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Amid accusation by WestBengal Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee that HomeMinister Amit Shah was influ-encing the ElectionCommission and the Centralforces into manipulating theconduct of elections, the sec-ond phase of polling ended inWest Bengal with an impressiveturnout despite reports of strayviolence, rigging, threats andalleged murder of politicalworkers coming in from bothEast and West Midnapore.

Though elections wereconducted in 30 constituenciesacross four districts,Nandigram — from whereMamata is fighting against herprotégé-turned-challengerSuvendu Adhikari of the BJP —remained at the centre stage ofall controversies with Mamatabringing charges of riggingand violence by BJP supporters.

Just as the Chief Ministerpersonally intervened enteringa booth at Boyal village fol-lowing reports that BJP menhad turned TMC polling agentsout of the booth, hundreds ofsupporters from two sidesarmed with brickbats and lath-is gathered in the area shoutingslogans.

Even as the police andCentral forces had a trying timeto keep the two sides away fromeach other, the TMC chief gottrapped inside the booth formore than two hours. Theadministration had to arrangefor a large contingent of secu-rity men to escort her back toher temporary residence atReyapara.

This, apparently to protecther from hundreds of people

standing on road at variouspockets raising Jai Shri Ramslogan.

At Reyapara a furiousChief Minister said, “I am notconcerned about my victory inNandigram which is anywaycoming … my concern is fordemocratic norms … electionsare festivals of democracy andI am sorry to say that theElection Commission is actingpartially at the behest of HomeMinister Amit Shah who isinstructing the Commissionand the Central forces.”

Mamata said that she hadsent 63 complaints to theCommission but not a single ofthem has been taken care of.

“We are considering legalaction as our voters are notbeing allowed to vote,” shesaid.

The Commission, howev-er , sought a detailed report ofthe alleged violence, sourcessaid.

She also attacked PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forbreaking the model code ofconduct saying, “being a PrimeMinister how can he use

Government facilities to cam-paign and that too on electiondays… It is strange that he iscoming here on every electiondate using the entireGovernment machinery toinfluence the voting pattern…is this not a violation of modelcode of conduct.”

Her rival Adhikari wholooked a contented man said,“My 80 per cent polling isover and we are winning …Sorry this time Mamata Begumis losing.” He added, “It is thefear of defeat that she is talking

nonsense… she knows thatshe has been defeated … she islosing Bengal…” In his com-ments critics saw a desperatebid to polarise the electionatmosphere.

A desperate Chief Ministereven called up GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar --- withwhom she had no love lost ---seeking interference and red-dressal. She however refused tocomment on what transpiredbetween her and the Governoror the Commission officials.

“The BJP are attacking our

men and candidates not only inNandigram but all places whereelections are taking place,”Mamata commented in anironical reminder of similarrefrains being by theOpposition parties in Bengalfor the last one decade or so.

Mamata’s complaints werenot unfounded as reports ofviolence and rigging came infrom other constituencies too.A TMC supporter was draggedout of his party office atKeshpur in West Midnapore

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On the day India entered thethird phase of world’s

biggest Covid-19 inoculationdrive with the vaccine netextended to those above 45, thecountry reported the biggestjump in new coronavirus casesin nearly six months at 72,330.The death toll at 459 was thehighest in nearly four months.

This has taken the totalCovid-19 tally to 1,22,21,665and deaths at 1,62,927.

The Covid surge in thecountry is due to a new strainand the situation is exactlylike the one in the UK when thevirus underwent a mutationaround Christmas, Dr RandeepGuleria, chief of Delhi’s AllIndia Institute of MedicalSciences, told a news agency.

Maharashtra with 39,544cases took the lead followed byChhattisgarh (4,563) andKarnataka (4,225).

India’s active caseload hasreached 5,84,055 and nowcomprises 4.78 per cent of thecountry’s total infections. A netrise of 31,489 cases has beenrecorded in the total activecaseload in a span of 24 hours.

India’s cumulative recov-eries stand at 1,14,74,683 with40,382 recoveries being regis-tered in a span of 24 hours.

A new coronavirus variantreported from Chhattisgarhhas become a cause of worryfor the Government.

According to reports, theState has confirmed the new

variant in five different sam-ples. The doctors are yet to dis-cover the effect of the new vari-ant on the patients. It is fearedthat the new variant, N-440, islikely to weaken the body’simmune system.

Maharashtra, Karnataka,Kerala, Chhattisgarh andPunjab cumulatively account-ed for 78.9 percent of the totalactive cases in the country.Maharashtra alone accountsfor more than 61 per cent of theactive caseload of the country.

A total of 459 deaths werereported in a day, the highestso far this year, with six Statesaccounting for 83.01 per centof the new deaths. Maharashtrasaw the maximum casualties(227) followed by Punjab at 55daily deaths. However, in amajor relief, at least 14 Statesreported zero deaths.

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The much-awaited Delhi-Meerut Expressway was

opened for commuters andgeneral traffic on Thursday.Minister for Road Transportand Highways Nitin Gadkariannounced the opening of traf-fic on the 96-km state-of-the-art expressway and said theGovernment has fullfilled thepromise of reducing travel timebetween Delhi and Meerut.

“Delhi-Meerut Expresswayhas now been completed andopened to traffic. We have ful-filled our promise of reducingtravel time between Delhi-Meerut from 2.5 hours to 45minutes,” Nitin Gadkari took to

Twitter to announce.During a review meeting of

the expressway early this year,Gadkari had committed tocomplete the full stretch by theend of March 2021.

The 96-km-long 14-laneexpressway will reduce traveltime between Meerut andDelhi to 45 minutes. At present,commuters travel through NH58 to reach Delhi and it takesover three hours to cover a dis-

tance of 70 km.The expressway will also

reduce the travel time of com-muters from Muzaffarnagar,Saharanpur, Haridwar andDehradun to Delhi.

A portion of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway which wasphase I of the four-phase pro-ject was inaugurated by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inMay 2018.

Continued on Page 11

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The Centre on Thursdaydecided to withdraw the

order to drastically cut interestrate on small savings schemesto the relief of millions ofsmall savers and prompting theCongress to link the U-turn tothe ongoing State Assemblyelections.

A day after delivering amassive jolt to depositors,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Thursday saidthe Government will withdraworders to cut interest rate onsmall savings schemes andassured to restore the rates tolast quarter of the financial year

ending on March 31. Her own Ministry had on

Wednesday reduced interestrate by up to 1.1 per centacross various small savingsschemes, including theNational Savings Certificates(NSC) and Public ProvidentFund (PPF).

“Interest rates of small sav-ings schemes of GoI shall con-tinue to be at the rates whichexisted in the last quarter of2020-2021, i.e, rates that pre-vailed as of March 2021. Ordersissued by oversight shall bewithdrawn,” Sitharaman said inearly morning tweet.

Interest rate on PPF wasreduced by 0.7 per cent to 6.4per cent, while NSC was toearn 0.9 per cent less at 5.9 percent.


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In a volte-face, Pakistan’sCabinet on Thursday reject-

ed a proposal of the EconomicCoordination Committee(ECC) to import cotton andsugar from India, according toa media report.

The decision comes a dayafter Pakistan’s new FinanceMinister Hammad Azhar onWednesday announced to lift anearly-two year old ban on theimport of cotton and sugarfrom India after a meeting ofthe ECC chaired by him.

However, a Cabinet meet-ing chaired by Prime MinisterImran Khan on Thursdayrejected the ECC proposal toimport cotton yarn and sugarfrom India, Geo TV reported,cited sources.

Continued on Page11

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There are superstars andthen there is Rajinikanth,

the most glittering perhaps inthe Indian cinematic firma-ment whose demi-god statushas spawned an entire “Rajiniculture” of jokes, devoted fan-dom and box-office successthat is almost always moreabout him than his film.

Rajinikanth, who was onThursday named for theDadasaheb Phalke Award, theGovernment’s highest honourfor Indian cinema, is cast inclassic matinee idol mouldwith stories of mass adulationon a scale rare for even thebiggest stars.

With his balding pate andgreying hair, the 70-year-old isunlike many of the othersthough and rewrites manyrules of traditional showbiz.The dichotomy between thereel Rajini with exaggerated,stylised movie star mannerismsand the real man with no

apparent pretensions is sharp –and quite unique.

That the dazzling rise, from

coolie and bus conductor to theever-reigning predominantlySouth star of films such as“Enthiran”, “2.0” and “Kaala”,could be the stuff of the cheesi-est movie script only adds tothe mystique. People may ormay not have seen his films butare most certainly familiar withthe frenzy that surrounds hisreleases.

Fans lining up overnight in

serpentine queues outside the-atres for a first day-first showcome rain, summer or winter,bathing his posters in milk,showering his cutouts withflowers and chucking coins onscreen were par for the coursefor a Rajini film. This of coursein the pre- pandemic era.

Popularly called“Thalaivar” (leader in Tamil),the very announcement of anew film or his birthday isregarded as nothing short of afestival for his fans, from Japan(where he is known as Babaand has a cult following) to SriLanka.

His films may sometimesreceive a lukewarm receptionfrom critics, but the ‘Rajini’phenomenon ensures the num-bers at the box office, and hasdone so for close to fivedecades.

Born Shivaji Rao Gaekwadin Bengaluru, Mysore State(present day Karnataka) in aMarathi family, Rajinikanthwas the youngest of four sib-

lings — two brothers and a sis-ter — and grew up speakingMarathi and Kannada.

A sports enthusiast sincehis school days, Rajinikanthparticipated in plays at theRamakrishna Math inBengaluru.

Following his father’sretirement in 1956, the familymoved to the suburb ofHanumantha Nagar inBengaluru.

That he got a job as a coolieand then a bus conductor withthe Bangalore TransportService (BTS) before decidingto take up an acting course atthe Madras Film Institute at theencouragement of friend andco-worker Raj Bahadur is partof the legend, a fabled storymuch told.

On the advice of notedTamil director K Balachander,Rajinikanth quickly took tolearning Tamil and made hisdebut in the filmmaker’s 1975movie “Apoorva Raagangal”.

The real breakthrough

came with next year’s“Moondru Mudichu”, anotherfilm directed by Balachander,with whom the actor went onto forge a longstanding andsuccessful relationship.

After a brief phase of por-traying antagonistic charac-ters, he starred in positive rolesin “Kavikkuyil”, “SahodararaSavaal” (Kannada) and“Chilakamma Cheppindi”(Telugu), in which he playedthe protagonist for the firsttime in his career.

By the end of 1980, he hadworked in all south Indianlanguages and established acareer in Tamil cinema.

The actor also flirted withBollywood in “Hum” and“Andha Kanoon”, co-starringhis inspiration AmitabhBachchan. There was also“ChaalBaaz”, “BhagwaanDada” and “Bulandi”.

From flipping his cigaretteor sunglasses, walking in slowmotion to flashing that cheekysmile with a glint in his eye,

Rajinikanth has also been aninimitable style icon.

Throughout his actingcareer, his acting style couldbest be summed by his famousline in the film “Padayappa” –“En vazhi, thani vazhi” (Myway is entirely my own).

His big films include“Billa”, a Tamil remake ofBachchan-starrer “Don”, sci-fifantasy movie franchise“Enthiran” (“Robot”), and tripleroles in “Moondru Mugam”and the action-adventure“Kochadaiiyaan”, the first filmin India to be shot with motioncapture technology but a rarebox-office dud for the man.

He reprised his “Enthiran”role as the android Chitti inShah Rukh’s sci-fi actioner“Ra.One”, much to the surpriseof his fans in Bollywood.

Rajinikanth is also a pro-ducer and writer. He worked onthe 2002 fantasy thriller“Baba”, which also incurredheavy losses but was a surprise

Continued on Page11

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Nearly 77 per cent of 73.45lakh voters exercised their

franchise in 39 Assembly seatsin Assam during the secondphase of polling on Thursday.

According to the EC,Bokajan recorded 76.25 percent turnout; Cachar 72.28 percent; Darrang 80.81 per cent;Dima Hasao 74 per cent;Hailakandi 78.94 per cent;Hojai 75.71 per cent; Karbi

Anglong 75.93 per cent;Karimganj 73.02 per cent;Morigaon 84.03 per cent;Nagaon 77.25 per cent; Nalbari86.69 per cent; Rangia 73.38per cent.

Meanwhile, the EC issueda showcause notice to AssamMinister Himanta Biswa Sarmafor allegedly making threaten-ing remarks against Oppositionleader Hagrama Mohilary ofthe Bodoland People’s Front.

Continued on Page11

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New Delhi: The Centre hasdecided to keep all public andprivate sector Covid-19Vaccination Centres (CVCs)operational throughout April,including on gazetted holi-days.

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$ ��#��#��New Delhi: The ElectionCommission (EC) on Thursdayasked two poll observers tosubmit a report on complaintsby West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee as the Statewitnessed the second phase ofvoting across 30 Assemblyseats. “A separate hand writtencomplaint was received fromChief Minister via CEO WestBengal today in the late after-noon,” the poll body said.

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In an attempt to providefinancial and social security

to lakhs of migrant workerswho returned to their villagesin UP during the novel coron-avirus pandemic-induced lock-down, the Yogi Adityanathgovernment has prepared anaction plan to provide financialassistance to industries offeringjobs to these workers.

