3R_\ dRjd JVd e` TYR`d - Daily Pioneer

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A s distress calls and long queues of customers were witnessed on Friday at various branches of the crisis-ridden Yes Bank whose control was seized by the RBI in a dramat- ic move late on Thursday, the Union Government rushed to assure depositors that their money is safe and the RBI has been asked to assess reasons for the crisis and fix responsibili- ties and resolve the crisis. Soon after, State Bank of India (SBI) decided to pick up 49 per cent stake in Yes Bank under a Government-approved bailout plan depositors’ money is safe. A day after the RBI capped withdrawals at 50,000 for the next one month and imposed strict limits on operations at the country’s fourth-largest pri- vate lender that faced “regular outflow of liquidity” after an effort to raise new capital failed, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “I want to assure every depositor that their money shall be safe. The steps taken are in the interest of depositors, banks and econ- omy. I am in continuous inter- action with the RBI. The RBI is fully seized of the matter and has assured they will give a quick resolution.” According to the RBI’s draft scheme of reconstruction for the crisis-hit lender announced on Friday, a strate- gic investor like SBI will have to pick up 49 per cent stake in Yes Bank and stay invested for at least three years. In its draft “Yes Bank Ltd. Reconstruction Scheme, 2020”, RBI said the strategic investor bank will have to pick up 49 per cent shareholding in the recon- structed bank at a price not less than 10 (Face value of 2) and premium of 8, and it cannot reduce holding to below 26 per cent before three years from the date of capital infusion. From the appointed date, the autho- rised capital of the private sec- tor bank would stand altered to 5,000 crore and number of equity shares to 2,400 crore having face value of 2 each, as per the RBI proposal. Earlier in the day, SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar, who met Sitharaman on Friday, said the resolution to the Yes Bank crisis will come “very shortly”. “This is not a sectoral problem. It is a bank-specific problem,” he said. Yes Bank’s RBI- appointed administrator Prashant Kumar, an ex-chief financial officer of SBI, said, “A solution is being worked upon to revive the Bank well before the moratorium period of thir- ty days ends.” Meanwhile concerns have been raised over the restruc- turing scheme for Yes Bank, which has 1,000 branches across the country. One of the biggest losers in case the RBI’s restructuring scheme for Yes Bank goes through will be the additional tier-I bond holders who have bets totalling to 10,800 crore on the lender. The investors in such instruments typically include mutual fund houses and bank treasuries, experts said. T he Government on Friday decided that employees under suspension or against whom sanction of prosecu- tion has been granted in cases of corruption will not be able to get a passport. The move follows a review of the existing guidelines by the Personnel Ministry, in con- sultation with the Central Vigilance Commission and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). It is required to check the vigilance clearance of such Government servants for grant of passport, said the order issued by the Personnel Ministry to secretaries of all Central Government departments. Accordingly, it has been decided that vigilance clear- ance can be withheld if an offi- cer is under suspension or a chargesheet has been filed in a court by the investigating agency in a criminal case, it said. The vigilance clearance for obtaining a passport can also be denied to employees after grant of sanction by the competent authority under the Prevention of Corruption Act or any other criminal matter and taken cog- nisance of by a court of law, the order added. All departments have been asked to check as to whether any provision of the Section 6(2) of the Passport Act, 1967 is attracted in case of employ- ees who are working under them while obtaining an Indian passport. Passports can also be refused in case a warrant or summons for appearance or a warrant for arrest of the applicant has been issued by a court under any law for the time being in force or that an order prohibiting the departure from India of the applicant has been made by any such court. F earing further explosion of coronavirus cases in the wake of rise in number from six to 31 this week in India, the Government and other author- ities continued the spree of cancelling various events. India’s total number of confirmed cases stands at 31, after a person from New Delhi with a history of travel from Thailand and Malaysia tested positive, an official from the Union Health Ministry said. His seven fami- ly members have been quaran- tined at their residence in west Delhi. The latest case is the third from the national Capital. As part of the precautionary drive, the Government announced curtailment of civil aviation show ‘Wings India 2020’ to be held in Hyderabad later this month. The authori- ties also banned use of biomet- ric system in all ministries and Central Government offices. Taking a cue, the CRPF and the BSF too cancelled official events to celebrate Holi festivi- ties. Also, daily retreat ceremo- ny at Attari-Wagah border in Punjab will be conducted with- out public presence due to coronavirus. Rashtrapati Bhawan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and various BJP leaders have already announced that they would not attend celebrations for the Holi festival. Modi has already can- celed travel plans to Brussels for an India-EU summit amid a ris- ing caseload in Belgium. The virus scare cast its shadow on the Bollywood too with the organisers of the International Indian Film Academy Awards, one the main ceremonies for the Bollywood film industry, announcing that they were postponing the event scheduled for later this month. The Lotus Makeup India Fashion Week (LMIFW), sched- uled to begin on March 11, too has been postponed. As a preventive measure, the upcoming combined shoot- ing World Cup in New Delhi too has been postponed, while an Olympic test event in Tokyo stands cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.The Government has asked people not to pay attention to false rumours that the novel coron- avirus was spreading through non-vegetarian food like eggs, chicken, mutton and seafood while the UGC has directed uni- versities to avoid large gather- ing in view of the coronavirus outbreak. Besides the fresh case detected on Friday, the 30 other positive cases include a 45- year-old man from Delhi’s Mayur Vihar and six of his rel- atives from Agra whom he had recently visited. Another is a Paytm employee who works in Gurgaon and lives in West Delhi. They are all being treat- ed at the Safdarjung hospital. A middle-aged man from Ghaziabad, who tested positive for the virus, is being treated at the Ram Manohar Lohia hos- pital in the national Capital. A 24-year-old man from Hyderabad, who has also test- ed positive for coronavirus, has been isolated. Besides, 16 mem- bers of a tourist group from Italy and their Indian guide have been found infected by the virus. While one Italian man and his wife are being treated at Jaipur’s SMS hospital, 14 mem- bers of the group and their Indian guide, who were quar- antined at the ITBP camp in Chhawla, have been admitted to the Medanta hospital in Gurgaon.Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that the Government is in discussions with Iranian authorities and a ferry flight, carrying around 300 swabs of Indians suspected to have coronavirus infection, from Tehran is coming to the national Capital. The plane, to be operated by Iran’s Mahan Air, would not have any passengers and Iranians in India would be taken back in its return journeyThe Government said a 13-member group of tourists from Italy are under scanner after they reached Amritsar for being possible carriers of coro- navirus while two employees of the Northern Railways have been sent to RML hospital for further treatment. Two cases reported to Northern Railway Central Hospital (NRCH) casualty ward on March 5, in whom there was a history of cough and fever. Since they had travelled abroad recently, they have been sent to RML Hospital. They are, how- ever, yet to be confirmed for COVID-19, said Dr Anand E Barla, nodal officer, ACHD/medicine/NRCH in a statement here on Friday. Till date, nearly 29,000 peo- ple have been put under sur- veillance, Harsh Vardhan said after holding a meeting here to review preparedness for man- aging coronavirus outbreak and stressed on the importance of states keeping quarantine facil- ities, isolation wards and testing labs in active readiness. The coronavirus, which can cause respiratory illness that can lead to pneumonia, emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. But it has now spread in numerous countries. Globally, there have been more than 100,000 cases and more than 3,400 deaths. Authorities are screening international travelers at 30 air- ports and have already tested more than 3,500 samples while the Indian Army is preparing at least five large-scale quarantine centres. Following the increase in load of screening samples from suspected cases with symptoms and travel history to the affect- ed countries, the Indian Council of medical Research (ICMR) has commissioned 51 laborato- ries for COVID-19 testing in the country. In addition, NCDC Delhi is also engaged in testing in its 57 laboratories which have an operational Real-Time PCR platform, said a statement here from the ICMR.Additionally, 56 DHR/ICMR VRDLs and 1 facil- ity at Leh have been designated to facilitate sample collection through government health authorities. Their role is to pro- vide collection material (swabs & viral transport media) and facilitate transport of samples to the nearest testing laboratory, said the statement. T hose who have already tucked away their winter clothings and brought out the summer wear hoping of warm weather around Holi should rethink as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that a slight cold spell will continue till March 15-18. Due to intense western disturbance over south-west Afghanistan, country’s Western Himalayan region, north, east and north-east, and north- west expanse on Friday wit- nessed heavy rain accompanied by lightening hail and gusty winds. Widespread rain lashed several parts of Punjab and Haryana on Friday, triggering fear among farmers about dam- age to wheat crop. Arrival and departure of several flights were affected at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport. The IMD also predicted formation of fresh western dis- turbance which will affect the western Himalayan region and plains of northwest India from March 10 to 14. Kuldeep Srivastava, head of regional meteorological centre at the IMD, said the wet spell that hit the region is due to a western disturbance.“Four western dis- turbances are witnessed in March. Therefore, it is raining,” Srivastava said. “From the rem- nants of systems in westerlies, scattered to fairly widespread rain / thundershowers also occurred over east & Northeast India,” he added. Rain also lashed the national Capital all through the day on Friday, affecting traffic movement with visibility drop- ping considerably in the after- noon due to dense clouds. Rain over the last two days has brought the mercury down. The city recorded a mini- mum temperature of 12 degrees Celsius on Friday morning. The maximum tem- perature is likely to settle at 22 degrees Celsius. According to Srivastava, Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), and parts of the north- ern plains could see thunder- storms and gusty winds till Saturday. Scientists are expect- ing it to be one of the most intense western disturbances seen so far this year, and added that it will bring widespread snowfall to the hills and rain to the plains. The western disturbance is currently over south-west Afghanistan. Under its influ- ence, an induced low pressure area has formed over south- west Rajasthan. In addition, there is high moisture feeding from Arabian Sea at lower and mid tropospheric levels over north-west India. Due to it, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, parts of north Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, north Odisha and west Bengal, Sikkim and Uttarakhand will witness fair- ly widespread to widespread rain and snowfall on March 7. The situation will remain the same on March 8. The IMD said scattered to fairly widespread rainm, thun- dershowers could also occur over northeastern States (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura) between March 7 and 8. Also, the IMD predicted rain and thunderstorm in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, interior Karnataka, Kerala, interior Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh mainly between March 7 and 8. Western disturbances are storms that originate over the Mediterranean region and which typically hit India in winter, bringing rain. According to the IMD, 22 western disturbances have occurred this year. Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh said rains are not good at this stage and it will certainly affect yield of wheat crop. A ll Government and private hospitals in southwest Delhi have been directed to reserve 10 per cent beds for coronavirus patients, according to an official order issued on Friday. Southwest Delhi District Magistrate Rahul Singh on Friday issued the order, asking all Government and private hospitals to create such facili- ty for COVID-19 patients. “As you are aware that there is an emergency situation of COVID-19 in Delhi. Therefore, all Government and private hospitals need to create the facility of isolation beds for COVID-19 patients, that is 10 per cent of the total bed capac- ity of all Government and pri- vate hospitals under SWD,” the order stated. So far, 31 people have test- ed positive for coronavirus in India, according to the Union Health Ministry. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said anganwadis have been closed in view of the coro- navirus scare. The Government child- care centres have been closed from Friday, he added. North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) has also decided to set up separate wards for the deadly disease at four hospitals run by it. The civic body has already set up a separate ward with 14 beds for coronavirus patients at the Bara Hindurao Hospital.The Delhi Government has also consti- tuted a State-level task force to deal with the coronavirus in the national Capital. Bhubaneswar: Devotees of Lord Jagannath and priests at the centuries-old temple in Puri are worried following RBI restrictions on Yes Bank where 545 crore is deposited in the deity’s name. PTI Tirupati: Authorities at the richest temple here withdrew 1,300 crore from crisis-hit Yes Bank in October. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams , which manages the affairs of Tirumala temple, on Friday said the withdrawal in October and it had nothing to do with the cri- sis in the bank. IANS Cuttack: An Irishman, sus- pected of being infected with coronavirus, fled from a hos- pital on Thursday but was traced to a hotel in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, where he has been kept in isolation with another person with whom he had come into con- tact, officials said. PTI Kanpur: In a bizarre case, a policeman allegedly faked coro- navirus infection for his failure to record the statement of a molestation victim. The matter came to light after an audio clip in which the cop, identified as sub-inspector Ram Sevak, who was deployed at Chakeri police station in Kanpur, was heard saying that he suffered from coronavirus infection. PTI

Transcript of 3R_\ dRjd JVd e` TYR`d - Daily Pioneer

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As distress calls and longqueues of customers were

witnessed on Friday at variousbranches of the crisis-riddenYes Bank whose control wasseized by the RBI in a dramat-ic move late on Thursday, theUnion Government rushed toassure depositors that theirmoney is safe and the RBI hasbeen asked to assess reasons forthe crisis and fix responsibili-ties and resolve the crisis.

Soon after, State Bank ofIndia (SBI) decided to pick up49 per cent stake in Yes Bankunder a Government-approvedbailout plan depositors’ moneyis safe.

A day after the RBI cappedwithdrawals at �50,000 for thenext one month and imposedstrict limits on operations at thecountry’s fourth-largest pri-vate lender that faced “regularoutflow of liquidity” after aneffort to raise new capital failed,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said, “I want toassure every depositor thattheir money shall be safe. The

steps taken are in the interestof depositors, banks and econ-omy. I am in continuous inter-action with the RBI. The RBIis fully seized of the matter andhas assured they will give aquick resolution.”

According to the RBI’sdraft scheme of reconstructionfor the crisis-hit lenderannounced on Friday, a strate-gic investor like SBI will haveto pick up 49 per cent stake inYes Bank and stay invested for

at least three years. In its draft“Yes Bank Ltd. ReconstructionScheme, 2020”, RBI said thestrategic investor bank willhave to pick up 49 per centshareholding in the recon-structed bank at a price not lessthan �10 (Face value of �2) andpremium of �8, and it cannotreduce holding to below 26 percent before three years from thedate of capital infusion. Fromthe appointed date, the autho-rised capital of the private sec-

tor bank would stand altered to�5,000 crore and number ofequity shares to 2,400 crorehaving face value of �2 each, asper the RBI proposal.

Earlier in the day, SBIChairman Rajnish Kumar, whomet Sitharaman on Friday, saidthe resolution to the Yes Bankcrisis will come “very shortly”.“This is not a sectoral problem.It is a bank-specific problem,”he said. Yes Bank’s RBI-appointed administratorPrashant Kumar, an ex-chieffinancial officer of SBI, said, “Asolution is being worked uponto revive the Bank well before

the moratorium period of thir-ty days ends.”

Meanwhile concerns havebeen raised over the restruc-turing scheme for Yes Bank,which has 1,000 branchesacross the country.

One of the biggest losers incase the RBI’s restructuringscheme for Yes Bank goesthrough will be the additionaltier-I bond holders who havebets totalling to �10,800 croreon the lender. The investors insuch instruments typicallyinclude mutual fund housesand bank treasuries, expertssaid.

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The Government on Fridaydecided that employees

under suspension or againstwhom sanction of prosecu-tion has been granted in casesof corruption will not be ableto get a passport.

The move follows a reviewof the existing guidelines by thePersonnel Ministry, in con-sultation with the CentralVigilance Commission and the Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA).

It is required to check thevigilance clearance of suchGovernment servants for grantof passport, said the orderissued by the PersonnelMinistry to secretaries of all Central Governmentdepartments.

Accordingly, it has beendecided that vigilance clear-ance can be withheld if an offi-cer is under suspension or achargesheet has been filed in acourt by the investigatingagency in a criminal case, it said.

The vigilance clearance forobtaining a passport can also bedenied to employees after grantof sanction by the competentauthority under the Preventionof Corruption Act or any othercriminal matter and taken cog-

nisance of by a court of law, theorder added.

All departments have beenasked to check as to whetherany provision of the Section6(2) of the Passport Act, 1967is attracted in case of employ-ees who are working underthem while obtaining an Indianpassport.

Passports can also berefused in case a warrant orsummons for appearance ora warrant for arrest of theapplicant has been issued bya court under any law for thetime being in force or that anorder prohibiting the departurefrom India of the applicant hasbeen made by any such court.

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Fearing further explosion ofcoronavirus cases in the

wake of rise in number from sixto 31 this week in India, theGovernment and other author-ities continued the spree ofcancelling various events. India’stotal number of confirmed casesstands at 31, after a person fromNew Delhi with a history oftravel from Thailand andMalaysia tested positive, anofficial from the Union HealthMinistry said. His seven fami-ly members have been quaran-tined at their residence in westDelhi. The latest case is the thirdfrom the national Capital.

As part of the precautionarydrive, the Governmentannounced curtailment of civilaviation show ‘Wings India2020’ to be held in Hyderabadlater this month. The authori-ties also banned use of biomet-ric system in all ministries andCentral Government offices.

Taking a cue, the CRPF andthe BSF too cancelled officialevents to celebrate Holi festivi-ties. Also, daily retreat ceremo-ny at Attari-Wagah border inPunjab will be conducted with-out public presence due tocoronavirus.

Rashtrapati Bhawan, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andvarious BJP leaders have alreadyannounced that they would notattend celebrations for the Holifestival. Modi has already can-celed travel plans to Brussels foran India-EU summit amid a ris-ing caseload in Belgium.

The virus scare cast itsshadow on the Bollywood toowith the organisers of theInternational Indian FilmAcademy Awards, one the mainceremonies for the Bollywoodfilm industry, announcing thatthey were postponing the eventscheduled for later this month.The Lotus Makeup IndiaFashion Week (LMIFW), sched-uled to begin on March 11, toohas been postponed.

As a preventive measure,the upcoming combined shoot-ing World Cup in New Delhitoo has been postponed, whilean Olympic test event in Tokyostands cancelled due to thecoronavirus outbreak.TheGovernment has asked people

not to pay attention to falserumours that the novel coron-avirus was spreading throughnon-vegetarian food like eggs,chicken, mutton and seafoodwhile the UGC has directed uni-versities to avoid large gather-ing in view of the coronavirusoutbreak.

Besides the fresh casedetected on Friday, the 30 otherpositive cases include a 45-year-old man from Delhi’sMayur Vihar and six of his rel-atives from Agra whom he hadrecently visited. Another is aPaytm employee who works inGurgaon and lives in WestDelhi. They are all being treat-ed at the Safdarjung hospital.

A middle-aged man fromGhaziabad, who tested positivefor the virus, is being treated atthe Ram Manohar Lohia hos-pital in the national Capital. A24-year-old man fromHyderabad, who has also test-ed positive for coronavirus, hasbeen isolated. Besides, 16 mem-bers of a tourist group from Italyand their Indian guide havebeen found infected by thevirus.

While one Italian man andhis wife are being treated atJaipur’s SMS hospital, 14 mem-bers of the group and theirIndian guide, who were quar-antined at the ITBP camp inChhawla, have been admitted tothe Medanta hospital inGurgaon.Health Minister HarshVardhan said that theGovernment is in discussionswith Iranian authorities and aferry flight, carrying around 300swabs of Indians suspected tohave coronavirus infection,from Tehran is coming to thenational Capital.

The plane, to be operated byIran’s Mahan Air, would nothave any passengers andIranians in India would betaken back in its returnjourneyThe Government said a13-member group of touristsfrom Italy are under scannerafter they reached Amritsar forbeing possible carriers of coro-navirus while two employees ofthe Northern Railways havebeen sent to RML hospital forfurther treatment.

Two cases reported toNorthern Railway CentralHospital (NRCH) casualty wardon March 5, in whom there wasa history of cough and fever.Since they had travelled abroadrecently, they have been sent toRML Hospital. They are, how-ever, yet to be confirmed forCOVID-19, said Dr Anand EBarla, nodal officer,ACHD/medicine/NRCH in astatement here on Friday.

Till date, nearly 29,000 peo-ple have been put under sur-veillance, Harsh Vardhan saidafter holding a meeting here toreview preparedness for man-aging coronavirus outbreak andstressed on the importance ofstates keeping quarantine facil-ities, isolation wards and testinglabs in active readiness.

The coronavirus, whichcan cause respiratory illnessthat can lead to pneumonia,emerged in the central Chinesecity of Wuhan late last year. Butit has now spread in numerouscountries. Globally, there havebeen more than 100,000 casesand more than 3,400 deaths.

Authorities are screeninginternational travelers at 30 air-ports and have already testedmore than 3,500 samples whilethe Indian Army is preparing atleast five large-scale quarantinecentres.

Following the increase inload of screening samples fromsuspected cases with symptomsand travel history to the affect-ed countries, the Indian Councilof medical Research (ICMR)has commissioned 51 laborato-ries for COVID-19 testing in thecountry.

In addition, NCDC Delhiis also engaged in testing in its57 laboratories which have anoperational Real-Time PCRplatform, said a statement herefrom the ICMR.Additionally, 56DHR/ICMR VRDLs and 1 facil-ity at Leh have been designatedto facilitate sample collectionthrough government healthauthorities. Their role is to pro-vide collection material (swabs& viral transport media) andfacilitate transport of samples tothe nearest testing laboratory,said the statement.

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Those who have alreadytucked away their winter

clothings and brought out thesummer wear hoping of warmweather around Holi shouldrethink as the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) has predicted that aslight cold spell will continuetill March 15-18.

Due to intense westerndisturbance over south-westAfghanistan, country’s WesternHimalayan region, north, eastand north-east, and north-west expanse on Friday wit-nessed heavy rain accompaniedby lightening hail and gustywinds. Widespread rain lashedseveral parts of Punjab andHaryana on Friday, triggeringfear among farmers about dam-age to wheat crop.

Arrival and departure ofseveral flights were affected at

Delhi’s Indira GandhiInternational airport.

The IMD also predictedformation of fresh western dis-turbance which will affect the

western Himalayan region andplains of northwest India fromMarch 10 to 14. KuldeepSrivastava, head of regionalmeteorological centre at the

IMD, said the wet spell that hitthe region is due to a westerndisturbance.“Four western dis-turbances are witnessed inMarch. Therefore, it is raining,”

Srivastava said. “From the rem-nants of systems in westerlies,scattered to fairly widespreadrain / thundershowers alsooccurred over east & NortheastIndia,” he added.

Rain also lashed thenational Capital all through theday on Friday, affecting trafficmovement with visibility drop-ping considerably in the after-noon due to dense clouds.Rain over the last two days has brought the mercurydown.

The city recorded a mini-mum temperature of 12degrees Celsius on Fridaymorning. The maximum tem-perature is likely to settle at 22degrees Celsius. According toSrivastava, Delhi and theNational Capital Region(NCR), and parts of the north-ern plains could see thunder-storms and gusty winds tillSaturday. Scientists are expect-

ing it to be one of the mostintense western disturbancesseen so far this year, and addedthat it will bring widespreadsnowfall to the hills and rain tothe plains.

The western disturbance iscurrently over south-westAfghanistan. Under its influ-ence, an induced low pressurearea has formed over south-west Rajasthan. In addition,there is high moisture feedingfrom Arabian Sea at lower andmid tropospheric levels overnorth-west India. Due to it,Jammu & Kashmir andLadakh, Himachal Pradesh,parts of north Chhattisgarh,Bihar, Jharkhand, north Odishaand west Bengal, Sikkim andUttarakhand will witness fair-ly widespread to widespreadrain and snowfall on March 7.The situation will remain thesame on March 8.

The IMD said scattered to

fairly widespread rainm, thun-dershowers could also occurover northeastern States(Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Meghalaya and Nagaland,Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura)between March 7 and 8.

Also, the IMD predictedrain and thunderstorm inAndhra Pradesh, Telangana,interior Karnataka, Kerala,interior Maharashtra andMadhya Pradesh mainlybetween March 7 and 8.

Western disturbances arestorms that originate over theMediterranean region andwhich typically hit India inwinter, bringing rain.According to the IMD, 22western disturbances haveoccurred this year. BhartiyaKisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan)general secretary SukhdevSingh said rains are not goodat this stage and it will certainlyaffect yield of wheat crop.

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All Government and privatehospitals in southwest Delhi

have been directed to reserve 10per cent beds for coronaviruspatients, according to an officialorder issued on Friday.

Southwest Delhi DistrictMagistrate Rahul Singh onFriday issued the order, askingall Government and privatehospitals to create such facili-ty for COVID-19 patients.

“As you are aware thatthere is an emergency situationof COVID-19 in Delhi.

Therefore, all Government andprivate hospitals need to createthe facility of isolation beds forCOVID-19 patients, that is 10per cent of the total bed capac-ity of all Government and pri-vate hospitals under SWD,”the order stated.

So far, 31 people have test-ed positive for coronavirus inIndia, according to the UnionHealth Ministry.

Meanwhile, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onFriday said anganwadis havebeen closed in view of the coro-navirus scare.

The Government child-care centres have been closedfrom Friday, he added.

North Delhi MunicipalCorporation (NMC) has alsodecided to set up separatewards for the deadly disease atfour hospitals run by it.

The civic body has alreadyset up a separate ward with 14beds for coronavirus patients atthe Bara HinduraoHospital.The DelhiGovernment has also consti-tuted a State-level task force todeal with the coronavirus in thenational Capital.

Bhubaneswar: Devotees ofLord Jagannath and priests atthe centuries-old temple inPuri are worried following RBIrestrictions on Yes Bank where�545 crore is deposited in thedeity’s name. PTI

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���������������� � �� ���������������� ��Tirupati: Authorities at the

richest temple here withdrew�1,300 crore from crisis-hitYes Bank in October. TirumalaTirupati Devasthanams , whichmanages the affairs of Tirumalatemple, on Friday said thewithdrawal in October and ithad nothing to do with the cri-sis in the bank. IANS

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��"$�/�'�$($��# ���!�����!���$��$�" ��,�!�('���'�)�� �"'�"$��� "�'Cuttack: An Irishman, sus-pected of being infected withcoronavirus, fled from a hos-pital on Thursday but wastraced to a hotel inBhubaneswar, Odisha, wherehe has been kept in isolationwith another person withwhom he had come into con-tact, officials said. PTI

-.�)'�! �"�����������(�"��� ���������(���� ��(�����! ���������Kanpur: In a bizarre case, apoliceman allegedly faked coro-navirus infection for his failureto record the statement of amolestation victim. The mattercame to light after an audio clipin which the cop, identified assub-inspector Ram Sevak, whowas deployed at Chakeri policestation in Kanpur, was heardsaying that he suffered fromcoronavirus infection. PTI

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While many private insti-tutions are frequently

submitting the property tax inMunicipal Corporation ofDehradun (MCD), severalGovernment institutions havenot done the same so far.

