3;A aZed DfgV_Uf RXRZ_de 5ZUZ - Daily Pioneer

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T he high-profile Nandigram Assembly seat will see a titanic clash in the West Bengal polls with the BJP fielding Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s former close aide Suvendu Adhikari against her. The BJP on Saturday released the first list of its 57 candidates for the first two phases of Bengal Assembly elections starting from March 27. The list released a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Brigade rally in Kolkata carries the names of the party’s star campaigner Suvendu Adhikari who will contest from the high-profile seat of Nandigram against Mamata Banerjee. The other two notable names on the list are former India pacer Ashok Dinda, who will contest from Moyna in East Midnapore, and former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh, who will take on another retired IPS officer Humayun Kabir from Debra Assembly seat in West Midnapore. The saffron outfit announced candidates for all but three of the 60 seats which will go to polls in the first two of the eight-phase elections that will start from March 27 and end on April 27. One seat of Bagmundi in Purulia district has been left for alliance part- ner AJSU. Adhikari who reached Nandigram from Delhi — to a rousing welcome by party sup- porters shouting Jai Shri Ram slogans — hours before the list was published by the party top brass in the national Capital, attacked the Chief Minister for remembering Nandigram during the elections time only. “She is a rank outsider here and I am the Bhumiputra (son of the soil)… she remem- bers Nandigram that catapult- ed her to power in 2011 only when the polls are round the corner… the people of Nandigram have decided to teach her a lesson,” said Adhikari, who has already vowed to defeat the Chief Minister by half-a-lakh votes. Reacting to his statements, senior TMC leader Saugato Roy said, “The Trinamool does not want to talk about traitors who have stabbed in the back of Mamata Banerjee. The peo- ple will give him a befitting reply.” Adhikari, a former MP and State Minister left the TMC in December last year. He had been the Man Friday of the Bengal Chief Minister han- dling the party organisational affairs in about a dozen districts before he left the party. Mamata had released the list of Trinamool Congress candidates on Friday. The TMC released the list for all the 291 seats and left three seats for alliance partner Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. The Left too had released its list of can- didates for the first two phas- es on Friday. Turn on Page 4 A head of the West Bengal polls, former Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Dinesh Trivedi on Saturday joined the BJP. BJP president JP Nadda welcomed him into the party’s fold claiming that Trivedi crossed over not on account of “opportunism” but for the “ide- ological reasons”. The 70-year-old Trivedi maintained that he has switched sides to “serve the country better”. “This was the golden moment I had been waiting for,” Trivedi said after joining the BJP at party headquarters here in the presence of Nadda and Union Minister Piyush Goyal. Trivedi resigned his Rajya Sabha and Trinamool mem- bership on February 12, saying he felt “suffocated” because of the violence in West Bengal and his inability to do anything about it.Alluding to ‘parivar’ in West Bengal, he said after join- ing the BJP he felt being with the “janta parivar”. Turn on Page 4 T he Centre has rushed high- level multi-disciplinary public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab in view of the increase in the number of daily Covid-19 cases being reported by these States. It has also asked high-case load States and Union Territories like Maharashtra and Gujarat to continue with the strategy of “test, track and treat” that had yielded rich div- idends at the height of the pan- demic. The States have been asked to collaborate with private hos- pitals to open up vaccination time-table for a minimum of 15 days and a maximum of 28 days at a time. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr Vinod Paul on Saturday inter- acted with health secretaries and MDs of Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Chandigarh, which have reported increased number of Covid cases in the last few days. These States and UTs were urged to return to fundamen- tals of “Test, Track and Treat,” said the Ministry in a statement here. They have also been asked to increase the share of RT- PCR tests in districts depen- dent on high levels of antigen testing, refocus on surveillance and stringent containment of those areas in selected dis- tricts that are seeing a cluster of cases. They will be required to carry out an average close contact tracing of a minimum of 20 persons per positive case. The senior health officials reviewed the ongoing public health measures of surveil- lance, containment and man- agement of Covid cases. The Ministry said that nine districts in Delhi, 15 in Haryana, 10 in Andhra Pradesh, 10 in Odisha, nine in Himachal Pradesh, seven in Uttarakhand, two in Goa, one in Chandigarh con- tinue to be of concern as these districts are seeing a decrease in total tests being conducted, low share of RT-PCR tests, increase in weekly positivity and low number of contact tracing of the Covid positive cases. “These together can pose high risk of transmission to the neighbouring States and UTs. A granular analysis of the coro- novirus response in the dis- tricts was shared with the States and UTs for further action,” said the Ministry. “Accelerate vaccination for priority population groups in districts reporting higher cases. Make optimal use of the available vaccine doses and focus on critical districts,” the Ministry said. I n the run-up to Assembly elections in four States and a Union Territory, the Election Commission (EC) has asked the Centre to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pic- ture from coronavirus vacci- nation certificates being offered to beneficiaries in these States. The EC directive came after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress registered a complaint saying that it vio- lates the Model Code of Conduct. In its letter to the Health Ministry, the EC referred to certain provisions of the Model Code related to the use of advertisement at the cost of the public exchequer. The direction to the Ministry does not men- tion Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name but says the Ministry has to follow the Model Code of Conduct in let- ter and spirit. The Government may have used filters to hide the PM’s picture from the cer- tificate, which could take some time for the Ministry to fully implement these directions on the certificates given to those who take the Covid-19 vaccine in poll-bound West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry. The poll body had first asked the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal for a report on why Modi’s photo was being used on vaccination certificates generated through the Co-WIN platform. The CEO responded by informing the poll panel that the vacci- nation drive was a Central scheme. The panel then took up the matter with the Health Ministry and sought its response on the “factual posi- tion” on the use of the pho- tographs. In its reply, the Ministry said the vaccination drive was an ongoing Government initiative that had started much before the Model Code of Conduct came into force. The Mamata Banerjee-led party had approached the poll panel this week, citing violation of the model code as PM Modi’s image reflected on vac- cination certificates generated through the Co-Win platform. Turn on Page 4 F armers protesting the Centre’s three farm laws on Saturday blocked the six-lane Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway at some places in Haryana to mark the comple- tion of 100 days of their agita- tion at the Delhi borders. The road blockade began at 11 am and continued till 4 pm. Farmers holding black flags and wearing black armbands and some women protesters with black “dupattas” shouted slogans against the BJP-led Government for not acceding to their demands. Protesters in Sonipat and Jhajjar districts and some other places brought their tractor- trolleys and other vehicles and parked them in the middle of the KMP Expressway in some stretches. The Haryana Police had made arrangements for traffic diversions and deployed adequate personnel. The call for blocking the expressway was given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of protesting farmer unions which is spear- heading the agitation against the legislations. Turn on Page 4 U rging the defence forces to keep pace with rapid advancements in war fighting capabilities all over world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked them to “rid themselves of legacy sys- tems and practices that have outlived their utility and rele- vance.” Making this observation while addressing the Combined Commanders’ Conference in Kevadia, Gujarat, Modi also conveyed his appreciation for the “res- olute dedication” shown by the armed forces over the past year in the context of the coro- na pandemic and the chal- lenging situation on the north- ern border with China. He stressed the impor- tance of enhancing indigeni- sation in the national security system, not just in sourcing equipment and weapons but also in the doctrines, proce- dures and customs practised in the armed forces, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. Modi was briefed by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) about the discussions during this year’s conference, the state- ment said. He particularly appreciated the inclusion of Junior Commissioned Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers this year. Incidentally, this was the first time that personnel below officer rank were part of the high-level meeting held annu- ally. The jawans shared their views on operational matters with the top military leadership besides the Prime Minister. Emphasising the need for planning in both military and civilian parts of the National security architecture, Modi also called for a “holistic approach, focused on breaking down civil-military silos and on expe- diting the speed of decision making.” Turn on Page 4 I n a major crackdown on illegal immigrants staying in Jammu & Kashmir more than 150 Rohingyas have been detained at a holding centre in Sub Jail Hiranagar at the end of the verification process of their travel documents. According to official sources during the special drive conducted at the Maulana Azad stadium in Jammu on Saturday police authorities ver- ified travel documents and collected biometrics of large numbers of illegal immigrants including Rohingyas from Myanmar. During the verification process the stadium was kept out of bounds for local media persons and none were per- mitted to enter the premises. A xar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin once again made a mockery of an eternally confused English batting line-up as India can- tered into the inaugural World Test Championship final with a resounding innings and 25 run victory on the third after- noon of the fourth and final Test here on Saturday. All India needed was a draw to book a Lord’s date in June with Kane Williamson’s New Zealand but Patel (24-6-48-5), in company of Ashwin (22.5-4-47-5), literally blew England away in a session and half for a paltry 135 in 54.5 overs to complete a 3-1 rout, ensuring that the Anthony De Mello Trophy will stay at the Cricket Centre in Mumbai. Related reports on P12 O ne in every five Covid-19 survivors are showing symptoms including fatigue, cognitive problems and a range of psychiatric problems, a research review led by Oxford Brookes University has noted. It also painted a gloomy picture for the future, warning that more number of people will be affected by neuropsychiatric and cognitive complications. The study has come close on the heels of similar obser- vation from the World Health Organization (WHO) officials who recently noted that the ongoing Coronavirus pan- demic has caused more “mass trauma” than World War II. The observation hold importance in the context of India where more number of people with mental health dis- order could pose further bur- den on the already patchy mental health care system. One in seven people or a total of 197.3 million people live with mental illness in India, accord- ing to the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study. Psychologists at Oxford Brookes University and a psy- chiatrist from Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, had evaluated published research papers in order to understand more about the possible effects of the SARS-COV-2 infection on the brain, and the extent people can expect to experience short and long-term mental health issues. The study found that in the short-term, a wide range of neuropsychiatric prob- lems were reported. In one examined study, 95 per cent of clinically stable Covid-19 patients had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other studies found between 17-42 per cent of patients expe- rienced affective disorders, such as depression. The main short-term cog- nitive problems were found to be impaired attention (report- ed by 45 per cent patients) and impaired memory (between 13-28 per cent of patients) while in the long-term, neu- ropsychiatric problems were mostly affective disorders and fatigue, as well as impaired attention (reported by 44 per cent of patients) and memory (reported between 28-50 per cent of patients). Dr Sanjay Kumar, senior lecturer in Psychology at Oxford Brookes University said: “Understanding the neu- ropsychiatric and cognitive consequences of Covid-19 is important as millions of peo- ple have been affected by the virus, and many cases go unde- tected. “These conditions affect people’s capacity to work effec- tively, drive, manage finances, make informed decisions and participate in daily family activ- ities.”If even just a fraction of patients experience neuropsy- chiatric complications, the impact on public health ser- vices could be significant.” Academics say that there is likely to be an increase in patients with psychiatric and cognitive problems who were otherwise healthy prior to COVID-19 infection. “Detailed cognitive evalu- ation and robust monitoring of patients should be considered in order to detect new neuro- logical cases,” Dr Kumar con- tinued adding that “This will also enable health care providers to plan adequate health care and resources, and improve the quality of life for many Covid-19 survivors. Co-author Dr Tina Malhotra, Consultant Psychiatrist working in Oxford Turn on Page 4

Transcript of 3;A aZed DfgV_Uf RXRZ_de 5ZUZ - Daily Pioneer

Page 1: 3;A aZed DfgV_Uf RXRZ_de 5ZUZ - Daily Pioneer

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The high-profile NandigramAssembly seat will see a

titanic clash in the West Bengalpolls with the BJP fieldingChief Minister MamataBanerjee’s former close aideSuvendu Adhikari against her.The BJP on Saturday releasedthe first list of its 57 candidatesfor the first two phases ofBengal Assembly electionsstarting from March 27.

The list released a dayahead of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s Brigade rallyin Kolkata carries the names ofthe party’s star campaignerSuvendu Adhikari who willcontest from the high-profileseat of Nandigram against

Mamata Banerjee.The other two notable

names on the list are formerIndia pacer Ashok Dinda, whowill contest from Moyna inEast Midnapore, and formerIPS officer Bharati Ghosh, whowill take on another retired IPSofficer Humayun Kabir fromDebra Assembly seat in WestMidnapore.

The saffron outfitannounced candidates for allbut three of the 60 seats whichwill go to polls in the first twoof the eight-phase electionsthat will start from March 27and end on April 27. One seatof Bagmundi in Purulia districthas been left for alliance part-ner AJSU.

Adhikari who reached

Nandigram from Delhi — to arousing welcome by party sup-porters shouting Jai Shri Ramslogans — hours before the listwas published by the party topbrass in the national Capital,attacked the Chief Ministerfor remembering Nandigramduring the elections time only.

“She is a rank outsiderhere and I am the Bhumiputra(son of the soil)… she remem-bers Nandigram that catapult-ed her to power in 2011 onlywhen the polls are round thecorner… the people ofNandigram have decided toteach her a lesson,” saidAdhikari, who has alreadyvowed to defeat the ChiefMinister by half-a-lakh votes.

Reacting to his statements,senior TMC leader SaugatoRoy said, “The Trinamool doesnot want to talk about traitorswho have stabbed in the backof Mamata Banerjee. The peo-ple will give him a befittingreply.”

Adhikari, a former MPand State Minister left theTMC in December last year. Hehad been the Man Friday of theBengal Chief Minister han-dling the party organisationalaffairs in about a dozen districtsbefore he left the party.

Mamata had released thelist of Trinamool Congresscandidates on Friday. The TMCreleased the list for all the 291seats and left three seats foralliance partner GorkhaJanmukti Morcha. The Lefttoo had released its list of can-didates for the first two phas-es on Friday.

Turn on Page 4

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Ahead of the West Bengalpolls, former Railway

Minister and TrinamoolCongress Member ofParliament Dinesh Trivedi onSaturday joined the BJP.

BJP president JP Naddawelcomed him into the party’sfold claiming that Trivedicrossed over not on account of“opportunism” but for the “ide-ological reasons”.

The 70-year-old Trivedimaintained that he hasswitched sides to “serve thecountry better”.

“This was the goldenmoment I had been waitingfor,” Trivedi said after joiningthe BJP at party headquartershere in the presence of Naddaand Union Minister PiyushGoyal.

Trivedi resigned his RajyaSabha and Trinamool mem-bership on February 12, sayinghe felt “suffocated” because ofthe violence in West Bengaland his inability to do anythingabout it.Alluding to ‘parivar’ inWest Bengal, he said after join-ing the BJP he felt being withthe “janta parivar”.

Turn on Page 4

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The Centre has rushed high-level multi-disciplinary

public health teams toMaharashtra and Punjab inview of the increase in thenumber of daily Covid-19 casesbeing reported by these States.It has also asked high-caseload States and UnionTerritories like Maharashtraand Gujarat to continue withthe strategy of “test, track andtreat” that had yielded rich div-idends at the height of the pan-demic.

The States have been askedto collaborate with private hos-pitals to open up vaccinationtime-table for a minimum of 15days and a maximum of 28days at a time.

Union Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan and NITIAayog member (Health) DrVinod Paul on Saturday inter-acted with health secretariesand MDs of Haryana, AndhraPradesh, Odisha, Goa,Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Delhi andChandigarh, which havereported increased number ofCovid cases in the last few days.

These States and UTs were

urged to return to fundamen-tals of “Test, Track and Treat,”said the Ministry in a statementhere.

They have also been askedto increase the share of RT-PCR tests in districts depen-dent on high levels of antigentesting, refocus on surveillanceand stringent containment ofthose areas in selected dis-tricts that are seeing a clusterof cases. They will be requiredto carry out an average closecontact tracing of a minimumof 20 persons per positive case.

The senior health officialsreviewed the ongoing publichealth measures of surveil-lance, containment and man-agement of Covid cases. TheMinistry said that nine districtsin Delhi, 15 in Haryana, 10 inAndhra Pradesh, 10 in Odisha,nine in Himachal Pradesh,

seven in Uttarakhand, two inGoa, one in Chandigarh con-tinue to be of concern as thesedistricts are seeing a decreasein total tests being conducted,low share of RT-PCR tests,increase in weekly positivityand low number of contacttracing of the Covid positivecases.

“These together can posehigh risk of transmission to theneighbouring States and UTs.A granular analysis of the coro-novirus response in the dis-tricts was shared with the Statesand UTs for further action,”said the Ministry.

“Accelerate vaccinationfor priority population groupsin districts reporting highercases. Make optimal use of theavailable vaccine doses andfocus on critical districts,” theMinistry said.

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In the run-up to Assemblyelections in four States and a

Union Territory, the ElectionCommission (EC) has askedthe Centre to remove PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s pic-ture from coronavirus vacci-nation certificates being offeredto beneficiaries in these States.

The EC directive cameafter West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee’sTrinamool Congress registereda complaint saying that it vio-lates the Model Code ofConduct.

In its letter to the HealthMinistry, the EC referred tocertain provisions of the ModelCode related to the use ofadvertisement at the cost of thepublic exchequer. The directionto the Ministry does not men-tion Prime Minister NarendraModi’s name but says theMinistry has to follow theModel Code of Conduct in let-ter and spirit. The Governmentmay have used filters to hidethe PM’s picture from the cer-tificate, which could take sometime for the Ministry to fullyimplement these directions on

the certificates given to thosewho take the Covid-19 vaccinein poll-bound West Bengal,Tamil Nadu, Assam, Keralaand Puducherry.

The poll body had firstasked the Chief ElectoralOfficer of West Bengal for areport on why Modi’s photowas being used on vaccinationcertificates generated throughthe Co-WIN platform. TheCEO responded by informingthe poll panel that the vacci-nation drive was a Centralscheme. The panel then tookup the matter with the HealthMinistry and sought itsresponse on the “factual posi-tion” on the use of the pho-tographs. In its reply, theMinistry said the vaccinationdrive was an ongoingGovernment initiative that hadstarted much before the ModelCode of Conduct came intoforce.

The Mamata Banerjee-ledparty had approached the pollpanel this week, citing violationof the model code as PMModi’s image reflected on vac-cination certificates generatedthrough the Co-Win platform.

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Farmers protesting theCentre’s three farm laws on

Saturday blocked the six-laneKundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP)Expressway at some places inHaryana to mark the comple-tion of 100 days of their agita-tion at the Delhi borders.

The road blockade began at11 am and continued till 4 pm.Farmers holding black flagsand wearing black armbandsand some women protesterswith black “dupattas” shoutedslogans against the BJP-ledGovernment for not accedingto their demands.

Protesters in Sonipat andJhajjar districts and some otherplaces brought their tractor-trolleys and other vehicles andparked them in the middle ofthe KMP Expressway in somestretches. The Haryana Police

had made arrangements fortraffic diversions and deployedadequate personnel.

The call for blocking theexpressway was given by theSamyukta Kisan Morcha, anumbrella body of protestingfarmer unions which is spear-heading the agitation againstthe legislations.

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Urging the defence forces tokeep pace with rapid

advancements in war fightingcapabilities all over world,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Saturday asked them to“rid themselves of legacy sys-tems and practices that haveoutlived their utility and rele-vance.”

Making this observationwhile addressing theCombined Commanders’Conference in Kevadia,Gujarat, Modi also conveyedhis appreciation for the “res-olute dedication” shown bythe armed forces over the pastyear in the context of the coro-na pandemic and the chal-lenging situation on the north-ern border with China.

He stressed the impor-tance of enhancing indigeni-sation in the national securitysystem, not just in sourcingequipment and weapons but

also in the doctrines, proce-dures and customs practised inthe armed forces, a statementfrom the Prime Minister’sOffice (PMO) said.

Modi was briefed by theChief of Defence Staff (CDS)about the discussions duringthis year’s conference, the state-ment said. He particularlyappreciated the inclusion ofJunior Commissioned Officersand Non-CommissionedOfficers this year.

Incidentally, this was thefirst time that personnel below

officer rank were part of thehigh-level meeting held annu-ally. The jawans shared theirviews on operational matterswith the top military leadershipbesides the Prime Minister.

Emphasising the need forplanning in both military andcivilian parts of the Nationalsecurity architecture, Modi alsocalled for a “holistic approach,focused on breaking downcivil-military silos and on expe-diting the speed of decisionmaking.”

Turn on Page 4

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In a major crackdown onillegal immigrants staying in

Jammu & Kashmir more than150 Rohingyas have beendetained at a holding centre inSub Jail Hiranagar at the end ofthe verification process of theirtravel documents.

According to officialsources during the special driveconducted at the MaulanaAzad stadium in Jammu onSaturday police authorities ver-ified travel documents andcollected biometrics of largenumbers of illegal immigrantsincluding Rohingyas fromMyanmar.

During the verificationprocess the stadium was keptout of bounds for local mediapersons and none were per-mitted to enter the premises.

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Axar Patel andRavichandran Ashwin

once again made a mockery ofan eternally confused Englishbatting line-up as India can-tered into the inaugural WorldTest Championship final witha resounding innings and 25run victory on the third after-noon of the fourth and finalTest here on Saturday.

All India needed was adraw to book a Lord’s date inJune with Kane Williamson’sNew Zealand but Patel (24-6-48-5), in company ofAshwin (22.5-4-47-5), literally blew England away ina session and half for a paltry135 in 54.5 overs to completea 3-1 rout, ensuring that theAnthony De Mello Trophy willstay at the Cricket Centre inMumbai.

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One in every five Covid-19survivors are showing

symptoms including fatigue,cognitive problems and a rangeof psychiatric problems, aresearch review led by OxfordBrookes University has noted.It also painted a gloomy picturefor the future, warning thatmore number of people will beaffected by neuropsychiatricand cognitive complications.

The study has come closeon the heels of similar obser-vation from the World HealthOrganization (WHO) officialswho recently noted that theongoing Coronavirus pan-demic has caused more “masstrauma” than World War II.

The observation holdimportance in the context ofIndia where more number ofpeople with mental health dis-order could pose further bur-den on the already patchymental health care system. Onein seven people or a total of197.3 million people live withmental illness in India, accord-ing to the 2019 Global Burdenof Disease Study.

Psychologists at OxfordBrookes University and a psy-chiatrist from Oxford Health

NHS Foundation Trust, hadevaluated published researchpapers in order to understandmore about the possible effectsof the SARS-COV-2 infectionon the brain, and the extentpeople can expect to experienceshort and long-term mentalhealth issues. The study foundthat in the short-term, a widerange of neuropsychiatric prob-lems were reported. In oneexamined study, 95 per cent ofclinically stable Covid-19patients had post-traumaticstress disorder (PTSD) andother studies found between17-42 per cent of patients expe-rienced affective disorders,such as depression.

The main short-term cog-nitive problems were found tobe impaired attention (report-ed by 45 per cent patients) andimpaired memory (between13-28 per cent of patients)while in the long-term, neu-ropsychiatric problems weremostly affective disorders andfatigue, as well as impairedattention (reported by 44 percent of patients) and memory(reported between 28-50 percent of patients).

Dr Sanjay Kumar, seniorlecturer in Psychology atOxford Brookes University

said: “Understanding the neu-ropsychiatric and cognitiveconsequences of Covid-19 isimportant as millions of peo-ple have been affected by thevirus, and many cases go unde-tected. “These conditions affectpeople’s capacity to work effec-tively, drive, manage finances,make informed decisions andparticipate in daily family activ-ities.”If even just a fraction ofpatients experience neuropsy-chiatric complications, theimpact on public health ser-vices could be significant.”

Academics say that there islikely to be an increase inpatients with psychiatric andcognitive problems who wereotherwise healthy prior toCOVID-19 infection.

“Detailed cognitive evalu-ation and robust monitoring ofpatients should be consideredin order to detect new neuro-logical cases,” Dr Kumar con-tinued adding that “This willalso enable health careproviders to plan adequatehealth care and resources, andimprove the quality of life formany Covid-19 survivors.

Co-author Dr TinaMalhotra, ConsultantPsychiatrist working in Oxford

Turn on Page 4

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NOTICE

Be it known to all that my moth-er's name has been wronglymentioned as Ramavati Singhin my mark sheet and certifi-cate of Class 12th from CBSEBoard New Delhi but correctname is Ramawati in future shewill be known as Ramawati.Praveer Singh S/o Shri Jai DeoSingh R/o 78, Patel NagarYojana Indira Nagar Lucknow.

NOTICE

I Ankita Srivastava W/o NitinSrivastava R/o SG/P/406,Sargam Apartment Sector JExtension Near Gudamba.Thana Jankipuram Kursi RoadLucknow, U.P.-226021 havechanged my name to AshaSrivastava for all future purpos-es.

Notice is hereby given by the undersigned for and onbehalf of LIC Housing Finance Ltd., Lucknow, pursuantto circular No.422/Annexure-E of LIC HFL that the orig-inal sale-deed dated 27.07.2016 vide Serial No. 3760,registered in the office of Sub-Registrar-Sadar,Gajipur, U.P. executed by Mr. Om Prakash S/o LateRam Avadh, R/o Vill-Chandanwaha, Pargana, Tehsil& Dist-Gazipur, in favour of Mr. Devendra KumarMaurya Slo Late Ram Lal Singh Kushwaha, R/oNarayanpur, Gazipur, in respect of Plot , Part of KhasraNo.26/2 Ka Min., admeasuring 95.25 sq.mt., situatedat Mauja-Chank Asmani, Pargana, Tehsil & Dist-Gazipur, which have been lost. It is informed to usthat the above noted original sale-deed is mortgagewith any person(s), Financial Institution(s), Bank(s)or any other one, may inform immediately to LICHousing Finance Ltd., Area Office Mau, Contact No.9695640872 or Sanjay Kumar Singh Advocate, LICHFL, Mobile No.9919972269 & 8765360669 otherwisethe above noted proposal shall be finalize immediate-ly after the expiry of 15 days of this publication.

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The revival of ‘The Pioneer’ media group is on the cardsas there are plans to improve its content and increase

its digital presence by introducing new technology so that‘The Pioneer’ becomes the number one newspaper in UttarPradesh.

In his maiden interaction with the employees of ‘ThePioneer’ group here on Saturday, NCLT-appointed InterimResolution Professional (IRP) Ranjeet Kumar Verma saidthat plans were in place to take ‘The Pioneer’ to its old glory.

“‘The Pioneer’, both English and Hindi, is a big brandand we will ensure that this brand reaches out to every sec-tion of society. We will start afresh and take the companyto a new height. There are challenges and we will overcomethem and make ‘The Pioneer’ the number one newspaperof Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

Verma said that his priority would be to address seri-ous issues raised by the employees.

“We will ensure all the facilities to the employees, includ-ing payment of the dues and timely clearance of the salary,”he said and added that in future the performance of theemployees would be incentivised. He also laid thrust on thedigital edition of the newspaper and said it would soon beenhanced to extend the reach of the newspaper. Verma alsocalled for better coordination among various editions of thenewspaper.

The Delhi bench of the National Company Law

Tribunal (NCLT) had last month Verma as the IRP. “I amhere as a representative of the court and my main objec-tive is to keep ‘The Pioneer’ group going. I can assure oneand all that ‘The Pioneer’ is not going to close down,” hesaid.

In the meeting, there was free exchange of ideas amongsenior members of the newspaper and the IRP. The employ-ees shared their views on the revival of ‘The Pioneer’ andalso discussed the problems they were facing. “I expect theworking of the company to return to normal very soon,”Verma said.

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Asserting that his government was workingrelentlessly to double the income of farmers

by giving their products wider market besidesproviding all the facilities to increase the agri-pro-duction, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath onSaturday said that jaggery products of UttarPradesh would create a new identity in the world.

"The sustained efforts towards the welfare offarmers are reaping rich benefits in the state andthe farmers are now getting better market andhigh prices for their produce,” the chief minis-ter said while inaugurating the two-day JaggeryFestival here on Saturday evening.

Recalling how bad the condition of sugarcanefarmers was four years ago, with no sugarcanepayment for five, six, seven years and the khand-sari industry in a shambles, the chief minister saidthe situation improved only when his governmentassumed office in 2017.

He said that khandsari licences were notissued till four years ago but the present govern-ment ensured licence within a few hours of apply-ing. “Now, the licence fee has been waived.Khandsari industry can be set up within a radiusof 7 kilometres instead of 15 kilometres," he said,adding that as a result of this, the sugarcane pro-duced in the districts of Muzaffarnagar, Shamli,Ayodhya, Lakhimpur Kheri, Shahjahanpur weregetting market not only in the state but in theentire country.

Yogi Adityanath hoped that the ‘gur’ (jaggery)made from sugarcane would get an internation-al market and the Jaggery Festival would openup new avenues of marketing of jaggery products.

He said the efforts of the state governmentto bring changes in the lives of lakhs of farmersof the state had resulted in such successful fes-tivals being organised.

“These programmes have been started toenable the local products to get new markets, getbranding to market besides getting best remuner-ative price to the farmer in the country and evenabroad," he added.

Congratulating the team of the CaneDevelopment Department, the chief minister saidhe visited some of the stalls in the festival andfound amazing enthusiasm among the farmers.

“I can feel the new awareness of a new Indiawhich is now extended to cleanliness as well thathas been created through the Swachh BharatMission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” hesaid.

The chief minister said that unlike his child-hood when the sugar price used to be high, theprice of jaggery had increased compared to thatof sugar due to its medicinal properties.

“There are seven lakh sugarcane farmers inthe state. Sugarcane is cultivated in an area of 27lakh hectares. We have connected the sugarcanefarmers with the new system of issuing onlineslips. The sugarcane growers have been paid atotal of Rs 1,25,600 crore,'' he pointed out.

The chief minister said Uttar Pradesh was theonly state where the sugar mills continued to runduring the coronavirus pandemic while the sugarmills in other states were closed. “We made suchan arrangement that as long as there is a single

crop of sugarcane, no sugar mill should be closed,"he said.

Exuding confidence that the ‘gur’ of UttarPradesh would be a big brand elsewhere, the chiefminister said. 'We have included jaggery as OneDistrict One Product (ODOP) of three districtsnamely Muzaffarnagar, Ayodhya and Lakhimpur.I am confident that the product will get interna-tional recognition and the farmers will getremunerative prices."

For the first time after Independence, the GurMahotsav (Jaggery Festival) is being organised inUP. The main objective of this event is to encour-age the jaggery-producing farmers to producequality jaggery and other products made fromjaggery and to make the common man aware ofthe medicinal properties of jaggery.

Various stalls of jaggery and its products havebeen set up by jaggery producers from differentdistricts of the state. These stalls include jaggerytea, jaggery ladoo, kulfi, jalebi, halwa, kheer, dryginger, cardamom, sesame, groundnut, gajak,cashew, almond, saffron-containing jaggery andjaggery dumpling, jaggery chocolate etc.

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Vishwa Hindu Parishad said the overmonth-long campaign since January 15

for mobilising donations for the Ram tem-ple at Ayodhya had unified the country fromeast to west and north to south.

VHP vice-president and general secre-tary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi TeerthKshetra (Trust) Champat Rai said here onSaturday that even after the campaign thedevotees, who missed this samarpan (con-tribution) drive, could still make their con-tributions to the account of Shri RamJanmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra through thewebsite, viz., https://srjbtkshetra.org/dona-tion-options/.

"We have succeeded in achieving ourgoal of samarpan in four lakh villages.Contact was also made in all the wards ofurban areas. Although the statistics of thefamilies contacted are yet to be compiled,it is estimated that we have liaised with about10 crore families and samarpan (contribu-tions) have been received from peoplefrom every walk of life.

He said during the campaign there weremany occasions and incidents which movedthe hearts of the volunteers. At manyplaces, while even beggars made their con-tributions, the daily wagers and small farm-ers also made their prayerful offerings. Thesamarpan of the Ram bhakt Muslim soci-ety is also significant. Devotees from out-side Bharat are requested to wait a littlemore. They will be notified upon comple-tion of FCRA formalities," Rai said.

He said that in this huge campaign,about nine lakh karyakartas in 1,75,000teams contacted people from door-to-door.He said to maintain transparency of theentire campaign, while 49 control roomswere working across the country, 23 qual-ified karyakartas led by two charteredaccountants at the main centre in Delhi,were constantly in touch with the entire net-work to monitor the accounts.

The app created by Dhanusha InfotechCompany of Hyderabad did a commendablejob as a meticulously-built digital networkto act as a digital bridge among thekaryakartas, banks and the trust.

Rai said that even as the final figureswere yet to come, it could be said, based onthe banks' receipts till February 4, that thesamarpan amount would cross Rs 2,500crore. He said this month, an audit of thecampaign in every district of the countrywould also be completed.