“Under this scheme, thegovernment will provide finan-cial aid of ��1,000 to ��2,000 perlabourer if an industry employsmigrant labourers. In thissequence, the MSMEDepartment has sent a pro-posed plan of ��629 crore to the

Finance Department,” a seniorgovernment official said hereon Thursday.

He said the plan was for-mulated with the objective toprovide relief and support tothe industries which hadoffered job opportunities to themigrant workers in theirrespective residential areas.

The Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment also developed a ded-icated Pravasi Rahat Mitra jobportal for all the migrants onwhich the details of the skilledlabourers were uploaded toexpedite the recruitmentprocess by interested compa-nies or agencies. The officialsaid that Yogi Adityanath hadissued directives to provide


%�677�*��(8��5��,Lucknow: Uttar Pradeshreported 2,600 new COVID-19 cases and nine fatalities onThursday, pushing the state’sinfection tally to 6,19,783and the death toll to 8,820,according to a HealthDepartment bulletin.Meanwhile, the district courtscampuses of Lucknow andKaushambi were closed aftersome judges and staff mem-bers tested positive for coro-navirus.

According to AdditionalChief Secretary (Health) AmitMohan Prasad, the number ofactive cases in the state hasgone up to 11,918, of which6,722 are in home isolation,287 in private hospitals andthe rest in government facili-ties.

Two deaths each werereported from Lucknow andAllahabad and one each fromKanpur Nagar, Varanasi,Gorakhpur, Barabanki andGhazipur on Thursday, thebulletin said. The maximum935 cases were reported fromLucknow followed by 242from Allahabad, 198 fromVaranasi and 103 fromKanpur Nagar, the bulletinsaid.

According to a reportfrom Kaushambi, the districtcourts complex has beenclosed for three days after twojudges and a staff memberwere found infected with thevirus. In Lucknow, the districtcourts campus has been closedfor two days after at least fourjudges and 13 employees test-ed positive for the virus.

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Following surge in Covid-19cases in Delhi, students will

continue to attend virtualclasses and this was con-firmed by the DelhiGovernment on Thursday.

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MY Army No- 3008122 F due to the errormy mother Kalavati DOB is written01.07.1957 whereas my mother's AadharCard No- 495925967294, the correct DOBis 01.01.1963 in and my father TribhuwanSingh incorrect DOB is 01.07.1952 whileAadhar No-867208848166, the correctDOB is 01.01.1955 and my wife VandanaSingh the incorrect DOB is 08.10.1986whereas Aadhar No-778743757218, thecorrect DOB is 12.04.1983 which is correct,so all the above mentioned birth datesshould be read and understood correctly.Manoj Kumar Singh S/o Tribhuwan Singh,Nauhar Husenpur Paik Nagar, Raniganj,Pratapgarh (UP),

NOTICE

NOTICE

NOTICE

Possession letter and registrysale deed of House No. EWS-129, Phase-II, MaharshiDayanand Vihar, Kalyanpur,Kanpur, have really been lostsomwhere, any use of whichwill be illegal.Sunil Kumar, S/oChunnilal, 132 EWS, Phase-II,Maharshi Dayanand Vihar,Kalyanpur, Kanpur.

NOTICE

I have changed my nameAbdur Rahman Khan to AbdurRahman. Abdur Rahman, S/oMohammad Wasi Khan, R/o105/693 A-C 17, Bhannanapurwa, Chamanganj, Kanpur.

OFFICE OF THE CANTONMENT BOARD, KANPUR64, Subhas Chandra Bose Marg, Cantt Kanpur-208004

NOTICE INVITING TENDEROnline tender through two bid system are invited by the Cantt Board Kanpur through

the Government e-procurement portal http://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/app by theCantonment Board Kanpur. The construction of works detailed in the table given below.S. NIT NO. Name of work and location Last date of EstimatedNo. Uploading Cost of

Tender tender (Rs.)1 CBK/Engg/ Tender for Replacement of SVLs/ 25.04.2021 60,00,000/-

K-1497/1 MHLs/CFLs Luminaries by LEDLuminaries Under Street LightingScheme in Cantonment Board, Kanpur.

2 CBK/Engg/ Supply, fixing and commissioning 25.04.2021 40,00,000/-K-1497/2 of Outdoor Gym Equipment etc.

at various places in Cantt Area.The detail may be obtain from https://kanpur.cantt.gov.in and

http://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/appNo. CBK/Engg/K-1497 Date 31.3.2021 (A.K. Dwivedi) IDES, CEO, Kanpur Cantt.

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To cool down the growing dissentwithin the party cadre for being

ignored by UPCC President Ajay KumarLallu, Congress general secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra finally took a U-turn whenshe expanded the Uttar Pradesh CongressCommittee, hoping that it might bring insome good news for the party in the com-ing panchayat polls, besides givingmomentum for the assembly electionsscheduled early next year.

Sources said that Vadra, who is againsta jumbo size committee in UP from thebeginning, finally started realising thatwithout giving some posts to the disgrun-tled leaders, she could not end dissentwithin the party as just a few office-bear-ers in the UPCC only promoted those closeto state president or her close aides work-ing with Ajay Kumar Lallu.

Finally last Tuesday, she released a listof office-bearers, expanding the alreadyexisting committee to 125. She tried toaccommodate more leaders from differentsections with the hope that they wouldshow results at the ground level in the pan-chayat elections and make Congress a seri-ous contender in the 2022 assembly polls.

The three-tier panchayat elections inUttar Pradesh will be held in four phasesfrom April 15.

Sources said that when PriyankaGandhi Vadra announced the new com-mittee under Ajay Kumar Lallu, sheappointed 65 leaders as office-bearers,including Lallu, sending a clear messagethat she wanted leaders with “perfor-mance”.

Her move upset many leaders, espe-cially seniors, as they were shocked to findno ‘responsibility’ assigned to them evenwhen they had already spent three to fourdecades of their career working for the

Congress.Taking it as an insult, many senior

leaders opposing the treatment of the vet-erans in the party, called a separate meet-ing to raise their voice about how a com-bination of youngsters and seniorsshould go together to strengthen theparty.

Sources close to Lallu confirmed thatthe UPCC president saw the move as aserious threat to his own future in the partyso he used his closeness with PriyankaGandhi Vadra to influence her to removeabout a dozen veteran leaders from theparty.

Those expelled included former MPs,MLAs, ministers etc. Surprisingly, theseveterans tried to meet party presidentSonia Gandhi to appraise her about theirstand but they failed to meet her.

Sources said that one year after theremoval of the veterans as well as over adozen other leaders who expressed theirdispleasure over the style of functioningof Lallu, the new UPCC failed to give anydesired results in the last by-polls. Many

leaders upset with Lallu's behaviour alsoquit the party to join other political par-ties. As the resentment grew, the dissidentsformed a WhatsApp group to openly crit-icise the functioning of Lallu and how theappointment of some communist bent ofmind leaders in the UPCC administrationhad proved to be last nail in the coffinfor the grand old party which was gasp-ing for breath in this biggest state of thecountry.

The growing dissidents within theparty could be gauged from the fact thatover a year has passed of Priyanka GandhiVadra visiting the UPCC or attending anymeeting here at party's headquarters.

Now with both three-tier panchayatelections beginning from April 15 andassembly polls next year, Priyanka madethe first move to end dissent by expand-ing the UPCC with the induction of 60more leaders as vice-presidents, generalsecretaries and secretaries.

Lallu, who called a meeting here onThursday to discuss how to fight the pan-chayat elections with full strength, claimedthat they accommodated young and expe-rienced leaders and the total strength ofthe UPCC office-bearers had now reached125.

“We have fixed responsibilities for thenew team to ensure good results,” headded.

Like earlier, now a general secretarywill work as incharge of the party’s organ-isation in three districts while a secretarywill be in charge of one district.

“The party will work harder in thecoming months and all leaders will beaccommodated somewhere or the other,”said a senior office-bearer close to Lallu,adding that the organisation would be fur-ther expanded a few months before theassembly elections to satisfy the remain-ing dissidents.

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The scenario of panchayatsin Uttar Pradesh is chang-

ing. A few years ago, handingover the command of thepanchayat to the eldest of thearea in the rural areas wasconsidered to be the mostsatisfying task but now theatmosphere has changedbecause of the emergence ofyouth and women, who areready to take a plunge in ruralpolitics.

On March 28, the villagersof Badegaon in Agra took adecision to make an educateddaughter, Kalpana SinghGurjar, as the head of the vil-lage.

“If the educated youth,including girls, can take themantle, why should elderlypeople become pradhan all thetime. So the villagers unani-mously decided to makeKalpana their gram pradhan,”says Mahesh Kumar, a villager.

Additional ElectionCommissioner Ved PrakashVerma says that such initiativecan now take place in othervillages as well. “If villagersselect young and educatedyouth as the village head itcould save governmentmoney,"”he said.

Verma hopes that this time,compared to the past pan-chayat elections, a large num-ber of educated youth and

women will come and try theirluck in village politics. “Thiswill accelerate the develop-mental works in the villagesand strengthen rural democra-cy,” he says.

The past results of pan-chayat elections suggest that thelandscape of villages is con-stantly changing. Villagers arenow electing more young can-didates. In 2015, the number ofpeople between 21 and 35years of age was about 35.18 percent of the total candidates whowon the panchayat elections, ofthem women accounted for43.8 per cent. The results sug-gest only 9.6 per cent of illiter-ate candidates won the elec-tions.

Associate professor at JaiNarain Post-Graduate College,Dr Brijesh Mishra, said that thedynamics of panchayats hadchanged with elderly peoplenow being considered as mis-fit.

He points out that earlier,panchayats used to be the cen-tre of settling mutual quarrelsbut now they have become theaxis of development.

“People are aware aboutdevelopment and they feel thata young person can be moreproductive,” he said and added,“That is why more and moreyoung people are coming to thepanchayats now,”

Whatever be the reason,but the results of some pan-

chayat elections are telling thestory of the change in thethinking of society.

For example, in the 1995-96 panchayat elections, thenumber of candidates between21 and 35 years of age wasabout 37 per cent, but in theelections held in 2005 after tenyears, 46.61 per cent of thosewho won were under 35 yearsof age.

In 2015, the number ofcandidates in the age group of21- 35 years was about 35.18per cent of the total candidateswho won the panchayat elec-tions and 59.4 per cent of thecandidates who won were 35 to60 years of age.

The results of the 2015panchayat elections show thatout of 58,868 gram pradhans,20,707 were below 35 years ofage. Of the 816 block heads,323 were within 35 years ofage and among the 74 districtpanchayat presidents, 41 werebetween 21 and 35 years ofage.

A similar picture is also onthe posts of gram panchayatmember, kshetra panchayatmember, zila panchayat mem-ber, jyeshtha deputy chief,junior deputy chief.

The panchayat electionswill be held in four phases onApril 15, 19, 26 and 29. Themodel code of conduct hascome into force throughout thestate.

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Illicit liquor continues to be servedto villagers to influence them for

the coming panchayat electionsdespite Chief Minister YogiAdityanath's stern warning. OnThursday, two causalities due to spu-rious liquor were reported fromAyodhya while the death-toll inPratapgarh hooch tragedy rose toseven.

It may be mentioned that thechief minister has already asked

senior officials to fix responsibilityof the officers who fail to check saleof spurious liquor in their areasbesides invoking Gangsters Actagainst the culprits.

Besides, State ElectionCommissioner Manoj Kumar hasalso asked all district magistratesand district police chiefs to ensurethat no sale or distribution of illic-it or spurious liquor is made to influ-ence the voters in the ongoing pan-chayat polls.

According to reports from

Ayodhya, Ramnath Verma, the out-going gram pradhan (village head)of Trilokpur in Gosainganj area,threw a liquor party in the village,allegedly to influence the voters, onWednesday night.

After consuming liquor, said tobe spurious, about a dozen of the vil-lagers started vomiting andfainted after which they weretaken to a hospital where VirendraVerma (32) and DharmendraVerma (30) were pronounced deadwhile the condition of Lal Bahadur,

Rajesh Prajapati, Jaishree, DhruvKumar Verma, Rajesh, RamSubhawan Verma was said to be crit-ical.

Sources said that the villagerswere admitted to different hospitalsin Ayodhya and Ambedkarnagar.

Senior officers, who reachedthe spot after the incident,claimed that they took the complaintagainst the outgoing grampradhan and were investigating thematter.

They said that stern action

would be taken against the accusedalong with the officers found to havefailed to check the sale of spuriousliquor.

Meanwhile, the death-toll in thePratapgarh hooch tragedy rose toseven with three more personssuccumbing to the spuriousliquor. Four people, includingtwo brothers, had died after con-suming spurious liquor on Tuesdaynight.

Three more victims of thehooch tragedy are undergoing treat-

ment in hospital when reports lastarrived.

Superintendent of Police ofPratapgarh, Akash Tomar, said thatthe station house officer of localpolice station, excise inspector, beatsub-inspector and constable hadbeen suspended by the policeauthorities while the districtmagistrate had suspended the lekh-pal.