Property tax is one of theimportant revenue sources forthe MCD, especially the prop-erty tax on non-residentialbuildings. The non-residentialproperties generate a lot morerevenue than residential prop-erties and contribute substan-tially to the overall collection ofthe property tax by the corpo-ration.

According to Dehradunmunicipal commissioner VinayShankar Pandey, the privateinstitutions are regularly sub-mitting the property tax where-as the management of very fewgovernment buildings hasactually deposited the tax. “Thecorporation is receiving moreproperty tax from private insti-tutions than from the govern-ment organisations.

Many private institutionshave deposited the property taxlike DIT University submittedRs 65 lakh, UttaranchalUniversity submitted Rs 45lakh and the Pacific Mall sub-mitted Rs five crore whereasthe property tax received from

the Government properties isnegligible so far. Property taxamounting Rs eight to ninecrore is pending from the gov-ernment organisations,” saidPandey. He also added thatafter the due date, penalty willbe imposed on the propertiesof the government organisa-tions too.

Besides, Pandey also con-firmed that the municipal cor-poration has revised the targetof Rs 50 crore which was ini-tially set at Rs 75 crore just toset the bar high for the team.Last month, MCD had issuednotices to about 92 govern-ment, semi-government andaided institutions of the city fol-lowing which some of themhave paid the property tax.

Reportedly the propertytax of some major buildingslike State Infrastructure andIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation of UttarakhandLimited (SIIDCUL), ForestResearch Institute (FRI),Mussoorie DehradunDevelopment Authority(MDDA), Inter State BusTerminal (ISBT) andGovernment Doon MedicalCollege (GDMC) hospital isreportedly pending which iscollectively more than Rs Fourcrore. The delay in the sub-mission of the property tax bythese institutions is posing

hindrance to the MCD inmeeting its target of collectingRs 50 crore in property tax by

the end of this month. Howevertill now more than Rs 42 crorehas been collected by MCD

and Pandey is optimistic thatthe set target will be achievedby the end of March.

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The penalty of about Rs500 to Rs 5,000 is being

imposed on all the commercialbodies that litter nearby theirbuildings by MunicipalCorporation of Dehradun(MCD) under the new cam-paign ‘Main Besharam VyaktiHun’ (I am a shameless per-son).

MCD has begun its newsanitation campaign in whichthe team of the corporationinspects the commercial enter-prises like restaurants, cafes,stores and shops of the city. Ifthere is no dustbin outside thebuilding and any kind ofgarbage is found in or near anyof these sites, the team pastesa certificate outside the build-ing that states the managementas a publically dirty person.The certificate states, “I certi-fy that I am a shameless per-son, I live in filth and it is my

habit to spread filth. I will soonreceive the first prize for beinga publically dirty person.”Through this campaign, MCDhas pasted such certificates inmore than eight commercialproperties so far that includeDomino’s, KFC, Soup Bar,Ginger Grapes Restaurant andsome small shops.

Informing about the cam-paign, the municipal com-missioner Vinay ShankarPandey said, “Our team carriesout on the spot inspectionacross the city and if anygarbage is found lying aroundnear the commercial building,a penalty is levied on themanagement besides pastingthe certificate declaring it a‘shameless person’. Some paythe penalty immediately andsome submit it in the corpo-ration later.” Talking aboutthe penalty levied on the man-agement Pandey said that thepenalty imposed is from Rs

500 to Rs 5,000 according tothe litter spread by the man-agement. Regarding the stateof the ‘certificate’ pasted afterthe penalty is paid, Pandeysaid, “They are free to dowhatever they choose to dowith it. It is not our duty tolook after the certificate. Weintend to spread awarenessamong all the commercialbodies of the city about theimportance of sanitationwhich is generally neglected bythem.”

He further added that theadministration of commercialbodies should put the garbagein garbage collection vehiclesof MCD rather than throwingit on the streets or nearby. Ifthe garbage collection vehiclesare not coming to their area,they should complain on thehelpline number of the cor-poration but in no way is thelittering on the roads justifi-able, said Pandey.

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With just a few days left forHoli to be celebrated on

March 10, the sale of the Holicolours and water guns has notreached even 50 per cent dueto the Coronavirus factor.

The outbreak ofCoronavirus in China andsome other parts of the worldhas affected the market of Holiitems in Dehradun. Accordingto the local shopkeepers andvendors, every year about 60per cent items used in Holi areimported from China.

Due to the low cost ofitems, the shopkeepers as wellas the customers prefer theChinese items. However, thethreat of Coronavirus has com-pelled the sellers as well as thebuyers to avoid these items.

According to a shopkeep-er in Hanuman Chowk AnmolGupta, “We generally sell madein India items during the Holifestival as people have beenasking for Indian made coloursand other items for the past twoto three years.

However, this year thepeople are checking each andevery article to see if it is made

in India or not to ensure thatno Chinese products are beingsold to them. Not just waterguns and balloons, people arealso checking the moulds usedto make gujiyas for their safe-ty.

Those who have importedthe Chinese Holi items atwholesale rates duringDecember will be facing greatloss this year.”

“This year the number ofpeople coming to buy balloonsand water guns is very low. Dueto coronavirus, we cannot sellthe leftover stock of ChineseHoli items from the last year.

Not that they are infected, butthis year people are moreinclined to the Indian items.However, some people are buy-ing the Chinese items who aremore concerned about themoney than Coronavirus riskbut the number of such peopleis very low,” said AmitashMaheshwari, a shopkeeper inPaltan Bazaar.

The shopkeepers opinedthat exams of children and con-sistently changing weather arealso responsible for the low saleof Holi items and they hopethat the sale will be better in thelast two days ahead of Holi.

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Asadhu was killed by an ele-phant at the Bhootnath

temple in Swargashram area ofRishikesh late on Thursdaynight. The man, identified as 55year old Ramkrishna, wassleeping in a residential areaadjacent to the forest when theincident occurred.

People present at the siteaverred that the elephant had

attacked the man. Before that,the elephant broke a temporaryshop nearby. Police station offi-cer Rakendra Kathait said thatthe monk Ramakrishna hadbeen living in the Swargashramarea for the long time.

At around 2 AM, an ele-phant arrived outside theBhootnath temple in theSwargashram area. The pachy-derm first broke a kuccha con-struction being used as a shop.

The jumbo then entered theBhootnath temple compoundand reportedly killed the mansleeping there. Hearing thescreams of the man, the peopleliving nearby reached the spotand immediately informed theforest department staff of theGauhari range. The forestworkers who reached the spotfired a round in the air anddrove the elephant into the for-est.

The injured monk wastaken to AIIMS in Rishikeshwhere he was declared dead bythe doctors.

According to the forestdepartment, an elephant hasbeen roaming in theSwargashram and nearby res-idential area for the past severaldays. The department hasappealed the locals to abstainfrom moving in the areasadjoining the forests at night.

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Actor and healerA n u s h r e e

Painuly who hailsfrom Dehradun, haslaunched her debutbook titled 'SunriseBeyond the DeadEnd'. The book high-lights the major men-tal health issues oftoday's changingtimes - depressionand loneliness. Thismotivational storydeals with survivingthe dark and difficulttimes of one’s lives,embracing one’swounds and walkingahead with thestrength their suffer-ings provide.

The book intro-duces a common man who setson a journey when his life takesan unexpected negative turn. Inhis unplanned journey, he meetsfive different people who influ-ence his life and change his per-ception. The author states, “Allmy six main characters of thebook are inspired by real lifepeople whom I encounteredsometime, somewhere. Even

for other characters, like thepeculiar person on the ghat whoappears just in a few para-graphs is inspired by a real-lifeperson.”

Being daughter of a writer,Anushree ventured into writingat an early age though she hasmade her debut now as anauthor with ‘Sunrise BeyondThe Dead End’.

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Aakash EducationalServices Limited (AESL)

has announced the secondedition of its annual scholar-ship exam- National Eligibilityand Scholarship Test (NEST)scholarship exam for studentsof classes X to XII. The test willtake place on April 5 across 24states and Union Territories inthe country.

Director and CEO ofAESL, Aakash Chaudhry said,“We are happy to introducethe second edition of AakashNEST which will allow stu-dents to compete at a nation-al level and provide them with

an opportunity to win schol-arship of upto 90 per cent. \Weare confident that just like theprevious year, students willapply for this talent hunt examand take advantage of thisopportunity to achieve theircareer goals.” The test to beheld on April 5 will be con-ducted in two shifts of onehour each from 11 AM and 3PM.

The last date for registra-tion and receiving the dulyfilled-in application form isApril 3 with Rs 200 as the reg-istration fee. The students willbe tested on subjects includingphysics, chemistry, biologyand mathematics.

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Supreme Court justice DYChandrachud inaugurated

the Dr Rajendra Prasad LawInstitute of the KumaonUniversity here on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion,he said that establishment of alaw institute named after DrRajendra Prasad in Nainital isa historic development. Withthis, the students of law willalso benefit from the proxim-ity to the high court and learnfrom the actions and person-ality of its judges. Appreciating

the efforts of the KumaonUniversity vice chancellor pro-fessor KS Rana, justiceChandrachud said that thehonourary degree being con-ferred upon him would be ahonour of all those in the legalprofession.

Sharing his experiences ofthe Supreme Court, he said thatat times, both sides presentlegally logical arguments in acase but it is mediation whichcan help in resolving manycases. The opportunity toacquire the knowledge of law isgained either with a tacher or

from observing senior advo-cates and judges, he added.Earlier, the university vicechancellor welcomed thesupreme court justice and otherguests on the occasion.

The Uttarakhand highcourt chief justice RameshRanganathan, justices RaviVijaykumar Malimath ,ManojTiwari, Sudhanshu Dhulia,Lokpal Singh, RC Khulbe,Ravindra Maithani, senior sur-geon from Sir Gangaram hos-pital, Delhi, Saumitra Rawatand others were also present onthe occasion.

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The imposing building ofUttarakhand wore a white

blanket as good snowfall wasreported in the area alongwith other places located inhigher reaches on Friday.Amid intense cold, theCongress MLAs raised theissue of price rise inside thehouse and unsatisfied by theresponse of the Governmentstaged a walkout. At the startof question hour, the leader ofopposition (LoP), IndiraHridayesh demanded workadjournment motion on theissue of price rise under rule310.

The speaker Prem ChandAgrawal denied permissionunder this rule but said that theissue can be discussed underrule 58 later in the day. In dis-cussions on the price rise, theLoP Indira Hridayesh andCongress leaders Pritam Singh,Karan Mahra, Govind SinghKunjwal and Mamta Rakeshcornered the Government onrising prices. The Congresslawmakers claimed that theprices of general items haveshot over the roof and theyhave gone beyond the financialreach of people. The Congressleaders alleged that the State

Government is sleeping onthe issue. They claimed that thepeople were reeling underattack of spiraling prices. TheCongress leaders said that theprices of cooking gas and otherthings have skyrocketed butthe state government hasreduced the price of liquor.

In his response, the urbandevelopment minister MadanKaushik said that Uttarakhandwas not affected by the price

rise. He said that the per cap-ital income (PCI) of the Statewas higher than the nationallevel. Giving per capita incomedetails of states likeChhattisgarh, Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh whereCongress governments are inplace, Kaushik said that thePCI of these states is less thanUttarakhand. Not satisfied bythe answer of the minister, theangry members of Congress

party staged a walk out fromthe assembly. The ministeradvised the Congress MLAs toread the economic surveybefore taking the issue.

The issue of coronavirusscare was also discussed in thehouse on the day. In responseto the concerns of the mem-bers, parliamentary affairsminister Madan Kaushik saidthat the state government isalert on the issue. He said that

health workers are beingimparted training on the waysto combat the disease and

samples of 30000 suspectedpatients have been taken andsent to National Institute of

Virology (NIV). Later in theday discussion on ‘vote ofthanks’ was held with

Vikasnagar MLA, MunnaSingh Chauhan initiating dis-cussion.

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Amid the scare ofCoronavirus (COVID-

19), the UttarakhandGovernment is gearing itselfto set in place an elaborateand robust system of moni-toring of Char Dham pil-grims. Thirty patients in Indiahave already been affected bythe dreaded virus and thoughno case has been reported inUttarakhand yet, the stategovernment has put its healthservices on an alert mode.

A cautious Governmenthas already deferred theAdventure Summit slated tostart at Ramnagar fromMarch 20 and the WellnessSummit which was to be heldin Dehradun on April 17-18.The authorities here are anx-ious as the world famous,Char Dham Yatra is com-mencing from last week of

April. Lakhs of pilgrims fromall parts of the country visitthe state during the Yatraseason. An estimated 38 lakhpilgrims had visited the statein the last year’s Char DhamYatra.

The Tourism and Cultureminister Satpal Maharajaccepted that the Char DhamYatra would be a major chal-lenge for the state. He said thatscanning facilities to checkand isolate suspected patientsof the disease would be set upat various places along theChar Dham Yatra route.

The minister added thatthe health department teamswould be deployed on theYatra route and the specialmeasures would be taken tocombat the disease. Thehealth department teams arealready deployed at all air-ports and major railway sta-tions to scan suspected

patients of viral infections.Special vigil is being takenalong the Indo-Nepal border.

The symptoms of theCoronavirus are similar tothat of normal influenza. Thesymptoms include incessantfever, cough, irritation inthroat, difficulty in breathingand pneumonia.

The medical expertsadvice that people shouldcover their mouth and facewhile sneezing and shouldwash their hands and face reg-ularly to prevent spread of thedisease.

People should avoidgoing to crowded places andrefrain from shaking handswith others. Those sufferingfrom fever and cough shouldimmediately take medicaladvice. People are also beingasked not to eat raw or semicooked meat and egg.

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Asnow blizzard hit theUttarakhand assembly

building on Friday. Incidentallythe snowfall which lasted foraround three hours was first ofits kind that occurred when thehouse was in session.

The snow started fallingslowly at around 12. 55 pmbecame intense later andaround four inches of snowfallwas recorded. The snowfallmade the entrance of the build-ing slippery due to whichVikasnagar MLA, MunnaSingh Chauhan had a fall.Fortunately he suffered noinjuries. Many officers, mediapersons and some MLAs wereseen throwing balls of snow onone another outside the assem-bly building.

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It appears that the agriculturedepartment of Uttarakhand

is not aware about the numberof beneficiaries of its schemes.An example of this was wit-nessed on Friday when theAgriculture Minister SubodhUniyal gave different figures onthe number of beneficiaries ofPradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi (PMKSN) inresponse to two questions.

In response to a questionof Sitarganj MLA, SaurabhBahuguna, the Minister in hiswritten reply informed that

6,45,948 farmers have got ben-efit of PMKSN in the state.

A total of 6,451 farmers ofSitarganj have got the benefit ofthe scheme. The minister inresponse to a similar questionby the Salt MLA, SurendraSingh Jeena said that tillFebruary 24, a total of 7,19,644farmers have got the benefit ofPMKSN.

A payment of Rs 485.74crore has been made to thefarmers in three installments.The minister in his writtenreply said that all registeredfarmers would be coveredunder the scheme.

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The Agriculture MinisterSubodh Uniyal was cor-

nered by the legislators duringthe question hour on Friday.The Minister was heckled bythe MLAs for poor prepara-tion.

The Minister faced diffi-culty in answering the ques-tions and supplementary ques-tions raised in the Assembly bymembers Mahendra Bhatt,Suresh Rathore, Ram Singh

Keda, Shakti Lal Shah, PritamSingh, Bharat SinghChaudhary, Munna SinghChauhan and Surendra SinghJeena. As the minister fumbledwhile answering the ques-tions, Congress MLA, QaziNizamuddin commented thatthe minister has not done hishomework.

Similarly Surendra SinghJeena took a jibe at the minis-ter by stating that “the mem-bers are asking out of syllabusquestions”.

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Six persons died and fourwere injured when the jeep

they were travelling in fell off theroad down the mountainside onthe Jwarna-Kansyud motor roadin Tehri district on Friday. Fivepersons died on the spot whilefive were injured and of these,one person died while beingtransported to the hospital.

The accident occurred inthe afternoon when the personswere returning after attending aChudakarm ceremony. TheUttarakhand governor BabyRani Maurya and chief minis-ter Trivendra Singh Rawat haveexpressed deep grief at themishap.

According to sources, thejeep was being driven fromJawarna Bhamorikhal to NeriBarnu when the driver lostcontrol of the vehicle nearDevidhar Siwali Patal. The jeepfell of the road and about 500metres down the mountainside.

The mishap is reported tohave taken place at about 3:15PM. On being informed aboutit, the Revenue department per-sonnel and police reached thesite of the mishap.

The personnel rescued theinjured and retrieved the bod-ies. The rescue and retrievaloperation was made tougherdue to the steep incline of themountainside at the mishapsite. Those who died in themishap have been identified as

32 year old Guddi Singh, thedriver and former Pradhan ofNeri- 45 year old Fulchand, 65year old Parvati Singh, 52 yearold Natthi Singh, 62 year oldKwanra Butola and 55 year old

Veer Singh. Those injured in themishap have been identified as82 year old Surat Singh,40 yearold Raju Singh,40 year oldDarshani Singh and 40 year oldLakshmi Singh.

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During the ongoingVidhan Sabha session at

Bharadisain in Gairsain, chiefminister Trivendra SinghRawat announced thatGairsain will be the summercapital of the state. This deci-sion has elicited consider-able praise from various quar-ters but has also resulted incriticism and questions beingraised by some.

The locals of the provi-sional state capital Dehradunexpressed mixed opinions onthe announcement made bythe chief minister on makingGairsain the summer capitalof Uttarakhand. Some peoplethink that this decision by theState Government will help inthe development of moun-tainous rural areas whereas afew believe that it will notachieve much.

“I am glad that finally theplace which actually deservesto be the capital ofUttarakhand got the approvaland recognition of the gov-ernment. Though I am notsure why they did not makeGairsain the permanent andonly capital of the state, I am

with the decision of making ita summer capital becausenow it will hopefully garnerthe attention of officials andpublic which will help in thegrowth and progress ofmountainous rural areas,” saida school teacher Anju Rawat.

According to a retiredarmy officer Sanjay Binola,“The proposal for makingGairsain the capita l ofUttarakhand was long await-ing a decision. Many succes-sive governments have come

and gone in about 20 yearssince Uttarakhand was creat-ed but at last the TrivendraSingh Rawat led governmentfinally took this historic deci-sion.”

According to a post grad-uate student DeepakKhansali, “Our government isjust trying to distract the cit-izens from the major issuesfacing the State. The govern-ment has reduced the price ofalcohol but made the cookinggas expensive. Such a bigfraud in the Forest Guardrecruitment exam has come tolight in the state, but thechief minister has still notannulled the exam.

The State Governmentshould work on the thingsand issues that already exist atthe surface rather than mak-ing such announcement justto distract and cheer up thepeople.” Meanwhile, theprotesting members ofGairsain Rajdhani NirmanAndolan said that this is onlyhalf the battle won; they willcontinue their protest untillthe State Governmentannounces Gairsain as thepermanent capita l ofUttarakhand.

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As forecast earlier, variousparts of the state experi-

enced rainfall in the plainswhile snowfall was reported atdifferent locations in themountains on Friday. While theprovisional state capitalDehradun saw rainfallthroughout the day, Gairsain,which will be the summer cap-ital, experienced snowfall.

Due to the inclementweather at Gairsain, the chiefminister Trivendra SinghRawat was unable to return toDehradun by helicopter andhad to travel by road. Variousother locations in the plainsand mountains experiencedrain and snowfall during theday.

The weather conditionsare forecast to remain similaron Saturday too with possibil-ity of heavy snowfall in thehigher reaches.According tothe forecast issued by the statemeteorological centre, the statewill experience partly to gen-erally cloudy sky on Saturday.

Light to moderaterain/thunderstorm/snowfall islikely to occur at many placesin the state. Snowfall is likely tooccur at places situated at alti-tude of 2200 metres and above.

The meteorological centre

has also issued a warning onthe possibility of heavy snow-fall at isolated places situated ataltitudes of 3000 metres andabove. Hail/lightning is alsolikely to occur at isolated placesin the state on Saturday.

Dehradun is forecast to expe-rience partly to generallycloudy sky with rain/thunder-showers likely to occur.Hail/lightning is also likely tooccur in some areas with themaximum and minimum tem-

peratures likely to be around 20degrees Celsius and 13 degreesCelsius respectively onSaturday. Meanwhile, the max-imum and minimum temper-atures recorded at various pal-ces on Friday were 17.7 degrees

Celsius and 13.4 degreesCelsius respectively inDehradun, 17.8 degrees Celsiusand 13.9 degrees Celsius inPantnagar, 5.8 degrees Celsiusand 3.2 degrees Celsius respec-tively in Mukteshwar.

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Apublic interest litigationhas been filed in the high

court of Uttarakhand againstthe work boycott being under-taken by the general and OBCemployees association againstreservation in promotions.The court has set the date forhearing on the petition fornext week.

The matter was broughtup before the division benchof chief justice RameshRanganathan and justice RaviVijaykumar Malimath.Thedivision bench has referredthe petition for hearing to the

other divisionbench.According to the casedetails, Dehradun residentLalit Kumar has filed a pub-lic interest litigation in whichhe has stated that about 1.5lakh general and OBC gov-ernment employees in thestate have been on strike sinceMarch 2.

The strike being under-taken against reservation inpromotions is affected all thegovernment works in the state.

The petitioner has furtherstated that the agitatingemployees are violating theorders of the high court andSupreme Court issued on var-

ious occasions. The agitatingemployees should either with-draw their strike or shouldface departmental action, thepetitioner has contended.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that the general andOBC employees of the StateGovernment have been boy-cotting work in protest forsome days now.

They also gheraoedMLAs en route to Bharadisainin Gairsain for the ongoingbudget session of the VidhanSabha. The State governmenthas stated that it will soon takea decision on reservation inpromotion.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Friday

urged the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to institute aNational Bravery Award in thename of Sahibzada Baba FatehSingh Ji, and issue a commem-orative gold coin in honour ofDiwan Todar Mal, as a tribute totheir sacrifices.

“While Diwan Todar Malhad forsaken everything for thecause of righteousness andhumanity, the unparalleled brav-ery and courage of ChhotteSahibzade of Dasmesh Pita SriGuru Gobind Singh Ji has beengratefully acknowledged andremembered by Punjabis acrossthe globe,” said the ChiefMinister in a letter to Modi.

Capt Amarinder furtherunderlined the need for peopleoutside Punjab, especially acrossthe globe, to also draw inspira-tion from this unique act record-ed in the annals of our history.The Chief Minister furtherpointed out that the supreme sac-rifice and martyrdom of the SikhGurus which had always inspiredgenerations of Indians andformed a glorious part of thecountry’s history. Sikhs’ tenthmaster, Guru Gobind Singh,sacrificed his entire family in hisstruggle against injustice andoppression perpetrated by theMughals and is, therefore, right-

ly regarded by history as ‘SarbansDaani’, the Chief Minister said.

While the 10th Guru’s twoelder sons, Sahibzada Ajit Singhand Sahibzada Jujhar Singh,were martyred in the battle atChamkaur Sahib, the twoyounger sons, SahibzadaZorawar Singh and SahibzadaFateh Singh, were buried alive atSirhind in a most cruel and inhu-man manner, he noted.

The two Chhotte Sahibzade,despite being of such tender age,showed exemplary courage andfearlessness to stand up againstthe might of the MughalGovernor of Sirhind, said theChief Minister in his letter.

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Rain, accompanies by high-velocity winds damaged

standing crops in several partsof Punjab and Haryana in thepast 24 hours, triggering alarmbells ahead of the harvestingseason. Many parts of both thestates have been lashed byhigh-velocity winds sinceThursday.

In some areas in Punjabsurrounding Chandigarh,Wheat crop, normally har-vested in mid-April, has beenflattened by rain and strongwinds. Farmers have askedfor a special ''girdawri'' (rev-enue survey to assess losses)and extend compensation tofarmers for their crop losses.

In Haryana, ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattarhas already ordered ''girdawri''after the recent rains. Thefresh damage to the crop is

also expected to be covered inthis assessment. Reports ofdamage to crops have been

received from Hisar, Bhiwani,Kaithal, Karnal, and other dis-tricts. Akhil Bharatiya Kisan

Samiti Secretary Balbir Singhsaid that there were reports ofdamage to more than 80 per

cent of the mustard crop insome places in Haryana. Hedemanded a compensation of�50,000 per acre to the affect-ed farmers. MeT officials saidthat rain and strong windscould affect the region tillSunday. Following rain, themaximum and minimum tem-peratures dipped at mostplaces by two to four degreesCelsius. Chandigarh received1.8 mm of rain, a meteoro-logical department official said here.

Among other places,Bathinda received 27.5 mm ofrains, Faridkot 19.4 mm andPathankot 17 mm in Punjab.Ambala, Hisar, Karnal,Rohtak, Bhiwani, Sirsa,Amritsar, Ludhiana andPatiala witnessed rainfall mea-suring 2 mm, 10.2 mm, 12.2mm, 14.6 mm,14.6 mm, 12mm, 16.2 mm, 1.7 mm and 5mm, respectively.

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Taking strong exception toCBI’s review petition on the

Bargari sacrilege case, PunjabChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh on Friday charged theCentral probing agency withtrying to subvert the course ofjustice at the behest of theShiromani Akali Dal (SAD), apart of the CentralGovernment.

The Chief Ministerdescribed the move as a “delay-ing tactic”, aimed at scuttlingthe probe into the Bargari case,which the State Governmenthad decided to hand over to theSpecial Investigative Team

(SIT) of Punjab Police througha resolution in the VidhanSabha in August 2018.

Expressing full faith in thejudiciary, the Chief Ministersaid that he was confident thatthe courts would uphold thelaw at all costs and give themuch-needed closure and jus-tice to the victims in the case.

Notably, the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI)has intimated the SpecialJudicial Magistrate at SASNagar (Mohali) of its intent tofile a review petition in theSupreme Court for review of itsorder dated February 20, bywhich the Apex Court had dis-

missed the central agency’sSpecial Leave Petitions on theground of delay, while leavingopen the question of law.

“Not only is the CBI’s deci-sion to move a review petitiona blatant attempt to delay theinvestigation further, it is a clearendorsement of the Akaliinvolvement in the incident,which had shaken Punjab backin 2015,” the Chief Ministersaid.

With this action, the Akalishad clearly proved theirinvolvement in the entire uglyaffair, he added. Pointing outthat the then SAD-BJPGovernment had entrusted the

probe into three cases filed inthe matter to the CBI inNovember 2015, CaptAmarinder noted that theagency had failed to make anyheadway in its investigation allthese years – a fact duly notedand recorded by the court dur-ing hearings in the matter.

