is Senior ResidentEditor, The Pioneer, Chandigarh)

�����������3456445�����������������#�������� �!"�� �"���#$%&'(�)�*+&'��&'�,!#��!�-��*-�"��)%�!#%.�-$((�-"�"�!"� !#*�#-�!#��'�"�.�"�)�'/&')���!+�$"�"��� !#*�%!0-�+�&'(�&'�"��&#� !/�$#

�� ����!�)��

������� �������� ����� !" � #$%�&'&'

���/$�# &%#����!/��-

*���� 10���������������� ����� !" ��#$%�&'&'

Script Open High Low LTPRELIANCE 1985.00 2008.35 1965.00 1979.85INDUSINDBK 788.15 801.90 762.15 769.15BAJFINANCE 4263.80 4322.80 4198.20 4301.55HDFCBANK 1350.00 1388.35 1350.00 1371.90AUROPHARMA 815.90 863.60 801.35 838.95TATAMOTORS 150.00 153.80 150.00 151.15INFY 1124.00 1141.95 1113.95 1117.75IBULHSGFIN 159.45 175.30 157.85 171.05TATASTEEL 472.90 479.80 466.50 473.15SBIN 232.10 233.20 225.75 226.80ICICIBANK 481.00 483.40 471.60 476.30BAJAJFINSV 6910.00 7057.10 6850.00 7024.55LUPIN 910.00 937.15 889.00 894.95AXISBANK 600.00 610.10 588.80 599.60ITC 185.20 188.80 183.95 187.90VGUARD 165.00 170.30 165.00 168.00LT 1057.30 1075.40 1052.25 1073.30KOTAKBANK 1798.90 1798.90 1748.50 1754.75HINDALCO 205.00 211.30 204.40 208.35DRREDDY 4887.00 4923.80 4806.45 4826.75ALKEM 2693.20 2706.00 2633.15 2645.00MARUTI 6864.00 6929.25 6790.20 6837.30DIVISLAB 3352.20 3408.40 3304.85 3368.75HINDUNILVR 2134.90 2203.10 2125.00 2192.60HDFC 2300.00 2343.30 2268.10 2328.50CIPLA 743.00 758.70 733.95 739.90EICHERMOT 2316.00 2368.00 2299.95 2345.80SUNPHARMA 502.35 517.55 502.35 509.05TCS 2687.00 2711.65 2662.55 2670.70IDEA 8.46 8.60 8.39 8.51DABUR 511.00 522.00 510.55 518.25COALINDIA 126.70 126.70 121.05 122.20VEDL 101.80 103.75 100.05 103.40JUBLFOOD 2335.40 2428.20 2314.65 2338.85ESCORTS 1369.10 1422.00 1369.10 1401.95BHARTIARTL 477.00 483.30 475.10 479.65SHREECEM 23199.75 23600.00 22576.35 23412.65M&M 629.50 654.30 629.50 634.80HCLTECH 826.25 837.00 822.05 824.35BALRAMCHIN 149.00 150.50 148.50 149.25

CADILAHC 419.90 435.25 414.45 426.10UPL 432.15 437.90 424.00 429.50ULTRACEMCO 4850.00 4859.50 4785.20 4832.90GRASIM 803.15 830.50 803.15 827.00RBLBANK 203.25 207.65 201.45 202.40ZEEL 195.10 200.00 194.70 198.40SPICEJET 54.00 57.10 53.20 55.00ADANIGREEN 917.00 941.15 902.05 941.10LICHSGFIN 322.35 325.50 310.80 317.05BANDHANBNK 337.00 339.65 330.10 337.75DLF 181.00 185.85 179.20 182.60ASHOKLEY 89.20 91.10 88.90 90.10MUTHOOTFIN 1167.90 1180.75 1155.00 1169.20TECHM 835.55 847.60 835.55 844.35TATAPOWER 57.25 57.50 55.30 55.50SRTRANSFIN 867.00 876.30 838.20 860.70SBICARD 807.00 809.65 780.10 781.10TORNTPHARM 2510.00 2644.00 2510.00 2619.95TITAN 1294.00 1296.35 1267.00 1277.45NTPC 92.35 92.55 90.40 90.80SRF 4961.00 5120.00 4961.00 5093.00SIEMENS 1375.00 1413.25 1367.35 1405.80APOLLOHOSP 2170.00 2204.00 2095.00 2111.20ASTRAZEN 4189.00 4680.00 4185.70 4313.20ASIANPAINT 2172.00 2200.55 2162.00 2171.70MRF 68800.00 69561.00 68800.00 69308.70IBREALEST 48.95 57.90 48.30 55.15INFRATEL 177.50 181.70 177.10 179.10BIOCON 416.50 427.35 413.65 424.20SANOFI 8058.15 8087.35 8020.00 8035.00NESTLEIND 16750.00 16975.65 16538.85 16714.10IGL 448.10 450.00 435.65 438.05FEDERALBNK 57.40 57.45 56.20 56.25INDIGO 1619.10 1649.75 1607.65 1630.35HEROMOTOCO 3077.00 3099.80 3039.20 3085.55IRCTC 1371.40 1399.50 1356.20 1380.85RECLTD 116.60 119.25 113.15 118.60JUSTDIAL 576.50 621.15 575.05 613.55BALKRISIND 1515.00 1580.95 1508.85 1575.00CHOLAFIN 303.50 320.70 303.50 314.90BHARATFORG 495.00 508.25 490.80 496.75LAURUSLABS 284.90 295.00 284.00 289.20GAIL 93.20 94.00 92.60 93.00

PFIZER 5202.00 5210.60 5086.40 5144.90JSWSTEEL 344.75 344.75 335.15 337.95WIPRO 347.50 350.50 344.40 345.60JINDALSTEL 219.10 221.80 215.10 217.25BATAINDIA 1328.00 1352.95 1328.00 1338.85HDFCLIFE 622.30 633.00 618.50 630.25ACC 1677.00 1685.10 1653.00 1678.00ADANIENT 359.00 369.40 358.95 365.25SAIL 39.70 40.20 39.30 39.50AMBUJACEM 258.00 264.15 256.30 263.55GODREJPROP 990.00 1015.20 979.05 997.25NAUKRI 3545.05 3725.00 3543.45 3677.85COLPAL 1487.60 1523.60 1486.45 1520.55BANKBARODA 46.90 47.20 45.45 45.60DEEPAKNI 789.90 841.00 789.90 823.90M&MFIN 148.60 148.60 141.30 146.10ALOKTEXT 25.00 25.60 24.45 24.50DELTACORP 127.10 130.45 125.20 128.55BHEL 27.85 28.45 27.85 28.10NCC 35.60 38.45 35.60 38.00BPCL 395.45 395.75 387.15 394.55IOC 84.60 85.45 84.00 85.30PNB 29.25 29.50 28.90 29.10PVR 1265.00 1298.65 1258.25 1283.70CGCL 251.15 251.15 247.00 247.00VOLTAS 761.15 763.05 746.00 755.35GLENMARK 482.00 489.75 480.35 483.05ADANIPORTS 371.50 375.70 366.25 367.45BAJAJELEC 521.00 554.00 511.30 548.70BEL 95.50 96.50 94.00 94.20PAGEIND 21999.00 22350.00 21752.70 22190.45HAL 735.00 760.00 722.85 755.35L&TFH 68.50 70.20 68.35 69.50MOTHERSUMI 130.50 133.50 130.05 132.70MINDTREE 1310.05 1353.00 1310.05 1339.55TATAELXSI 1505.50 1522.20 1475.65 1494.85APOLLOTYRE 161.00 165.45 159.25 164.30CUMMINSIND 459.00 482.05 456.30 479.00PFC 99.10 101.80 98.10 101.05SHK 97.55 108.75 96.20 105.25SUNTV 442.80 457.00 438.95 443.05EXIDEIND 163.50 170.85 163.50 170.20POWERGRID 189.50 190.95 187.20 189.45MGL 875.55 892.65 875.55 878.50NOCIL 135.00 144.90 117.65 143.10ENGINERSIN 70.45 72.15 70.00 70.70NBCC 24.20 24.90 24.00 24.50PIDILITIND 1555.00 1581.15 1555.00 1570.70STAR 617.10 669.60 617.10 667.75WESTLIFE 381.05 384.90 366.90 369.55BLISSGVS 162.00 167.20 162.00 163.50PGHL 5600.00 5735.40 5480.00 5682.40TATACHEM 318.50 326.90 318.50 325.20SUZLON 3.34 3.34 3.31 3.34AIAENG 1700.00 1756.00 1700.00 1734.65TATACONSUM 505.00 512.55 502.15 508.50DMART 2401.00 2409.00 2360.65 2394.00AMBER 2270.00 2325.00 2225.00 2244.95DIXON 9999.00 10234.00 9925.50 10149.50PETRONET 242.00 247.00 239.50 243.60GMM 3381.05 3475.00 3335.00 3394.50LTI 2955.05 3060.50 2955.05 2985.05INDHOTEL 109.60 113.95 109.60 112.00NMDC 91.00 91.95 89.90 91.05FRETAIL 68.30 68.70 67.75 68.05BIRLACORPN 704.50 746.75 704.50 741.10ONGC 72.40 72.70 70.80 71.55TATAMTRDVR 60.80 62.90 60.55 61.95HDFCAMC 2450.00 2460.75 2417.00 2429.45CARERATING 403.70 438.80 401.85 418.00ADVENZYMES 300.10 326.00 300.10 322.75NATIONALUM 35.00 35.05 33.75 34.05HAVELLS 816.05 824.00 807.40 811.35BRITANNIA 3502.00 3524.75 3487.25 3520.00AARTIIND 1047.60 1096.00 1047.60 1085.25BAJAJ-AUTO 3022.00 3041.55 2999.10 3012.15IDFCFIRSTB 33.10 33.30 32.55 32.95SHILPAMED 420.00 439.95 419.80 434.95HINDZINC 224.70 229.90 222.35 228.65HINDPETRO 215.00 216.00 212.85 213.45JKTYRE 72.95 81.00 72.95 79.15HAWKINCOOK 5150.00 5189.85 4971.05 5000.00BLUEDART 3851.00 4075.00 3851.00 4049.20CANBK 94.65 94.65 91.55 91.85PEL 1375.00 1421.90 1375.00 1401.85ASHOKA 67.30 70.90 66.90 69.20OBEROIRLTY 434.45 440.20 432.10 436.35ABCAPITAL 72.10 74.40 72.10 73.95FINOLEXIND 605.00 605.00 590.00 600.50COFORGE 2277.00 2353.95 2257.05 2334.00MANAPPURAM 159.00 161.55 157.50 160.65IPCALAB 2041.00 2099.85 2041.00 2093.90TVSMOTOR 477.80 483.65 474.15 481.30IDBI 37.20 37.90 36.95 37.10SBILIFE 842.00 844.00 825.00 838.45BAJAJHLDNG 2653.00 2728.90 2653.00 2669.15UFLEX 315.00 337.00 315.00 330.70MARICO 373.80 376.50 369.25 376.00RAMCOCEM 840.00 857.85 840.00 853.35PHILIPCARB 149.70 154.90 148.60 151.95JUBILANT 680.05 708.00 680.05 694.90WOCKPHARMA 289.50 297.00 289.50 291.65AFFLE 2847.00 2883.00 2807.15 2862.05ADANIGAS 234.15 242.45 234.00 240.30ADANITRANS 320.05 329.75 319.85 326.05BOSCHLTD 12234.40 12261.30 11850.00 11875.00JKLAKSHMI 297.55 319.40 297.55 316.80LAXMIMACH 4002.00 4268.00 4002.00 4240.35CENTURYTEX 308.95 316.00 306.50 312.20

NATCOPHARM 904.00 932.00 893.30 905.90INDIACEM 120.65 125.75 120.40 125.25SWANENERGY 133.00 134.75 131.60 132.60AMARAJABAT 830.75 840.00 820.00 838.00GALAXYSURF 1799.00 1860.00 1739.60 1833.85COCHINSHIP 337.80 339.70 334.00 334.00DCBBANK 89.00 91.75 87.00 90.15LEMONTREE 29.85 31.30 29.75 30.75ALKYLAMINE 3295.65 3399.00 3283.70 3360.00VIPIND 303.15 307.65 293.35 295.05HEG 714.50 729.95 704.60 719.00ICICIPRULI 430.00 433.00 425.10 429.80ABBOTINDIA 15300.05 15510.95 15285.05 15305.00TVSSRICHAK 1407.50 1533.00 1407.50 1509.80TRENT 693.00 729.80 692.00 726.40RCF 44.85 47.10 43.65 45.80DEEPAKFERT 136.50 149.15 136.50 144.70CHENNPETRO 76.45 80.50 74.50 79.25GRANULES 376.90 384.40 375.70 380.00BBTC 1217.10 1278.70 1201.50 1278.70GODREJCP 690.00 692.60 681.65 689.20BSOFT 179.90 182.00 176.30 176.95MEGH 71.50 75.90 71.50 75.80CUB 178.15 181.35 176.05 177.70ABB 953.90 975.00 950.60 960.40AUBANK 850.00 869.05 816.30 827.00BERGEPAINT 650.00 655.90 644.55 650.70INFIBEAM 82.25 87.40 82.25 86.10POLYCAB 925.00 930.65 913.75 917.80MPHASIS 1310.00 1358.30 1310.00 1345.30AVANTI 503.50 519.05 497.20 499.50MINDAIND 360.00 374.00 360.00 366.05CONCOR 400.20 402.70 398.15 399.45METROPOLIS 1925.00 1975.00 1810.25 1863.50DISHTV 10.41 10.90 10.40 10.53VENKYS 1561.00 1597.00 1551.80 1595.00TV18BRDCST 28.05 28.70 27.85 28.20UBL 1025.00 1050.00 1019.70 1022.80BDL 301.45 318.10 301.00 315.35CHAMBLFERT 168.00 172.90 165.20 171.25ITI 121.05 129.30 121.00 126.05APLLTD 955.00 970.00 951.95 966.65ADANIPOWER 36.25 36.65 36.00 36.05JINDALSAW 62.05 65.30 62.05 64.10ABFRL 156.05 157.05 154.70 155.40FORTIS 132.05 136.90 132.05 134.95GNFC 191.50 195.95 190.65 192.05DCAL 135.00 139.20 133.50 134.80MCX 1665.25 1693.65 1652.00 1669.00AJANTPHARM 1545.00 1550.00 1524.85 1529.45SYNGENE 547.00 549.80 541.85 546.30SOBHA 284.55 295.70 284.55 287.20MINDACORP 69.30 72.20 68.70 71.40CANFINHOME 477.15 484.60 475.75 475.75GSPL 192.40 194.30 186.90 188.25FCONSUMER 6.95 7.07 6.88 7.02EQUITAS 48.00 49.70 46.40 49.45UJJIVAN 236.00 245.00 231.50 242.65THYROCARE 1001.05 1066.75 1001.05 1047.45JBCHEPHARM 945.00 980.00 937.30 953.60FSL 72.10 74.60 72.10 74.35SOUTHBANK 6.71 6.76 6.60 6.65IFBIND 751.00 798.40 748.85 786.30IEX 205.55 210.00 202.70 208.65TORNTPOWER 310.30 315.00 307.25 308.70VINATIORGA 1086.00 1112.35 1086.00 1105.20TRIDENT 7.40 7.40 7.24 7.35BOMDYEING 64.40 65.30 63.45 64.50TATACOMM 1000.00 1017.00 981.60 989.95GODFRYPHLP 883.75 891.40 877.35 879.00ICICIGI 1256.00 1269.95 1247.40 1260.25AEGISLOG 204.00 221.75 204.00 218.10DBL 343.35 358.00 343.35 353.35CENTRALBK 11.80 11.90 11.60 11.63ASTERDM 141.80 157.60 141.35 154.40COROMANDEL 712.00 747.60 708.00 721.00STLTECH 150.00 151.00 145.00 145.90PGHH 10505.05 10958.00 10505.05 10791.00LUXIND 1486.40 1564.45 1482.95 1500.65HFCL 16.85 17.20 16.85 16.85RAIN 100.70 102.55 100.70 101.25CYIENT 425.05 434.45 423.70 427.30RITES 246.00 249.65 246.00 249.00SUDARSCHEM 440.00 470.00 440.00 446.75NAVINFLUOR 2429.00 2495.00 2407.65 2416.35SONATSOFTW 334.00 341.60 333.60 340.50ASTRAL 1320.00 1320.00 1231.00 1290.90KPRMILL 790.00 817.50 785.00 812.55SUNTECK 266.30 268.15 265.00 266.00EIHOTEL 81.65 82.90 80.80 81.40OIL 91.50 92.40 91.15 91.90RADICO 466.60 466.60 456.50 459.40KAJARIACER 575.00 583.70 573.00 580.00KANSAINER 519.15 525.00 494.60 506.90PIIND 2280.55 2327.00 2273.45 2300.05CAPPL 459.90 485.65 456.70 483.65MFSL 601.00 619.00 601.00 607.00TATACOFFEE 101.05 103.00 101.05 102.90BAYERCROP 5210.00 5348.25 5095.00 5095.10KEI 336.95 345.10 336.95 342.60NAM-INDIA 283.05 290.00 283.05 285.30JKCEMENT 1860.00 1867.95 1829.20 1849.95GEPIL 237.65 237.65 230.95 237.65RAJESHEXPO 455.00 459.00 454.00 457.55IIFL 90.10 92.80 89.00 92.55PCJEWELLER 16.05 16.75 16.05 16.30APLAPOLLO 3252.00 3266.40 3211.30 3224.50JAICORPLTD 83.55 86.95 83.55 85.75ARVINDFASN 125.00 132.00 124.05 127.10