A local liquor mafia, identifiedas Daboo, along with five others wasarrested by the police in a drive to

check the sale of illicit liquor anddrugs.

It may be mentioned that theincident in Pratapgarh took place inKatariya village of Udaipur areawhere liquor was allegedly served bya candidate of gram pradhan elec-tion to influence the voters in thepanchayat election.

Last week, four persons haddied after consuming spuriousliquor in Pratapgarh district whileeight persons had succumbed toillicit liquor in Chitrakoot.

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In a bizarre incident reportedfrom Baghpat, a woman

strangled two of her kids and satwith their bodies the wholenight before informing herneighbours about it onThursday morning.

The local police rushed tothe spot after learning about thekilling and sent the bodies forpost-mortem. The police alsotook the woman in custody andwere making investigations.

Reports said that one GulabQureshi, hailing fromChhaprauli area of Baghpat,was a street vendor of ready-made garments and used totravel to the neighbouringtowns to run his business. Hewas married to Anjum about 10years back and had two children- son Umar (5) and daughterAnshika (3) - from her.

On Wednesday night,Anjum, who was reportedly inmental distress, strangled bothher children and later lockedherself in the house with theirbodies. She sat with the deadchildren for the whole night and

on Thursday morning, she sud-denly started crying loudly, say-ing that she had killed both herchildren.

The neighbours rushed tothe house but on finding thedoors locked from inside, theytried to open the doors andwhen their efforts failed theycalled the police.

The cops broke open thedoor only to find both the chil-dren lying dead and their moth-er weeping by their side. Herdupatta was found tied aroundthe necks of the children.

Circle Officer of Baraut,Alok Singh, said that Anjumwas alone with her children andher husband was away inFaridabad. He said that Gulabprobably had some dispute withhis wife over household affairsand later he left the district tosell clothes.

Singh said that the bodieswere sent for post-mortem andthey were interrogating Anjumto find out why she killed boththe children.

Meanwhile, the terror ofstray dogs continued in Amrohawith two more children being

killed in the district onWednesday. Last Sunday, a girlwas killed by the stray dogs.

The fresh incidents werereported from Rampur andDeeppur hamlets of Hasanpurarea in Baghpat. Reports saidthat some children had gonewith their parents and otherelders to work in the fields onWednesday evening. The inci-dent took place when two of thechildren went to a secluded areawhile playing and fell prey toover half a dozen wild stray dogsroaming in the area.

The dogs attacked the twochildren, critically injuringthem. Both were rushed to thelocal community health centrewhere they were pronounceddead.

Last Sunday, an eight-year-old girl was attacked and killedby a group of stray dogs inPhoolpur village of Hasanpurtehsil. According to the girl'sfather, the dogs attacked the girlwhen she went to throw wastein the jungle. He said about 8-10 stray dogs had attacked herand she was lying in a pool ofblood when he found her.

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Lieutenant General Yogendra Dimri took over asGeneral Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central

Command, on Thursday. Immediately on assumingthe charge of Command, he paid tributes at theSmritika War Memorial to all soldiers, who fell in oper-ations, and later reviewed the guard of honour.

An alumnus of National Defence Academy(Khadakwasla), Lt Gen Dimri was awarded thePresident’s Gold Medal at Indian Military Academy(Dehradun) for being on top in the order of merit. Hewas commissioned into the Corps of Engineers (TheBombay Sappers) on December 17, 1983.

During his long and illustrious career of over 37years, Lt Gen Dimri was awarded the ‘Silver Grenade’in the Young Officers Course and Gold Medal in theEngineers Degree Course. He went on to attend vari-ous prestigious army courses at DSSC (Wellington),Defence Services Command and Staff Course inDhaka, Army War College (Mhow) and NationalDefence College (New Delhi). Lt Gen Dimri carriestremendous operational experience and has the distinc-tion of commanding an Assault Engineer Regiment dur-ing ‘Operation Parakram’, an Engineer Brigade as partof Strike Corps, an Infantry Brigade on the Line ofControl, a Counter-Insurgency Force in Jammu &Kashmir and a Strike Corps in the deserts. He has ten-anted important staff appointments of Assistant MilitarySecretary at Military Secretary Branch, BrigadierGeneral Staff (Operations) of a Corps, Deputy DirectorGeneral of Military Operations, Additional DirectorGeneral (Discipline & Vigilance), Director General(Discipline, Ceremonial & Welfare) and Chief of Staffin a Command Headquarter. He has also served asMilitary Observer in UNTAC (Cambodia) and asDirecting Staff at the Defence Service Staff College.

Lucknow (PNS): With theaim to introduce modern edu-cation, the Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment has decided to intro-duce NCERT books from class-es VI to VIII in Sanskrit schools.

“In the Sanskrit schools ofthe state, only students fromclasses 9 to 12 were taughtNCERT courses but from thissession, students from classes 6to 8 will also read from NCERTbooks. However, Sanskrit willremain a compulsory subject inthe course,” a government offi-cial said here on Thursday.

He said with this, studentsof Sanskrit schools would beable to gain knowledge ofSanskrit as well as computer and

English. The official said that thegovernment was continuouslyworking on the modernisationof the Sanskrit language schoolsand their upgradation, and wasproviding all the necessary facil-ities to their students.

Presently, 1,164 Sanskritschools are being run in thestate. There are more than97,500 students in these schools.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has also issueddirectives to provide free mealsand accommodation to morethan 4,000 students of 200Sanskrit schools of the state sim-ilar to the Gurukul system, inthe general budget for the year2021-22.

Lucknow (PNS): TheNorthern Railway on Thursdaydecided to extend the servicesof some of the special trains forthe convenience of passengers.Varanasi-Jammu Tawi Specialwas extended up to June 30,Jammu Tawi-Varanasi Specialup to July 1, Lucknow-Chandigarh Special up to June30, Chandigarh-LucknowSpecial up to July 1, Jammu

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Lucknow (PNS): A special worship service was conductedat The Assembly of Believers’ Church in Aliganj on the occa-sion of on Maundy Thursday. The worship service was led bythe youth of church and the evening kicked off with the song‘Kalvery ke paas kada…’, led by Priya Francis. The opening prayerwas read by Pastor Upendra Singh. A special song was sung byIleen (Mishti) while the church choir presented a group song‘Bar bar baha lahu Yeshu ka...’. Oswin Moses preached the wordof God while priest of the church Dr Morris Kumar washed thefeet of the congregation in remembrance of what Jesus Christdid with his disciples around 2000 years back. The congregationalso took part in the Holy Communion in remembrance of theLast Supper with disciples. Neha performed a special prayer forthose unwell. At the St Joseph Cathedral, the traditional wash-ing of the feet of 12 people was omitted this year, as also the pro-cession to the Altar of Repose because of the Covid-19 pandem-ic. “Good Friday services will start with the Stations of the Crossin the church. Veneration of the cross by each individual willbe omitted. After unveiling the cross, the celebrant will vener-ate it and then hold it aloft for all the faithful to venerate it witha deep bow together,” spokesperson Donald Desouza said.

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Lucknow (PNS):Preparations for the three-tierpanchayat elections in UttarPradesh are in full swing.Elections will be held in58,176 gram panchayats of thestate. This time around 12.28crore voters will exercise theirfranchise to elect panchayatrepresentatives in the state.

Nearly 52 lakh votershave increased as comparedto 2015. The last time therewere 11.76 crore voters. This

time a total of 2.10 crorenames have been added to thevoters list and 39.36 lakhnames have been revisedwhile names of 1.09 crore vot-ers have been removed.

The number of womenvoters is 5.76 crore. Morethan 45 per cent of the votersin the voter list are 35 yearsold or less. The Dasna grampanchayat of Ghaziabad hasthe highest number of 38,077voters.

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Tawi-Ajmer Special up to June30, Ajmer-Jammu Tawi Specialup to July 1, Bandra T-PatnaWeekly Special up to June 28,Patna-Bandra T Weekly Specialup to June 30, Bandra T-Jammu Tawi Weekly Special upto June 26, Jammu Tawi-Bandra T Weekly Special up toJune 28, Indore-Patna WeeklySpecial up to June 30, Patna-Indore Weekly Special up toJuly 01, Indore-Patna WeeklySpecial up to June 26, Patna-Indore Weekly Special up toJune 28, Udhna-ManduadihWeekly Special up to June 25,Manduadih-Udhna WeeklySpecial up to June 27, Chennai-Lucknow Bi-Weekly Specialup to June 29, Lucknow-Chennai Bi-Weekly Special upto July 1, Jodhpur-VaranasiTri-Weekly Special up to June28, Varanasi-Jodhpur TriWeekly Special up to June 30,Jodhpur-Varanasi Tri-WeeklySpecial up to June 29, Varanasi-Jodhpur Tri-Weekly Special upto June 29, Jodhpur-VaranasiWeekly Special up to June 30,Varanasi-Jodhpur WeeklySpecial up to July 1, and Jhansi-Lucknow Special & Lucknow-Jhansi Special till furtheradvice.

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Lucknow (PNS): In a majoraction, the district administra-tion sealed the Fun RepublicMall in Gomtinagar and My Barin the Summit Building forviolation of Covid-19 protocols.A senior official from the dis-trict administration said thatdespite being served a notice inthe past, the mall was found vio-lating all the Covid-19 guide-lines. He said an inspection wascarried out in the mall onMarch 20 because of the surgein coronavirus cases and it wasfound that the guidelines werenot being followed. A show-cause notice was issued to themall and the reply came onMarch 23. The mall authoritieshad assured the district admin-istration that they would be fol-lowing Covid-19 protocols inright earnest.

“Another inspection wascarried out today and it wasfound no guidelines were beingfollowed there. The mall hasbeen closed till further ordersand an explanation sought with-in the next 24 hours,” the districtadministration official said.

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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment asked people over 45

years of age to get vaccinatedagainst the novel coronavirusas early as possible as the statewitnessed a spike in COVID-19 cases with 2,600 more pos-itive cases being reported dur-ing the last 24 hours.

As many as 198 fresh caseswere reported from Varanasi,103 from Kanpur, 93 fromGautam Buddh Nagar, 68from Meerut and 19 fromGhaziabad. There were ninedeaths in the state, includingtwo each in Lucknow &Prayagraj and one each inKanpur, Gorakhpur, Varanasi,Barabanki and Ghazipur.

In the state capital too,there was a remarkable surgein the cases with 935 testingpositive on Thursday. Thenumber of active cases soaredto 3,912. The fresh casesincluded 67 from Indiranagar,59 from Gomtinagar, 42 inHazratganj, 41 from Talkatora,39 from Alambagh, 35 fromMahanagar, 29 from Aliganj,23 from Vikas Nagar, 22 fromRae Bareli road and 21 fromBazaarkhala.

Additional Chief Secretary(Medical and Health) AmitMohan Prasad said that1,24,135 samples were tested inthe state on a single day onWednesday out of which 2,600were found positive for novelcoronavirus infection.

“At present there are 11,918active coronavirus cases in thestate out of which 6,722 are inhome isolation and 287 are get-ting treatment in private hos-pitals. The rest are admitted ingovernment hospitals,” he said.

Appealing to all peopleover 45 years of age to take thevaccine, Prasad said that theyshould register in the CoWINportal for pre-online registra-tion. He said those who werenot able to register onlineshould go to the vaccinationcentre and get themselves reg-istered by showing theirAadhaar card.

He said if the vaccine shotwas taken in a private hospi-tal then a person would haveto pay Rs 250 per dose.

Prasad said that morethan 11 lakh people had beenadministered both doses ofthe vaccine.

“In some cases, peoplehaving taken both the shotshave reported infection. Butno complications have been

found in those cases. Peopleshould not get swayed byrumours,” he said and addedthat those who had beenadministered one dose of thevaccine should take the sec-ond dose at the prescribedtime.

Prasad said that two typesof vaccines were being admin-istered and both were effectiveand safe. The first is Covaxinand the second Covishield.

Those administered

Covaxin will be given theirsecond dose after four weekswhile in case of Covishield,the second dose can be givenbetween 4 and 8 weeks.

“If the second dose (ofCovishield) is given between6 and 8 weeks it is found to bemore effective,” he said.

Prasad said there was amisconception that this dis-ease (COVID-19) was foundonly in urban areas. “Thisinfection spreads both in

urban and rural areas. For thatvillage monitoring committeesand the mohalla monitoringcommittees need to be reacti-vated so that the spread of theinfection can be prevented,” hesaid. The additional chief sec-retary said that special pre-cautions need to be taken atthis t ime. “You shouldwash/sanitise your handsrepeatedly and must use amask. The infection is stillthere. Be sure to follow theCovid protocol even after vaccination.”

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Thirteen officials of thedistrict and sessions court inLucknow have tested positivefor novel coronavirus infection.

A member of the CentralBar Association said that thedistrict and sessions courtwould remain closed on April2 and 3 for sanitisation.

He said the district judge,the senior-most additional dis-trict judge, the chief judicialmagistrate and an additionalcivil judge (Court No. 45) wereamong those who tested posi-tive for novel coronavirus infec-tion. He said the chief medicalofficer had advised that the dis-trict and sessions court becompletely closed for 48 hoursand further sanitisation be car-ried out there at a regularinterval of eight hours to pre-vent the spread of coronavirusinfection.