Ram devotees in every nook and cor-ner of the country have made their contri-butions. From the North Eastern region ofBharat, the people of Arunachal Pradeshhave contributed Rs 4.5 crore, from ManipurRs 2 crore, Mizoram Rs 20.1 lakh , NagalandRs 20.8 lakh, Meghalaya Rs 80.5 lakh, andfrom southern states, the people of TamilNadu contributed Rs 85 crore and fromKerala Rs 13 crore. On the work going onat the Janmabhoomi site, Champat Rai saidthat almost 60 per cent of the foundationdigging and earth removal works were com-pleted and it was expected that the founda-tion filling work would start in the first weekof April 2021.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Saturday dedicated

to the people 10 power transmissionsub-stations and laid the foundationstones of 17 sub-stations via virtualmode.

The total cost of the 10 sub-stationsdedicated to the people on Saturday isRs 572 crore while the rest of the 17sub-stations are estimated to cost Rs1,347 crore. The new sub-stations ded-icated are in Bulandshahr,Muzaffarnagar, Ayodhya, Chitrakoot,Sitapur, Mirzapur, Lucknow, Varanasi,Fatehpur and Gonda. The new trans-mission sub-stations will considerablystrengthen the overall power transmis-sion and the power grid network in thestate and handle the load of spurt indemand for electricity during summersthat is expected to cross 27,000megawatts.

Out of the sub-stations of which thechief minister laid the foundationstones, 10 are of 220 kV capacities andseven of 132 kV capacities. These sub-stations will come up in Lucknow,Jhansi, Farrukhabad, Agra,Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Meerut,Maharajganj, Bhadohi, Firozabad, Basti,Banda, Baghpat and Kushinagar.

Yogi Adityanath said the state gov-ernment was working to meet the aspi-rations of the people and it was theresult of the government's commitmentthat the UP Power Corporation Limited(UPPCL) was able to supply uninter-rupted power to the consumers in allparts of the state.

Congratulating the UPPCL whileinaugurating the sub-stations, Yogi

Adityanath said that it had succeededin strengthening the trust of the com-mon man by promoting a better workculture. "The power corporation hasachieved a big milestone in the state inensuring power supply amid the lock-down," he said.

"The power corporation hasworked towards making arrangementsfor distribution of electricity within thestate to every citizen, supply of electric-ity to district headquarters for 23- 24hours, for 20-21 hours to tehsil head-quarters, for 17-18 hours to ruralareas and 20-21 hours to Bundelkhandregion as well," he added.

The chief minister said that elec-tricity was being provided to farmersof the state, and it had helped reducethe cost of farming and improve pro-ductivity. Deputy Chief MinisterKeshav Prasad Maurya and UP PowerMinister Shrikant Sharma were presentat the dedication function.

Yogi Adityanath said the presentpower transmission capacity availablewith the UP Power TransmissionCorporation was 25,000 MW andthere had been 53 per cent addition offresh capacity of power transmission inthe last four years. He said power trans-mission projects worth Rs 1,000 crorewere being implemented on PPP mode.He said the state government had inprinciple taken a decision for imple-mentation of all power transmissionpower projects of capacity of 400 KVand above. The chief minister on thisoccasion held virtual dialogue with theelected people's representatives andreminded them that the consumersshould pay their power bills on time toensure uninterrupted power supply.

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Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathon Saturday met the represen-

tatives of separate khap panchayatsof the state who voiced their griev-ances.

The meeting is being consid-ered important in view of the agi-tation going on since the past 100days at the Delhi and Uttar Pradeshborder against the three agricultur-al laws. The chief minister heardtheir issues and assured them of allpossible assistance. The chief min-ister said the new farm laws wereenacted with the objective to dou-ble the income of farmers.

"The farmers will get the ben-efit of the new agricultural lawsimplemented by the Central gov-ernment. The farm laws have been

enacted with the objective to dou-ble the income of farmers. Theselaws will ensure a continuousincrease in farmers' income," YogiAdityanath said in the meeting.

"The state government is imple-menting programmes and schemesin the interest of farmers. It is aresult of this that under PrimeMinister Kisan Samman Nidhi,Uttar Pradesh has been awarded thefirst prize for the best performancein the country," the chief ministersaid. He added that the state gov-ernment was making sincere effortsfor the welfare of farmers under theguidance of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi as farmers were thegovernment's priority.

The khap representatives wereaccompanied by several BharatiyaJanata Party MLAs.

Earlier, the khap representa-tives, who had come with BudhanaMLA Umesh Mallik and ShamliMLA Tejendra Birwal, had metBJP's state president Swatantra DevSingh and Panchayati Raj MinisterBhupendra Singh Chaudhary attheir residences on Friday. Theyhad raised the electricity and sug-arcane issues. The khap represen-tatives said that there was resent-ment among the common farmersin western UP due to increasedelectricity tariff, delay in cane pricepayment and no increase in stateadvisory prices of sugarcane.

Harvir Singh of PhuganaThamba said that when irrigationfrom state tube wells and canalscould be free, why the private tubewells of farmers could not be pro-vided electricity free of cost or at

low rates.The khap representatives said

that sugarcane was the main cropin western Uttar Pradesh and thegovernment should focus on thebetterment of sugarcane farmers.They said for a long time, the farm-ers were not getting the canearrears while the interest they hadto pay on loans taken to buy seedskept increasing. They said the hikein power tariff was also causing acrisis in payment of the electricitybills.

Bhupendra Chaudharyexplained the agricultural bills indetail to the khap representatives,saying there was nothing anti-farmer in them. He pointed out thatin the coming time, agriculturalinvestment could be increased onlythrough the private sector.

Lucknow (PNS): The storiesof Ramayana and Mahabharata notonly give us the best life lessons butalso tell us a lot about the expan-sion of Indian boundaries. Thesestories of our epic Hindu literaturehelp us envision a better India,Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathsaid during the release of theGlobal Encyclopedia of Ramayanaon Saturday.

Stating that historical factscould not be denied, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath said,"Pakistan was a part of Indiabefore 1947 and MaryadaPurushottam Lord Shree Ram hadextended the boundaries of Indiaduring his time by making hisbrother's son the ruler of Pakistan."He added that still there were somepeople who raised questions on theexistence of Shree Ram inAyodhya.

On the pious occasion ofJanaki Navami on Saturday, YogiAdityanath released the first edi-tion of the Global Encyclopedia ofRamayana.

Launching the encyclopedia asan e-book prepared by theAyodhya Research Institute, thechief minister said that the con-struction of a grand Ram Mandirat Ayodhya made this launch of theGlobal Encyclopedia of Ramayanamore special. He said, "This ency-clopedia will motivate us to visitAyodhya as it will introduce you allto the untouched aspects of scienceand spirituality."

The chief minister urged thepeople who had reverence forRamayana, Shree Ram and Indiato actively participate in the launchof the global encyclopedia.

"There are seven holy cities ofSapta Puri which are considered as

the holiest Hindu teerths, out ofwhich Ayodhya, Mathura, andKashi are within Uttar Pradesh. Itshould be our endeavour to haveRamlila staged all over the world,"the chief minister said.

He said that the tradition ofIndian saints represented the cul-ture of the nation.

"Even the opponents could notspeak anything negative aboutPrayagraj Kumbh of 2019," thechief minister said, adding thatafter his government assumedpower, Kumbh exhibited a newstandard of India's culture, clean-liness, orderliness and securityand the entire world including theUNESCO had to say that Kumbhwas a intangible heritage ofhumanity of the world.

"Earlier, people used to ignoretaking a holy dip during theKumbh Mela. However, as soon as

our government assumed power,we took every possible measure toensure the cleanliness of the riversand made complete arrangementsfor the convenience of the devo-tees," he said.

Hitting out at the oppositionparties, Yogi Adityanath said peo-ple who were misleading the pub-lic for their own profit and betray-ing the country would not bespared. "People who are spreadingfalse propaganda about India fora meager sum of money will facethe heat. Bharat ke prati dush-prachar karne wale, na ghar kehain na ghat ke," the chief minis-ter said.

He urged the people to notlose the harmonious spirit of thecountry by getting involved inpetty communal disputes. Heasked the people to maintainIndia's grace internationally which

had been enhanced by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

The first edition of the ency-clopedia has been released inEnglish language and has beendesigned by the Indian Institute ofTechnology, Kharagpur. The firstedition in Hindi and Tamil lan-guages will also be published in thecoming month.

Director Information, ShishirSingh, said that there was a plan topublish the RamayanaEncyclopedia in over 200 vol-umes and for this, the AyodhyaResearch Institute had set up aboard of editors and advisorsacross the country and the world.

The publication of Ramayanawill also be released in Oriya,Malayalam, Urdu, and Assameselanguages along with the first edi-tion of the Global Encyclopedia ofRamayana.

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After much efforts, Dr APJAbdul Kalam Technical

University (AKTU) has beengranted 12B status by theUniversity GrantsCommission. AKTUspokesperson Asheesh Mishrasaid the university will now beable to conduct variousresearch and educational activ-ities with financial supportfrom the Central governmentand UGC.

“AKTU had been strivingto achieve this status fromUGC for many years. In fact,the 12B status is necessary toget the benefits of Central gov-ernment and UGC schemes.Universities and institutes haveto face a tough test of compli-ance with the standards toachieve this status,” he said.

He added that a universi-ty should also have its owninstitute under the classificationof standards so that it can beconsidered as a university ofresidential nature.

“Earlier, when IET wasmade a constituent institute ofthe university, the same con-cept was in its perspective thatit would restore the residentialcharacter of the university andachieve 12B status. Efforts forthis were resumed by the uni-

versity last year and a UGCteam inspected the universitythoroughly on February 26and 27. The recommendationswere tested by the StandingCommittee of UGC and subse-quently, the 12B status wasgranted. The university hasalso been advised by the com-mission to make efforts forNAAC accreditation,” headded.

Meanwhile, an interna-tional-level webinar, ‘Seconddoctoral symposium on com-putational intelligence’,wasorganised under the chairman-ship of AKTU Vice-ChancellorProf VK Pathak. The webinarwas organised under the jointaegis of AKTU’s constituentinstitutes, including Institute ofEngineering and Technology.

The chief guest was vice-president of All-India Councilfor Technical Education(AICTE) Prof MP Punia, whosaid that in the new EducationPolicy, major arrangements forresearch have been made anda separate section created.

He said that AICTE is run-ning various schemes for tech-nical institutions from its level.He added that research andinnovation should be in theinterest of the society, so thatpeople’s lives can be made easier.

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Books on environment and cli-mate change are key attrac-

tions at the 10-day LucknowBook Fair, underway at BalSangrahalaya lawns in Charbagh.Dinesh, Incharge of VaniPrakashan, said they have broughta number of books on environ-ment and the latest one is onHimalayas, ‘Dastan-e-Himalaya’by Shekhar Pathak, who is ateacher at Kumaon University.

“The book has been appreci-ated by experts in this field andthey said there may have beenseveral books written on theHimalayas but it is uniquebecause it gives ‘puranic’ as wellas historical facts, the colourfulcultural activities going on in itslap, people associated with theHimalayas and the various talesassociated with these mightymountains. The Himalayas are

seamless but the writer has man-aged to present it in a very inter-esting manner,” Dinesh said.

Talking about the author, hePathak has carried out variousresearch travels associated withthe book and is also associatedwith ‘Pahad Foundation’.

About the content of thebook, he said it mentions that theHimalayas join the green hills onthe north-eastern part with thecold deserts of Ladakh and alsojoin the Ganga-Brahmaputraregion with Tibet.

“The book also talks abouthow the Himalayas regulate themovement of the monsoons andare considered so vast that onecorner is unfamiliar with theother. It is its history, the socialand political protests associatedwith it which can help understandit better. The first two chapters ofthe book deal with the history ofthe Himalayas while the third

deals with the advent of theBritishers. The remaining threearticles deal with three personal-ities of the country who match thestature of the Himalayas. The nextchapter is on the folk literature,the seventh chapter deals with thelanguage of Uttarakhand whilethe last one deals with KailashMansarovar,” he pointed out.

Pathak’s earlier book ‘HariBhari Umeed’ has also seen goodsales. The book deals with prob-lems of afforestation, the ChipkoMovement and its first wave, thecontribution of the youth &women in the movement, and theactivities post the Forest Act of1980.

There is another book titled‘Oh Re Kisan’ by Ankita Jain. Inthis book, the author says that thecountry is not only a ‘krishi’-based country but also a ‘rishi’-based country, and both are aboutthe welfare of general public.

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The Special Task Force onSaturday claimed to have

busted a gang which hadduped several aspiring doctorsof over Rs 15 crore afterpromising them admission tomedical colleges. The gangwas running a firm called‘Rise Group Pvt Ltd’. The STFteam recovered data of 26lakh candidates who had takenNational Eligibility cumEntrance Test (NEET). Thedata had been secured illegally.

Those arrested were iden-tified as Saurabh Kumar akaSaurabh Gupta of Samastipurin Bihar, Ajitabh Mishra ofIndiranagar and Vikas Soni ofChinhat. Saurabh and Ajitabhare directors of the companywhile Vikas the general man-ager. The STF team recoveredthree laptops, 30 mobilephones, 25 registers withdetails of money taken fromdifferent students, severalother documents related toadmission, an SUV and overRs 19,000 in cash. The accusedhad duped several unsuspect-ing medical aspirants all acrossthe country. They were arrest-ed from Vijyant Khand inGomtinagar following a tip-off.

The police said they wereworking on a case in whichSaurabh had duped a Patnaresident on the pretext offacilitating admission to amedical college. Saurabh, whohad an office in Virat Khand,did a moonlight flit after col-lecting huge sum of moneyfrom aspirants in the past. Hethen opened an office inVijyant Khand. The policewere tipped off about it andthe place was raided.

It surfaced that Saurabhand his aides used to getdetails of the candidates whoappeared for NEET but couldnot clear it. His aides used tocall those candidates. As theyvisited his office, they weremade to sign on loan agree-ment papers.

The gang took Rs 5-6 lakh

from each candidate afterpromising them admission tomedical colleges. However,when the candidates ques-tioned them about admissionand sought a refund, theaccused would intimidatethem. They used to tell thecandidates that they had givenbribes and if they demandedtheir money back, so an actionwould be taken against them.

An engineering graduate,Saurabh was the regionaldirector of an engineering col-lege in Jharkhand. He latershifted to Lucknow andlaunched his own company.The police said the accusedhad defrauded unsuspectingmedical aspirants in Delhi, UP,Bihar, West Bengal, AndhraPradesh, Maharashtra andMadhya Pradesh.

���� %54���2

Police recreated the scene ofKanhaiya aka Girdhari's

encounter in the presence of ateam of forensic scientists onSaturday. Prime accused in theAjit Singh murder case, sharp-shooter Girdhari was killed ina controversial policeencounter after he was arrest-ed in Delhi and brought toLucknow on transit remand.

The event was video-graphed and every angle relat-ed to the encounter was cap-tured. Sources said the footagewould be produced in thecourt. Earlier, Girdhari’s fami-ly had filed a complaint in thecourt, pointing out that theencounter was fake, andrequested for an FIR against thecops involved in it.

A court had directed theHazratganj police to register acase but the high court stayedthe order. Sources privy to theinvestigation said that theforensic team investigated thepolice account on theencounter.

“A man posing as Girdhariwas asked to sit in a police jeepand he later pushed a sub-inspector and disappeared intothe thickets. The team mea-sured the steps towards thethickets and if he could fire on

the police team. It was alsoexamined how many shotswere fired by Girdhari and if hespent all the bullets which thepistol was loaded with. Theteam also examined the direc-tion towards which Girdhariopened fire,” the sources said.

They said that the recre-ation of the encounter scenewas conducted in daytimewhile the encounter had takenplace in the night on February15. The police said Girdhariwas active in the crime worldsince 2001 and had amassedhuge wealth. He was the primeaccused in the murder of for-mer block pramukh from MauAjit Singh, who was pepperedwith bullets on January 6.

After Ajit’s aide MoharSingh lodged a case against himand other his aides for murderand against Kuntu Singh andAkhand Singh (both languish-ing in jail) for criminal conspir-acy, the police had launched amanhunt for Girdhari.

Girdhari had moved toDelhi where he was arrested ina dramatic way and his arrestby Lucknow police was stalledfor some time. He was laterbrought to Lucknow on tran-sit remand for interrogationand taken to the place whereAjit was gunned down.However, Girdhari allegedly

tried to escape from the policecustody and pushed down asub-inspector and snatched his

pistol from which he openedfire on policemen.

He was killed in the return

fire by policemen. He wastaken to a hospital where hewas declared brought dead.

���� %54���2

Aclass XII student endedhis life at his house in PGI

police stat ion area onSaturday. Abhimanyu Bajpai(18) of South City Colony wasfound hanging from the ceil-ing with a rope tied aroundhis neck. The incident cameto light when his fatherYogesh Bajpai gave him a callin the morning butAbhimanyu did not respond.Yogesh rapped the doors butAbhimanyu did not respondeven then. Later, Yogesh, withthe help of his neighbours,broke open the doors andfound Abhimanyu hangingfrom the ceiling. He wasrushed to hospital where hewas declared brought dead.

In another incident, a 28-year-old woman, identified asArchana of Kailash KunjColony on Faizabad road,was found hanging at herhouse on Friday night. Policecame to know of the incidentwhen a memo was sent tothem by RMLIMS. A teamwas sent to the hospital andlater to the house of thedeceased to collect detailsrelated to the incident.

Investigating officer sub-inspector Jitendra SinghChauhan said Archanahanged herself around 9 pmon Friday and her familyrushed her to hospital whereshe was declared broughtdead.

Meanwhile, a 39-year-oldwoman, identified as RajKumari of Benti in Banthra,was electrocuted to deathafter she came in touch witha snapped electricity wire.She had gone to collect fod-der for her cattle in the fieldand could not see the wirelying in the field. The incidenttook place around 8 am onSaturday morning.

Meanwhile, policeclaimed to have got a leadabout the attackers who hadinjured a contestant in thefray for gram pradhan elec-tions and Samajwadi Partyworker Ram Prakash byopening f ire on him inGudamba.

The police said fouraccused were detained basedon an FIR lodged by the vic-tim’s son on Friday night.“Those detained disclosedthe names of some accusedand accordingly, police teamswere formed to conduct raidsand nab them,” sources said.

On the day of the inci-dent, the victim was return-ing home on a motorcycle.When he was near the villagewhere he resides, armed mis-creants moving in an SUVovertook his motorcycle andopened fire. Yadav sufferedinjuries in the chest and heslumped down. Hearing thegunshot, local villagers rushedto the scene and the accusedwere forced to take to theirheels.

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���� +�������������� �+����� ��������(���� ������Lucknow (PNS): A 29-year-oldman, who was held for alleged-ly smuggling 3 kg gold fromDubai on Saturday, was foundto be Covid positive. He wasidentified as Rakesh Yadav, aresident of Azamgarh. Districtimmunisation officer Dr MKSingh said the antigen testshowed positive result andhence the sample was sent forRT-PCR testing. He was laterreferred to RMLIMS.

Besides, eight people test-ed positive for coronavirusinfection in Lucknow onSaturday while 42 patientsrecovered. There are 223 activecases in the district. Across thestate, 131 people tested Covidpositive, including 15 fromGautam Buddh Nagar, 11from Ghaziabad, five fromKanpur and two from Varanasi,taking the UP case tally to6,04,164. There was no deathdue to Covid-19 reported fromanywhere in the state. Besides,416 patients recovered, pushingthe recovery figures to 5,93,704while there are 1,731 activecases in the state.

Meanwhile, a total of 3,294people were vaccinated at ninegovernment and 17 privatehospitals on Saturday. Dr Singhsaid problems with the CoWINportal continued even onSaturday, impacting the num-ber of beneficiaries.Vaccinations were not carriedout at KGMU, RMLIMS andSGPGI on March 6.

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Unemployment pushed aBasic Training Certificate

(BTC) holder in Farrukhabadinto depression, forcing her tocommit suicide.

She left a suicide note inwhich she stated that she wasending her life on her ownand no one should be heldresponsible for it.

Reports said that SwatiRajput (27) hailing fromChaini Nagla locality ofKuankhera under Kaimganjpolice station of Farrukhabadwas a BTC holder. She hadalso completed her post-grad-uation but her search for a jobfailed to give any positiveresult. The relatives of thedeceased said that Swatibecame depressed after shefailed to get a job even aftercompleting the BTC course.

Last Wednesday, she left

home for some work butwhen she did not return tillevening, the family memberstried to contact her on mobilephone but found it to beswitched off. They informedthe Kaimganj police aboutSwati's disappearance and thecops on Thursday morningtraced her last location atAtaipur.

As Swati's father, Hetram

Rajput, had one more housein Ataipur, the family mem-bers rushed there and wereshocked to see her body hang-ing from the ceiling of aroom.

The police found a suicidenote in which Swati statedthat she had hoped that thegovernment would do some-thing for the welfare of thechildren but now she foundthat they were going to donothing. She also mentionedthat not getting a job was thereason for her extreme stepand the decision to end lifewas her own and no oneshould be held responsible forit. Sub-Inspector DeepakBhati, who reached the spot,claimed that on the request ofthe family members, the bodywas not sent for post-mortemand was handed over to themafter panchnama for the lastrites.

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Page 4: 3;A aZed DfgV_Uf RXRZ_de 5ZUZ - Daily Pioneer

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Office of The Executive Engineer Maintenance Division No.-1 (Civil) P.W.D., Lucknow Re-Inviting Short Term E-Tender Notice

No. 562/ Tender / 2021 Date: 27.02.21 The EE Maintenance Division No.-1(Civil). U.P.P.W.D. Lucknow on behalf of Governor of Uttar Pradesh invites the

percentage rate bids online from the eligible and approved Contractors registered with UP PWD, in class A/B/C/D inBuilding Category for the following work. SL. District Name of work Estimated Bid Cost of Time Address of Address of Address ofNo. cost (Rs.) Security Docum comp Executive Superinten Chief

(Rs.) ent (in letion Engineer ding EngineerRs.) of work Engineer

1 Rodent and pest control 8.30 0.83 725.00 3 Months E.E.,services for Lizards, Rats Ants Maintenance S.E, 39th Chief Cockroaches, Spiders. Beetles Maintenance circle, PWD Engineer and insects in Main Building at Division no. 1 Lko (Building) Raj Bhawan, Lucknow (Civil), PWD PWD.

Lko. Lucknow

2 Anti-termitecontrolment 7.96 0.80 725.00 3 Months E.E.,treatment in Main Building at Maintenance S.E, 39th Chief Raj Bhawan, Lucknow Maintenance circle, PWD Engineer

Division no. 1 Lko (Building) (Civil), PWD PWD.

Lko. Lucknow

3 Renovation with modular 3.68 0.37 650.00 1 Months E.E.,kitchen painting work in suite Maintenance S.E, 39th Chief of K-16 and other work at Maintenance circle, PWD Engineer Raj Bhawan, Lucknow Division no. 1 Lko (Building)

(Civil), PWD PWD.Lko. Lucknow

Notice inviting tenders and bid document with detailed terms and conditions will be available online on websitehttp://etender.up.nic.in from 08.03.2021 to 15.03.2021. upto 12:00 Noon. Bid must be submitted online only at e-tendering portal ofhttp://etender.up.nic.in on or before 15.03.2021. at 12.00 Noon. Bids received online will be opened on 15.03.2021 at 12:30 PM

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(AK Mishra) executive Engineer Maintenance Division No.-1 (Civil) PWD. Lucknow meu UP-161648 Dt. 4.3.21 ������������ �www.upgov.nic.in ���������������

E-mail Id- [email protected]

E-Tender Notice Short Term

No. 1997/4A/2020-21 Date : 25.02.2021On behalf of Hon'ble Governor, U.P., Executive Engineer. C.D.-3, P.W.D. Sultanpur invites online bids

for the following works from the registered eligible contractors. Building work in UP PWD.

SI. Division Name of Work Estimated Cost Bid Security No. Name (Rs. In Lacs) (Rs. In Lacs)

1 2 3 4 5

1 C.D-3, Special Repair of Roof Treatement and 10.80 1.08Sultanpur Painting Work in Type B officers Collony in

District Sultanpur

2 CD-3 Special Repair of Roof Treatement and 11.00 1.10Sultanpur Painting Work in Type-IV Officers Collony

in District Sultanpur

The bid can be seen and downloaded online from 09.03.2021 and can be uploaded up to 12:00 Noonof 15.03.2021. The Technical bid shall be opened on 15.03.2021 at 12:30 afternoon.

All the conditions related to bid can be seen on http//etender.up.nic.in (R.K. Rajak),

Superintending Engineer Working as Executive Engineer

Construction Division No.-3. PWD. Sultanpur

Office of the Executive Engineer, Construction Division-3, PWD,

Sultanpur

UP-161599 Dt. 4.3.21����������� �www.upgov.nic.in �������������

U.P. POWER TRANSMIS-SION CORPORATION LTD.E-TENDER NOTICEFollowing E-Tenders are invit-ed from the

experienced/reputed contractors for exe-cution of following works For more detailslogin on website www.etender.up.nic.in.1- Very Short Term E - Tender No.77(AETC/2020-21:- Work of erection, com-missioning and testing of 500 MVA T/F at400 kV S/s, Hafizpur, Azamgarh. EarnestMoney: Rs. 25000.00 (Rs. Twenty FiveThousand) only. Tender Cost: Rs. 2950.00(Rs. Two Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty)only. Earnest money will be in the shapeof RTGS/NEFT duly pledged in favour ofSuperintending Engineer, Electy.Transmission Circle, UPPTCL,Azamgarh.Tenderers can upload their ten-der bids against the above tender upto14.00 hrs. of 15.03.2021 and shall beopened on same day at 16.00 Hrs. In casethe tender opening date is holiday or theundersigned remains out of headquarters,the date of opening of the tender will standextended to the next working day.Undersigned has the right to reject/devideany tender without assigning any reasonthereof. Conditional tenders shall not beaccepted. ERINTENDING ENGINEER(TRANS.) 'AZAMGARH No. 315 Dt 6.3.21SAVE ELECTRICITY IN THE INTERESTOF NATION

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On the occasion of EndoAwareness Day, the depart-

ment of Conservative Dentistryand Endodontics, KGMU,organised the first all-India inter-dental college quiz and singingcompetition. The programmewas inaugurated by KGMUVice-Chancellor Dr Bipin Puri,founder-president of IES DrAnil Kohli, Pro-VC of KGMUDr Vineet Sharma, president ofIndian Endodontic Society DrVivek Hegde and secretary gen-eral of Indian EndodonticSociety Dr Sanjay Miglani.

Head of the departmentConservative Dentistry andEndodontics Prof AP Tikku,and Dean, Faculty of DentalSciences, Dr Anil Chandra wel-comed all the teams and facultymembers from other collegesand students. Dr Puri appreciat-ed the initiative and said onepositive effect of Covid-19 is thatpeople have learnt to make fulluse of technology. PG studentsof conservative dentistry andendodontics from 24 dental col-leges participated in the pro-gramme both online and offline.

Amal Singh Rana andSelventhra Savitha, PG studentsfrom All-India Institute ofMedical Sciences, New Delhi,were awarded the winner’s tro-phy of the event while the run-ners-up trophy went to SumitSharma and S Gopi Pavan Sudhirfrom Army Dental Researchand Referral Hospital, NewDelhi.

The quiz program was fol-lowed by a singing competitionin which students from various

Lucknow (PNS): Women canmanage the dual responsibili-ty of home and office well andthey are good at financial mat-ters as well, Mayor SanyuktaBhatia said while speaking ata walkathon, organised by adigital magazine and a micro-finance association to cele-brate International Women’sDay on Saturday.

The walkathon wasflagged off by DCP RuchitaChoudhry from 1090 cross-ing. Key organiser AparnaMishra, along with vice districtgovernor of Alliance ClubsInternational Priyanka Dikshitwere present on the occasion.

Other dignitaries wereADM Garima Swaroop,

Vartika Shukla, Mahila KalyanAdhikari Reshu Bhatia, socialactivists Reena Singh & LalitaPandey, additional director ofEducation Prerna Mitra, prin-cipal of Army Public SchoolSupriya Dwivedi, assistantcommissioner of CommercialTax Ekta Singh and Anup K

Singh. More than 120 womenparticipated in the walkathon.Various women achievers werefelicitated. There was a musi-cal programme and all the par-ticipants enjoyed dancing tothe tunes of zumba. The eventwas supported by MissionShakti.

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The newly-r e n o v a t e dL a k h i m p u rbranch of IndianOverseas bankwas inauguratedby vice-principalof Don Bosco(Lakhimpur) inpresence of bank’schief regionalmanager (Lucknow region) Niranjan Panda, branch staff, senior officials and customers.

����� ���1Annual Result Day of SKD Academy Pre-School to Class V

of all the three branches in Rajajipuram was held on Saturday.All the three branches announced their annual results for whichonline examinationshad been conducted.The students producedremarkable results andfor their spectacularefforts, they were givenaway first, second andthird prizes. The stu-dents those whoattended maximumonline classes were also given away prizes. The new session willcommence from March 8.

#����� �1District Magistrate Abhishek Prakash said on Saturday that

entry would be free for female visitors to the Asafi (Bada)Imambara, Chhota Imambara and Picture Gallery on the occa-sion of International Women’s Day on March 8.

!�� � ��� ���7!������� Four meritorious students of City Montessori School,

Kanpur Road Campus — Arush Ajeet Pratap (class IV), RishanHaldar (class III), SiddhimaShukla (class VII) and SumanKumar (class III) — secured100 per cent marks in Sciencein International BenchmarkTest (IBT), getting the top rankglobally. CMS founder JagdishGandhi congratulated these students for their achievement, say-ing it is a great moment of pride for Lucknow. IBT is organ-ised by the Australian Council for Educational Research(ACER) once a year in many countries. In India, over 50,000students appeared for IBT.

,4�������� ���(��$������� ��������� ��#� ����� ���Lucknow (PNS): King George’sMedical University has receivedInternational recognition fromthe United Kingdom. KGMUhas been selected amongst thevery few institutions in India toprovide training to doctors forpreparing guidelines for vari-ous diseases as well as for any-one interested in using high-quality information to makedecisions for best treatment,diagnosis on any health issues.

“KGMU has been selectedby Cochrane, which is themost reputed internationalorganisation in the world inthis field as World HealthOrganisation (WHO) framesguidelines with the help fromit,” Vice-Chancellor Dr BipinPuri said. Top medical institu-

tions of the world are trainingcentres of Cochrane.

“Till now, doctors, policy-makers and consumers in Indiahave to go to Vellore to gettraining and now they can getworld class, standardised train-ing from KGMU very soon,” hesaid. He added that KGMU fac-ulty members and students arealready involved in preparinghigh quality information inseven different health issueswith experts from differentparts of the world withCochrane. Dr Puri congratulat-ed the advisors and the teamcomprising Prof BalendraPratap Singh, Prof HardeepSingh Malhotra, Dr AnandSrivastava and Prof RD Singhfor this achievement.

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Meanwhile, intra-TMC unrestthat spilled on the streets aftermany aspirants including sittingMLAs and Ministers were deniedtickets by the Chief Minister evenas senior leaders like Sonali Guhaand Jatu Lahiri openly talked aboutjoining the BJP.

Guha a former Deputy Speakerand four-time MLA from Satgachiaseat --- once the bastion of late ChiefMinister Jyoti Basu --- broke downsaying she had “not expected thiskind of treatment from MamataDidi with whom I have spentdecades fighting the Left Front.”

She said that she would join thesaffron outfit even as BJP vice pres-ident Mukul Roy said he hadreceived a call from Guha. “I havereceived calls seeking entry in theBJP not only from Sonali but manyothers who have got tickets to con-test even and the party will take adecision on this issue.”

Another senior leader and for-mer Howrah MLA Jatu Lahiri saidhe had already joined the BJP as “Iwas insulted by my party. I do notwant a ticket in the BJP. I will workfor that party but I want nobody toinsult me,” he said.

Similarly, supporters of TMCstrongman and former MLA ArabulIslam continued to protest on thestreets blocking traffic at manyplaces even as the rebel leader saidhe would take a decision soonabout the future course of action.

0-�@13�/����&/�“Bengal has huge potential but

still people are going out to work toother cities. The State is full of cor-ruption and gundaraj. Today, thepeople of Bengal are happy that aparivartan is going to take placeunder BJP,” said Trivedi as he joinedthe saffron party.

Nadda said, “Former TMCleader Dinesh Trivedi was right per-son in wrong party, now he is inright party.” The BJP president saidTrivedi came over to the BJP onaccount of “ideological reasons” andnot because of “opportunism”.

A number of sitting and formerTrinamool members have in recentweeks switched sides and defectedto the BJP.