LTTS 1650.00 1691.95 1644.50 1667.80VBL 731.25 739.15 710.00 714.05FDC 325.00 337.90 325.00 335.70GODREJIND 375.00 384.55 375.00 379.90STARCEMENT 88.00 92.40 82.00 84.75ZENSARTECH 185.00 193.50 185.00 193.00RATNAMANI 1288.75 1345.00 1268.80 1341.00EIDPARRY 281.00 289.90 281.00 286.70QUESS 404.50 418.20 403.20 409.00DALBHARAT 909.80 919.00 909.70 912.85CHALET 141.20 148.50 141.20 142.45GSFC 63.30 64.15 62.75 62.90BEML 615.60 627.40 615.60 622.00CEATLTD 1124.00 1124.00 1102.55 1107.40PTC 52.50 52.95 51.25 52.80JSWENERGY 58.10 61.90 58.10 61.05GMRINFRA 23.90 24.75 23.90 24.45WHIRLPOOL 2137.50 2137.50 2083.60 2091.60IDFC 31.25 31.25 30.50 31.05GRAPHITE 180.20 187.50 180.20 184.80JSLHISAR 110.00 111.80 108.05 109.80PARAGMILK 105.00 109.10 105.00 107.40RVNL 18.50 18.85 18.50 18.75FINEORG 2554.95 2596.45 2495.10 2518.25LINDEINDIA 868.00 869.00 840.10 840.70ISEC 443.00 452.20 443.00 444.00CASTROLIND 113.75 114.50 113.00 113.30KPITTECH 99.90 99.90 97.10 98.40GESHIP 230.90 239.70 229.00 236.15SUMICHEM 270.15 278.50 270.15 271.50PERSISTENT 1075.00 1165.65 1075.00 1157.15NH 348.00 360.55 342.15 355.00HUDCO 32.60 33.40 32.45 32.85NHPC 20.95 21.10 20.80 20.85TIMKEN 1095.00 1155.55 1095.00 1130.05INDIAMART 4995.00 5000.00 4900.00 4953.35ATUL 6031.00 6389.00 6031.00 6304.05KEC 335.95 345.75 328.80 345.20PRESTIGE 261.75 263.55 258.50 260.20MAHSCOOTER 3277.35 3289.95 3236.10 3265.20DHANUKA 720.00 720.00 701.20 705.90IRCON 80.00 82.50 80.00 80.40JAMNAAUTO 48.25 48.80 47.50 48.10RALLIS 235.35 247.80 235.35 246.45EMAMILTD 371.05 385.70 371.05 383.75CROMPTON 293.00 301.60 293.00 295.85IRB 109.70 115.95 109.70 115.25SUVENPHAR 329.95 333.90 324.00 332.00GLAXO 1440.00 1468.20 1413.30 1430.75RAYMOND 276.10 285.00 276.10 281.00GUJGAS 308.80 312.55 305.95 310.50SPARC 165.05 169.00 165.05 167.00REPCOHOME 208.50 219.75 208.50 218.80DBCORP 73.75 77.80 73.75 74.75WABAG 186.00 187.45 183.50 184.10HEIDELBERG 186.30 192.00 185.30 191.35PNBHOUSING 375.25 386.40 371.95 380.00SWSOLAR 218.25 230.00 218.25 226.30VAIBHAVGBL 2010.00 2059.90 2000.00 2059.00KTKBANK 43.50 44.50 43.50 44.35GMDCLTD 42.50 43.05 42.25 42.40LALPATHLAB 2140.00 2166.50 2140.00 2159.95NETWORK18 32.75 34.50 32.75 34.35BASF 1500.00 1514.00 1490.10 1506.05UCOBANK 11.70 11.97 11.70 11.79SUPREMEIND 1425.80 1425.80 1386.80 1390.00CARBORUNIV 301.25 308.85 298.00 299.20UJJIVANSFB 32.00 32.75 32.00 32.35PNCINFRA 162.20 163.15 159.15 159.65FINCABLES 275.00 279.50 274.60 275.10HINDCOPPER 34.10 35.90 34.10 35.05ZYDUSWELL 1770.00 1793.95 1754.10 1780.85INOXLEISUR 265.15 270.10 265.00 269.40EDELWEISS 54.00 55.00 53.00 54.05SUNDRMFAST 467.00 482.00 466.65 482.00TATAMETALI 555.50 561.00 541.65 543.00GUJALKALI 310.00 316.75 310.00 311.70HSCL 45.90 46.40 45.15 46.00TIINDIA 719.85 735.00 716.95 733.00ITDC 253.60 262.00 247.00 250.35WELSPUNIND 63.20 65.95 63.20 65.40BAJAJCON 180.05 183.30 178.25 179.00NIACL 104.25 107.80 104.00 104.80CRISIL 1930.05 1965.00 1930.00 1935.80MRPL 27.55 28.50 27.55 27.85GARFIBRES 2027.15 2076.75 2010.00 2040.70JKPAPER 92.00 92.00 90.40 90.90RELAXO 680.00 698.00 680.00 691.15MOTILALOFS 555.05 558.95 550.00 552.40MOIL 124.50 125.40 123.40 124.45BANKINDIA 40.70 41.50 40.40 40.55POWERINDIA 950.00 950.00 937.20 940.00SIS 375.70 376.30 359.00 361.00HIMATSEIDE 121.50 124.40 119.20 121.85VRLLOG 159.00 163.10 159.00 159.00UNIONBANK 24.95 25.10 24.70 24.75MAHLIFE 274.55 293.90 274.55 283.40AAVAS 1475.00 1504.10 1459.30 1476.90INDIANB 61.50 62.55 61.40 61.95JYOTHYLAB 133.00 136.00 133.00 135.60OFSS 3099.00 3100.00 3075.00 3091.00KRBL 257.30 260.00 255.00 256.05CESC 594.00 594.00 576.55 577.30NILKAMAL 1332.65 1353.00 1332.65 1350.00NESCO 522.00 530.00 506.25 510.30REDINGTON 126.50 128.40 124.00 127.80DCMSHRIRAM 315.25 328.05 315.25 328.05WELCORP 100.25 103.00 100.25 102.00CENTURYPLY 181.00 186.90 181.00 184.50

TTKPRESTIG 5725.00 5800.00 5610.00 5690.00CSBBANK 257.00 259.50 253.80 254.30IOB 9.36 9.45 9.32 9.40FORCEMOT 1057.95 1075.95 1051.10 1052.10NLCINDIA 49.45 51.35 49.45 51.15INDOCO 254.00 257.05 247.80 255.10GULFOILLUB 670.00 692.95 670.00 686.15GREAVESCOT 71.90 72.65 71.50 71.50PHOENIXLTD 599.70 609.00 593.45 601.90BALMLAWRIE 100.95 101.10 100.30 100.60KALPATPOWR* 251.50 257.55 248.00 248.70MIDHANI 190.00 190.00 186.50 188.25GICRE 122.45 125.10 122.45 125.10FLUOROCHEM 502.00 512.50 490.00 497.15PRSMJOHNSN 75.55 78.90 75.55 78.25JMFINANCIL 76.50 76.60 75.60 75.85SCI 51.60 52.45 51.60 51.95TCIEXP 779.00 808.00 779.00 804.70GHCL 153.30 160.70 152.65 159.50SKFINDIA 1500.00 1514.45 1493.00 1499.05SOLARINDS 1020.00 1035.00 998.45 1002.55VAKRANGEE 26.65 26.75 26.40 26.75VARROC 295.10 304.00 295.10 299.85

NBVENTURES 50.20 50.50 49.50 49.60HONAUT 29329.95 29330.90 28750.00 28840.00SJVN 22.35 22.35 22.05 22.15MHRIL 177.20 185.00 177.20 183.85IFCI 5.90 6.18 5.90 6.03WABCOINDIA 4825.00 4825.00 4780.00 4798.50J&KBANK 15.70 15.70 15.29 15.41ENDURANCE 1070.75 1070.80 1044.15 1047.50SCHNEIDER 73.65 73.65 71.00 72.05HATHWAY 27.50 28.25 27.50 28.20ALLCARGO 123.55 124.30 120.75 121.20EPL 255.00 257.00 248.60 250.55KNRCON 258.85 259.55 252.90 255.00ORIENTELEC 206.00 216.80 206.00 214.95TIMETECHNO 39.20 39.55 38.35 39.50ORIENTCEM 64.35 67.25 64.35 66.95BLUESTARCO 646.05 670.00 646.05 668.40CCL 243.00 245.55 240.60 244.25TATAINVEST 878.00 881.20 868.60 876.70GPPL 86.55 91.50 86.55 90.00GODREJAGRO 486.00 504.85 486.00 500.95ERIS 505.95 508.50 498.45 504.103MINDIA 20203.45 20733.80 20025.55 20699.25SPANDANA 595.00 629.80 595.00 629.00SYMPHONY 828.05 832.00 824.00 826.10SCHAEFFLER 3600.05 3886.80 3600.05 3855.35GRINDWELL 541.45 555.00 537.80 543.05THERMAX 773.65 783.60 771.90 771.90MMTC 16.50 17.00 16.50 16.70TASTYBIT 10498.90 10700.00 10370.60 10700.00HERITGFOOD 266.85 275.15 265.30 272.25SUPRAJIT 195.00 198.40 190.20 196.40JSL 58.00 59.75 58.00 59.10JCHAC 2182.00 2266.90 2170.00 2170.00KSB 503.05 507.20 500.00 503.00AKZOINDIA 1988.75 2010.00 1978.05 1985.25MASFIN 832.00 858.55 830.00 841.10GILLETTE 5589.90 5589.90 5517.80 5527.00GDL 99.00 99.00 96.50 98.25BRIGADE 192.00 199.00 191.30 194.20CREDITACC 679.05 702.60 673.05 680.00CHOLAHLDNG 422.15 429.85 418.40 429.00ECLERX 717.20 718.90 706.20 708.60TNPL 101.50 103.75 101.50 103.75SOMANYCERA 230.80 235.00 223.65 232.65OMAXE 68.30 70.00 67.60 69.05LAOPALA 211.40 211.75 205.85 207.65JAGRAN 36.00 37.00 36.00 37.00ESABINDIA 1374.70 1374.70 1350.00 1353.95NAVNETEDUL 79.00 80.00 78.35 79.70MAHABANK 11.30 11.31 11.19 11.25MAHLOG 378.00 386.65 378.00 383.55TCNSBRANDS 400.00 408.45 397.00 402.60JTEKTINDIA 74.55 77.75 74.55 77.25IIFLWAM 885.00 946.65 885.00 945.85SFL 1327.25 1340.00 1327.25 1334.00VSTIND 3431.45 3466.10 3417.55 3456.00SHOPERSTOP 172.00 184.40 172.00 182.20GRSE 186.00 189.60 185.65 187.20CERA 2717.15 2734.85 2700.00 2700.00MAHSEAMLES 238.00 240.70 238.00 239.15VMART 1960.60 1974.75 1951.00 1974.75SHRIRAMCIT 944.00 944.00 896.00 897.65ORIENTREF 201.55 202.85 200.90 201.50TVTODAY 201.85 202.15 200.55 201.55VTL 853.00 868.00 847.55 855.20INDOSTAR 281.55 300.00 281.55 300.00TEAMLEASE 2372.65 2373.65 2347.45 2350.00