The entire drama of filingclosure report, refusing to givecopy of the same to the StateGovernment, then taking a U-turn on it after nearly twomonths, was enacted by theCBI on the directions of theAkalis, who did not want thetruth in the matter to come out,said the Chief Minister.

But the people of Punjab

wanted to know the truth, andwanted justice, and would notrest till they get the same, saidCapt Amarinder, vowing tofight the central agency toothand nail in the courts to ensurethat the investigation in thecase is taken to its logical con-clusion.

By using such cheap tactics,the Akalis might be able to buysome more time but they can-not evade justice forever, hedeclared.

CM TRYING TO COVERMISDEEDS OF HIS OWNMINISTERS

Terming the Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh’s alle-

gations that the SAD was try-ing to subvert justice by influ-encing the CBI as “a bundle oflies”, SAD on Friday asked himto request the Chief Justice ofIndia to depute a sitting Judgeto probe the Bargari sacrilegeincident if he was really seriousabout delivering justice in thecase.

Stating that the ChiefMinister could not cover hisown government’s failure togive justice in the Bargari sac-rilege case with mischievousstatements which did not haveany basis, SAD spokesmanDaljit Singh Cheema said thatCapt Amarinder did not find itfit to call on the Prime Minister

or Home Minister on this issuefor the last three years.

“Even now, the ChiefMinister is playing a desperategambit to divert attention fromhis failures after CongressMinisters have been accused ofsaving policemen in the relat-ed Behbal Kalan police firingcase…The family of a primewitness has detailed, even in theState assembly, how MinisterGurpreet Singh Kangar andFaridkot legislator KushaldeepSingh Dhillon intimidated andharassed the witness to shieldthe guilty police officers,” hesaid.

Cheema said that the fam-ily of another witness has also

detailed to the Punjab andHaryana High Court hownames of seven out of 11 policeofficers, accused of firing atinnocent Sikhs, have beendropped from an FIR at theinstance of Cabinet MinisterTript Rajinder Singh Bajwa.

It was justifiable that theChief Minister did not want theCBI to probe the matter as hisown party leaders and minis-ters would be placed in thedock for pressuring witnessesto withdraw their statements.“That is why the CM is gettingpanicky and issuing complete-ly false and baseless state-ments,” he added.

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In a biggest ever such haul ofdrugs, the Punjab Police has

busted a major racket involvingillegal trade of psychotropicdrugs, with the arrest of fourpersons and seizure of morethan 40 lakhs intoxicatingtablets, capsules or injections,valuing around Rs four to fivecrore.

“A godown, situated atMathura in Uttar Pradesh usedto store the drugs, is also bust-ed by the Barnala police team,”said the state Director Generalof Police (DGP) Dinkar Guptaon Friday.

DGP said that three of theaccused were arrested inBarnala, and the fourth wasnabbed in Mathura.“Thousands of youth have beensaved from drug abuse withthis seizure, as, on an average,

one youth consumes 10 tabletsor capsules a day,” he said.Giving details of the operation,the DGP said that a trap waslaid by a police party led byCIA Barnala, under the guid-ance of SSP Sandeep Goel, onthe basis of a tip-off.

“Mohan Lal of Uppali vil-lage was first nabbed with 800intoxicating tablets (Alprasafe0.5 mg). His interrogation ledto the arrest of two more per-sons, identified as BalwinderKumar of Quila Mohalla,Barnala (Om Shiva MedicalHall, Barnala); and NareshMittal alias Rinku (Biru RamThakur Dass Medical Store,Sadar Bazar, Barnala), with1700 intoxicating tablets(Clovidol 100 SR),” said theDGP. In addition, 1800 intox-icating tablets (Clovidol 100SR), one Innova car and �5lakh (drug money) were also

recovered from the accusedunder section 27 of theEvidence Act. Further interro-gation of the main accusedNaresh Mittal, who was receiv-ing the drugs at his medicalstore, had unveiled a chain ofsupply of Psychotropic Drugsinto Punjab from other states ofIndia, said the DGP, addingthat further investigations arelikely to unmask many otherplayers in this illegal racket.

Acting on the disclosuresmade by Mittal, the policeteam traced the chain to oneTayeb Qureshi, resident ofChakla Street, Sadar Bazar,Mathura. Tayeb was arrested atMathura with 80,000 intoxi-cating tablets (Clevidol 100SR). Subsequently, 39,21,040intoxicating tablets (Clevidol100 SR), capsules and injectionwere recovered from thegodown in Mathura.

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GOVERNMENT OF INDIAMINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT

[DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT]

Extension of last date for invitation of application for theNational Awards for Outstanding Services in the field ofPrevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drug) Abuse, 2020

Applications had been invited by this Ministry for the NationalAwards for Outstanding Services in the field of Prevention ofAlcoholism and Substance (Drug) Abuse, 2020 to be given on 26thJune, 2020. The last date of receiving the applications was 31stJanuary,2020. It has now been extended upto 15th March, 2020.

The Applications duly recommended and completed in all respectsmust reach to the Joint Secretary (SD), Department of SocialJustice & Empowerment, Room No. 611-A, 'A' Wing,ShatriBhawan, New Delhi - 110001, latest by 15th March, 2020.

Application received after the last date and/or not recommended bythe prescribed authority/persons will not be entertained. For details,kindly see our website www.socialjustice.nic.in.

Davp/38101/11/0048/1920

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The members of UttarakhandGeneral-OBC Employees

Association burned the StateGovernment in effigy claimingthat afraid of displeasing somepeople of their vote banks, thegovernment is neglecting thejudgement of the SupremeCourt.

The indefinite strike ofGeneral-OBC EmployeesAssociation is going on strong forthe last six days. To display theiranger towards the government,the protesting members burntthe effigy of State Governmenton Friday. According to theemployees, they will not back outuntil the government takes theright decision of rejecting thedemand for reservations in pro-

motion by SC-ST employees.The association also decided tonot celebrate the Holi festival todisplay their disapproval of thestate government stance.

Meanwhile, the associationhas also written a letter to thepolice complaining against theregional head of UttarakhandSC-ST Employees Federation,Karam Ram. According to theletter, Ram is insulting, makingpersonal remarks and threaten-ing the state head of general-OBC employees associationDeepak Joshi. Reportedly, theother members of the federationare issuing threats to Joshithrough social media under theinfluence of Ram. The associa-tion has asked the police to takeaction against the culprits as soonas possible.

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The fear of Coronavirus hascaused a sudden surge in the

demand for Homeopathic andAyurvedic immunity-enhancersin Ranchi – a trend that has ledto long queues of hopeful cus-tomers outside smalltime shops,waiting to get their hands on‘antidotes’ that could keep thelethal virus at bay.

While medical sciencedoes not believe inHomeopathy and refers to it aspseudo-science, hundreds ofRanchiites have bestowed theirtrust upon homeopathic drugsto save them from the virusthat has wreaked havoc in theworld. Shiva Homeo Hall atSainik Marked on MahatmaGandhi Road is one of themany homeopathic medicinestores in Ranchi that has suc-cessfully marketed its products

as remedy against the virus. This shop is selling Arsenic

ALB30 as a drug that can pre-vent the spread of Coronavirus.In fact, the shop has also put upa poster which says, ‘Preventionof Coronavirus’ and carries

the names of two medicinesthat are sold at the shop. “OurArsenic ALB 30 and ArsenicALB 200 are effective in pro-tection against Coronavirus.The medicines are not veryexpensive and can be bought by

people from all economic class-es,” said Dr. Santosh, who runsthe homeopathic shop.

Besides Homeopathy, thedemand for Ayurvedic pillshas also witnessed a surge inRanchi soon after the

Coronavirus fear gripped India.Social media pages run byAyurvedic doctors have helpedin spreading awareness amongRanchi-ites about the virusand also informed them aboutthe Ayurvedic line of treatmentand prevention.

“Ashwagandha is a natur-al immunity enhancer. Sinceany virus affects you whenyour immunity is low, con-suming Ashwagandha can be agreat preventive measure,” saidShushil Kumar, an Ayurvedaexpert who runs a shop inBariatu.

Medical practitioners,however, say that believing inany form of pseudo-sciencemay do more harm than good.“I will not comment on theeffectiveness of Homeopathyand Ayurveda. But they maycause more harm than good,and people should ideally seek

proper medical treatment ifthey witness any of the symp-toms similar to that ofCoronavirus,” saidSuperintendent of RajendraInstitute of Medical Sciences(RIMS), Dr. Vivek Kashyap.

At least 80 residents ofJharkhand are under observa-tion amid Coronavirus fear, butnone of them have tested pos-itive in the tests so far, officialsfrom the Integrated DiseaseSurveillance Programme(IDSP) have said.

As many as 21 persons areunder observation forCoronavirus in Jamshedpur –the highest among all the majorcities in Jharkhand, IDSP offi-cials said. As many as eightpeople are under observation inCapital Ranchi and 16 inSaraikela, they added. Aroundeight people are under obser-vation in Bokaro too.

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Aday after a Paytm employ-ee in Gurugram tested

positive for coronavirus, a sec-ond case of the deadly conta-gious disease was confirmed inthe city on Friday.

A 30-year-old employee ofa private firm located in UdyogVihar, who had recentlyreturned from Thailand after avacation, has sadly been testedpositive for coronavirus. Areport was sent to Delhi onMarch 4 which confirmed thecoronavirus infection. "He isbeing treated at All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) in Delhi," said a healthofficial.

Also, a group of 14 Italiantourists, who travelled across atleast three states before reach-ing New Delhi from Rajasthanand tested positive for the virus,were sent to the Medanta hos-pital on Wednesday. They arecurrently under observation.

On the other hand, theGurugram district adminis-tration has already issued anadvisory for the protection ofthe Coronavirus and alsoissued helpline numbers andhas set up 20-bed and 10-bedisolation wards at sector 10 civilhospital and polyclinic at sec-tor 31, respectively."We haveadequate testing kits, tissues atboth the government-run hos-pitals and patients will be treat-ed by the dedicated team of

doctors. A special ambulancehas also been operationalwhich will ferry patients fromtheir location to the hospital,"said Gurugram civil surgeonDr JS Punia.Following thereports of black marketing ofrespiratory masks and handsanitisers, a team had been setup to monitor medical supplies,he added.

Apart from this, theHaryana government has alsopostponed the 'GurugramMarathon' amid scare of coro-navirus rapidly spreading inDelhi-NCR.

According to the official,over 85,000 residents fromacross Delhi-NCR have regis-tered in this event scheduled onMarch 8 and the Haryana gov-ernment is organising the eventin Gurugram's leisure valleyground in sector 29.Amid apublic scare in the wake ofcoronavirus cases reported inthe country, residents inupscale residential localitiesand schools in Gurugram are

taking the precautionary mea-sure to tackle the situation."Asa precautionary measure toavoid mass gatherings, we havecancelled our planned Holicelebrations in AlphaCorpGurgaonOne at sector-84 and22. We have issued a notice toall the residents and updatedthem on the cancellation of theprogrammes and how to staysafe. We have also placed handsanitizers in common areas atthe premises as a precautionarymeasure" said Deepak JainEstate Manager, AlphaCorp.

"We have informed parentsthat the school has taken san-itation measures. The entireschool, including its furnitureand access areas, has been san-itized. Parents are requested tofollow preventive guidelinesalong with educating children.Classrooms are furnished withhand sanitizers and an adviso-ry is been shared with parents,children and staff," saidArchana Sagar Principal RidgeValley School in Gurugram.

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The Army on Friday askedits troops to avoid crowd-

ed places, refrain from all non-essential foreign travel andsaid it will set up five camps forcoronavirus screening. Thesecamps will come up atSuratgarh, Jaisalmer,Secunderabad, Chennai andKolkatta besides one quaran-tine facility already functioningat Manesar near Gurugram.The new camps will cater to atleast 1,500 people, officialssaid here.

As regards instructions toits troops in all formationsabout precautions, they saidfollowing various advisoriesby the Government onCOVID-19, the Army head-quarters has issued detailedinstructions with respect topreparations and emergencyresponse in tackling the virus.

The latest advisoryincludes detailed instructionsfor actions at various militarystations, Army formations andService hospitals. “Local mil-itary authorities will exercisesuitable control to avoid/post-pone all non-essential massgathering like festivals, welfareactivities and public gatheringstill situation improves,” theadvisory says and regularhealth information educationand counseling activities will becarried out at all military stations.

Military hospitals weredirected to establish isolationwards and have separate OutPatient Departments (OPD)for screening of symptomaticcases to prevent avoidabletransmission, officials said

adding Service hospitals willwork in synergy with localcivil medical authorities anddesignated Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR) lab-oratories.

Service personnel willbe encouraged to utiliseshopping complex facil-ities within the canton-ments, military stationsand avoid visits to crowd-ed areas like movie hallsand shopping malls, officialsadded.

These advisories come twodays after the Navy postponedMILAN-2020- a multilateralnaval exercise scheduled to beconducted from March 18 to 28at Visakhapatnam taking intoconsideration the safety of allparticipants and travel restric-tions imposed by the spread ofCOVID-19. More than 40countries were scheduled totake part in the exercise heldevery two years in India.

Informing about the post-

ponement, navy officials saidthe conduct of MILAN 2020had generated a very enthusi-astic response, with Naviesaround the world having

expressed their desire toparticipate; and in def-

erence to this inter-est, the IndianNavy looks for-ward toward

scheduling MILANat a later convenient

date.

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The Central paramilitaryforces like the CRPF and

the BSF have decided to call offofficial events to celebrate Holiin the wake of the Coronavirusscare. The BSF has also decid-ed to hold the beating retreatceremony at Attari border

minus the spectators amid theglobal concern over the pandemic.

For its part, the CISF haspostponed its anniversaryparade and related celebra-tions scheduled for next weekacross the country. In a similarmove, the CRPF has also post-poned an event scheduled to beheld at the India Gate in thenational capital to mark theInternational Women’s Day onMarch 8. With these cancella-tions, the CRPF anniversaryparade scheduled to be heldlater this month in Gurgaonremains uncertain.

The paramilitary forcesengaged in a variety of internalsecurity roles and borderguarding duties have issueddirectives to cancel events tocollectively celebrate Holi attheir formation across the

country.The paramilitary forces’

strength is about 10 lakh andincludes the Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF), theBorder Security Force (BSF),the Central Industrial SecurityForce (CISF), the Indo-TibetanBorder Police (ITBP) force,the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)and the National SecurityGuards besides Assam Rifles.They function under the oper-ational command of the UnionHome Ministry.

“No Holi Milan celebra-tions to be organised in CRPFin view of the threat of NovelCorona Virus (COVID-19). Itis also desirable to avoid masspublic gatherings and congre-gations,” reads an advisoryissued by CRPF headquartersto its field formations onThursday.

The festival of colours isscheduled for celebrations onMarch 10.

This is the third straightyear that these forces will notbe celebrating Holi on an offi-cial level.

In 2018, the celebrationswere called off after 25 CRPFpersonnel were killed in aNaxal attack in Chhattisgarh’sSukma district and last year.Likewise, the festivities werecancelled in order to expresssolidarity with the 40 CRPFpersonnel who were killed inthe Pulwama terror attack inJammu and Kashmir onFebruary 14 last year.

“As per the governmentguidelines to counter COVID-19, congregations are to beavoided, hence visitors/specta-tors to the Beating Retreat cer-emony at Attari will not be

entertained. The ceremony willbe conducted without specta-tors,” a senior BSF official said.

As for the CISF, its mainevent entailed a mega paradeand martial drills display,involving thousands of troopsand their families, was to takeplace on March 13 at a CISFcamp in Ghaziabad near hereto mark the 51st raising day ofthe Force.

All the formations of theforce in the country also holdvarious events to mark the dayin scaled down manner.

“The CISF day parade inGhaziabad and related eventsto be held all across the coun-try on March 13 have beenpostponed in view of theCoronavirus scare,” a seniorofficial said, adding the movecomes following instructionsfrom the Union HomeMinistry.

An order issued by theparamilitary force said theevent was being cancelled dueto “administrative reasons anduntil further orders”.

Troops from all over thecountry converge here for themain event and are hosted atvarious camps of the force inthe National Capital Region(NCR), with elaborate mea-sures made for their stay andmeals. The main event inGhaziabad was to be presidedover by Union Home MinisterAmit Shah and senior officialsof the security establishment.

A fresh decision will betaken based on a review of theprevailing situation of the dis-ease, the official said.

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Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu on Friday said it

was unfair and unfortunatethat a section of the media“ignored” an important debatein Rajya Sabha on the spreadof coronavirus. Naidu, who isthe Chairman of the UpperHouse of Parliament, made hisobservation on the matterbefore taking up regular busi-

ness of the House.“I have to make an obser-

vation. The other day...TheMinister for Health had madea detailed statement aboutthe steps that are being taken,were taken or will be takenwith regard to the spread ofcoronavirus...Members alsogave their valuable sugges-tions. But unfortunately sec-tions of the media, they didnot focus on the importantissue and they were showing

more interest in making otherthings as their headlinesignoring this,” he said.

Naidu said picking head-lines is the media’s prerogativeand “we can’t help it...Butignoring such a vital, impor-tant aspect concerning thepeople of the country that isnot fair”.

He expressed hope thatthe media will take care infuture while reporting suchimportant issues.

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The Centre on Friday exempted all its employ-ees from marking attendance through the

Aadhaar-based biometric system as a preventivemeasure to check the spread of the coronavirus.Instead, they will be marking their attendance man-ually in the attendance register, according to aDepartment of Personnel Ministry order.

“It is learnt that the most common methodof transmission of the virus seems to be throughinfected surfaces. Therefore, it is desirable to avoidtouching surfaces, which might be infected dueto human touch,” the order said.

It said all the ministries have been asked toexempt their employees to mark attendancethrough the Aadhaar-based biometric atten-dance system till March 31. “However, all employ-ees are required to mark their attendance in theattendance register (as done prior to launch of thebiometric system), during this period,” the orderissued to all central government departments said.

Though only a small number of novel coro-navirus cases have been reported in the country,it is a must to take all possible preventive measuresto stop its spread, the personnel ministry said. Thetotal number of coronavirus cases in the countryis 31, according to health ministry officials.

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Taking a dig at the BJP-ledGovernment over the mora-

torium placed on Yes Bank, theCongress on Friday alleged thatPrime Minister Narendra Modiand his “ideas” had destroyedthe country’s economy. Theparty also tweeted from itsTwitter handle, saying the cus-tomers of Yes Bank were goingto face tough times ahead due tothe withdrawal limits. “BJP hassuccessfully managed to sink theeconomy without any remorse,regret or even a plan to put itback on track,” it said.

While party leader RahulGandhi took a jibe on theGovernment by his one liner onsocial media “No Yes Bank”, for-mer Finance Minister PChidambaram hit out saying its“ability to govern and regulatefinancial institutions standsexposed”.

“No Yes Bank. Modi and his

ideas have destroyed India’seconomy,” the former Congresschief said in a tweet. Yes Bankwas placed under a moratoriumon Thursday, with the ReserveBank of India capping depositwithdrawals at the bank at Rs50,000 per account for a monthand superseding its board.

“BJP has been in power forsix years. Their ability to governand regulate financial institu-tions stands exposed. First, it wasPMC Bank. Now it is YES Bank.Is the government concerned atall? Can it shirk its responsibil-ity? Is there a third bank in theline?,” Chidambaram said.

He also wondered if theBJP-led government would con-firm that YES Bank’s loan bookhad grown under its watch fromRs 55,000 crore in FY 2014 to Rs2,41,000 core in FY 2019. “Whenoverall bank credit during theabove period grew by about 10per cent, how did YES BANK’sloan book grow by about 35 percent?,” Chidambaram asked.

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Acommittee, chaired by LokSabha Speaker Om Birla,

will look into the incidents thattook place in the Housebetween March 2 and 5, lead-ing to suspension of sevenCongress members which theOpposition wants to berevoked. In the meantimethough, proceedings in boththe Houses of Parliament weredisrupted for the fifth consec-utive day on Friday due to slo-ganeering by Opposition mem-bers seeking an immediate dis-cussion on the riots in Delhi,which claimed at least 53 lives.

While the Lok Sabhapassed two Bills amidst pan-demonium , in the Rajya Sabhaits Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu termed the turn ofevents in both the Houses“unfortunate” before adjourn-ing the Upper House ofParliament for the day barely 15minutes after it assembled at 11am.

Both the Houses willreassemble on March 11 afterthe Holi break when the dis-cussion on the issue is slated.

The Lok Sabha, which hasbeen for last three-days func-tioning in the absence of a“hurt” Speaker Om Birla whohas chosen to stay away frompresiding the House due to theruckus, managed to pass inbetween the spell of adjourn-ments, two Bills -- the MineralLaws (Amendment) Bill andthe Insolvency and BankruptcyCode (Second Amendment)Bill -- amidst continuousprotests by the Opposition.

As soon as Lok Sabhaassembled at 11 am, somemembers of the Congress andother Opposition parties suchas the DMK and the IndianUnion Muslim League troopedinto the well of the House, seek-ing discussion on the riots andraising slogans demandingHome Minister Amit Shah’sresignation. Many Oppositionmembers also wore black bandson their arms in protest.

Congress leader RahulGandhi was among those whosported black bands. However,he did not join the membersprotesting in the well.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury,Leader of the Congress in Lok

Sabha, was also in the Well. Hewas seen picking up a book,apparently the rule book ofParliament, and showing it tothe chair.

As the commotion contin-ued, Kirit Solanki, who waspresiding the proceedings,announced adjourning theHouse till 2 PM. He laterrevised the adjournment timeto 12 noon. When the Housereassembled at noon, theprotests and sloganeering bythe opposition continued.

However, amidst the noisy

scenes, the House passed theMineral Laws (Amendment)Bill. The chair again adjournedthe House for about 10 minutestill 12.45 pm.

When the Lok Sabharesumed business, it took upthe Insolvency and BankruptcyCode (Second Amendment)Bill amidst the Oppositionprotests and declared as passedbefore the house was adjournedfor the day.

The committee, chaired byLok Sabha Speaker , will lookinto the incidents that took

place in the House betweenMarch 2 and 5, the house wasinformed by the Chair after theOpposition demanded revoca-tion of the suspension of sevenCongress MPs.

The House had witnesseduproarious scenes on March 2as the Opposition demandeda discussion on Delhi riots. OnThursday, after papers from thetable of the Speaker were tornamidst bedlam seven CongressMPs were suspended.

On the same day an RLPmember made some contro-versial remarks relating tocornonavirus against Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi and herfamily members triggering astrong reaction from Congress.

While protesting theremarks, Congress memberGaurav Gogoi pulled papersfrom the Speaker’s table andflung them in the air.

Gogoi, who could face astrict action and six othermembers were suspended fromthe House for the remainder ofthe Budget Session. Along withCongress, TMC, DMK andNCP also opposed suspensionof members.

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In a move to bring moretransparency in the electoral

system, a department-relatedParliamentary StandingCommittee on Personnel,Public Grievances, Law andJustice has supported theElection Commission’s move tolink voters’ Aadhaar numberswith the electoral roll to cleanup data of duplicate entries.

The EC has also informedthe committee that it is alsoexploring the possibility ofusing block chain technologywhich would enhance the cred-

ibility of the electoral system inthe country.

The committee, headed byBhupendra Yadav, recom-mended that the Governmentmay undertake appropriateactions for the purpose of link-ing unique Aadhaar Cardnumber with Voter ID Card topurify the electoral roll whichis in larger interest of democ-ratic polity.

In August last year, thecommission had asked theGovernment to give it statuto-ry backing to collect Aadhaarnumbers of new applicants andexisting voters to check multi-

ple entries in electoral rolls.The EC had proposed that

provisions of theRepresentation of the PeopleAct be amended to allow theElection Commission (EC) toseek Aadhaar numbers of thoseapplying to be voters and alsothose who are already part ofvoters’ list.

On the block chain tech-nology, an EC official said thatthe concept is a “two-way elec-tronic voting system, in a con-trolled environment, on white-listed IP devices on dedicatedinternet lines, enabled withbiometric devices and a

web camera”. He, however, made it clear

that voters will have to reach adesignated venue during a pre-decided period of time to beable to use this facility. After avoter’s identity is established bythe system, a block chainenabled personalised e-ballotpaper will be generated. Whenthe vote is cast , the ballotwould be securely encryptedand a block chain hashtag (#)will be generated. This hashtagnotification would be sent tovarious stakeholders, in thiscase—the candidates and polit-ical parties.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Fridayasked activist Harsh Mander to file response tothe allegations of Delhi Police that he made hatespeeches, including certain objectionableremarks against the top court during anti-CAAprotests here.

A Bench, comprising Chief Justice SABobde and Justices BR Gavai, made clear how-ever that it has not issued a contempt notice toMander on the plea of Delhi Police alleging“derogatory remarks”, making insinuationsagainst the apex court and its judges and saidthat the plea would now be heard on April 15.

Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, appear-ing for the activist, alleged that the governmentwas trying to “brow beat” Mander and there wasnothing “objectionable” and “contemptuous” inhis speeches.

“There is nothing contemptuous, dis-paraging or inflammatory in his speeches”, Davesaid, adding, “I am concerned that theGovernment is willing to shoot the messenger,while not taking action against the real perpe-trators”. At the outset, Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for Delhi Police, referred toanother speech of Mander and said its contentsare also “contemptuous”. The Bench thenasked the top law officer to file the contents ofthe other speech also by filing another affidavitwhich can be responded to by Mander as well.

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The National Investigation Agency(NIA) on Friday arrested two

more accused persons in connectionwith the 2019 Pulwama terror attackcase. The duo is alleged to have usedthe Amazon online shopping portal toprocure chemicals for making IEDs,batteries and other accessories.

The arrested accused are Waiz ulIslam, 19, resident of Baghe Mehtab,Srinagar and Mohammad AbbasRather, 32, of Hakripora, Pulwama.

“ During initial interrogation,accused Waiz ul Islam has disclosedthat he used his Amazon online shop-ping account to procure chemicals formaking IEDs, batteries and otheraccessories on the directions of thePakistani JeM terrorists. He also per-sonally delivered the items to the JeMterrorists after procuring the incrim-inating material online as a part of theconspiracy to carry out the Pulwamaattack,” the NIA said in a statement.

Accused Mohd Abbas Rather is anold Over-Ground Worker (OGW) ofJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the NIAalleged.

“Rather has disclosed that he gaveshelter at his home to Jaish terroristMohd Umar (IED expert) after Umarcame to Kashmir in April-May 2018,”the agency said.