The party’s former Rajya SabhaMP, actor Mithun Chakraborty isexpected to share the stage with

Prime Minister Narendra Modi onSunday at a Kolkata parade groundrally. Among those who have movedfrom the Trinamool to the BJP aresitting MPs, State Ministers, MLAs,top leaders besides hordes of grass-roots workers. This includesTrinamool stalwarts such asSuvendu Adhikari and RajibBanerjee.

The State elections will be heldacross eight phases from March 27to April 29, the results of which willbe declared on May 2.

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The clause 7 of the ECI ModelCode of Conduct says that the “issueof advertisement at the cost ofpublic exchequer... regardingachievements with a view to fur-thering the prospects of the party inpower shall be scrupulously avoid-ed”. On March 5, the EC had direct-ed all petrol pump dealers and otheragencies to remove hoardingsadvertising the Centre’s schemesthat have Prime Minister NarendraModi’s photographs on the premis-es of the facilities within 72 hours.

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Highlighting rapidly changingtechnological landscape, the PrimeMinister underlined the need todevelop the Indian military into a‘future force’, the statement said.

Pointing out that the countrywould be celebrating 75 years of itsindependence next year, Modicalled upon the armed forces to usethe occasion to undertake activitiesand initiatives that would inspire theyouth of the country, the statementadded. The top level meeting camedays after the first phase of disen-gagement of troops of Indian andChina from the flashpoint in thePangong Tso (lake) in EasternLadakh. The meeting took place asarmies of India and Pakistan reaf-firmed their commitment, last week,for the 2003 ceasefire amid escalat-ing firing across the Line of Control(LoC) and other areas.

The Prime Minister stressed theimportance of enhancing indigeni-sation in the national security sys-tem, not just in sourcing equipmentand weapons but also in the doc-trines, procedures and customs

practiced in the armed forces. The Combined Commanders’

conference this year was held nearthe statue of Sardar Vallabhai Patelin Kevadia and the entire brassstayed in tents for the three-dayevent. Since 2014, the top-level con-clave was held many times outsidethe national capital. While the lastedition was held at Air ForceStation, Jodhpur, two other suchhigh profile events were held at air-craft carrier INS Vikramaditya andthe Indian Military Academy(IMA), Dehradun.

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Health NHS Foundation Trustsaid: “We are already seeing an impactof Covid-19 on mental health. Patientsare presenting with Long Covid syn-drome which includes fatigue, cogni-tive problems and a range of psychi-atric problems.

“It is estimated that these prob-lems are experienced by 1 in 5 peo-ple who have had COVID.Management of such patients in long-Covid clinics should involve a multi-disciplinary team including psychia-trists. “The world has experiencedmass trauma because World War IIaffected many, many lives,” WHODirector-General Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus said recently. The WHOchief added that the pandemic-induced mass trauma is “beyondproportion and even bigger thanwhat the world experienced” after theSecond World War.

According to a 2017 profile ofIndia by the World HealthOrganization, per 100,000 people,India has approximately 0.29 psychi-atrists, 0.07 clinical psychologists,0.06 social workers and 0.80 nurses,a poor doctor-patient ratio. The futureis not encouraging in the sector.

“Even if we keep the populationgrowth rates and attrition rates of psy-chiatrists at 0 per cent, we require 2700new psychiatrists annually to fill in thegap in the next 10 years. However,every year only 700 psychiatrists aretrained in PG seats, said Dr KabirGarg, Dr Prabha S Chandra and DrC Naveen Kumar Department ofPsychiatry, National Institute of MentalHealth and Neurosciences, Bengaluru,Karnataka in their study ‘Number ofpsychiatrists in India: Baby steps for-ward, but a long way to go’ publishedin Indian Journal of Psychiatry in2019.

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,�� ���)����-'���� ����.//��� ��������!From Page 1

Protesting farmers squat-ted on the expressway and crit-icised the Narendra Modi gov-ernment for not withdrawingthe farm legislations, whichthey called as “black laws”.

“Our agitation against thethree farm laws will continueunless the Centre withdrawsthese laws. We will not stepback,” said a protester inSonipat.

Farmers held protest at theKMP Expressway nearMandothi village in Jhajjardistrict. Some people fromnearby villages joined them.

“We are holding ourprotest in a peaceful manner,”said a farmer, adding thatthey were also observing“black day” on Saturday.

Protesting farmers saidthe government should with-draw these laws. Farmer leaderBalbir Singh Rajewal, whileaddressing a gathering on theKMP Expressway, asked theModi Government to with-draw these laws.

This agitation will cer-tainly put pressure on theCentral Government, he said.Farmers claimed that theirfive-hour protest remained

peaceful.Sonipat Superintendent of

Police Jashandeep SinghRandhawa said arrangementswere made for traffic diver-sions. Heavy vehicles werediverted from Panipat andothers from Ganaur to Delhi,said officials.

Traffic was also divertedfrom Murthal via Sonipat cityto Narela and Bawana andfrom Bahadurgarh to Baghpat,they said. Officials said trafficresumed at KMP expresswayafter famers lifted their block-ade at 4 pm.

In Palwal district also,

farmers staged a ‘dharna’. Atsome places in Haryana, farm-ers even put up black flags atoproof of their houses as a markof their protest against the gov-ernment for not withdrawingthe farm laws.

The 136-km Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expresswayis also known as the WesternPeripheral Expressway. The53-km Manesar-Palwal sectionwas inaugurated by UnionMinister Nitin Gadkari in2016 and 83-km Kundli-Manesar section was inaugu-rated by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in 2018.

colleges participated. PallabiSarkar from Seema Dental

College, Rishikesh, lifted thewinner’s trophy while Raktim

De from Carrer Post GraduateInstitute of Dental Sciences,

Lucknow, receiving the run-ner-up trophy.

Page 5: 3;A aZed DfgV_Uf RXRZ_de 5ZUZ - Daily Pioneer

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Under the ongoing 50thNational Safety Week, the

street play and other pro-grammes were organised by theSafety department of BanarasLocomotive Works (BLW) onSaturday to aware the officersand employees about safety.

The Safety department ofBLW is observing the 50thNational Safety Week fromMarch 4 and in this order, var-ious programmes were organ-ised on the third day onSaturday including street playstaged by the artists to gener-ate consciousness among offi-cers and employees about thesafety.

The officers and employeesworking in the engine divisionof BLW took a pledge to followthe norms while discharging

their duty and they were alsoimparted training on how tocontrol the fire using fire-extinguishing equipment.

The General Manager ofBLW Anjali Goel will inaugu-rate the disaster managementtraining hall ‘Manthan’ at east-ern gate of workshop andthereafter, the personnel ofRailway Protection Force, civildefense and St John’sAmbulance Brigade and scoutguides will show live demon-stration of relief and rescue

operation from fire, etc. LJP TO SUBMIT MEMO

TO DM: Accusing the gov-ernment for having no controlon the distribution companiesof petro-products, the statepresident of Lok JanshaktiParty (LJP) Mani ShankarPandey on Saturday said thatthe party would submit a mem-orandum to District Magistrateto be forwarded to thePresident of India on March 9regarding the skyrocketingprice of petrol- diesel anddomestic cylinder.

Talking to the presspersonsat Paradkar Smriti Bhavan,here, Pandey accused the gov-ernment for having no controlon the distributing companiesof petro-products and whichresulted in the rise in the priceof petrol, diesel and domesticcylinder and demanded the

government to bring the petroland diesel in the preview ofGST to stop the highhanded-ness of these companies.

The Central and state gov-ernments should reduce theirtax on petrol and diesel tolower the price of petro-prod-ucts, he demanded and saidthat the reduction in the priceof petrol and diesel will alsoreduce the price of essentialcommodities and foot items.The rising price of domesticcylinders has also laid adverseimpact on the gas connectionunder Ujjawala scheme and thebeneficiaries have now stoppedpurchasing the cylinder, hesaid and demanded thePresident of India to direct thegovernment at Centre to reducethe petrol, diesel and cylinderto give a relief to the commonpeople.

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In a fire incident, about adozen huts, made temporar-

ily along the railway track inslum locality in Dhelwaria area,under the Jaitpura police sta-tion, were reduced to ashes andthe fire fighting personnel hadto struggle for hours to dousethe fire.

According to information,there are a number of tem-porarily made huts along therailway track in the abovementioned area. It was said thatlate night on Friday, a hutcaught fire and it took the otherhuts in its grip. The fire alsotook the urban communityhealth centre situated adjacentto the slum locality in its grip.

On being informed, thelocal police and Fire depart-ment personnel reached thesite. The fire fighting person-nel took hours to extinguish thefire but by then, it was said thatabout a dozen huts werereduced to ashes. It was saidthat the properties in lakhs

were gutted in the fire incidentbut no injury or human loss

was reported. The cause behindthe fire could not be ascer-

tained and the police startedinvestigation into the matter.

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The ongoing agitation oflawyers of Allahabad High

Court took a new turn whenthe lawyers along with severalother organisations resolvedto observe Prayagraj ‘bandh’ onMarch 9 in protest against theEducation Service TribunalBill.

Meanwhile, working inthe Allahabad High Courtremained disrupted as theboycott of work initiated bythe lawyers in protest againstthe Education Ser viceTribunal Bill continued for the10th consecutive day onThursday.

The Allahabad HighCourt Bar Association(HCBA) had been protestingagainst the Bill, which pro-vides for setting up of theprincipal bench of theEducation Service Tribunalat Lucknow, instead atPrayagraj.

In a resolution passed onFriday, HCBA again resolvedto continue to boycott judicial

work on Friday on the sameissue.

On Thursday, a meetingof the lawyers was organisednear the High Court, whichwas addressed by former cityMLA Anugrah Narain Singhand several leaders of employ-ees’ organisations in protestagainst the said Bill.

In the meeting, formerMLA and other speakers crit-icised the state government forgradually shifting one by one,all important organisationsfrom Prayagraj to Lucknow.They unanimously promisedto extend their support to thebar association to make thebandh on March 9 a success.

Earlier, on previous days,the leaders of trade organisa-tions, student leaders andcouncillors of Nagar Nigamhave promised to extend theirwholehearted support to thebandh on March 9.

According to HCBA jointsecretary (press) RajendraKumar Singh, in the meeting,which was presided over byHCBA president Amrendra

Nath Singh and conducted bysecretary Prabha ShankarMishra, it has been resolved tocontinue the agitation andmake Allahabad bandh onMarch 9 a success.

NEGLIGENCE BY PVTHOSPITAL DOCS: In abizarre incident, a three-year-old girl died after the doctorsof a private hospital, whowere performing an abdomi-nal surgery on her, allegedlyhanded over the minor to thefamily without even givingstitches after they failed toclear the dues.

The family fromManjahanpur in Kaushambihad recently brought the girlto the hospital in Prayagrajafter she complained ofabdominal pain.

The case came to lightafter a twitter user posted aseries of tweets sharing pic-tures and details of the inhu-man treatment meted out tothe family.

Taking cognizance of thematter, Prayagraj DistrictMagistrate Bhanu Chandra

Goswami constituted a two-member investigation com-mittee comprising the chiefmedical officer and addition-al district magistrate (city).

According to officials,action has been initiated onthe basis of the social mediareports and it is not yet clearas to when the incident tookplace. The body has been sentfor post-mortem examina-tion. ‘A detailed probe hasbeen ordered after taking cog-nizance of the tweet that aminor girl was ousted fromthe private hospital with anopen abdomen. It is a seriousmatter and we are trying tofind out all details related tothe girl’s death,’ the DMinformed the reporters.

As the family belongs toManjhanpur, the Kaushambipolice has sent the body forautopsy to get the exact timeand cause of her death, headded.

CMO (Prayagraj) DrPrabhakar Rai said a detailedprobe would be conductedinto the incident.

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Under the mega COVID-19vaccination drive, the vac-

cines were administered onthe senior citizens and personssuffering with serious illness onSaturday.

The vaccination drive wasconducted at Sir SunderlalHospital in Banaras HinduUniversity (BHU) and PtDeendayal Upadhyay DistrictGovernment Hospital inPandeypur. The vaccinationdrive began in the morning at9 am and lasted till evening at5 pm.

The vaccines were admin-istered on senior citizen, agedabove 60 years and apart fromthem, the persons, agedbetween 45 and 59 years andsuffering with critical diseaseswere also administered thevaccine. It is mentioned that thetarget of administering theCOVID-19 vaccine on 3,662senior citizens and persons

with critical diseases and agedbetween 45 and 59 years wasset by the Health department inthe district. The vaccines wereadministered on 1,586 seniorcitizens and persons with seri-ous ailments on Friday.

In the meantime, a total of420 passengers reached theinternational airport in

Babatpur from Maharashtraon Friday and of them, thecorona report of 199 passengerswas already negative. The anti-gen test was conducted on asmany as 221 passengers andtheir report yielded negative.All the passengers were advisedto remain in home quarantinefor one week following the

guidelines of COVID-19. It ismentioned that the cases ofCOVID-19 are increasing inMaharashtra and thus keepingthis in mind, the Health depart-ment decided to conduct anantigen test of passengers com-ing from this state as precau-tionary measure.

TWO MORE TEST POS-ITIVE: Two more have testedCOVID-19 positive, increasingthe tally of confirmed cases to22,023 by Saturday evening.With no COVID-19 deathbeing reported in the last 24hours, the death toll remains at377.

With one COVID-19patient having been cured inhome isolation, the number ofCOVID-19 patients recoveredin the district so far is 21,592including 18,612 in home iso-lation and 2,980 in Covid hos-pitals.

As present 54 active casesare under treatment in thedistrict.

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Indian Railways is movingcloser towards the goal of

complete electrification byDecember 2023. Pursuingsame, the RailwayElectrification, Ahmedabadunder Central Organisationfor Railway Electrification atPrayagraj has achieved yetanother milestone in connect-ing first Port of Gujarat byintroducing 25 KV AC ElectricTraction fit for running DoubleStack Container (DSC) whichis first of its kind and a proudmoment for our nation.

Electrification ofSavarkundla - Pipavav com-missioned on 21st February2021. Its electrification willease the introduction of 25 KVElectric traction fromPalanpur-Surendranagar-Pipavav section, making a firststep in Western Railway tomove closer to complete elec-trification of Western Railway.The High-Rise OHE routeopened for Freight traffic aftera mandatory and intense SafetyInspections by ChiefCommissioner of RailwaySafety(CCRS) and his valu-able technical suggestions asregards human and systemsafety during the inspectionswere also complied with.

On March 3, first electricgoods train was flagged offfrom Dhola to Pipavav portthereby completing the lastmile connectivity of DFC routefrom Palanpur to Pipavav porton electric traction.

YP Singh; GeneralManager of CentralOrganisation for RailwayElectrification, has expressedhis pleasure on this historicalmilestone despite the toughestchallenges of new High RiseOHE and has appreciated theentire team of RailwayElectrification AhmedabadUnit for timely execution aswell as quality work. The com-

mendable feat was achieved bythe team of RailwayElectrification, Ahmedabadunit.

This is the first time in theentire world for successful run-ning of double stack contain-ers with Electric traction,which will also boost the ambi-tious mission of GREENINDIA as a latest greenInitiative over Indian Railway.The benefits of early comple-tion of Railway Electrificationare manifold from environ-mental and financial point ofview and will reduce carbonfootprint by reducing depen-dency on diesel locomotives. Itis expected to save approxi-mately � 75,000-80,000 pertrain, which will reduce finan-cial pressure on the FiscalDeficit.

Earlier, OHE was designedsuitably at a height of 5.8m forconventional OHE to meetexisting demands of IndianRailway. However, an increas-ing demand on goods train feltto run Double stack containerDSC suitably at same Linecapacity and thereby increasein hauling capacity in sameinfrastructure. In order to facil-itate Electrification of DSCroutes, new OHE system forhigh rise was in developmentwhich was quite challenging asthere was no such design avail-able for running electric trac-tion at OHE height 7.57 metrein all over the world.

Successfully, introducingindigenous High-Rise OHEdesign by RDSO, which madeit really possible to constructthe High-Rise OHE and there-fore the work of High-RiseOHE was carried out in veryprecise and accurate manner.

The electrification withHigh Rise OHE had its fairshare of technical problems asregards Operational issues withexisting electric locomotivesand also negotiating existingover line structures suited forconventional OHE. The overline structures in the form ofFoot Over Bridges, Road OverBridges and Extra High-Tension lines which wererequired to be modified andrequired high level coordina-tion with NHAI & State R&Bdepartments and GETCO. Thetimely modification of Overline structures to suit High RiseOHE involved several statuto-ry approvals of State & CentralGovernment agencies whichwas duly executed well inadvance.

Further, the Signalling sys-tem were required to upgrad-ed for making it compatible forElectrified section involvinghigh level of precision forensuring safety.

For completing the projectfrom Palanpur to Pipavav Port,total 414 km by RailwayElectrification team ofAhmedabad, overall, 17901 m3of Concrete, 6196.5 MT of

steel, 715 MT of copper con-ductor & 93 Nos of Bridgemasts have been used for con-struction of High-RiseOHE,with an approximate costof Rs 385 crore for Electrical,Civil and Signalling & Telecomworks. Accordingly, 4 Tractionsub-station, one at Dharewada,one at Botad, one atSavarkundla and one atSurendranagar have been com-missioned whose power supplyarrangement has been provid-ed in coordination withGETCO, as per latest Long-term Open access guidelines byCEA.

Further, first time in thehistory of CORE, a gigantictask of commissioning of 10UFS Block Instruments (con-sisting of 6 stations) alongwith BP Axle counters hasbeen completed on 30.12.2020in Savarkundla-Pipavav sec-tion (RE Group 223), in a sin-gle disconnection block ofabout 5 Hours making the sec-tion fit for electric traction.FOBs at Sidhpapur,Mahesana,Katosan, Viramgamand Surendranagar were raisedto suit high rise OHE fit for ply-ing of Double stack container.In this context, some FOBs atMahesana were dismantled.Similarly, ROBs at Savarkundlaand Rajula were suitably raisedto meet high rise OHE demandfit for introduction of 25 KVelectric traction. The impor-tance of the section fromPalanpur to Pipavav can besummarised as only and majorconnectivity from Rajasthan toPipavav port (Gujarat). PipavavPort is known for India’s firstport build in Public PrivatePartnership model and a gate-way port on the west coastIndia for handling containers,bulk cargos & Ro-Ro cargos.Having easy access to Rail net-work at Pipavav port provideslogistical advantage connectingthe port to critical markets inthe northwest part of India.

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BJP bagged the coveted postof executive vice-president

of Prayagraj MunicipalCorporation. On Saturday, BJPcandidate Akhilesh Singh waselected unopposed to the postof vice-president. His support-ers welcomed him with a gar-land and celebrated the occa-sion. Slogans were also raisedduring this period.

It is noteworthy that thenomination process for thepost of vice-president of the 12-member Executive Committeeof the Municipal Corporationstarted at 11:15 am on Saturday.The time was extended to 15minutes due to non-fulfill-ment of quorum. Till 12:15 pm,only BJP candidate AkhileshSingh filed nomination. Hisname was proposed by BJP cor-porator Kamlesh Tiwari.

Akhilesh Singh was elect-ed unopposed by MayorAbhilasha Gupta due to non-standing in the election of anyother candidate for the post ofvice-president of the MunicipalExecutive Committee.

Corporators Dilip Jaiswal,Amarjeet Yadav and AlpanaNishad did not attend the exec-utive committee meeting. Onlynine members were present atthe meeting. The election of the

Executive Committee was heldunder the chairmanship ofMayor Abhilasha Gupta.Additional MunicipalCommissioner Mushir Ahmad,Secretary Council PK Mishrawere also present during thisperiod. At the same time, inview of the security, ACMSecond, CO Civil Lines andheavy police force were presentin the Municipal Corporationpremises.

%� ������������!����� �!���(�������������������� � ����ALLAHABAD (PNS): TheUttar Pradesh government hasdefinitely fixed the price inCOVID- 19 vaccination for pri-vate hospitals. Many otherrights have also been given toprivate hospitals. However,they will have to follow therules which are the guideline ofthe government. They cancharge only � 250 for the vac-cine, before the vaccine is givento the beneficiary, he/she has to

get a certificate related to 20types of diseases. The details ofthis will have to be given to theHealth department on a dailybasis. The Health departmenthas set a separate category forapplying corona vaccines tosick people between the ages of45 and 60 years, while the cat-egory is different for peopleabove 60 years of age. They arecurrently being vaccinated freeof cost at government immu-

nisation centres, while in thepast, private hospitals havebeen empowered to charge �250 per beneficiary. If there isa complaint on charging morethan this, then action will betaken. At the same time, it hasalso been decided that privatehospitals will take a certificatefrom the beneficiary aboutwhich disease and under thesupervision of which doctor,the former is undergoing treat-

ment. A prescribed proforma hasbeen made for this purpose,vaccines can be given onlyafter filling all the columns.According to Dr Rishi Sahai,the Nodal Officer of Coronavaccination, all the standardsare set for private hospitals aswell as government hospitals.The only difference is that pri-vate hospitals will charge � 250from the beneficiary.

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The temple of MarkandeyMahadev at Kaithi and its

adjoining areas will be devel-oped as the religious tourismon the pattern of religious cityHaridwar and also to generateemployment.

The Union Minister forSkilled and EntrepreneurshipDr Mahendra Nath Pandey onSaturday held a meeting withthe PWD officers andinformed, ‘With an aim togenerate employment anddevelop as destination of reli-gious tourism, there is a planof overall development ofMarkandey Mahadev Mandirand its adjoining areas inKaithi.’ There is a plan ofdeveloping the temple andadjoining areas like Haridwar,he added.

He appealed to the farm-ers whose lands are on thetemple route; give their con-sent to keep the width of road9 m and assured of providingan alternative route. The PWDwill make beautification oftemple and construct itsboundary wall and gate withan estimated cost of � 1.5crore, he informed adding, a

proposal regarding to con-struct the road from RingRoad to temple with an esti-mated cost of �3.5 crore andconstruct the road from thetemple to Sangam Ghat withan estimated cost of �6.81crore has been sent to beapproved. A proposal regard-ing to construct the path waybetween Sangam Ghat andother ghats with an estimated

cost of �7 crore has also beenforwarded to be approved, headded.

The development of theregion will provide employ-ment to locals, he informedand directed the district mag-istrate to make arrangement oftoilets at temple place partic-ularly on the auspicious occa-sion of Mahashivratri, monthof shravan, etc to facilitate the

people. The floating jetty willbe installed here in Ganga withan estimated cost of �45 lakh,he informed and added, thedolphins fish will be pre-served. The boatmen will alsobe imparted training so thatthey could treat the foreigntourists very well, he said.The DM Kaushal Raj Sharmaand other officers were presenton occasion.

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For the convenience of passengers the railwayadministration will between Gorakhpur-

Chhapra, Gorakhpur-Siwan and Gorakhpur-Narkatiaganj run one pair each of unreservedexpress special trains will be reduced. KeepingCovid-19 in mind these specials will be run asexpress (unreserved) special trains so that thereis no extra rush in them and to ensure compli-ance of its safety standards, CPRO PK Singh said.

GKP-CHHAPRA EXP: The 05126Gorakhpur (GKP)-Chhapra unreserved expressspecial will from March 8 leave Gorakhpur dailyat 09.00 hours and after stopping at GorakhpurCantt, Kusmhi, Sardarnagar, Chauri Chaura,Gauri Bazaar, Deoria Sadar, Ahilyapur, Nunkhar,Bhatni, Nonapar, Bhatpar Rani, Bankata,Mairwa, Karchhui, Jiradei, Siwan, Pachrukhi,Duraundha, Chainwa, Mahendranath, Ekma,Daudpur, Kopa Samhota and Teknewas andreach Chhapra at 14.20 hrs. Besides the 05125Chhapra-Gorakhpur unreserved express specialwill from March 8 leave Chhapra at 16.45 hrsdaily and after stopping at Teknewas, KopaSamhota, Daudpur, Ekma, Mahendranath,Chainwa, Duraundha, Pachrukhi, Siwan, Jiradei,Karchhui, Mairwa, Bankata, Bhatpar Rani,Nonapar, Bhatni, Nunkhar, Ahilyapur, DeoriaSadar, Baitalpur, Gauri Bazar, Chauri Chaura,Sardarnagar, Kusamhi and Gorakhpur Canttreach Gorakhpur at 21.40 hrs.

GKP-SIWAN EXP: The 05142 Gorakhpur-Siwan unreserved express special from March

7 will leave Gorakhpur at 18.30 hrs and afterstopping at Gorakhpur Cantt, Kusmhi,Sardarnagar, Chauri Chaura, Gauri Bazar,Baitalpur, Deoria Sadar, Ahilyapur, Nunkhar,Bhatni, Nonapar, Bhatpar Rani, Bankata,Mairwa, Karchhui and Jiradei reach Siwan willarrive at 22.00 hrs. On the other hand, the 05141Siwan-Gorakhpur unreserved express specialwill from March 7 leave Siwan daily at 05.40 hrsand after stopping at Jiradei, Karchhui, Mairwa,Bankata, Bhatpar Rani, Nonapar, Bhatni, Nunkhar,Ahilyapur, Deoria Sadar, Baitalpur, Gauri Bazaar,Chauri Chaura, Sardarnagar, Kusmhi andGorakhpur Cantt reach Gorakhpur at 09.40 hrs.

GKP-NARKATIAGANJ EXP: The 05036Gorakhpur-Narkatiaganj unreserved expressspecial will from March 10 leave Gorakhpurdaily at 06.55 hrs and after stopping atGorakhpur Cantt, Unaula, Pipraich, MahuvaKhurd Halt, Bodarwar, Khushalnagar, Ghughuli,Siswa Bazar, Gurli Ramgarhwa, Khadda, Paniahwa,Valmikinagar Road, Awasani Halt, Bagaha,Kharpokhra, Bhairoganj, Harinagar and Chamua andreach Narkatiaganj at 11.40 hrs. On the other hand,the 05035 Narkatiaganj-Gorakhpur unreservedexpress special will from March 10 leave Narkatiaganjdaily at 15.05 hrs and after stopping at Chamua,Bhairoganj, Kharpokhra, Bagaha, Awasani Halt,Valmikinagar Road, Paniahwa, Khadda, GurliRamgarhwa, Siswa Bazar, Ghughuli, Khushalnagar,Kaptanganj, Bodarwar, Mahuawa Khurd Halt,Pipraich, Unaula and Gorakhpur Cantt and reachGorakhpur at 20.45 hrs. A total of 10 coaches willbe attached in these trains.

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Divisional Railway Manager(DRM) of NER (Varanasi divi-

sion) Vijay Kumar Panjiar on Fridayon Chhapra Diesel Lobby inspecteddevelopment of facilities for railwayemployees and at Chhapra Jn railwaystation passenger facilities and traf-fic management. The DRM on hisinspection vehicle first reachedChhapra Jn railway station and whilepulling the trolley bag to be given to guard andloco pilot covered the distance from the platformof Chhapra Jn station to diesel lobby and clearedthe doubts of various railway personnel. On theoccasion the DRM opened the line box used byguards and loco pilots and new trolley bag doingcomparative demonstration showed how the latteris more convenient and technically modern. Heencouraged them to do running duty with lessweight luggage on the lines of air travel. He saidthat trolley bag was being given in place of line box.This process is already in force in East CentralRailway (ECR) and other zonal railways. Thesetrolley bags are being given to increase the con-venience and work efficiency of employees. In thetrolley bag in place of heavy books (rule book) tabsare being given using which the guards and dri-vers will be technically proficient. The weight of thistrolley bag with all the safety devices will not exceed

five-six kg. He also did a thoroughinspection of the ongoing passen-ger facility development works atChhapra Jn station such as con-struction of new platform, entrancegate of the other end, extension offoot over bridge besides thoseregarding installation of lift andupgradation of operational arrange-ments. During this time he alsoinspected the guard and driver run-ning room of Chhapra Jn and

reviewed the work plan and methodology in rela-tion to the expansion works of the under con-struction running room and gave directions to theconcerned for possible changes. In a formal meet-ing with the press representatives of Saran regionhe informed about the completion of the Chhapra-Ballia doubling by 2023, encouraging guards andloco pilots to use trolley bags, re-running of unre-served trains and their stoppage. Thereafter theDRM by his inspection special train from ChhapraJn railway station while conducting window trail-ing inspection then proceeded to Varanasi. Duringthe inspection DRM was accompanied by SDOMRohit Gupta, Senior Divisional Engineer (SDE)-II Manoj Kumar Singh, Senior Divisional Signal andTelecom Engineer (SDSTE) Trimbak Tiwari,SDEE (TRD) Pankaj Kesharwani, SeniorDivisional Mechanical Engineer (O&F) AlokKesharwani and senior supervisor were present.

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DM Praveen Kumar Laxkarwhile reviewing schemes

being accorded priority by thegovernment at Collectorate meet-ing hall on Friday, expresseddiscontent over tardy progress indistribution of golden cards under AyushmanBharat scheme and directed the CMO to inten-sify it through camps as a special drive. Thecamps should be started from the village inwhich distribution was zero, he added. Referringto IGRS the DM made it clear that no laxitywould be tolerated and directed to dispose ofcent per cent matters on merit. The Jal Nigamwas directed to install and rebore handpumpstimely and identify villages where water supplywas required through tankers. He directed theofficial concerned that no scarcity of water sup-ply should be come to light so all arrangements

should be done in advance.Reviewing AMRUT schemethe DM directed departmentsconcerned to expedite thework and complete it withquality and ensure no incon-venience is faced by people.The DM was apprised by EE

Sirsi dam division that due to shortage of waterin Apar Khajuri dam they failed to irrigate fieldslocated at tail end of canal. The DM told the offi-cials to complete works of panchayat buildings andcommunity toilets within the deadline and regard-ing the paucity of fund the DM asked the depart-ments concerned to put up letter before him fordemand of the required budget. All points of pri-ority fixed by government were discussed. CDOAvinash Singh was also present on the occasion.

RUN OVER BY TRAIN: Maanti Devi (45)of Umariya village was run over by a train whileshe was crossing the railway track on Friday.

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The railway administration will betweenGorakhpur-Sitapur run one pair and

between Lucknow Jn-Mailani two pairs ofunreserved express special trains. In view ofCovid-19, these specials will be run as express(unreserved) special trains so that there is noextra rush and for ensuring compliance ofCovid-19 safety standards, CPRO said. In thelarger health interest of passengers travelling inthese special trains and their co-passengers it isnecessary to comply with Covid-19 safety norms.

05093 GKP-STP EXP: The 05093Gorakhpur (GKP)-Sitapur (STP) unreservedexpress special will from March 9 leave Gorakhpurdaily at 06.00 hrs and after stopping Dominagarh,Jagatbela, Sahjanwa, Sihapar, Maghar, Khalilabad,Chureb, Munderwa, Orwara, Basti, Govindnagar,Tinich, Gaur, Babhnan, Parsa Tiwari, Babhan JotiaHalt, Swami Narayan Chhapia, Maskanwa,Lakhpatnagar, Mankapur, Jhilahi, Motiganj,Barua Chak, Gonda, Gonda Kachahri, Kathola,Maijapur, Kasturi, Colonelganj, Sarju, JarwalRoad, Ghaghra Ghat, Chowka Ghat, Burhwal,Sundhiamau, Tehsil Fatehpur, Paintepur, MundaGopal Ash, Mahmudabad Awadh, Babupur,Sarayan, Shankarpur, Biswan, Ramaipur,Parsendi and Tappa Khajuria reach Sitapur at15.05 hrs. Whereas 05094 Sitapur-Gorakhpurunreserved express special will from March 9leave Sitapur daily at 15.45 hrs and after stop-ping at Tappa Khajuria, Parsendi, Ramaipur,Biswan, Shankarpur, Sarayan, Babupur,Mahmudabad Avadh, Munda Gopal Ash,Paintepur, Tehsil Fatehpur, Sudhiamau, Burhwal,Chowkaghat, Ghaghra Ghat, Jarwal Road,Sarju, Colonelganj, Kasturi, Majapur, Kathola,Gonda Kachahri, Gonda Jn, Baruachak,Motiganj, Jhilahi, Mankapur, Lakhpatnagar,Masakanwa, Swami Narayan Chhapia, BhabhanJotia Halt, Parsa Tiwari, Babhnan, Gaur, Tinich,Govindnagar, Basti, Orwara, Munderwa,Chureb, Khalilabad, Maghar Sihapar, Sahjanwa,Jagatbela on the second day and Domingarh andreach Gorakhpur at 01.15 hrs.