����� ��

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 12702.15 12741.15 12624.85 12690.80 -58.35HINDUNILVR 2129.00 2204.00 2123.25 2201.40 70.25GRASIM 804.00 831.00 803.10 826.30 23.20SHREECEM 23120.00 23624.00 22880.00 23413.30 545.75HINDALCO 205.05 211.40 204.25 207.90 3.85ITC 185.20 188.75 183.85 188.00 2.70LT 1054.90 1075.85 1052.45 1071.30 11.85HDFCLIFE 623.85 633.10 618.40 629.95 6.50BAJAJFINSV 6943.95 7060.00 6850.65 7013.00 68.20EICHERMOT 2326.00 2368.50 2302.00 2347.80 21.10BAJFINANCE 4260.00 4325.00 4200.05 4307.00 38.20BRITANNIA 3499.70 3525.95 3481.35 3522.70 29.95TECHM 837.00 848.00 834.55 844.00 6.50SUNPHARMA 503.95 517.70 502.20 509.80 3.75HEROMOTOCO 3060.00 3100.00 3037.00 3080.00 19.85ULTRACEMCO 4852.00 4866.50 4784.25 4844.40 20.60DIVISLAB 3336.00 3408.75 3303.15 3367.00 13.85IOC 85.00 85.50 83.95 85.20 0.20TITAN 1286.95 1296.00 1267.00 1276.90 2.20M&M 633.05 654.40 629.50 634.00 0.80NESTLEIND 16799.00 16900.00 16533.60 16720.00 22.40TATAMOTORS 150.95 153.85 150.00 151.05 0.10HDFC 2297.25 2343.80 2267.45 2325.60 1.30GAIL 93.75 94.00 92.60 93.00 0.05BPCL 395.00 395.90 387.10 394.00 0.00BHARTIARTL 476.85 483.20 475.05 478.55 -0.05SBILIFE 840.00 844.40 825.10 839.40 -0.15WIPRO 348.00 350.70 344.30 346.65 -0.10HCLTECH 827.15 837.00 822.00 824.70 -1.35INFY 1128.10 1142.00 1113.75 1119.60 -2.90ASIANPAINT 2172.00 2201.75 2162.00 2175.10 -6.60CIPLA 742.40 758.85 733.50 740.10 -2.25BAJAJ-AUTO 3025.00 3040.90 2996.25 3013.55 -9.55POWERGRID 190.50 190.95 187.15 189.00 -0.65MARUTI 6857.00 6930.00 6792.00 6829.00 -28.35TCS 2686.00 2713.00 2661.75 2674.45 -13.35ONGC 72.50 72.90 70.75 71.80 -0.55RELIANCE 1981.00 2008.45 1965.00 1981.80 -15.40TATASTEEL 472.00 479.90 466.30 470.05 -3.90DRREDDY 4875.00 4925.00 4805.00 4837.00 -45.15ADANIPORTS 373.00 375.60 366.10 367.90 -3.70HDFCBANK 1377.40 1388.55 1360.00 1373.50 -16.45UPL 436.80 437.80 425.10 429.70 -6.00JSWSTEEL 343.75 344.40 335.00 337.40 -5.35AXISBANK 601.95 610.45 588.80 599.00 -9.65ICICIBANK 481.60 483.55 471.35 476.80 -9.75NTPC 92.40 92.60 90.40 90.80 -2.10INDUSINDBK 790.00 802.85 761.80 767.70 -20.25COALINDIA 126.05 126.50 121.00 122.45 -3.40KOTAKBANK 1799.00 1799.00 1748.45 1757.10 -50.75SBIN 233.20 233.35 225.65 227.05 -7.15

SE 500B

����������

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28921.55 29081.05 28847.20 29050.00 170.20ADANIGREEN 914.00 942.40 903.10 940.00 42.45NAUKRI 3559.00 3725.00 3525.70 3681.00 136.75AUROPHARMA 814.50 864.00 800.00 839.80 29.00CADILAHC 418.40 435.40 413.85 427.05 10.60SIEMENS 1370.95 1414.00 1367.50 1405.00 35.00TORNTPHARM 2552.00 2644.80 2510.00 2619.70 63.65DABUR 512.50 521.95 510.55 521.85 11.85PFC 99.25 101.80 98.05 101.20 2.05HINDZINC 225.00 230.00 222.20 228.85 4.40ADANITRANS 323.00 329.95 320.00 325.10 5.90BIOCON 415.00 427.70 413.10 424.20 6.30COLPAL 1492.00 1523.95 1486.25 1521.00 21.65AMBUJACEM 258.10 264.35 256.20 263.00 3.30PETRONET 242.15 247.45 239.50 243.95 3.00INFRATEL 177.50 181.80 176.60 179.10 2.20GICRE 124.25 125.50 123.50 124.95 1.45TATACONSUM 505.00 512.50 502.20 509.00 5.55MOTHERSUMI 131.35 133.50 130.00 132.75 1.35BAJAJHLDNG 2670.00 2728.70 2661.00 2670.00 20.10INDIGO 1621.00 1650.00 1606.50 1628.60 9.10ACC 1673.80 1686.05 1652.35 1678.75 8.60LTI 3000.00 3059.00 2971.00 2995.00 14.95MUTHOOTFIN 1172.00 1181.45 1154.30 1172.00 5.35ICICIPRULI 428.55 433.50 424.90 430.30 1.75PEL 1398.00 1421.95 1385.05 1401.00 5.60NMDC 91.50 91.90 89.80 91.10 0.35OFSS 3080.00 3107.25 3070.05 3090.00 11.85PIDILITIND 1564.00 1581.90 1557.75 1570.25 6.00BERGEPAINT 647.90 656.10 642.40 651.05 1.85MARICO 368.30 376.65 368.30 376.50 1.00DMART 2400.00 2410.00 2361.05 2398.00 -0.20BANDHANBNK 339.80 339.80 330.25 338.75 -0.40GODREJCP 688.00 693.15 681.15 688.00 -0.90DLF 182.00 185.75 179.20 182.65 -0.25CONCOR 400.70 402.70 398.00 399.10 -1.15PNB 29.25 29.50 28.90 29.15 -0.10ICICIGI 1265.35 1270.55 1248.00 1260.00 -5.35HAVELLS 818.80 823.65 807.20 811.00 -3.80HDFCAMC 2443.75 2463.00 2415.30 2428.00 -15.75HINDPETRO 214.90 216.20 212.60 213.20 -1.50ABBOTINDIA 15420.00 15509.75 15275.10 15300.00 -120.75UBL 1031.00 1050.00 1002.65 1024.30 -15.00LUPIN 908.00 937.20 888.55 897.20 -13.90ALKEM 2701.75 2710.00 2645.00 2647.00 -41.55PGHH 10955.05 10970.00 10740.50 10785.00 -204.30IGL 449.90 449.90 435.80 439.25 -9.05MCDOWELL-N 571.25 571.25 555.30 557.35 -11.70BOSCHLTD 12240.00 12281.20 11830.00 11880.00 -358.75SBICARD 807.95 809.00 780.25 781.90 -23.85BANKBARODA 47.10 47.25 45.40 45.70 -1.50

Mumbai: The Sensex and Niftysnapped their eight-session ris-ing streak on Thursday as thenew set of stimulus measuresannounced by the finance min-ister failed to stem profit-book-ing in banking, IT and energystocks. Lacklustre global cuesand a weakening rupee furtherweighed on sentiment, traderssaid. After dropping 466.12points during the day, the 30-

share BSE Sensex ended 236.48points or 0.54% lower at43,357.19. Similarly, the broad-er NSE Nifty slipped 58.35points or 0.46% to12,690.80.SBI was the top loserin the Sensex pack, shedding3.16%, followed by Kotak Bank,IndusInd Bank, NTPC, ICICIBank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bankand ONGC.On the other hand,HUL, ITC, L&T, Bajaj Finserv,

Tech Mahindra and BajajFinance ended with gains of upto 2.89 %. FM NirmalaSitharaman on Thursdayannounced tax relief on selecthome sale deals, enhancedcredit guarantee programmefor small businesses and pro-vide incentives for new job cre-ation as the Govt widenedstimulus measures to boostthe economy. PTI

���� ��+���3-4

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Thursday

said perishable goods areputting upward pressure oninflation and the government isworking on both short andmedium-term measures forcontrolling price rise.

The wholesale priceindex (WPI) based inflationrose to a seven-month high of1.32 per cent in September,while retail inflation was ateight-month high of 7.34 percent on spiralling prices offood items, especially vegeta-bles.

Speaking to reporters,Sitharaman said floods in cer-tain districts have led to uptickin prices of perishable goods,and the government is takingsteps for their better preserva-

tion, long shelf life and pro-viding weather proof storage,particularly for crops like onionand potato.

"Strictly, the perishablegoods are the one which wentup...And its more because somedistricts got flooded...The gov-ernment is working on bothshort-term and medium-termsteps. Import where necessaryfor short duration and for

medium-term, enough invest-ment is being attracted to andincentives being provided tocreate agri infrastructure," shesaid.

The Reserve Bank in areport on the state of economyon Wednesday had also flaggedunrelenting pressure of infla-tion as a downside risk con-fronting the prospects of eco-nomic recovery.

"The foremost is theunrelenting pressure of infla-tion, with no signs of waningin spite of supply managementmeasures...There is a grave riskof generalisation of price pres-sures, unanchoring of inflationexpectations feeding into aloss of credibility in policyinterventions and the eventu-al corrosion of the nascentgrowth impulses that are mak-ing their appearance," RBI said.

���� ��+���3-4

Industrial production enteredpositive territory after a gap

of six months, mainly due tohigher output in mining andpower sectors, official datashowed on Thursday.Theindustrial output grew by 0.2per cent in September, accord-ing to the Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP) data.Themanufacturing sector - whichconstitutes 77.63 per cent of theindex - recorded a marginalcontraction of 0.6 per cent inSeptember.The output of min-ing and power segments grewat 1.4 per cent and 4.9 per cent,respectively.

The IIP had contracted by4.6 per cent in September 2019.

The industrial productionhad witnessed a 5.2 per cent

growth in February this year.Thereafter it recorded a con-traction of 18.7 per cent inMarch, (-) 57.3 per cent inApril, (-) 33.4 in May, (-) 16.6in June and (-) 10.8 in July thisyear.Meanwhile, the contrac-tion in IIP for August hasbeen revised to (-) 7.4 per centfrom the (-) 8 per cent provi-sional data released lastmonth.The government hadimposed a lockdown to containthe spread of COVID-19 infec-tions on March 25 this year.

With the gradual relax-ation of restrictions, there hasbeen a relative improvement inthe economic activities by vary-ing degrees as well as in datareporting, the Ministry ofStatistics and ProgrammeImplementation said in a state-ment.

Gurgaon: Power Grid Corporation ofIndia Limited (POWERGRID), a‘Maharatna’ Company under Ministry ofPower, GoI and the ‘CentralTransmission Utility (CTU)’ of thecountry, has posted a PAT of �3,094 croreand Total Income of �9,831 crore on con-solidated basis for Q2FY21. On stand-alone basis, the Company posted PATand Total Income of �3,117 crore and�9,890 crore respectively for Q2FY21,registering an increase of about 23% &

8% respectively with respect to the cor-responding period of FY20. For six-month period (H1FY21), the PAT andTotal Income on consolidated basis are�5,142 crore and �19,648 crore respec-tively, which are about 1% and 6%higher with respect to the correspond-ing period of FY20, while on standalonebasis, the PAT and Total Income are�5,097 crore and �19,511 crore respec-tively, registering a growth of 3% and 6%respectively.

New Delhi: State-run Power FinanceCorporation (PFC) on Thursday reported a72 per cent jump in its consolidated net prof-it at �4,290 crore in the July-September quar-ter on account of higher revenues. Its netprofit was �2,497 crore in the quarter endedSeptember 30, 2019. Total income of the com-pany rose to �18,171.41 crore in the said quar-ter from �15,537.55 crore in the same peri-od a year ago.

Jaipur: On Dhanteras,Rajasthan Housing BoardHousing Commissioner PawanAroda said that the residentialproperties in the AuctionFestival E-Bid Submissionscheme, being operated by the Rajasthan HousingMandal, their shop-in theirbusiness plan, businessgrounds, built shops and pre-mium properties.

-�������8��!���� ��. ������������.������� � ����� �����%���� ����������;2<=�����% >� ���%��� �!� ��� ������ ��7���� ��

New Delhi:Driven by risingfood prices, retail inflationinched up to 7.61% inOctober, remaining abovethe comfort level of theReserve Bank. According tothe Consumer Price Index(CPI) data released by thegovernment on Thursday,inflation stood at 7.27 percent in September 2020. Itwas 4.62 per cent in October2019. The rise in generalinflation was mainly onaccount of elevated foodprices. PTI

�����������������������5�9$������=��

� ������ #�=6�������)������������#����)������������#�

�9?84,4���%�� ���$066@���%���� ��� �� �A���������B<�.<6

�68�,������'�����!��������������������%%9�����������

%"������.�� ���?��. 6)@�����,2)�7������*�.�A������

New Delhi:Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharman onThursday announced a �900crore grant to the Departmentof Biotechnology for Covid-19vaccine research. "We are pro-viding �900 crore for researchand development of Covid-19vaccine. This is being provid-ed for covid suraksha mission,purely for R&D but this moneygoes to Department ofBiotechnology for researchpurposes," she said.

Sitharaman said the grantdoes not cover the actual costof vaccine and distributionexpenses, which will be madeseparately as and when thevaccine is available. "The actu-

al cost of the vaccine or logis-tics required for distributingthe vaccine is totally differentand whatever is required forthat, as and when it is requiredwill be provided. But this istotally a different purpose andthis is for research for vaccinedevelopment which goestowards department ofbiotechnology," she added.Sitharaman also said that �10,200 crore additional budgetoutlay will be provided towardscapital and industrial expen-diture for domestic defenceequipment, industrial incen-tives and infrastructure andgreen energy.

PTI

D�������������:((����!��������?�'"$:�'��������������

����� 11���������������� ����� !" ��#$%�&'&'

����� ��+���3-4

Seventy-eight per cent of thenew 47,905 coronavirus

infections reported in the past24 hours on Thursday are from10 States and Union Territorieswith Delhi topping the list, reg-istering the highest single-daycases at 8,593 followed byKerala and Maharashtra.

Much to the worry of theGovernment, four northeasternStates — Tripura, Manipur,Meghalaya and Mizoram — arereporting increase in cases,prompting the Union HealthMinister Dr Harsvardhan toask them to increase testing onhigh risk groups and vulnera-ble population to check thespread of Covid-19.

For the successive fifthday, new Covid-19 casesreported in a span of 24 hoursdid not cross the 50,000 mark,while the trend of daily newrecoveries outnumbering dailynew infections continued forthe 40th day. As many as52,718 new recoveries wereregistered in a day as against47,905 infections during thesame period.

Ten states and union terri-tories reported 78 per cent ofthe new cases registered in aspan of 24 hours. This trendhas continued to compress theactive Covid-19 caseload whichis currently 4.98 lakh and com-prises only 5.63 per cent ofIndia’s total coronavirus cases.

The recovery rate has alsobeen boosted with the trend ofrecoveries exceeding new casesand currently stands at 92.89per cent with 80,66,501 peoplehaving recuperated from thedisease so far.

:The gap between recov-ered cases and active cases hassteadily widened to 75,77,207,:the Health Ministry said.

Delhi observed anotherspike and reported the highestdaily new cases, also its high-est tally so far with 8,593 newcases. Delhi is followed byKerala with 7,007 cases and

Maharashtra with 4,907 cases.As many as 550 case fatal-

ities have been reported in aday of which 10 states andunion territories account for80 per cent. Maharashtraaccounted for 22.7 per centshare with 125 fatalities. Delhiand West Bengal follow with85 and 49 new deaths, respec-

tively.Meanwhile, Dr Harsh

Vardhan, during a meeting viavideo conferencing with sevenstates, including the fournortheastern states, said thatactive cases are on the rise inManipur and higher positivi-ty in the state is indicative ofhidden transmission.