Rather also allegedly harbouredJeM terrorists Adil Ahmad Dar(Pulwama suicide bomber), SameerAhmed Dar and Kamran (Pakistani)at his house a number of times in therun up to the Pulwama attack.

Rather is also alleged to havefacilitated shelter for the JeM terror-ists, including the suicide bomber AdilAhmed Dar and others at the house ofthe accused Tariq Ahmed Shah and hisdaughter Insha Jan of Hakripora,Pulwama, who were arrested on March3. The two arrested accused will beproduced before the NIA SpecialCourt at Jammu on Saturday.

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has said

that her Government had aplan in place to combat anyeventuality related to coron-avirus attacks. The ChiefMinister who a couple of daysago attacked the UnionGovernment for unnecessarilycreating a corona scare so as todivert attention from the Delhiriots that claimed 46 lives, onFriday said that herGovernment was keeping aconstant vigil on suspectedCorona affected cases addingthe Government had issuednecessary advisories to theauthorities concerned.

“We want to tell the peoplethat there is no need to panicat this point of time. Instead ofpanicking it is better to remainalert about the safety formula,”the Chief Minister said adding

a task force had been created tomonitor the situation arisingout of possible Corona-infect-ed cases.

When asked as to whetherthe Government was keepingextra vigil on the Bengal-Nepaland Bengal-Bhutan bordersconsidering the fact that anAmerican tourist had beendiagnosed with Corona infec-tion the Chief Minister said herGovernment was alreadyscreening people in the bordersadding the district hospitalshad been directed to take addi-tional measures wherever nec-essary.

“The hospitals have beenkept ready with isolation wardsand rapid action teams havebeen formed to respond quick-ly to any situation of emer-gency,” Banerjee said takingserious note of reported casesof black-marketing of facemasks to prevent the

virus.“We have also come to

know about such reports thatsome unscrupulous traders arehording masks and medicinesand selling them for a premi-um. I want to warn them thatthe Government has zero tol-erance for such activities and ifany complaint is found we willseize all the horded products,”the Chief Minister said addingthe police have also been alert-ed about the matter.

Sources in the State HealthDepartment also said thatschools and colleges have beenissued advisories against largecongregations

Meanwhile, nine suspect-ed patients had been admittedto the Beleghata InfectiousDiseases Hospital, sources saidadding they have been kept inisolation wards and theirpathological samples werebeing sent for tests.

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Close on the heels of Bengal GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar meeting Union Home

Minister Amit Shah informing about the alleged“sorry state of affairs in the State” particularlyregarding the “poll violence” the State ElectionCommission on Friday announced an all-partymeeting to discuss municipal elections.

The meeting in which two members eachfrom ten political parties will be invited is like-ly to take place soon after the Holi, SEC sourcessaid adding the Commission would discusseverything threadbare with the political parties.

The civic elections are scheduled to takeplace sometime in the month of April this year.

In what could lead to a fresh exchange of firebetween Raj Bhavan and Nabanna (StateSecretariat) the Governor met Shah earlier metShah telling him about the deteriorating law andorder situation of the State.

\The “law and order of the State is highlydisturbing to a level of internal disturbance” theGovernor subsequently told the media to whichthe State Government sources only said that the

Chief Minister would later provide an adequatereply on the issue.

However senior Minister Partho Chatterjeesaid that there was nothing to say about theGovernor because during his tenure the RajBhavan had turned into a BJP party office. “Heis the most partisan Governor one has ever seencoming to Bengal.”

Opposition Left Front asked “what new hashe reported to the Home Minister. It is all veryold news about how elections are conducted inBengal.” Holding the central election commis-sion a party too on how the elections are con-ducted in Bengal CPI(M) central committeemember and former MP Sujan Chakrabarty said“the way the general elections in 2014 and Stateelections in 2016 were conducted were far dif-ferent from how they were conducted in 2019.

Had the polls been conducted in 2016 theway it was, the last year then the TMC wouldhave lost the elections miserably.” He alsoaccused the central commission for taking theBengal elections seriously only because the BJPhad a chance of winning in 2019.

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The Opposition DMK and itspresident MK Stalin allege

on a daily basis that TamilNadu is the most corrupt Statein India and there has been nodevelopment since theKarunanidhi-led Governmentwas voted out in the 2011Assembly election. Despite thesecharges, Tamil Nadu hasemerged as a benchmark forother States in the country insectors like healthcare and socialdevelopment during the lastnine years, say official records.The State is on its way tobecome the medical capital ofthe country.

Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswamy is busy travelingacross the State to lay foundationstone for the 11 medical collegessanctioned by the Centre to theState in a single calendar year.Once the new medical collegesbecome functional, students inTamil Nadu would get an addi-tional 1650 MBBS seats in addi-

tion to the existing 3250 seats,said the Chief Minister onMonday while laying the foun-dation stone for KrishnagiriGovernment medical College.

Last week so the WorldBank signing a deal with theState Government to launchTamil Nadu Health SystemReform Programme (TNHSRP),a mission to provide the com-mon man healthcare on a parwith developed nations. “TamilNadu is already a leader inhealth care in India and ourimmediate aim is to raise thequality of service to global stan-dards,” said theChief Minister while signing the Memorandum ofUnderstanding with the WorldBank.

Junaid Kamal Ahmed,country director, World Bank,congratulated the Tamil NaduGovernment for the ‘excellent’health care system in the State.“We hope Tamil Nadu becomesthe light house for supportinghealth reforms across India.Tamil Nadu is World Bank’s

biggest partner,” said Ahmed.The TNHSRP costing Rs

2857 crore, out of which theWorld Bank’s share would be Rs1,999 crore, will see the qualityof health care in the State goesup by leaps and bounds. Oncethe TNHSRP is in place, theState will have the best healthcare delivery as well as a strongmanagement programme inplace to deal with Non-Communicable Diseases(NCD) and further reduction ofinequities in reproductive andchild health services, said thechief minister.

“The immediate priority isto improve the facilities availablein government hospitals andprimary health centres acrossthe State. By 2030, we want toreduce the maternal mortalityrate to 30. Right now we havethe best maternal mortality ratein the country but we want toimprove it further,” saidPalaniswamy.

Health Minister CVijayabhaskar said that once theTNHSRP is implemented all

government run hospitals andPHCs in the State would pro-vide health services on a parwith the best private hospitals.Tamil Nadu will also be the firstState in the country to boast ofmedial colleges in all the dis-tricts.

The government -run superspeciality hospital in Chennaihas become a role model forother States in the countrythanks to the services provid-ed by it. “We will have moresuch hospitals across the State,”said S Muthukrishnan, a busi-nessman based in Tirunelveliwho says that the governmentdeserves kudos for openingmedical colleges in all the dis-tricts in the State. “There hasbeen a considerable increase inthe quality of health servicesoffered by the State hospitalssince 2011. If the tempo is sus-tained like this for the next oneyear, the AIADMKGovernment would be in astrong wicket when they face theelectorate in 2021,” saidMuthukrishnan.

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Hundreds of spectators fromacross the country

watched in awe as theGentlemen and Lady cadets ofthe Officers TrainingAcademy(OTA) Chennai gavea breathtaking display of theirphysical and mental prowess onFriday at the sprawling maid-an of the academy, in a preludeto their passing out paradescheduled for Saturday.

The audience included theparents and close family mem-bers of the cadets who wouldbe commissioned into variousbranches of the Indian Armyafter passing out from theAcademy. “Armed or un-armed, we are the best”, was themessage given out by the future

officers of the Army.The event commenced

with the traditional EquestrianDisplay by cadets and instruc-tors of the Horse Riding Clubof the Academy. The showstood out for the dexterousmaneuvers made possible by asymbiotic understandingbetween the steeds and the rid-ers. “Those perfecting the art ofriding the stallions wouldemerge as experts in battletank warfare,” said an old war-rior watching the well syn-chronised coordinationbetween men and animals.

This was followed by KalariPayattu, the martial art fromKerala’s Malabar region.Theperformance had all ingredi-ents like dance, music, warfare,physical prowess rolled intoone. Some of the items dis-

played by the cadets under-scored the fact that it is thebody movement which matterirrespective of the kind ofweapons deployed by theenemy. The drum beats andpipes took the audience to thedays when chevakars

(Malayalam for warriors) likeThatcholi Othenan andPayyamvalli Chandu, foughtfor their rulers till the death ofthe rivals in Ankam (battle).

The kinestheticGymnastics Display by thecadets and the physical train-

ing instructors of the Academywas a visual treat. The martialarts performance from NorthEastern states choreographedby the Assam RegimentalCentre showed the audiencethe culturtal diversity of the subcontinent.

The kaleidoscope shiftedfocus to the sky with a team ofSky Warriors from theParachute Regimental Centredisplaying their aerial skills ofhandling the Para Motors. Theultimate event was abuzz withthe Gatka Display showcasedby the Martial Arts performersfrom the Sikh Light InfantryRegimental Centre.

Those who watched theshow were fully convincedabout the ability and prowess ofthe future soldiers of the coun-try’s Army.

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Four persons, including aSri Lankan tourist, isolated

here over the suspicion of hav-ing coronavirus affliction, havebeen tested negative, said medical authorities on Friday.

Besides the 48-year-old SriLankan tourist, the three oth-ers kept in isolation in MBSHospital here to check if theyhave any symptom of Covid-19afflictions, were Kota natives,including a couple, whoreturned from foreign trips.

Dr CP Meena, the inchargeof a 16-room isolation ward atthe MBS Hospital to screen thesuspected COVID-19-hit cases,

said he received telephonically the negative testreports of the fourpersons.

The four, however, are areyet to be discharged from theisolation ward, he said, addingthey would be discharged onlyafter the hard copies of theirtest reports reach the isolationunit.

Even after their discharge,the Kota residents would beasked to stay in isolation attheir homes, said Dr Meena.

Dr Meena, however, did otexplain what would be the fateof Sri Lankan national after hisdischarge.

The Sri Lankan tourist hadbeen traced to a hotel in the city

on Thursday and was put in thehospital's isolation ward forscreening.

He had landed in Chennaion February 23 and reachedKota on Tuesday after visitingJaipur, where he had stayed fora few days at his relative'shouse in Ghat Gate area, saidthe hospital's Chief Medicaland Health Officer BS Tanwar.

A 36-year-old Kota resi-dent, who had returned toIndia from Malaysia onFebruary 23, too was put in iso-lation at the hospital for screen-ing on Thursday when heapproached it with complaintsof cold and cough, said DrTanwar.

A couple belonging toKota, who had been on a tripto Thailand from February 16to 23 and returned to the cityon early Friday morning aftertravelling to Delhi andAhmedabad, too was put inisolation for screening.

All four suspects, howev-er, have been tested negative,said Dr Meena.

The district's medical andhealth department, meanwhile,has stepped up measures totackle the situation amid theinflow of foreign tourists aheadof the Holi and has turned 16rooms of the hospital's cubicalward into an isolation unit forthe screening of COVID-19-hitsuspects.

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A12-member team fromTelengana, where a patient

has tested positive for coronavirus, on Friday met KeralaHealth Minister KK Shailajaand other officials to get a firsthand knowledge about themanner in which the State hadsuccessfully treated and curedthree affected patients. The Minister said many stateshad evinced interest in theKerala model to treat thevirus.

Shailaja informed themabout the model followed bythe southern State and how ithad drawn up a plan to moni-tor and effectively treat thevirus.

Mathura: Days ahead of Holicelebrations, the district admin-istration here has held a meet-ing with the Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) and the offi-cials concerned to chalk out astrategy to counter the coron-avirus threat.

District MagistrateSarvagya Ram Mishra said anisolation ward has been set upin case of any eventuality.

“A detailed meeting withIMA and officials concernedwas held on Thursday to chalkout a strategy,” Mishra said,adding the chief medical offi-cer of Mathura has beeninstructed to make adequatearrangements to counter thespread of the disease.

Chief Medical Officer DrSher Singh has advised peopleto contact 18001805145,

9897136678, 805743663 in casethey want to report any sus-pected case of coronavirus.

Also, Holi celebrations bywidows of 'Ashray Sadan' inVrindaban has been cancelled inview of coronavirus scare. PTI

Thane: The Maharashtra Foodand Drug Administration(FDA) has directed chemists tosell coronavirus kits only ondoctors' prescription, an official

said on Friday. The FDA hasstarted regulating the sale andstorage of coronavirus kits toprevent hoarding and over-

pricing, he said.In an order issued on

Thursday, FDA commissionerArun Unhale said theMaharashtra Government andFDA had received several com-plaints of chemists selling PPEkits and N-95 masks at priceshigher than the MRP.

The FDA has also directedchemists to sell PPE kits andmasks only on doctors' pre-scription, a spokesman of theFDA's Konkan division said.

FDA officials have beendirected to inspect the stockand storage of kits at manu-facturing plants and supplychains and penalise those whohoard the equipment, the orderstated. While no positive caseof the novel coronavirus hasbeen detected in Maharashtratill now, the State Governmentis taking all precautionary mea-sures. PTI

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Police officials in Coimbatoreheaved a sigh of relief as the

Hindu Front office bearersinformed them that the dawnto dusk ‘hartal call’, which wasplanned for Friday, has beenpostponed to Saturday. Theshut down was to protest theattack on Madukkarai Anand,a Hindu Front leader alleged-ly by Islamic extremists onWednesday.

“The merchant associa-tions in Coimbatore districttold us that they would incurheavy losses if the hartal is heldon Friday, an auspicious day formarriage and other functions.

Hence we acceded to theirrequest and postpones the har-tal to Saturday,” said JS KishoreKumar, Secretary, Hindu Front.

An official of the InterState Intelligence Wing basedat Coimbatore told this news-paper that there were no majoruntoward incidents in the dis-trict over the last two days bar-ring the attack on Anand.

“By and large, life is nor-mal and the situation is fullyunder our control,” he said.

Though there was a petrolbomb attack on a mosque onThursday, police sources saidthe people maintained restraintand an investigation is on to

find out the persons behind theattack.

“We were shocked by theattack and informed the policeimmediately. We have instruct-ed the community membersnot to panic and observerestraint. The police are prob-ing the incident,” said AbdulRehman, spokesman, TamilNadu Thowheed Jamaat. Healso ruled out the possibility ofthe involvement of Islamists inthe attack on Anand. “TheSangh Parivar is spreading allkind of lies against us in con-nection with the agitationagainst the CAA. Let the policeconclude the probe and truthwill come out,” said Rehman.

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Presenting a �9,511 crore rev-enue deficit Budget for the

year 2020-21, the debt-trappedMaharashtra Government onFriday proposed to increase theValue Added Tax (VAT) on thesale of Petrol and Diesel by Onerupee per litre, in addition to theexisting rate of VAT, a measurewhich will bring in an addition-al revenue of �1,800 crore to theState exchequer.

A day after the EconomicSurvey of Maharashtra estimat-ed the State’s debts would rise toalarming �4.71,642 crore during2019-20, Deputy Chief MinisterAjit Pawar—presenting theBudget for 2020-21 in theAssembly — proposed toincrease VAT on the sale ofPetrol and Diesel by one rupeeper litre over and above theexisting rate of VAT — to createa special dedicated fund forimplementation various envi-ronmental projects.

“This (additional taxation)will enrich the State exchequer byan additional rupees 1800 Croresper annum. The Governmentwill create a special dedicatedfund called ‘ Green Fund ’ andthe additional collection of ValueAdded Tax from proposed levy

will be transferred to a ‘GreenFund ’,” Pawar

Pawar, who holds theFinance and Planning Portfolios,said that the Green Fund wouldbe utilised by the Governmentfor the conservation of environ-ment, specifically for the projectsrelated to sewage disposal andwaste management and suchother projects.

The deputy chief ministerannounced a major tax conces-sion for home buyers in the formof one per cent rebate for the nexttwo years in the Stamp Duty andother related charges applicableon registration of documents inthe area of Mumbai MetropolitanRegion Development Authorityand in the areas of MunicipalCorporations of Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Nagpur.

In an effort to promoteindustries in the state, Pawar pro-posed to reduce the Electricityduty on Industrial use from 9.3per cent to 7.5 per cent of theconsumption charges

“Due to the two tax conces-sions, it is expected that there willbe yearly revenue shortfall ofaround rupees 2500 crore,” hesaid.

The Budget estimates pre-sented by Pawar for 2020-21 pegthe revenue receipts during the

coming financial year at�3,47,457 crore, as against theanticipated the revenue expen-diture of �3,56,968 crore. Ineffect, the budget indicates arev-enue deficit of �9,511 crore dur-ing the year ending March 31,2021.

Pawar attributed the decreasein the State’s receive receiptsduring 2019-20 which was esti-mated at �3, 14,640 crore to thereduction in receipt of Stateshare in central taxes by �8,543crore.

Blaming the Narendra ModiGovernment for the delay in theState getting GST compensa-tion from the Centre, Pawarsaid: “Every two months, theState Government receives theGST compensation from theCentral Government in accor-dance with the Goods andServices Tax Act, 2017. However,there is delay in getting GSTcompensation from CentralGovernment to the State. As aresult, timely funding the expen-diture on development works inthe State is becoming difficult”.

Pawar said that his govern-ment was bearing direct andindirect liability of loans raisedby the previous DevendraFadnavis dispensation duringthe last five years. “During the

last 5 years, State has raisedloans of �2,82,448 crore and atotal amount of outstanding debtand liabilities at the end ofJanuary 2020 is �4,33,00,901crore.... The cost of infrastructureprojects undertaken by the StateGovernment is �2,78,271 croreand the State Government hasalso to bear direct and indirectliability of these projects,” he said.

Among other things, Pawarsaid that the State Governmenthad made a provision of �15,000crore for the much-discussedloan waiver scheme “MahatmaJotirao Phule Shetkari KarjmuktiYojna 2019” during the year2019-20, while it had proposed�7,000 crore allocation for thesame scheme during 2020-21,“so that the total of �22,000 Cr.will be available for the scheme”.

The scheme covers the shortterm crop loan taken by farmersfrom the nationalised banks,private banks, rural banks, dis-trict co-operative banks and var-ious primary agricultural co-operative societies. “Till today,�9,035 Cr. have been transferredto the accounts of 13.85 lakhfarmers. The remaining amountwill be transferred to theaccounts of the eligible farmersbefore the kharif season 2020, sothat they will be eligible for new

crop loans,” the DCM said.Pawar also announced two

additional schemes— one forfarmers having arrears morethan �2 lakh in respect of prin-ciple and interest of crop loan /restructured crop loan takenduring the period 1.4.2015 to31.3.2019 in the form of a ben-efit of Rs. 2 lakh in respect of loanoutstanding on 30.9.2019 as onetime settlement and second onefor farmers who have regularlyrepaid up to 30.6.2020 in theform of a maximum Rs. 50000 asincentive for the amount of croploan taken during the year 2018-19.

On the health front, Pawarproposed an outlay of Rs.5,000crore, of which 50 percent will beset aside for medical educationlike construction of new hospi-tals, revamping existing hospitals,medical colleges, buying newambulances, etc.

The DCM said that anamount of Rs.1000 crore wouldbe spent on revamping all roadsleading to major urban marketsin all cities in the state, andRs.1,300 crore for higher andtechnical education.

Pawar said a whopping500,000 solar power pumpswould be distributed to farmersin the next five years.

Mumbai: Training guns atthe ruling Maha VikasAghadi (MVA) inMaharashtra as it completed100 days of formation, theBJP on Friday labeled theShiv Sena-led Governmentas confused and one whichstayed works the previousdispensation had undertak-en.

Leader of theOpposition in the Assemblyand BJP legislator DevendraFadnavis alleged MVA con-stituents Shiv Sena, the NCPand the Congress do nottrust each other and thattheir government is the onewhich makes announce-ments only to retreat later.

Shiv Sena presidentUddhav Thackeray wassworn-in as chief minister onNovember 28, 2019, alongwith six Ministers.

The three-partyGovernment was formedafter the Shiv Sena snapped

ties with the BJP and joinedhands with the NCP and theCongress, both its ideologi-cal opponents. There isabsolutely no coordinationamong the ruling parties.Their Ministers makeannouncements which cometo their mind, while thechief minister says nothingsuch (with regard to minis-ters announcements) hasbeen decided.

It is a Governmentwhich just makes announce-ments and then retreats on itlater, Fadnavis told reporters

outside the State legislaturebuilding complex in southMumbai. To drive home hispoint, the former chief min-ister said the MVA firstannounced complete farmloan waiver, free electricityup to 100 units usage and100 per cent scholarship,but later retreated.

He also referred toMinority Affairs MinisterNawab Malik announcinggiving 5 per cent quota toMuslims, while Thackeraysaying no decision has beentaken yet on the issue. PTI

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Amid theongoing

f r i c t i o nbetween himand ChiefM i n i s t e rM a m a t aB a n e r j e e ,West BengalG o v e r n o rJagdeep Dhankhar on Fridaymet Union Home MinisterAmit Shah here. “I have availedthis opportunity to apprise theUnion Home Minister of var-ious issues of serious concerntouching upon the governancein the State. I discussed withhim a variety of issues,”Dhankar told reporters here.

The meeting complexcomes a within a week ofShah's visit to Kolkata. At a rallyin the city, the Union ministerhad expressed “anguish” overthe law and order situation inWest Bengal.

However, coming out fromHome Minister's office inParliament complex, Dhankaravoided a volley of questions ofmedia about his appraisal of thelaw and order situation in thestate. “I had myself sought thismeeting. I had sought thismeeting under the backgroundthat over the (past) sevenmonths I have been able toappreciate the situation on theground with respect to thecritical issues of governance,”he said.

Dhankar said during histenure so far, he has noticedissues of law and order in theState which were highly dis-turbing and antithetical todemocracy.

“I have been to variousparts of the State and have gotreports from several areas ofsevere political victimisation bythe police. False cases againstinnocent people have beenfiled based on political con-siderations.

“I have apprised the HomeMinister of the various areas inthe State that call for the atten-tion of the CentralGovernment in the interest ofthe people,” he said

Dhankar said no action hasbeen taken against those whoaccosted him at JadavpurUniversity and University ofCalcutta and this is a “seriousreflection” of the adverse lawand order situation in the State.

Tamil Nadu GovernorBanwarilal Purohit and hisHaryana counterpart SatyadeoNarain Arya also called on theUnion Home Minister.

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In a novel initiative under-taken in the run-up to the

Women’s Day 2020, a WikiGapedit-a-thon is being organisedat IIT Bombay as a step towardsmaking a more gender-equalWikipedia, a more gender-equal internet and a more gen-der-equal world.

The “WikiGap edit-a-thon”– hosted jointly by theConsulate General of Sweden,Mumbai will be hosting aWikiGap edit-a-thon at IITBombay in association withWikiMedia India, IdobroImpact Solutions, Centre forPolicy Studies and severaldepartments from IIT Bombay– got off to a start on Friday,with an introductory and tech-nical session on March 6th. Theevent will conclude on March9.

“Women’s representationon Wikipedia is quite low com-pared to that of men. Globally,there are 4 times more articlesabout men than women onWikipedia. Nine out of 10Wikipedia editors are men,” anIIT-B spokesperson said.

WikiGap is a global initia-tive that aims to take a steptowards making a more gen-der-equal Wikipedia, a moregender-equal internet and amore gender-equal world. Itinvolves inviting people to‘edit-a-thons’ to strengthenwomen's rights, representationand resources on Wikipedia.

“Equality between womenand men is a fundamental aimof the Swedish feminist foreignpolicy. Through WikiGap,Sweden aims to bridge thegender gap on Wikipedia. Sinceyoung citizens are decision-makers of tomorrow, they havebeen the focus for this initia-tive. We are glad to host WIKI-GAP at IIT Bombay in part-nership with WikiMedia Indiaand Idobro,” Bjorn Holmgren,Consul, Consulate General ofSweden, Mumbai said

“The theme is in line withSweden’s Tekla initiative thatencourages young women totake up STEM sciences. IITBombay, being a leadingScience university globally, isan ideal partner for WikiGap,”Holmgren

Rahul Deshmukh,President of WikiMedia Indiasaid, “Currently, Wikipedia isavailable in 301 languages, ofwhich the English edition is thelargest with over 5.8 millionarticles. The female (47%) tomale readership ratio (53%) isapproximately the same.However, only 16% femalesconvert themselves to editors.To bridge this gap, several ini-tiatives have been undertakenworldwide”

“Since 2014, WikimediaIndia has also been striving tobridge this gender gap throughits annual ‘Women’s Edit-a-thon’ activity around WorldWomen’s day,” Deshmukh said.

Prof. Swati Patankar, Dean(International Relations) andFaculty in Department ofBioSciences andBioengineering, IIT Bombay,

said: “Women have made enor-mous contributions in sci-ences, politics and socialempowerment and continueto do so. Yet the recognition forthese women is not as wide-spread as it should be. Today,Wikipedia is one of the mostwidely used online tools.WikiGap is an exciting initia-tive to strengthen women'srights, resources and repre-sentation online and IITBombay is delighted to be apart of this initiative togetherwith the Consulate General ofSweden in Mumbai and IdobroImpact Solutions.”

Karon Shaiva, ManagingDirector, Idobro ImpactSolutions said, “Idobro andRise Infinity Foundation seeksto co-create solutions by bring-ing the 4 key stakeholderstogether - Government,Academia, Industry and CivilSociety. International Women’sDay helps to increase theawareness around womenissues and the gaps that exist insociety at multiple levels.”

Prof. Shishir Jha, Professorand Head of Department,Centre for Policy Studies said,“Our world views are shaped byour daily experiences, which inturn is molded by the societalstructures and positions that weoccupy. Both rationality andlogic are not entirely invariant.There are, in other words,many possible ways to logical-ly engage with the world. Awoman's viewpoint couldarguably be more inclusive andcomprehensive, in many areasof life, because of her dailyexperiences.

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Prasar Bharati CEO ShashiShekhar Vempati has

turned down an invitationfrom the BBC to attend anawards function for Indiansportswomen, citing theBritish broadcaster's “one-sided” reporting on the Delhiviolence.

Vempati had been invitedfor the BBC's IndianSportswoman of the Yearawards ceremony due to beheld in New Delhi on March 8.

“I must respectfullydecline the invitation in viewof the recent coverage of theBBC of certain incidents ofviolence in Delhi,” Vempatisaid in his letter to British

Broadcasting Corporation(BBC) Director General TonyHall.