05086 LJN-MAILANI EXP: The 05086

Lucknow Jn- Mailani unreserved express spe-cial will from March 7 daily leave Lucknow Jnat 06.20 hrs and after stopping at Aishbagh,Lucknow City, Daliganj, Mohibullapur, BakshiKa Talab, Itaunja, Ataria, Manwa, Sidhauli,Suraincha Halt, Kamlapur, Barai Jalalpur,Sitapur, Bhurjiha Bargaon, Jharekhapur,Parasehra Mal, Hargaon, Oel, Kadipur Sani Halt,Khiri Town, Lakhimpur, Deokali, Pharadahan,Razaganj, Baheliya Buzurg, Gola Gokaran Nath,Mailani and Banke Ganj reach Mailani at 12.45hrs. In the return journey the 05085 Malani-Lucknow Jn unreserved express special will fromMarch 7 leave Mailani daily at 15.00 hrs and afterstopping at Banke Ganj, Gola Gokaran Nath,Bahelia Buzurg, Razaganj, Pharadahan, Deokali,Lakhimpur, Kheri Town, Kadipur Sani Halt, Oel,Hargaon, Parsehra Mal, Jharekapur, BhurjihaBargaon, Sitapur, Barai Jalalpur, KamlapurSuraincha Halt, Sidhauli, Manwa, Ataria, Itaunja,Bakshi Ka Talab, Mohibullapur, Daliganj, LucknowCity and Aishbagh reach Lucknow Jn at 20.45 hrs.

05088 LJN-MAILANI EXP: The 05088Lucknow Jn- Mailani unreserved express spe-cial will from March 7 daily leave Lucknow Jnat 13.45 hrs and after stopping at Aishbagh,Lucknow City, Daliganj, Mohibullapur, BakshiKa Talab, Itaunja, Ataria, Manwa, Sidhauli,Suraincha Halt, Kamlapur, Barai Jalalpur,Khaira Talab, Sitapur, Bhurjiha Baragaon,Jharekhapur, Parsehra Mal, Hargaon, Oel,Kadipur Sani Halt, Khiri Town, Lakhimpur,Deokali, Pharadahan, Razajganj, Bahelia Buzurg,Gola Gokaran Nath and Banke Ganj and reachMailani at 19.50 hrs. In the return journey 05087Mailani-LJN unreserved express special will fromMarch 7 will leave Mailani daily at 06.05 hrs andafter stopping at Banke Ganj, Gola Gokaran Nath,Bahelia Buzurg, Razaganj, Pharadahan, Deokali,Lakhimpur, Khiri Town, Kadipur Sani Halt, OelHargaon, Parsehra Mal, Jharekapur, BhurjihaBargaon, Sitapur, Khaira Talab, Barai Jalalpur,Kamlapur, Suraincha Halt, Sidhauli, Manwa,Ataria, Itaunja, Bakshi Ka Talab, Mohibullapur,Daliganj, Lucknow City and Aishbagh reachLucknow Jn at 12.10 hrs. A total of 10 coacheswill be attached in these special trains.

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The newly-built U-12Children’s Park developed

in Kargil Park in Motijheelunder the Atal Mission forRejuvenation and UrbanTransformation (AMRUT)project, was inaugurated byKanpur Mayor Pramila Pandeyand Municipal CommissionerAkshay Tripathi on Friday.

Such a park for childrenhas been developed by theKanpur Nagar Nigam in thecity for the first time. With theuse of Ethylene PropyleneDiene Monomer (EPDM) rub-ber flooring and turf grass, the

park consists of multi-play sta-tion, see-saw, climber, merry-go-round, dual station andmany other kinds of swings forthe young boys and girls of thecity.

The park has been devel-oped on the theme of Indiancartoon characters ChhotaBhim, Chacha Chaudhary,Motu-Patlu etc. using the lat-est technology by the city’sfamous company, MHPL Ltd.

After formal inspection ofthe park, Mayor PramilaPandey and MunicipalCommissioner Akshay Tripathipraised the efforts of MHPLLtd and nagar nigam officers.

They also enjoyed a ride on theswings and said other parks ofthe city would be developed onthe same pattern in due course.

Zonal Engineer (Project)RK Singh said that apart fromthe children’s park, work onfour other projects —Riverfront, Food Court,Connecting Bridge andLighting — was also inprogress.

Additional MunicipalCommissioner AK Rai, areacorporator Namit Mishra,Udyan Superintendent Dr VKSingh, and officers and employ-ees concerned were also pre-sent.

The park is spread over1,500 square metres. Being thefirst of its kind amongst the 600parks in the city, this complexwill allow exclusive access tokids and youngsters, thereby,increasing their footfall inMotijheel. The latest complexconsists of advanced and inter-esting swings in addition towell-paved specified areas forskating. Mending and strength-ening the park boundaries, thefencing has been renovatedwith new railings. Given thelong list of additions that havebeen worked upon, the parkwill soon evolve as a favouritedestination among children.

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Noted tax expert GirishKumar Ahuja from New

Delhi, while speaking on‘Faceless Tax Assessment’ at CAthe Bhawan in Lakhanpur, saidone should keep in mind thatthe government possessed allthe necessary informationrelated to tax and in the currenttimes there was no possibilityof tax evasion and thus oneshould play one’s card honest-ly and transparently.

Speaking at a seminarorganised by the Central IndiaRegional Council, Ahuja said‘Faceless Tax Assessment’ wasa major tax reform and game-changer because it sought tostreamline and bring ingreater transparency andaccountability in the taxadministration.

He said it was ironic thatthis transparency had beenbrought out by seeking to propup an opaque wall between thetaxpayer and the assessmentofficials.

Speaking on sections143(3A) and (3B) of theIncome-tax Act, 1961, he saidthese sub-section provided for“eliminating the interfacebetween the assessing officerand the assessee to the extentfeasible”, “optimising the utili-sation of resources toeconomies of scale and func-tional specialisation” and“introducing team basedassessment with dynamic juris-diction”, and all in the name ofimparting “greater efficiency,transparency and accountabil-ity”.

Ahuja said the schemeseemed to prima facie give riseto constitutional problems bythe very nature of the tradi-tional role of the assessingofficer in the tax administra-tion.

He said it was well estab-lished that the assessing officerwas a quasi judicial authority,fulfilling a judicial functionwhile making an assessment.He said the procedure of assess-ment seemed to suggest that

the national e-assessment cen-tre may finalise the draft assess-ment order if it did not proposeany modification or assign anyreview.

He said thus it was possi-ble that the scheme could beinterpreted in a way that didnot make any provision of anassessee to have a video con-ference with the assessing offi-cer in order to clarify anyquestions that the officer mayhave.

He added that the newscheme provided that afterconsidering the material beforehim, the officer making theassessment shall pass a “draftassessment order” which shallthen be sent to the NationalReassessment Centre whichthen shall finalise the draftassessment order, propose amodification of the said orderby providing the assessee anopportunity to be heard orassign the draft assessmentorder to review a unit in any ofthe regional assessment centresthrough an automated alloca-

tion system.Ahuja said the Faceless

Appeal Scheme, 2020, that hadbeen brought out by the inser-tion of sub-sections (6B) and(6C) into Section 250 of theIncome-tax Act, 1961, dealtwith the procedure in appeal.He said the said scheme alsosought in a manner similar towhat the Faceless AssessmentScheme did to the assessingofficer, to erode the judicial dis-cretion of the Commissioner ofIncome-tax (Appeals), whoundoubtedly was discharging ajudicial function in the adju-dication of appeals and musttherefore by above fear orfavour.

He said though recentevents had shown that theadministration had sought tobe more friendly towards tax-payers, certain actions of thedepartment had shown other-wise as well.

Prominent among thosepresent were Anuj Goya, ManuAgarwal, DK Somani, AtulMehrotra and Dinesh Jain.

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Two farmers were fatallyknocked down by a speed-

ing pickup on Bairi-Rania roadunder Sheoli Kotwali police sta-tion of Kanpur Dehat lateFriday night.

According to reports, RamShanker (50) of Kuriyanpur vil-lage and Deshraj Pal (48) ofMadrapurwa village had goneto their fields on Friday. Whenthey were returning home latein the night, a speeding pick-up knocked them down onBairi-Rania road, killing bothon the spot. As the driver triedto escape, he lost control overthe wheel and the pickup fellinto a pit.

On Saturday morning,when the kin of the farmers didnot find them on the field, theymoved towards the Bairi-Raniaroad and saw their bodies lyingon the road and a pickup over-turned in a nearby pit.

Station House OfficerPramod Kumar Shukla said onthe basis of the pickup’s regis-tration number, they weremaking efforts to trace thedriver.

ELECTED: SatishChandra Singh has been elect-ed president of All IndiaDefence Accounts KarmachariSangh in the election held at itsheadquarters in Kolkata onFriday.

The Defence AccountsKarmachari Sangh will again beheaded by a leader fromKanpur after 24 years, AnandAwasthi of Kanpur was also itspresident before his retire-ment.

All the officers andemployees of defence organi-sations in the city and all overthe country have hailed Singh’selection as president ofAIDAKS.

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Noted investment expertHarshad Patwardhan,

CIO, Equity of Edelweiss AssetManagement Limited, in a vir-tual press conference saidMidcap fund, after passingthrough ups and downs overthe last 13 years, was likely toagain hit the Indian investmentmarkets soon.

He said over the past 3 to5 years, ending December2020, large cap index had deliv-ered far better CAGR returns of9.9 Per cent and 12 per centrespectively compared to -0.5per cent and 9.2 per cent formidcap index.

He said a closer lookrevealed that MOF of it was dueto severe underperformance ofmidcaps in years 2018 and2019. He said this was a peri-od of decelerating economicgrowth and a narrow rallywhere only a handful of stocksdrove markets. With econom-ic growth becoming morebroad-based on the way up, heexpects midcaps to reverse therecent underperformance.

9!�����+������� ��� � ���:�� ��� ��������-VARANASI (PNS): ProfAnand Sharma, VisitingProfessor, ICCR, CHAIR onFriday expressed, ‘India isknown for its culture and tra-dition in the world and Indianculture is source of all the cul-ture of the world.’ ‘The newNational Education Policy(NEP) is to attach this Indianculture and tradition and is alsoto enhance creative capabilityof students’, he adds whileputting his views on the fifthday of 14-days internationalworkshop being held virtuallyunder the joint auspices ofHindi dpartment, Vasanta

College for Women, Raj Ghat,Shiksha Vidyapith, MahatmaGandhi AntarrashtriyaVishwavidyalaya, Wardha.

Dr Priyadarshini expressedin second session of the daythat the base of word 'lok' is notclassical texts and added, it'sbase is the knowledge of worldand result of memories ofancestors and it inherits humanquality. Dr Pramod expressed,Hindi plays an important rolein uniting the country withnationality, culturally and emo-tionally. Prof Suman Jain,Head of Hindi department,Mahila Mahavidyalay, BHU

put her views on 'Gandhi andnew education policy' andemphasised on paying attentionon mother tongue for thedevelopment of education. Weprotect our culture by protect-ing our language, Dr Jain saidand added, the new educationpolicy is an effort to reestab-lishing the glory of the coun-try. Dr Vibha Rani Patel and DrAmit Sharma jointly conduct-ed it, while Bandana Jha offereda formal vote of thanks.

C O N T E M P L AT I O NCAMP: With an aim to brain-storming about the conditionand direction of the country,

the Kamalapati TripathiFoundation will organise athree-day contemplation campon March 7, 8 and 9 at thefoundation office inEnglishialine, here.Talking to the presspersons,Vijay Shankar Pandey, ProfAnil Upadhyay, Baijnath Singhand Shailendra Singh informedthat the contemplation campwill be inaugurated on Sundayat 2 pm by the seer ofSankatmochan Temple ProfVishwambhar Nath Mishraand added that the camp willbe held in two sessions eachday from 2 pm to 6 pm.

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VARANASI: A divisionallevel Pt Deendayal UpadhyayAnimal Health Mela was heldat Admapur Gram Panchayatin Sewapuri developmentblock, here on Saturday.Theregistration of a total of 2672cattle was made in Mela andthe free treatment of a total of1,845 cattle was made by a teamof veterinary doctors. Besides,the artificial insemination of 12cattle, sterilisation of 85 cattle,infertility prevention of 238 cat-tle and operation of 15 cattlewere made. The medicine wasalso used on 1,465 cattle andthe free requisite medicineswere also distributed in the fair.The MLA and guest of honourSurendra Singh Aidhe hon-oured 21 animal keepers at abrief function for keeping thecattle in a better way. Threeteachers and three students ofa local school were also reward-ed by him for the womenempowerment. The ChiefVeterinary Officer Dr VBSingh, Deputy Chief VeterinaryOfficer Dr Shiv Singh and oth-ers were present on the occa-sion.

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The CBI has issued a lookoutnotice against Bijay Mishra,

brother of Trinamool Congress(TMC) leader Binay Mishrawho is a close confidant ofparty MP Abhishek Banerjee,in a cattle-smuggling case.

The agency is mulling overapproaching Interpol to get aRed Corner Notice (RCN)issued against Binay Mishra,who has not joined the probetill now, officials said.

“A lookout notice has beenissued against Bijay Mishra, thebrother of TMC leader BinayMishra,” the official said, with-out divulging any other details.

The agency has also sum-moned two senior officers of theWest Bengal police -- anInspector General and aSuperintendent of Police -- onMonday for questioning in con-nection with the case, they said.

The agency had namedBinay Mishra as a co-accusedin its supplementary

chargesheet filed in the cattle-smuggling case last month.

Binay Mishra is suspectedto be close to West BengalChief Minister and TMCsupremo Mamata Banerjee’snephew Abhishek Banerjee,they further said.

In its chargesheet filedbefore a designated CBI courtin Asansol (West Bengal), theagency has already mentionedBinay Mishra as absconding.

The CBI had filed achargesheet on February 18 inthe case against Border SecurityForce (BSF) CommandantSatish Kumar and six others fortheir alleged involvement in acattle-smuggling racket oper-ating at the India-Bangladeshborder.

Recently, the CBI had alsoquestioned Abhishek Banerjee’swife Rujira and sister-in-lawMenaka Gambhir in a separatecase pertaining to illegal coalmining and pilferage from themines of the Eastern CoalfieldsLimited (ECL).

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Saturday said it has arrestedtwo directors of a TamilNadu-based firm in a moneylaundering case worth �325crore, linked to a bank fraudcase.

Hittesh Patel and SureshN Patel, directors of ShinagoPlantations Pvt Ltd, were sentto 10 days’ ED custody by aspecial court on Saturdayafter they were placed underarrest under sections of thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA), theagency said in a statement.

The two allegedly laun-dered funds to the tune of�325 crore by using a networkof nearly 20 group entitieslocated across Tamil Nadu.

The PMLA investigationrevealed that “the accused incollusion with the valuers

availed loans from erstwhileCorporation Bank (nowUnion Bank of India) on thebasis of inflated value of theproperties offered as collateraland indulged in wilful diver-sion of funds through variousgroup accounts.”

It said investigation fur-ther revealed that “the fundsso availed by various indi-viduals/group concerns in theform of Letter of Credit (LC)and Cash Credit (CC) lim-its/Agriculture term loans,were transferred within thegroup entities through circu-lar rotation of money to availmore funds from the Bankwithout any actual business.”

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Donations for the con-struction of Ram Mandir

in Ayodhya are estimated tohave crossed �2,500 croreand construction is likely tobe completed in three years.

Addressing the media,Ramjanmabhoomi TeerthKshetra Trust chairmanChampat Rai on Saturdaysaid that the constructionwill commence from Apriland as per banks’ estima-tions till February 4, the donations have crossed�2,500 crore and house-to-house visits for donationshave been stopped.

Now only online dona-tions will be received, Rai saidadding that 10 crore house-holds in 4 lakh villages hadbeen approached by 9 lakhvolunteers in the past 45 daysduring the fund collectiondrive.

“Four lakh cubic stoneswill be used to complete con-struction within 3 years.While construction has not

begun, the improvement ofland for the foundation willstart in April.

Around �2,500 cr havebeen received till 4th ofMarch, but can’t confirm thefigures. We have reached 10crore households with 9 lakhworkers. The campaign isover doesn’t mean that dedi-cation towards God is over.Visit our website which has allthe details of bank accountsand one can contributeaccordingly.”

He also said that a lot of

responses were received fromNorth East States andSouthern States.

To a query, Rai said thatdonations from Rajasthan areexpected to be bigger thanUttar Pradesh.

From Arunachal Pradeshdonations are estimated tohave crossed �4.5 crore, fol-lowed by �2 crore fromManipur. As per the pressrelease issued by VHP, Rs.85crore has been received fromTamil Nadu and �13 crorefrom Kerala.

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As the farmers’ protestagainst the Centre’s new

farm laws completed 100days, the Congress onSaturday said the period wasa “black chapter” in India’sdemocracy for the treatmentmeted out to the protestersand also marked 100 days ofthe ruling BJP’s “arrogance”.

Former Congress chiefRahul Gandhi hit out at theCentre over the farmers’protest and said nails werelaid at Delhi’s borders forthose, whose sons risk theirlives at the country’s bor-ders.

His attack came after thefarmers’ agitation completed100 days with the protestingunion leaders asserting that

their movement is far fromover and they are “goingstrong”. “Whose sons risktheir l ives at the country’s borders, for themnails have been laid at theborders of Delhi. ‘Annadaatas’demand their rights, govern-ment commits atrocities,”

Rahul said in his tweet,Congress general

secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra also hit out at theCentre saying, “100 days offarmers’ struggle, of fight forrights , of respect for‘annadaatas’, of the pathshown by Gandhiji, Sardar

(Vallabhbhai) Patel, Nehruji,(Lal Bahadur) Shastr ij i ,Shaheed Bhagat Singh.” Withthe hashtag ‘100DaysOfBJParrogance’, she said,“100 days of BJPGovernment’s arrogance, ofassault on farmers, of liesand scorn for farmers.”

Congress spokespersonPawan Khera said the protest-ing farmers have been braving all odds — of natureand the might of the State —for the last 100 days.

“Each one of us, whichev-er category we may belong to,have our own struggles andthat is the awareness on which the Governmentdepends,” Khera said.

There is one section of thesociety that has found time tocome out and protest — farm-ers — against these “blacklaws” and they are “our voice”,he added.

The Congress demandsthat the three new farm lawsshould immediately berepealed, Khera said.

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The Supreme Court, which ishearing cases through

video-conferencing sinceMarch last year due to theCovid-19 pandemic, will com-mence hybrid physical hearingsfrom March 15.

The apex court has issuedthe standard operating proce-dure (SOP) for the hybridphysical hearings.

The top court has beenhearing cases through video-conferencing since March lastyear due to the pandemic andseveral bar bodies and lawyershave been demanding thatphysical hearings shouldresume immediately.

“On an experimental basis,and as a pilot scheme, the finalhearings/regular matters list-ed on Tuesdays, Wednesdaysand Thursdays may be heardin the hybrid mode, as may be

decided by the bench, consid-ering the number of parties ina matter as well as the limitedcapacity of the courtrooms; allother matters, including thoselisted on Mondays andFridays, shall continue to beheard through video/tele-con-ferencing mode,” said the SOPissued by the apex court.

“The hybrid physical

hearings are to commencewith effect from March 15,2021,” it added.

It said unless otherwisedirected by a bench, the finalhearings or regular matterswhere the number of lawyersfor the parties is higher thanthe average working capacityof the courtrooms accordingto COVID-19 norms, that is

20 per courtroom at any giventime, shall invariably be listedfor hearing through the videoor tele-conferencing mode.

“...However, in case thebench directs hearing of suchmatters to be held through thehybrid mode, the appearanceof the parties, whether byphysical presence or throughvideo/tele-conferencing, willbe facilitated as per the direc-tions of the bench,” the SOPsaid.

It said if the number ofparties is higher than the spec-ified number in a matter list-ed for hybrid hearing, thenone advocate-on-record(AOR) and one arguing coun-sel per party would be allowedentry.

It said one registered clerkper party, as may be chosen bythe AOR, shall be allowedentry to carry paper-books orjournals of lawyers up to thecourtrooms.

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ADelhi Court has ordered tosummon the court clerk of

the record room of Delhi HighCourt to bring original case fileof the petition filed by MedhaPatkar for quashing of thedefamation case filed by VKSaxena, presently the chairmanof Khadi and Village IndustriesCommission. The original casefile will help settle the disputeabout the existence of the socalled “defamatory’ press

release issued by Patkar , some-thing she has persistentlydenied in the court.

Saxena has filed twodefamation cases against Patkarwhich are pending in the courtof Metropolitan Magistrate,Saket, New Delhi. The onedefamation case was related toa press note issued by Patkar on24.11.2000, in which sheclaimed that Saxena visitedMalegaon, praised NarmadaBachao Andolan (NBA), anddonated a cheque of �40,000 to

Lok Samiti, a support group ofNBA. The news was publishedby a news portal rediff.com.

Saxena denied that he evervisited Malegaon or made anysuch donation to the NBA andsaid that the press note was fullof false allegations and wasdefamatory. He subsequentlyissued a legal notice to Patkar.After receiving no responsefrom the NBA leader , Saxenafiled a defamation case inJanuary 2001.

During the last 20 years on

various occasions, Patkardenied that she ever issued anysuch press note and evenclaimed that it was fabricatedby Saxena himself.

Interestingly, Patkar filed acriminal miscellaneous appli-cation No 6026 on 26.11.2018,U/S 482 of CrPC in the HighCourt of Delhi for quashing theproceedings in another defama-tion case filed by Saxena againsther. An advance copy of thepetition was also sent to Saxenaby her advocate. In the said

criminal petition, Patkar in thelist of “dates and events”, men-tioned that on 24.11.2000, apress note was released by herwhich was subsequently pub-lished in the news portal red-iff.com.

Incidentally, this was pre-cisely the case made out bySaxena. Patkar later withdrewthe petition.

Saxena on February 17,2020 filed an application in theMM Court along with certifiedcopies of the criminal miscel-

laneous application no. 6026 of2018 filed by Patkar in the DelhiHigh Court with the request forcalling upon additional witnessin the case, i.e. the concernedcourt clerk of the Delhi HighCourt with original case file ofthe above case where she hasadmitted to have issued thepress note in question. Counselfor Saxena pleaded that judicialadmission cannot be with-drawn.

Metropolitan MagistrateAnimesh Kumar after hearing

both the sides said, “it is a caseof the complainant (VK Saxena)that on 26.11.2018, accused(Medha Patkar) filed a petitionbearing number Crl MC 6026of 2018 before the Hon’bleDelhi High Court U/S 482CrPC for quashing the pro-ceedings of CC No. 2866/1/03pending before this court. LdCounsel for the complainantsubmits that the accused hasmade certain judicial admis-sions under oath in the saidpetition filed before the DHC

where she has categoricallyadmitted that she made aver-ments against the complainant.”

The Magistrate further saidthat relevant record related toCrl MC No. 6026 of 2018 titled“Medha Patkar Vs State ofDelhi & Others” should besummoned in the present case.

“Hence, let summon beissued to the concerned clerk ofthe record room of Hon’bleDelhi High Court to bring theoriginal case file on 19.03.2021,”he ordered.

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The CPI(M) Polit Bureau onSaturday accused the BJP-

led Government at the Centreof playing dirty tricks by mis-using Central agencies likeCustoms Department to tar-get Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan and Ministersduring the poll season withtutored affidavits of accusedpersons in the gold smug-gling case.

For his part, Vijayan said:“After declaration of Assemblypolls, central investigationagencies’ attacks have intensi-f ied. The CustomsCommissioner, who isn’t partyto gold smuggling case, includ-ed portions of confidentialstatement by accused (SwapnaSuresh) in his statement inHigh Court. He has also lev-eled allegations against KeralaSpeaker and Ministers todefame the LDF government.”

The Customs Departmentin Kochi earlier alleged that apolitical party was trying tointimidate the investigationagency but made it clear thatit will not work. “A politicalparty trying intimidation, willnot work,” Customs(Preventive) CommissionerSumit Kumar wrote on hisFacebook page.

“She has stated with clar-ity about smuggling of foreigncurrency at the instance of the

Hon’ble chief minister andthe Hon’ble Speaker with thehelp of the Consulate,” theCustoms has said in a state-ment filed in the Kerala highcourt.

The CPI (M) Polit Bureaualleged that the tutored state-ments of the jailed accusedwas recorded months ago andleaked to malign the partyduring the election time.

“The Polit Bureau of theCPI(M) strongly condemnsthe Customs Authority’sattempt to falsely implicateChief Minister PinarayiVijayan, three other ministersand the Speaker of theAssembly of Kerala in analleged dollar smuggling case.The customs have cited an affi-davit by one of the accused,who is in judicial custody inthe gold smuggling case, forthis purpose. The fact that thistutored statement was record-ed some months ago and pre-

sented after the elections wereannounced shows the politicalgame behind this move.

“The BJP Central govern-ment is systematically misus-ing the Central agencies formaligning the Chief Ministerand the LDF government. Thepeople of Kerala will seethrough this political chi-canery and give a fitting rebuffto the dirty tactics adopted bythe BJP and the UDF,” saidCPI(M).

In Kerala, the CPI(M) hasstaged protest marches atCustoms offices. Recently, theCustoms Department has filedan affidavit before the Courtstating that the main accusedSwapna Suresh has given state-ment before the investigatorson the knowledge of the ChiefMinister and three Ministersand Speaker of the KeralaAssembly about the illegaldollar trade and gold smug-gling involving UAE consulate.

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First published in Pashto in1983, the autobiography of

freedom fighter Khan AbdulGhaffar Khan, fondly knownas Bacha Khan or BadshahKhan, is now out in English,announced publishing houseRoli Books.

The book, titled “TheFrontier Gandhi: My Life andStruggle”, is translated by for-mer Pakistani civil servantand author Imitiaz AhmadSahibzada. This is the “firsttime” that Khan’s autobiogra-phy is available in English. Anearlier account of his life, pub-lished in English in 1969, andwith the same title, was basedon the interviews conductedwith him and was not “hiswritten autobiography”.

“.. Bacha Khan felt that the1969 account of his life andstruggle was not complete andbegan to write his own auto-biography thereafter, with thehelp of numerous associates.Bacha Khan’s autobiographywas thus first published inPukhto in 1983, in Kabul..This book is a translation ofBacha Khan’s only written,Pukhto autobiography,” writesSahibzada in the book.

Khan (1890–1988), popu-larly called the ‘FrontierGandhi’, was born inUthmanzai in the North-WestFrontier Province of BritishIndia. His life was dedicated to

the social reform of thePukhtuns and he continues tobe revered across the world bythem. In India, he is known forhis close association withMahatma Gandhi and hisleadership of the KhudaiKhidmatgar (Servants of God)movement from 1930 – 47 –one of the most successful andsustained Gandhian non-vio-lent campaigns anywhere inthe world.

The book, whose fore-word is written by historianand Mahatma Gandhi’s grand-son Rajmohan Gandhi, bringsto life events and personalitiesof the independence move-ment as Khan records theuntiring energy and sacrificesthat went into winning free-dom.

“If our world wants topicture non-violent defiance,or inter-faith partnership, .. Ora commitment to the rights ofthe vulnerable, it cannot domuch better than study thesetwo men together: GhaffarKhan and, older by 21 years,Mohandas Gandhi, brothers inspirit, each armed with theswords of conscience andcourage,” writes Rajmohan,who is also the author ofKhan’s biography, “GhaffarKhan: Nonviolent Badshah ofthe Pakhtuns”.

“The Frontier Gandhi: MyLife and Struggle”, priced at�695, is available for sale inoffline and online stores.

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Scientists have developed aplatform to detect the effect

of prolonged exposure to alco-hol on red blood cells (RBC)through high-resolution mea-surements of their size, accord-ing to a statement on Saturday.

The high-resolution plat-form that shows the reductionin size of RBCs due to alcoholexposure can be tuned for apoint-of-care screening of mul-tiple conditions that alter thesize and count of red cells inblood.

Although it is known thatalcohol affects RBCs, the exactphysiological changes are verysubtle and difficult to measure.

In order to overcome thischallenge, scientists led byProfessor Gautam Soni fromRaman Research Institute(RRI), an institution funded bythe Department of Science &Technology (DST), have devel-oped custom-made electro-fluidic platform thatcan detect the change by mea-suring the cell size in enhancedresolution.

The device made in RRIrelies on the resistive pulsesensing principle.

The team first developedtechniques for making tinymicron (1/1000th of a mil-limetre) sized holes or micro-pores at the tip of a glass cap-illary with careful fabrication,flame polishing, and imageverification.

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The BJP on Saturday nomi-nated senior party leader

and former Union MinisterPon Radhakrishnan as its can-didate for the April 6 bypoll tothe Kanyakumari Lok Sabhaconstituency in Tamil Nadu.

As the campaign for theAssembly polls heats up, unionHome Minister and formerBJP president Amit Shah willalso visit Tamil Nadu andKerala on Sunday.

The bypoll was necessitat-ed due to the death of CongressMP H Vasantha Kumar inAugust last year due toCOVID-19.

The BJP’s Central ElectionCommittee (CEC), which metearlier under its NationalPresident JP Nadda and attend-ed by Prime Minister NarendraModi, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh and HomeMinister Amit Shah, approvedthe candidature ofRadhakrishnan. He is also aformer BJP State president.

The BJP had on late Fridaynight finalised its seat-sharingdeal with its ally AIADMK forthe April 6 Assembly polls inthe state where the latter, thelead partner, allocated 20 seatsto the saffron party, besides theKanyakumari parliamentarysegment.

Radhakrishnan had wonfrom Kanyakumari in the 2014

parliamentary and inducted inthen Modi-led NDA dispensa-tion as Minister of State.

He lost the subsequent2019 Lok Sabha elections toKumar from the same con-stituency. He was then MoSFinance and Shipping.

Union Home Minister andformer BJP president AmitShah will be on a one-day visitto Tamil Nadu and Kerala onSunday to attend variousimportant programmes.

According to a party state-ment here, Shah will first visitSuchindram Temple inKanyakumari, Tamil Nadu ,andoffer prayers. He will thenlaunch “Vetri Kodi Eandhi”(Vijay Sankalp MahasamaprkAbhiyaan - a door to doorcampaign) in SuchindramTown, Kanyakumari.

The BJP said Shah will holda massive roadshow “Vetri KodiEandhi” fom Hindu college toVeppamoodu Kamaraj statue inKanyakumari. After the road-show, the Union Home Ministerwill address a Karyakarta Sabhaof the party at Uduppi Hotel inKanyakumari .

Shah will then proceed toKerala where he will visit ShriBelur Math atThiruvananthapuram in Keralaand offer prayers. After that, hewill address the Valedictoryfunction of BJP’s Kerala VijayYatra at Shanghumukham inThiruvananthapuram.

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Five people were killed in col-lision of two buses near

Lodha Karsua town of Aligarhon Saturday afternoon, whilemore than a dozen peoplewere injured. Police reached onthe information and admittedthe injured to the hospital withthe help of local people.

According to eyewitnesses,at about 12.30 pm on Saturday,the bus of Haryana Ballabhgarhdepot was going from Aligarhto Ballabhgarh and as soon asit reached the village Karsua,the front wheel of the bus gotbursted and the bus moved tothe other side being uncon-trolled. The police wereinformed about the accidentand and they reached the spotwith force of three police sta-tions and the ambulance.Meanwhile, a bus coming fromthe front of Palwal hit into thebus. The collision was so hor-rific that the front of the bus

was badly damaged. Hearingthe noise, the villagers also ran.

Tempo overturns onAnoopshahar Road, threedead, 31 injured.

Three people were killed,while 31 people were injuredwhen a Tempo overturned in apit on late Friday evening onAnoopshahar Road in Jawanpolice station area. These peo-ple were returning fromRajghat after immersing theremains in the Ganges. Onreceiving the news, the policehave admitted the injured todifferent hospitals in Aligarh.All three bodies have beensent for post-mortem.

Rajaram (75) died 13 daysago in Nagla Kalar ofBannadevi area of ??the city.On Friday, on the 14th day, 34members of the family and kin-ship went to Rajghat toimmerse the bones by a loadertempo. The Tempo driver him-self rescued himself from thetruck coming from the front on

the bypass between the CDFand Jawan while returning,Meanwhile another vehiclearrived from the front over-taking the truck.

The tempo driver lost con-trol and overturned into the pitnear the road. The police andambulance reached on thenews. The injured trapped in itwere sent to Deendayal JointHospital, District Hospital.Rajaram's son Darshan (40), hisbrother-in-law Bhagwandasalias Kalua (65), Kusma Devi(55), daughter-in-law of Delhi'sSeemapur resident, weredeclared dead in the districthospital. The rest of the injuredare undergoing treatment, thecondition of the two injuredremains critical.