6;�� � �C�����%�� �@D=���� �!������ ��������<E����

����� ��+���3-4

At a time when India is pro-moting Ayush including

ayurveda decoction such askadha or ayush kwath asimmunity boosters to keepthe Covid-19 at a bay,researchers from Tehran havesuggested use of anti-oxidativeherbal drugs as an adjuvanttherapy to currently prescribedconventional treatments inCovid-19 infected diabeticpatients.

Following an analysis ofvarious studies, they said In anarticle published in theNational Centre forBiotechnology Information(NCBI), : anti-oxidative herbalmedicines with evidence-basedbeneficial impacts in the treat-ment of diabetes mellitus canbe suggested as an adjuvanttherapy to its conventionaltreatments in patients infectedwith Covid-19.

Agreeing with their obser-vation, Dr AKS Rawat, formersenior scientist with CSIR-National Botanical Research

Institute (NBRI) said, :Manyherbs like Gioly and Gudmarhave antioxidant propertiesand checks free radicals apartfrom blood sugar loweringproperties that make themuseful for people with or athigh risk of type 2 diabetes.:

He cited example of anti-diabetic herbal formulation,BGR-34 which was scientifi-cally developed under his guid-ance among other scientists atthe NBRI in collaboration withCentral Institute for Medicinaland Aromatic Plant(CIMAP),both Lucknow-based, using extracts of herbslike Daruharidra, Giloy,Vijaysar, Gudmar, Majeethand Methika.

:At least 500 herbs wereanalysed after which we select-ed best six herbs having dia-betes management propertiesto develop BGR-34.:

In fact, an independentclinical trials conducted atBanaras Hindu University(BHU), Varanasi last year tooshowed the BGR-34 has ther-apeutic efficacy for treating

newly diagnosed type 2 dia-betes. The drug is commer-cially manufactured by AimilPharmaceuticals.

As the world observeNovember 14 as Diabetes Day,Dr Rawat also said that com-pounds in herbal ingredientslike giloy used in BGR-34also corrects immunity whilecompounds in Dharuharidahelps in insulin release inType II diabetic patients.

Based on the 2019International DiabetesFederation (IDF) report, theworld prevalence of diabeteswas 463 million, and isexpected to reach 578 millionin 2030, and 700 million in2045. According to doctors,patients with co-morbiditieslike diabetes are more vul-nerable to Covid-19 becauseof their compromised immu-nity.

It is estimated that nearly20–50 per cent of patientsinfected with Covid-19 havediabetes, much higher thanthe worldwide incidence rateof diabetes.

����� ��+���3-4

To commemorate 75 years ofIndependence being cele-

brated in 2022, the CentralGovernment has decided tobuild an ‘iconic structure’ calledthe ‘Nav Bharat Udyan’, orNew India Garden, next to theYamuna river bank spread over22 acres in the national Capital.The ‘iconic structure’ will bededicated to the nation byAugust 15, 2022, which pro-vides execution time of aboutone year for the project. TheCentral Public WorksDepartment (CPWD), fallingunder the Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs called adesign competition for the newstructure.

The Centre has decided todouble the length of theCentral Vista from 2.9 km to6.3 km, beyond theRashtrapati Bhawan to the

Mother Teresa Crescent inthe west and from the IndiaGate to the banks of the riverYamuna in the east.

According to the ministry,an iconic structure is beingplanned to be built in NavBharat Udyan (New IndiaGarden) in the national capi-tal, symbolizing emergingNew India with equitablegrowth opportunities, rootedin values of ‘Sabka Saath,Sabka Vikaas, Sabka Vishwaas’and representing the aspira-tion of clean India, free frompoverty, corruption, terror-ism, communalism andcasteism.

The CPWD’s proposalsays the ‘iconic structure’should be constructed withmaterials and technologywhich would last for ages,like :Ashoka’s edicts, Iron Pillarin Qutub Minar complex, etc:.It should be robust and with-

stand the vagaries of natureand remain as such for mil-lennia to represent the currentage, it added.

:Under the Master Plan,the Central Vista Axis will beextended from the present 2.9km to 6.3 km from ridge toriver. On the eastern side, itwill culminate at the westernbank of River Yamuna. Thiswill restore the original designenvisioned for Central Vista,:the CPWD’s proposal said.

Spread over 20.22 acres,New India Garden will beopen to the public and isbeing designed to have aniconic structure and infotain-ment facilities such as Sphereof Unity, Milestones Walkway,Journey of India, Tech Dome,Amphitheatre, public ameni-ties etc. to showcase India’srich historical and culturalheritage, scientific achieve-ments, and will symbolize

unity in diversity and aspira-tions of the New India.

:The structure should beiconic in design and representthe national capital. For exam-ple, the India Gate erected bythe British in the Central Vistain the early 20th centuryprominently signifies Delhi.The proposed iconic structurebeing built in independentIndia should now become anew symbol of the nationalcapital,: CPWD’s proposalsaid. The central axis of theVista starts from the RashtrapatiBhawan, moves on the centralline between North and SouthBlocks and Rajpath and culmi-nates at India Gate. The iconicstructure should be alignedexactly on this central axis, asper the design competition’srules. It will be located on thewestern bank of river Yamuna.Hence, the foundation is to besited in sandy soil with a high

water table.The ministry says the reg-

istration will close on December11. The presentations before thejury (if required) will be duringthe 2nd fortnight of December,2020 and the winners will beannounced in the last week ofDec, 2020.

Officials said that struc-ture can be a tower/sculpture orany other built form but not abuilding to be occupied.Maximum permissible height atthe proposed site as per colourcoded zonal map prepared byAirports Authority of India is134 metres from the presentground level.

Other factors like soil sta-bility, wind velocity, seismicforces and vulnerability toflooding etc. need to be dulyconsidered as per the provi-sions of National BuildingCode of India, 2016 whiledesigning the structure.

B����������9�3��C� ���65������3�

�� �#�A��� �!���-���������-���������� �� ��� �!��#6F����- ��%� �� �0������������

'��� ������� �!� ���� ����8����� ���� �%�%����� ����������:����� ����� ��+���3-4

Against the backdrop of alle-gations by the Opposition

of irregularities in the countingof votes in the Bihar Assemblypolls, Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC) SunilArora on Thursday said whilethe Election Commission doesnot react to comments made bypolitical parties, the ultimatedecision lies with people.

He also said the Bihar chief

electoral officer has alreadyresponded to everything. TheEC had to hold four pressconferences on counting dayon November 10 to respond tovarious aspects of the process,Arora pointed out.

We do not respond tocomments made by politicalentities. It is their decision,what they said, why they said.The ultimate decision lieswith people, : he toldreporters.

'�����%���:� 8 ���--�����9%%����������������� ������������� �������!� �

����� ��+���3-4

The Difficult Dialogues, apremier international

forum that discusses pressingissues of global importanceeach year in Goa, is set toreturn with its sixth editionfrom November 16 in the formof an online event to brain-storm the issue of GlobalSustainability.

Since its inception in 2016,themes such as Global Financeand Civil Society, Health,Gender, Education and Lawwere discussed under theumbrella of Difficult Dialogue..

The upcoming edition ofDifficult Dialogues would dis-cuss a wide range of topicsunder the overarching theme ofGlobal Sustainability by bring-ing together stakeholders fromvarious backgrounds includingsustainability experts, businessleaders, change agents, cam-paigners, filmmakers and stu-dents from all across the world.

Since the current problemregarding sustainability is asmuch a communications one asa scientific one, DifficultDialogues is partnering with thetve Global Sustainability FilmAwards to produce an inspiring,week-long online event that willinclude dialogues, debates andfilms to strengthen its impactand reach.

The specially designedpanel discussions along with thepresentation of the film awardswould take place as part of theAwards Week from November16 to 20, comprising 90-120minutes of environment andsustainability content each day.

This week would also featurethe finale of Daring Debates, awell-established debate plat-form for the youth to engageinpolicy ideation, by involvingparticipants from Africa,Bangladesh, India, Myanmar,Nepal, Sri Lanka and the USA.

Speaking of this partner-ship, Surina Narula the founderof Difficult Dialogues, said, :Iam delighted to announce thatDifficult Dialogues this year isjoining hands with the tveGlobal Sustainability FilmAwards to highlight and discussa subject that is more relevantin 2020 than ever before -Global Sustainability.

The core idea is to inculcatea strong sense of urgency toaddress issues on sustainabili-ty that crucially and equallyaffect us all.

The upcoming awardsweek in November will seethought provoking conversa-tions initiated by DifficultDialogues along with brilliantfilms on sustainable solutionsbeing awarded as part of the tveGSFA 2020. t:

There are four DifficultDialogues panel discussionsplanned during the AwardsWeek which focus on relevantglobal themes related to sus-tainability. These include theCHANGING THE MINDSETpanel which discusses how wecan change the mindset of peo-ple to improve their under-standing of the effect theiractions have on the environ-ment, the ROLE OF INNO-VATION FOR A SUSTAIN-ABLE FUTURE panel whichwill look at innovative ideas and

emerging technological inno-vations like AI, digital technol-ogy and green businesses whichcould lead to long term sus-tainable solutions, THEWORLD IN 2050 panel thatwill outline key initiatives thatneed to be taken to achieve thefuture sustainable developmentgoals across social, economicand environmental areas, andthe HIDDEN STORIES,IMPACT JOURNALISM:BUSINESS AND POLITICSOF GLOBAL SUSTAINABIL-ITY panel which examines howlarger political and trade inter-ests affect global sustainabilityand howin an increasinglybipolar world, on-the-groundinvestigations will change forthe media working to showcaseirregularities.

Key speakers includeAndrew Wilson, a change agentwith expertise in sustainabili-ty and business purposes,Andrew Dunnett, Director ofVodafone Foundation, TonyJuniper, eminent campaigner,writer, sustainability adviserand environmentalist, DavidStringer Lamarre, a businessleader, entrepreneur and inno-vator, Duncan Wardle, whoserved as Head of Innovationand Creativity at Disney, MarkWood, an established speaker,author and explorer, AdamRicobanni, an AI entrepreneurand author, Claire RewcastleBrown, British investigativejournalist who has campaignedceaselessly against environment destruction andPoulomi Basu, Indian trans-media artist, photographer andactivist.

��%������� ��-����� ����������-����� ����-��� ���������!�-��67

���� ��+���3-4

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) has attached assets

worth �1.3 crore of a seniormanager of Vijaya Bank in amoney laundering case relatingto siphoning of funds ofKarnataka State HandicraftDevelopment Corporation Ltd.

The attached immovableassets are in the form of landand building which are in thename of BY Srinivas, formerSenior Manager, Vijaya Bank,Bengaluru and movable assetsin the form of balance lying inbank accounts in the name of.HS Nagalingaswamy, BYSrinivas, Ashwin Tours &Travels and PNP Enterprises.

Investigation under theprovisions of the PMLA wasinitiated on the basis of an FIRregistered at Ashoknagar PoliceStation, Bengaluru City againstGC Kishor Kumar, GeneralManager, KSHDCL and othersfor siphoning off the funds ofKSHDCL, a State Governmentof Karnataka undertaking.

8��� �����62$����� �����������������3�1����'���

���� ��+���3-4

Attorney General K KVenugopal Thursday

granted consent for initiationof contempt proceedingsagainst stand-up comic artistKunal Kamra for his tweetswhich allegedly criticised theSupreme Court.

:The tweets which I amextracting below are not onlyin bad taste but clearly crossthe line between humour andcontempt of the court:, saidVenugopal in his letter toone of the applicants who hadsought consent of the toplaw officer for initiation ofcontempt proceedings againstKamra.

:I therefore grant consentto proceed by way of initiat-ing contempt proceedingsagainst Kunal Kamra, :Venugopal said in his letter.

*��=�0�����������������!��!��������������������

����� ��+���3-4

The Congress on Thursdaysaid the party was disap-

pointed with the BiharAssembly election results andCongress Working Committee(CWC) will take note of it anddeliberate the issue.

Asked about the Biharassembly results at the AICCPress, Chidambaram said,:weare definitely disappointed withthe Bihar results but the votedifference between NDA andGrand alliance was just 3 percent and the CWC will discussand take a view on it.:

The party high commandincluding former party chiefRahul Gandhi who cam-paigned extensively in the Stateis yet to react on the dismal

performance of the party. Theparty also could not perform inother State bypolls includingUttar Pradesh, Gujarat,Madhya Pradesh, Karnatakaand others.

At the same time, anothersenior Congress leader JairamRamesh asserted that the man-date is against Nitish Kumarand accepted that the Congresscould have done much better.The former union ministersaid that despite 15 years ofNitish as chief minister Biharremains one of the pooreststates.

With the worst ever per-formance despite raking upthe core issues like unemploy-ment and price rise, the grandold party whose campaign wasled by Rahul Gandhi.

�������A%��������%%��� �� ��!�'�����%�������� �

����������������� �=3�*�*

Aday after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said “Maut

ka khel (game ofmurder)” cannever fetch votes an irkedTrnamool Congress reacted-saying it was the BJP and notthe Trinamool Congress whichwas unleashing violence inBengal to win the next year’sAssembly elections.

Senior leader and TMCspokesperson Sougato Roy onThursday said thathis party hadbeen a victim of political vio-lence since its inception.“Firstit was the CPI(M) and now itis the BJP which is perpetrat-ingpolitical violence in Bengaland targeting the Trinamool,”Roy saidadding it was the BJP“and not the TMC which isunleashing violence inthe state.”

Incidentally Roy’s remarkscame almost in tandem with anattack onState BJP presidentDilip Ghosh’s convoy at Jaigaonin Alipurduardistrict of NorthBengal where his vehicle andthose of other partyleaderswere stoned by alleged sup-porters of Gorkha JanmuktiMorcha(Bimal Gurung) whichhad recently left the NDA andjoined hands withthe

Trinamool Congress.Swearing by Mahatma

Gandhi the TMC MP said thathis party did notbelieve in vio-lence. “It believes in peace. Wewould request thePrimeMinister to give hisadvice to the Bengal BJP unitto maintainpolitical decorum.”

Modi had earlier said that“Maut ka khel" (game of mur-der) cannotfetch votes to apolitical party,” even as he saidwithout naming anyoutfit that,"the people who aren’t able tochallenge us in ademocraticway, have taken the path ofkilling our workers. Insomeparts of the country, theythink they can realise theirgoals bykilling BJP workers.But killing game cannot getvotes.”

Bengal BJP which won 19out of 42 parliamentary seatsdisplacing theLeft as the mainopposition force in the State iseyeing two-third majority in thenext year’s Assembly in Bengal.

On Union Home MinisterAmit Shah setting a target of200 out of 294Assembly seatsfor the BJP in 2021 State polls,Roy said, “He (Shah)has noinkling of what he is saying.BJP will never be able to for-

mgovernment in Bengal. Thisis Bengal, things are not goingto be easyfor them here.”