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The district administra-tion is making efforts to

increasing the number ofbeds at Covid hospitals inview of the surge in cases.Incharge of IntegratedCommand and ControlCentre and ChiefDevelopment Officer PrabhasKumar said that onWednesday, the number ofbeds in the Covid facilitieswas increased to 80, takingthe total number to 1,039.Currently, there are 29 bedsvacant in Covid Level-3 hos-pitals while 433 in other cat-egories.

Regarding the spurt infatalities in Lucknow, he said:“Since the number of casesincreased after March 15,there is bound to be someimpact on the death toll.”

He said a meeting of allthe private and governmentlabs where Covid tests arebeing carried out has beencalled. “We are ensuring that

proper protocols are followedfor testing and all the pre-cautionary measures takento curb the spread of coron-avirus. We have also sent afew teams to these labs to seethat they are giving correctresults or just makingmoney,” he said.

Authorities across theCovid facilities pointed outthat the number of patients isincreasing.

Nodal Covid officer atLok Bandhu Hospital ArunTewari said that within 24hours of opening the hospi-tal as a Covid facility, 45patients were admitted. “Thenumber of pat ients hasincreased exponentially with10 in the ICU. When the oxy-gen saturation levels fallbelow 70 per cent, we declarethe patients critical becausethey require ventilator sup-port and high-flow oxygenand they need to be shifted tothe ICU. This increase in thenumber of patients admittedto the hospital shows that

there is a tremendous resur-gence of the virus,” he said.He pointed out that most ofthe pat ients are f romLucknow. “The patients whoare severe are aged above 55years. Although a large num-ber of senior citizens havebeen vaccinated, there is stilla long way to go, and the gov-ernment is making efforts in that direction,” headded.

Dr Tewari said that with-in 24 hours, there was onedeath on Wednesday night.He was a severe patientbrought in serious respirato-ry distress and was admittedto the ICU, but could not besaved. He died of severepneumonia.

KGMU spokesperson DrSudhir Singh said they willincrease the beds step-wise.“We currently have 152 bedsand increasing the number isnot an issue for us. The onlyproblem is staff manage-ment,” he said. He pointedout that 68 patients are in the

ICU.“At the Shatabdi hospital,

we have made arrangementsfor gate pass, so that onlypatients can enter the hospi-tal,” he said.

Director of R amManohar Lohia Institute ofMedical Sciences AK Singhsaid they have 50 Covidpatients at the moment andthey are planning to increasethe number of beds to 200.He said they had also set upa holding area at the non-Covid hospital where patientswere first tested for coron-avirus infection.

Meanwhile, VivekanandaPolyclinic and Institute ofMedical Sciences restartedits Covid faci l it ies onThursday. Dr Vishal Singhsaid they have 71 beds,including 50 level-3, 35 level-2 and 21 level-1 beds.Previously, there were 85beds in the hospital. He saidfive patients have been admit-ted to the hospital and all areon oxygen support.

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As many as 6,015 peopleaged above 45 years were

administered Covid vaccinejabs in Lucknow on Thursday,the first day of vaccination forthis category. District immu-nisation officer Dr MK Singhsaid they expected a betterresponse.

“We hope that on April 2,which is a public holiday onaccount of Good Friday, morepeople will turn up to getthemselves vaccinated,” he said.

UP Chief Secretary RKTewari, BJP state presidentSwantantra Dev Singh, minis-ter Brajesh Pathak and SureshRana were given the vaccinejabs at Civil hospital onThursday. A number of pro-fessionals reached the vacci-nation centres early in themorning so that they could getback to business as usual. Civilhospital, Ram Manohar LohiaInstitute of Medical Sciencesand KGMU witnessed a fairamount of crowd.

Health officials said largegroups of people getting vac-cinated could help in battlingthe pandemic. “Amidst the sec-ond wave of coronavirus, max-imum people should get them-

selves vaccinated,” a healthofficial said.

Nodal Covid officer atKGMU Dr Nishant Verma saidclose to 700 people had beenvaccinated by 2 pm. “Thecrowds were good and con-sisted largely of educated peo-ple. It shows that there is a needto spread awareness so peoplefrom all categories can getthemselves vaccinated,” he said.

A senior doctor at Civilhospital said the crowd washuge and they had vaccinatedclose to 300 people by after-noon.

Vivekananda Polyclinicand Institute of MedicalSciences, which is a paid facil-ity for vaccination, witnessed asteady stream of beneficiaries.

There were a number ofsenior citizens who turned upfor their second dose ofCovishield vaccine after a gapof four weeks and they wereasked to come back after six toeight weeks.

Meanwhile, 962 healthworkers got their first dose and211 the second. As many as 640frontline workers were giventheir first vaccine dose while299 the second. Besides, 3,598senior citizens were also vaccinated.

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Forced to pursue studies inScience stream, a BSc (II)

student ended her life at herrented room in Mahanagar onThursday. The deceased wasidentified as Diksha (20) ofRamkot police station area inSitapur. She was staying in thehouse of Prateek Bhatnagar inNew Hyderabad underMahanagar police station areaand was a student of NationalPG College.

As per reports, Dikshawas found hanging from theceiling with a bedsheet tiedaround her neck. The incidentcame to light when otherinmates knocked the doors ofthe room on finding that shehad not come out since morning.

A police spokesman saida a suicide note was recoveredfrom the place and Diksha hadwritten that she did not wantto do BSc but her familyforced her to opt for Sciencestream.

The police sent the bodyfor autopsy and started furtherinvestigation into the case.

The family of the deceasedwas informed about the inci-dent and they reachedLucknow in the evening.

In another incident, ayouth, identified as HimanshuDas (25), ended his life at hishouse in Bharat Nagar(Madiaon) on Thursday.Police said Himanshu wasfound hanging with a dupat-ta tied around his neck.

Meanwhile, a man endedhis life after sending his wifeto borrow money from some-one for him so that he couldpurchase another liquor bot-tle, in Gomti Nagar Extensionon Wednesday. When thewoman returned with themoney, she found her hus-band hanging from a woodenpole with a saree tied aroundhis neck.

The deceased, identifiedas Rajesh of Khargapur local-ity, was a native of Hardoi. Hiswife Poonam said Rajeshreturned home in a drunkenstate on Wednesday eveningand demanded money forpurchasing a liquor bottle.Poonam shouted at Rajesh and refused to give him

money. “We hardly havemoney to make ends meet. Irefused to give him money asI had nothing. Rajesh askedme to borrow some moneyfrom someone. I was notready for that but as he insist-ed, I went out to bring somecash. When I came back, Ifound him hanging,” she toldpolice. Rajesh (35) was alabourer and staying inKhargapur locality for lastfew years.

��Thieves made off with

cash and ornaments from ahouse in Chinhat onThursday. Reports said RamNiranjan Shastri of HardasiKheda, along with his wifeand brother-in-law, had goneto Kanpur for some work onMarch 25.

His elder brother, whoworks with a private compa-ny as a mechanic, was at hisworkplace while youngerbrother Alok had gone out forsome work. When Alokreturned home in the after-noon on March 26, he foundthe house burgled.

Lucknow (PNS): A CB-CIDprobe nailed the lies of a policeteam that had indicted a restau-rant owner and his helper in afake case of planning loot at anATM booth. Following theexposé, the Aliganj police reg-istered a case against four cops,including two sub-inspectors.Those named in the case wereidentified as sub-inspectorsNepal Singh & Veerbhan Singhand constables Pankaj &Mithilesh. ACP (Aliganj)Akhilesh Singh confirmed reg-

istration of a case against theabove-mentioned cops and saidfurther investigation was on.

The issue dates back to2012 when a restaurant owner,Manish of Madiaon, got a shopowned by Santosh inAhibarnpur locality for amonthly rent of Rs 12,000.Santosh is the son of a retiredpolice officer. Manish employedIrfan aka Raju, who is differentlyabled and cannot walk proper-ly, as a helper for the restaurant.

In due course of time,

Manish and Santosh developeddifferences. Manish offered topurchase the shop for Rs 30 lakhand gave Rs 24 lakh as anadvance sum to Santosh, but thelatter allegedly refused to sell theshop. Manish alleged thatSantosh and his brother Arvindstarted bullying him into gettingthe shop registered in his name.

“Santosh sought the help ofSI Nepal Sigh, who was theincharge of Galla Mandi outpostin Aliganj at that time. On July15, Irfan and I were summoned

by Nepal Singh, who, alongwith his colleagues, torturedus. They took us to the Aliganjpolice station where we weredeclared robbers who were plan-ning to loot an ATM. The policeshowed recovery of a pistolfrom us and stated in the inves-tigation report that Irfan and Ifired at the police team whiletrying to flee the scene,” Manishalleged. He said he and Irfanwere granted bail four monthslater. “We both were showedarrested soon after we came out

and were sent to jail again, thistime under Gangster Act,” healleged.

He further alleged that hewas framed in a case of rape andstealing the ornaments of thewoman at Madiaon police sta-tion. “The woman later with-drew the case saying she wasforced to give a complaintagainst him at the behest ofsome policemen,” he said.

Manish said Santosh tookpossession of the restaurant bybreaking the locks. “My family

brought the matter to the noticeof the former Commissioner ofPolice who instructed the policeto initiate a legal action againstSantosh and others involved inransacking the restaurant andsecuring illegal possession,” hesaid. Sources said the issue waslater referred to CB-CID whichrecommended action againstthe errant cops on March 17.“However, the cops sat on thecase but they registered an FIRfearing action against them,” thesources said.

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Former professor ofLucknow University AK

Sharma succumbed toCovid-19 on Thursday. Hehad taken the first dose ofvaccine on March 10 and wasdue for the second. ProfSharma retired as the examcontroller three years ago. Heis survived by wife and twodaughters.

Members of theLucknow UniversityTeachers Associationexpressed grief at the demiseof Prof Sharma, who hadjoined the university as a fac-ulty member in 1982 andwent on to become a profes-

sor and head of Zoologydepartment. A senior facul-ty member of the depart-ment said Prof Sharmamight have contracted theinfection due to regular hos-pital visits which he paid tohelp a relative who was suf-fering from cancer.

“He first experiencedCovid-19 symptoms likeslight chest pain, but his testreport came out negative.Later when he felt pain in thechest again, he went for thetest and was diagnosed withCovid-19. He was hospi-talised and three days ago hewas put on the ventilator afterhis condition deteriorated,”the faculty member said.

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Lucknow (PNS): TheGudamba police on Thursdayarrested an accused who wasconvicted in a rape case in1996 and was absconding afterbeing granted parole last year.The accused, identified as Sirajaka Raju of Vikas Nagar, is anative of Barabanki.

Inspector, Gudamba,Fareed Ahmad said Siraj wasaccused of abduction and rapein 1996 and was convictedlater. “In view of the Covid-19pandemic in March last year,Siraj was granted parole onApril 20. He was asked toreport back on November 16.However, he absconded,” Sirajsaid. The jail administrationwrote to the police on March17 this year, asking to bringSiraj back to jail.

Police teams raided thehouse about which Siraj hadmentioned in the jail register,but he was not found there. Ateam conducted a raid at Siraj’shouse in Vikas Nagar follow-ing a tip-off and arrested him.

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The police on Thursdayclaimed to have worked

out the sensational murdercase of a youth and injuringtwo under the Mirzamuradpolice station and made threearrests in this connection. Thepolice recovered two pistols of.32 bore, one live cartridgeand motorcycle used in crime.

Talking to the pressper-sons at Police Lines here, theSP (Rural) Amit Vermainformed that the incharge ofMirzamurad police stationUmesh Kumar and inchargeof Special Operation Group(SOG) Ashwani Pandey werein Kachwan late night onWednesday and in the mean-time, the informers tippedoff about the presence ofcriminals at a dhaba whowere involved in killing a

youth and injuring two in theevening on March 28 last inBidha village.

Acting on tip-off, thepolice team and team of SOGraided the dhaba and succeed-ed in apprehending the crim-inals Laddu Gopal aka AjayYadav of Mirzapur, SurajDubey of Bhadohi and RakeshYadav aka Dabu of Mirzapur.The police recovered two pis-tols of .32 bore, one live car-tridge and motorcycle used inthe crime from their posses-sions. During the interroga-tion, the criminals confessedtheir involvement in the mur-der case, Verma claimed.

The criminals Ajay Yadavand Suraj Dubey, who were inan inebriated state, had analtercation with Vinay Yadav(16) and Anil of Bidha villageon March 28 last. Bhaiya Lalof the same village interfered

and pacified both sides.Thereafter, both criminalsmet Rakesh Yadav aka Dabbuand Rakesh Yadav akaLuttar and planned to teach alesson to Vinay and Anil.Rakesh Yadav provided pistolsand cartridges to Ajay andSuraj.

Thereafter, both Ajay andSuraj reached the above men-tioned village on bike and see-ing Vinay and Anil at a tem-porary shop in Bidha village,opened indiscriminate firingtargeting both. Vinay sus-tained bullets at hand andstomach and fell on theground. When Anil tried toescape, the criminals openedfire targeting him but heescaped and bullet hit awoman Radhika, standingthere. When Ajay and hisaide were running away, GuruPratap and Satyajit Singh were

also going towards the sameside and the criminals under-stood that they were followingthem. And in this confusion,the criminals opened fire tar-geting them and Guru Pratapsustained bullet injury. All theinjured were rushed to a near-by hospital where Vinay suc-cumbed to injuries.