In the accident in Jawanarea, the injured are beingtreated by starting immediaterelief and rescue operations.The deaths of three peoplehave been confirmed at thelevel of doctors.

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In a major crackdown onillegal immigrants staying in

Jammu and Kashmir morethan 150 Rohingyas have beendetained at a holding centre inSub Jail Hiranagar at the end ofthe verification process of theirtravel documents.

According to officialsources, during the specialdrive conducted at the MaulanaAzad stadium in Jammu onSaturday police authorities ver-ified travel documents andcollected biometrics of largenumbers of illegal immigrantsincluding Rohingyas fromMyanmar.

During the verificationprocess the sports stadium waskept out of bounds from thelocal media persons as none ofthem were permitted to enterthe premises.

Their entry was restrictedat the entry gate of the stadiumwhere this verification drivewas going on.

After completing the day-

long exercise Inspector Generalof Police, Jammu range,Mukesh Singh in a press state-ment said, “ 155 illegal immi-grant Rohingyas staying in theUnion Territory of J&K weresent to the holding centerestablished vide Home depart-ment notification dated 5th

March 2021 on Saturday”.According to police, “sub jailHiranagar in Kathua districthas been converted into a hold-ing centre to accommodatethese illegal immigrants”.

IG Jammu said, “This wasdone under section 3(2)e of theForeigners Act. Due process of

law was followed in this exer-cise. These immigrants werenot holding valid travel docu-ments required in terms of sec-tion (3) of the Passports Act”.

The exercise of identifyingmore such immigrants is still inprogress, Mukesh Singh added.

“After sending them to the

holding center, the process ofnationality verification will bedone as per the prescribedprocess. After completion ofthe Nationality verification,the process of deportation ofthese illegal immigrants will beinitiated”, IG Jammu MukeshSingh said.

According to J&k Homedepartment report tabled in thestate assembly on February 2,2018, “a total number of 6523Rohingyas were found campingacross 39 different locationsspread across five districts ofJammu and Kashmir”.According to the Home depart-ment report, “6461 Rohingyaswere staying in Jammu divisionand 62 in Kashmir division”.

However, local activistsand politicians, spearheadinga campaign in support of theirdeportation, often contest thesefigures claiming large numbersof these illegal immigrants arescattered and even their biometrics have not been collect-ed by the security personnel.

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Afour-member team of forensicdoctors that conducted the

post-mortem on late MansukhHiren -- whose body was recov-ered from the Mumbra creek nearThane on Friday -- reserved itsopinion on Saturday, even as theShiv Sena said that “it is wrong topoliticise his death and cast asper-sions on the MVA government”.

A day after 45-year-old Hiren’sbody was recovered from themarshy Reti-Bunder creekMumbra with the help of a craneby the local disaster managementworkers, the four-team that con-ducted the autopsy reserved itsopinion on the cause of death,while his viscera has been kept inreserve while his viscera has beenpreserved for forensic analysis.

The post-mortem on Hiren’sbody was conducted at the RajivGandhi Medical College & ShivajiHospital, Kalwa, on Friday night.Among other things, the post-mortem report said that “Spine,Spinal intact, not opened”.

Hiren, a Thane-based busi-nessman whose “stolen” SUV with20 gelatin sticks was recovered bythe police near IndustrialistMukesh Ambani’s skyscraper man-sion “Antilia” in south Mumbai onFebruary 25, hit the headlinesafter his body was found in mys-terious circumstances on Fridayafternoon. Hiren had reportedlybeen from missing from his Thanehome since Thursday.

It may be recalled that thepolice had recovered 20 gelatinsticks and a letter were recoveredfrom what was later described asMahindra Scorpio that was foundabandoned in the vicinity of

Mukesh Ambani’s 27-storey resi-dence “Antilia” on CarmichaelRoad in south Mumbai.

The letter recovered from thecar had among other things carrieda message: “Ye to sirf ek trailer hai.Neeta Bhabhi, Mukesh Bhaiyya,family... ye to sirf ek jhalak hai. Aglibaar ye saaman pura hokartumhare pass aayega, aur puraintezaam ho gaya hai”.

Meanwhile, ruling Shiv Senaspokesperson Sanjay Raut said: “Itis wrong to politicise his (Hiren’s)death and cast aspersions on thestate government at a time whenthere are doubts whetherMansukh's death was a suicide ormurder. He was an important wit-ness in the case”.

Raut said that the issueinvolved prestige and image of theMaha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) gov-ernment and it was essential for theState Home department to unearththe truth in the case.

“The Home departmentshould unearth the truth at the ear-liest. It is important for the pres-tige and image of the MVA gov-ernment,” Raut said.While reject-ing the Opposition BJP’s demandfor an NIA probe into Hiren’sdeath, Maharashtra HomeMinister Anil Deshmukhannounced the transfer of theinvestigations into the case fromthe Mumbai Crime Branch to thestate Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

“If the state government wereto hand over the case to the NIAas demanded by the Oppositionwould not have meant that itwould be solved immediately. TheState Home Minister has handedover the case to the ATS, which iscapable of solving it. Let us havefaith in ATS,” he said.

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Assistant police inspector and encounterspecialist Sachin Vaze, who has gunned

down 63 underworld gangsters during histhree-decade-long controversial career, hascome under scanner for his role in the mys-terious death of Mansukh Hiren, whose“stolen” SUV laden with gelatin sticks fromthe vehicle was recovered by the police nearindustrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence insouth Mumbai.

Known for his proximity to the rulingShiv Sena, Vaze was incidentally the first per-son to reach the spot where a MahindraScorpio with 20 gelatin sticks and a letterthreatening Ambanis lay abandoned nearMukesh Ambani’s skyscraper mansion“Antilia” on Carmichael Road in southMumbai on February 25.

While speaking in the State Assembly onFriday, former chief minister and currentleader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavishad raised several questions about the roleof Vaze in the mysterious circumstancesleading to Hiren's death.

Turning the needle of suspicion towardsAPI Vaze who was investigating the case,Fadnavis had said that Hiren appeared toknow Vaze, which bears out from his tele-phone records. “After the car was foundabandoned near Ambani’s home ( onFebruary 25), it was Vaze who reached thespot first and not the local Gamdevi police.He seized the car and also the letter. We wereearlier told an Assistant Commissioner ofPolice will probe the incident. But Vaze wassubsequently made in charge of the case.Why?,” Fadnavis had asked.

Deshmukh said that Vaze was not theInvestigation Officer as was being claimedby the leader of the Opposition, but AssistantCommissioner of Police Nitin Aluknare.

Contesting the Home Minister’s state-ment, Fadnavis said that Hiren had said inhis statement to the police that he had pur-chased the car from Newton.

On Saturday, BJP leader Ashish Shelarquestioned the presence of an “encounterspecialist” assistant police inspector SachinVaze at the time of Mansukh's post mortem.

“Vaze’s presence at the post-mortem of

Mansukh is suspicious as he is neither partof Thane police nor the ATS, which is prob-ing the case. It gives an impression that thereis something that this government wants tohide,” Shelar said.

Attached to the Crime Intelligence Unitof the Crime Branch-CID of the MumbaiPolice, 49-year-old Vaze is currently handlingimportant cases like the sensational TRP rig-ging scam, the Anvay Naik suicide case inwhich he arrested TV anchor-editor ArnabGoswami, sports car scam involving DilipChhabria and Bollywood-TV-entertain-ment industry’s casting couch racket

Vaze has in the past solved several cyber-crime and financial frauds and an interna-tional credit card fraud.

After joining the police force in 1990 asa Sub-Inspector, Vaze was initially posted inthe Naxalite-infested Gadchiroli district.Later on he was posted in Thane.

After joining the Mumbai Police force,Vaze became one of “encounter specialists”He eliminated several gangsters includingthose belonging to the Dawood Ibrahim andChhota Rajan gangs.

He has in all 63 encounter killings to hiscredit. It may be recalled that on 3 March2004, Vaze was suspended along with 14other policemen for the alleged custodialdeath of Khwaja Yunus, a suspect in theDecember 2, 2002 Ghatkopar bomb blastcase. Vaze subsequently resigned from thepolice on November 30 2007 after requestsfor his reinstatement were rejected by theMaharashtra government.

The Maharashtra government revokedhis suspension and reinstated him in theMumbai police on June 6, 2020 – after theoutbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and lock-down during which there was shortage ofpolice staff.

After Vaze’s reinstatement, KhawajaYunus's mother Asiya Begum has filedcontempt pleas in the Bombay High Courtagainst Mumbai Police CommissionerParam Bir Singh and Additional DirectorGeneral of Police Amitabh Gupta, who wasthe Principal Secretary of Home departmentand now Pune Police chief. She has chal-lenged the reinstatement of Vaze in the highcourt.

Jammu: The J&K Drugs Control Organisation(DCO) has suspended the operations of 36 retailsale establishments across the Jammu provincefor violation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act,1940, officials said on Saturday.

As per the DCO, surprise inspections ofretail sale outlets, particularly those situated inthe far flung and remote areas, were carried outby the concerned drugs control officers toensure availability of quality drugs to the end

users.Following the inspections, operations of six

stores were disallowed in Jammu, followed bysix in Samba, two in Kathua, six in Kishtwar, fourin Udhampur and 12 in Ramban district.

The reasons for suspension ranged fromnon-maintenance of sales records, imperson-

ation, unhygienic/insanitary conditions, improp-er storage conditions etc.

The licence holders of the stores have beenwarned of severe action in case the deficienciesare not rectified within the stipulated period oftime.

Statutory samples of more than 450 drugsformulations have been collected for determi-nation of strength and purity.

The samples have been referred to the drugtesting laboratories located within the UnionTerritory for framing legal opinion to ascertaintheir quality parameters. During the drive, twounlicenced establishments were found in oper-ation in Marheen Tehsil in Kathua district.Action against the defaulters was initiated onspot. IANS

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Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government onSaturday admitted in the State Assemblythat the Ahmedabad patient who wasadministered a dose of fake Tosilizumebinjection had died later. The state govern-ment had nabbed five involved in the man-ufacturing of the fake injections.Tosilizumeb, a costly drug, is believed tobe vital in the corona infection treatment.

Answering an unstarred questionraised by Vankaner legislator MohammedPirzada, the Deputy Chief Minister and alsothe health minister, Nitin Patel, replied thatthe Foods and Drugs Control Authority(FDCA) had nabbed five persons believedto be involved in the manufacturing of fakeTosilizumeb injections on July 27, 2020.The manufacturers of the fake injection hadprepared 30 vials of one ml into 250 mil-ligrams off the fake drug.

The Minister also informed the Housethat all the 30 vials of the fake drug weresold in Ahmedabad district. Out of that,only one vial was administered to a femalepatient in a private hospital in Ahmedabad.

“The female patient, Lataben Baldua(60) was a comorbid patient, with manycomplications. She was discharged from theprivate hospital and later she died at home,”Hemant Koshiya, the FDCACommissioner, told IANS. The GujaratFDCA had unearthed a racket in the man-ufacture and sale of fake Tocilizumeb injec-tions, seizing machinery and raw materi-al valued at Rs 8 lakh from a Suratpremises in July last year.

Dr Devang Shah, a medico in a privatehospital, had stumbled upon the racketwhile using 400mg Tocilizumeb injectionof dubious quality during the treatment ofa patient from Memnagar. IANS

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Shahjahanpur (UP): Raped on several occasions bytwo men at the age of 12 about 27 years ago, the vic-tim, who had become a mother, has now lodged a caseagainst the accused on court orders after her sonenquired about his father's name.

About 27 years ago, the victim was living in the citywith her sister and brother-in-law. One Naki Hasan ofher locality had entered the house when she was aloneand allegedly raped her, Superintendent of Police (City)Sanjay Kumar told PTI on Saturday.

Referring to the police report lodged on the basisof the woman's complaint, Kumar said after the accused,his younger brother Guddu also raped her. The victimhas alleged that she was raped by both the accused onmultiple occasions.

She was 12 years of age at the time of the incident,the SP said.

According to the complainant, she became preg-nant at the age of 13 and gave birth to a boy in 1994.The infant was given to a person belonging to the vic-tim's native village Udhampur, located within theShahabad police station limits, while she moved toRampur as his brother-in-law got transferred there.

The SP said the victim's brother-in-law got her mar-ried to a man in Ghazipur district, but after 10 years,when her husband came to know that she was raped,he divorced her and she returned to Udhampur.

Meanwhile, the boy who had grown up by nowenquired about his mother and father and was told hismother's name.

The boy met the victim and got to know about theincident, the SP said, adding that on Friday evening,a case of gangrape was lodged against the two accusedat the Sadar Bazar police station on the basis of her com-plaint.

Kumar said the police are investigating the case andthe DNA test of the boy would be conducted.

The woman had moved the court after the policerefused to entertain her complaint. PTI

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Fatehpur (UP): A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 16-year-old boy while she was returning home from school in theHathgam police station area of this Uttar Pradesh district, policesaid on Saturday.

Inspector-in-charge (SSI) of the Hathgam police stationAshish Singh said the incident occurred on Wednesday and anFIR was lodged on Friday.

He said the victim, a Class 9 student, was returning homefrom school when a Class 10 student of the same school, whois also her neighbour, allegedly caught hold of her, forcibly tookhere to a forest area nearby and raped her.

The SSI said the accused minor student has been held andwill be produced before a juvenile court during the day.The girlhas been sent to a government hospital for medical examina-tion, he said, adding that further action is being taken. PTI

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A28-year-old woman was allegedly sexually harassed by a manin Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, police said on Saturday.SHO Shyambir Singh said the incident took place on Friday

when the woman was alone at her house.Rajbir entered her house and sexually harassed her, the SHO

said.A case was registered under Section 354 (assault or crim-

inal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) andSection 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assaultor wrongful restraint) of the IPC against Rajbir and a probe intothe matter was underway, he added.

In another case, a six-year-old boy was allegedly sodomisedat a village in Shamli district on Friday, the police said.

According to a complaint lodged at Jhinjhana police sta-tion, a 14-year-old boy took the alleged victim to a nearby fieldand sodomised him.

The police said an investigation into the matter was under-way.

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Union minister AnuragThakur on Saturday said

the government is open toevaluate and explore new tech-nologies, including cryptocur-rencies, for improving gover-nance.

Prime Minister NarendraModi himself is a strong advo-cate of embracing technologyin various aspects of gover-nance, the Minister of State forFinance said while addressingan event organised byEntrepreneurs’ Organisation -EO Punjab.

“Let me say that we wel-come innovation and new tech-nology...Blockchain is a newemerging technology.Cryptocurrency is a form ofvirtual currency. I firmlybelieve that we must alwaysevaluate, explore and encour-age new ideas with an openmind,” he said.

A High-Level Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC)was constituted under theChairmanship of EconomicAffairs Secretary on digitalcurrencies and it has submittedits report.

The government would

take a decision on the recom-mendations of the IMC and thelegislative proposal, if any,would be introduced inParliament following the dueprocess, he said while invitingsuggestions and views on thisissue.

Cryptocurrencies are dig-ital or virtual currencies inwhich encryption techniquesare used to regulate the gener-ation of their units and verifythe transfer of funds, operatingindependently of a centralbank.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Friday said thegovernment is still formulatingits opinion on cryptocurrenciesand will take a calibrated posi-tion.

Reserve Bank of IndiaGovernor Shaktikanta Das hadlast week said the apex bankhas certain “major concerns”

over the impact cryptocurren-cies may have on the financialstability in the economy andhas conveyed the same to thegovernment.

The RBI had virtual-ly banned cryptocurrency trad-ing in 2018

and had directed all entitiesregulated by the central bank tocease dealing in virtual cur-rencies. The Supreme Courthad also asked the Centre in2019 to frame policies for cryp-to, and in 2020, struck downthe curbs imposed by the RBI.

The Reserve Bank hadthrough various public noticeson December 24, 2013,February 1, 2017 andDecember 5, 2017, cautionedusers, holders and traders ofvirtual currencies, includingbitcoins, regarding various risksassociated in dealing with suchvirtual currencies.

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The 15th FinanceCommission opted for con-

tinuity and predictability andhence retained the share of taxdevolution to States at 41 percent of the total pool, its chair-man NK Singh said onSaturday.

Speaking at a webinarorganised by the Centre forPolicy Research (CPR), Singhsaid each Finance Commissionin the past has somewhatincreased the total amount ofdevolution to states, but the15th Finance Commissionweighed all the options con-sidering that the fiscal space ofboth states and the Centre hasshrunk on account of theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Rajya Sabha memberSushil Kumar Modi highlight-ed that the share of divisiblepool is slowly shrinking as the“cess and surcharge” compo-nent in Gross Tax revenue is

increasing. The 15th Finance

Commission has recommend-ed that states be given 41 percent of the divisible tax pool ofthe Centre during the period2021-22 to 2025-26, which is atthe same level as was recom-mended by the 14th FinanceCommission.

Finance Commission is aconstitutional body that givessuggestions on Centre-statefinancial relations.

As per the Commission,the gross tax revenue (GTR) forthe 5-year period is expected tobe Rs 135.2 lakh crore. Out ofthat, divisible pool (afterdeducting cesses and sur-charges and cost of collection)is estimated to be Rs 103 lakhcrore. States’ share at 41 percent of divisible pool comes toRs 42.2 lakh crore for 2021-26period.

The report of the 15thFinance Commission wastabled in Parliament on

February 2.Singh said each Finance

Commission has somewhatincreased the total amount ofdevolution as percentage ofdivisible pool.

“We had an option ofcontinuing this trajectory, wehad an option of enhancing thisdevolution to somewhat high-er figure. We had the option ofsomewhat recalibrating down-wards looking at the constraintson the fiscal space of theCentral Government. FinanceCommission is not anencounter with shock and awe,Finance Commission has alegacy which believes in stabil-ity, continuity and predictabil-ity. We opted for continuity andpredictability,” he said.

Modi, in his speech, saidcess and surcharge which was10.4 per cent of GTR in 2011-12, has increased to 20.2 percent. Even after deducting GSTcompensation cess, it is 15 percent.

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NASA’s latest Mars rover,Perseverance, performed

its first test drive on the RedPlanet, covering a distance ofabout 6.5 metres across theMartian landscape, a “majormilestone” before it begins itsscience operations.

The drive lasted about 33minutes, propelling the roverforward by four metres, whereit then turned to the left by 150degrees and backed up 2.5metres into its new temporaryparking space, the Americanspace agency noted in a state-ment.

According to NASA, thedrive served as a mobility testto check out and calibrateevery system, subsystem, andinstrument on the Perseverancerover, which it said is a majormilestone before the scienceoperations get underway.

“When it comes to wheeledvehicles on other planets, thereare few first-time events thatmeasure up in significance tothat of the first drive,” said

Anais Zarifian, the mobility testbed engineer of the Mars 2020Perseverance rover at NASA’sJet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)in Southern California.

“This was our first chanceto ‘kick the tires’ and takePerseverance out for a spin. Therover’s six-wheel drive respond-ed superbly. We are now con-

fident our drive system is goodto go, capable of taking uswherever the science leads usover the next two years,”Zarifian said.

Regular commutes of over200 metres are expected oncethe rover begins pursuing itsscience goals, including thesearch for signs of ancientmicrobial life, NASA said.

As part of its mission, therover would characterise theRed Planet’s geology and pastclimate, and pave the way forhuman exploration of Mars.

It is also expected to be thefirst to collect and cacheMartian rock and soil.

Since its landing on Marson February 18, the rover hasundergone several routinechecks, including a a softwareupdate, replacing the comput-er program that helped landPerseverance with one NASAwill rely on to analyse the

planet.On March 2, NASA said its

engineers unstowed the rover’s2-metre-long robotic arm forthe first time, flexing each of itsfive joints over the course oftwo hours.

All the while, the spaceagency said the rover continuesto send down images fromMars using the most advancedsuite of cameras ever to travelto the Red Planet.

“Every picture fromPerseverance is relayed byeither the European SpaceAgency’s Trace Gas Orbiter, orNASA’s MAVEN, MarsOdyssey, or MarsReconnaissance Orbiter. Theyare important partners in ourexplorations and our discover-ies,” said Justin Maki, chiefengineer for imaging and theimaging scientist for the Mars2020 Perseverance rover mis-sion at JPL.

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan on Saturday

comfortably won a trust vote inthe National Assembly amidopposition boycott, bolsteringhis Government’s position afteran embarrassing defeat in thisweek’s hotly-contested Senateelections.

Prime Minister Khansecured 178 votes in the 342-member lower house ofParliament during a specialsession convened on the direc-tives of President Arif Alvi. Herequired 172 votes for a simplemajority. The floor test tookplace without the Opposition asthe Pakistan DemocraticMovement (PDM) — an

alliance of 11 parties — boy-cotted the voting, making iteasier for Khan to secure therequired numbers.

Khan decided to take avote of confidence in theNational Assembly after hisfinance minister Abdul HafeezShaikh was defeated in theSenate election by formerprime minister Yusuf Raza

Gilani on Wednesday. TheOpposition demanded thePrime Minister’s resignationafter the debacle.

Addressing the House aftersecuring the trust vote, the 68-year-old cricketer-turnedpolitician thanked all lawmak-ers from his party and allies forsupporting him in Parliament.

Foreign Minister ShahMahmood Qureshi earliertabled a single-point resolutionin the House.

“That this House reposesconfidence in the PrimeMinister of the IslamicRepublic of Pakistan, Mr ImranKhan, as required under clause(7) of Article 91 of theConstitution Islamic Republicof Pakistan,” the resolutionsaid. Speaker Asad Qaiserannounced the result, sayingPrime Minister Khan had beenelected to the post with 176votes following the 2018 gen-eral elections. “Today, he hassecured 178 votes,” he said.

The ruling coalition had181 members but after the res-ignation of one of its lawmak-ers, Faisal Vowda, its strengthwas reduced to 180. TheOpposition coalition has 160members in the House. Oneseat was vacant. According tothe breakdown, 155 PTI law-makers out of 156 voted infavour of the prime minister,Dawn newspaper reported.

Seven lawmakers from theMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM), five each from thePakistan Muslim League-Qand the Balochistan Awami

Party, three from the GrandDemocratic Alliance, and oneeach from the Awami MuslimLeague and the JamhooriWatan Party voted in favour ofthe resolution. Independentcandidate Aslam Bhotani alsovoted in favour of Khan.

Earlier, unruly scenes werewitnessed outside Parliamentbuilding when supporters ofthe ruling alliance tried to dis-

rupt a press conference ofOpposition leaders belongingto the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

PML-N leaders alleged thatthey had been manhandled bythe ruling party members whowere holding up banners andchanting slogans in favour ofKhan. Security forces man-aged to separate the politicalworkers of the two sides.

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Pakistan’s leading Oppositionleaders on Saturday

demanded Prime MinisterImran Khan’s resignation andfresh elections, soon after hewon a vote of confidence in theNational Assembly.

Khan secured 178 votes inthe 342-member lower houseof Parliament during a specialsession convened on the directives of President Arif Alvi.

The floor test took placewithout the Opposition as thePakistan DemocraticMovement (PDM) — analliance of 11 parties — boy-cotted the voting.

The first to respond waschief of the PDM Maulana

Fazlur Rehman, who told themedia in Sukkur, Sindh that thevote of confidence has nomeaning.

“This was not a confidencevote. We know which agencieswatched the members of theassembly the entire night. [Weknow] who knocked on thedoors of each member toensure they were present,” hesaid.

His reference was towardsreports stating that the gov-ernment kept its membersinside lodges in Islamabadunder strict watch so that all ofthem are present in Parliamentduring the floor test.

Rehman alleged that thelawmakers were forced to votefor Prime Minister Khan.

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan said on

Saturday that his governmentwill introduce electoral reformsand electronic voting machinesto ensure fair and transparentelections in the country.

Delivering a speech afterwinning a trust vote in theNational Assembly, the crick-eter-turned-politician said hisgovernment plans to intro-duce electronic voting, enablingmillions of Pakistanis abroad tovote in elections.

“We are bringing moderntechnology in elections for atransparent election process.We have decided to useElectronic Voting Machines(EVM) in the future. It isimportant to use them tocounter the voter fraud claimsmade by the candidates wholose the polls. We are alsoworking on putting up a system

so that the overseas Pakistaniscan cast their votes,” Khansaid.

“Just like in the US whereformer president DonaldTrump’s repeated allegations ofelectoral malpractice weredebunked by a transparent sys-tem, Pakistan will also put inplace the same system to ensurefair and transparent elections inthe country.

“As captain in Cricket, Ibrought the concept of neutralumpiring, similarly my gov-ernment will set in motion afair electoral system,” he said.

Khan’s remarks came afterPakistan’s election commissionon Friday expressed shock anddisappointment over the primeminister’s allegations against it,asserting that the Senate elec-tions were held as per theConstitution and it has “nevercome under any sort of pres-sure and God willing, will notin future as well.”

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Pope Francis and Iraq’s topShia cleric delivered a pow-

erful message of peaceful coex-istence on Saturday, urgingMuslims in the war-weary Arabnation to embrace Iraq’s long-beleaguered Christian minor-ity during an historic meetingin the holy city of Najaf.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said religious authoritieshave a role in protecting Iraq’sChristians, and that theyshould live in peace and enjoy the same rights as otherIraqis.

The Vatican said Francisthanked al-Sistani for having“raised his voice in defense ofthe weakest and most perse-cuted” during some of themost violent times in Iraq’srecent history.

Al-Sistani, 90, is one of themost senior clerics in ShiiteIslam and his rare but power-ful political interventions have helped shape present-dayIraq.

He is a deeply revered fig-ure in Shiite-majority Iraq andhis opinions on religious andother matters are sought byShiites worldwide.

The historic meeting inal-Sistani’s humble home wasmonths in the making, withevery detail painstakingly dis-cussed and negotiated betweenthe ayatollah’s office and theVatican.

Early Saturday, the 84-year-old pontiff ’s convoy, led bya bullet-proof Mercedes-Benz,pulled up along Najaf ’s narrowand column-lined RasoolStreet, which culminates at thegolden-domed Imam AliShrine, one of the most reveredsites in Shiite Islam.

He then walked the fewmeters (yards) to al-Sistani’smodest home, which the cler-ic has rented for decades.

A group of Iraqis wearingtraditional clothes welcomedhim outside. As a maskedFrancis entered the doorway, afew white doves were releasedin a sign of peace.

He emerged just under anhour later, still limping from anapparent flare-up of sciaticanerve pain that makes walkingdifficult.

The “very positive” meet-ing lasted a total of 40 minutes,said a religious official in Najaf,who spoke on condition ofanonymity because he was notauthorised to brief media.

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The scenes are seared in thememory of the Rev.

Ammar Altony Yako: A churchthat for decades has been thepride of the town of Qaraqosh,a center for Christian life inIraq, stood badly scarred.

Yako saw it in 2016 whenQaraqosh was liberated frommore than two years of IslamicState group rule. Scrawled ona wall was the proclamation,the “Islamic State will remain.”Strewn amid the rubble in acourtyard were bullet-riddledmannequins and other telltalesigns of a militants’ makeshiftfiring range for target practice.

On Sunday, a new scenewill play out for the world towatch at the Church of theImmaculate Conception andnew memories will be created.Where the extremists oncedamaged, Pope Francis willnow pray.

“I never could have imag-

ined that his holiness, the pope,would visit this church, noteven in my dreams,” said Yako,who has been overseeingreconstruction at the church.“It’s a very, very unexpectedevent and a very happy one.”

It is also one rich in sym-bolism. Coming amid a pan-demic and security challenges,the pope’s historic trip is takinghim to Christian communities,like Yako’s, ravaged by the ISonslaught in 2014. Christians inthe area were forced to escapeancestral towns and villages asthe militants swept throughnorthern Iraq. Many have sincescattered abroad, their exodusfueling existential anxietiesabout Iraq’s already dwindlingChristian population.

Many hope the pope’s tripcan focus attention on theirstruggles and send a message ofencouragement, but they alsopoint to security, economic andsocial challenges deterring manyChristians from returning.

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Security forces in Myanmaragain used force Saturday to

disperse anti-coup protesters, aday after a UN special envoyurged the Security Council totake action to quell junta vio-lence that this past week leftmore than 50 peaceful demon-strators dead and scores injured.

Protests were reportedSaturday morning in the coun-try’s biggest city, Yangon, wherestun grenades and tear gaswere used against demonstra-tors. On Wednesday, 18 peoplewere reported killed there.

Protests also took place inseveral other cities, includingMandalay, the second-biggestcity, Myitkyina, the capital ofthe northern state of Kachin,Myeik in the far south, wherepolice fired tear gas at students,and Dawei in the southeast,where tear gas was also used.

Officials are believed to

have exhumed the body of ayoung woman who was killedduring Wednesday’s suppres-sion of protests in Mandalay.The woman, Kyal Sin, hadbeen photographed taking partin the protests before her death,and images of her on the frontlines have made her a high-pro-

file martyr.Security forces on Friday

night sealed off the cemeterywhere she was buried, andwhen residents visited in themorning, her grave was fresh-ly plastered over and shovelsand other evidence of diggingwere found at the site.

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Bleary-eyed lawmakersworked through a moun-

tain of amendments Saturdayas the Senate plodded towardpassage of a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill that President JoeBiden and Democrats say iscrucial for hoisting the coun-try out of the pandemic.

The Senate commenced adreaded “vote-a-thon” — a con-tinuous series of votes on amend-ments — shortly before mid-night Friday, and by midmorn-

ing Saturday had dispensed withover two dozen.

Democrats were hoping forfinal passage by around middayso the Senate could send themodestly revamped bill back tothe House, and then to Biden thiscoming week for his signature.

The Senate had been insession since 9 a.M. EST Friday.Its work on the bill was prov-ing to be a test of both law-makers’ physical stamina andDemocrats’ ability to pass leg-islation backed by every sena-tor in the party.

The chamber is divided50-50, with Vice PresidentKamala Harris’ tiebreaking votetheir only edge, andRepublicans are arrayed againstthe legislation. Overnight, theSenate was like an experimentin the best techniques for stay-ing awake. Several lawmakersappeared to rest their eyes ordoze at their desks, often bury-ing their faces in their hands. Atone point, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, at 48 one of the youngersenators, trotted into the cham-ber and did a prolonged stretch.

Washington: No news confer-ence. No Oval Office address.No primetime speech to a jointsession of Congress.

President Joe Biden is thefirst executive in four decadesto reach this point in his termwithout holding a formal ques-tion and answer session.

It reflects a White Housemedia strategy meant both toreserve major media set-piecesfor the celebration of a legisla-tive victory and to limit unforcederrors from a historically gaffe-prone politician. Biden has optedto take questions about as often

as most of his recent predeces-sors, but he tends to field just oneor two informal inquiries at atime, usually in a hurried settingat the end of an event.

In a sharp contrast with theprevious administration, theWhite House is exertingextreme message discipline,empowering staff to speak butdoing so with caution.

Recalling both Biden’slargely leak-free campaign andthe buttoned-up Obamaadministration, the new WhiteHouse team has carefully man-aged the president’s appear-

ances, trying to lower the tem-perature from Donald Trump’sWashington and to save a bigmedia moment to mark whatcould soon be a signatureaccomplishment: passage ofthe Covid-19 bill.

The message control mayserve the president’s purposesbut it denies the media oppor-tunities to directly press Bidenon major policy issues and toengage in the kind of back-and-forth that can draw out infor-mation and thoughts that gobeyond the administration’scurated talking points. AP

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The virus swept through anursery school and an adja-

cent elementary school in theMilan suburb of Bollate withamazing speed. In a matter ofjust days, 45 children and 14staff members had tested pos-itive. Genetic analysis con-firmed what officials alreadysuspected: The highly conta-gious coronavirus variant firstidentified in England was rac-ing through the community, adensely packed city of nearly40,000 with a chemical plantand a Pirelli bicycle tire facto-ry a 15-minute drive from theheart of Milan.

“This demonstrates thatthe virus has a sort of intelli-gence. ... We can put up all thebarriers in the world and imag-ine that they work, but in theend, it adapts and penetratesthem,’’ lamented Bollate MayorFrancesco Vassallo.

Bollate was the first city inLombardy, the northern regionthat has been the epicenter ineach of Italy’s three surges, tobe sealed off from neighborsbecause of virus variants thatthe World Health Organizationsays are powering anotheruptick in infections acrossEurope. The variants alsoinclude versions first identifiedin South Africa and Brazil.