Meanwhile, the BJP youthwing staged protests all acrossthe State onThursday eveningafter Ghosh was black-flaggedand his vehicle wasattackedwith brickbats in NorthBengal’s Alipurduar district,sourcessaid.

Ghosh was returning fromhis routine “chai pe charcha(discussion overtea cup) pro-gramme. Vehicle of local BJPMLA Wilson Chapramariwasalso damaged in the attack,sources said even as Ghoshlater said,“The TMC and theirfriends are getting desperate asthey can sensedefeat in theupcoming assembly polls.However such tactics won't-work. People are with us.”

Such attacks by the rulingparty and its allies proved thatlaw andorder had collapsed inthe State, he said while StateGovernor JagdeepDhankhartoo condemned the attack say-ing “leaders of no politicalpar-ty should be attacked” andthat “it is the duty of theStateadministration to ensuresafety and security of all thepoliticalparties.”

345���������������������� ��� ���0����� ����

+9'95�>.8(.��8�?8*�(�8��@+

����� ��+���3-4

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday unveiled

a statue of Swami Vivekanandaon the JNU campus and assert-ed that people may have ideo-logical differences but ideolo-gy should be seen supportingand not opposing the nation inmatters of national interest.

Giving priority to one'sideology over national interesthas harmed the democraticsystem of the country a lot, thePM said in his address to stu-dents after unveiling the stat-ue through video conferencing.

Jawaharlal NehruUniversity has long been con-sidered a citadel of the Left,with student unions affiliated toit calling the shots on the cam-pus.

The BJP and Hindutvagroups, including the RSS’sstudent wing, the ABVP, haveoften claimed that those with"anti-national" sentiments havefound support from the Left-affiliated bodies.

Modi said good reformswere earlier considered badpolitics but now it is good pol-itics because his government'sintentions and commitmentare pure, and it has prepared a

"protection shield" for the poorand other vulnerable sectionsbefore carrying out reforms.

"People have endorsed ourreform measures with theirvotes, he said in an obvious ref-erence to the Bihar poll resultswhere BJP led NDA retainedpower.

The Prime Minister saidthe statue on the campus willinspire everyone and instillcourage and compassion thatSwami Vivekananda wantedto see in everyone.

"Swami Vivekanda wantedthat education in the countryshould be such that it providesself-confidence to individualsand makes them atmanirbharin every way. The new NationalEducation Policy is on thesame line and has inclusion atits core," he added in theaddress through video confer-encing.

Union Minister ofEducation Shri RameshPokhriyal 'Nishank' and Vice-Chancellor, JNU, Prof. MJagadesh Kumar also partici-pated in the event.

Addressing the JNU stu-dents and the youth of thecountry, the Prime Ministerexpressed his views on harmsof prioritizing ideology over

national interest. He said this isone thing that has done greatharm to the democratic systemof our country.

“Because my ideology saysthis, so in matters of nationalinterest, I will think in the sameframework, I will work on thesame parameter, this is wrong”,said Modi. It is natural to beproud of one’s ideology still, onthe subjects of national inter-est, our ideology should be seenstanding with the nation notagainst it, he stressed.

The PM told the studentsthat in the history of thecountry, whenever a difficulttime arose before the country,people of every ideology cametogether in the national inter-est. People of every ideologystood united under the leader-ship of Mahatma Gandhi in thefreedom struggle. They foughtfor the country together. Thecountry saw the same solidar-ity during the Emergency.Former Congress leaders andactivists were also present inthe movement against theEmergency. There were RSSvolunteers and Jana Sangh peo-ple. Socialists and communiststoo came together.

Prime Minister Modistressed that in this solidarity,

no one had to compromise onideology. There was only onepurpose - national interest.Therefore, whenever there is aquestion of national unity,integrity and national interest,taking decisions under theburden of any ideology willlead to the loss for the nation.

Prime Minister made itclear that idea-sharing and theflow of new ideas need to bekept uninterrupted.

Prime Minister said for along time the poor were kept inslogans only and there was noattempt to connect the poor ofthe country with the system.He said the poor were themost neglected, most uncon-nected and most financiallyexcluded person earlier.

Similarly, through betterirrigation infrastructure, mod-ernization of mandis, E-Nam,soil health cards, availability ofurea better MSP a safety net-work was created around thefarmers.

The government firstworked for their needs, now itis working for their aspiration. Pokhriyal said thestatue will remind our futuregenerations about his values,philosophy and thoughts aboutthe country, he added.

������!3� ������������������#�%�������������?�� � ����� ��� ��4�;

New Delhi/Kolkata: Buoyed byits good showing in the 2020Bihar Assembly elections inwhich it won five seats, theAIMIM is now planning tothrow its hat in the electoral ringin the West Bengal Assemblyelections slated in the first half of2021, which could spell troublefor non-BJP parties in the east-ern state.Telangana-based AllIndia Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen or AIMIM, led byAsaduddin Owaisi, put up animpressive show in Bihar by bag-ging more than 1.24 per centvotes while contesting 24 seats.

The AIMIM not only wonfive seats in Bihar, but alsoplayed the political spoilsport inan equal number of Assemblyconstituencies, which could havetilted the balance in a tight situ-ation like in the new BiharAssembly.This promptedCongress West Bengal unitPresident Adhir RanjanChowdhury to say that "theGrand Alliance in Bihar lostbecause of AIMIM".TheAIMIM's entry in West Bengalwill make the TrinamoolCongress, the Congress and theLeft jittery as a resurgent Owaisi,after wining seats in Seemanchalarea of Bihar.

*4�4�������������������������"<� ���������<��!���������

���� ��+���3-4

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday said

enhancing all kinds of connec-tivity, including in social, digi-tal and financial spheres, withthe 10-nation ASEAN groupingis a major priority for India.

He made the remarks at avirtual summit between Indiaand the ASEAN.

:We believe a cohesive andresponsive ASEAN is needed forsecurity and growth for all in theregion,: Modi said.

He also said that there aremany similarities betweenIndia’’s ‘’Indo Pacific OceansInitiative’’ and ASEAN’’s‘’Outlook on Indo Pacific’’.

:Enhancing every type ofconnectivity between India andASEAN — physical, economic,

social, digital, financial, mar-itime — is a major priority forus. In the last few years, we havecome close to all these areas,: hesaid. The Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations(ASEAN) is considered one ofthe most influential groupings inthe region, and India and severalother countries including theUS, China, Japan and Australiaare its dialogue partners.

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

���� *�3*��*

Jon Ossoff took the stage inColumbus and looked out

over a parking lot filled withcars, with supporters blaringtheir horns in approval as hedeclared that “change has cometo Georgia.”

Hours earlier, RepublicanSen. Kelly Loeffler stepped toa microphone in suburbanAtlanta and addressed hun-dreds of eager supporterspacked into the Cobb CountyGOP headquarters.

The freshman senator andher Florida colleague, Sen.Marco Rubio, stirred the crowdwith their insistence that thechange offered by Ossoff andhis fellow Democratic Senatehopeful Raphael Warnockmeans “radical elements”would control Washington.

Those opening salvos ofGeorgia’s twin Senate runoffcampaign — Ossoff looking tounseat Republican Sen. DavidPerdue and Warnock facing offwith Loeffler — showcasestarkly different approachesthe two parties are taking to theunusual circumstances thatmake this newfound two-partybattleground the epicenter of anational battle for control of theSenate.

Both sides are playing tocore supporters, the most reli-able voters among the 5 millionwho split their ballots roughlyevenly between the two partiesin the first round.

But for Democrats, it’sseemingly a more piecemeal,voter-by-voter approach, whileRepublicans are pushing abroad branding messagethrough mass media.

���� +*/-4���=�

US President Donald Trumphas won the closely-fought

presidential election in thestate of Alaska, winning threeelectoral college votes and tak-ing his tally to 217.

The Republican Party hasalso retained the Senate seatfrom Alaska, giving it 50 seatsin the 100-member UnitedStates Senate.

When the election wascalled in Alaska, Trump hadreceived 56.9 per cent of thetotal votes counted andPresident-elect Joe Biden fromthe Democratic Party with 39.1per cent.

With this, Trump’s tally of

electoral college votes hasincreased to 217, as per thecount maintained by The NewYork Times.

Biden has already beendeclared winner of the

November 3 presidential elec-tion with 279 of the 538 elec-toral college votes. Trump hasrefused to concede and hasfiled lawsuits in multiple states,challenging election results.

The election results inAlaska also gave theRepublican Party an edge overthe Democrats in the Senate.Republican senator DanSullivan won his Senate re-elec-tion bid. This gives theRepublicans 50 Senate seats,while the Democrats have 48.The two Senate seats are goingin for elections on January 5.

“President Trump andSenate Republicans win Alaska,overwhelmingly and by a mas-sive 20 point spread!” IvankaTrump, daughter of Trumpand a presidential advisor, saidin a tweet.

Washington: US President-elect Joe Biden in phone callswith the leaders of Australia,Japan and South Korea empha-sised on maintaining a secureand prosperous Indo-Pacificregion. According to readoutsof the calls issued by his tran-sition team, Biden onWednesday spoke over phonewith Prime Minister ScottMorrison of Australia, PrimeMinister Yoshihide Suga ofJapan and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea. These werecongratulatory calls by thethree leaders after Biden’s his-toric win in the November 3elections. In his call with

Morrison, Biden underscoredthat the United States andAustralia share both values andhistory, and noted that the twocountries have fought side-by-side in every conflict since theWorld War I. Biden said that helooks forward to working close-ly with Morrison on manycommon challenges, includingcontaining the COVID-19 pan-demic and guarding againstfuture global health threats;confronting climate change;laying the groundwork for theglobal economic recovery;strengthening democracy, andmaintaining a secure and pros-perous Indo-Pacific region.

+���� ����>85�� �������� ##�� ������>���� �(� ������

+���.���� ���� 8�2����� �)�6��������������� �

���� +*/-4���=�

US President-elect JoeBiden has tapped veteran

political operative Ron Klainas Chief of Staff, elevating his“invaluable” longtime aide toone of the most powerfulpositions in the White House.

The White House Chief ofStaff manages the president’sdaily schedule. He is oftendescribed as the president’sgatekeeper.

In addition to supportingthe president-elect, Klain, 59, will work to build a diverse, experienced and talented team to help Bidenand Vice President-electKamala Harris meet the urgentchallenges facing the country,

the Biden transion office saidin a media release onWednesday.

“Ron has been invaluableto me over the many years thatwe have worked together,including as we rescued theAmerican economy from oneof the worst downturns inour history in 2009 and laterovercame a daunting publichealth emergency in 2014,”said Biden.

“His deep, varied experi-ence and capacity to workwith people all across thepolitical spectrum is precise-ly what I need in a WhiteHouse chief of staff as we con-front this moment of crisis andbring our country togetheragain,” Biden said.

3����� ���2���A� ��� �B����.������������(� �� '�����%���������������0

%���%���������#�����

Lahore: A Pakistani anti-ter-rorism court has handed down32 years of imprisonment toYahya Mujahid, spokespersonof Mumbai attack mastermindHafiz Saeed’s Jammat-ud-Dawah (JuD) terror group, intwo terror financing cases.

The Anti-Terrorism Court(ATC) here on Wednesday alsoconvicted two other JuD leaders,including the brother-in-law ofSaeed, in terror financing cases.

“ATC Judge Ijaz AhmadButtar handed down 32 yearsimprisonment to JuDspokesperson Yahya Mujahidin two FIRs. Prof Zafar Iqbaland Prof Hafiz Abdul RehmanMakki (brother-in-law ofSaeed) were awarded 16 andone-year jail terms in twocases,” a court official told PTI.

He said that the two otherJuD leaders -- Abdul Salam binMuhammad and Luqman Shah

-- were indicted in more terrorfinancing cases.

The court directed theprosecution to present its wit-nesses on November 16.

The suspects were present-ed in the court in high securi-ty and media was not allowedto enter the court premisesduring the case proceedings.

Last week, the ATC Lahoreconvicted JuD’s Hafiz AbdulRehman Makki, Zafar Iqbaland Muhammad Ashraf in twomore cases of terror financingregistered by the CounterTerrorism Department (CTD)of Punjab police.

Zafar Iqbal andMuhammad Ashraf have beengiven a collective imprisonmentof 16 years each under differentsections of the Anti-TerrorismAct. Makki has been sentencedto one-year imprisonment in acase with a fine of �1,70,000.

In September last year, theATC Lahore handed downover 16 years imprisonment toProf Zafar Iqbal and HafizAbdus Salam bin Muhammadand one-and-a-half-year sen-tence to Makki in a terrorfinancing case.

In February last year, Saeedhad been sentenced to jail for11 years on terror financecharges by an ATC in Lahore.

The ATC sentenced Saeedand his close aide Zafar Iqbalto five-and-a-half years each intwo cases. A total of 11 yearssentence will run concurrent-ly. Saeed is serving his term inLahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail. Hewas arrested in July last year.

The CTD of Punjab policehad registered 23 FIRs againstSaeed and his accomplices onthe charges of terror financingin different cities of theprovince. PTI

������� �1������%���%��������)������$<��������� �����������������

���� 3=��=�

There are widespread reportsof a power struggle at the

heart of the UK government asone of Prime Minister BorisJohnson’s closest aides hasannounced his resignation as theDirector of Communications.

Lee Cain, 39, announcedhe would step down asJohnson’s top media aide onWednesday night after minis-ters and advisers, includingJohnson’s fiancee CarrieSymonds, are said to haveprotested over his planned pro-motion to Chief of Staff.

Cain is also a close aide offellow Brexiteer and Downing

Street Chief Strategy AdviserDominic Cummings, anotherone of Johnson’s most influen-tial and high-profile top teammembers.

“After careful considerationI have this evening resigned asNo. 10 Director ofCommunications and will leavethe post at the end of the year,”reads Cain’s resignation letter.

“I would like to thank theprime minister for his loyaltyand leadership. I have no doubtthat under his premiership thecountry will deliver on thepromises made in the 2019election campaign and buildback better from the coron-avirus pandemic,” he said.

���G�� ��� ����6;���������� � ����(���"�� �%�����������

Beirut: The Islamic State groupclaimed responsibility onThursday for the explosionthe previous day at a cemeteryin Saudi Arabia whereAmerican and European offi-cials were commemorating theend of World War I. The blastwounded three people.

IS said in a post on itsonline Telegram channel onThursday that its fighters wereable to plant the explosivedevice at the Non-MuslimsCemetery in the kingdom’scoastal city of Jiddah.

In a statement posted onone of its Telegram channels, ISsaid a group of its militantswere able to plant the explosive

devise at the in the city ofJiddah. It provided no evi-dence but said the device wentoff when diplomats from “theCrusader countries” had gath-ered there.

One U.K. National suf-fered minor wounds, accord-ing to the British govern-ment. Greece’s ForeignMinistry said a Greek police-man serving in the country’sconsulate in Jiddah waswounded. A Saudi securityofficer was also lightly wound-ed, Saudi state media quoteda local official as saying.

Some 20 people of differ-ent nationalities were attendingthe ceremony.