“As a fellow public broad-caster of global repute, it is dis-maying that the BBC has filedsuch a singularly one-sidedversion of the incidents of vio-lence in Delhi which ratherthan help break the cycle ofviolence has only contributedto further vitiating the atmos-phere while insinuating thebrave men and women inuniform who are charged withthe onerous responsibility ofmaintaining law and order,” hewrote in the letter dated March4. In the said report certainvisuals have been shown of theDelhi Police without context toinsinuate communal behav-iour, he added.

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The clutch of recent develop-ments centred round theprotests against the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) and thestomach-turning communal

rioting in north-east Delhi raises a coupleof fundamental questions: Have India’s pol-itics and politicians failed the country?What is the future of politics in the coun-try? The questions are relevant given theAam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) claim that itsvictory in the recent Delhi Assembly elec-tions heralds the advent of a new kind ofpolitics in the country — kaam ki rajneetior the politics of work.

AAP’s work in improving schools,healthcare services in the form of mohalla(neighbourhood) clinics, providing up to20,000 litres of water free to each householdand drastically reducing electricity bills hasbrought it 62 out of the 70 seats in the DelhiLegislative Assembly. Nevertheless, theconduct of its leaders and legislators dur-ing the recent communal riots in Delhi haslaunched a thousand arguments.

Two things require attention. The firstis their claim that they are not responsiblefor the Delhi Police’s abysmal performanceas the force is controlled by the Union HomeMinistry. The second is their overwhelming-ly perceived absence from the scenes of vio-lence. Both require critical examination.

As to the first claim, the fact is that theUnion Home Ministry directly controls theDelhi Police. The question of the latter’sas well as the Delhi Government’s respec-tive roles, however, comes up in the con-text of preventing and/or controlling vio-lence. While police action is critical in thematter, the fact is that the police act in asocial, political and administrative contextand the Delhi Government might havebeen able to compel it to act even thoughthe Union Home Ministry controlled it.The presence of Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and AAP Ministers and leadersin troubled areas might, for example, haveput policemen on the ground under pres-sure to act, particularly if the netas hadstepped forward and confronted the mobs.Otherwise, the men and women in uni-form would have been held responsible ifanything had happened to them.

Chief Minister Kejriwal visited the hos-pitals. He also visited some of the riot- affect-ed areas along with Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia. But that was after the vio-lence had more or less subsided. He had alsocalled for curfew to be imposed and thedeployment of the Army besides announc-ing a slew of measures, including the pay-ment of various amounts of compensation,ranging from �10 lakh to the kin of thosekilled to �25,000 for each rickshaw destroyed.All this, however, is what any Governmentis expected to do in the aftermath of a seri-ous communal riot and the AAPGovernment should have been seriouslyremiss if it had not. Neither is it the same as

visiting affected areas when vio-lence is raging; nor does it makeup for failure to do so.

Had they been present, AAPleaders might have confrontedthe mobs with their followersand halted them in their tracks.If groups of common people insome localities could do it andsave lives, homes and places ofworship, there is no reason whythey could not do so. AAPspokespersons have waxedindignant on television and else-where, saying that their MLAsand leaders were very much onthe ground, forming peace com-mittees, asking people not toresort to violence, providingrelief and solace to the discon-solate and those rendered des-titute. Since one does not wantto believe that what they weresaying was not true, and giventhat the overwhelming majori-ty of the people seem to holdthat AAP leaders were conspic-uous by their absence, one canonly conclude that they werepresent but not visible.

This writer can only specu-late on how this could have hap-pened. One possibility is thatthose in the higher echelons ofAAPs hierarchy have receivedpills that make them invisible forpre-determined periods. Thesemight have been originally givento them to inspect unseen theeffectiveness of theGovernment’s delivery systemson facilities provided to the

people but were now put to useduring the riots. The other pos-sibility is that they have achieveda level of spiritual elevation thatenables a person to leave his/hercorporal body behind and tra-verse the cosmos in his/herinvisible astral self. Only they didnot travel millions of light yearsin seconds to explore distantgalaxies but visit riot-torn areasoffering solace in subsonic voic-es that most people did not hear.

Of course, as invisible asthem were leaders of most otherpolitical parties. Did they alsohave the invisibility pill and thecapacity for travelling in theirastral bodies and speaking sub-sonically? Whatever the reason,their invisibility shockinglyunderlines their lack of concernfor the people and political iner-tia. All this leads us to the sen-timent whose relevance has notbeen withered by the years —politicians and political parties inIndia have failed the people.

This lack of faith in politi-cians and parties has clearly ledto spontaneous protests like theShaheen Bagh sit-in and meet-ings, rallies and processions bystudents’ and citizens against theCitizenship Act. The question iswhether the development wouldprove ephemeral or the protestswould coalesce, widen theirconcerns and transmogrifythemselves into a new politicalformation with a well-definedideology and programme.

One must go beyond kaamki rajneeti for this to happen.Work gets done in a political,economic, social and culturalenvironment and a moral uni-verse. It will not benefit the peo-ple if a Government prioritisescrony capitalist interests; liber-ty will not be realised on theground if sections remain in eco-nomic bondage and/or sufferdiscrimination. One would needa philosophy of freedom basedon compassion, humanity and acommitment to liberty, cradlinga programme to further socialand economic justice and India’scultural and religious diversity,to realise the goals of theConstitution. Also, one wouldneed money to build up such apolitical formation. Corporateentities would not provide it;they would bet on parties inpower. One would have todepend on crowd-funding,which will not be easy. Finally,the architects of such a move-ment must have the wisdom tokeep their ambitions on holdand weave an intricate tapestryof plural relationships to makea nation-wide political structurepossible. But then, as VictorHugo said, “Nothing is as pow-erful as an idea whose time hascome.” Has the time come for anew and very different politicalformation in India?

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and anauthor)

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Sir — A group of 190 economistsand scientists has appealed to theGovernment to delink Census2021 from the NationalPopulation Register (NPR) exer-cise, saying there are apprehen-sions that it could be used todetermine citizenship and thatlinking the two is a violation ofthe Census Act.

Their concern is valid. Eversince the passage of theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA), which led to widespreadprotests across the country, an airof suspicion is hanging heavyabout the NPR being a precursorto the National Register ofCitizens (NRC). This has evenhampered the house-to-houseenumeration exercises. Fieldinvestigators of the NationalSample Survey have faced stiffresistance in many parts of thecountry. Instances abound wherethey have either been attacked orthreatened by the people. Somehave even shut the door on theirfaces.

With people not willing tofurnish valid information, thecensus report will most likely beflawed. This can have serious

implications for policy-makingand statistical data, too. In sucha scenario, the Government mustpay heed to the letter and sus-pend the NPR process for themoment until people’s trust in the integrity of the data collectionprocess is restored.

Rati AgarwalVia email

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Sir — With reports of at least 30confirmed cases of COVID-19 inIndia, it is time the nation wokeup to the stark truth that we arenot immune to the deadly effectsof a new strain of virus. Thoughthe threat has set alarm bells ring-

ing and triggered panic across thecountry, it is the manner inwhich the administration hasbeen going about dispelling fearsin the minds of countrymen thathas added to the confusion.

With no known antidote orvaccine to neutralise its effects,the halo of “invincibility,” thevirus has had a paranoiac effect

on the masses. The fourth estate,with its alarmist coverage aboutthe “progressive onslaught” of therampaging virus, has only madepeople more apprehensive.

Pachu MenonMargao

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Sir — In view of the spread ofCoronavirus, as responsible citi-zens, we must forego the joys ofpartaking in the mass participa-tory festival of Holi this year.Experts across the world haveadvised to reduce mass gatheringsto avoid the spread of COVID-19.Even the world’s greatest sportingmega-event, the Tokyo Olympics,could be postponed until later thisyear. Nevertheless, it’s good thatthe Government is screeningpassengers flying into the coun-try. But the screening processmust not be slippery. The likeli-hood of several infected passen-gers slipping through the airportis high. Tracing those who havefallen ill is important.

ShambhaviVia email

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History tells us that bio-agentswere restrictively used in boththe World Wars (WWs).

However, since then, biological warfare(BW) has largely been avoided andthough a few attempts were made bysome non-State actors during the1970s-80s, by and large BW has beenkept in abeyance. But of late, covert andclandestine research and developmentby various countries and the productionof bio-agents during the post WW-II erahave brought it closer to, if not at parwith its close cousins — nuclear andchemical weapons. Known by differentpseudonyms such as the “poor man’satom bomb” or “germ warfare”, BW is

broadly defined as, “The use of biolog-ical toxins or infectious agents like bac-teria, virus and fungi, with the intent tokill or incapacitate humans, animals orplants as an act of war.” These are pri-marily meant to cause mass casualties,infect a large number of people, natur-al resources and above all, spread panicamong the rival armed forces.Devastating agents like BacillusAnthracis, Botulism and Variola are usedto spread epidemics like anthrax,cholera, plague and smallpox.

Mustard gas, a primitive bio-agent,was used during the WW-I, leading toa global outrage, which culminated inan unratified treaty banning bioweaponsin 1925. Similarly, during WW-II, theJapanese allegedly used bio- agentsagainst Chinese prisoners, while theRussians did the same with theGermans. Thereafter, no major use ofbio-agents was reported, except for theSarin gas attack in 1995 by the Japanesecult Aum Shinrikyo in a Tokyo subway.A few treaties banning the use of BWswere initiated but did not make anyheadway as some countries refused tosign on the dotted line. The result is that

a number of countries, to be precise 16,including major powers like Canada,Cuba, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria andNorth Korea are reportedly maintain-ing and expanding their BW invento-ry. As per Steven Block, a bio-physicist,the US and Russia are reportedly keep-ing frozen stocks of smallpox along withconventional bio-agents like anthraxand typhus.

China, under its advancedbioweapons programme launched a fewyears ago, is not only trying to gain par-ity with the US and Russia but is aggres-sively working towards engineeringnew virus spores. One may call it a coin-cidence but the sudden outbreak ofCoronavirus, perhaps the most potentand devastating in recent times, fromWuhan, China in December 2019, hasgiven credence to these claims.

This pandemic has already spreadto 85 countries and claimed 3,400 liveswith over 1,00,000 confirmed cases thatare growing by the day. India, too, hasseen 30 cases and this has led to can-cellation of Prime Minister NarendraModi’s visit to Brussels for an India-European Union summit.

In the meantime, US RepublicanSenator Bob Cotton has asserted that theCoronavirus originated from a highsecurity laboratory in Wuhan. Thisclaim further substantiates global fearsagainst Chinese designs as the countryis also said to be working on gene edit-ing technology — a targetted bio-weapon that was successfully tested in2018.

To coin a new terminology, the“geo-biological” scenario is becomingalarming and of late virus outbreakshave become rampant. First it was theEbola in Kenya followed by the Zikavirus attack in Nigeria in October2019 and then came the Nipah virus inAsia, particularly Kerala. Going by thesuspicions over the origin of theCoronavirus, we cannot rule out thatother countries are also engineering newbioweapons, the likes of which havenever been seen before.

Take for instance, the recent locustclouds that originated from West Asiaand struck part of Pakistan and India— particularly Punjab, Rajasthan andGujarat — causing extensive damage tocrops in an area of 1.70 lakh hectares.

It looks like a perennial affair and thereare fears that the next attack during themonsoon would be of greater magni-tude. However, it is believed that locustlarvae can be genetically engineered andif this happens, this menace will add anew dimensions to BW.

So far, there are no reports to cor-roborate that rogue elements or non-State actors have got access to bio-weapons. But one cannot sit complacentbecause keeping in mind the currentfragile global security scenario, suchassumptions are short-lived. In themeantime, a new concept, “black biol-ogy” is doing the rounds. This is a shad-owy science in which organisms aregenetically engineered for the sole pur-pose of creating bio-terrorism. Keepingin mind the devastating effects of BW,there is a need to have a ratified glob-al treaty banning research, productionand the use of bio-agents and virusspores and also instituting stringentsanctions against its pilferage for use byterrorist outfits. Closer home, due to thepeculiar climatic conditions, vast landmass, the high density of population andlack of primary healthcare, we are

highly vulnerable to BW. Thus, Indianeeds to evolve and institute a exhaus-tive mechanism by harnessing both mil-itary and civil resources. In fact, the lateManohar Parrikar, the then DefenceMinister, cautioned the nation againstBW and stressed that we need to be fullyprepared against it.

Keeping this in mind, we must cre-ate awareness, both at the research andoperational level. At the national level,the Ministry of Home Affairs should bethe nodal Ministry to oversee opera-tions. Foremost, the concept of “nation-al bio-defence” must be evolved toencompass threat assessment; effectivesurveillance and early detection, lead-ing to specialised treatment, includingprotective vaccines right up to the pri-mary healthcare level. Bio-contain-ment labs both at the national andregional level are required to isolate andarrest threatening bio organisms.Accordingly, the armed forces shouldalso reappraise and upgrade the med-ical support infrastructure to ensure,protection and treatment of troops.

(The writer is a retired InfantryOfficer with vast operational experience)

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Twenty seven-year-old Nilofer is a singlemother to one girl, a vegetable vendor and anactivist. She became an activist in the course

of survival, when a few years ago, she found herselfostracised by her family and community. She wasbeing punished for having been a “corrupt woman”who eloped with her lover, got sold by him to a broth-el in Pune and subsequently managed to escape afterthree failed attempts.

Far from finding respite, Nilofer found herselfincarcerated in a shelter home for “rehabilitation”where she was told to learn bookbinding, tailoring,knitting and basic computer skills so that she couldfind a job after she went back home.

When she returned home after non-governmen-tal organisations (NGOs) and the shelter home sether free on the Government’s order, she found thather battle for rehabilitation had just begun. For herfamily, Nilofer was a source of endless shame andstigma and to make matters worse, her newly-acquired skills did not bring her any employment.While some Panchayat members and officers in pub-lic administration offices sympathised with her, oth-ers were apathetic or even stigmatising.

Months later, she was approached by anotherwoman, who had a past like hers. She introducedNilofer to a survivors’ support group, which alsobecame a band of activists fighting for their survivaland punishment of their traffickers. Today, her sup-port group is part of a federation of collectives ofsurvivors of human trafficking called IndianLeadership Forum Against Trafficking (ILFAT).

ILFAT’s membership is 2,500 and counting asmore and more survivors join from Odisha,Jharkhand, Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, TamilNadu, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. Other col-lectives from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andKarnataka have also reached out to ILFAT after theorganisation was written about in various newspa-pers and online media.

What is common between them is their expe-rience of being promised safe and good employment,being entrapped and forced into various kinds oflabour, being physically and sexually tortured, beingintimidated and threatened into submission and evenif they found an escape, their ordeal with State pro-tection systems or the lack of it.

What is distinctive between them is that theywere trafficked into different contexts — some intobrick kilns, some into bangle factories, some as agri-cultural indentured labour and others forced intosex work. They are young and old, women and men,girls and boys, and they were mostly landless, caste-disadvantaged and of minority identities.

The Government has largely remained immo-bile when it comes to anti-trafficking policies andlaws. Legal reform efforts have been embroiled incontroversies and the State’s attempts to get theTrafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection andRehabilitation) Bill, 2018 passed lapsed in the RajyaSabha.

There are diverse perspectives on how humantrafficking should be looked at and addressed. Formany, the issue is not one that can be addressedthrough the criminal justice system and requires astructural adjustment approach. For others, anti-traf-ficking policies and laws are a guide for the State andits moral guardians to aggress upon sex workers. Andyet, for others, it is a crusade against traffickers,against male sexual privilege (the social legitimisa-tion of indomitable male sexual appetite that must

be met through prostitution of women ortrans-women). And in these ideologicaland political battles are left out people likeNilofer, Rajeev (a 28-year-old man whohad been trafficked from western, droughtprone Odisha to brick kilns in TamilNadu) and Sukma (a young girl fromJharkhand who had been trafficked intoindentured domestic labour in Delhi).

That they never received any rehabil-itation services, that they are yet toreceive compensations, that they have nolegal aid from the Legal Services Authority,that they are incarcerated in shelterhomes, that they have not received anytreatment for depression or anxiety dis-orders or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,and that public health, law enforcement,welfare and the private service providers,mostly NGOs, have little accountability fortheir non-responsiveness, are mattersrelegated to conferences and workshopsfor funders and NGOs.

Their voices only find expression innews reports showing them with coveredfaces talking about their ordeal. They arenever taken on board to draft policy, mon-itor its implementation and inform theState about what works and what does notwork.

Therein lay the genesis of ILFAT, inhow survivors of trafficking came togeth-er and advocated the passing of the anti-Trafficking Bill. Though the Bill waspassed in the Lok Sabha, to the disappoint-ment of ILFAT members, it was nevertabled in the Rajya Sabha. Hence IILFAT’sprimary demand once again, as a forumof survivor leaders is that the comprehen-sive law like ToP Bill 2018 come back, bepassed and made into a law.

ILFAT members believe that a com-prehensive law against trafficking must beinclusive of all forms of trafficking, rightfrom forced and bonded labour, sex traf-ficking to begging and servitude. Currentlythere is a multiplicity of laws, which dealswith different forms of trafficking underthe different laws in silos. Some laws defineand penalise only one part of human traf-ficking and punishment of our traffickersis weakened by fragmented prosecutionof this organised crime under differentlaws. It has been observed that multiplic-ity of laws is indeed weakening theimplementation of these laws on the

ground. Some parliamentarians say, quiterightly, that the anti-trafficking policy mustnot try to curb inter-State migration.Others feel that focus needs to be put intomaking enforcement stronger and morerobust.

The National Investigation Agency(NIA) Amendment Bill recently madeNIA the nodal agency to combat humantrafficking. The Ministry of Women andChild Development is working on a newdraft of the Bill to address previously-expressed concerns over the last Bill andthe NITI Aayog expressed interest in the

new draft Bill after meeting with ILFATmembers.

The way forward may be to take sur-vivor leaders of human trafficking as part-ners in anti- trafficking policymaking andits monitoring, not to treat them as hap-less victims but as people who have livedthe phenomenon and trust their wisdomand commitment for a future that is saferfor their children, for all children.

(The writer is a researcher, facilitator,certified coach and practitioner of behav-ioural sciences who works on issues of gen-der-based violence and personal growth)

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New Delhi: Moody’s InvestorsService on Friday downgradedYes Bank Ltd’s rating followingRBI imposing a 30-day mora-torium that prevents the lenderfrom making payment to itscreditors. “The ratings remainunder review, with the direc-tion uncertain,” Moody’s saiddowngrading Yes Bank Ltd’slong-term foreign currencyissuer rating to Caa3 from B2.

Moody’s has also down-graded the bank’s long-termforeign and local currencybank deposit ratings. Thedowngrade “is a result of anevent of default triggered by theReserve Bank of India’s (RBI)30-day moratorium, which pre-vents Yes Bank from making afull and timely payment to itssenior creditors,” the ratingagency said in a statement.

“Despite the event of default,the Caa3 rating takes intoaccount Moody’s expectationthat although recovery rates forthe banks’ senior creditors maybe high given the close involve-ment of the Indian authoritiesand stated intention to resolvethe bank quickly, the ultimatetiming and form of eventual res-olution remains uncertain.

“Actions by the authorities todate have not reduced the prob-ability of default as evidenced bythe moratorium announcement,and highlights the continueduncertainty around private sec-tor bank resolutions in India andthe recovery prospects for seniorcreditors,” it said. PTI

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Even as the RBI and theGovernment are assuring

the public of their money beingsafe in Yes Bank, depositorscontinue to queue up outside branches of the trou-bled private lender.

Several customers are nowcontemplating opening up newaccounts in other banks.

There were cases of heatedexchange between bank staffand customers, who failed towithdraw money.

On Thursday, the ReserveBank of India (RBI) supersededthe board of Yes Bank andimposed a 30-day moratoriumafter the Rana Kapoor-promot-ed bank failed to raise capital toaddress potential loan losses.

The bank’s depositors areallowed to withdraw cash up to�50,000 from their accountsduring the 30-day moratoriumperiod, according to aGovernment gazette.

The withdrawal limit, how-ever, can be relaxed up to �5lakh in case of medical emer-gencies, higher education andfor expenses related to mar-riages, it said.

The rush to withdrawmoney from the bank contin-ued despite Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman, ChiefEconomic AdvisorKrishnamurthy Subramanianand Reserve Bank GovernorShaktikanta Das trying to allaythe fear among the depositors.

“Our salary gets creditedon 21st of every month. I ama little worried about myupcoming salary as I have asalary account with Yes Bank.I am going to provide details ofmy other bank account to HRtoday so that my money does-n’t get blocked,” said an MNCemployee who was standing ina queue at one of the branch-es in suburban Mulund.

Pradeep Kumar, an engi-neer by profession, workingwith a large real estate developer,said, “I have some money rightnow but I have come to with-draw more since it is the begin-ning of the month and there aresome payments lined up.”

Kumar had tried to with-draw money yesterday nightbut ATM went dry before histurn came.

Yes Bank has 1,000 branch-es across the country. Tostreamline the withdrawalprocess, some of the branchesare giving limited tokens to thecustomers.

“The branch manager hasrefused to give me a token sinceI reached late. They are givingtokens to up to 130 people,”said a customer who was seenfighting with the manager ofthe branch in suburbanMumbai. Security was alsotightened at the bank’s head-quarters, its branches andATMs across the city. It’s notjust salaried customers, butentrepreneurs and small busi-nessmen are also affected.

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State Bank of India ChairmanRajnish Kumar on Friday

said the problem of Yes Bank is“lender-specific” and not astructural issue. He also saidthat there was no need for any-one to panic.

“The problem at hand islender-specific and not sec-toral,” he told reporters aftermeeting Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman here.

The SBI board on Thurdaygave its “in-principle” approvalto exploring investment oppor-tunities in Yes Bank but he saidthere has been no negotia-tions yet. “The RBI has saidthey will come out with arestructuring plan (for YesBank),” he added.

The resolution will come“very shortly”, he said. “This isnot a sectoral problem. It is abank-specific problem. TheRBI will take all steps to ensurefinancial stability,” Rajnish

Kumar said. On SBI picking upa stake in Yes Bank, he said thelender already has an in-prin-ciple approval for doing so.

The SBI chief also saidthere is no need to panic onaccount of developments in theYes Bank.

“What’s there to panic, noneed to panic, all depositors aresafe... RBI Governor has saidalso, just be patient, everythingwill be fine,” Kumar told thereporters.

Yes Bank shares were downto �15.10 from �21.70, a 58.97

per cent fall.Earlier RBI Governor

Shaktikanta Das said that theCentral bank will come outwith a scheme very shortly torevive Yes Bank within 30 days.

“We took the step (ofputting it under moratorium)when we found that Yes Bankefforts were not working.Depositors’ interests will befully protected. A decision hasbeen taken not only to dealwith the problem in the indi-vidual entity but also to main-tain the resilience of the Indianfinancial sector.”

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The Sensex plunged 894points while the Nifty

crashed below the key 11,000-mark on Friday as regulatorycurbs on Yes Bank triggered acrisis of confidence amongdomestic investors.

A heavy sell-off in globalmarkets on coronavirus con-cerns took a further toll on risksentiment, traders said.

After nosediving over1,459 points during the day, the30-share BSE Sensex settled893.99 points or 2.32 per centlower at 37,576.62. Likewise,the broader NSE Nifty tanked279.55 points or 2.48 per centto close at 10,989.45.

Banking counters wiltedunder selling pressure, with YesBank plummeting over 55 percent, after the RBI placed thelender under a moratorium,capping deposit withdrawals at�50,000 per account for a monthand superseding its board.

The unusual move lateThursday evening came hoursafter finance ministry sourcesconfirmed that State Bank ofIndia (SBI) was directed to bail

out the troubled lender, once aDalal Street darling.

Tata Steel was the top lag-gard in the Sensex pack, crack-ing 6.51 per cent, followed bySBI, IndusInd Bank, HDFC,ICICI Bank and ONGC. BajajAuto, Maruti and Asian Paintswere the only gainers.

During the week, Sensexplunged 720.67 points or 1.88per cent, while Nifty sank212.30 points or 1.89 per cent.According to analysts, investorstook the Yes Bank episodevery negatively, raising ques-tions on the stability of theoverall Indian financial system.

“Another bank bites thedust. This time its Yes Bank -one of the large private sectorbanks. RBI has stepped in andleading state-owned institu-tions are patching up a bailoutplan for the bank and moreimportantly, safeguard theinterest of depositors. However,the already weak sentimentshave been dented further.

“The series of accidents inthe Indian financial sectorsends out a very poor messageto the foreign investors. Thenegative bias is expected would

sustain in the near term,” saidGaurav Dua, Senior VP, Head— Capital Market Strategy &Investments, Sharekhan byBNP Paribas.

Meanwhile, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanand RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas on Friday assured YesBank depositors that theirmoney is safe and all steps willbe taken to ensure stability inthe financial sector.

All BSE sectoral indicesended in the red, with metalplunging 4.40 per cent, fol-lowed by bankex, finance, ener-gy, realty, oil and gas, powerand industrials.

The broader BSE midcapand smallcap indices too skid-ded up to 2.36 per cent. Worldmarkets sank deeper into red asthe coronavirus outbreakstoked fears of a global reces-sion. Bourses in Shanghai,Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyosank over 2 per cent.

European benchmarks werealso trading significantly lowerin their morning sessions. Brentcrude oil futures fell 2.54 percent to USD 48.72 per barrel.

On the currency front, theIndian rupee depreciated 32paise to 73.24 per US dollar(intra-day).

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Leading stock exchanges BSEand NSE on Friday decided

to drop Yes Bank from Futures and Options segmentfrom May 29.

The existing Futures and Options contracts acrossall expiries will expire on May 28.

The development cameafter Yes Bank on Thursday wasput under a moratorium, withthe RBI capping deposit with-drawals at �50,000 per accountfor a month and superseding itsboard.

In similar-worded circu-lars, the exchanges said,” theexisting Futures and Optionscontracts, across all expiries

shall expire on May 28, 2020.No Futures and Options con-tracts shall be available in YesBank for trading in equityderivatives segment from May29, 2020 onwards”.

Derivatives markets orF&O segment reflect expecta-tion of spot prices in the future,and current price bands or cir-cuit filters are generally notapplied on them.

At present, there are over200 stocks in F&O segment.Further, the bourses said due tothe recent development in YesBank it has been decided thatno fresh or renewal of bankguarantees and fixed depositreceipt issued by the privatelender will be accepted as col-lateral.

New Delhi: Be it an epidemicscare or a financial distress, theTwitterati know how to makea day as the microblogging sitegot flooded with memes on theYes Bank crisis amid fears thatdepositors may lose their hard-earned money. The RBI, inconsultation with theGovernment, on Thursday putthe cash-strapped private sec-tor lender under moratoriumfor a period of 30 days, restrict-ing the overall withdrawal limitof �50,000. Reacting to thedevelopments, a Twitter user@Abhishekmissh posted,

“Given the way our banks aretoppling, I think the promisemade was to make India a 3-trillion economy. Three trillionpaise that is. #yesbankcrisis.”