Europe recorded 1 millionnew Covid-19 cases last week,an increase of 9 per cent fromthe previous week and a rever-sal that ended a six-weekdecline in new infections,WHO said on Thursday.

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Page 10: 3;A aZed DfgV_Uf RXRZ_de 5ZUZ - Daily Pioneer

�What made you come on board&TV’s Mauka-E-Vardaat?

I was on look out for a showthat creates awareness amongpeople and this show fits best in thecriteria. Also, I was missing myscreen appearances and with thisshow I got to do both. Hence, Idecided to take it up.�How is this show different fromall the other crime-based shows?

I don’t know what other showsare doing, but with this show ouraim is to show the audience realstories and bring out the truth.However, our bigger aim is toteach people to stay alert andcreate awareness. This is what Ithink is the USP of this show.�What kinds of stories will beshown?We will be showcasing shocking

stories wherein the culprit has taken tosuch impossible ways of committing

crimes that it becomes hard tounderstand it. Once the audience will seethe show, they will get to know howstrangely crimes have been committed.� You haven’t been a part of manycrime-based shows. Is there a particularreason?

Yes, I don’t want to take up a show forthe sake of it. I want to resonate with it.It should have something interesting tooffer. For this particular show, I have twoother people with me — Ravi Kishan andSapna Choudhary — I believe all three ofus can make this show a huge success anddo good to people by creating awareness.� Is there a lesson that you learntwhile being a part of such shows?

Definitely. When I was doing myprevious shows, I realised that I wouldhave not been able to understand thedifferent facets of life and gather so manydifferent thoughts by reading a 100 booksthat I have learnt during these shows.There is one line that I always

remember: Abhi samaaj mein logapni twarit safaltaon ke liye vyakti aur

vastu mein farq karna bhulte jaarahe hain (people have forgotten

to differentiate between peopleand things for their own

benefits). Thisholds true and I

hope people start

realising what is more important and learn todifferentiate between good and bad. �Did getting to know so many crimes soclosely bother you in any way?

We are narrating the stories that havealready happened with the aim of informingpeople about ways to safeguard themselves andtheir families. I don’t get bothered by it. But yes,I do get astonished with such stories.�What makes crime-based shows so popular?

People love to see a story that can shookthem up. This is not imaginary, hence theinterest level goes even up. The interest factoralso depends on how a show has been shot andwho is narrating these stories. If the persontelling these stories holds a value in the mindsof the people, the audience automatically wantsto see more such stories.�Was there a case that left you shattered?

There is one such story that left me shocked.It is about a group which would take fingerprintsof dead bodies at the crematorium and usedthem for getting fake IDs. When they werecaught committing a crime, it was revealed thatthe identities they were using were of people whodied years ago I told my team that it isimportant to put across such stories. The teamtoo agreed and told me it has to be done in away where people take lessons from it and stayalert. This story will be shown in Mauka-E-Vardaat.

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It is not only strange butbizarre that a movie’s sequelwould be released 33 years

after the prequel. However, whatis even worse is that whileComing To America (theoriginal) directed by John Landisand based on a story originallycreated by Eddie Murphy was arom-com that managed to keepone engrossed in the film — atthe end it was a love story, parttwo is anything but funny oreven remotely romantic in

nature. Unless one considers afew scenes spent on two youngpeople talking alone with one ofthem aspiring to open a salon ofher own.

Here she befriends a princeno less and supposedly in loveand her dream is to open a salonof her own!

One does manage to getover this rather strange dreambut what one can’t get over is theunfunny dialogues. Not only arethe risque, the hand gestures areeven worse. And what the hellwas Wesley Snipes thinkingwhen he agreed to this bogglesthe mind. It does obliviate hisbetter work — Blade seriescomes to mind.

Directed by Craig Brewerand produced by Kevin Misher

and Eddie Murphy, this sequelmay have started off on a goodnote but unfortunately all itmanages to do in the 110minutes is make you cringe.

May be Murphy thoughtthat revisiting the original thathad a cult following would be agreat idea but all he manages todo is makes one wonder why heneeded to do this in this horriblemanner that take away from itsprequel.

Coming To America, themust awaited film ends updisappointing and is a hugebore.

Watch only if you havenothing else to do and want tocatch up on the stars of theoriginal movie.

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Off late Netflix has been releasing true-crime sagas. Take for example TheNight Stalker or The Cecil Hotel that

recently found their way on the OTT platform.However bizarre or strange such docu-moviesmay be, one can’t shy away from the truth thatthey are absolutely riveting and unfold ratherbrilliantly. It could stem from the fact that ifthere is a murder and then another coupledwith a Church in the middle of it all, facts andand how the investigation proceeds are boundto be filled with intrigue and throw up a fewsuspects.

Murder Among The Mormons relate to atrue investigation into twin blasts that killedtwo people in Salt Lake City, Utah, US. Thesemurders were unlike anything that came tolight in the October of 1985. May be becauseit relates to religion, murder and deception —a lethal combination.

The three-part mini-series — each ofapproximately 46 minutes — is paced out wellwith part one giving the history of the townwhere the blasts occurred, the people who livehere and the Mormon Church and the historyof the Mormons — a religious group thatembrace concepts of Christianity andrevelations made by their founder, Joseph

Smith. They primarily belong to The Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Of course, the intrigue is already there andthe next two part are all about the build upup to the murders and who and why they werekilled in the first place.

Though the entire mini-series manages tokeep one’s interest — anything related to theChurch is more so if it involves debunking thefaith of the people and making them questionthe very basis on which the Church stands. Itis the second half of part three that makes onesit up straight and watch as the mastercriminal emerges — a criminal who hasperfected his craft since he was a only ateenager.

How he not only managed to dupe theChurch but his friends and wife withoutremorse or guilt for his own gain; a powerhungry Mark Hofmann — regarded as one ofthe most accomplished forger in history. Heis infamous for forgering documents relatedto the history of the Latter Day Saintmovement. What is more interesting to knowis that one doesn’t know how many of hisforged yet authenticated documents are stillin circulation.

Hofmann was given life sentence with noparole since it was found that he felt no guiltor remorse for what he had done. He is nowin Central Utah Correctional Facility inGunnison, Colorado, US. A��������+���

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It was October. Economic activitieshave started. The hum of themachines in factories is back allacross the country. There was a senseof hope. Amid this euphoria many

migrant labourers in a nondescript villageof Nibi, in the rugged Banda district inBundelkhand, decided not to go back tofactories in Vapi in Gujarat. They wereworking in a cloth factory before lockdownwas announced and had returned homeduring lockdown. Phula Devi, one of them,decided to stay back in her village. Theagony and humiliation which she and herfamily faced during lockdown was fresh inher memory.

She communicated her decision to thewomen of the group who had returnedwith her to the village. “My resolve was tostay back and try to earn my living in myown village. I was not ready to face thehumiliation yet again of being treated asan outsider. There was a fear that if any-thing ‘bad’ happens it will push the fam-ily to the brink of starvation yet again,” shetold this reporter in her village compoundwhich was surrounded by other women,men and small children.

She had no idea what she would do.She was a landless farmer. Majority of thevillagers who had shifted to Vaapi with herwere landless too and were forced to moveout of the village to eke out their earningbecause of the deprivation they faced in thevillage.

The Covid pandemic and the subse-quent lockdown announced to arrest thespread of Coronavirus pushed them to thesame crossroads of deprivation. The fac-tory was closed in March. Devi along witharound two dozen village-mates includingrelatives, who were working as labourers,preferred to stay put with a hope that thesituation will improve and they will findwork in the city.

The situation deteriorated with everypassing day. The owner of the factoryrefused to help them. He even did not pay�8000 as a salary which was due saying hedoes not have money. They were thenforced to dig deep into their savings. Whenthe Gujarat Government announced relief,they were treated as outsiders and weredeprived of the Government benefits.Once they exhausted their savings theywere left with no option but to return totheir village.

It was last week of June. With nomoney in their pockets they decided towalk down over 1300 km distance on footfrom Vaapi to Banda. They were a groupof 19 people including five children. Fora day and a half they walked bravingscorching sun. They tried to hitch a ridebut the truck drivers asked exorbitant fareof �3,000 per person. They preferred towalk. They survived on the food and waterwhich some NGOs provided them enroute.

They reached Nashik where they gota train that brought them to Jhansi andfrom there they came to Banda.

“It was a second life for us. We foughthunger, frustration and exhaustion toreach our village so that we can live again.And when people started talking aboutgoing back after the situation improved,old images started flashing in my mind andI decided not to leave the village again,”Devi tells you.

Her friend Kusuma too agreed to stayback. But the big question staring at theirface was what will they do in the villageas there are not enough employmentopportunities there. The constructionwork in the village and adjoining Attarrablock was limited. The work underMahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)was not easily available. The villagers com-plained that the Pradhan of the GramSabha, who is from upper caste, ignoredthe residents of the Nibi village becausemajority of them were from the dalit com-munity.

The social barriers which are welldefined by caste, proved an impedimentin Devi’s entrepreneurial dream. Themajority of the farmers were landless andbelonged to marginalised communities.The village is dominated by upper caste,followed by backward and intermediarycaste people. They have the ownership ofthe majority of the land. The dalits, wholike Hindu caste hierarchy, are at the bot-tom of the resources available in the vil-lage.

The gram sabha record shows that thevillage has around 400 households thatshare 1500 hectare of agricultural landbetween them. The ownership of land isvery skewed. The record says that 15 percent of the population (which is around 60households) owns around 60 per cent(around 900 hectares) of land. These areall upper caste people.

There are 140 households of theBackward Community who own almost600 hectare of land. The rest of thehouseholds are dalits and they are landless.

Interestingly, Jai Kumar Chaturvediowns around 100 hectare of land in thatvillage which they give to the landlessfarmers of the village on sharecropping. Inrural India share cropping is a commonpractice where a landless villager takes theland for tillage for a year on an agreed termand after harvest both can share the crop.

In UP the process in local parlance is called‘Batohi’.

Devi decided to go for farming.“Initially, surviving was not an issue. Wegot a free ration from the Yogi Governmentand once got �1,000 too. Then the localNGO Vidya Dham Samiti provided us helpas and when required and so we decidedto take this risk,” she tells you.

As they did not have land she decid-ed to take one on batohi. “It was a riskworth taking. I know the area is waterscarce but this is also a fact that duringgood monsoon we can have bumpercrops here,” she explains.

She met Raman Chaturvedi, son of JaiKumar Chaturvedi and asked for a pieceof land where they can do farming. “He

looked at us with disbelief because previ-ously we were not in talking terms.‘Hamara jhagda ho gaya tha’ (we had quar-reled),” she tells you sheepishly.

Chaturvedi was perplexed when hesaw a group of women come one finemorning and ask land for sharecropping.“I was a bit surprised because it is gener-ally men who come to us to discuss theterms and conditions of share cropping.But when I was told these women who arepravasi mazdoor want to stay back in thevillage, we decided to give a small portionof land to them,” he tells you.

Raman agreed to give six bigha of landon a 50-50 sharing basis, thus meaning thathe will share the cost of agriculture inputand will take 50 per cent of the grain pro-duced.

The word spread in the village like firethat Devi was planning farming. Otherwomen like Vimla, Koiri, Murri andKusuma too joined her. Devi went aroundthe village advising women of the migrantfamilies, who were planning to go back toVaapi, to stay back. “We had faith in Phula.We had seen the worst in Vaapi and wereready to give new resolve shown by Phulaa try,” Murri Devi tells you.

Rajani nods her head in affirmation.“I and my husband had made up ourminds to go back and work in a factory.We postponed our visit for a few days tosee how things shape up in the village. Itis three months since then and have decid-ed to stay back,” she tells you with a smile.

The initial skepticism turned to selfbelief when villagers saw Devi and Kusumaworking in fields. Devi sowed wheat andvegetables while Kusuma opted for vegeta-bles. In between the words spread aboutthe death of Ram Dayal, a villager fromNibi, in Vaapi and how the contractorforced his wife and son to work in the fac-tory to repay a loan Dayal had taken fromhim.

Slowly the courtyard of Devi’s housebecame the meeting point for the villagers.Women used to come and sit with Phuladiscussing the nitty-gritty of farming.This all started with whisper but soon thewomen became vocal and the resolve tostay back started gathering momentum.

“I am illiterate. I don’t know anythingabout farming. Initially, I was a labourerand then when I was shifted to Vaapi mywork was to sift soiled cloth pieces fromfresh ones. So, my knowledge about farm-ing was almost zero,” she says.

Her relative Raju came to her rescue.He provided all the basic information likewhich seed and fertilizer to use andwhen. Fortunately, the rains were normaland it came as a big relief.

The heads started turning whenKusuma had a good harvest of vegetableslike cabbage, potato, cauliflower and other

seasonal vegetables. She opened a smallmakeshift shop inside her house and soldvegetables. “I earn anything between �125and �150 per day. Some days, I even earnedclose to �250,” Kusuma tells you with asmile.

Kusuma, with her husband, ShivAvtaar, have even repaired a defunct wellnear the field which they had taken forbatohi. “Irrigation is not a big issue nowfor us as we get water from the well whichhas been neglected for many decades,”Avtaar says.

More and more women are now readyto take farming. “Phula motivated us.Kusuma showed us the way and now wehave dropped the idea of going back to thefactory,” Koili says. Many in the group nod-ded in unison as a mark of confirmationof what Koili said.

The women of this non-descript vil-lage have become entrepreneurial. Whenthey realized individually they do nothave enough money, they joined hands todo farming. Four friends — Phula, Bimla,Koili and Murri — have entered into theirown contract farming where they willshare the agricultural input as well as theprofit.

All of them have chipped in with�3,000 each and the money collected isused for irrigation, seeds and fertilizers.They have grown varieties of vegetables,onion and wheat. “We will give half of thecrop to the land owner and share the restamong ourselves. This will be enough forus,” Bimla tells you.

The words have spread around thatwomen in Nibi village have brought a rev-olution. Around 20 families, all pravasimazdoor, have not gone back despite acall from thekedar (contractor). Evenpeople in a village Bhujyari purwan,around 20 kms from Nibi, narrate howsome have brought a social change in thevillage. “We have heard that some womenin nearby villages have opted for farm-ing rather than going back to work in fac-tories. People are talking about the rev-olution brewing in the villages of Attara,”Vinod Singh, a resident of BhujyariPurwan said.

Singh, in his early 20s, is also a landowner and gives their land on sharecrop-ping. “Now in villages too women arecoming forward and taking decisionsthemselves,” he says in a sarcastic tone.

“Generally, at this time of the yearpadlocks could be seen at doors and adeadly silence drapes the Nibi village.This year it is different. The sounds oflaughter, cries and chatter emanatesfrom all the houses because the villagershave stayed back. Thanks to the women,life is back in the villages,” Raja Bhaiyaof Vidya Dham samiti, an NGO thatworks in the region, says.

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The decision to opt for farmingwas not easy for the women.The primary reason being the

region is water scarce. So, whenKusuma opted to grow vegetables thefirst thought that came to her mindwas from where to get water for irri-gation.

This time her caste came to herrescue. Being a dalit her house was atthe corner of the village. There wasa well at one corner of the field whichwas lying defunct for many years. Thewell was built by upper caste peopleof the village but they stopped usingit after they installed pumps in theirhouses.

“This well was in very bad shape.One day sitting at the base of the wellmy husband and I discussed if we caninstall a pump then withdrawingwater from the well would be easy.This way we will be able to solve theirrigation problem too,” Kusuma tellsyou.

Initially, the husband-wife duohad used a bucket to pull water andthen irrigated the vegetable with amug. This was a tedious and timeconsuming job.

Shiv Avtaar, husband of Kusuma,had a little bit of knowledge ofmachines as he had helped electri-cians in the factory in Vapi. They tooka little loan from a private moneylen-der and installed a pump.

“The water problem is solved toa large extent. After success in thevegetable business I am looking fordiversification. My husband is look-ing for avenues in fisheries and poul-try,” she tells you.

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The decision women took to stayback in the village after unlockwas not easy. They needed sup-

port from the Government and thelocal society at every step. The localNGO Vidya Dham Samiti came totheir rescue.

“We were there just as a supportgroup. The Vidya Dham Samiti (VDS)extended all possible help including thetechnical know-how and sometimeswe helped these women with money.But the credit goes to these womenwho showed a resolve to fight backadversities and turned the crisis intoan opportunity,” Raja Bhaiya of VDStells you.

The Samiti works with the margin-alised section of the society in Bandaand adjoining regions.

Raja Bhaiya tells you that he hasseen the plight of migrant workers dur-ing lockdown. They came back to vil-lages empty stomach and practicallyhad nothing with them. “Condition ofPhula and her relatives was no differ-ent. Our Samiti helped them initiallyand later supported them when theydecided to stay back despite gettingcalls from the factory,” he says.

Regular meetings are heldbetween Samiti members and vil-lagers. “I saw the seeds of womenempowerment sowing in the adversecondition of Covid pandemic. Thesewomen were coming out of the shad-ow of their husbands. We allowedthese women to spread their wingsand now the result is for everyone tosee,” Raja Bhaiya tells you.

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Axar Patel andRavichandran Ashwinonce again made a

mockery of an eternally con-fused English batting line-up asIndia enter into the inauguralWorld Test Championship finalwith a resounding innings and25 run victory on the third after-noon of the fourth and final Testhere on Saturday.

All India needed was adraw to book a Lord’s date inJune with Kane Williamson’sNew Zealand but Axar (24-6-48-5), in company of Ashwin(22.5-4-47-5), literally blewEngland away in a session andhalf for a paltry 135 in 54.5 oversto complete a 3-1 rout, ensuringthat the Anthony De MelloTrophy will stay at the CricketCentre in Mumbai.

It was another two and halfdays finish but even the mostpartisan England experts liketheir former skipper MichaelVaughan have admitted that the22-yard strip had almost noth-ing to do with their side’s abjectsurrender.

A case in point could beIndia’s first innings score of 365and a lead of 160 on the sametrack where England couldcumulatively manage only 340runs across two innings.

This was one Test matchwhere Indians, even before a ballbeing bowled, created an illu-sion of a turning track. It was aploy of playing with the mindsof a team that was already in anegative zone.

There wasn’t much turnbut enough to ensure that thevisitors wilted under pressure asPatel’s series tally stood at high-est for a newcomer (27) whileman of the series Ashwin waspeerless as ever with 32 scalpsin his kitty.

A lot of credit for this vic-

tory should go to theindomitable Rishabh Pant, whoplayed the enforcer on the sec-ond day with a magnificenthundred, and WashingtonSundar, who notched up a chis-elled 96.

These two knocks literallymade it impossible for Englandto make a comeback as a totalof 365 seemed like 650.

The coming of age of Pantas a real replacement for theiconic Mahendra Singh Dhoniand emergence of Washingtonas a potent batting all-rounderonly augurs well for the team.

So formidable is India’sbench strength right now thatHanuma Vihari, who saved anepic Test in Sydney only a cou-ple of months back, may not get

to play a Test in near future.World’s best wicketkeeper

Wriddhiman Saha will also findit difficult to add to his 38 Testsunless the Roorkee Rockstargets injured.

Patel, in his debut Testseries, was a powerhouse per-former but he also knows thatonce Ravindra Jadeja is fit andavailable, he will have to wait forhis next Test.

The story of the third daywas similar to the one that hasplayed out for most of theseries.

With shoulders alreadydrooping after the humilationinflicted by Pant andWashington, England’s openersZak Crawley (5, 16 balls), DomSibley (3, 21 balls) and Jonny

Bairstow (0, 1 ball) seemed like“walking wickets” at the start ofthe post-lunch session.

One had expected two ofEngland’s best players in JoeRoot (30) and Ben Stokes (2 off9 balls) to put up a fight but theall-rounder failed to gauge theextra bounce as he went for asweep shot off Patel.

Kohli accepted the dolly atleg slip as England’s resistancewas blown away at 30 for 4.

Ollie Pope (15) hit Ashwinfor a six, which was more des-peration than finesse, and itwas only a matter of timebefore he yorked himself asPant fumbled while gatheringbut managed to effect a stump-ing to make it 65 for 5.

The England skipper could

only helplessly look how hiscolleagues made a mess ofTest match batting and Ashwinfinally had his number trap-ping him leg before on theback-foot with another straightball.

The remaining wickets inthe post tea session were amere formality which the spin-ners completed in due courseof time.

The morning sessionbelonged to Washington,whose 96 off 174 balls was asimportant as Pant’s secondday hundred in the final con-text of the match.

Washington and AxarPatel (43 off 97 balls) added aninvaluable 106 runs for theeighth wicket, which endedeven a miniscule chance forEngland to stage a recovery.

� ��� �' 13�&�3

To become the best version of him-self while learning something new

everyday is Ravichandran Ashwin’sendeavour as he aims to leave his last-ing legacy in the pantheon of Indiancricket greats.

Ashwin has now won eight Man-of-the-Series awards in his 10-year careerand is only eight wickets short ofequalling Harbhajan Singh’s 417 Testwickets.

It could well happen in England thissummer but he doesn’t want to enter-tain any such thoughts.

“Honestly, that’s not even crossedmy mind and if you want me to put mythoughts on it. He is a fantastic bowler.There’s a lot that I have learnt from him.I wasn’t even an off-spinner whenBhajju paa started playing for theIndian team,” Ashwin’s respect foranother practitioner of the same craftwas there for all to see.

“He (Harbhajan) was also an inspi-

ration because of the 2001 famous series(32 wickets in 3 Tests). I never imaginedin 2001 that I will be an off-spinner, andI mean who would have imagined thosethings.

“I was fortunate to play alongsideBhajju paa when I came into the teamand also play under Anil bhai but Iwould now like to leave my own lega-cy,” Ashwin said.

Being a student of the game Ashwinwants to evolve as a cricketer and a per-son everyday.

“My growth as a cricketer is a directsynonym to the person I am. I want tokeep evolving, keep learning and that’smy second nature, directly proportion-al to the kind of cricketer I am andwhatever I do, the best that I can be.”

Ashwin’s apathy for all those pitchcritics is well documented and hewould love to see how the globalmedia reacts when a green top isgiven to India when they go for a gameoutside the sub-continent.

“The series win is a testament to the

fact that this is a really good Indiancricket team. That’s all I would like tosay. Other day, I was listening to whatSunny bhai (Sunil Gavaskar) was say-ing, makes sense,” Ashwin said refer-ring to Gavaskar’s statement about notgiving too much credence to the Britishpundits, whose favourite day job hadbeen criticising the Indian tracks.

“Only because we are givingattention to people who are makinga mockery of it, we are encouragingthem to do it non-stop,” he said.

He then sarcastically said that hewould keenly watch how foreignmedia cover the criticism from Indiancommentators about the pitches pro-vided when India is on tour abroad.

“I would like to a pitch coveredwith grass somewhere else in theworld and some of our Indian com-mentators, taking picture and puttingan Instagram post and I will like tosee how the global media takes noticeand then we will know who’s atfaulty end.”

� ��� �' 13�&�3

England captain Joe Root onSaturday mourned the

opportunities his team squan-dered in the lost fourth Test, say-ing they let slip the advantageousposition from where they couldhave been on top of the game.

India at one stage were 121for five but ended up taking a160-run lead in the first inningswhich proved to be match-win-ning.

Rishabh Pant, WashingtonSundar and Axar Patel took thegame away from England withtheir fearless approach.

“There have been times wehad a chance to wrestle thegame in our favour, to get on top,just didn’t manage to do it,”Root said at the post-matchconference.

“India played those impor-tant, key moments better than usin these last three games andcredit for being able to do thatbetter than we do.

“So, it has been disappoint-ing, it has been frustrating to fin-ish the series on a note that wehave but we are going to keeplooking forward as a team,” saidRoot.

The England skipperacknowledged Indian batsmanRishabh Pant’s remarkable abil-ity to take the attack by the scruffof its neck. “The way he bats, he

makes it difficult for bowlers tobuild pressure on him.Sometimes he pulls a reversesweep to a guy, who has 600 Testwickets.

“So it is quite a skill and abrave move to do and it came offfor him and got themselves(India) to a very good positionon that wicket,” said Root, refer-ring to the reverse sweep whichPant played off James Anderson.

For India, RavichandranAshwin grabbed 32 wickets inthe series, while Axar snared 27wickets to leave England floored.

Root lavished praise on the

Gujarat left-arm spinner sayinghe was relentless in his lengths.

“In this series, Axar in par-ticular, has been very accurateand has asked very good ques-tions. He has been relentless withhis length and some balls haveskidded, some have spun quitebig and we are going to just finda way to manage it well.”

But not all was doom andgloom for Root, who foundsolace in the fact that his wick-et-keeper Ben Foakes and left-arm spinner Jack Leach per-formed their roles to the best oftheir abilities.

� ��� �' 13�&�3

There is no reason to cry overthe nature of the Motera

track, India head coach RaviShastri asserted on Saturday, say-ing the curator prepared pitch-es that produced “fantastic enter-tainment” in the last two match-es here.

The pitch for the third Testcame in for sharp criticismfrom a few former Englandplayers after the visitors werebowled out for 112 and 81 in theDay/Night match.

“Why should I hold back? Iattribute it to the groundsman,”Shastri said after India dis-missed England for 135 to reg-ister an innings and 25 run win.

“Who will complain againsta track like this? It is fantasticentertainment, for both teamsand the game and the result 3-1 doesn’t really suggest how closethe series was.”

Shastri lauded the team formaking it to the WTC finaldespite the ICC changing thequalification criteria last year.

“For us to be on the top ofthe table in World Test champi-onship is two-and-a-half years ofwork and for those years to besuccessful, it’s been six yearsprior to that,” he said.

“The boys took one series ata time, they were not really both-ered about the World TestChampionship because the goalpost gets shifted every time.

“We were heading the tableand some rule change came ofpercentage system when wewere not even playing but nevermind all that, we have got 520points, we deserve to be on topof the table and playing thatfinal.”

The 58-year-old said it isvery satisfying to see the young-sters perform.

“... When you see youngsterscoming through the ranks andperforming in such situationwhich are really tough. Not oneindividual calling the shots.We’ve given opportunities foryoungsters and they havegrabbed those and delivered,” hesaid.

“They have been in a corner

but they have fought from there.This side refuses to give up. Wewere irrepressible in Australiaand we are the same here too.

“What Pant and Sundarpulled off yesterday was unrealbecause the pressure was on usand we were trailing by 50 andfrom there to get 360 was an out-standing achievement.”

� ��� �' 13�&�3

India coach Ravi Shastri onSaturday said Rishabh Pant’s

game-changing hundredagainst England in the fourthTest here was the best counter-attacking knock that he hasseen by a number six Indianbatsman on home soil.

Pant, in an innings thatwas just the right mix ofcaution and aggression,notched up 101 off just118 balls, playing acrucial role in Indiawinning the matchby an innings and 25runs.

Speaking highly ofPant, Shastri said thestumper’s hard work isnow showing results.

“He has workedlike hell in the lastthree or fourmonths and theresults are show-ing. Yesterday’sinnings is thebest countera t t a c k i n ginnings, I haveseen in India

by an Indian, especially atnumber six when the ball wasturning,” Shastri said afterIndia’s emphatic win in thefourth Test.

“We were hard on him.Nothing comes easy and hewas told in no uncertain termsthat he has got to respect thegame a little more. He has gotto lose some weight and workhard on his keeping.

“We know the talent hehas. He is a genuine match

winner and he hasresponded.”

Pant’s potentialwas never in doubtbut he struggled todo justice to his tal-ent, often invitingcriticism for hisshoddy work

behind the wicketsand average bat-ting show.

However, theAustralia tour

changed every-thing for him as he playedmatch-winning knocks inIndia’s historic victory.Since then he has only

grown in confidence.

� ��� �' 13�&�3

India’s supremely talented bench strength has made skipper ViratKohli quite confident that the team will have a relatively smooth

ride when the transition period dawns upon it in the next few years.With the rise of several young players like Washington Sundar,

Mohammed Siraj and the maverick Rishabh Pant, India have beenon a roll both at home and abroad.

“Our bench strength is extremely strong and that’s a good signfor Indian cricket. When the transition happens, the standardswon’t fall and Rishabh and Washy’s partnership showed exactlythat in a crucial juncture of the match,” Kohli said at the post-matchpresentation.

After notching up victories in the second and third Testsrespectively, India won the fourth match inside three days.

“We had to pick up our body language after the first game inChennai. Every team in International cricket is a quality side andwe need to work hard to beat them, even at home. Keeping thatintensity going is most important and is the hallmark of our team,”Kohli said.

Star opener Rohit Sharma scored 161 in the first innings ofthe second Test and the skipper feels the knock changed the com-plexion of the series alongside seasoned spinner RavichandranAshwin’s performance of 32 wickets.

“Rohit’s knock was the defining moment in Chennai, andAshwin has been our most bankable player over the years so theyhave been our best players this series.

“Now we can accept that the World Test Championship final,which was a distraction in New Zealand in 2020, but now it’s areality,” Kohli said.

Ashwin, who ended the series with 32 wickets and a centu-ry, was named Man of the series and the spinner was delighted toqualify for the WTC final, adding that the win was a collectiveeffort.

“The fact that we qualified for the WTC final is very impor-tant. The intensity was low after Chennai, despite the high inAustralia. Every time there was a challenging time in the series,someone put their hand up, so this series win was right up there,”Ashwin said. England skipper Joe Root conceded that his teamwas outplayed by the hosts in the series.

“The first game was a positive. We haven’t matched India inthe last three, and we need to keep learning and keep getting bet-ter for this experience and this series,” Root said.

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8������ 3�( ��)��Dubai: India on Saturdayfinished on top of the leaguephase of the ICC World TestChampionship standingsafter crushing England by aninnings and 25 runs in thefourth Test.

“That victory againstEngland means India finishthe league phase of the inau-gural ICC World TestChampionship with a fineview from the top of thetable,” the ICC tweeted.

India finished the leaguephase with 520 points, whichincludes 12 wins, four losesand one draw.

New Zealand finished inthe second spot with 420points, including seven winsand four loses.

Australia finished thirdwith 332 points ahead ofEngland and Pakistan.

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Playing fearless brand of ten-nis, India’s Sumit Nagal ran

world number 46 AlbertRamos-Vinolas close beforeexiting the ATP ArgentinaOpen after suffering a three-setdefeat in the men’s singles quar-ter-final here.

His relentless hitting keptNagal in the match despitetrailing 2-5 in the decider.Eventually errors at keymoments spelled his ouster,losing 6-4, 2-6, 5-7 in the quar-ter-final contest that lasted twohours and 26 minutes.

It is Nagal’s best perfor-mance on the ATP tour afterentering the event as a qualifi-er.

The gutsy show earnedNagal 45 main draw rankingpoints that will push him to 132from the current 150th slot.

Yet again Nagal’s trademarkinside-out forehand was at workas he put the Spaniard under thepump.

Had it not been for somemarginal errors from Nagaland luck that favoured Ramos-

Vinolas, it would have been adifferent result for the Indian,who had shocked world num-ber 22 Christian Garin in theprevious round.

Nagal said the performancehas strengthened his belief thathe can compete at this level.

“I always felt that. I have hadlot of close matches with top-60players recently. So I am thereand I am glad I am playing at a

higher level,” Nagal said.Asked about the powerful

shots that he kept producing inthe marathon match, Nagalsaid, “I thought that was theright thing to do.”

“I still need to improve a lotand be able to keep hitting thosewith less errors. I am buildingit (fitness) back as it is differentto practice. Mental stress alsoaffects your body a lot,” hesaid.

Nagal admitted that on claycourts, he expresses himselfbetter but he won’t put himselfunder pressure to get into top-100 in this clay court season.

“Definitely, it suits mygame. I enjoy it more on clay butat the same time I am gettingbetter on hard courts day by day.It was unfortunate I was so rustyduring the Australian trip butthose were the circumstances,”he said.

“I just want to keep compet-ing and be well. I am notputting myself under any pres-sure (for breaking into top-100).Let’s see,” he said.

Nagal earned $9240 as prizemoney for his effort.

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Sri Lanka’s spinners bamboozledworld champions West Indies to

claim a 43-run win in the secondT20I at Coolidge Cricket Groundon Friday.

Having lost by four wickets inthe opening game on Wednesday,in a game where West Indies skip-per Kieron Pollard launched sixsixes in an over, the tourists success-fully defended 160 on Friday tolevel the three-match series.

West Indies were all out for 117in the 19th over as Sri Lankaended an eight-game losing streakin T20.

The final match is at the samevenue on Sunday.

Leg-spinner WaninduHasaranga finished with 3-17, off-break bowler Akila Dananjaya,who was the victim of Pollard’s

midweek assault but also claimed ahat-rick, had 1-13.