� ������*�����!���.������ �����8����*����������������3

%��& ���� .*��*�4 <-* �<-* *�/�4�;3;/�+4������

“We saw a powerful multi-sectoralboost coming in from the governmenttoday,” said Ficci President Sangita Reddy.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) hasforecast that the Indian economy will shrinkby 10.3 per cent in the year to March.

“Recovery (in economy) is happening,”Sitharaman said, pointing to some high-fre-quency indicators.

“In the last 10-15 days, there have beenquite a few steps and indicators which haveshown the recovery is happening. The PMIhas risen to 58.9 in October. This is thestrongest increase in output in close to nineyears. This shows that it is not just pent updemand but a strong pitch for recovery,” shesaid.

Further, Sitharaman said, “a total of 15per cent of GDP is what is being given hereas stimulus till today.” PTI

?=F4/-4�3�0/� -*/�",� 4*3��� =33����?=� 3���

“The promising results of the trials so fargive confidence that Covishield could be arealistic solution to the deadly pandemic,”Serum Institute said.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of SII said thepandemic has presented a chance to fosterstructural reforms in building robust pub-lic healthcare infrastructure and added,“ICMR has played a huge role in coming for-ward and strengthening India’s fight againstCovid-19. The collaboration will further aidus in putting India at the forefront of devel-oping an immunogenic and efficacious vac-cine.”

�4/�*��34���/� ;?�; �/�*�� *��=���3*��� * ��=D3*? �4/���*�������

The broad contours of the three-stepprocess include removal of armoured per-sonnel carriers within one day of inking anagreement, withdrawal of troops from spe-cific areas on the north and south banks ofthe Pangong lake in eastern Ladakh and car-rying out verification of the disengagementprocess by both the sides, they said.

The specific proposals for the disen-gagement and restoration of the status quoante as existed in April were finalised dur-ing the eighth round of high-level militarytalks, they said.

As a first step, both sides will removetheir tanks, artillery guns, armoured vehi-cles and large equipment from the frictionpoints along the LAC to their rear baseswithin three days from inking the agree-ment.

The second step entails the Chinesearmy will go back to Finger 8 areas from theircurrent position of Finger 4 on the northbank of Pangong lake while the Indian troopswould position themselves close to theDhan Singh Thapa post, sources said. It wasbroadly agreed to withdraw around 30 percent of the troops every day for three days,they said.

In the third step, it was agreed to com-plete the disengagement process in areasalong the southern bank of Pangong lake likeRezang La, Mukhpari and Magar hill.

In the final phase of the disengagementprocess, both sides will carry out a detailed

verification process following which normalpatrolling is expected to resume.

More than one lakh troops from both thesides are now deployed on the 1,700 km longLAC in Eastern Ladakh. In fact, both thearmies are also digging in for a long winterdeployment as the multiple round of talksat the military and diplomatic levels havefailed so far.

Also, China cannot be trusted as it hap-pened in June when after agreeing to pullback from the stand-off sites they did nothonour the commitment. It led to a bloodybrawl in the Galwan valley on June 15 leav-ing 20 Indian Army personnel including thecommanding officer dead.

After the last round of military talks,both sides described the negotiations as can-did, in-depth and constructive. They said itwas agreed to earnestly implement theimportant consensus reached by the leadersof the two countries and ensure that thefrontline troops exercise restraint and avoidmisunderstanding and miscalculation.

At the seventh round of talks too, bothsides had agreed to maintain dialogue andcommunication through military and diplo-matic channels to arrive at a mutuallyacceptable solution for disengagement “asearly as possible”.

Following the sixth round of militarytalks, the two sides announced a slew of deci-sions including not to send more troops tothe frontline, refrain from unilaterallychanging the situation on the ground andavoid taking any actions that may furthercomplicate matters.

�*<�+������*?�= �*/4D-*��/�/�3D�*��-* *�/-*3*�-=���

The news of the sudden death of thecharacter actor, which comes months afterBollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput wasfound hanging at his residence in Mumbaion June 14, led to shock in the industry

with several of his colleagues expressingtheir grief.

“What? This is too shocking!! Shot withhim just before Lockdown!!! Oh My God!!!”tweeted actor Manoj Bajpayee.

Director Hansal Mehta was equallystunned. “Asif Basra! Can’t be true... This isjust very, very sad.”

Among the others who condoled hisdeath were directors Onir and RahulDholakia.

“In shock. Can’t believe that we have losthim. #asifbasra Used to meet him so oftenat the park jogging. He would tell me not tojog sideways,I might loose balance and hurtmyself,” Onir tweeted.

Dholakia, who directed Basra in theNational Award winner “Parzania” and in theSanjay Dutt-starrer “Lamhaa”, said Basra wasa “wonderful actor and a jovial fellow”.

“I mean why would he?? Very Sad - haddirected him in Parzania (Chagan), inLamhaa ( the Darzee ) and also in society...Very sad to hear about his passing !! #asif-basra Hope you are at peace,” he added.

Casting director Mukesh Chhabra tweet-ed, “This can’t be true Asif Bhai, we havedone so much work together from ‘Kai PoChe’ to ‘Hostages 2’. I can not believe this!Whatttt is happening??????????? #asifbasra”.

Basra’s sudden death is the latest blowfor the industry, struggling to get back onits feet after the lockdown that came intoeffect in March to curb the spread ofCovid-19.

��������������� �;�<*4

In a development that will notonly boost the Indian Navy’s

capabilities but will also bringabout a transformational shift insubmarine operations, the fifthScorpene submarine of Project-75 “Vagir” was launched at theMazagon Dock here onThursday.

With the launch of “Vagir”at the hands of Mrs VijayaShripad Naik through videoconferencing in the presence ofMinister of State for DefenceShripad Naik as the chief guest,India has cemented its positionas a Submarine Building Nation.

The development is in syncwith the current impetus of theGovernment towards 'Make inIndia' and 'Aatma NirbharBharat'. The first two submarinesof the Project-75 have beencommissioned into the Navyand the third and fourth sub-marines are progressing their SeaTrials. After its launch onThursday, Vagir will commencewith the setting to work of var-ious equipment and the HarbourAcceptance Trials. The crew willsubsequently sail the subma-rine for the Sea AcceptanceTrials after which the submarine

would be delivered to the Navy.Chief of Staff, Western Naval

Command - Vice Admiral RBPandit, Chairman & ManagingDirector of MDL Vice AdmiralNarayan Prasad and otherDirectors of MDL were amongthose present at the launchingceremony. Chief of Materials,Indian Navy, and CWP&A(Controller of WarshipProduction and Acquisition)Vice Admiral SR Sarma andAdditional Secretary, DefenceIndustries Production SanjayJaju joined the function throughvideo conferencing from New Delhi.

Launched at the Kanhoji

Angre Wet Basin of MazagonDock Limited (MDL) the sub-marine is named 'Vagir'.

The newly launched sub-marine is christened after Vagir,an ex-Russia that had beennamed after the Sand Fish, adeadly deep sea predator of theIndian Ocean that was commis-sioned into the Indian Navy onDecember 3, 1973, and was laterdecommissioned on June 7,2001, after almost three decadesof yeoman service to the nation.

In true nautical tradition, thenew incarnation “Vagir” isinfused with new life, byMazagon Dock, is once again avery powerful predator of the

deep, guarding the vast maritimeinterests of our nation.

The state-of-the-art tech-nology utilized in the rebuiltScorpene has ensured superiorstealth features (such asadvanced acoustic absorptiontechniques, low radiated noiselevels, hydro-dynamically opti-mised shape etc.) and the abili-ty to launch an attack on theenemy using precision guidedweapons. The attack can belaunched with both torpedoesand tube launched anti-shipmissiles, whilst underwater or onsurface.

The stealth of this potentplatform is enhanced by the

special attention provided toher characteristic underwatersignatures. These stealth fea-tures make her invulnerable,unmatched by most submarines.

Scorpene submarines canundertake multifarious types ofmissions i.e Anti-Surface war-fare, Anti-Submarine warfare,Intelligence gathering, MineLaying, Area Surveillance etc.The Submarine is designed tooperate in all theatres of opera-tion, showcasing interoperabil-ity with other components of aNaval Task Force. It is a potentplatform, marking a transfor-mational shift in submarineoperations.

��� �����%����-������H3����"��������� ����-��"����5���������

���.!# ,����!�!�)�0�-%� 5, #6�(#�+!#��$+�!,����$$�&

38''*B88+6+2;>��-,9-��@C;(��-(@

��-������3�����-�����������-������� ������ � �������������%��������� � ���5���������&��� �������� �����-���������������� ������%�� �

�#�'��������������������,�������N�K�� �����������

5->+��� ������������ ��� ���� ����� ���������++��#����

��������������� �;�<*4

South African model andBollywood actor Arjun

Rampal’s live-in partnerGabriella Demetriades wasgrilled by the Narcotics ControlBureau (NCB) sleuths for six-long hours for the second con-secutive day on Thursday, inconnection with the in themuch-discussed Bollwyood-drug mafia nexus case.

Thirty-three-year-oldGabriella, whose brotherAgisialos Demetriades wasarrested in a drugs-related caselast month, had earlier beenquestioned for six hours onWednesday.

Gabriella’s second roundof questioning came a dayahead of the questioning ofactor Arjun Rampal, who hasbeen summoned by the NCB toits headquarters on Friday.

The development came onthe heels of searches carried outby the NJCB officials atRampal’s Banda residence forseven hours on Monday.

During Monday’s raid, theNCB officials seized 11 elec-tronic gadgets including a lap-top, mobile phones and tabletsfrom there. They also seized

some documents fromRampal’s residence.

The NCB officials had alsoraided two other places at Kharand Andheri. They had alsodetained a driver working forRampal and took him to theiroffice for questioning. The dri-ver was let off later in theevening. The raid on Rampal’sresidence, the subsequent ques-tioning of Gabriella and sum-mons issued to Arjun Rampalshould be seen in the context ofthe arrest of Gabriella’s broth-er Agisilaos Demetriades madeby the NCB from Lonavalanear Pune on October 19.Agisilaos is alleged to be a partof a larger drug syndicate oper-ating in Bollywood, which isbeing investigated after thedeath of actor Sushant SinghRajput. Informed NCB sourcessaid that Agisialos was in touchwith Omega Godwin, aNigerian national who had ear-lier been arrested for supply ofcocaine in Mumbai. During hiscustodial interrogation,Godwin had named Agisialos.Earlier, ex-Dharma Productionsemployee Kshitij Prasad hadearlier been arrested by theNCB in the in connection withthe Sushant Singh Rajput’sdeath-related drug case and

expanded Bollywood-drugnexus case.

Sushant, it may be recalled,was found hanging from a ceil-ing fan in his closed room of hisduplex flat at Mont Blanc build-ing at Bandra’s Carter Road innorth-west Mumbai on June 14.

The raid on Rampal’s resi-dence had come a day after theNCB officials carried outsearches at film producer FirozA. Nadiadwala’s residence alongGulmohar Cross Road at JuhuVile Parle Development (JVPD)Scheme in north-west Mumbai.During the searches, the NCBsleuths seized a total of 717.1gm of Ganja, 74.1 gm charasand 95.1 gm MD (CommercialQuantity) along with Rs3,58,610. They also seized 10gm of Ganja from anotheraccused Wahid Abdul kadirSheikh @ Sultan.

After the seizure of drugsand cash, the NCB officialsarrested five persons, includingFiroz A. Nadiadwala’s wifeShabana Saeed.

The NCB has registeredtwo drugs cases in the wake ofthe investigations launched bythe CBI into the death of actorSushant Singh Rajput in Junethis year upon the directiveissued by the Supreme Court

Srinagar: The People's Alliance forGupkar Declaration (PAGD) onThursday released a list of seatsallocated among the allies for thefirst phase of polling for DistrictDevelopment Councils (DDCs) inJammu and Kashmir, to be held ineight phases beginning November28.

Out of a list of 22 candidates for17 constituencies released by theKashmir-based conglomerate ofmainstream parties, the NationalConference will fight 16 segments,the Peoples Democratic Party fourand the Jammu and KashmirPeople's Conference two.

On Sunday, the PAGDannounced that it had unani-

mously decided to fight the DDCelections unitedly.

The PAGD was floated onOctober 7 for the reversal of con-stitutional changes made to Jammuand Kashmir by the Centre onAugust 5 last year.

National Conference PresidentFarooq Abdullah was appointed asthe PAGD President, PDP chiefMehbooba Mufti it's VicePresident, People's Conferenceleader Sajad Lone as Spokesperson,and CPI-M leader Yousuf Taragamias Convener.

The flag of the erstwhile stateof Jammu and Kashmir has beenadopted as the symbol of thealliance. IANS

Jammu:For the third consecutiveday on Thursday Pakistan resort-ed to unprovoked ceasefire viola-tion in three sectors of the Line ofControl (LoC) in J&K's Poonchdistrict.

Colonel Devender Anand,defence ministry spokesman saidat about 9 a.m. Pakistan initiated

unprovoked ceasefire violation byfiring with small arms and shellingmortars along the LoC in Shahpur,Kirni and Qasba sectors of Poonchdistrict.

Pakistan has violated ceasefireon Thursday for the third con-secutive day in these three sectorsof the LoC.

���������������� ����� !" ��#$%�&'&'

/��2 3#��,�4+�� � 2���������,5 6���+� �2 6�-�*�� � 7�,��6�:�; ��--��<,=�;5 �� �

�-��- � $���5 >6$�*�:�; �����������+����- �� ���$$;�����- � ����$ ���,5 �+����- �� �6�+ �+�?<�$��� @ $�6�,� ��-6<*�<, @ �� �6� ��*��*� �6,�<;6 �6�� ,�$�5��<$-�A� ;�� �� +�,:+�6 6* �2��, �6��*�7�5 � +$$ *�� 6* �2$*�5A @�*��B �$

77��� .3

/&����$ 6��$�6-�*��-� ��������A*�������������� � ����������������������������������������������������������������!����������������������!'�����'����������

O����������&���4����������)���"����������������*���������������������&����������������������������������'������!�����������������&���������!��!��������������������K������������������������P<�����������

O*�������������������'"������!��������������������������������"'�����������4�K����������������������������������#��������'����'���������������&������#������P�������

As is evident from the bustlingmarkets of the city, people havetaken the festivities amid the

pandemic a bit too seriously to be evenfollowing the necessary precautions.Social distancing has certainly gone fora toss in Delhi’s markets. While lastminute shopping could be hassling, whynot go for online gifting and hampersfor your loved ones? It will not onlyoffer you a plethora of options but alsoprove to be safe in the current conta-giously dangerous environment. Hereare a few select options you can choosefrom to gift your loved ones thisDiwali.

��� 1�������2��� ��The newest addition to the 1983

Swatch collection is a SISTEM51 in bio-sourced materials, which can make for avery thoughtful gift. A black, classic watchwith decorated dial that one can appre-ciate, it comes with a message, which isa real call to action — ‘Time is what youmake of it’. The model only has 51 mov-ing parts anchored to a single, centralscrew. Unlike the original Swatch, whichfeatured a battery-powered quartz move-ment and a 34 mm case size, the SIS-TEM51 is a fully automatic watch, 41mmin size with an exceptional 90-hourpower reserve.