A ‘reporter-FM joke’, sharedby @dilippanawar with#yesBankcrisis, read: “Reporter:FM, #YesBank has gone bad. FM:I don’t care my account is inICICI.” Another user @i_thein-dian wrote: “History repeatsitself. #DeMonetisation #yes-bankcrisis”, posting a picture ofpeople sitting in a line withclosed shutters in the back-ground. PTI

New Delhi: The RBI superseding the board of YesBank casts light on governance risks in India’sbanking sector, Fitch Ratings said on Friday.

Fitch said there is a risk that the already pooroperating environment for the banking sectorcould suffer further impairment if the govern-ment’s efforts to tackle problems in the bank failto provide reassurance to depositors and investors.

“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) takeover ofYes Bank casts light on governance risks in India’sbanking sector,” Fitch Ratings, which has a neg-ative outlook on India’s banking sector, said in astatement. The central bank’s takeover of Yes Bankappears intended to restore depositor confi-dence. “However, we believe that there is a riskthat the RBI’s move could backfire if it promptsdepositors to shift their money to institutions thatare perceived to be safer,” Fitch added. PTI

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The moratorium on Yes Bank by RBI could havea rippling effect on the operating jute mills and

wages of lakhs of workers associated with theindustry just ahead of Holi.

According to jute industry sources, paymentsto mills got stuck in totality though 60 per centof the payment is not associated with Yes Bank.The Yes Bank crisis has led to halting in paymentrelease for the mills. The immediate fallout is athreat over wages and advance payments to millworkers just ahead of Holi festival, jute sectorsources told PTI.

Approximately two lakh workers are associ-ated with the jute mills in West Bengal and a largesection of them are from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,and Holi is a major festival for them, the sourcessaid. In jute mills, wages are usually paid on the7th and 21st of every month, mill officials said.

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One of the biggest losers in case the RBI’srestructuring scheme for Yes Bank goes

through will be the additional tier-I bondholders who have bets totalling to �10,800 crore on the lender.

The investors in such instruments typicallyinclude mutual fund houses and bank trea-suries, experts said.

“The instruments qualifying as addition-al tier-1 capital, issued by Yes Bank underBasel-III framework, shall stand written downpermanently, in full, with effect from theappointed date,” the draft of the ‘Yes Bank Ltd.Reconstruction Scheme, 2020’, said.

The draft, which is open for public com-ments, added that the same is in conformitywith the RBI’s regulations based on the Baselframework.

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New Delhi: Beleaguered Vodafone Idea Ltd on Friday put its totaldues to the government following a Supreme Court order at�21,533 crore — less than half of what the Telecom Departmenthas estimated, even as the Vodafone CEO indicated keenness tomake a “new, good beginning” in India. Vodafone Group CEONick Read met top ministers, including Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, andinformed them that UK telecom giant’s India joint venture,Vodafone Idea Ltd is “exploring” options to make additional pay-ment towards its outstanding statutory dues.

Vodafone Idea in a statement said it has already paid �3,500crore out of the “self-assessed” liability of �21,533 crore. The DoT,following the Supreme Court ruling in October last year which saidthat all kinds of income generated by telecom companies will beconsidered for calculating Government dues, had estimatedVodafone Idea’s liabilities at over �53,000 crore. PTI

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The Hyundai factory lies around90 minutes outside downtownChennai, when ground on thefactory was broken in 1996with operations starting in

1997, no-one could have predicted theimmense success that the Korean car-maker would go on to enjoy in India. Inthe 23 years of operation, HyundaiIndia’s assembly plants in Chennai havemanufactured over nine million cars. Ifall the steel coils used in manufacturingall those cars were unfurled, they wouldgo around the equator four times over,Ganesh Mani S, Director, Production,Hyundai Motor India Limited tells me.With two assembly plants and threeengine plants on the premises today,Hyundai India can make 750,000 cars ayear, “We manufacture 17 different carsin over 350 different variants and exportvehicles to over 100 countries”, he adds.

With 650 fourth-generation robotsand 13,000 employees, the factory workstwenty-four hours a day, six days a week,totalling 295 days a year. Even when thefactory is rolling cars out, a car rolls off oneof the several final assembly lines every 33seconds, engineers and mechanics are ser-vicing and repairing the robots andequipment, so much so that the in-housekitchens at the facility work around theclock without a single day off. At full-load,the kitchens produce 26,000 meals daily.

But, The Pioneer has been givenunprecedented access inside the Hyundaifacilities not to see the kitchens but howa car is made. More specifically, we havecome to see how the second-generation ofHyundai’s bestselling compact SportsUtility Vehicle (SUV) the Creta is puttogether. The first-generation HyundaiCreta was a bonafide best-seller with theChennai factory pleasing 663,817 cus-tomers in 78 countries to date. But pro-duction for the Indian market has shift-ed to the second-generation of the car. Thenew car that was showcased at the recent-ly-held Auto Expo in Greater Noida is big-ger than the outgoing model, features all-new BS6 engines including a 140PS 1.4turbocharged petrol engine, also manu-factured at Chennai, with thisvariant featuringsteering

mounted paddle-shifts for gears as well asa panoramic sunroof.

The process of manufacturing a carstarts at the ‘Press Shop’. This has nothingto do with the media, but is where giantcoils of automotive-grade steel are cut andthen literally ‘pressed’ into shape by a hugeamount of force, in the case of the roofpanels on the all-new Creta a whopping5400 tons of force is used. And not just anysteel would do, the high-tensile, high-strength steel used actually means that thesteel frame of the all-new Creta can sup-port the weight of two full-grown Africanelephants. One roof panel emerges every15 seconds from the press. There are threehuge presses and each of them can be fit-ted with different dies for different parts.Each of the panels you see in a car is indi-vidually pressed, and the dyes are changedfrequently depending on demand.

After the steel has been pressed intoshape, they are stored in between the pressshop and the second-stage of the process,the ‘Body Shop’. At Body Shop One, oneof two at Hyundai’s facility, 220 robots doeverything from manipulating the pressedmetal parts to doing the critical spot weld-ing and then a final robot even tests a ran-dom completed body shell for any defects.The robots manufacture bodyshells witha ridiculously low error rate and can doit repeatedly and fast, most bodyshellsexhibit errors less than 1mm as comparedto the 3D drawings, no matter it is a Santroor the all-new Creta. The dance of therobots as they get a car, is mesmerising butalso has given Ganesh and his team at thefactory to try out something new with bigdata. The robots at Hyundai’s facilities gen-erate 11.7 billion data points every year,with better data management and algo-rithms in place, Ganesh told The Pioneerthat they can now predict when a motoror a electro-welding gun is about to fail.“This has reduced downtime on thesechanges from about 40 minutes to under17 minutes, a 100 percent plus improve-ment”, he says proudly. His work with datahas won kudos from Hyundai Motorsglobally and the practice is being rolled outat other facilities as well.

After the body-shop, theempty shells go to thepaint-shop. The

paint is applied using electrostatic force toensure an even finish. But we arenot allowed inside the paint-shop as the chemicals andthe low tolerance fordust means that fewpeople are allowedinside any automo-tive paintshop.Instead we aretaken to theEngine Shop 3,this is whereHyundai India ismanufacturing the1493cc (1.5 litre)four-cylinder U2CRDi turbodieselengine for the new Creta aswell as the Verna. This 115PSengine has several changes com-pared to the previous generation, to makeit BS6 capable including a new variable-geometry turbocharger, new catalystsand an higher-pressure fuel injector.These have not only reduced emissions,but have also improved the power outputof the car.

Hyundai India remains bullish aboutdiesel technology in the BS6 era despite

other manufacturers exiting the segment.Again, much of the process of

machining is automated,but employees assemble

the various parts. Theengine is tested

using a cold-startsystem, whichd r a s t i c a l l yreduces emis-sions inside theplant. Andbefore theengine is sent to

the plant, or oftenexported, a final

robotic check,where a robot takes 45

photographs of variouspoints of the engine and

checks it against a database, all injust over a minute is done. The error rateis infintessibly small.

Finally, the car that you and I mightcall our own is ready to be put together.Hyundai has two assembly shops atChennai, and the all-new Creta is beingput together at the original line. There arethree lines here, the first where the all-newCreta, and some first-generation cars for

the export market and the Venuemake up a a

bulk of the models. This line has an out-put of 45 cars every hour, each car visit-ing almost one hundred different stations.But how do employees differentiatebetween different cars, since the Hyundaifactory produces over 350 different vari-ants and employees can easily be movedfrom one station to the next?

“We use computer simulation toensure that everyone on the line knows hisor her role. Electronic tablets give them aquick reference to what they have to do,and our parts management system ensuresthat they only receive the parts specific tothe product in front of them”, Ganeshpoints out. The computer simulationensured that everyone on the final assem-bly line knew exactly how to put togeth-er the all-new Creta even before the firstone rolled off the line. Hyundai is antici-pating heavy demand for the all-newCreta, thus every second vehicle on thisassembly line is the new model.

The first thing workers do on the lineis actually remove the doors on the vehi-cles. This is to ensure easy access to theinside as well as prevent inadvertentdamage and scratches to the paint job. Thedoors, where the windows and speakersare fitted are actually finished on a sepa-rate line and Hyundai’s computer systemsensure that they perfectly meet their vehi-

cle back a few stations down the

line. Hyundai employees use gravity-assisting devices to help them manipulateheavy components such as the central con-sole and tires. The factory is a perfectexample of Henry Ford’s moving assem-bly line concept. The line is constantlymoving, with each station knowing exact-ly what to do, it is almost perfect sym-metry, a carefully choreographed dancethat would make Bollywood, rather givenwhere we are Kollywood, jealous.

After this, the cars undergo a pre-delivery check. In 800 seconds, twentyHyundai India employees check every-thing on a 150-point checklist. From theinteriors including the infotainment sys-tem, the horn, lights and the exteriors forany possible scratches under a brightly littunnel, to ensure that the car is dispatchedto dealers with no flaws whatsoever.Again, a carefully choreographed danceensures that the car that you might callyour own one day, maybe the all-newCreta in this case is as good as it possi-bly can be as Hyundai India’s factory atSriperumbudur assures both buyers inIndia and across the world that it is oneof the best car manufacturing facilitiesanywhere in the world. Making this a‘Make In India’ success story and whileIndian buyers will enjoy the all-new Cretawith its stunning new features beforeother buyers, it will will soon be sent tomarkets across the world.

METAL TO EXCELLENCE, MAKING OF THE ALL-NEW HYUNDAI CRETA

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Kabul: Gunmen opened fire onFriday at a ceremony inAfghanistan’s capital attendedby prominent political leaders,killing at least 29 people andwounding dozens more beforethe two attackers were slain bypolice, officials said.

The Taliban denied theywere behind the attack, whichcame less than a week after theUS and the group signed anambitious peace deal that laysout a path for the withdrawalof American forces from thecountry.

While no one has claimedresponsibility for the blood-shed, Afghanistan’s upstartIslamic State affiliate hasdeclared war on the country’sminority Shiites. Many of thoseat the ceremony were Shiitesbecause it was commemoratingthe 1995 slaying of Abdul AliMazari, the leader ofAfghanistan’s ethnic Hazaras,who are mostly Shiite.

There were conflictingaccounts of the number ofcasualties in the attack in theDasht-e-Barchi neighborhoodof Kabul. The Health Ministry

reported 32 people were killedand 58 were wounded, whilethe Interior Ministry reported29 dead and 61 wounded.There was no immediate expla-nation for the discrepancy.

Opposition leaderAbdullah Abdullah, who is thecountry’s chief executive andwas a top contender in lastyear’s presidential election, wasamong several prominent polit-ical officials who attended theceremony but left before theattack and were unhurt.

Several TV journalists werecovering the ceremony insidean walled compound whenthe gunmen began shooting,and a reporter and a camera-man for a local broadcasterwere among the wounded.

Karim Khalili, the chief ofAfghanistan’s high peace coun-cil, was delivering a speechwhen the gunfire interruptedhim. He was not hurt andlater went on TV to denouncethe violence. Several witnessessaid that,amid the panic, mem-bers of the security forcesguarding the event had fired atcivilians in the crowd. AFP

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Tehran: An adviser to Iran’sforeign minister who tookpart in the 1979 US embassyhostage crisis has died fromcoronavirus, the official IRNAnews agency reported.

Hossein Sheikholeslam,“a veteran and revolutionarydiplomat” died late Thursday,IRNA said.

Iran has been scramblingto contain the rapid spread ofcoronavirus which so far hasinfected 3,513 people andkilled at least 107 people inthe Islamic republic.

Six of those who diedfrom coronavirus are politi-cians or government officials.

Before his death,Sheikholeslam was advisor toForeign Minister MohammadJavad Zarif.

A former ambassador toSyria, he also served as deputyforeign minister from 1981 to1997.

Sheikholeslam was alsoone of the students involvedin the 1979 Iran hostage cri-sis.

That year, and less thannine months after the topplingof the American-backed shah,Iranian students stormed theUS embassy in Tehran andtook 52 Americans hostage.

This promptedWashington to sever diplo-matic ties with Iran in 1980.

The hostages were freedin January 1981, after 444days in captivity. AFP

Washington: President DonaldTrump on Friday signed anUSD 8.3 billion measure to helptackle the coronavirus out-break that has killed 12 peoplein the US and infected morethan 200.

The legislation providesfederal public health agencieswith money for vaccines, testsand potential treatments andhelps state and local govern-ments prepare and respond tothe threat. The rapid spread ofthe virus has rocked financialmarkets, interrupted travel andthreatens to affect everydaylife in the United States.

Trump had planned tosign the bill during a visit to the

Centers for Disease Controland Prevention in Atlanta. Buthe told reporters Friday thatconcerns were raised about“one person who was poten-tially infected” who worked atthe CDC. Trump said the per-son has since tested negative forthe new virus and that he stillhopes to visit the agency atsome point.

The Senate passed the $8.3billion measure on Thursday tohelp tackle the outbreak inhopes of reassuring a fearfulpublic and accelerating the gov-ernment’s response to the virus.Its rapid spread is threatening toupend everyday life in the USand across the globe. AP

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Beijing: About 8.27 lakh peoplewho returned to Beijing from anextended Chinese Lunar NewYear holiday are currently under-going a 14-day home quarantineto help contain the deadly newcoronavirus, the city’s epidemiccontrol office said on Friday.

The Chinese capital has sofar reported 422 coronaviruscases, including eight deaths.

Zhang Tongjun, deputy headof the epidemic control office,said Beijing’s anti-epidemic bat-tle has entered a critical periodas the possibility of further infec-tion from both outside and with-in the city is still high. PTI

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Vatican City: The Vaticanconfirmed the walled city-state’s first case of the newcoronavirus on Friday andclosed some offices as a pre-caution while Pope Franciscontinued recovering from acold.

A health clinic insideVatican City was closed forsanitising following the pos-itive test result received onThursday, Vaticanspokesman Matteo Brunisaid.

Vatican employees andtheir families are eligible forhealth care at the clinic. AP

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Tunis: Suicide attackers struckoutside the US embassy in theTunisian capital on Friday,killing a police officer, wound-ing five other people and shak-ing a city repeatedly hit byjihadist violence.

The latest attack comesdespite a state of emergencyimposed in the North Africannation in 2015 following astring of bloody assaultsclaimed by the Islamic Stategroup.

An explosion rocked theBerges du Lac district where thehighly fortified embassy islocated at around middayFriday, causing panic amongpedestrians and motorists inthe area. “Two individuals tar-geted a security patrol... In thestreet leading to the Americanembassy,” the interior ministrysaid in a statement.

There was no immediate

claim of responsibility.Police at the scene said the

assailants drove to the area ona motorcycle and detonatedtheir explosive devices as offi-cers deployed at a roundaboutleading to the embassyapproached them.

“The operation led to thedeath of two assailants, wound-ed five police and lightly injureda civilian,” the interior ministrysaid in an initial toll.

It later announced thatone of the police officers, iden-tified as Lieutenant TaoufikMohammed El Nissaoui, haddied of his injuries. “All thesecurity units are on high alert,”the ministry said. After the blastpolice dispatched reinforce-ments to the area, includingforensic experts, as a helicopterbuzzed over the Berges du Lac,a district protected round-the-clock by security forces. AFP

Washington: President DonaldTrump on Friday said the Talibancould “possibly” overrun the Afghangovernment after the United Stateswithdraws from the country, leavingthe US-backed authorities to fendfor themselves.

“Countries have to take care ofthemselves,” Trump told reporters atthe White House. “You can onlyhold someone’s hand for so long.”

Asked if the Taliban could even-tually seize power, Trump said it’s“not supposed to happen that waybut it possibly will.” “We can’t bethere for the next 20 years. We’vebeen there for 20 years and we’vebeen protecting the country but wecan’t be there for the next -- even-tually they’re going to have to pro-tect themselves,” he said.

Trump said the Afghan gov-ernment’s ability to defend itselffrom the guerrillas after US forcespull out was unknown. “I don’tknow.

I can’t answer that question,” hesaid. “We’ll have to see what hap-pens.” AFP

Washington: ModerateDemocrats are continuingto coalesce around JoeBiden following his strongperformance in SuperTuesday primaries, whichreset the 2020 Democraticrace as a two-man contestbetween Biden andVermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Biden’s campaign announced on Fridayhe had secured backing from Maggie Hassan,a first-term New Hampshire senator and for-mer governor, who did not make an endorse-ment before her state’s early primary.

In a statement, Hassan said she voted forBiden, who she said has “the experience andcharacter to lead our country forward.”

Former presidential hopeful John Delaneyalso released a statement reiterating hisSuper Tuesday endorsement of Biden, prais-ing his commitment to “progress throughpragmatism.”

Biden’s campaign says more than 50 elect-ed officials and community leaders havesigned on to support his bid since SuperTuesday, in which Biden won the majority ofstates over Sanders. AP

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Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s anti-cor-ruption chief, who had been inves-tigating scandal-hit state fund1MDB, said Friday she had resignedafter a reformist government col-lapsed and a graft-tainted partytook power.

The “Pact of Hope” alliance,which stormed to a historic victoryin 2018 and ousted a long-rulingcoalition, fell apart amid infightinglast week and prime ministerMahathir Mohamad resigned.

Mahathir, 94, then sought toreturn as premier but unexpectedlylost to ex-interior ministerMuhyiddin Yassin, who heads acoalition dominated by the multi-ethnic country’s Malay Muslimmajority. Latheefa Koya, a leadinghuman rights activist who had beenhead of the anti-corruption com-mission since June, said she hadinformed Muhyiddin she was quittingearlier this week but insisted she wasnot pressured.

“I also briefed the prime minis-ter about our ongoing actions andefforts for the recovery of the stolen

1MDB monies from abroad,” shesaid in a statement.

“He was fully supportive ofthese actions.” Last week, Malaysia’sattorney general Tommy Thomas,who had brought corruption chargesagainst ex-premier Najib Razak overthe 1MDB controversy, alsoresigned.

Billions of dollars were stolenfrom 1Malaysia DevelopmentBerhad and spent on everythingfrom a super-yacht to pricey art-works, in a fraud allegedly involvingNajib and his cronies.

Najib’s coalition, which had gov-erned Malaysia for six decades, wasejected from power in 2018 in largepart due to the 1MDB allegations,and he is on trial for corruption.

Mahathir’s government hadstarted recovering money from over-seas allegedly looted from the fund.

But the new ruling coalitionincludes Najib’s United MalaysNational Organisation (UMNO)party, and there are concerns his trialand others linked to the 1MDB scan-dal could be affected. AFP

Karachi: At least 70 workersof a chemical plant here werehospitalised on Friday afterinhaling leaked chlorine gas,according to media reports.

The leak was reported inEngro Polymer andChemicals Plant in Karachi’sPort Qasim.

“Timely precautionarymeasures were taken to pro-tect the employees working inthe plant. The affected weretaken to a nearby hospital andthe plant has been temporar-ily closed,” a spokesperson ofEngro was quoted by TheExpress Tribune as saying.

All the 70 affected work-ers were discharged from hos-pital, excepting one who is in

critical condition, the DawnNews reported.

The chlorine gas leakedfrom the air vents in theplant, the report added.

Jinnah Post GraduateMedical Centre ( JPMC)Executive Director Dr SeeminJamali told the Dawn Newsthat one of the workers was incritical condition while therest were discharged fromthe hospital.

This is the second gas leakincident in Karachi in the lastone month. A mysterioustoxic gas had killed at least 14people and sickened severalothers on February 16. Thesource of the toxic gas leakremains unclear. PTI

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Kastanies (Greece): Clasheserupted on the Greek-Turkishborder on Friday morning,with Greek authorities usingtear gas and a water cannon torepulse an attempt by migrantsto push through the frontierinto Greece, while Turkishauthorities fired volleys oftear gas onto the Greek side ofthe border.

Thousands of migrantsand refugees have been tryingto get into Greece through thecountry’s eastern land andsea borders over the pastweek, after Turkey declared itspreviously guarded borderswith Europe were open.

After months of threats,Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan said his coun-try would no longer be thegatekeeper for Europe.

He has demanded Europe

shoulder more of the burdenof caring for refugees,although the EU insists it isabiding by a deal in which itdisbursed billions of eurosfor care in return for Turkeykeeping the refugees on its soil.

His decision and its after-math on the border withGreece have alarmed govern-ments in Europe, which is stillseeing political fallout frommass migration that startedfive years ago.

Erdogan’s move to openthe border came amid a Syriangovernment offensive in Syria’snorthwestern Idlib province,where Turkish troops arefighting. The Russia-backedoffensive has killed dozens ofTurkish troops and sent near-ly a million Syrian civilianstoward Turkey’s sealed border.

AP

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Zagreb: EU countries onFriday gave a cautious wel-come to a Russian-Turkishceasefire in Syria as a sign ofgoodwill but urged the war-ring parties to allow in morehumanitarian aid.

Foreign ministers fromthe 27 EU states are meetingfor talks in Zagreb on the cri-sis in Syria’s northwesternIdlib province, where Ankarais battling Moscow-backedgovernment forces.

A ceasefire came intoforce at midnight aiming tohalt intense fighting that hassparked a humanitarian crisisand raised fears of Turkish andRussian armies clashing —and it appears to be holding.

“For sure I am pleased forthe ceasefire, the ceasefire is

good news. At least it’s good-will — let’s see how it works,”Josep Borrell said as he arrivedfor talks.

Nearly a million civilianshave fled their homes due tothe fighting in Idlib, with theUnited Nations describing it asthe worst humanitarian emer-gency since the start of theSyrian civil war in 2011.

“It is important now toconcentrate on humanitarianaid and I would welcome ifRussia would respect the con-cept of humanitarian aid cor-ridors to be widened,”Estonian Foreign MinisterUrmas Reinsalu said.

Ireland’s Simon Coveneysaid there was “relief ” amongEU countries at news of theceasefire. AFP

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�How did you conceptualise theseries, Climate Change: TheFacts?

The big science unit has gota long track record of journalismaround climate change. And Ithink, over the last couple ofyears, the intensity of interest inthis area has become greater. Theworld is changing. Hence, it feltlike a perfect time to be makingless of a definitive film which ismore focussed on the momentbecause climate change keepsfluctuating all the time. Thiscaptures some moments of thechanges in climate, brings togeth-er some of the leading climatechange scientists, stories thatreally reveal how our planet ischanging, and present solutionsthat may ultimately help us solvethe problem.

�Some of your key takeawaysfrom the show.

I think one of the mostoverwhelming things that comesthrough in making a film like thisis the question — how long havewe really known about climatechange? I was really surprised tosee some archives from the ‘60sthat talk about climate change ina way that feels very familiar totoday’s time. So we have knownabout this for a very long time butit’s difficult to bring the worldtogether and make them look atit in the same way to actuallychange our behaviours and theway we tackle the problem. ButI think, it’s still clear that we dohave potential solutions and thatscience and technology can leadus in that direction. So for all theshock that the journalism of theshow brings, there’s also hope.

�How can global climatechange be tackled at individuallevel?

The first question here is —the balance between what youcan do as an individual and whatgovernments should be doing. It’sa really difficult one and has beendebated a lot. And I think, it’s notfor me to say what an individual

shouldn’t be doing. Our film wasthere to show you where we standin our understanding of climatechange, how we have got hereand what can potentially be doneto tackle it. If you as an individ-ual want to make your contribu-tion, then it is in all of these wayscombined — looking at yourlifestyle, at your carbon footprintand thinking of how can youreduce it individually and that ofyour family? And the most inter-esting thing for me is that if it iseven a miniscule amount of car-bon in the big scheme of things,there’s something about the col-lective and about the fact that weare all realising what we need todo to bring the changes we wantto see.

�Can you throw some light onthe damage caused due to cli-mate change and the storiesbeing shown in the series?

The film sheds light on manypotential problems that the plan-et could face in terms of climatechange. I think the ones that real-ly struck me are the stories of thefirst climate refugees, peoplewho are living in an area ofLouisiana for a very long timeand without having to com-pletely evacuate because of therising sea levels in that area. Youget a sense of the depth of impacton humans when you see peopleliterally leaving their homes. Ithas been there for centuries as a

ghost town.

�Do you think any technolog-ical breakthrough can help usprevent the issue of climatechange?

It’s difficult to be complete-ly optimistic at the moment, butit’s also difficult to be complete-ly pessimistic. There are no tech-nological options. We’re sayingthat just in Britain alone we cansee the growth of renewableenergy sources and massive windfarms. Britain is a world leader inwind farms. I think the wholequestion of carbon capture is areally interesting one that islooked at in the programme.There’s lots and lots of technol-ogy that is coming through yourtesting of electric jet enginesthat is something else that’s com-ing down the road. So, technol-ogy is moving in a direction thatis far better for the planet. Andit’s about working out which arethe right ones to prioritise andpush first.

�What are some of the chal-lenges faced and what kind ofresearch was done in order todeliver some powerful facts onclimate change?