Along with the police, theSOG also swung into actionand both teams succeeded inarresting Ajay and Suraj onWednesday midnight and onthe information provided bythem, Rakesh Laddu was alsoarrested.

There are criminal recordsof all arrested in Mirzamuradpolice station, informed theSP adding, the criminals killedone and injured two just totake revenge on a trivial issue.The fourth criminal will soonbe nabbed, he hoped.

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Alarge-scale sanitisationdrive for effective control

of coronavirus pandemic waslaunched in the city areas hereon Thursday, on the directionof Municipal CommissionerGaurang Rathi. The drive wasflagged off from Nagar Nigambuilding by the AdditionalMunicipal Commissioner(AMC) Devi Dayal Verma.The campaign aims at mobil-ising the people to followCOVID-19 guidelines likewearing masks and maintain-ing of two yards physical dis-tance apart from not visitingthe places where there areheavy crowd.

As the city is seeing out-break of second wave of pan-demic in an alarming manner

as even by morning report ofthe Health department, 125new COVID-19 positive caseshave been found, specialefforts will be made during thecampaign by taking the coop-eration of NGOs and socialorganisations to disinfect dif-ferent localities and launch amassive cleanliness drive.Presently, special cleaningwork is being done by provid-ing masks to the supervisors/ sanitary inspectors engagedin cleaning work along withstocks of malathion, bleach-ing, hydrochloride,deltamethrin, lime etc forspraying insecticides /fungi-cides under the communica-ble disease control pro-gramme.

The MunicipalCorporation has 385motorised and 2,000 manual-

ly operated vehicles, 120 handspray sanitiser machines for90 wards of five zones, 19bicycle fogging machines, fivebig fogging vehicles and threefire brigade tenders apart fromthree jetting vehicles of Jalkaldepartment. For effectivelyusing these existing resourcesa route plan has been done.These five routes where thedrive would continue are fromRathyatra crossing toG o d o w l i a - R a m a p u r a -Dashashwamedh- Chowk-Basafatak; Orderly Bazar toB h o j u b i r - P a n d e y p u r ;Lahurabir to Beniabagh- NaiSarak; BLW to Sunderpur-Lanka and from Bhelupar toGurudham crossing-Ravindrapuri-Durgakund.

In the beginning, NagarSwasthya Adhikari Dr NPSingh, zonal sanitary Ram

Sakal Yadav and secretary ofJan Vikas Avam Kalyan SamitiMahendra Singh Gautam wel-comed the AMC andinformed the latter that at pre-sent the people are beingmade aware of COVID-19through public announce-ment system installed at 55crossings under the SmartCity Project. Later, in thepresence of social worker AnilKumar Singh, an oath wasadministered in which theparticipants pledged to keepthe city clean.

The programme was alsoattended by other officersincluding Rajnath Yadav, DrAnushree Srivastava,Nipendra Shankar Singh,Shatrunjaya Kumar, VivekBohra, Shailesh Thakur,Attahar Abbas, Dilip Yadavand Brijesh Prajapati.

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Apublic awareness campaignwas launched in Banaras

Locomotive Works (BLW)premises in view to prevent theoutbreak of COVID-19 pan-demic. The campaign contin-ued for the second day onThursday when the Medicaldepartment of the BLW con-ducted an antigen test at TruckMachine Shop (TMS).

On the first day of the cam-paign, the teams of officers andemployees contacted shop-keepers, passersby, vendorsand others in the BLW town-ship area and mobilised all ofthem to follow the COVID-19guidelines as the second waveof pandemic has spread rapid-ly in parts of the country. Theshopkeepers were asked to

avoid rush of customers attheir shops and always wearmasks and maintain social dis-tance.

They were also directed tomake marks at a fixed distance

of two yards so that their cus-tomers can maintain physicaldistance.

Under this campaign, theBLW officers said that theSabzi Mandi (vegetable market)

would be transferred to thegrounds of BLW Inter Collegeso that the social distancing canbe maintained among the cus-tomers.

The objective of this cam-paign is to motivate the preven-tion of COVID-19 in BLW bymobilising the people to followCOVID-19 guidelines likewearing masks regularly, main-taining social distancing andtaking care of hand hygiene.The campaign was conductedunder the guidance of PradeepKumar Singh, Principal ChiefPersonnel Officer (PCPO) inwhich members of BLW’sRailway Protection Force(RPF), St. John’s AmbulanceBrigade, Civil DefenseOrganisation, Bharat Scoutsand Guides participated inlarge numbers.

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Once again Coronavirus dis-ease has ‘exploded’ in

Prayagraj district post-Holihere on Wednesday night. Atotal of 213 fresh cases ofCOVID-19 were detected andtwo people admitted for treat-ment also died. This is not onlya problem of the Health depart-ment but also a big danger forthe denizens of the city. Thenumber of newly infected peo-ple has been three times thenumber of patients beingreceived in the past.

Symptoms of coronavirusare seen in seven to eight days,so by the end of the week thenumber of infected people isexpected to surge. This mayalso lead to some restrictions inthe city.

After giving relief for fivemonths, Corona is breakingdown again as a disaster for thepeople. On Holi, people wereinstructed to be vigilant, but onthe very next day, COVID-19gave a big shock to the peopleplaying the colours. OnWednesday, 213 people report-ed corona positive. The num-ber of patients admitted to L3Covid Hospital has reached 70.

At the same time, with thedeath of two people, now thedeath toll has increased to fivesince last week. On Wednesday,19 people were dischargedfrom home isolation and sixfrom Covid Hospital.

Preparations have beenstarted to convert Tej BahadurSapru (Beli) Hospital andUnited Medicity and MedicalCollege to Covid Hospital toadmit the asymptomaticpatients in the city. CMO Dr.Prabhakar Rai said that thearrangements will be the sameas last year. Serious patients arebeing admitted to the super

specialty block of the SRNcampus, patients having nosymptoms, they will be admit-ted to another hospital.

Meanwhile, former MLAGopal Das Yadav afflicted withcorona died on Wednesday atSGPGI Lucknow. He wasreferred from Covid Hospital ofSwaroop Rani Nehru Hospitalfour days ago for Lucknow. Themortal remains were brought toPhaphamau Ghat late eveningand cremated under the CovidProtocol. A limited number ofother family members, includ-ing his son former cricketerJyoti Yadav, were present dur-

ing the funeral of the formerMLA.

Dr. SP Singh, Principal ofthe Medical College said thatwhen former MLA Gopal DasYadav was admitted to L3Covid Hospital, his reportcame positive.

But a negative report camea few days later. The familymembers took him to Lucknowon his own wish. There too thereport was negative but JyotiYadav said that Gopal DasYadav became positive twodays ago.

On the death of GopalDas Yadav, SP city unit presi-dent Iftekhar Hussain, formerMLA Jokhulal Yadav, PandhariYadav, Ravindra Yadav, VijayVaishya, Nanda Nishad,Mohammad Shariq, DanBahadur Madhur, Mohd Askarietc mourned.

Gopal Das Yadav becamethe first MLA in 1985. Fromthe city west assembly seat, hehad contested on Lok Dal tick-et.

Former SP spokespersonKK Srivastava said that he wasalso involved in the JP move-ment in the year 1974. Healways fought for the benefit ofthe poor.

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The second wave ofCoronavirus has started

tormenting people. They fearthe possibility of lockdownbeing imposed once again inthe city. Even though there isno such situation yet, theHealth department is preparingto adopt another way to reducecongestion in hospitals.

Continuing the operationof OPD, the operation of thosepatients can be postponed whocan be treated later. The

patients are also advised by themedical authorities that theyshould come to the hospitalonly if necessary.

Doctors said that hernia,hydrosil, eye, appendicitis oper-ations can be postponed for afew days. If an accidental situ-ation does not occur, no needto go to hospitals withoutcause, in view of the increasinginfection of corona and thedanger this time. If anyonewants to meet the patientadmitted in the wards, thenonly one person be allowed to

go.Tele medicine operated in

Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospitaland Colvin will work under thepresent circumstances. Thereare more chances that peoplecan avail health services fromhome through video calls ifOPD has to be stopped in anadverse situation. For this peo-ple will have to be aware fromnow on. One has to know howto get treatment with telemed-icine. There is a rush from gov-ernment hospitals to OPD.More than the patients, their

attendants are gathered. Thereis a home like view on the bedof patients. This situation canbe controlled in view of thecorona. Dr. Prabhakar Rai,CMO of Prayagraj, said thatone has to deal with the cir-cumstances. Corona is growingagain so the responsibilityshould be on everyone’s shoul-ders. People can avoid suchoperations on their own whichare not necessary right now.Congestion in hospitals willreduce the chain of infection inhospitals, added Dr Rai.

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Fourteen years after thedreaded dacoit Dadua was

gunned down in Chitrakutarea, yet another gang was try-ing to strengthen its network inthis bordering area of UttarPradesh and Madhya Pradesh,but the police (STF) intensifiedtheir combing operation andshot dead Bal Chandra, anactive member of Gauri SinghYadav gang in an encounter.

On an information thatthe Gauri Singh Yadav gangwas entering Chitrakut fromMadhya Pradesh border, theSTF intensified its vigil in that

area and asked the dacoits tosurrender when they werespotted in the jungle. Thedacoits opened fire frombehind trees and bushes, butthe police were prepared andthey retaliated in the samelanguage.

Bal Chandra received oneof the gun shots of the policeand fell on the ground. All hisassociates made a successfulescape, but Bal Chandra couldnot join them. He was laterbrought to a hospital where hedied during the course oftreatment. The police hadannounced a reward of Rs25,000 on his head as he was

the right hand of Gauri SinghYadav.

STF terms it as a bigachievement because theGauri Singh Yadav was tryingto become yet another Daduain that area.

Terror of Dadua in theareas of Bundelkhand—Banda, Chitrakut,Shankargarh, Lalitpur,Fatehpur, Jalaun, Bhind,Morena still sends chill downthe spine. He ruled the areafor 32 years and ruthlesslykilled people and the policefor opposing him. The biggestmystery with Dadua was thathis face was quite unknown to

the police. The police hadannounced a reward of Rs 7lakh on his head.

In the year 2007 Daduawas killed in an encounter inChitrakut by the STF, andsoon after this one his gang-men Thokiya had killed sixSTF jawans to take hisrevenge. Dadua enjoyed polit-ical patronage first from theBSP and them from the SP.

After the elimination ofDadua and his gang men theChitrakut-Banda arearemained peaceful, and thepolice do not want entry ofany dacoit gang in this areaonce again.

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Eight people, including twobrothers, died after con-

suming spurious alcohol underthe Udaipur police station ofPratapgarh district in UP sinceTuesday night. It is not clearwhether the alcohol was adul-terated or poisoned. In thiscase, SO Udaipur has been sus-pended for negligence. TheExcise department team fromPrayagraj also investigated.ADG Zone also reachedPratapgarh in the evening.

It may be pointed out herethat Rahul Kori (20) lived at thehome of his maternal uncleShivram Kori. He also com-plained of vomiting and stom-ach pain late on Wednesdaynight due to drinking alcohol.At which his relatives tookhim to Asaidapur JointHospital Gauriganj, Amethi.While undergoing treatment,he died at around 8 am onThursday. In this way, the totalnumber of toll has increased to8 by drinking alcohol.

Similarly, there was a feastprogramme at the house of acontestant on Tuesday night inthe village of Kataria, prepar-ing to contest the village headelections. Alcohol was also dis-tributed in it. RamkhelavanKori’s son Dilip Kori (50),Pradeep Kori (35) and hismaternal uncle Siddhanath (60)resident of Ranki ThanaUdaipur, besides Rampal Saroj

(45), Dharmendra Singh (36),Rammilan Kori (35), son ofBindesi Kori. , Omprakash(40) and his father Sivacharan(62), and Rajkumar Prajapati(45), a resident of Aahar Beharpolice station, Udaipur, attend-ed the feast.

After drinking liquor,everyone’s health started dete-riorating at 9:30 pm. The vil-lagers took them to CHCSangipur. During treatmenthere, Rampal Saroj succumbed.Dilip Kori and Pradeep Kori,who were taken to Rae Barelidistrict hospital, were alsodeclared dead by doctors.Siddhanath, who was admittedto the Munshiganj Hospital inAmethi, also died. Rajkumar,

admitted to Amethi districthospital, died on Wednesdaymorning. At the same time,Ramamilan Kori, admitted inAsaidapur Gauriganj DistrictHospital, also died at around 8o’clock on Wednesday night.Dharmendra Singh has beentaken to Lucknow for his treat-ment by the kins. Omprakashis undergoing treatment at thedistrict hospital and his fatherShivcharan at Sangipur CHC.Their conditions are stable.Kisan Saroj of Ahar Beharvillage has also died. His funer-al was performed in the morn-ing.

WHEAT CROPREDUCED TO ASHES:Devastating flames reduced

wheat crop worth lakhs ofrupees to ashes in Singhapurvillage of the trans-GangaNawabganj area.