The collection emphasises on Swatch’snew bio-source material technologies —with cases made out of a material extract-ed from the seeds of the castor plant, thefirst time such a material has been used ina mechanical watch, priced at �12,045.

Another option that gives sustainabil-ity a chance is a gift hamper from TheEarthen Urban. Founded in 2020, amid thepandemic by an environmentally-con-scious woman entrepreneur, the hamperproducts are ethically sourced, up-cycled,cruelty-free, handmade by local artisansand undoubtedly, biodegradable. Well, aninteresting fact about it? To give back to thefauna, a segment of its returns from the

sales go to feed the stray dogs across NewDelhi and look at reaching far and widein days to come.

There are three hampers eachwith different kinds and sizes of scent-ed soy wax candles in coconut bowl,plantable calendars, bamboo brushes,breathable cotton masks and a cus-tomised Diwali greeting on a seedpaper. The quantity of the productsrange as per the price, which are�599, �999 and �1699, respective-ly.

����11 0��This Diwali, gift yourself and

your loved ones good health andwellness with Fast&Up’s “immunityspecial” products. It offers a range ofhampers with different immunity

boosting antioxidant multivitamins.One of them also include the N-AcetylCysteine (NAC) to help boost the lungimmunity and fight air pollution byenhancing one’s lung’s ability to becomestronger to fight the Coronavirus. Theother hampers include the detox capsuleswith Active Greens and Vitamin C,Curcumin and comes in various flavourslike mango, orange and Ghana chocolate.

1�0���""�01���""�0��The Jameson Blockbuster Pack by

Pernod Ricard is all your friends need fora great start to the festival. The pack con-tains the essentials for an ultimate houseparty — two bottles of Jameson, the tripledistilled, twice as smooth, Irish whiskeywith a well-rounded flavour; a Jenga set;and a deck of playing cards to set a perfecthouse party.

Well, a yet another thoughtful consid-eration is the ‘I Wolf You’ crate by

Occasionally Silly. The hamper includesJacob’s Creek Red Wine, CabernetShiraz; a pair of rose gold wine glass-es; 4700 BC gourmet popcorns; aMazel Tov scented candle; ceramic oildiffuser; two ocean fragrance oils; andtwo tea light candles. The hampercomes in a wooden tray handcrafted bylocal artisans. With the product code asOSIWY, the hamper is priced at �4,099.

���3����1���������The Diwali hamper by The

Imperial brings tons of treats and giftsfrom chocolates to gourmet favourites

for your loved ones. The hamperoffers a wide range of carefully select-ed eats, handpicked to create lastingpleasures and to bring back cheer in thelives of your family and friends. Itincludes banana bread, plum cake,chocolates, Mustard and raspberrygourmet, cheese straws, olive jar, granolabars, Whole wheat Pasta, mix nut bot-tle and capers and more to make yourDiwali simply delightful and memorable.The hampers are available at 1911

Restaurant and are priced at �6,000 plustaxes.

0 ��11�0��00����"This Diwali, renovate, decorate, and

revamp not just your home but also yourand your friends’ kitchens with Le Creuset’srange of cookware and kitchen tools. Itbrings you products that help you celebratelife and brighten up your kitchen with theirvibrant hues, just like Diwali. The collec-tion offers enamelled cast iron cookware,multi-ply stainless steel, toughened non-stick, and bakeware, along with a range ofwine accessories. The prices for the prod-ucts range from �750 to �42,000.

Back in the late 1990s whenHyundai Motor came to India,

they were an unknown brand. But allthanks to the smiling face of actorShah Rukh Khan and some well-packaged products which wereaffordable, Hyundai acquired a rep-utation of being a ‘Value For Money’carmaker. Having driven the first-generation Santro extensively andhaving an Accent in the family, youknew that Hyundai’s were not themost dynamic of vehicles, but theygave a great combination of featuresat a cheerful price. Their cars pro-ceeded to get slightly better but fora long-time, Hyundai was considered,above all else, to be a ‘Value ForMoney’ carmaker.

Things have changed in therecent past, modern Hyundai’s arefantastic vehicles to drive from apurely dynamic point of view. Onceupon a time, Hyundai cars used towallow around a corner, there usedto be a palpable sense that there wasa lag between the time you gave asteering input and when the wheelsactually turned. If you drive a mod-ern Hyundai released in the pastthree-four years, you can throwthem into a corner and the car willhandle it with aplomb, they’re fabu-lously fun to drive.

That brings us to the new third-generation i20, now Hyundai consid-ers this the fourth generation of pre-mium hatchback, with the Getzbeing the first generation. The Getzwas not a huge sales success andwhen the i20 was launched, this wasthe time when everything was ‘i’-inspired, thanks to Steve Jobs andApple, Hyundai India executives didnot expect wonders. But the first i20and its successor, the Elite i20 havebeen stunning sales successes.Surprisingly, so has the ‘premium’hatchback segment which alsoincludes the Maruti-Suzuki Balenoand the Honda Jazz. It continues todo well despite the onslaught of smallSUVs such as the Maruti-SuzukiBrezza, Honda WR-V, Hyundai’sown Venue and the Kia Sonet. Theoverall trendline has been of a moveaway from smaller hatchbacks, yetpremium hatchbacks despite beingconstrained by the four-meter rulehave done well, Hyundai has soldover one million i20s since 2008 andcurrently move over 6,000 units a

month.The new i20 is spectacularly

amazing to drive. I will admit I tookthe ‘fun’ variant, the 120PS Turbo-GDI with the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, and while other carsin the Hyundai Motor Group fami-ly — the Hyundai Venue and the KiaSonet have the same engine andtransmission combination, on the i20everything felt better. And that is thedefining aspect of a hatchback overthe SUV. I have always said, to eachtheir own. Some people prefer sittingway up off the ground, others suchas myself genuinely prefer sittinglower down in a car. I agree that inIndia, and actually across the world,there has been a gradual shift awayfrom hatchbacks and sedans towardsSUVs, but for sheer driving thrill onthe roads, nothing beats a hatchbackwith a powerful engine.

Hyundai also equips the i20with their latest 1.2 litre Kappaengine, which delivers 83PS on themanual and 88PS on the automaticIVT variant, this is the ‘affordable’variant. For those who need a dailycommuter, it is the version to look at.Hyundai also gives hatchback buy-ers the option of a BS6 diesel, the U2CRDi with 100PS and while dieselsare a dirty word in Delhi and the restof the NCR, by all indications thanksto the Venue and Sonet small dieselmotors are still rocking the sales

charts in the West and South of thecountry.

Given how well cars like the i10Nios and Verna do on the road, thei20 was going to be fabulous. It ticksother major boxes as well, it is com-fortable and spacious particularly fora hatchback. There is also a decentamount of boot space, I findHyundai’s fitment of their ‘Oxyboost’air purifier with a readout to be amajor positive particularly in the hor-rible, horrible air quality conditionsin the capital. There is the large 10.26-inch screen and the seven-speakerBOSE audio system that are bothnow standard on top-end variantsfrom Hyundai and Kia. But even themiddle-specifications are fairly wellloaded albeit with a smaller screen.There are multiple charging points,

rear air-con vents and you can evenspecify a two-tone interior withtouches of the ‘fiery red’ exterior paintjob.

Now to the big issues around thisi20 — the looks and price. HyundaiIndia claims that in their marketresearch that almost 40 per cent ofbuyers looked at exterior looks as theprime buying criterion in this seg-ment. I believe a part of that isbecause on the normal 1.2 litre nat-urally-aspirated engines across suchhatchbacks, there are only slight dif-ferences in fuel economy and poweroutput. The new i20 is certainly quitestriking and it epitomises Hyundai’snew ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ styling lan-guage. While it really won’t be toeveryone’s taste, I personally find thestyling a bit ‘busy’. I will not be sur-prised if people really like the sharpsedges and angles across the new car.

That is one aspect, Hyundai hasalso been a bit defensive on the priceof the new i20. With a decentamount of kit, which would be the‘Sportz’ specification and upwards,you would be spending close to 10lakh on-road unless you picked upthe manual transmission of the nat-urally aspirated Kappa engine. Thisis not a cheap car to buy. WhileHyundai correctly says that you geta lot of cars for the money and it isalso true that buyers are preferringfully-loaded models nowadays. Thei20 gives you much more than itsrivals, some buyers might be put offby the price. But five years ago, whenHyundai launched the first Creta,many of us, both buyers and writersquestioned the price. We all knowhow the Creta did. Maybe Hyundaihas changed the concept of ‘Value ForMoney’, because they’re saying on thisi20 that VFM does not mean ‘cheapand cheerful’ anymore, it meansthat you are getting a technological-ly advanced car for much less thanwhat you’d pay in a luxury car withthe same features.

For quite a few years, the veryconcept of a large Sports Utility

Vehicle (SUV) with a petrol enginemight have seemed like anathema,unless and until you bought themadcap variants like the AMGsand Ms of the world. Why wouldanyone buy a large SUV with a“normal” petrol engine? Okay so inthese cases, normal engines usual-ly mean three-litre V6 tur-bocharged engines, but you get thepoint. Then, of course, came thatmomentous Supreme Court rulingthat in a single stroke wiped fiveyears off the life of diesel-enginedSUVs in the National CapitalRegion (NCR). While you canstill fully depreciate a car in lessthan 10 years, it still hurts manyowners to dispose of their bigdiesel SUVs after eight-nine yearsfor a song. There are immaculate-ly maintained 2010 and 2011 reg-istered luxury diesel SUVs in theNCR that are available for next tonothing, if you check the onlineclassifieds.

While we can, and should havea debate on whether diesel vehiclesconforming to the BS6 emissionregulations should be allowed theregular 15-year registration period,the ‘10-year rule’ has led to mostmanufacturers launching petrol-

engined variants of all their SUVsand some manufacturers such asMaruti-Suzuki and Skoda-Volkswagen Group in India gettingout of the diesel market altogeth-er. However, the prevalence ofpetrol SUVs has puzzled some,after all, don’t petrol-engined SUVsreturn a far poorer fuel economythan a diesel-engined SUV?

Recently, I took the Mercedes-Benz GLS 450 out on a highwayrun to Jaipur and back. If the traf-fic on the highway is any indica-tion, the economy is certainlyback on track. Trucks still drive inthe wrong lane and block theentire roads, being a trucker is ahard life, but for crying out loud,learn to drive properly folks andfollow lane discipline. Driving onall but a few highways in India isa constant task of weaving through

the traffic and while you are almostalways in motion, you are constant-ly accelerating and braking. Andwith new cars coming with speedalarms, even at 80 kilometers perhour (less than the highway speedlimit), which on most luxury carssound over the music, you can’teven drive at the prescribed limit.I had a child in my car so I did notpush the limit at all.

This car has a three-litre tur-bocharged inline-six motor with abattery that provides a powerboost (Mercedes calls it EQ Boost)and start-stop help and makes thecar a mild hybrid. Total power out-put is just over 360 horsepower anddespite weighing over three tonswith passengers and luggage andstill gets a move on. But on thehighway and a little bit of city dri-ving the GLS450 returned a quiteremarkable 9.5 kilometers per litre.Frankly, I do not feel that the dieselvariant the GLS 400d would havedone much better in the circum-stances. And when you considerthat the diesel and petrol variantcost the same ex-showroom,although on-road prices will beimpacted by diesel vehicle taxationin some states like Delhi, thepetrol variant makes a lot of senseparticularly when you consideraspects like resale value.

As for driving the car, I havenever been a huge fan of cars of theGLS’ size, but with button operat-ed second and third-row recline,the GLS is easy to configure andcan swallow a decent amount ofluggage even with the third-row upand a positively massive amount ofluggage when you have the third-row down. The SUV has a brilliantBurmeister sound system and onthe front-row there are ‘ActiveSeat Kinetics’ which pulsate andbelieve me help a lot to mitigatefatigue, because a few hours on anIndian highway is like a full day ofdriving in Europe or the US.

While a GLS may be a bit bigfor me personally, the advent oflean-burning petrol engines inSUVs coupled with mild or stronghybrid systems will make a com-pelling case for them. And while itis too soon to declare the ‘Death ofDiesel’, petrol-engined SUV’s areno longer fighting an uphill battle.

�;/-*���4� *

0��)!��+�7�%!�$#.� ������������ �����.���� ���!&�� ������ ## ��������������� ��(;?6�������)������������#������� ��)�����������������������������# ������ �� ���� ��)���� ��������#�)�

!(�"��� �� 3�����"��� ��"4(���������������"���5�?��*����1=2�� ��������������$$�$6���#��1�C"���&�����4��2��������������,"�������::6����������� ������$%( /�������������������/�'��"/��������"?�����������������������:A$(�1 ���������&������2

.���) ���� ������������"<��.��3/�78(��!��������������������!���&������!�/;F��������&��#���������&���

�� ����::�:���#��1�C"���&������4��2�������,"���������"�C���������,9%��������������:"��������"�������������6�8A$(�1<!�����������������������#��2

�1'�1�1*��1�D�-(*�,57

/��&�������0����&�#����������Q��&�����&������������������������������!�&�������������������������*� F4F* ��!!�������������!������������!����������'�������

���� ��3<=; ��

The prodigiously talented pairof Will Pucovski andCameroon Green were

among five uncapped playerspicked Thursday in a 17-memberAustralian Test squad for the big-ticket four-match series againstIndia, starting December 17.

The other uncapped Test play-ers in the Tim Paine-led side arefast bowler Sean Abbott leading tohis tragic death — leg-spinnerMitchell Swepson and all-rounderMichael Neser.

All the players who are yet towear the Baggy Green have beencalled on the back of extraordinaryperformances in the domestic cir-cuit in recent times, CricketAustralia said.

Cricket Australia’s nationalselector Trevor Hohns said theShield performances augur well forthe country’s cricketing future.

“Two of those many standoutplayers were of course CameronGreen and Will Pucovski,” Hohnssaid in a statement.

Each of these players, though,has represented Australia in otherformats.

Up against a strong Indianline-up and seeking to regain theBorder-Gavaskar Trophy they lostfor the first time in 2018-19, thefresh faces in the Australian Testsquad will join the seasoned starswho dominated their most recentTest series’ — against Pakistan and

New Zealand athome.

The performance tookthe team to the top of theworld rankings before theCOVID-19 pandemic hit.

The limited overs leg,which will comprise threeODIs and as many T20Is, willbe held prior to the Test series,starting November 27.

World’s number one pacer PatCummins was named Paine’sdeputy in the Test team.

The selectors also named a 19-member Australia A squad, whichincludes nine members from theTest team, for tour matches againstIndia.

In recent times, past Australiangreats have called for Pucovski’sselection in the team following hisfine run in domestic cricket — the22-year-old struck successive dou-ble centuries in his two Shieldappearances.