The journalism of a film likethis is incredibly challengingbecause in a fast moving area ofscientific research, you want tomake sure that you are absolute-ly up to date, and that you are

revealing the best journalism toa global audience. So, we’re verycareful to work very closely withsome of the leading climatechange scientists on the planet,people who’ve been involved inresearch on the subject for manydecades. We have a team whichis extremely experienced in thisarea and work through the jour-nalism very slowly and method-ically. And you’re adjusting itright up to the moment that theprogramme is delivered. But it’sa complicated subject. And youmust be careful that while youwant to deliver powerful mes-sages, the interplay betweenwhere we are and what solutionscan be are important. And youknow, what we need to do nextis incredibly complex andinvolves Government, econom-ics, politics and individual choic-es. And so, we can only give youan insight. We’re not here to tellyou what to do. We’re trying touse the very best science journal-ism to give you an insight that canhelp inform your decisions.

�The show premieres in Indiain March. What’s your messageto the audience on how can wefight this alarming issue?

I think my message to theaudience would be the same in alot of areas of science where peo-ple are worried or concerned,which is that the more you know,the more you understand aboutthe subject. Then the more capa-ble you are of making decisionsthat are right for your life, yourfamily and hopefully for thecommunities and countries of theworld. And so, you can reallyengage with this by understand-ing it, by understanding what theconsequences are and what thereasons behind it are. And so, I’dencourage you not just to watchthis series but to, to read, to lis-ten and to really engage with whyis this one of the biggest chal-lenges facing our planet at themoment.

(The show premieres today at9 pm on Sony BBC Earth.)

Kaale gore ka bhed nahi,

Har dil se humara naata hai,Kuch aur na aata ho humko,Humein pyar nibhana aata hai...

No two people of any religion, caste,colour or any other kind of differenti-ation that you can think of, would everstand against each other unless they aredeliberately set up like that. This songfrom Purab aur Paschim released in1970 but holds true even today. Indianclassical vocalist Smita Rao Belluremphasises on the idea as she says, “Noreligion stands for violence or propa-gates a scarcity model, which says thatif the Hindus feed from it, the Muslimscan’t or vice versa. People can never hateeach other, it’s the politicians who cre-ate artificial scenarios.”

Smita, specialises in HindustaniClassical Khayal and traditional Sufimusic, performed at the Jahan-e-Khusrau festival. She sang a few kalaams(verses) written by Hyderabadi poets.“My tryst with the poetry of Hyderabadbegan a few years ago and has made mean ardent fan ever since. It has also beenlife changing in many ways. MakhdoomMohiuddin, Shaaz Tamkanat, SaeedShaheedi, Amjad Hyderabadi, NawabSadiq Jung Bahadur are some poetswhose poetry I enjoy singing. Mujh mehar rang is a new kalaam which hasbeen composed fresh for this festival,”says she.

However, when one talks of Urdupoetry, the recent controversy aroundUrdu poet and author, Faiz AhmedFaiz’s Hum Dekhenge comes to mind.Smita believes that art should not beinfluenced by religious differences as itis a medium that promotes peace andharmony. Says she, “Muzaffar Ali ji’s A

Leaf turned Yellow often resonates withthe Krishna-Radhika-Gopika lovewhose motifs are present in the musicof every Indian language/region. Sufimusic has a universal appeal because ofits inherent ability to resonate with peo-ple across demographies, religion andlanguage. It has a great unifying andhealing potential.” In a society that istorn apart with religious divisions, shefeels that the spiritual verses can help.

For Smita, music started out as anexploration but soon became the pur-pose of her life. “Little did I know thatit would one day be my best compan-ion, therapist, expression of my soul,connection to the divine and in moreways than one — my energy footprint.Remember the old Hindi song... meri

aawaaz hi meri pehchaan hai?,” says she.As a musician, initially, her goal was

to learn the ragas, then master and per-form them. But soon she realised thatit was more about the connect, healingpower and love. Smita now understandsthe meaning of “vision” and its signif-icance in her journey. “When I was achild, all I knew was the image of awoman in a crisp cotton sari, singing toa large audience, with a vertically-heldtanpura (somewhat like the images ofMeerabai),” says she. She never thoughtshe would one day live her dream.Recalling how it all started, she adds itwas her first guru’s words that motivat-ed Smita to choose this profession, “Youcould be just another among thousandsof engineers or choose to be one in amillion with your talent.”

For her, though the market forBollywood songs is bigger, the charm ofSufi is still intact. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan,Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Nooran Sistersand many such artists are celebratedhere. However, despite being popular,the artists are struggling because of thepay scale. Says she, “Only people fromMumbai and Delhi actually pay to hearSufi music. There is no governmentpatronage and the corporates are notinterested much in uplifting the tradi-tional art.”

But we cannot afford to lose our tra-ditional art or replace them with any-thing Western. “We will then regret it.I am thankful to such festivals who callartists from across the platform andencourage them,” she adds.

Scriptures, nature, poetry, goodness,purity, love, fragrance, good food andmusic has been her source of inspira-tion. The everyday ordinariness attractsher more rather than something extra-ordinary.

Neha Bagaria, Founder &CEO, JobsForHer(Connecting portal that

enables women on a professionalbreak to restart their career)

“There has been a call for equal-ity over the past couple of decades.The magnitude of the problem incorporate India has opened thedoors to a dialogue on processes toincrease the participation of womenin the workplace across levels andverticals. Working women and mendeserve to be treated equally andwith dignity. Diversity and inclusionwill be the call to action for India Incfor the next decade and increasingthe number of women in leadershiproles.

Training and sensitisation areimportant measures that companiesshould invest in to enable theiremployees — both men and women— to understand biases and theimportance of having more womenin the workplace”.

Puja Punj, Co-Founder, GyFTR-Vouchagram (A tech-enabled offlineto online gifting startup that enablesBrand Currencies)

“When it comes to womenentrepreneurs, there are questionsaround priorities. It is alwaysassumed that it’s difficult to manageboth homeand work. Themantra I fol-low to main-tain the work-life balance isto unplugmyself fromthe certainthings thatcan be man-aged withoutmy attentionbe it at homeor office. Italways gives a sense of responsibil-ity and accountability to the otherperson. I always make sure to keepsome time of the day for myself toplan and analyse my goals. I believein excelling at work through dele-gating the tasks to people as pertheir strengths which would notonly lead to good results but will

also be done with positive energy ontime. To work with a team of peo-ple, the key is self-motivation andletting go of perfection to a certainextent to keep the spirits high.”

Roma Priya, Founder of Burgeon

Law (India’s leading boutique lawfirm)

At Burgeon Law, we have a teamof cognisant women lawyers someof who come from smaller cities.With our collaborative synergies, wepro-actively contribute to India’s

booming start-up ecosystem bysupporting other women entrepre-neurs in achieving their goals. It isour mission to support and enablewomen entrepreneurs with leverag-ing opportunities while getting ridof any financial and legal road-blocks.

The need for skilled talent mayjust be the opportunity we need tofinally usher in a meaningfulchange in the long strugglefor gender equality. It willdrive companies to movemore women into goodjobs, keep them in theworkforce and bring backthose who have left as itwill make more businesssense than recruitingnew talent and trainingthem from scratch.

Meenal Arora ,Founder Director,

Shemford Group of FuturisticSchools (India’s leading schoolchain)

Besides being a human right,gender equality is imperative forwomen to realise their self-worth,take control of their decisions andfill the gap to access equal opportu-nities and resources as men. Theimpact of this parity is far beyonda particular section of the society, itsways the nation as a whole.Empowering women and givingthem equal standing is the need ofthe hour to pull off sustainabledevelopment and economicupswing. Our battle against gender-bias is for equal respect, rights andstature in the society. The seeds ofgender awareness need to be sownright from the young age of childrenthat will make them responsible cit-izens with a mindset to create anation free from discrimination.

Neha Kaul, Marketing and BrandHead, Shine.com (India’s second-largest job search platform)

“With organisations becom-ing more serious about cultivatingdiversity, the trend of buildingwomen-friendly policies and pro-grammes is becoming moremainstream. With the shortageof skills in the tech sector, techfirms are leading the way inincentivising women to re-join the workforce. Thisincludes programmes to sup-

port women with young children,flexible work options, and technol-ogy-enabled systems to help womennavigate their careers while balanc-ing their role as the primary care-giver for children. The need forskilled talent may just be the oppor-tunity we need to finally usher in ameaningful change in the longstruggle for gender equality. It willdrive companies to move morewomen into good jobs, keep themin the workforce and bring backthose who have left as it will makemore business sense than recruitingnew talent and training them fromscratch”.

Dipali Mathur, CEO & CO-Founder, Super Smelly (India’s only100% toxin-free personal care brandfor GenZ)

“I am raising a GenZ daughterand as I step out of the house each

day to go to work, I do that with adream in my eyes that my little girland many more little girls arewatching me march to work know-ing that working women are normal.They watch me being ambitious,voice my opinion, look after myselfby exercising every day and eatingnutritious food. They watch mequestioning traditional patriarchalconventions, my quest for equalityin more ways than one and wouldknow that it is not an aberration todo all this, but its normal. I grew up

watching my mom sacrificing hercareer, only looking after her chil-dren and in laws and often ignor-ing her own health and nutrition,never resting. I knew I had to bea part of the change to ensure thegeneration after me inherits anequal world.

In 2017 I realised that mydaughter is a part of that massive30 per cent of India’s populationcalled GenZ for which not a sin-gle brand makes toxin-free prod-ucts that are clinically tested specif-ically for their age. My friendMilan and I took things in ourhands and triggered a toxin-freemovement for the next-gen whichwas so far exposed to more harm-ful chemicals through personalcare products as there were nooptions available for them. Welaunched India’s first and onlyzero toxin certified brand of per-sonal care products for the youthwith our dream of a toxin-freeworld for them. With Super Smellynow they have a choice to use safeand effective products which arespecifically tested for their age”.

Aarti Gill, Co-Founder, Oziva(India’s first clean-label plant-basedactive nutrition brand)

“The seed thought behindbeing an entrepreneur were sownduring the IIT days. While grow-ing up, I saw a lot of health prob-lems faced by people could havebeen easily avoided, only if they justhad a better lifestyle. This motivat-ed me to start OZiva. For me thechallenges I faced as an entrepre-neur had nothing to do with thegender, it was similar to whatevery entrepreneur goes through.Today, more than 80 per cent of ourcustomers are women and we areworking towards building the com-munity of 10k women entrepre-neurs who are living a healthylifestyle and inspiring others to dothe same thing. We believe if awoman is educated about fitnessand healthy lifestyle they pass onthe same to the family.”

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From Michelin-starredrestaurants to hole-in-the-wall gems, awe-inspiring

global cuisine to aromatic streetcarts, New York City has endlessdining options. The cuisine ofeach borough and neighbour-hood tells the story of the city’shistory, culture and latest trends,making food tours the perfectway to experience authenticNYC. Visit the neighbourhoodsthat make each borough so spe-cial.

Two days after arriving inGoma, I huddled in an ageingPrado with a forest ranger anddrove over roads that can best bedescribed as difficult. We wereheaded to the headquarters ofVirunga National Park. Here, weheard a lengthy explanation ongorilla conservation and howeach of the families was differ-ent. The audience that had gath-ered there was urged to followthe rules and guidelines thatwould help preserve the apes’diminishing population and set

an example for future genera-tions. After what seemed like aneternity, we were divided intogroups and directed to follow thetrained guides into the forest.

But let me give you a briefbackground before I relate therest of the tale. Goma, the lake-side town of DemocraticRepublic of Congo, bordersRwanda. It is the United Nation’sbiggest base for peacekeepingforce and is the starting point ofall adventures in the eastern sideof DR Congo. The town isflanked by an active volcano andis the gateway to Virunga

National Park.When we reached an alti-

tude of 1,300m after an arduoustrek, the onslaught of humidity,heat and no signs of silverbacksweakened our morale. Despitethat, we continued to drag ourfeet over wet and slippery earth,deep inside the park with onlyone aim in mind — sighting pri-mates. Taking tiny sips of water,we plodded on, occasionallyhacking away at bushes to cre-ate a trail, waiting for themoment when our rangerswould give us the good news.We had been warned againstwandering off the path but con-sidering the non-existence ofone, they needn’t have worried.We kept our heads down andfocussed on our step.

We were in untouched ter-ritory. There were no tracks tofollow and except for the rangers’instincts honed by experienceand vague clues along the track— like depressed bamboo thick-ets, there was little else to leadus to the primates. The walk wasenergy-sapping and we had lostall hope when suddenly, therangers motioned us to pull onour surgical masks. And staystill.

“They are very close,” wewere told. The evidence of it wasin a fresh pile of gorilla poopthat was currently under inspec-tion by one of the rangers. Heprodded the poop to check forfreshness with a finger. It waswarm. It might sound funny butthe sight of gorilla poop elevat-ed our spirits immensely.Suddenly, three words rang outsharply. “Down. NOW. Quiet.”

We dropped to our fours.Some of us pressed against thebamboo thicket, not daring to

breathe. Masks in place, wewaited. After what seemed likean eternity, less than 10 feetaway, a scene straight out of themovies played out. A giant sil-verback was pulling himself upslowly, a sign that he was agi-tated and about to show it.Bloodshot eyes stared out of hisblack, hairy face. The closer hecame, the greater was his fury.

From where we lay, heappeared bigger than his 1.5metre height. My heart beatwildly as I watched this magnif-icent creature grow bigger andsomehow more menacing rightbefore my eyes. Strangely, I wasnot afraid. No one breathed. He

had seen us.Even before we could let

the sight sink in, he let out ablood-curdling scream andbegan pounding his chest open-fisted and rhythmically — left,right, left — battering our con-fidence on the forest floor. Itwas the closest I have ever cometo an ape and any bravado thatwe had carried, deserted uscompletely. He was so close, Icould smell him.

It was a moment that everygorilla-tracker hopes to experi-ence but it took everything wehad not to react even though weshared about 90 per cent of ourDNA with the ape, who lookeddetermined to trample hisintruding cousin. Out there,family bonding didn’t exist.

The pounding continued.We watched, transfixed. Afterthe initial surge of fear, some ofthe confidence returned, justenough so that we scrambledfor our cameras. The gorilla-world, we’d been told, wasrather dramatic and loud andalternated between screams,hoots, growls and roars so theycould be heard in the wild. Thesounds they produced depend-ed on their state of mind butnone of that information helpedwhen facing the real thing.

We had been extremelyfortunate to see the gorilla’s

most famous gesture — thechest pounding while standingon two legs where he hit thechest alternately with openhands — rather than withclenched fists as portrayed inmost films. But much as we’dhave liked to applaud our goodluck, we still remained on theground.

The silverback dropped toall fours, stared at us brieflybefore ambling away. No onemoved till the rangersannounced in jest. “It’s safe now.We can go to see the family.They are not aggressive andthere are many babies. Youwill get your private time. Youcan take pictures.”

On that assurance, we creptinto a clearing and there theywere. The gorilla family — allseven of them, young and old,lost in their world of bambooshoots — unmindful of intrud-ers. We were given “time toconnect” with them, providedwe obeyed the seven metre dis-tance rule.

At some point, I watched asmother gorilla grabbed herbaby from its father and disap-pear into the bush. So likehumans. I stopped photograph-ing. I wanted to see their faces,noses and feet and maybe makeeye contact. However, they did-n't stay in one place for long,preferring to rest under thick-ets in each other's company.

We maintained a safe dis-tance but the seven metre ruledidn’t deter a little baby fromhurtling himself at me — talkabout family bonding.

Perhaps, just perhaps Icould touch it? Inadvertently, Islipped off my mask; somethinglike a maternal instinct grippedme, I wanted to pick him upand hold him close. But thesmell hit me. There was a rea-son for the mask after all.

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JERUSALEM

No visit to the region would be completewithout a trip to Jerusalem. With a his-

tory stretching back almost 5,000 years, andsights including the Dome of the Rock, theWestern Wall, the Church of the HolySepulchre, and al-Aqsa Mosque, few citiesresonate in the same way. Religion and rit-uals both come alive in images that reflectcustoms. The Jewish family during a barmitzvah ceremony at Western Wall as wellas the expressionist elegance of A youngboy during his bar mitzvah ceremony areintense and inspiring. The black andwhite images have a resonance that talk tous about the mapping of life’s infinite greys.It is through the delicacy of details thatshows us how Idris has a hand that is bothexperienced as well as restrained in itsnuances of freezing the frame.

EVERYDAY IDIOMS

Sitting at the mouth of themeandering Yarkon river, Tel

Aviv has a six-mile beach pop-ular with young, laid-back locals.Cyclists, joggers and dog walk-ers stroll the promenade, whilesunbathers and surfers rule thebeach, giving Israel’s second citya certain ‘Californian feel.’ “Israelhas a tremendous history andlegacy, architecturally speaking,much of which dates back to thearchitecture in Jerusalem whichevolved over three millennia,formed by inspirations from thebest Persian, Roman, OttomanTurkish architecture, with a bitof colonial German architecturethrown in the mix,” says Idriswho captures vignettes of themodern.

TIME REGAINED

Idris gives us a repertoire of theconfluence of communities

and their moments in everydaysymbolism. Muslim womanwalk towards Dome of theRock and Muslim kids play infront of Dome of the Rock aretwo images that clearly signifythe vitality of religion as well asa zest for living. The idea of theplurality of religions comes tothe fore when we glimpse theimages of Young orthodox Jewswalking on the streets ofJerusalem as well as the noncha-lant symbol of gay abandonwhen we look at Young Israelisskateboarding around old portat Namal, Tel Aviv.

We can gauge from theseimages the lifestyle that cruis-es in front of the camera —from colourful marketeers tofamilies in prayer at theWestern Wall, these incredibleimages move beyond the typi-cal postcard images of the

country to showcase the char-acter of its people and thesanctity of the land they are soresolute in preserving. “Whiletourists flock to the salty watersof the Dead Sea, and the his-toric sites around its shores,most are unfamiliar with theWestern Galilee region (thecountry’s most mountainous),”says Idris. “It calls itself the‘Tuscany of the Middle East’,thanks to the lush greenery andCrusader sites, including theMontfort fortress, a ruinedcastle you can climb to enjoyspectacular views. The rollinglandscape is perfect for a scenicday of cycling.”

Ultimately you must pauseover the two images that echothe passion of the rituals inChristianity — Holy Fire, wherean orthodox Christian pilgrimis holding candles during theHoly Fire ceremony on Easterand Divine Light, which hasmonks lighting up candles atCoptic Chapel on Good Friday.They transcend time and space.

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Jurgen Klopp has urged Liverpool to“fight” as the runaway Premier

League leaders battle to end their mini-slump against relegation-threatenedBournemouth today.

Liverpool have lost three of theirpast four matches in all competitionsbut remain 22 points clear ofManchester City atthe top of the leaguetable.

Tuesday’s FACup defeat at thehands of Chelsea followed a shockPremier League loss against Watfordlast week.

In February they lost 1-0 toAtletico Madrid in the first leg of theirChampions League last 16 tie.

The 3-0 defeat at Watford broughtan abrupt end to a run of 18 straightvictories in the Premier League butthey need just four more wins toguarantee winning the title for thefirst time in 30 years.

Klopp said his team’sapproach would not changedespite their rocky run. “Ofcourse winning gives you con-fidence, losing costs you con-fidence, that’s completely nor-mal,” the Liverpool boss toldhis pre-match press conferenceon Friday.

“You start thinking about differ-ent things. It’s a long while ago (since

a bad spell) but one defeat feels like twodefeats — it’s not a massive difference.

“It’s how you get back on trackimmediately and you can do that notby hoping that things are now click-

ing even better thanthe game before

so we have justto work reallyhard. We haveto fight backon track.”

LIVERPOOL MOMENTUMKlopp said rediscovering momen-

tum was important ahead of the sec-ond leg of the Champions League tieagainst Atletico next week and heexpects a strong response againstBournemouth. “In a lot of moments wecould have done better,” he said, refer-ring to recent matches.

“We know that 100 percent andthat’s what we are working on but wedon’t take it for granted from now onthat we will not score any more andthey will score with each chance thatthey have. That’s not like it is.

“We know if we perform at ourhighest level, and there’s nothing elsewe want to do tomorrow, it will be dif-ficult for Bournemouth. We should notforget that.”

Goalkeeper Alisson Becker hasbeen ruled out of the Bournemouthmatch after suffering a muscle injuryahead of the midweek FA Cup tie atChelsea. Earlier, Sadio Mane has alsourged Liverpool to use the worst weekof their season as fuel to power thePremier League leaders a step closerto the title when they face Cherries.

“We have another importantgame on Saturday and then onWednesday, so we will be ready andwe will be back again,” Mane said.

“This can happen in footballand we are used to it.

“We just have to keep workinghard and keep going if we want to begreat champions.”

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Agoal nine minutes fromtime by defender Yuri

Berchiche took AthleticBilbao into an all-BasqueCopa del Rey final againstReal Sociedad onThursday when theyedged Granada on awaygoals.

Athletic had led 1-0 fromthe first leg of the semi-final butfellow La Liga side Granada lev-elled the tie on the night throughCarlos Fernandez in the 48thminute with a fine header froma cross by Venezuelan DarwinMachis. Granada, in their first

semi-final since 1969, then tooka 2-1 overall lead thanks to a goalfrom German Sanchez after 76

minutes, again withMachis the provider froma corner.

However, their hopesof making the final weredashed when left-backBerchiche scored with a

low drive in the 81st minute afterbeing set up by Mikel Vesga tosecure his team a spot in theApril 18 finale in Seville.

With 23 titles, AthleticBilbao are second on the all-timelist of Copa del Rey winnersbehind Barcelona who have tri-umphed 30 times.

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Ryad Boudebouz struck a stoppage-time winner as Saint-Etienne defeat-

ed French Cup holders Rennes 2-1 onThursday to qualify for the final for thefirst time in 38 years.

Saint-Etienne will take on record 12-time winners Paris Saint-Germain in thefinal at the Stade de France on April 25.Saint-Etienne won the last of their sixFrench Cup titles in 1977.

Mbaye Niang blasted home from thespot to give Rennes, who beat PSG onpenalties in last year's final, the lead on33 minutes at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. Timothee Kolodziejczak head-ed in an equaliser from a Lois Diony cross

as Saint-Etienne hit back moments beforehalf-time.

Saint-Etienne are languishing twopoints above the relegation zone inLigue 1, but the hosts upped the pressurein the closing stages and substituteBoudebouz drilled in from the edge of thearea to earn Claude Puel’s side a last-gaspvictory.

Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick asPSG won 5-1 at 10-man Lyon in the firstsemi-final on Wednesday.

Neymar scored from the penalty spotafter Fernando Marcal was sent off in the64th minute while Pablo Sarabia grabbedthe other goal, as PSG bounced back afterfalling behind to an early strike fromMartin Terrier.

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has challengedManchester United to compete on threefronts after they moved into the FA Cup

quarter-finals with a 3-0 win at Wayne Rooney’sDerby on Thursday.

Solskjaer’s side were never in danger of a shockfifth round exit against the second tierRams as Luke Shaw’s opener andOdion Ighalo’s double booked a quar-ter-final trip to Norwich.

Rooney, United’s record goalscor-er, is back in English football aftermoving to Derby from DC United inJanuary and he was twice denied bySergio Romero in his first meetingwith his old club since 2018.

But United were always on top and extend-ed their unbeaten run in all competitions to ninegames ahead of Sunday’s derby showdown withManchester City at Old Trafford.

They remain in the hunt for the FA Cup, theEuropa League and still have a chance of quali-fying for the Champions League via the PremierLeague.

United are fifth, three points behind Chelsea,and Solskjaer has urged his players to keep theirfoot on the gas as they look to turn a troubled sea-son into a memorable finale.

“Today was the highest priority because we’renot going to pick and choose games or competi-tions. We have to go for everything, that’s what itis to be at Manchester United,” Solskjaer said.

“I’m very pleased with the performance andto go through. You never know, away from home,being the favourites and having City on Sundayhow it’ll affect their mindset, but it was profes-sional. “We’ve found form and defended well, we’ve

had seven clean sheets in those nine games.”United are chasing a record-equalling 13th FA

Cup triumph.They took control at Pride Park after 33 min-

utes when Shaw scored just his second career goal,his volley bouncing over Kelle Roos via a deflec-tion off Jesse Lingard.

Nigerian striker Ighalo, signed on loan fromShanghai Shenhua in January, got the second goalseven minutes later.

Martyn Waghorn went close for Derby afterthe break but Ighalo ended the contest when hefired home to complete his double with 20 min-utes left.

“He’s doing what he says on the tin and whatwe asked for when we signed him. I’m very happywith him. That type of striker is vital for a team,”Solskjaer said of former Watford forward Ighalo.

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National football team head coachIgor Stimac is not happy with more

foreign players featuring in a match inIndian Super League and I-League, say-ing it was coming in the way of the coun-try producing a future Sunil Chhetri.

Stimac said the ISL and I-League, thecountry’s first and second tier leagues,should follow Asian FootballConfederation’s (AFC) policy of allowinga maximum of four foreign players in amatch instead of the five permitted bythem currently.

“My suggestion for top tier (league) inthe country is to follow AFC rule of 3+1,that’s the basic rule for number of foreignplayers. It’s not strange that that most suc-

cessful Asian countries are following thatrule and that is why they are successful,”Stimac said at a media briefing.

“That is why they have option fornational team to have strikers, offensivemidfielders and the centre-backs,” headded.

Currently, ISL and I-League teams canfield five foreign players at a given time ina match. On the other hand, AFCChampions League competition rulesstate that “each participating club may reg-ister four foreign players but at least onemust have the nationality of an AFC mem-ber association”.

Stimac said in the current situation,it was difficult to get replacement for starstriker Chhetri.

“We will never find a replacement for

Chhetri if the situation is like this. We can-not take someone who has never playedas a striker and put him in the nationalteam. Where am I going to find a strik-er? Even in I-League, there are five foreignplayers.

“We don’t have (Indian) strikers in I-League. Only Indian Arrows is putting(striker) Vikram (Pratap Singh) to play. Weare in a big problem. We need to startchanging the things in favour of nation-al team.”

The Croatian said “it would be idealto merge the two leagues (ISL and I-League)”.

The Indian team is out of reckoningfor a 2022 World Cup berth but Stimacsaid the country will have a chance to qual-ify for the 2026 edition.

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FC Goa face ChennaiyinFC in the second leg of

their Indian Super Leaguesemifinals, looking to over-turn a 4-1 deficit, at theJawaharlal Nehru Stadiumhere today.

FC Goa will be boost-ed by the return of EduBedia who missed the firstleg game in Chennai —which they lost 1-4 — dueto personal reasons.

There is more goodnews as Brandon Fernandesand Hugo Boumous, whowere injured for last week’stie, are back in contentionfor a start. Boumous, in par-ticular, has been in spectac-ular form this season hav-ing scored 10 and assisted11 in 14 matches.