Agitated over delayedarrival of fire tenders, the vil-lagers pushed upside down thejeep of the Nawabganj policeinspector who sustainedinjuries during the scuffle.Heavy police force has beenrushed to the spot to maintaintranquility.

Allegedly sparks fromover-head electricity wire ignit-ed fire in the agriculture field,filled with ripe golden wheatcrop. Within minutes theflames turned furious owing todry winds and engulfed a hugearea of the field.

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Amajor spike has been seenas the number of COVID-

19 positive cases has increasedsharply in the district duringthe last few weeks as the secondwave of coronavirus pandem-ic is posing a serious threatnow. As many as 196 have test-ed positive increasing the totaltally of COVID-19 cases in thedistrict to 22,872 by Thursdayevening. The district also sawone more death, increasingthe toll to 381.

With the continuous risingin the number of active cases,the pressures on many hospi-tals have increased further.Just five weeks ago the numberof active cases was just around36 but now it has increased to622, indicating that during thisshort span of time the same hasincreased by nearly 18 times.During the last 24 hours, 30patients have been recoveredand all of them in home isola-tion. The total number ofpatients cured in the district is21,869 including 18,866 inhome isolation and 3,003 inCovid hospitals. The recoveryrate has declined to 95.61 percent, while mortality rate is still1.66 per cent.

THOUSANDS ABOVE45 VACCINATED: Thousandsof people above 45 were vacci-nated at 13 urban and 43 ruralcentres in the district here onThursday. Besides, the processof providing vaccine doses tohealth and frontline workersapart from above-60 continued.Though the majority of thebeneficiaries got their firstdoses of vaccine, hundreds of

health and frontline workersalso received their second dosesas per the schedule. DistrictMagistrate (DM) Kaushal RajSharma said that the vaccina-tion of all above-45 wouldcontinue. He has appealed to allthe residents to reach the vac-cination centres on time andmake the vaccination cam-paign 100 per cent successful inthe district. Chief MedicalOfficer (CMO) Dr VB Singhhas informed that COVID-19vaccination is being done from9 am to 5 pm on all scheduleddays and the beneficiaries whohave received Covishield doseswould now get their secondshot in 6 to 8 weeks, while who

have got Covaxin vaccines in 4to 6 weeks.

The 13 centres of the cityareas where the beneficiariesreceived their vaccines wereDistrict Women’s Hospital,SSPG Divisional Hospital, ISICHospital Pandeypur, AyurvedaMedical College Chowkaghat,BHU’s Sir Sunderlal Hospital,BHU Trauma Centre, SVMHospital Bhelupur, LBSHospital Ramnagar, UrbanCHC Durgakund, UCHCChowkaghat, UCHC Shivpur,Central Railway Hospital BLWand Divisional NER Hospital.

Besides, the 43 rural cen-tres where vaccination wasdone were PHCs of Rajatalab,

Mirzamurad, Mahagaon,Gangapur, Prayagpur,Jagardevpur, Badagaon, BaraiNevada, Devchandpur,Dandupur, Chiragaon,Naripatur, NarpatpurGobarahan, Sarnath Paterwa,Danganj, Niyardih, Dharahara,Harahua, Misirpur, Pindra,Domila, Pachwar, Lalpur,Sevapuri, Kashipur, KashiVidyapeeth, CHCs of Arajline,Beerakot, Cholapur,Puvarikala, Ramnathra,Gangapur, Hathi Bazar,Gajokhar, Health and WellnessCentre Lohta, Sub Centres ofSidhaura, Gosaipur Mohave,Gurwat, Daniyalpur andLamahi.

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North Eastern Railway(NER) created history in

FY 2020-21. Despite Covidpandemic many new recordswere made, Chief PublicRelations Officer (CPRO) PKSingh said. Several records inother parameters, includinggoods trains’ average speed,punctuality and safety weremade. As a result of the rapidelectrification of rail sections inthe year 2020-21, 561.36 route-km was electrified. After theelectrification of the railwaysections, the biggest challengewas to make the employees effi-cient for the electrified rail sec-tion and for dealing with it var-ious types of workshops andtraining programme were runfor them. As a result of elec-trification, HSD consumptioncame down significantly due towhich about �585 crore weresaved. In order to reduce fuelconsumption several steps weretaken such as in three-phaselocomotive with regenerativebraking generation of 9.58 mil-lion units of power and conse-quent saving of �4.18 crore,reduction in non-traction ener-gy consumption by 12.93 mil-lion units i.e. about 18.44 percent besides with the produc-tion of 25.93 lakh units ofsolar energy about �1.02 crorewere saved. During the year2020-21 despite the problemsdue to Covid-19 pandemicNER completed all the impor-tant gauge conversion and dou-bling works. They included

the Aunrhihar-Ghazipur City(40 km) doubling work.Besides Ballia-Phephna (12.53km) and Kachhwa Road-Gyanpur Road (48.59 km)doubling was commissioned.Moreover The work ofBisalpur-Shahbaznagar (42km) section under Pilibhit-Shahjahanpur gauge conver-sion project was completed inthis financial year. Now onlythe work of Shahbaznagar-Shahjahanpur (four km) wasremaining. In addition thework of doubling/third line,gauge conversion and new lineconstruction is going on at arapid pace. The completion ofthese projects will improveline capacity which in turn willimprove the punctuality oftrains. Besides more trains canbe operated in order to meetthe demand of passengers.From the start of FY 2020-21,passenger services were com-pletely stopped due to the lock-down following Covid-19 pan-demic. Besides BusinessDevelopment Unit (BDU) wasconstituted at the divisional,headquarters and RailwayBoard levels for quick decisionson matters of loading andunloading. There was an unex-pected increase of 180 per centin automobile loading as com-pared to the previous year.The Tata Ace automobiles weresent to Bangladesh through 21NMG rakes and through 84NMG rakes to different parts ofthe country. In order to meetthe demand of automobile traf-fic the railway administration

completed the work of con-verting old ICF coaches intothe newly-modified goods(NMG) wagons. On NER asmany as 445 old ICF coacheswere converted into NMGwagons which is a record onIndian Railways.

On NER in the year 2020-21 goods loading was 10 percent more than the previousyear. This accomplishment wasachieved despite adverse cir-cumstances arising out ofCovid-19. In the last month ofthe financial year i.e. in March112 per cent more goods wereloaded than in the same monthlast year. The average speed ofgoods trains was increased to46.66 km/h from 25.58 km/h inthe previous year. To increasegoods traffic the BDU teamscontacted local businessmenand goods sheds wereimproved and expanded as pertheir requirement. Two biggoods sheds — one at BakshiKa Talab station near Lucknowand the other at Nautanwastation on Nepal border havebeen made suitable for auto-mobile traffic. In the year 2020-21 the NER was given a targetof achieving �150 crore fromscrap sale by the RailwayBoard. However the NER wentbeyond this target and after sell-ing scrap received �229.5 crore,which is 53 per cent more thanthe fixed target and 86 per centmore than the previous year. Inthe marks given by RailwayBoard for scrap disposal NERsecured 100 per cent and gotthe first position.

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Ahraura police arrested ahistory-sheeter along with

an illegal countrymade gun andcartridge on Wednesday.During patrolling police inter-cepted a suspect near Chhatovillage who had a countrymadegun of 315 bore and a cartridge.The police took him into cus-tody. He was identified as his-torysheeter ShivkumarMaurya, a resident of PattiKhurd village under Ahraurapolice station. According topolice, several cases were reg-istered against the him.Registering a case under rele-vant sections of IPC the policesent him to jail.

BODY FOUND: The bodyof a man was found in Haraudavillage under Madihan policestation on Wednesday. On get-ting information the police

reached the spot and found abody lying in the deep pit at astone crusher plant. Priyanka,wife of the deceased, a residentof Kanchanpur Harauda vil-lage, had lodged an applicationwith the police that her hus-band Gopal (30) was upset forpast some days. She said onMonday she had gone to a rel-ative’s house in Bahuti villagealong with her husband andchildren. However he left therelative’s house on Mondaywithout informing her and hisbody was found at the plant.Police said that applicant hadstated that perhaps he hadslipped and died.

DROWNS: A 10-year-boydrowned in a pond in Baghauravillage under Madihan policestation recently. According to areport, Ajay Kumar, son ofAnil Kumar, a resident ofMalua village under Madihan

police station, had come to hismaternal uncle's house. Hedrowned while bathing in apond. On getting informationthe police reached the spot andtook the body into custody forcompleting the necessary legalformalities.

BOY HANDED OVERTO PARENTS: Police handedover a wandering boy to hisparents on Tuesday. Head con-stable Ravindra Kumar postedat Police Lines saw a boy weep-ing in the Roadways area whodisclosed his name as Mohit (8)and his father’s as Jitendra butwas unable to tell his address.The constable took the help ofthe locals and handed over theboy to his parents. Police saidthe boy had come to his rela-tive’s house with his parents inShuklaha locality underKotwali Katra police stationand gone astray while playing.

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Minister of Railways,Commerce, Industry and

Consumer Affairs, Food andPublic Distribution PiyushGoyal through video link fromConference Hall, RailwayBoard, New Delhi, bid farewellto 2,614 railway personnelretiring from the entire IndianRailways on Wednesday andwished them a happy future.

In his address Goyal saidthat the Indian Railways hasachieved a lot of accomplish-ments during this Covid peri-od which is commendable.According to the data till date,on the Indian Railways theloading of goods has reached1,230 million tonnes, which isthe highest in the history tilldate, for which they alldeserved congratulations, hesaid. Indian Railways has donerecord loading in seven monthsfrom September 2020 to Marchthis year. “All this is the resultof a well-thought-out strategyand your hard work. It is a col-lective achievement which wehave to take it further. For it wewill have to work with the sameenthusiasm” he said. He addedthat from April this year toMarch 2022 we should set newrecords every month. He saidthat we should earn such rev-enue so that we can becomeself-reliant. Goyal said in thehistory of Railways most scraphas been disposed of this yearand we have also made histo-

ry in the field of electrification.Electrification was also neces-sary for the long-term benefitof environment and Railways.He said we have done bigthings even during the difficulttimes of Covid. He said asmany as 436 Kisan Rails wererun on 45 routes and addedthat so far 1,619 ICF coacheswere converted into NMGones. The automobile loadingincreased by 90 per cent, hesaid. Besides outstanding workswere done in the field of roadoverbridge, track renewal andsafety, he said.

Chairman and ChiefExecutive Officer (CEO),Railway Board, New Delhi,Sunit Sharma, also spoke onthe occasion. On the otherhand, at the headquarters,Gorakhpur, 17 non-gazettedrailway personnel retiring onWednesday were honoured byAssistant Personnel OfficerAnirud Prasad by being pre-sented gold-plated medals, ser-vicecertificates etc. Railwayemployees and others werepresent at the function duringwhich social distancing andsafety norms were followed.

MEETING ORGANISED:The meeting of North EasternRailway Promotee Officers’Association (NERPOA) washeld under the presidentship ofits president, Krishna Singh, atits office here on Wednesday,CP Chauhan, Joint Secretary/Publicity, said. On the occasionKrishna Singh presented a

memento to Assistant FinancialAdviser Mithilesh PrasadAgrahari, who was retiring onWednesday, extended bestwishes for his healthy andhappy life and praised hisworking style. Former presi-dent DK Raina garlandedPrasad and gave his suggestionsfor strengthening the organi-sation. While conducting themeeting, general secretary ofthe association, RameshPandey, discussed the promo-

tion of officers and future plansfor their welfare. In view ofincreasing cases of Covid-19,an appeal was made to all offi-cers to take precautionary mea-sures like sanitising their hands,wearing masks and maintain-ing physical distancing fortheir safety and protection. Inthe meeting SK Kanaujia, TPPandey, KPS Saini, Anil KumarSrivastava, RK Srivastava,Sudhir Kumar Srivastava, RKPandey, Sushil Kumar Mishra,Santosh Kumar, Sanjay KumarSingh, Bhim Singh, BR Ramand other officials were present.

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An employee working at NTPC’s Rihand sta-tion was given an emotional farewell on his

retirement on Wednesday.Social distancing guide-lines were followed onthe occasion. ExecutiveDirector (Rihand) BalajiIyengar, who was the chiefguest, honoured the retir-ing employee by present-ing him with an ‘angvas-tra’ and greeted him bygiving him a commendation letter and amemento. In his address Iyengar praised his ser-

vices and wished him a bright future. Earlier theoffice-bearers of association and various unionsgarlanded the retiring employee OperationEngineer (SLPS) Udho Shyam Prajapati who

shared his experience onthis occasion. Prominentamong those present wereGeneral Manager(Operations) AKChattopadhyay, AdditionalGeneral Manager (HR)SVD Ravi Kumar, as wellas representatives ofunion and association.

Senior Manager (HR) Neeraj Kumar welcomedthe visitors and proposed the vote of thanks.

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Kanpur DivisionalCommissioner Dr Raj

Shekhar issued a show-causenotice to the chief medicalsuperintendent of UrsulaHospital on Thursday anddirected the director of the hos-pital to set up a Covid help deskwithin 24 hours. He expressedconcern over the absence ofCovid help desk which ismandatory for every govern-ment office. He said in additionto this awareness material andhand sanitiser and masks mustbe adequately available.