Wrist spinner LakshanSandakan took 3-10, includingPollard who made just 13.

“The wicket was a bit slow. I

tried not to give away any bound-aries. That’s why I was able to bowlwell,” man-of-the-match Hasarangatold the post-match presentation.

Earlier, veteran all-rounderBravo slammed the brakes on Sri

Lanka with two wickets and a run-out.

Sri Lanka got off to a flying startafter winning the toss and openersDanusha Gunathilaka and PathumNissanka put on a blistering 94 offthe first 10 overs.

But then 37-year-old Bravowas called into action and heresponded by running out Nissankafor 37.

Gunathilaka followed just fourballs later in the 11th over, caught byKevin Sinclair off Bravo at mid-off.

The runs then dried up for SriLanka.

Having hit eight fours andthree sixes in the first 10 overs, theymanaged just three more foursand one six in the second half of theinnings.

That included an eight-overstretch where the ball never crossedthe boundary ropes.

� ��� %54���2

The Indian women’s teamwill finally get to shake offthe rust after 12 months of

no International cricket and starttheir ODI World Cup preparationwith the five-match series againstSouth Africa beginning here onSunday.

While the South Africanscome into the series fresh fromtheir home rubber againstPakistan last month, the Indianslast played on March 8, 2020when they lost to Australia in theT20 World Cup final.

The quarantine protocol inCovid-19 times have given only

two days of nets to both theteams, making it tougher for theplayers to be at their best from theword go.

It can be safely said that theIndians have fallen behind intheir World Cup preparationcompared to the likes of England,New Zealand and Australia, whohave played more regularly amidthe pandemic.

The new selection committeehas come in with its own visionand picked six uncapped playersfor the eight match contest alsocomprising three T20Is, leavingout senior players like ShikhaPandey, Taniya Bhatia and VedaKrishnamurthy. The non- selec-

tion of T20 star Shafali Verma forthe ODIs has also raised a feweyebrows.

Harmanpreet Kaur, who isMithali Raj’s deputy in ODIs andT20 captain, insisted that rusti-ness will not be an issue for themand the players are itching to takethe field after a long gap.

Though the players did notget much game time over the pastone year, they ensured their fit-ness remained unaffected. Someof the players, including JemimahRodrigues and Deepti Sharma,used the free time to play in clubtournaments as they did notknow when the next India assign-ment would come.

With the ODI World Cupscheduled in New Zealand earlynext year, the team needs toexplore options in the middle-order and the pace department.

South Africa, who recentlybeat Pakistan 3-0, will miss theservices of their regular skipperDane van Niekerk and all-rounder Chloe Tyron for theIndia tour. Sune Luus will lead theside in Niekerk’s absence.

The visitors got very littletime to get used to the conditionsbut they go into the series with alot more match time than thehosts.

All the games will be playedat state of the art Ekana Stadiumwith crowd capacity capped at 10per cent.

TEAMSIndia: Mithali Raj (captain),Smriti Mandhana, JemimahRodrigues, Punam Raut, PriyaPunia, Yastika Bhatia,Harmanpreet Kaur, D Hemalatha,Deepti Sharma, Sushma Verma(wicket-keeper), Swetha Verma,Radha Yadav, RajeshwariGayakwad, Jhulan Goswami,Mansi Joshi, Poonam Yadav, CPrathyusha, Monica Patel.South Africa: Sune Luus (cap-tain), Ayabonga Khaka, ShabnimIsmail, Laura Wolvaardt, TrishaChetty, Sinalo Jafta, Tasmin Britz,Marizanne Kapp, NondumisoShangase, Lizelle Lee, AnnekeBosch, Faye Tunnicliffe,Nonkululeko Mlaba, Mignon duPreez, Nadine de Klerk, LaraGoodall, Tumi Sekhukhune.

Lucknow: Indian women’s ODIcaptain Mithali Raj on Saturdaysaid lack of game time won’t be anissue for the players and they areready to hit top gear against SouthAfrica in the limited over series asthe team begins its World Cuppreparation.

“Clearly they had a game time,but we are playing after a gap.Having said that we definitely haveput in the efforts, trained ourselves,have these short camps, four daysof sessions here,” Mithali said dur-ing a virtual news conference on theeve of the first ODI here.

“It doesn’t look like we are rustyor anything ... I think the girls clear-ly are quite excited to get on thefield and start putting our best per-formances because it’s time that westart our campaign for World Cup,and start playing some cricket.”

The Neetu David-led selectioncommittee sprung a few surprisesby excluding Shafali Verma fromthe ODI team but the skipper saidthe explosive opener was verymuch in their radar.

“She is definitely in the schemeof things. She is in the radar. I thinkwe need to have a little bit ofpatience and you see her verysoon,” Mithali said.

The ODI skipper said theseries is very important to settheir combination right for theWorld cup slated in New Zealandaround this time next year.

“This series is very importantin that context. We will try to seethe composition of the team but atthe same time also see that the teamas a unit start to get that momen-tum right,” Mithali said.

“...The series is very importantfor two reasons, one is to give theyoung players the right platform, togive them opportunities in thehome condition.

“And at the same time, it’simportant to see that the core play-ers get enough game time to get outthere and start to develop thatrhythm, and as a unit we cometogether. And take it from there,”she added.

The 38-year-old was last seen inaction in the away series againstWest Indies in November 2019.Mithali said she will look to carryon her good batting form which hadhelped India beat Windies 2-1.

“It’s just like how I preparemyself before any series, it’s been nodifferent. In terms of gametime ‘yes’,we’ve not really played any match-es as such. But in terms of trainingor preparation at home or back inthe academy, I’ve prepared myself...,” she said.

“All these years we’ve trainedlike that and I am definitely look-ing forward to getting more runs,because the last series against WestIndies in 2019 I was in rhythm andI would like to continue fromthere.” PTI

� ��� �1231%'�

The 2021 edition of theIndian Premier League will

begin on April 9, exactly 12days after the Indian cricketteam completes its ongoingassignment against England, aBCCI source revealed onSaturday.

The third and last match ofthe ODI series against Englandwill be held on March 28 inPune. The duration of the pop-ular T20 league has been fixedkeeping in mind India’sInternational schedule.

“We have provisionallydecided that IPL will start onApril 9 and end on May 30,” asenior BCCI source said.

“The formal approval ofdates and venues will be doneduring Governing Council

meeting next week,” the sourceadded.

Considering the prevailingcircumstances when efforts arebeing made to minimise theimpact of the Covid-19 pan-demic, the BCCI has decided tohost IPL matches in five cities- Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru,Delhi and Ahmedabad.

The allotment of matchesto Chennai and Kolkata wouldbe done, keeping in mind thestate Assembly election sched-uled there in the next fewweeks.

Also, the Asia Cup, thatwas scheduled in June thisyear in India, stands cancelled“now that India have qualifiedfor the World TestChampionship final, courtesytheir 3-1 series win overEngland.”

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Olympic Silver medallist P V Sindhudished out a superlative perfor-

mance to outclass Mia Blichfeldt ofDenmark in straight games and enter thewomen’s singles final of the Swiss OpenSuper 300 tournament here on Saturday.

Sindhu, the reigning world champi-on, beat fourth seeded Blichfeldt 22-20,21-10 in 43 minutes to avenge her first-round loss to the Danish world number12 at the Yonex Thailand Open inJanuary.

“It’s been a good win today for meand playing against Mia was a kind of arevenge because in Thailand I had lost toher, so it was very important for me andyeah really looking forward to the finals,”Sindhu said.

This is Sindhu’s first final appearancesince the World championships here in

2019.The second seeded Indian will take

on top seed and Rio Olympics Goldmedallist Carolina Marin in the summitclash on Sunday. It will the first meet-ing between the two in over twoyears.

“Carolina is a good player so itwon’t be an easy match, I have toplay my 100 per cent,” Sindhu said.

Former champion KidambiSrikanth, however, couldn’t crossthe semifinal stage as he wentdown 13-21, 19-21 to topseed and former worldchampion ViktorAxelsen.

World number 10S a t w i k s a i r a jRankireddy and ChiragShetty also bowed outafter losing 10-21, 17-21to sixth seeded Danish

pair of Kim Astrup and Anders SkaarupRasmussen in the last-four stage.

The Indian duo had a last four fin-ish in their last event at Toyota

Thailand Open in January.Sindhu thus emerged as the

lone Indian survivor in the$140,000 event, the first tourna-ment in the extended Olympicqualification period which endson June 15.

In the women’s singlesmatch, Sindhu erased a 5-

7 deficit in the openinggame to grab a 11-8advantage at the inter-val. The Indian thenzoomed to 17-12 butBlichfeldt clawed back

with five straight points.Sindhu soon

grabbed three gamepoints but again her

rival managed to level the score.However, the Indian ensured she had thelast laugh as she pocketed the openinggame.

Sindhu dominated the proceedingsin the second game as she was up 5-2 firstand kept moving ahead. She enjoyed a11-6 lead at the break and continued hergood run to eventually shut the door onher opponent.

Indian Olympic hopefuls have beentraining at the Gachibowli complex forlast few days to prepare for the TokyoGames.

“Training at a bigger stadium, sim-ilar to this stadium as I got used to it andit has helped me a lot here,” Sindhu said.

“I would once again thank everyone,BAI, SAI, Telangana State and SportsMinister for all the support and helpingme with whatever I needed for trainingand preparation at the GachibowliStadium. It has helped me a lot.”

� ��� -� 1

Star wrestler Vinesh Phogatput herself in contention

for a second consecutive Goldby reaching the 53kg final ina jiffy while Sarita Mor settledfor a Silver medal at theMatteo Pellicone RankingSeries event, here.

In her four bouts, Vineshhad to wrestle only twice asshe got walkovers in the othertwo on Saturday.

And the two bouts thatshe fought, Vinesh won thoseby pinning her rivals — firsther compatriot NandiniBajirao Saolkhe in the firstround and then CanadianSamantha Leigh Stewart in thesemifinal, which lasted a mere42 seconds.

She did not have to movea sinew in the second roundagainst Kazakhstan’s TatyanaAkhmetova Amanzhol andEcuador’s Luisa Elizabeth asthey forfeited their boutsagainst the Indian due to their

respective injuries.Vinesh came into the

competition after wining aGold in Kiev, Ukraine.

In the wee hours ofSaturday, Sarita went down 2-4 to Giullia Penalber ofBulgaria in the title bout tosettle for the Silver. The otherIndian in the same weight cat-egory, Anshu Malik forfeitedher Bronze play-off againstItaly’s Francesca Indelicatodue to an injury.

Greco Rooman wrestlerKuldeep Malik thoughgrabbed his chance by win-ning the 72kg Bronze play-offagainst Russia’s ChingizLabazanov.

Meanwhile in the men’sfreestyle competit ion,Satywart Kadian bowed fromthe 97kg competition aftersuffering a crushing 1-8 defeatat the hands of Turkey’sIbrahim Ciftci.

In the 125kg, Sumit Malikcould win only one of his fourbouts.

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Olympic-bound Indianboxer Manish Kaushik

(63kg) struck Gold in his firstcompetitive outing in a yeareven as five others signed offwith Silver medals in the 35thBoxam InternationalTournament in Castellon.

Manish defeatedDenmark’s Nikolai Terteryanin a split decision.

However, MohammedHussamuddin (57kg) andVikas Krishan (69kg) endedwith Silver medals amongmen.

Hussamuddin gave awalkover to Jean Paul Rivera ofPuerto Rico, which was struckby a positive Covid-19 case.The reasons for the Indian’s

pullout were not immediatelynot known.

Vikas Krishan (69kg),however, lost a gruelling finalto Youba Sissokho, a bout inwhich the Indian was left witha cut above his right eye.

Among women, SimranjitKaur (60kg), Pooja Rani (75kg)and Jasmine (57kg) endedwith Silver medals amongwomen.

The Indian women boxersthus ended their campaignwith three Silver and oneBronze medal. Six-time worldchampion M C Mary Kom(51kg) had ended with aBronze after a semifinal loss.

Debutant Jasmine (57kg)also ended with a Silver aftergoing down to Europeanchampion Irma Testa of Italy.

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RB Leipzig climbed top ofthe Bundesliga on

Saturday with a 3-0 romp atFreiburg to replace previousleaders Bayern Munich.

Christopher Nkunku,Alexander Sorloth, and EmilForsberg scored the goals inFreiburg which lifted Leipzigone point ahead of Bayern.

“That was a mature per-formance,” Leipzig sportsdirector Markus Krosche toldSky.

“Anything is possible,” hereplied when asked if Leipzigcan stop Bayern winning aninth straight league title thisseason.

Leipzig took the lead atFreiburg after a first-half blun-der by home goalkeeperFlorian Muller.

His loose pass from theback was snapped up byLeipzig striker Yussuf Poulsen,who squared for Frenchwinger Nkunku to tap homefour minutes before the break.

Sorloth continued his

great form and midwaythrough the second half heconverted Nkunku’s assist.

The Norwegian, whoscored the last-gasp winnerover Monchengladbach aweek ago, then set upForsberg who banged inLeipzig’s third goal 11 minutesfrom time.

Third-placed Wolfsburgare now eight points adrift ofLeipzig having stumbled to a2-1 defeat at mid-table

Hoffenheim whose strikerAndrej Kramaric scored thehosts’ winning goal just beforehalf-time.

Eintracht Frankfurt stayfourth after Filip Kosticequalised for the home teamin a 1-1 draw against Stuttgart.

A late goal by Leverkusenstriker Patrik Schick sealedtheir 1-0 win atMoenchengladbach, whodrop to 10th as their miserablerun continues.

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Lucknow: Saketh Myneni set himself in line forthe coveted double crown as he won the dou-bles title and set up a singles final clash withZane Khan of USA at the UP open World TennisTour ITF Men’s $15000 event at theVaijyantkhand Mini Stadium here on Saturday.

In the doubles final, wildcards Yuki Bhambriand Saketh Myneni eased past giant-killers KazaVinayak Sharma and N Vijay Sundar Prashanth6-2,6-3.

In the singles semifinals, Saketh Myneniended the challenge of third seed Great Britain'sAidan McHugh 6-3,6-4 while Zane Khan keptup his splendid run In the tournament oustingfifth-seeded Ukrainian Eric Vanshelboim 6-4,6-1.

The experienced Myneni broke McHugh inthe 6th game of the first set. In the second set,Myneni raced to a 3-1 lead breaking the youngBritish player in the second game.

But McHugh hung on and broke Myneni inthe 5th game and then held on to his serve tolevel the score at 3-3. Myneni did not let McHughcomeback immediately breaking him in the 8thgame of the set and race to the finals.

In the second semifinal finals, Zane Khanof USA upset Fifth-seeded Ukrainian EricVanshelboim 6-4, 6-1 in a match of 19-year-olds.

Commissioner Lucknow Ranjan Kumargave away the prizes to the doubles event win-ners. Indian Olympic Association treasurerAnandeshwar Pandey and tournament directorPunit Agarwal were also present during theprize-distribution ceremony.

.��� ���-���Uttar Pradesh Hockey on Saturday

announced the sub-junior girl’s team for the 11thSub-Junior Girl’s National Championship fromMarch 10 to be held at Jharkhand.

Team: Anju Yadav, Ashika Verma, SimranHussain, Nikki Singh, Shreyanshi Gupta,Manisha Patel, Sunita Kumari, JyotiVishwakarma, Preeti Patel, Sheela Thapa, JulieBhardwaj, Vandana Patel, Kushi Rathore,Pushpanjali Sonkar, Poornima Yadav, KanchanKumari, Jainab Kursheed, Pitambari Kumari.(Reserves) Renuka Patel, Pooja Chaudhary,Mansi Yadav, Rabia Khan.

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Page 14: 3;A aZed DfgV_Uf RXRZ_de 5ZUZ - Daily Pioneer

� What is LiveItUp 2021 about? It is an interesting series by Godrej

L’Affaire. It is about what everyonewent through in 2020 — all thingsthat they complained about or were

happy about; we can’t meet ourfriends, we can’t travel, we are undercomplete lockdown and sitting andworking from home. Then there

were goodmoments

when we got to spend time with family.The series is about celebs and their com-plaints — what they went through duringthe lockdown. This is a brilliant concept.For me, 2020 had been significant as anactor and as an artist I jumped on theopportunity when the team approachedme. They felt I could bring out all the emo-tions that we underwent last year. We wantpeople to live it up this year and hence thetitle.

� How did you come on board this pro-ject?

When I received the call from theteam, they were sure they wanted me onboard for this project. The emotions thatone went through last year, they were sureI could emote them well through myexpressions and body language. I amextremely expressive during my shows andthe team was sure I would be a perfect fitand be the year 2020.

� Why choose social media to entertainpeople?

It is very different. Before last, I wasdoing stage shows and concentrating onTv and films. It was only in 2020 that I tooksocial media as a means to entertain. This

is because I was locked up. As an artist Ifelt that I needed to entertain people. Asan artist I have a small fan base. As soonas the lockdown happened there was lit-tle in terms of entertainment on TV.Performing on social media is different interms of the kind of response one gets fromthe viewers. While on the stage, you willknow within a second whether youcracked it or not through the laughter. Onsocial media, people just comment evenif they are articulate. But I managed todevelop a strong fan base and peopleenjoyed it. I even had a few viral videos.

� Have you finally stepped out of yourfather’s shadow?

I can now say that right now, I havean identity of my own. I have made a markin the industry. People approach me forwhat I do. When I first started off, with-out his help, the minute they would hearthe surname Lever, they would know I amhis daughter. When people started givingme work, they thought that since I am hisdaughter, my surname would also be Lever.To being with, I had insisted that I use theinitial J as a surname for Janumala sinceLever comes with a lot of responsibilities.I wanted to step away from all this. Also,

my father’s name is not Johnny Lever, itis his identity; something that he has cre-ated for himself. Now, after seven-eightyears people know my work and offer methings because of it rather than due to myfather.

� I understand that besides your dad,you take inspiration from Kapil Sharmaand Krushna Abhishek. Why?

Kapil Sharma is known for his spon-taneity. The kind of comedy that my fatherand I do need a lot of preparation andrehearsals. You will see us using hand ges-tures, doing mimicry, dancing or enact-ing something. But there are some come-dians like Kapil Sharma who just standsat one place and entertains people. Theseare different styles and I always look atinspiration from them. Bharti is witty.There are many English stand-up come-dians from whom I study and learn.

� How did you end up with the title ofQueen on Mimicry?

Mimicry is definitely tough but itcomes naturally to me. As a child I wouldmimic my teachers or copy siblings or peo-ple around you; that is how it starts. Iwould go to Church and come back home

and replicate an accent. I would pick ontheir body language and expressions. Myfather was taking notice of this but neverencouraged it since he wanted me to fin-ish studies. Marketing is in my backgroundbut comedy is in my DNA. Since I amgood at mimicry, I just went with it.

� What are the traits for a comedian inorder to excel?

It is important to have a voice of yourown and have a unique point of view.Many comedians copy styles of others; thisis a strict no-no. It is important to havestrong observational powers, somethingthat my father taught me. A comedianlooks at things differently and he must cap-ture that and have a USP.

� What is keeping you busy these days?I am currently shooting a show that

I have on Flipkart app — For YourInformation. The show is live on the app.It is my first solo show. Apart from this,there is a release in September this year –a web series. I have an interesting characterhere. I shot for it in Himachal Pradesh oncethe lock down opened. I am also doingshows on social media since I don’t wantto abandon my fans.

�How did you get the idea for the movie?A few years back, I used to write for a Hindi literary mag-

azine called Hans. Rajendra Yadav was the owner. I have penneda book as well titled Raftaar, it is a collection of 11 short sto-ries. When I would meet him, we would talk of many thingsand stories would come from the conversations. I once askedhim how he felt when somebody wrote better than him and isyounger to him? His answer was an eye-opener. I feel jealousbut I want them to fly and make a place for themselves. �Why choose guru-shishya as a subject?

I like art. It could have been a painter or a singer or any otherartist. But I love Kathak and wanted Gen Z to know about var-ious dance forms like Odissi, Mohiniyattam and Bharatanatyam.Today’s generation only knows item dance numbers. In everymovie there is an item number. I want the youth to watch thismovie. I know for sure that if they watch it, they will like it.�Was it tough to make a film on this subject?

It was definitely tough. Choosing the location was an issue.There were financial constraints as well. But otherwise, thingspanned out smoothly.�Why is it that the so-called ‘art films’ not get financial back-ing? What and where are the roadblocks?

This is because a film that has no item song and no knownactors has no takers. Financers want names of big actors. Myfilm has neither. But I was determined to make this film andfinanced it myself.�How did you get into directing from being an actor?

I wanted to direct films from the very beginning – from thetime I used to watch Satyajit Ray movies. When I saw his movies,something clicked inside me and when I got the opportunity,I took it. I have seen many world classics. I have seen the workof directors like Quentin Tarantino and Federico Fellini. If a per-son wants to make a brilliant film, they must first watch moviesmade by them.�You have experimented with new and somewhat uncon-ventional ideas. Why?

Like I mentioned, I have been highly motivated and inspiredby the work of people like Ray, Tarantino and Fellini. Hence,choosing unconventional subjects comes organically to me.�Such movies have few takers. Why make them?

I made Aavartan because I love Kathak and the thought thatI must make a movie on this came to me and stuck a few yearsback.�What is Aavartan about?

The film is about guru-shishya parampara and pratispard-ha; how life is cyclic in nature but in this relationship the evo-lution takes place. Aavartan is a story of a guru and her shishyaand features the cycle of it. Aavartan means cycle. �In the review last week, the starcast was incorrect. Apologiesfor the same. Why and how did you zero in on Sushma Seth,Shovana Narayan and Sunit Razdan?

Shovana Narayan is a friend; I have known her for 25 years.She is like an elder sister to me. When I started writing the storyfor this movie, I wanted to make a short length film. But therewas so much information and things in my mind that they did-n’t fit in the 30-40-minute screenplay that I was writing at thesame time. In 2018, I finally decided to make it into a full-lengthfilm and completed it in 2020. Sushma Seth, I chose becausefirst, she stays in Delhi and second, she is easily accessible. I loveher acting as well. She is such a nice person and extremelyaccommodating. Sunit Razdan is a family friend. �You own a cultural centre with an auditorium which has pro-duced several plays. Tell us about that.

I was introduced to theatre during my school days. But thereal magic became in 2003. We had our well-equipped theatreand started theatre repertoire titled Renaissance. This producedseveral plays and travelled across India. At the same time, wehosted several professional plays.�What next?

I have already started on my next project. I have the sub-ject in my mind though I have yet to begin writing it. But I intendto do so soon.

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Anot-so-dense forest withrocks up for a toss and anenchanting zigzag road

canopied by the trees leadingtowards nothing less than heav-en sound like a faraway fancyland. Often underrated becauseof famous tourist hubs andnumerous hill stations, the placeleaves you spellbound with awish to revisit it innumerabletimes. A place that gives you apeek into India’s culture and his-tory, Orchha makes you fall forits beauty. Known for its temples,one of the most famous beingRaja Ram Temple, Orchha givesyou a walk down the memorylane of the country’s remarkablepast.

The owl-shaped LakshmiTemple, now non-functional,takes the visitors on other-worldly experiences filled withspirituality. The exquisite interiorand the exterior of the temple arehard to ignore, with every walltelling the history throughengraved paintings of mytho-logical stories. According to alocal tourist guide, though thepaintings have faded with time,the preservation work is tryingto bring it back to old glory orsave other paintings from asimilar fate.

Madhya Pradesh does notfail to mesmerize you when youventure out in search of peace,tranquility, and a slice of histo-ry. When you drive around andlook beyond the usual hum-drum of life, Chhatris on RiverBetwa will open up the book ofBundela dynasty rulers’ grandlife as if you are living in that era.These 15 chhatris, resembling asemi-open umbrella, are built inthe memory of the rulers andtheir members.

Not only taking you on atrip down memory lane andbask in the glory of the past, butMadhya Pradesh also gives youa lesson or two on conservationof nature’s balance. Being devel-oped as Vulture ConservationCentre by Madhya PradeshTourism Board, Chhatris allowyou to relive the times when itwas normal to spot vultures nearyour city. Once in abundance,this beautiful bird has been list-ed as Critically Endangered onthe IUCN Red List since 2002.It is magical to witness these

regal birds going about theirdaily life and providing themuch-needed balance to life. Ittakes you back to the question:Why humans had to intervenewhen Mother Nature has pro-vided these scavengers to save usfrom the rotting carcasses strewnall over the place. Well, the ques-tion calls for a different debatealtogether; the fact remains thatsuch commendable work needsappreciation as you see thesebirds happily frolicking here ona piece of land in MadhyaPradesh.

When in Orchha, how canyou not hop, skip and jump toa place that is merely at a dis-tance of 200 kms. It is a placethat sometimes evokes smirks,but the glimpse it gives in thepast life is incomparable. Thismystical land is of Khajuraho,which magnetically pulls youtowards its highly decoratedtemple walls with engravings oflove etched intricately to makeyou feel the innate emotions anddivinity behind it. A strollamidst the well-preserved ruinsis a must to understand thedeeper meaning hid behindthe engravings. Well, you mightalso have to ignore the voyeurs

in between. Known for nagara-style architectural symbolismand erotic sculptures,Khajuraho also attracts visitorsto the Khajuraho DanceFestival, a one-week long annu-al fest that is held in February20 to February 26, that show-cases all the classical danceforms and lots of Bundelkhandifood along with options of tak-ing souvenirs for an unforget-table visit.

After a long day, a well-deserved rest is a must and MPTourism’s Kutni Island, lessthan 25 minutes away fromKhajuraho, having a scenic viewof a river makes you forget allthe leg work you did to capturethe history, culture, and natureof the state. Situated near KutniDam, this stay-over place willmake your heart skip a beat as

you get drown in the sound offlowing water as you grab a cupof coffee sitting at Sunset Pointto watch the scorching sun godown to make way for a coolMoon.

Last, but not the least, a tripto The Tiger State of India is def-initely incomplete without vis-itng a National Park.

With only a 15 minutesdrive away, Panna NationalPark, spread over 542.7 sq kmcalls for your attention. More so,if you want to catch a glimpseof P1 51’s (tigress, P stand forborn in Panna, 5 stands for fifthgeneration) recently born cubswho are seen playing in the corearea, but only if you are luckyenough.

The rich fauna of theNational Park includes leopard,chital (spotted deer), chinkara,

nilgai, sambhar, and sloth bear.It is also home to more than 200species of birds including thebar-headed goose, honey buz-zard, king vulture, blossom-headed parakeet, changeablehawk-eagle and Indian vulture.

However, this is not the solereason why one should visitPanna, one must go there toexperience the serenity of thejungle. And if you dig deep intothe forest, you can also experi-ence the wild talking to you.

Even a four-hour safari willfall short to experience and talkto the wild. There are chancesthat you might not be luckyenough to see too many ani-mals, but don’t be disappointed,you will return rejuvenated andwith tranquility because this iswhat the power of the wild cando to you.

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This beautifulproperty is

situated over-looking theBetwa River andis appealingenough to catchyour attention.However, whatmakes BetwaRetreat, Orchha stand out of the clutter is its half-tent rooms. Yes, you read that right. Giving youa cozy feel, the half-tents gives you a slight feel-ing of living in a forest. The scenic view of theproperty also speaks the same.

If you are to visit Panna TigerReserve, Tendu Leaf Resort

is waiting to give you a grandwelcome to the jungle. Thisbeautiful location will smallhut-shaped cozy rooms makesyou feel at home.

If you are a sea food lover,the resort is heaven for you.The greenery makes sure youto give you a detox so that youcan go back home rejuvenated.

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This one will definitely give you a luxuriousexperience. Less than 10 minutes away

from KhajurahoDance Festival,MPT Payal andits staff makessure that there isnothing to com-plaint about. Thebest part of thesespacious roomsis the view from the window. You open the cur-tains only to see loads of greenery and langoorssoaking in the sun, if you are lucky to make itthere on a bright sunny day.

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TalktimeJAMIE LEVER

The comedienne who has been entertaining her fans with hilarious

mimicry videos on social media, speakswith Shalini Saksena about how she has

finally stepped out of her father’s shadow, why and how she ended up

with the title Queen of Mimicryand her latest web series

LiveItUp 2021

Any trip is incomplete without a beautiful place to stay in. And no matter how enchantingyour destination is, if your stay doesn’t speak of luxury, it will definitely leave you with a

bad taste. To solve all your travel woes, we have a few options that will make your stay as pleas-ant as your trip.

Page 15: 3;A aZed DfgV_Uf RXRZ_de 5ZUZ - Daily Pioneer

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Originating from Sanskrit, the word‘Peetha’ means ‘seat, altar, shrineor dwelling’. In the case of theShakti Peethas, it is very specific.It is the sacred space where the

Supreme Goddess rakes a strong, well-foundedsear on Earth. Each of the Peethas have beenturned into shrines for the Goddess by the verypeople who believe in the absolute power ofthe feminine. Each site where the 51 bodyparts of Sati fell, came to be known as a ShaktiPeetha.

A teertha is a crossing. As with mostSanskrit words, there are multiple meanings ofthis too. Teertha is also the passing of theatman to the parmatman the crossing from thephysical world to the metaphysical world.These 51 sacred sites are also linked by theolo-gists and scholars to the 51 alphabets of theSanskrit language. In each of the Peethas alsoresides Kaalbhairava, which is another name ofShiva. Most of the Shakti Peetha shrines con-tain a naturally appearing stone whichbecomes the object of worship around whichthe temple shrine is built.

Vindhyavasini is an additional ShaktiPeetha, which I have deliberately not includedin the 51 Peethas. While a powerful dwelling ofShakti, Vindhyavasini is not the abode ofShakti as Sati’s body parts. It is, however, thepreferred choice and home of Yogamaya, thesister of Krishna, who escaped from Kamsa’sprison at Mathura.

Kalika Purana indicates that there are fourAdi Shakti Peethas, which is further affirmedin the commentary and text of Brihat Samhita.It lists the names of the location at variousplaces in India such as Vimla temple, Odisha,where her feet fell, Tara Tarini temple inBehrampur, Odisha, where her breasts fell,Kamakhya temple in Guwahati, Assam, whereher yoni or vagina fell and lastly, the Kalighattemple in West Bengal, where her right toe fell.

���������� ��������������Since antiquity, Goddess worship has been

part of the Indic tradition of India. In fact, theGoddess is even more popular than Shiva andVishnu. All the manifestations, avataras orappearances of the many forms of Devi belongto the pantheon of the Shakti cult. The SupremeGoddess can be a gentle life-giver as in the caseof Lakshmi, Saraswati or Parvati, or as the mis-tress of death in the form of Durga, Kali andChamunda. She is a fascinating juxtaposition,both life-perpetuating and potently destructive.In her life-giving form, Shakti can be represent-ed as beautiful, benevolent, maternal, knowl-edgeable, compassionate and even desirable tothe best. She invigorates, cheers and brightensthe entire universe. She is represented anddescribed as an idealized woman who is imbuedwith beauty, virtue and righteousness, andadorned with jewels. In fact, her iconography isdrawn from the pre-modern depictions of thesalabanjikas, apsaras and surasundaris. In thisform, Shakti embraces and enlivens all aspectsof reality. As the goddess of destruction and dis-ease, she takes on rather unattractive and repul-sive forms. As Sitala Devi Manasa, or Kali, theDevi is shown as haggard, ugly, unkempt andemaciated. However, whatever the form, it isalways powerful.

I have dipped into both Puranic andShakta texts to read the many interpretationsand mythologies associated with the iconogra-phy, rituals of worship, devotion and represen-tation of the Shakti Peetha as sites of immensepower and energy. Each devotee enters the siteof the Peetha through their own path of wor-ship, through their respective understanding ofthe Great Goddess. The wama panthis or Shaktworshippers, for whom Shakti/Devi issupreme, enter through the tantric path, whichis a sectarian movement.

The 51 Peethas have their own singulariconography and their own specific modes ofrituals, worship and even prasada, with somestandard common offerings like flowers, sweetsand vermilion.

����������� ���������������While the Shakti Peethas were specific to

the body parts of Sati, the rituals of adoration,prayer and worship differed from region to

region, given the culture and history of theplace. Over time, the Peethas became linked totheir respective regions. The local people tookownership of them and started claiming rightsover the teerthas and sites. Naturally, the localfood and religious and cultural traditions start-ed getting preference over the stated Puranic orstandard Sanatan dharmashastras.