With the return ofBrandon, FC Goa wouldhope for better deliveriesfrom wide positions, some-thing which was missing

from their game in the firstleg.

Ferran Corominas willplay as a number nine afterplaying as a withdrawn for-ward in the last game. TheSpanish striker has 14 goalsto his name this season andFC Goa need his goals nowmore than ever.

Interim coach CliffordMiranda will have a deci-sion to make as to whetherhe would deploy an all-attacking line-up of Bedia,Boumous and Corominasor choose to go with two

foreign centre-backs inMourtada Fall and CarlosPena.

“We have to win toovercome the deficit, butthat does not mean we go allout from minute one. It’s 90minutes and more andwhatever football that Iknow, it is not decided inthe first 10 to 15 minutes. Itwill be till the final whistleand we will take it minute-by-minute,” Miranda said.

M e a n w h i l e ,Chennaiyin FC would lookto score first and make thetask even more improbablefor the home side. ShouldChennaiyin find the back ofthe net, FC Goa would

need at least five goals tomove to the final.

Chennaiyin head coachOwen Coyle has mentionedthat his players would notbe lackadaisical in the sec-ond leg, despite enjoying athree-goal lead.

He would also ask foran improved performancefrom the front three ofNerijus Valskis, RafaelCrivellaro and AndreSchembri who had a quietgame by their standards inChennai. FC Goa also needto keep a check on theChennaiyin attackers whoare more than capable ofhurting the opponentthrough a quick counter-attack.

“When you have anysort of advantage, it’s goodto have that. That being said,we know we have a verydangerous match. Over thecourse of the 18 games inthe league, they have beenthe best team,” said Coyle.

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Quique Setien admitted on Friday his assis-tant Eder Sarabia was wrong in the way

he lambasted Barcelona’s playerswith a series of foul-mouthedrants during last weekend’sClasico.

Spanish television pro-gramme Vamos showed Sarabia making anumber of angry outbursts, in which AntoineGriezmann, Gerard Pique and Nelson Semedowere among those targetted for criticism bySetien's assistant coach.

Barca were beaten 2-0 by Real Madrid andSarabia’s antics on the bench have caused a stirin the Spanish media, with some reports claim-ing the players were unimpressed.

Setien told the newspaper El Periodico onThursday he had apologised to the players andwhen asked about the issue in a press confer-ence on Friday, he added: “This topicdoesn’t need too much attention, the onlything he has done wrong is the way he hasexpressed himself, which I don’t like andI want to make that clear.

“It is normal to shout on the pitch, itis normal to warn the players, to communi-cate and to demonstrate your character in thisway, I love that and that doesn’t worry me.

“What I am worried about is the way ithappens. We have apologised because there area number of words that I understand shouldnot be used when you represent a club like this.

“For the rest, everyone accepts that a coachand his assistant shout and the players acceptthat as well.”

The loss to Madrid has put the pressureback on Barcelona, who are now a pointbehind in La Liga ahead of a tricky game at

home to Real Sociedad today.“I have no problem with the players,”

Setien said. “The players are taking every-thing with an extraordinary attitude.Some give us their opinion because we askfor it but they are clear about everyone’s

role.”Real Madrid play away at Real Betis on

Sunday and Setien is confident there will beplenty of twists during the run-in.

“I think it will be very difficult for the twoleaders to win all their games until the end ofthe season,” he said.

“The league is very complicated and ittakes a lot to win the games, not only for usbut for Madrid too.

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Tottenham man-ager Jose

Mourinho says Eric Dier will beselected against Burnley todayafter declaring the Englandmidfielder has recovered fromhis astonishing row with a fan.

Dier climbed into thestands at the TottenhamHotspur Stadium to confront asupporter following Wednesday’s FA Cupfifth round defeat against Norwich.

The 26-year-old tried to approach the fanwho was allegedly abusing his brother beforebeing led away from the incident, which islikely to trigger a Football Associationprobe.

Dier was reported to be unflustered oncehe returned to the dressing room andMourinho insisted he is in the right frameof mind to feature at Turf Moor.

“Eric is in the right frame of mind to playtomorrow, of course. The only thing thatmatters is: first of all, that nothing really bighappened,” Mourinho told reporters onFriday.

“Secondly he played so, so well in the lasttwo matches. Of course he is going to play.

“I would never do that (rest him). Theplayer played so well. Nothing happened,nothing to be afraid of, nothing to beashamed of.

“The football world is behind (him) andunderstands completely the circumstances.”

Mourinho acknowledged Dier, who hasbecome a target for some frustratedTottenham supporters this season, waswrong to confront the fan given he is sup-posed to set a professional example, butadmitted he would have done the same thing.

“I look at myself and I am of course mucholder than Eric, and of course I have muchmore years in football than Eric,” he said.

“And as you know, I was born a foot-baller’s son, and I grew up as a football man-ager, and the only thing that I can say is that:if I see something happening with my son,I would do the same.

“I wouldn’t think two seconds aboutdoing the same. So, that’s why I said I woulddo the same.

“But, as professionals, sometimes we haveto go through difficult situations. And wehave to try to cope with it.”

After the penalty shoot-out defeat toNorwich, Mourinho said he would only beable to prioritise one of the next two games,with a Champions League clash againstLeipzig following the Burnley game.

Tottenham, hit by injuries to several play-ers including star forwards Harry Kane andSon Heung-min, need Premier Leaguepoints in the race to qualify for theChampions League.

They also trail Leipzig 1-0 ahead of thelast 16 second leg in Germany on Tuesday.

Mourinho now says Tottenham will dotheir best to win both games.

“We are in a situation where I think it isvery hard to prioritise,” he said.

“But as I was saying after the match it wasa discussion to have internally and especial-ly the players feelings and the communica-tion with the players is always the mostimportant thing.

“Of course we want to win tomorrow andthe tie on Tuesday but we have to find a waywhere we give some players a better chanceto perform.”

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Japan’s badminton king Kento Momota said he is againdreaming of Tokyo Olympics Gold on Friday but did-

n’t know when he’d return to action after a car crash thatleft him fearing his career was over.

The world number one admitted his “spirit was almostbroken” after the accident in January — hours after he wonthe Malaysia Masters — which killed the driver of the vehi-cle taking him to Kuala Lumpur airport.

Momota, 25, had been expected to be out for twomonths but he needed surgery for an eye socket fracturein February, dashing plans to return for this month’s AllEngland Championships.

“I thought about it. How long will it take?” he said,when asked if he had been worried that he might neverplay again. “There were times when my spirit was almostbroken.”

Momota, who missed the 2016 Olympics after he wassuspended for visiting an illegal casino, is now back in train-ing but doesn’t know when he’ll be competeagain.

“Of course, the Tokyo Olympics is onmy mind,” he told reporters in Tokyo.

“I have received support from so manypeople and received such passionate wordsof encouragement that now, I feel thatI really want to go for theGold at the TokyoOlympics.”

Momota added: “I feelI am regaining the sharp-ness of my body and move-ments.

“The issue I have to tack-le now is that whenever I’m on thecourt, I want to get into the action.I have to make sure I take it easy.”

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hasvoiced his frustration over

how Manchester United'spreparations for their derbyagainst Manchester City havebeen impeded by the schedul-ing of their midweek FA Cup tie.

United cruised through tothe quarter-finals at second-tierDerby on Thursday, when LukeShaw's second career goal andtwo strikes from January sign-ing Odion Ighalo wrapped up a3-0 win.

Europa League football thisseason means United are usedto playing on Thursdays, butCity have an extra day to pre-pare for Sunday's Old Traffordencounter after beating SheffieldWednesday the previousevening.

"It's that help we get fromthe FA again -- that extra 24hours that they've had,"Solskjaer said.

"I cannot believe why there'sa derby on Sunday and we've gotto play Thursday night. What'sthe point in that? That doesn'tlevel the playing field."

City also had an extra dayahead of December's derby atthe Etihad Stadium, althoughMarcus Rashford and AnthonyMartial scored in a shock 2-1win for United.

Solskjaer aired a similargrievance about the PremierLeague after winning at Chelsealast month on a Monday, sayinghe could not understand whythey did not play on theSaturday following the winterbreak.

Asked if he had complainedabout the scheduling this time,the Norwegian said: "No, I've

not. I don't think we can. It'sone of those where you get toldwhen you're going to play, sowe've not got any help beforethis one."

United go into the derbywith some momentum, havingset up an FA Cup quarter-finalwith Norwich and taken theirunbeaten run to nine matchesin all competitions.

Solskjaer's side has risen tothe big occasions this season,including December's PremierLeague win at the EtihadStadium and a 1-0 triumphthere the following month inthe League Cup semi-finals.

- Old Trafford defeat -But that second-leg victo-

ry was not enough to make upfor the 3-1 loss inflicted by PepGuardiola's men at OldTrafford, where a poor startproved their undoing -- some-thing Solskjaer knows cannotbe repeated.

The United boss admittedhis players' heads "went for a lit-tle while" in that match afterCity took the lead throughBernardo Silva's superb strike.

"It wasn't an issue until ourheads went for a little while, sowe've got to control our emo-tions more," said Solskjaer.

"And we have, we havelearned, so that's an experiencewe'll bring into this game def-initely."

Harry Maguire is a doubtfor the derby after rolling hisankle in training and missingthe match against Derby, theday of his 27th birthday.

"Well it's touch and gobecause he rolled his ankleand he twisted his ankle buthopefully he'll recover quickly,"Solskjaer said.

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London Olympic Bronze medallistMary Kom (51kg) and World

Championships Silver medallist AmitPanghal (52kg) will begin their quest fora Tokyo Olympic berth when theyenter the ring at the at theAsian/Oceanian Olympic Qualifiers inAmman, Jordan today.

Mary’s hunger at the age of 37 hasbeen exemplary as she sets her sights onqualifying for the Olympic for a secondtime. Riding on a deep desire to bringGold for the country, Mary Kom hasbeen putting in the hard yards at train-ing a few months after earning a Bronzeat the World Championships, that madeher the first boxer — male or female —to win a staggering eight medals fromthe prestigious world event.

The six-time world champion hasbeen seeded second in her category andshe will face New Zealand’s TasmynBenny in the first round.

Two wins will take her to Tokyo inwhat could realistically be her lastappearance at the mega quadrennialGames and Mary will do everythingpossible to finish her Olympic careerwith the highly-coveted Gold medal.

“Mary knows that this is her lastOlympics and wants to do her best toclose her dream with a medal. She has

worked hard especially the reactivitywork on the legs as well and has beenworking hard to be in good shape,” saidForeign Coach for Indian women’sboxing Raffaele Bergamasco.

As for Panghal, he is currentlyenjoying a purple patch of his career. AGold at the Asian Games was the startof his dominant show and he onlysoared to even greater heights in hisnext few elite tournaments. With a Goldat the Asian Championships and a his-toric Si lver at the WorldChampionships, sky is the limit for the24-year-old, who give his all to fulfil hisOlympic dream.

He starts off his campaign againstMongolia’s Enkhmanadakh Kharkhuuafter a first-round bye as the top seedin his category and has a 1-1 recordagainst his opponent.

Determined as ever, Panghal isupbeat to avenge his defeat in his lastmeeting with Kharkuu and get hiscampaign off to a flying start.

“Amit boxed against him before inAsian Games and beat him one-sided.And in the World Military Games,Amit lost by 5:0 to the same guy. Ourplan is to create surprises in every

round and am sure Amit would like toeven scores as he faces his opponenttomorrow (Saturday),” said CAKuttappa, India’s head boxing coach.

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Senior India batter VedaKrishnamurthy says her teamseems destined to win the

ICC Women’s T20 World Cup inits maiden final appearance pro-vided it keeps nerves in checkagainst four-time championsAustralia at Melbourne CricketGround (MCG) on Sunday.

India will have the psycholog-ical advantage going into the finalas they had stunned the defendingchampions by 17 runs in the tour-nament opener.

“It’s all about destiny, and I’ma big believer in destiny. I feel likethis is the way it was meant to be.There is a joke going around thatthis World Cup is made in such away that it’s helping us, startingfrom the wickets to everythingelse,” she was quoted as saying bythe tournament’s official website.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-ledIndia reached the final on the basisof their unbeaten record in thetournament after their semifinalagainst England was washed outon Thursday.

Krishnamurthy, who was apart of the Indian team that fin-ished runner-up to England in the2017 Women’s ODI World Cup,understands the pain of missingout on a world title.

“Being in the final is justreward for the way we played in thegroup stages. There was an advan-tage to having won all our gameswith the weather not in our hands.”

The team’s first target of reach-ing the final having achieved, the27-year-old player said the Indiansnow need to hold their nerves andremain focussed leading up to thebig day on Sunday.

“We said the first aim was toget to the final and take it fromthere. We’ve crossed the first stage.We need to make sure we hold ournerves and we do what we need todo on the final day,” she said.

India’s recent rivalry withAustralia has taken fascinatingtwists and turns, with Kaur’s out-fit chasing down 173 in theirrecent tri-series and getting homeby 17 runs in the T20 World Cupopener.

But all is not hunky-dory for

Krishnamurthy on the personalfront. Considered a great finisher,she has recovered from a series ofsingle-digit scores in the tri-seriesto score 20 from 11 balls in a fin-ishing role against Bangladesh.

Having amassed just 35 runsfrom four matches in the tourna-ment so far, the Karnataka batterknows her role in the team.

“As an individual, the rolegiven to me is very consistent inthe last year. They’ve put effort inthe last year to keep me there andI’ve been supported by every indi-vidual, not just one or two. Theentire team, with all the supportstaff have shown faith in me,” shesaid.

“I know coming into theWorld Cup, I would play a crucialrole to finish the innings well,which I felt I was unable to do inthe last World Cup in the WestIndies,” she added.

Krishnamurthy said specificroles have been set for every play-er of the squad and they all are try-ing to contribute as much as theycan to help the team achieve itsgoal.

“I was very motivated to domy role and I’ve been working onthat. It’s not just me, all 15 playersinvolved know what their role is,”she said.

“I’m happy we’re all putting inefforts and executing our roleproperly. Even if it’s a smallish con-tribution of saving a couple of runs,it’s all panned out really well.”

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The Indian Premier League(IPL) is “very much on

schedule”, BCCI PresidentSourav Ganguly said on Friday,asserting that all measures willbe in place to tackle the rapid-ly-spreading novel coronavirusthreat which has wreakedhavoc on sporting calendarsglobally.

The glitzy T20 event, fea-turing both Indian and inter-national stars, gets underwayon March 29 in Mumbai.

“IPL is very much on.Everywhere, the tournamentsare going on. England arealready in Sri Lanka. SouthAfrica are here. There are noissues,” Ganguly asserted.

“County teams are travel-ling all over the world. They aretravelling to Abu Dhabi, UAEto play. So there is no problem,”he added.

Asked about the precau-tionary measures to ensurethat players and fans are notaffected, Ganguly said a med-ical team is thrashing out the

specifics.“We will take all precau-

tions. I don’t know exactlywhat are the extra measures. It’sonly medical team which willtell us about that,” he said.

“The medical team isalready in touch with the hos-pitals so that everything isavailable. We will do what thedoctors say. They are the pro-fessionals.

“All medical issues will beaddressed by the medical team.Every tournament will go on,”he added.

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Just one win away from Women’s T20 World Cupglory, Harmanpreet Kaur could be about to throw

the biggest birthday bash of her life.Hosts Australia are used to big stage success

— with 12 of this year’s squad having lifted the tro-phy in 2018 — and they will want the show to betheirs in front of a huge crowd at the MCG onSunday, especially after losing to India in theiropening game on home soil.

But if there’s one player with a track record ofdowning their hopes, it’s Harmanpreet.

On Sunday, India will no doubt be looking torelease their not-so-secret weapon once again.

But regardless of whether or not she lifts thetrophy on her 31st birthday, the India captainknows the occasion will be one to savour forever.

Kaur is on the brink of making history. Whenshe leads India onto the Melbourne CricketGround (MCG) on Sunday, she will become thefirst woman to ever captain India in a T20 WorldCup final.

It’s not just her country’s first appearance in theshowpiece, but also one that could break historyin setting a world record attendance for a women’ssporting event.

But it’s not just about the history books, either.Sunday will be a special day for the skipper in moreways than one with her parents travelling fromMoga to see her in action — her mother due towatch her play cricket for the first time.

If she was to mark the celebration with a winwith them on International Women’s Day, it wouldbe the most fitting of moments for a player whohas revolutionised women’s cricket in her country.

As a kid, Kaur used to get teased for saying shewanted to be a cricketer when she grew up. But thatclearly only fuelled her with more motivation toachieve new levels of greatness.

She featured in the inaugural T20 World Cupin 2009, but it took a while, and plenty of patiencefine-tuning her game as a go-to batter and off-spin-ner, for Kaur to establish herself as a name in theside.

In the wake of a disappointing home WorldCup, where India won just one game in the groupstages, Kaur was handed the captaincy reigns in2016 — and that’s where it all changed.

Kaur’s innings of an unbeaten 171 to flattenAustralia in the 2017 World Cup semi-finalsparked a new triumph for women’s cricket in India.

It did more than take them to the sold-out finalat Lord’s. #Harmanpreet was trending on Twitterand suddenly she was the leading voice to takewomen’s cricket to the next level, both at elite andgrassroots level.

When it comes to career milestones, Kaur’s gotthem aplenty.

In 2016, she became the first Indian womanto sign an overseas T20 contract when she signedfor inaugural Women’s Big Bash League championsSydney Thunder.

In her debut season, her aggressiveness saw herwin plenty of games while finishing as theThunder’s lead run-scorer, also offering an all-round show with the ball.

And later that year, she led India to their sixthstraight Asia Cup crown.

In 113 T20I innings, she has shone on all fronts,scoring 2,182 runs and taking 29 wickets since herdebut against England in 2009.

She may have been outshone on the battingfront by the likes of Shafali Verma in the run-upto this year’s final, but there’s nodoubting Kaur is capable ofstepping up in the middle.

With 183 runs at the2018 T20 World Cup,the captain has scoredthe second-highest num-ber of runs forIndia at thetournament, 32behind Mithali Raj’s208 in 2014.

Kaur hasonly hit dou-b l e - d i g i t sonce in India’sfour wins DownUnder, but shewill definitely want tofinish off on a high asshe is a big-stage play-er and knows exact-ly how important itis to step up in whatwill be the mother ofall clashes.

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Afghanistan beatIreland in their first

of three Twenty20s onFriday as NajibullahZadran smashed anunbeaten 42 in a rain-affected fixture in India.

Ireland, in their1,000th ‘capped’ matchsince 1855, made 172for six as Paul Stirlingsmashed a quick-fire 60and fellow opener KevinO’Brien 35.

Indian PremierLeague spin star RashidKhan took three wicketsas he restricted the Irishafter Mujeeb Ur Rahmanand Shapoor Zadran

leaked runs.Hazratullah Zazai

and RahmanullahGurbaz got Afghanistanoff to a solid start beforeoffspinner Simi Singhhad both leg before for23 and 28 respectively.

Karim Janat andAsghar Afghan were runout cheaply butSamiullah Shinwari andShapoor Zadran steadiedthe ship before rain halt-ed play at 133 for 5 off 15overs.

This was enough forAfghanistan to be adju-dicated the winner by 11runs under theD u c k w o r t h - L e w i smethod.

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The upcoming combinedshooting World Cup in

the national capital was onFriday postponed to May,while an Olympic test eventin Tokyo stood cancelleddue to the global novelCoronavirus outbreak.

The tournament, sanc-tioned by the InternationalShooting Sport Federation(ISSF), was to be held fromMarch 15 to 25 in the cap-ital’s Dr Karni SinghShooting Range. TheOlympic Test event wasscheduled to be held fromApril 16.

The World Cup willnow held in two partsbefore the Olympic Games.

“It is proposed todivide the World Cup intwo parts and hold Rifleand Pistol competitions onMay 5-12, 2020, whileShotgun competitions - onJune 2-9, 2020,” the ISSFsaid in a statement.

The decision was taken

after the tournamentorganisers National RifleAssociation of India(NRAI) approached theISSF with a proposal topostpone the event.

The developmentcomes after the govern-ment imposed severalrestrictions on the entry oftravellers from affectedcountries such as China,Italy, South Korea, Japanand Iran, in a bid to containthe coronavirus outbreak.

The organising com-mittee has also requestedthe ISSF to restore rankingpoints in the tournament,which were taken awayafter withdrawals by mul-tiple nations.

“The OC has alsorequested the (ISSF)President to accord hisconsent so that both theseWorld Cups would see theISSF restoring full rankingpoints other than andincluding those for MQS,”the NRAI said in a state-ment.

“We are confident thatthis shall be deeply appre-ciated by all competingnations and their athletes.The ISSF has informed theOC that it has taken thisforward with the IOC, andexpects its decision in thisregard very soon.”

Considering the extra-ordinary situation, the ISSFhas also requested theInternational OlympicCommittee (IOC) to pro-long the internal Olympicqualification period inorder to ensure all shootersget equal chances of mak-ing it to the Games.

“In case of the IOCapproval, the World Cupsin Munich, Germany, andBaku, Azerbaijan, can alsoinfluence the outcome ofthe Olympic Qualification,”the ISSF said.

“It must be noted thatall Qualification QuotaPlaces, as planned, will beallocated by May 31, 2020,”the sport’s apex bodyadded.

���� 9.9���� Fit-again India all-rounder Hardik Pandya blazed his wayto an unbeaten 158 off just 55 ballsagainst BPCL in a semifinal match ofthe D Y Patil T20 Cup here on Friday.

Pandya, who returned to compet-itive cricket in this tournament, strucksix fours and 20 sixes during hisblitzkrieg to help Reliance 1 post238/4 in 20 overs.

The BPCL bowlers — SandeepSharma (0/37), Sylvester D’Souza(1/56), India all-rounder Shivam Dube(1/40), Parikshit Valsangkar (0/28),Sagar Udeshi (0/45) and RahulTripathi (2/32) — were hammered byHardik, who looks all set to make acomeback to the ODI team versusSouth Africa.

In response, BPCL were bowledout for 134 as Reliance 1 registered a104-run victory.

While bowling too, Hardik took awicket and conceded six runs in oneover. India speedster BhuvneshwarKumar also picked up a wicket forReliance 1.

But, Hardik’s side failed to win thetournament after they lose to IndianOil later in evening by 11 runs in final.

India opener Shikhar Dhawanscored 69 during chase but that was-n’t enough for the side as Indian Oilrestricted them to 183/7.

Earlier, Indian Oil scored 194/5 on

the back of their skipper Aditya Tare’sunbeaten 75.

Dhawan (69 off 41 balls; 6x4, 2x6)single-handedly steered his team’schase as all other Reliance 1 batsmen,including Hardik Pandya (0), faltered.

Dhawan was caught in a horriblemix up and was run out. This eventu-ally led to Reliance 1's loss.

Hardik perished for a first ballduck in the final. Hardik gave a sitteroff Siddhesh Lad.

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was expen-sive with figures of 0/50 from his fourovers in the final. PTI

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Clobbered by Shafali Vermaand Smriti Mandhana

recently, Australian pacer MeganSchutt says she hates playingagainst India and doesn’t wantto bowl at the marauding duoduring powerplay when the twoteams clash in the Women’sT20 World Cup final.

Schutt, who took a crucial2/17 in Australia’s five-run winover South Africa in the rain-hitsemifinal on Thursday, has stillnot recovered from the drubbingshe got at the hands of Verma inthe tournament-opener.

She was hit for four bound-aries by Verma in her openingover of the tournament, andSchutt admitted her concernsabout bowling to Indian open-ers.

“I just hate playing India —they’ve got the wood over me,”Schutt was quoted as saying bythe official website of the ICC.

“Smriti and Shafali have gotme covered. That six Shafali hitme for in the tri-series wasprobably the biggest one I’veever been hit for.

“There are obviously someplans we’re going to revisit asbowlers. (But) clearly, I’m notthe best match-up to those twoin the Powerplay. They find mequite easy to play,” she added.

Schutt bore the brunt ofVerma and Mandhana’s attack-ing fury in the very first over oflast month’s tri-series as well. Shewas struck for four by Verma offthe first ball and lifted for a sixby Mandhana.

But both the sides will againmeet each other in summitclash, where India will have anedge.

“We’re at that final we’vebeen talking about for so longand against India, which issuper fitting considering thetri-series we had. It couldn’t real-ly be a bigger challenge for us,”Schutt said.

“It’s not really a bad thing,it’s good we’re going up againsta team we’ve played a lot recent-ly and it’s the same for them aswell.”

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Top Australia pacer MitchellStarc will miss the final

ODI against South Africa towatch wife Alyssa Healy playthe ICC Women’s Twenty20World Cup final against Indiahere on Sunday.

Wicketkeeper-batterHealy will be a part ofAustralia’s team whichwill take on an in-form Indian sideat the MCG. Thefour-time cham-

pion home team would beaiming to defend thetitle against the first-time finalists.

There to supportHealy would be Starc,who will miss the thirdand final ODI sched-

uled to be played inPotchefstroom today to bein Melbourne.

“It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance forMitch to watchAlyssa in a homeWorld Cup final and

so we were happy to allow him toreturn home to support his wifeand be part of a fantastic occa-sion,” Australia men’s team coach,Justin Langer said.

“It is something we have beentalking about for a while and,given Mitch has had a consider-able workload in all three formats,his heading home a couple of daysahead of the rest of the squadmeans he’ll have a chance torefresh ahead of our home andaway ODI and T20I against NewZealand that will wrap up our sea-son,” Langer added.

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The shooting contin-gent is one of the

strongest points for Indiagoing into the 2020 TokyoOlympics and shootingcoach Jaspal Rana feelsthat not putting pressureon the young shooters willgo a long way in ensuringthat they perform to theirbest later in the year.

Indian shooters haveearned an unprecedented15 Olympic quota placesover the course of thequalification period.

“All 15 shooters aresome of the best in theworld,” Rana said. “Theyfought well and grabbedthose quota places. It wasnot something that hap-pened over the last fewcompetitions, they foughtmuch before that. Every

now and then they beatshooters from countrieslike China, Korea and theEuropean countries. Thisis not something small, ithas never happenedbefore.

“The only thing is thatwe should not put pressureon these kids. They are tooyoung, they can do a lot ofgood things but puttingpressure on a 17 or 18-year-old kid is not good.Media plays an importantrole, if you ask somethingto someone like me orAbhinav (Bindra), weunderstand why you areasking but these kids areraw and shooting is amental game. These kidsare smart. I’m sure if youtell them something itdoesn’t go away from theirminds that easily. So onehas to be careful.”

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