Shekhar said in view of therise in COVID-19 cases, therewas need for strict checkingand enforcement of social dis-tancing norms. He said the sur-prise checks were to review thepreparations and ongoingCovid vaccination of citizensaged 45+ and also to review theCovid awareness and masksenforcement activities at pub-lic places.

The divisional commis-sioner observed that very fewdoctors and many of the hos-pital staff were not wearingmasks and directed thatadverse entry be made againstDr Shailendra Tiwari, the gen-eral physician on duty who wasfound not wearing a mask. Hethen issued show-cause noticeto pharmacist Manju Srivastavafor not wearing a mask and fornot checking people who were

not wearing masks.Shekhar ordered the

removal of two contractualemployees, Ajay Singh andAmaan, manning the cash andadmission slip counters fornot wearing masks and failingto comply with the Covidnorms. The two were removedfrom service with immediateeffect.

The divisional commis-sioner then checked the maskenforcement activities in thehospital and found that around90 per cent of the people visit-ing the hospital were wearingmasks. He directed the chiefmedical superintendent todepute staff to strictly enforcethe mask protocol.

Shekhar also checked the

functioning of the publicaddress system (PAS) for Covidrelated awareness announce-ments. He said it should beused regularly to cover thewhole area. He directed theinstallation of two more speak-ers so that the pre-recordedmessages could be played con-tinuously.

He then visited the Covidvaccination centre andreviewed the work progress andalso interacted with citizenswho had come there for vacci-nation. He expressed satisfac-tion over the turnout of thepeople for vaccination.

The divisional commis-sioner said there were inade-quate seating arrangementsand directed that more seats be

made available along withproper and hygienic drinkingwater facilities. He said thetoken system should be strict-ly followed and announce-ments should be made on thepublic address system so thatpeople do not wait for a longtime. The chief medical super-intendent assured him that thetoken system would be startedby Thursday evening.

The divisional commis-sioner was accompanied byadditional director health whoissued necessary instructions toall district magistrates andchief medical officers ofKanpur division to take appro-priate steps for Covid controland successful vaccinationcampaign.

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Noted psychologist andspeech therapist Dr

Prabha Mathur, addressing acounselling session for parentson the eve of World AutismDay at Kanpur Rehab Centreon Thursday, said AutismSpectrum Disorder was aneuro-developmental disorderwhich had a lifelong impact.

She said the parents ofchildren with autistic disorderfind themselves burdened witha lifelong responsibility of car-ing for their children anddiminished attention to theirown health. She said igno-rance on the subject and afford-ability of treatment led to dete-rioration of quality of life ofparents.

Dr Mathur said althoughseveral studies had been con-ducted to determine the qual-ity of life of principal caregiversof autistic children and ado-lescents, there was a dearth of

studies providing the socio-demographic predictors ofquality of life of principal care-givers of autistic children andadolescents.

She said for many peoplewith an ASD and their families,daily life was not easy butfinding resources and planningfor the future could help fam-ilies improve their quality oflife. She said living with a per-son with ASD affected theentire family -- parents and sib-lings. She said meeting thecomplex needs of a personwith ASD could put familiesunder a great deal of stress --emotional, financial, and some-times even physical. She saidrespite care could give parentsand other family caregivers aneeded break and help main-tain well-being of the family.

Dr Mathur said to stayhealthy, people with disabilitiesneeded the same basic healthcare as everyone else. She saidthey needed to eat well, exer-

cise, get enough rest, drinkplenty of water, and have com-plete access to health care,including regular physical anddental check-ups. She said itwas important to find healthcare providers who were com-fortable with persons who hadASD.

She said often when peoplewith disabilities had a behav-ioural change or behaviouralissue, it could be because theyhad a medical problem theycould not describe. She saidthus it was important to findout if there was a physicalproblem before makingchanges in a person’s treatmentor therapy.

Dr Mathur said safety wasimportant for everyone andadded that people with dis-abilities could be at higher riskfor injuries and abuse. Shesaid it was important for par-ents and other family membersto teach their loved ones howto stay safe and what to do if

they felt threatened or hadbeen hurt in any way. She saidit could sometimes be helpfulto give a person with a disabil-ity a token of identification incase he or she got lost.

Discussing reasons, DrMathur said the exact cause ofASD was unknown but some ofthe suspected risk factors forautism included having animmediate family member withautism, genetic mutations, frag-ile X syndrome and othergenetic disorders, being born toaged parents, low birth weight,metabolic imbalances and pol-lution as well. She said thatearly screening could help withearly identification of childrenwho could have ASD and thesechildren would benefit fromearly diagnosis and interven-tion.

She added that screeningwas not a diagnosis and chil-dren who screened positivelyfor ASD did not necessarilyhave the disorder.

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Organic farming is recog-nised globally as a priori-

ty area in view of the growingconcerns on environmentalpollution due to increasedawareness about the fallouts ofthe indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals. The whole world,including India, has becomeaware of safe and healthy food.

This was stated by Dr SBSingh while addressing theworkshop on ‘DiseaseManagement in OrganicFarming’ organised by PestControl Department and CSAUniversity of Agriculture andTechnology on Wednesday.

He said though the use ofchemical inputs in agriculturewas inevitable to containdreaded pests and meet thegrowing demand for food inIndia, there were opportunitiesin selected high value fruitand vegetable crops whereorganic production could beencouraged to meet the domes-tic and export demand forfresh fruit and vegetables.

He said there were severalnon-chemical environmentaltechniques which could bestrategically incorporated in awell crafted organic productiontechnology module for specif-ic crops. He said modificationin cultural practices, mechan-ical destruction of sources ofclean cultivation use of organ-ic amendment and bio-fumi-gation, developing pesticides oforganic origin, could be con-

veniently used to manage dis-ease incidence below econom-ic injury level.

Dr Singh said the diseasemanagement interventionsneed to be taken up at differ-ent stages of cultivation of agiven crop. He said the man-agement differed with crop,type of pathogen, season of cul-tivation, stage of infection,plant part affected, etc and dis-ease management options var-ied. He said the past couple ofdecades have seen an increas-ing awareness among the farm-ers and consumers about thefutility of some of the highlypoisonous chemicals in diseasemanagement and their collat-eral hazards to the environmentdue to their indiscriminateapplication.

He said managing theecosystem on an organic farmwas very challenging. He saidmost management practiceswere long-term activities thataimed at preventing diseaseoccurrence, maintenance ofbiological diversity andimproving soil health. He saidorganic cropping systemsfocused more on the preven-tion of disease outbreaks ratherthan managing them after theyoccurred.

Dr Singh said cultivarswith resistance to one or morediseases were important to allfarmers to avoid losses, reducelabour costs, and secure ahealthy, sustainable, and mar-ketable product especially inIndia. Such resistant cultivars

were especially important toorganic farmers in those casesin which management cannotreduce specific diseases toacceptable levels under organ-ic farming conditions.

He said currently, cultivarsused in organic farming sys-tems originated from threedifferent sources -- conven-tional breeding programmesaimed at conventional agricul-ture and organic farmers select-ed cultivars from those cur-rently available that performedwell enough under organicconditions. He said the secondwas mixed conventional andorganic breeding programmesaimed at organic, low-inputagriculture. He said such breed-ing programmes often startedwith specific crosses of parentlines that included traits adapt-ed to organic, low-input con-ditions, but for economic rea-sons, selection in early gener-ations is conducted under con-ventionally managed condi-tions. He said in later stages ofthe breeding process, promis-ing lines were tested and select-ed in organically managedsites.

The vote of thanks wasproposed by Dr Dhoom Singh.

INDUSTRIAL HOUSESHOLD INTERACTIVE SES-SION WITH GST OFFI-CIALS: The MerchantsChambers of Commerce(MCC) held an interactive ses-sion of the industrial housesand the GST officials at theChambers Auditorium on

Wednesday. The Chambershad put up a six-point charterof demands. Both sides dis-cussed the issues threadbareand decided that to have bet-ter relationships and trans-parency both would work withfull transparency for the ben-efit of the country.

President of the Chamber,Mukul Tandon, said prominentobjections should not be raisedon minor technical errors,especially which did not havemuch impact on revenue. Hesaid in addition to this if ITChad been taken by mistake andnot used then action should betaken as per rule and Act ade-quately. He said if the taxpay-er had rectified the error vol-untarily within the time limitthen it should not be includedin serious objections. He saidin addition to this the auditgroup (small trader) duringaudit if possible help createawareness on GST legalprocess. He said the represen-tation body had to assure tocreate awareness towards tradeand extend full support foraudit and make available all thenecessary documents to auditgroups. Tandon said it was alsosuggested that all the paperswhich had been made availableby the assessee on GST portalshould not be asked again. Hesaid the Chambers’ objectivewas to ensure that the industryand the GST departmentworked with full cooperationand full transparency for theeconomic uplift of the nation.

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On the occasion of 75thyear of India’s indepen-

dence, the National SugarInstitute in Kanpur is celebrat-ing Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsavduring which many activitiesare planned through the wholeyear. Under the auspices of it,the NSI-Kanpur is organisinga one-day national conferenceon the topic ‘AtmanirbharChini Udyog (self sustainablesugar industry) on May 10.

On this occasion, a sugarexpo will also be organised toshowcase the newer plant andmachinery and upcoming tech-nologies.

Talking to media persons,NSI-Kanpur Director ProfNarendra Mohan said that sec-retary (food and public distri-bution), Government of Indiaand joint secretary (sugar),Government of India, had beeninvited to grace the occasion aschief guest and guest of honourrespectively. He said UnionMinister for Consumer Affairs,Food and Public DistributionPiyush Goyal was likely toaddress the conference throughvideo conferencing.

Eminent subject specialistsand experts from sugar indus-try and sugar related organisa-tions from all over the countrywould make presentations onways and means to be adoptedfor making the sugar industryeconomically and environ-mentally sustainable.

The theme of ‘Vocal forLocal’ shall also be kept inmind and the experts shalldeliberate on changes in pro-cessing techniques etc. to utilisethe available resources for mak-ing the sugar industry self-sus-tainable.

“We are going to focus onthe 4 Ps i.e. Productivity,Process, Product and Policy,which are considered to be ofparamount importance indetermining the economics ofthe system,” Prof NarendraMohan said.

Renowned companiesrelated with manufacture andsupply of plant and machinery,process chemicals and agricul-tural implements shall alsoparticipate in large numbersduring the conference. In addi-tion to it, technical serviceproviders shall also partici-pate in displaying low costindigenous technologies, saidProf D Swain, convener of theconference.

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Winners of Civic TechInnovation Launchpad

were announced on Thursday.These winners will receivetechnical and business men-torship at the SIIC, IIT Kanpur.

North Delhi MunicipalCorporation had launchedCiTe- Civic Tech InnovationLaunchpad in partnership withStartup Incubation andInnovation Centre of IITKanpur and Capri Global onFebruary 25. The CiTe is thefirst-of-its-kind initiative,where the startups and inno-vators will receive up to Rs 25lakhs worth innovation fel-lowship and prototype devel-opment support with a chanceto refine those solutions in uni-son with the leadership andofficials of North DMC andSIIC, IIT Kanpur.

This initiative is supportedby Capri Global under itsCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR). The call for applicationswas open from February 25 toMarch 7 where any Indianstartup and innovator couldapply.

More than 110 entries werereceived in the call for appli-cations, after which 45 appli-cations qualified for Round-2on March 13. On March 21,after the evaluation on variousparameters, 12 applicationswere shortlisted for the finalpresentation before a jury viavideo conferencing on March24.

The selection panel hadHimanshu Gupta, Neeta Joshi,Dr Nikhil Agarwal, Jai ShankarSharma, Dr Sanjay Sinha, andRahul Patel.

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Mathura: The STF will file acharge sheet on Saturdayagainst four alleged PopularFront of India activists, bookedon sedition and other chargeslast year after their arrestenroute to Uttar Pradesh’sHathras following an outrageover a rape-murder case there.

The charges under thestringent Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act and the ITAct have also been filed againstthe four, identified as SiddiqueKappan, a journalist fromKerala; Atiq-ur-Rehman;Masood Ahmad and Alam.

The FIR against themclaimed that they were going toHathras with an intention “tobreach the peace” as part of a“conspiracy”. A court here

adjourned hearing till April 3as the Special Task Force (STF)sought two more days to filethe charge sheet against them.

“Since the time limit tosubmit a charge sheet is expir-ing on April 4, the STF will fileit during the next hearingscheduled for April 3,” DistrictGovernment Counsel (Crime)Shiv Ram Singh said, disclos-ing about the proceedings inthe court of Additional Districtand and Sessions Judge (First)Anil Kumar Pandey onWednesday.

He said the accused werearrested on October 5 last yearby the Mant police station ofMathura. The accused are currently lodged in aMathura jail. PTI

Haripad (Kerala): UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath took potshots at hisKerala counterpart PinarayiVijayan, alleging his office wasinvolved in the gold smugglingscam and attacked the two rivalfronts — the ruling LDF andopposition UDF for not bring-ing in a legislation against‘Love Jihad’.