In the temples, the daily rituals of worshipwere similar to the presiding deity, who wasnormally male, i.e. Vishnu or Shiva, and thefeminine was worshipped in the form of theirconsorts. However, in the Shakti Peethas, thepresiding deity was a body part, which whilehaving its own specific service or prayer, wasenfolded in the larger narrative of the worshipof Shakti in the form of Devi.

The purpose of puja (prayer) is to appease,soothe and mollify the powerful Goddess andembrace the divine energy expressed as lifeforce. The life force itself has many variations,from auspiciousness, health, desire for chil-dren, wealth and success, gaining power overintellectual and artistic skill, even victory overenemies. The ritual of puja is heavily investedin darshan. While doing puja, the concept ofmaking eye contact with the deity is the key.Darshan is a two-way concept where the devo-tee sees the divinity and in turn, the divinitysees the devotee. The concept of darshan cross-es all spaces, from intimate puja corners athome in domestic spaces to large public tem-ples including the 51 Shakti Peethas.

The very act of darshan/view is the crucialkey that creates the iconic moment where thedevotee and the divine are in complete sync.This is the reason why ‘Shakt’ worshippersmake long and arduous journeys to the Shakti

Peethas. The idea is to take the energy of theSupreme Goddess while receiving her bless-ings. The religious rites have three distinctclassifications: Nitya, which is daily, normallydone at home; Naimittika, which are importantdays of the deity, and particular festivals (somespecial to the ishta deva at home or to the pre-siding deity of the temple); and finallyKamya, which are optional, but a highlydesired teertha being one of them.

The ritual of prayer to Shakti is also vestedin the panchbhootas, where the five jnanain-driyas, or senses, are included in the aspect ofpuja:

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is offered by the devotee when he/she begins theritual of puja. In domestic spaces, the devoteeperforms the puja at an individual, intimatelevel, often making prasada or an offering offruits, and a rice and milk pudding with saffronstrands and sprinkled with mewa/ nuts, particu-larly almonds and raisins. What I have observedin the offerings by the devotees, is that forShakti, it is a bali, or animal sacrifice, normallya lamb and sometimes even a buffalo. The verybasic prasada for Shakti is meat, alcohol forBhairava, and a sweet, normally a rice pudding.Since the Shakti Peethas have been appropriated

by the devotees of the region, naturally theprasada of the Peetha also acquires a localflavour. In Eastern India, it is primarily khichdiand kheer with poori and potato curry; in SouthIndia, it is a variation of the local rice, i.e. puli-hora; in Andhra Pradesh, a jaggery laddoo; andin Western India, at the Amba temple inBanaskantha, a delicious sweet made of chick-pea flour, the mohanthal, is offered along withsindoor, and makhanas, or dried lotus seeds. Inthis way, almost every region brings in itsregional flavour and speciality as part of theprasada offered at the Shakti Peethas.

Meat as prasada is served in the templecommunity kitchens only on special occasionswhen specific sacrifices are conducted. Holdingwater in the palm of their hands, or achaman,the devotee asks for forgiveness and blessingsbefore beginning their prayer. In the large publictemples, it is the priest who becomes the con-duit of devotion and reverence. He is the inter-mediary who while performing the ritual acts,offers food and flowers to the presiding deity ofthe temple. Worship in a temple begins by cir-cumambulating the temple and the garbhagrihawhere the deity lives.

The myth of Sati and the 5l Peethas is animportant myth in the worship of the SupremeGoddess. It lays down the template for all thosewho believe in the Absolute Power of theMother Goddess, crossing borders from Tantrato Mantra, from Devi Bhagwat Purana to YoginiHridya Tantra, right down to the popularGrama Devi in a village to the Kula Devi of aRajput clan.

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We are at our wits end as no end to the pandemicappears to be in sight. Return to normalcy appearsto be a shifting goal post something like a mirage

on the highways in a hot summer afternoon. The society iswitnessing all kinds of negative emotions reigning overhuman thinking. Depression is on the rise. Aggression is onthe rise. Fear and anxiety are on the rise. Human responseis completely clueless. With jobs disappearing, careers jeop-ardised and businesses vanishing, talks of positive thinkingappear hollow. Rather a gimmick of a few who have the sup-port system to hold the fort. But can something be done aboutit. No not about Corona. That will take its own course andhopefully it has covered most of its journey. In the times ofdistress, frustration can take many forms, from most unde-sirable behaviours too weird responses. However, thesource of all this is not Corona. Coronavirus is what it is.The problem is how we perceive corona and its consequences.It is the perceived world that is the real world and the prob-lem lies in how we perceive Corona. So tempering the per-ception is the answer. But the source of this perception isthe mind which is giving all kinds of warning signals andanxious moments. We can take a cue from the definition ofBhram or illusion as described in Indian philosophy. Thefamous rope and snake illusion. If you see a snake and believeit’s a rope your response will be as if it’s a rope. On the otherhand if you see a rope and believe it’s a snake you will behavelike you do when you see a snake. To sum it up then the per-ception of Corona is like that. For some it is like snake sothey are over anxious and for some it is a rope, not to be both-ered at all. Both these positions are erroneous and the truthis somewhere in between. The solution lies in mind man-agement. But mind management is easier said than done.It is both a science and an art. In fact it is a practice and oneneeds a lot of training to do it. It is important to understandthe science first. We must realise that mind generates thou-sands of thoughts everyday, more distressful then the pleas-ant ones. The way out is to control that. One of the most pop-ular idioms explain the way to control the mind very sim-ply. An empty mind is a devils workshop. So the way out isengaging the mind constructively. That calls for the art. Thishas to be developed. By doing, by training. That is why prac-tice is important. Experience of calmness or agitation dependson the mind. To train the mind there is a need to reorientthe thought process. The greatest problem is in our assump-tion that we are entitled to a certain way of life. This is a con-ditioned state as we have taken many things for granted. Soeven the slightest disruption throws us out of gear. That wayCorona has become a major disruption. Naturally we arecompletely off balance. The mind needs to be reassured. Ourprevious generations have gone through even more difficulttimes, and the world did not come to an end. This time alsoit won’t. Just keep on counselling the mind to take things inits stride and think of ways to cope with the disruption. Itworks.

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In the sixteenth chapter of theBhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna statesthat there are two types of persons

in this world. These either possessdivine qualities or demonic qualities.Every person will have predominanceof either of the two. (16.6) We knowwhat divine qualities are: these are non-violence, truthfulness, not given toanger, modesty, etc. (16.2) The demon-ic qualities are: deceitful behaviour,arrogance, anger, etc. (16.4) Demons,having little intelligence, take birth tocause harm to the world. (16.9)

So, we, having divine qualities,must protect ourselves from thesedemonic characters. Consider whathappened during the Mahabharat era.Evil forces led by Duryodhan and com-pany came to power. Pandavas — therightful occupants of the throne wereousted. In the same period, Kansa —a demon was wrecking havoc on goodpeople and there was no check on him.God incarnated as Lord Krishna andset the matter right. However, Goddoes not incarnate so frequently. Then,what are we to do? In the present times,many despots have managed to takecontrol of their nations. What shouldtheir citizens do? Good people in thesecountries must come together to pro-tect themselves, and, if possible, bringchange in the government as and whenthere is a opportune moment.

Let me explain this philosophy ofcoming together. I will cite my ownexample. I don’t like many things whichhappen in the country, but that doesnot prevent me from protecting myselffrom evil forces. I try to associate withmostly good people. Fortunately forme, my family consists of really goodsouls; I couldn’t have asked for better.As far as relatives go, I am very care-

ful in choosing with whom I associate.I try to maintain close relationshipswith only the really good ones. For oth-ers, my rule is to be strictly formal withthem, i.e. what is the minimumrequired. Going further, I worship“Shanideva”, as advised by myastrologer, and I do so quite serious-ly. Gaining favour of gods and goddess-es is also important for me. I worship“Durga Ma” by chanting a particularmantra suggested by my spiritualfriend. All these getting together withgood people, “grahas” and gods andgoddesses is very satisfactory. However,I still felt a lot of vacuum.

Over a period of many decades, Ihave realised that this vacuum can onlybe filled by God. Only He, the omnipo-tent, can help in certain circum-stances; only He, the omniscient, canguide me in the most difficult situa-tions; only He, the omnipresent, can beavailable to me at all times; and onlyHe, the Master of the universe, can pro-

vide whatever I need, whenever I need. Additionally, I have realised that

God is forever watching all of us; hear-ing whatever we say; and being awareof what we are thinking. And the pur-pose is simply to help, guide andreward in order to encourage us goodpeople; the task of punishing is with thedivine authorities. It took me quitesome time to fully realise the fact thatGod, who is everything (7.19) hastaken this duty upon Himself. This istrue as realised by many. Due to thisfact, I can live peacefully; I feel securein spite of presence of many negativeforces. I am so gratified that I spendfifteen minutes daily prior to going tosleep thanking the Lord for variousthings. The underlying emotion is:God, we have you. Without your pres-ence I or anyone cannot gain peace,bliss or sense of security. Thank Godthat you are very much with us.������������ ����� ���������(���������

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Asoul is sent to a life in thehuman body for a certainperiod of time. When thesoul inhabits a body, thesoul is still a part of God

and is still one with God. The soul,however, is now overpowered by pow-erful forces, such as the mind, the bodyand the outer world, which cause thesoul, over time, to forget itself. The soulslowly begins to identify itself with thebody and mind and world outside. Itsuddenly begins to think that it canonly receive information from theouter world through the senses. Thusthe soul has become attuned to onlyone channel — the channel of theworld.

If we think about our life aswatching a television programme, wehave multiple choices as to what towatch. Just as there are a dozen net-work stations and then dozens if nothundreds of cable stations from whichto choose, so, too, there are many activ-ities in this world that we can engagein.

Now, let us take a look at the otherchoices available to us. This physicalplanet is not a separate offshoot from

all of creation and God. Most religionsbelieve that there are higher regions orexistence to which the soul goes afterit dies. Scientists and doctors have triedto verify this by documenting accountsof people who were declared clinical-ly dead but had near-death experiencesand described something beyond thisworld. The question is, where are theserealms? They are not zones in outerspace delineated by borders. All theserealms exist concurrently with this one.The reason we are not aware of themis because they operate on a differentfrequency or vibration.

The saints and mystics tell us thatwe have the choice to either stay tunedto this physical world, or to tune intothe channels of God. God wants us towatch God’s programming. God isavailable twenty-four hours of the day,three hundred sixty five days of a year.God’s programming does not turn offat three a.m. like some networks do.It is a free station broadcasting all thetime without any cable fees. We onlyneed to know how to tune into God’sstation.

The connection to God is nothard. It is just a matter of making the

choice that this is what we want to do.The steps to do this are simple. � Step one is to stop identifying withthe body, mind, and world outside, andidentify with the soul. � Step two requires that when we iden-tify with our soul that we shift ourattention to the frequency or thehigher realms and ultimately to God.

That is all we have to do. God didnot make it hard for us to becomeaware of our true Home. It is we whohave made it complicated.

So how do we accomplish step oneand step two? To accomplish step one,we must withdraw our attention fromour body, mind, and the world outside.We must decide to turn off the outerprogramming. When that program-ming is in the off mode, then in thesilence we will experience ourselves assoul. That is the step that we call self-knowledge.

Once we identify with the soul, wewill be able to pick up frequencies thatthe soul is capable of receiving. We canmake a gradual shift in which we gofrom the consciousness of one regionto consciousness of the spiritualrealms.

In this process we are not goinganywhere physically; we are merelyshifting our attention from one stateof consciousness to the other. Theother state of consciousness does notexist in time or space. They are oper-ating concurrently. We are simultane-ously in the other realms and in Godat the same time but we are not awareof it because our attention is onlyfocused on one region-the physical.

So, for step one, if we meditateaccurately we will experience ourselvesas soul. Once we identify with the soul,then we will also be aware of the innerLight and Sound that is the radianceand vibratory sound of God within us.If we absorb ourselves in the Light andSound within, we can then attain steptwo. We can shift our attention into theLight and Sound, which attracts oursoul to higher levels of vibration.

It is simply a matter of choosingwhere we want to put our attention.This is the simplicity of spirituality.God did not make things complicat-ed. It is simple, we just have to chooseto transplant the flower of our atten-tion from the world into God’s garden.

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����������������������A typical feature in each

Shakti Peetha is the presence ofa manifestation of Shiva in theform of Bhairava. Sati, whosebody parts create the ShaktiPeethas, is married to the pri-mordial god, Shiva. However,the Shakti Peethas are complet-ed with a Bhairava shrine with-in the complex.

In each of the 51 ShaktiPeethas, Shiva meditates asBhairava. Each of the Bhairavashave their own unique iconog-raphy and indicators. Tounderstand the cult of Bhairavaand the different forms ofBhairavas, it is important tounderstand the origin, markers,manifestations, representationsand expressions of theBhairavas.

The fierce form of Shiva isBhairava, who himself hasmany manifestations. He iseven present in Buddhist andJaina iconographies. InVajrayana Buddhism, he isknown as the BodhisattvaMajushri, Heruka,Vajrabhairava and Yamantaka.

Bhairava is also known asthe wandering form of Shiva-the fearful form who is theannihilator. As MahakaalBhairava, he is the keeper oftime. As Dandapani, he holds adanda/rod to punish the sin-ners. And as Swaswas, he is onewhose mount or vehicle is adog.

Bhairava moves into therealm of the tantric and withhis consort Bhairavi. In this,he is prayed to at midnightduring which time, the couplegive darshan to their faithfuldevotees. It is believed thatthere are 64 Bhairavas, whoare divided into eight cate-gories, known asAstabhairavas, the guardiansof the eight directions. Theyare Asithaanga Bhairava, RuruBhairava, Chanda Bhairava,Krodha Bhairava, UnmatthaBhairava, Kapaala Bhairava,

Bheeshana Bhairava andSamhaara Bhairava.

The Bhairavas are ruled andcontrolled by the MahaKaalbhairava, or Kaalbhairava,who as per the Shaivite tantrictexts, is also the supreme ruler ofthe world. In the Trikha system,Bhairava as Para Brahman isalso the supreme reality.

Along with Ganesha andHanuman, the two most populargods of the Hindu pantheon, theMother Goddess or Maa is pre-sent in every home in the formof the domestic mother herself. I

would like to end with a shlokafrom Devi Upanishad where thecomplement of man and womanin the form of Shiv and Shakti isexpressed, which is also the baseof the Samkhya Philosophy:

‘It is only when Shiva uniteswith thee, O Shakti, that hebecomes the all-powerful Lord.Left to himself, he lacks even thestrength to raise his little finger.’

Excerpted with permissionfrom Shakti: 51 Sacred Peethasof the Goddess by Alka Pande,

Rupa, �295

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������@���"�� &���4����������+���4���EThe Syrian Civil War start-

ed as a non-violent upris-ing in the middle of March2011. Today it is a full-fledgedwar which involves severalnations and world’s prominentjehadi outfits such as IslamicState (ISIS), al-Qaeda andsplinter groups of these twomainstream groups. However,the Baathist Syrian ArabRepublic headed by PresidentBashar al-Assad has survived adecade in power despite mili-tary challenges from all cornersof the country.

Estimates emerging fromvarious human rights agenciesand independent media reportssay that by end of Decemberlast year, the death toll in thewar was between 3,87,000 and5,93,000. The UN reports thatmore than 5.6 million havealready fled the country andover 6 million have been inter-nally displaced so far.

Although many complexevents pushed the Syrians intothis war, one that stands out isthe historic Arab Spring, start-ed in the early months of 2011.This 21st century movementmainly inspired by digital plat-forms across North Africathrough the West Asia finallytriggered the uprising in Syria.But then quickly, the ArabSpring had turned into massgathering in the form of non-violent protests against theauthoritarian and family-ruledregimes in all these countries.

In Syria, in the month ofMarch, 15 schoolchildren werearrested and tortured for writ-ing graffiti which was rightlyinspired by the Arab Spring.One of the boys was killed aswell. The arrest of these school-children sparked outrage acrossSyria. Soon after, people cameout on the road and demand-ed the release of all the childrenand raised slogans for basicfreedoms for all in the country.The Assad regime respondedby killing many protesters andthis led to the demand for hisresignation by the demonstra-tors. Subsequently, the clashesbroke out between the massesand the supporters of theGovernment. This graduallyspiralled into the full-blownwar, what the whole world iswitnessing today, involving ter-ror groups of various nations ofthe world. But at its heart, theconflict highlights the tragicShia-Sunni divide among theMuslims in the entire region.

The failure of the UN-ledefforts to bring the warringparties to the negotiation tablelast month in Geneva has once

again brought war clouds overthis West Asian nation. TheUnited Nations should take thelead and restart the Genevaprocess. So far, the UN strate-gies have broadly failed forSyria. If it moves in the samedirection, can it be so that theorganisation is complicit inthe crimes committed by theAssad regime?

Now, what America isdoing to bring peace to Syria isthat it is back again. The latestAmerican strike in Syria hassignalled President Joe Biden’snew war game in West Asia.

The so-called messenger ofpeace and reunion of Americabadly divided by formerPresident Donald Trump,Biden is now targeting Iran-backed militias in Syria. Hisadministration is justifying theattack as the missile sallies aredirected towards rebels that arepropping up the Assad regime.The US Air Forces dropped500-hundred-pound jointdirect attack munitions at acrossing used by Iranianbacked groups reportedly

killing 17. The particulargroups hit by the limited USstrike are Kataib Hezbollahand Kataib Syyaid al-Shuhada.Meanwhile, Deniss Ross, a for-mer Senior US official andWest Asian expert, says theattack was designed to showthat there would be a militaryresponse if US forces were tar-geted, or the militias continuedto strike. The Assad adminis-tration was quick to remindBiden that the Americanattacks were a cowardly act andurged Biden not to follow thelaw of the jungle.

The country’s ForeignMinistry condemned the attackon areas in Deir al-Zor, nearthe Syrian-Iraqi border. Thestatement released by theMinistry highlighted thatBiden Administration is sup-posed to stick to internationallegitimacy, not to the law of thejungle as did by the previousadministration.

It’s really ironic that Bidenand Harris, the duo is repeat-ing what once Trump simplydid. When Trump ordered a

strike on Iran in 2019, Bidensharply reacted and tried tooffer a sermon to him:“Trump’s erratic, impulsiveactions are the last things weneed as Commander-in-Chief.No President should order amilitary strike without fullyunderstanding the conse-quences. We do not needanother war in the MiddleEast, but Trump’s actionstoward Iran only make thatlikely.”

And what Biden is doingnow? He knows very well howan American Presidentresponds to the crisis zones inthe “Middle East”. Precisely,nothing has changed inWashington, except the mangiving orders. What Obamadid, Trump followed and nowBiden is taking it forward.America clearly has no strate-gy for the West Asia and NorthAfrican (WANA) region. Itspolicy towards the region isoutdated and dangerous. It’smeddling carelessly with Iraq,Iran and Syria. Washington hasno coherent policy to deal

with Tehran, Damascus andBaghdad. So obviously, findingout a solution for the Syrianwar demands a new approachwith a purely humanitarianconcern.

Only with the collectiveefforts of the US, Russia, Iranand Turkey, peace can bebrought to war-torn Syria.Biden’s engagement with Putin,Erdogan, Rouhani andKadhimi (Iraq) would matterthe most in bringing a perma-nent solution to the chaos inSyria. That is why the stabilityin West Asia demands morethan a deal with Iran fromWashington. The experts andpolicy practitioners opine thatregional issues in this part ofAsia could no way be compre-hensively addressed.

They all agree that Iranwould no way concede its sus-tained support for regionalproxies and halt its ballisticmissile programme in the nearfuture. It is widely felt that iso-lating Iran was purely coun-terproductive. So to address,Tehran’s troublesome behav-

iour in the region, it is better tohandle each regional conflictthrough separate and parallelplatforms at the same time.

Why is Moscow equallyconcerned about the chaos inSyria? It is not only to save theembattled Assad regime, an oldally of Russia, but also to staveoff the growth of the Islamicterror in Russia. Hence, theSyrian conflict is not just a far-away battle for Putin regime.The life-time monarch is long-ing for stability at any cost. Heknows fully well that thejehadists may get enoughground for their subversivemodels in his vast country. Ofcourse, this might alter Putin’slong-term strategies to keep theopposition and western pres-sure at bay. His regime is notbest equipped to counter theISIS, the way it is raging its uglyhead in the WANA region.Russia’s relationship with Syriadates back to 1950s and theCold War. In those days, theUSSR used to train the topbrass of the Syrian military.

What lies ahead in Syria?

By 2020, the Syrian civiliansfaced another year confrontinglife-threatening challenges. It isall about their survival as all ofthem are fighting for basicamenities such as food andmedicines.

However, the last year sawthe discernible decrease in vio-lent conflicts across the coun-try. But this does not mean thatwarring groups are retreating.No single rebel group is con-sidering withdrawing from thewar zones. The reason behindis that all these groups arebacked by strong allies and theywant to pursue the war till thefall of the Assad Government.

The Human Rights Watchnotes, “With the unprecedent-ed depreciation of nationalcurrency, the imposition offurther international sanctionsand crises in neighboringcountries, the Syrian economywent into freefall for much of2020. For ordinary Syrians,this translated into an inabili-ty to procure food, essentialdrugs, and other basic neces-sities. As a result, more than 9.3million Syrians have becomefood insecure and over 80 percent of Syrians live below thepoverty line.”

This correctly reflects thesituation on the ground andinsurmountable challengesfaced by the millions who arecaught between warring zones.

Only way to solve theimbroglio in Syria is to estab-lish a UN-backed transitionalregime and pressurise Assad tostep down. A presidential elec-tion is meant to be takingplace in Syria this summer. Itwould be a total disregard tomillions of those who are suf-fering and a sham on globalgovernance platforms such asthe UN. The world body is nottalking anything about this.And it is abandoning theGeneva peace process.

In fact, the SyriaConstitutional Committee thatdemands a political processwould be useless if the UN doesnot stop the upcoming presi-dential poll for Assad. Thiselection would offer full immu-nity and legitimacy to the tor-turous and autocratic regime inDamascus. It’s time to act.Ensure that no more civiliansdie. There is no need to securepeace when hardly anyone willbe there to share the joy of thesame. Washington should notemploy the old tactics to han-dle the dictators in WANA.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

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8����*��������������� ���)����!����������������The Covid-19 pandemic has

highlighted the value ofawareness on infectious dis-eases. Tuberculosis (TB) is aninfectious disease that needsour attention as much as theSARS-CoV2 because it affectsover 26.4 lakh Indians eachyear. An estimated 4.45 lakhIndians lose the battle to thisancient disease that is both pre-ventable and curable.

It has therefore beenextremely encouraging to seethe heightened commitmenttowards TB elimination fromthe highest levels ofGovernment leadership. Sincethe announcement by thePrime Minister to eliminate TBby 2025, five years ahead of theUN Sustainable DevelopmentGoal target, at the End TBSummit in New Delhi in 2018,comprehensive plans have beendeveloped to achieve this goal.

The launch of the NationalStrategic Plan (NSP) for TBElimination introduced piv-otal interventions, including afour-fold increase in funding,launch of private sector engage-ment to improve access to careas well as initiation of socialsupport schemes to supportpatients in completing theirtreatment. However, there isstill more to be done.

While the prioritisation ofTB at the national level hasbeen commendable, Statesmust sustain this momentumby effectively implementing

the policies and NSP interven-tions and ensuring optimumfund allocation and utilisa-tion.

The funding of the NTEPis divided on a 60:40 ratio,where 60 per cent of the totalfunding is provided by theCentral Government, and StateGovernments are expected tofund the remaining 40 per

cent. However, in addition tofund allocation, fund utilisationand efficient implementation ofthe programme at the Statelevel remains a challenge.

The Central TB Divisionhas developed a State TB Indexthat highlights the performanceof States based on targetsachieved, funds utilised, amongothers towards achieving the

goal of TB elimination. Whilesome States have made signif-icant progress towards thesegoals, with Gujarat, AndhraPradesh, Telangana and Kerala(among the large States) per-forming well on all indicators,including fund utilisation,many large States such as Bihar,Madhya Pradesh, and WestBengal still reflect poor fund

utilisation and thus have chal-lenges in the implementation ofthe programme. Another crit-ical challenge at the State levelremains the paucity of humanresources — with vacancies incritical positions required to befilled.

The other challenge thatthe programme faces is the lackof awareness about the disease

that negatively impacts healthseeking behaviour. In the pastyear, the pandemic has broughtabout a positive change inpeople and their appetite forinformation on health, therebygiving us an opportunity onthis positive behaviour to gen-erate awareness about TB.

The launch of the TBHarega Desh Jeetega campaignin 2014, with the country’sbiggest movie star AmitabhBachchan as the face of thecampaign, was a game chang-er at the national level.However, there is a need toamplify the campaign at all lev-els, including States, districts,blocks and villages, to improveaccess to information and gen-erate the demand for TB care.

Along with improvingcommunications for aware-ness generation, it is also crit-ical for the programme todirectly engage with the com-munity at all levels. Not only docommunity champions aid ingenerating awareness to des-tigmatise the disease, but theirvoices also serve as an impor-tant feedback mechanism forthe programme.

Under the NSP, theNational TB EliminationProgramme established TBforums at the State and districtlevels to bring to the fore com-munity voices, patient per-spectives and understandground-level challenges facedby patients in accessing care.

Continued and effective func-tioning of these forums willprovide the programme withindependent monitors whocan help in highlightinglocalised gaps that need to beaddressed. At the district lev-els, elected representatives canalso serve as independent mon-itors of the programme pro-viding oversight and aid inaddressing localised challengesto ensure effective implemen-tation.

The call for a Jan Andolanby Union Health Minister DrHarsh Vardhan is timely andaims to engage 1.3 billion peo-ple of this country to takeownership of the programmeand ensure we achieve the tar-get of a TB free India. It is cru-cial for the programme to takecue from this call to action andreflect the targets and initiativesthrough direct and relatablemessaging which will generateawareness among the people onwhere to seek treatments, whatincentives they are entitled to,and thereby improve healthseeking behaviours. It is onlywith the collective approach wewill be able to rid the countryof this deadly disease.

(The author is chairman,National Taskforce, NationalTB Elimination Programme,and Professor and former HoD,Department of PulmonaryMedicine, PGIMER,Chandigarh)

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Attaining the state of yoga is some-thing like a river stream mergingwith the ocean, when the river

water loses its own identity and becomesone with the sea. Having thus, struckupon the core of existence, mind realisesits wholesome power, when it has noth-ing more to explore. Similarly, duringyoga, the unitary mind gets dropped, andso too the sense of individualistic exis-tence, leaving no scope for any differenti-ation. So, one is at peace.

You may ask: If mind is devoid of anythought, what purpose would it serve?For, thoughts drive all actions on ourpart. Let me make it clear here thatattaining samadhi is not the end game. Itis a self-empowerment process, whichbrings into play full human potential,when one would know no limits. Also,mind regains its sense of orderliness,when all its functional constituents beginto spontaneously operate in coordinatedmanner. Mind then becomes free fromany preconditioning, when full mind-space becomes available. The scope ofvision thus expands to its optimum best.Intelligence gets sharpened. Armed assuch, mind explores the targeted subjectwith an open mind, and so is able to per-

ceive things in the right perspective, andaccordingly make right moves. In fact,you then look at things from the highestcentre of consciousness, whereuponnothing remains hidden from you.Intuitively, you may get to root of whatev-er is looked at.

The process does not end withsamadhi. Patanjali must have realised thedanger of those having attained samadhideveloping the tendency to get mentallydisinterested from the usual course of lifeand get stuck to an abstract imaginaryworld. But that is not the purpose ofsamadhi. We are not only supposed tojust improve our own lot, but also leadothers towards that end. And that will notbe possible if the seeker gets mentally cutoff from the living world. Accordingly,Patanjali suggested a backward integra-tion process, which he has termed as theprocess of samanvaya. It involves back-ward integration of samadhi, dhyana, anddharana. Having established in theprocess, when due attention is given to anissue and reflected upon, one may intu-itively get to the root of the subject inhand. Following which, one may be ableto spontaneously pick up the right lead.This is what in Kashmir Saivism is

termed as being in Sahaja Samadhi. Having thus discussed the concept of

Yoga, it is time now to get down to itsapplication. There are hundred and oddmethods of meditation in circulation, fol-lowed by various cultures all across.There is no fun in comparing and beingjudgmental about which one of them issuperior to other. For, as already experi-enced by Swami Ram KrishnaParamhansa, you may follow differentpaths, but at the end of the day, the samesense of love overtakes you. A fresherwould, however, be keen to know whatparticular mode of dhyana to follow.Experientially speaking, a three-courseprocess is suggested — Calming downthe Mind, Mind Detoxification andContextual Meditation — that run inconformity with the above laid principles.

Calming the Mind: A fresher, beforetaking up the Dhyana process, needs tofirst create a favourable inner mental cli-mate. The method calls for trying to rela-tively calm down the restive mind, flirt-ing with unwieldly thought crowd playingwithin in immediate terms, mostly incon-sequential and negative. Otherwise, thestate of mind would not be conducive topursue dhyana process in right earnest.

The method is simple, true to thecallings of Pratyahara. You need to liedown on your back in a relaxed posturewith no pillow support, preferably on ahard bed, in order that spinal-cordremains straight. Close your eyes. Allyour sensory instruments will naturallyget disengaged from the outer world andthereby waking state consciousness. Thesubconscious mind immediately comesinto full play, bringing into focus randomthoughts picked up in immediate pastthat would be playing at the surface level.Persistent desires and feelings too maykeep knocking your inner space.Evidently then, you will be flooded withthoughts, unnerving you from within.Allow the thoughts to naturally flow inand flow out. Continue the process for atleast 20 minutes. Don’t pay any attentionto the thoughts visiting you again andagain. Just train your mind to remain dis-engaged from them as a silent witness.Remember, only when you pay attentionthat you get affected. The irony, however,is that it is not easy to remain unaffected.

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D4 c`aVd Z_ 43: :3 a`]ZTV - Daily Pioneer

3;A cVeRZ_d FA 22A hcVded Af_[RS+ 6iZe a`]]d - Daily Pioneer

3;A cVeRZ_d FA 22A hcVded Af_[RS+ 6iZe a`]]d - Daily Pioneer

Differing scene in TS, AP - Daily Pioneer

Differing scene in TS, AP - Daily Pioneer

DaVR\Vc `fded "% ^`cV >=2d - Daily Pioneer

DaVR\Vc `fded "% ^`cV >=2d - Daily Pioneer

@aa 3;A WZXYe aZeTYVU SRee]V `_ 3R]R\`e - Daily Pioneer

@aa 3;A WZXYe aZeTYVU SRee]V `_ 3R]R\`e - Daily Pioneer

MODI'S ELECTION BLITZ FROM SPACE - Daily Pioneer

MODI'S ELECTION BLITZ FROM SPACE - Daily Pioneer

ARhRc deR_Ud Sj >RYR 9> - Daily Pioneer

ARhRc deR_Ud Sj >RYR 9> - Daily Pioneer

@5:¶D 6=64E:@? 3=:EK 7C@> DA246 - Daily Pioneer

@5:¶D 6=64E:@? 3=:EK 7C@> DA246 - Daily Pioneer

KTR wins Kitex for TS - Daily Pioneer

KTR wins Kitex for TS - Daily Pioneer

DA deZeTYZ_X R]]ZR_TVd e` eR\V `_ 3;A - Daily Pioneer

DA deZeTYZ_X R]]ZR_TVd e` eR\V `_ 3;A - Daily Pioneer

RfcjR DRZ_Z V^ScRTV DA - Daily Pioneer

RfcjR DRZ_Z V^ScRTV DA - Daily Pioneer

fff SPX[h_X^]TTa R^\ - Daily Pioneer

fff SPX[h_X^]TTa R^\ - Daily Pioneer

The Government has - Daily Pioneer

The Government has - Daily Pioneer

@aa RTeZgZeZVd aZT\ fa - Daily Pioneer

@aa RTeZgZeZVd aZT\ fa - Daily Pioneer

may go to jail: Javadekar - Daily Pioneer

may go to jail: Javadekar - Daily Pioneer

" ' = _Vh TRdVd Rd @^ZTc`_ dfcXVd - Daily Pioneer

" ' = _Vh TRdVd Rd @^ZTc`_ dfcXVd - Daily Pioneer

DBD0 - Daily Pioneer

DBD0 - Daily Pioneer

ICMR 'suspends' rapid test kits - Daily Pioneer

ICMR 'suspends' rapid test kits - Daily Pioneer

Floodwater level rises in Krishna - Daily Pioneer

Floodwater level rises in Krishna - Daily Pioneer