His inclusion sets up a com-petition with fellow opener JoeBurns, who is feeling the heatafter a disastrous start to thefirst-class summer.

In al l l ikelihood,Pucovski will partner theseasoned David Warner atthe top.

“ T h e i ru n d e n i a b l eform demand-ed selection and weare very pleased to have theseyoung men in the squad for what

will be a tremendous TestSeries against an extremely

formidable opponent,” Hohnssaid.

“Cameron has already wonselection in the white-ball squad

and continues that in joining theTest squad. He is a wonderful

���,� .4���������������� ����� !" ��#$%�&'&'

���� /����=-�K/�1*��4�;*2�

West Indies all-rounderRoston Chase has been

elevated to Test vice-captaincywhile wicketkeeper NicholasPooran will continue as deputyin T20Is in the upcoming tourof New Zealand, startingNovember 27.

Chase replaced openerKraigg Brathwaite, who wasJason Holder's deputy in theseries against England in July,while the 25-year-old Pooran,first named the West Indiesvice-captain in 2019, retainedhis position.

“Nicholas Pooran contin-ues in the role of vice-captainof the T20I Team for the tourof New Zealand. He was firstnamed vice-captain for thisformat for the series againstAfghanistan in 2019,” CricketWindies’ chief selector, RogerHarper, said.

Chase, 28, has so far played35 Test matches, scoring fivecenturies and collecting threefive-wicket hauls with his off-spin bowling.

“Roston Chase has beenappointed vice captain of theWest Indies Test Team for thistour of New Zealand. He is anexperienced player who is tac-tically aware and very purpose-ful in his approach to thegame,” Harper said.

“He is readily willing to

offer advice and discuss ideaswith his fellow players and thecoaches and I think will offergood leadership support tocaptain Jason Holder both onand off the field,” he added.

Chase has already landedin New Zealand while Pooran,who was part of the recently-concluded Indian PremierLeague, is expected to reach onThursday along with the otherplayers who competed at thetournament, including T20Iskipper Kieron Pollard, Testcaptain Holder, Fabian Allen,Shimron Hetmyer, KeemoPaul and Oshane Thomas.

“I see this as anotheropportunity to learn and growin the game. I was vice- cap-tain for the tour of Sri Lankaearlier this year, so this is con-tinuation of that work. It’salways good to share yourknowledge as we look to con-tinue the winning mentality,”Pooran said.

“I have been makingstrides in Test cricket since mydebut back in 2016 and I seethis new role as vice-captain asan honour. It is just for me totry and carry on and try toachieve great things for WestIndies,” Chase said.

“It is all about offeringsupport to the captain, coachand other players as we try toplan strategy and put morewins on the board,” he added.

���� �* *?-4

The Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) on Thursday extended

batting coach Younis Khan’s con-tract till 2022 T20 World Cup inAustralia.

The PCB said it had receivedpositive feedback about Younis’role during tour of England, whichpaved way for is contract exten-sion.

“I am delighted that Youniswill now be with for, at least, thenext two years as our battingcoach. The feedback we receivedabout Younis' impact in a shortperiod of time in England was

excellent,” Pakistan CricketBoard Chief Executive WasimKhan said.

“His work ethics, commit-

ment and knowledge are second tonone, and I am confident that hisappointment will benefit a num-ber of talented batsmen.”

When not on national duty,Younis will work at the HighPerformance Centre at Karachi,where he'll be joined by anotherPakistan legend MohammedYousuf.

“The PCB will also be utilis-ing Younis Khan’s expertise andskills when he is not on nationalduty as he will help local batsmenhone their skills.”

“This is part of the PCB's strat-egy to appoint highly-qualified andrespected coaches across all major

centres of the country so that wecan start producing cricketerswho can represent Pakistan withdistinction,” Wasim added.

He also led Pakistan to itsmaiden T20 World Cup triumphin 2009.

“I am pleased to join thePakistan cricket set-up on a long-term basis,” Younis said on his part.

“I felt honoured when I wasgiven the opportunity this summerand thoroughly enjoyed my time,and I now look forward to contin-uing the work with the samegroup of people on an importanttour of New Zealand,” Younissaid.

���� �;<*4

The BCCI is commit-ted towards hosting a

safe and healthy ICCT20 World Cup nextyear and “will leave nostone unturned” in itsendeavour, board secre-tary Jay Shah said as thecountdown for themuch-anticipated eventbegan on Thursday.

The ICC T20 WorldCup was scheduled inAustralia in October-November this year buthad to be postponed to2022 owing to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

India, however, willbe hosting the 2021 edi-tion of the global eventas per schedule inOctober-November.

“The BCCI will leaveno stone unturned inensuring that the healthand safety of everyoneconcerned in this show-piece event is taken careof,” Shah was quoted assaying in an ICC state-ment.

The board secretarypromised that all the 15visiting teams will get ataste of India's warmhospitality.

“While we are deter-mined to provide a richcricket-viewing experi-ence, I would also like toassure the ICC andMember Boards thatIndia is known for itswarm hospitality and wewill make you feel athome.”

He also ensured thatin these unprecedented

times, the BCCI will doeverything possible to"innovate and adapt”itself in challenging con-ditions.

“In these times ofpandemic, when thereare severe restrictions,the BCCI believes in thepolicy of innovating andadapting, and I am con-fident that we will over-come every challenge.”

The seventh editionof the men’s T20 WorldCup comes five yearsafter the event was lastheld in India. It will alsobe the first global crick-et event since the ICCWomen’s T20 World Cupin Australia earlier thisyear.

For BCCI presidentSourav Ganguly, it willbe a different challengeas an administrator, hav-ing played and captainedin multiple events as aplayer.

“I have enjoyedbeing part of ICC eventsas a player and knowfrom experience thatnothing beats thebuzzing atmosphere of aglobal cricket event withmillions around theworld watching everygame.

“I now look forwardto playing my part as anadministrator as we pre-pare to host the presti-gious event,” saidGanguly, confident thatIndia would uphold itstradition of organisingsuccessful global eventssince the 1987 WorldCup.

���� ��+���3-4

Ethiopia’s Andamlak Belihu and TsehayGemechu will return to defend their men’s

and women’s titles respectively in the 16thedition of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon onNovember 29.

The Ethiopian pair will both be aimingfor an unprecedented third successive victo-ry in the prestigious IAAF Gold Label RoadRace.

“This has been a difficult year, foreveryone around the world, not just profes-sional athletes, due to the COVID-19 pan-demic and I have been training alone muchmore than that I am normally used to.

“But my fifth place at the World AthleticsHalf Marathon Championships last monthhas assured me that I am in good shape andI am confident I can put up a good defenceof my title,” said Belihu.

Ethiopia’s Guye Adola will return to Delhifor the first time since he set the courserecord of 59:06 in 2014.

An unprecedented 13 men in the ADHM2020 elite field have run under the world classbench mark of one hour, and five of themhave run faster than Belihu in their careers.

The fastest man in the field is Bahrain’s2018 World Athletics Half MarathonChampionships Silver medallist AbrahamCheroben, who holds the Asian record forthe distance with 58:40.

Two other men to watch out will be theEthiopian pair of Amdework Walelegn, whowas second in Delhi last year and also took

the Bronze medal at 2020 World AthleticsHalf Marathon Championships, and 2017and 2019 world 5000m champion MuktarEdris, who will be making his half marathondebut.

Last year, Gemechu improved her ownwomen’s course record by 50 seconds whenshe ran a stunning personal best of 66 min-utes. She will have a host of outstand-ing rivals in this year’s race, arguably thestrongest women’s field ever seen in the his-tory of the ADHM with seven women hav-ing run under 67 minutes.

Among them are two of her compatri-ots, Yalemzerf Yehualaw and NetsanetGudeta.

The in-form Yehualaw finished secondin the ADHM last year, just a second behindGemechu.

She grabbed the third place at the WorldAthletics Half Marathon Championshipslast month with a personal best of 65:19.While Gudeta finished eighth in Poland buthelped Ethiopia bag the team gold and wasthe 2018 world half marathon champion.

Both the men’s and women’s races havea first prize cheques of USD 27,000 with atotal prize purse (combined men andwomen) of USD 233,270.

This year's ADHM will be held in a bio-secure bubble with only an estimated 60 eliteinternational and Indian runners in action.

Non-elite runners of all abilities will havea chance to participate virtually from anylocation, running at any time betweenNovember 25-29.

���� D *�?�

Finland stunned WC win-ner France 2-0 in a friend-

ly as the hosts were punishedfor missing a number ofchances.

First-half goals fromwinger Marcus Forss andstriker Onni Valakari gave theFinns an unexpected win,which had looked even moreunlikely after France carvedopen the visiting defence earlyon.

Forward Marcus Thuram,could have made a scoringdebut at Stade de FranceThuram almost scored withhis first chance for Francewhen he headed against thecrossbar from close range inthe 16th minute. Two minuteslater, Thuram volleyed overanother good opportunityfrom close range and tried hisluck with a speculative curlingshot a few minutes later.

With Thuram probingdown the left and combining

well with striker Wissam BenYedder, the French looked intotal control only to concedetwice in quick succession.

After midfielder MoussaSissoko gave the ball away inthe 28th, Forss charged intothe penalty area and finishedconfidently with a drivingshot. Three minutes later, theValakari curled a shot pastgoalkeeper Steve Mandanda

from the edge of the penaltyarea.

France had a lot of thepossession in the second halfyet created little until the lat-ter stages.

���������7��)E0Cristiano Ronaldo scored

once in Portugal’s 7-0 rout ofAndorra in a friendly, movinga step closer to becoming the

all-time top scorer for anational team.

Ronaldo reached 102goals with Portugal to sitseven shy of the 109 scored byformer Iran striker Ali Daei,the only other male soccerplayer to surpass the 100-goalmilestone for a national team.Ronaldo broke the centurymark after scoring twice inPortugal’s Nations League winover Sweden in October.

Ronaldo entered thematch after halftime at theStadium of Light in Lisbon.He made it 6-0 with a close-range header in the 85thminute after having squan-dered a few good chances.

He had replaced PedroNeto, the 20-year-oldWolverhampton forward whowas making his national teamdebut and opened the scoringfor Portugal in the eighthminute. Paulinho, who wasalso making his Portugaldebut, added to the lead in the29th and Renato Sanches

scored in the 56th.

������������ B� ��Lucas Waldschmidt’s early

goal was enough for an inex-perienced Germany team tobeat the Czech Republic 1-0 intheir friendly game.

Germany goalkeeperKevin Trapp made a late saveto deny Matej Vydra an equal-izer for the visitors, who werewithout two players due topositive coronavirus tests. Thegame was played without fansto minimize the risk of infec-tions.

Germany coach JoachimLöw handed debuts to bothPSV Eindhoven defenderPhilipp Max and Wolfsburgdefender Ridle Baku.

����*���� �����7Donny van de Beek put

his Manchester United trou-bles behind him to score theequalizer as the Netherlandscame from a goal down todraw 1-1 with Spain in a

friendly at the Johan CruyffArena.

Van de Beek has strug-gled to establish himself as afirst-team player inManchester but felt right athome back at the stadiumwhere he rose to prominencewith Ajax as he drilled a lowshot past Unai Simon in the47th minute.

It was a fourth match incharge without a win forNetherlands coach Frank deBoer, whose record is now aloss and three draws.

����7��1E0�Vincenzo Grifo scored

his first two goals for Italy ina 4-0 win over Estonia in afriendly as the host won com-fortably despite missing anumber of players and itscoach because of coronavirusinfections.

Federico Bernardeschialso scored in the first half,while Riccardo Orsolini con-verted a penalty four minutes

from time. Italy was withoutcoach Roberto Mancini andseveral players because of thecoronavirus.

�������7��$E-Striker Michy Batshuayi

scored twice to help amakeshift Belgium side comefrom behind to beatSwitzerland 2-1 in a friendlygame.

The Crystal Palace for-ward showed clinical effi-ciency to convert Belgium’stwo best chances in the sec-ond half after Switzerlanddeservedly took the leadwith an early goal thatrewarded its intense press-ing.

Ahead of upcomingNations League matchesagainst England andDenmark, Belgium coachRoberto Martinez playedmostly his backups and hand-ed debuts to youngsters DodiLukebakio, Hannes Delcroixand Charles De Ketelaere.

���� 3=��=�

Liverpool’s injury problems mountedwith defender Joe Gomez leaving

England duty with a knee injury sustainedin training.

England manager Gareth Southgate saidthe severity of the injury was still unclear.

“What was upsetting was tosee he was in a fair bit of pain,”Gomez said.

“No one was around himwhen the injury happened.”

Liverpool already hascenter back Virgil vanDijk out for a lengthy

spell with a kneeinjury, Fabinho side-lined with a thigh

injury and right backTrent Alexander-Arnoldout with a thigh problem.

England plays Irelandon Thursday in a friendlyahead of Nations League

games against Belgium andIceland.

��������� ������������� �� � young talent who has greatpotential to become an all-rounder of substance over time.His batting alone has demandedhis place in the squad.”

Pucovski has been in stun-ning form in the openingrounds of the Shield games,amassing 495 runs at an unbe-lievable average of 247.50 in

his two matches.“His ability to show such

patience is somethingwhich stands him ingood stead for Test crick-et and he is in rare com-pany with two doublecenturies to start thesummer.

“We very muchlook forward to Will

developing further onthe international stage,”

Hohns said.

Australia Test squad: TimPaine (c), Sean Abbott, JoeBurns, Pat Cummins, CameronGreen, Josh Hazlewood, TravisHead, Marnus Labuschagne,Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser,

James Pattinson, WillPucovski, Steve Smith,

Mitchell Starc,Mitchell Swepson,

Matthew Wade,David Warner���� ��+���3-4

Former England skipper MichaelVaughan feels Australia will

“quite easily” win the upcomingBorder-Gavaskar Trophy againstIndia as talismanic batsman ViratKohli will not be there for the finalthree matches of the four-Test series.

“No Virat Kohli for three Testsin Australia...The right decision

going to be at the birth of his firstchild...but it means Australia willwin the series quite easily IMO ..#JustSaying,” Vaughan said in atweet.

Kohli will, however, feature inthree ODIs and as many T20Iswhich will be played before the firstTest — a pink-ball fixture — ofwhich the Indian skipper will be apart of.

R4������0�����������*��&���������&������������0 6� ��6�,

<�����- ��� �$���,�� �6� *����C$�-

�-� �,� 2���=�+$�, ����

�==���$��-�; �� 6��,�; -���6 C$�;C�����,&�6�$$

�+����� ��-�$$C,�<�-�,&6��$"���,5

5��� ���� ���#� �������D�����

E������� �#������!�������&���%(%%��%(�+? ' ������ � �����!�����<;<6��<;�?

#�$6< ��- ��*�6< �� -�2��- ��!& ��$��

,��� ��������B������� �#�����,� ��

�������I��9����3�������0���������� 0��������� ��� ��-�� ���� ���� �������� �� ��I������������� ��

,��5��� ����������� �%����