Addressing a BJP cam-paign rally for the April 6 stateAssembly polls at Haripad inAlappuzha district, Adityanathsaid the smuggling case wasone of the most “shameful”incidents in India’s history.

The gold smuggling caserelates to the seizure of 30 kgof gold worth Rs 14.82 crorefrom the Thiruvananthapuramairport last year.

Various central agenciesare probing the case in whichthe Chief Minister's formerprincipal secretary MSivasankar was arrested for hisclose ties with prime accusedSwapna Suresh.

Hitting out at the rulingCPI(M)-led LDF and theopposition Congress-ledUDF,Adityanath said bothwere not interested in imple-menting the anti-love Jihad lawon the lines of the legislationbrought in by his government.

Though the Kerala HighCourt had made remarksagainst Love Jihad in 2009, thestate had not done anything sofar to check it, he alleged.

In Uttar Pradesh, an anti-love jihad legislation has beenimplemented.

Why is it not being imple-mented in Kerala?, Neitherthe LDF nor the UDF have sofar implemented the anti lovejihad law despite Kerala beingtargetted, he said.

Despite being aware thatthe organisations like PopularFront of India (PFI) and itspolitcal wing the SocialDemocratic Party of India(SDPI) were allegedly involvedin illegal activities, thus push-ing the state into a dangerousposition, the two fronts havetied a cloth around their eyesand failed to take any actionagainst them. This is to protecttheir vote-bank politics, hecharged adding the two frontswere “cheating” the people.

Lashing out at the Leftgovernment, he said it hadfailed completely in handlingthe COVID-19 pandemic,which shows that the govern-ment machinery was a “totalfailure”. LDF and UDF havebeen coming to power alterna-tively as part of a five-year

agreement and their aim wasto favour nepotism andencourage corruption and theywere not concerned about pro-viding jobs to unemployedyouth, he said. “The two frontsare competing with each othernot on development, but oncorruption, the central fundsare being misused and divert-ed for their own cadres and notfor the people of the state,” healleged.

The only option is toensure that BJP-NDA comes topower in Kerala as it can leadthe state to the path of devel-opment, help the state’s farm-ers, protect the interests of fish-ermen community and helpthe unemployed youth getjobs. The state Public ServiceCommission (PSC) was givingjobs to the unemployed youthnot on the basis of their qual-ifications, but jobs were beingdistributed to LDF cadres, healleged.

The youth are depressedand ending their lives and theLDF government was notbothered about their welfare,he said.

Kerala had recently wit-nessed a series of protests byvarious PSC rank holders infront of the secretariatdemanding jobs. PTI

Lucknow (PNS): Buses will ply between Himachal Pradesh andUttar Pradesh shortly. According to the UPSRTC spokesperson,an agreement was signed between the two states on May 7, 2019.“The agreement was finalised in Lucknow on Thursday in thepresence of the Principal Secretary (Transport). The agreementwas signed by Himachal Path Parivahan Nigam and UPSRTC,”he said. Under this agreement, UPSRTC with 48 permits will plybuses on 19 routes covering 3,594 kilometres in HimachalPradesh per day. “Similarly, in Himachal Pradesh, ParivahanNigam will run with 70 permits on 27 routes covering 3,238 kilo-metres in Uttar Pradesh,” he added.

Gandhinagar: Sparks flew inthe Gujarat Assembly on theconcluding day of the Budgetsession on Thursday withCongress legislator ImranKhedawala tearing a copy ofthe Bill proposed to amendthe 'Dharma Swatantrya'(Freedom of Religion) Act,2003 aimed to combat force-ful religious conversions, bet-ter known as 'love jehad', thatwas tabled in the House bythe ruling Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP).

While speaking on theprovisions of the amendmentBill, Khedawala said, "HomeMinister Pradeepsinh Jadejahas only mentioned that thedaughters of the Hindu com-munity are targeted by menfrom a specific community.Daughters, be it from any reli-gious community, will always

be our daughters. I too haveover hundred testimonies ofMuslim girls marrying intoother religion. I am deeplyhurt by the words of the minister.”

On hearing this, theSpeaker of the House,Rajendra Trivedi, interrupt-ed the Congress legislator butKhedawala stuck to hiswords.

"Nobody can force any-body to marry into a specif-ic religion and in no religionit is written to forcibly con-vert anyone to accept that. Inthis Bill, only one communi-ty is specifically targetedwith words like 'Jihadi'. Iopposite this Bill and I'mtearing down its copy,"Khedawala said as tore thecopy of the Bill which he hadin his hand. IANS

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Aburqa clad Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) terrorist

along with three other gun tot-ing associates on Thursdaytargeted the house of a localBJP leader in Nowgam area ofSrinagar in which one of thesecurity guards deployed onguard duty attained martyrdomwhile all the family membersincluding minor son of the BJPleader escaped unhurt.

The BJP leader identifiedas Mohd Anwar Khan was notpresent inside the house at thetime of the attack. The securi-ty guard martyred in the attackhas been identified asConstable Rameez Ahmad Itooof Anantnag.

Inspector General of Police

Kashmir range Vijay KumarThursday said, "four Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists including twofrom Srinagar carried out theattack on the guard post of thehouse of senior BJP leader inNowgam area". The IGP saidtwo of the four terroristsinvolved in the act have beenidentified as Shahid Khursheedand Obaid Shafi. “Both belongto Lashkar-e-Toiba. The identi-ty of two others is being ascer-tained who are also believed tobe from Lashkar,” he said

"This is the second terror-ist attack on me, Anwar Khantold reporters in Jammu". Hesaid as BJP is gaining popular-ity in different parts of Kashmirattempts are being made to cre-ate a sense of insecurity amongthe party leaders".

Last year, over half a dozenBJP leaders, sarpanches, corpo-rators were targeted by theterrorists to discourage themfrom participating in the grass-roots politics aimed at strength-ening all three tiers ofPanchayati Raj Institutions.

Anwar Khan toldreporters, "he left his home

early in the morning as he wasscheduled to travel to Jammu.Anwar Khan said, "I have seenthe CCTV footage and it isclearly visible when the terror-ists, one of them clad in aburqa, knocked at the maindoor and the security guardopened the door. While he wasseen opening the door twoother terrorists opened indis-criminate firing and his serviceweapon was taken away byanother member of the group

before escaping. Anwar Khansaid, his minor son was alsopresent near the front gate ofhis house when terrorists tar-geted the securitypersonnel.With the grace ofGod almighty he escapedunhurt, he added.

In Jammu, Lt-GovernorManoj Sinha strongly con-demned the terror attack on aBJP leader's house in Nowgam,Srinagar. In a condolence mes-sage Lt- Gov Manoj Sinha said,

"We lost our brave jawan ofJ&K Police. My prayers for thedeparted soul and sympathieswith his family. Such coward-ly acts are against humanity &perpetrators shall be brought tojustice".

Condemning the attack,several senior BJP leaders saidthat the killers of humanitycannot be heroes for anyone.

National General Secretary,BJP & Prabhari J&K, TarunChugh expressed anguish overthis highly deplorable incidentand stressed that exemplarypunishment will be ensured tokillers. He said that theseRepeated terror attacks cannotweaken democracy in the region.

J&K BJP President,Ravinder Raina strongly con-demned the attack and said thatthe whole humanity is feelingshocked and ashamed of theserepeated attacks. He said thatbeing soldiers of democracy thesocial and political activistswork tirelessly in strengtheningthe democracy, but terrorists,their bosses and their sympa-thizers absolutely do not wantpeople to prosper.

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In a tragic incident thatcaused a major stir in the

north Maharashtra city, a 38-year-old Covid-19 patient --with plummeting Oxygen lev-els-- died in the small hours ofThursday, hours after he stageda protest along with an Oxygencylinder near the mainentrance of the NashikMunicipal Corporation (NMC)for allegedly not getting admis-sion in district civil, municipalhospital and private hospitals.

After making unsuccessfulrounds to various private andmunicipal hospitals seekingadmission, one Babasaheb Kole– a resident of Kamatewadelocality of Nashik's CIDCO areawho had tested positive onTuesday and was finding it dif-ficult to breathe --was onWednesday evening taken to agovernment hospital where theofficials provided him an Oxygenmask and cylinder. However, hedid not get admission even in thegovernment hospital.

In his effort to draw theattention of the civic authori-ties, Kole --sporting a yellow T-shirt, blue jeans and wearingthe oxygen mask connected to

a cylinder, sat in a chair nearthe entrance of the NMC build-ing on Wednesday evening toprotest against the lack of aCovid bed for him in the civicand other hospitals at Nashik.

Before long, a crowd gath-ered around him and the mes-sage reached NMCCommissioner Kailash Jadhav,who rushed AdditionalMunicipal Commissioner DrPravin Ashtikar to meet him.Minutes later, Kole was takento a civic hospital, where hedied in the small hours ofThursday.

Kole’s Oxygen levels hadcome down to 37 per centagainst the normal 95-96 percent, when he was rushed tothe NMC hospital. He wasfinding it very difficult tobreathe. He breathed his lastafter the efforts by doctors atthe NMC Hospital to revivehim failed.

Meanwhile, the NashikMunicipal Commissioner hasasked the Nashik Police toinvestigate and identify thepersons who ‘instigated’ thepatient to go on a protest infront of NMC headquartersand what their “ulteriormotives”.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday made a

strong Hindutva pitch at the hus-tings attacking Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee forderiding those who wear saffronrobes, and sport tilak or chotis(ponytails).

Modi who was addressing arally at Joynagar in South 24Parganas aconstituency --- witha healthy population of minor-ity Muslims --- roundly invokedHindutva saying, “Earlier she wasirritated by chants of Jai ShriRam and was loath to allowimmersion of idols during DurgaPujas … but now she hasbecome so intolerant towardsthose who wear saffron attire orsport tilak and ponytail that sheeven call them rakshasas … thepeople are watching this.”

Referring to the ChiefMinister’s criticism of his recent

visit toJasoreshwari Kali Templein Jessore and Matua headquar-ters at Orakandiin Bangladesh hesaid “is visiting a Kali Temple orthe temple ofHarichand Thakura crime … but here the ChiefMinister is abusing mefor visit-ing these temples too.”

Speaking about her repeat-ed personal attacks and even useof slangswhile referring to himthe Prime Minister said, “Iunderstand that shehas a grudgeagainst me which is why shekeeps on abusing merepeatedly… I don’t mind that but I will notallow her to insult theheritage ofBengal … I will not allow her todenigrate the basicvalues upheldby the likes of Baba SahebAmbedkar and enshrined intheConstitution of India.”

The Prime Minister wasapparently referring to therepeated attack byChief Ministerof outsiders particularly the anti-social elements fromBihar and

UP who she alleged had infiltrat-ed Bengal to vitiate theelectoralprocess. “After taking oath andsitting on a constitutionalpostyou cannot abuse the citizens ofany other state … it isunconsti-tutional,” he said.

Even on Thursday she toldthe media at Nandigram how“hundreds ofcriminals have beenbrought in by the BJP from UPand Bihar and otherStates to rigthe elections and do crime here.”

Reiterating that the BJPwould win more than 200 seatsModi said thatinitial trends ofpolling showed that TMC wasgoing out of power.“Didi you arelosing the elections … TMC isgone.”

Taking a dig at the ChiefMinister her said “Didi alwayssays cool,cool, cool, butTrinamool is not cool … it is ashool (trident)because she haskilled the State’s democracy withshool”.

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In a landmark decision aimedat boosting the pilgrim traf-

fic to Jammu and Kashmir theAdministrative Council (AC)Thursday approved the propos-al to allot 496 Kanal 17 Marlato the Tirumala TirupathiDevasthanams (TTD) forbuilding of Temple and itsallied infrastructures.

The decision was takenduring an AdministrativeCouncil (AC) meeting held inJammu under the chairman-ship of Lieutenant GovernorManoj Sinha.

According to a press state-ment issued by the Department

of Information and PublicRelations, "the piece of landwould be made available onlease basis for a period of 40years to construct pilgrimamenities Complex,V e d a p a t a s a l a ,Spiritual/Meditation Centre,Office, Residential Quartersand Parking". "In future, therewould be medical and educa-tional facilities also on thecampus", the statement added.

The DIPR statement fur-ther read, "TTD, a board estab-lished by Government underthe TTD Act, 1932 is a chari-table organization of interna-tional repute with a proventrack record of activities in the

spiritual, cultural, social, andeducational sphere".

" Its arrival in J&K will tapthe tourism potential particu-larly pilgrim tourism inJammu, the City of Temples,besides enhancing economicactivities".

"Once developed, the TTDinfrastructure will be an attrac-tion for the pilgrims andtourists in addition to the MataVaishno Devi Shrine andAmarnathji Shrine. It willenable tourists to come and staylonger in Jammu city. Thefuture development on thecampus will also contribute toeconomic growth of theregion", the statement added.

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KOCHI: Poll pundits and polit-ical analysts in Kerala were flab-bergasted as Leader of theOpposition Ramesh Chennithalalate Wednesday night uploadedthe names of 4.3 lakh bogus vot-ers and multiple entries on a web-site. Chennithala had filed anappeal in the Kerala High Courtseeking deleting or freezing thefake and counterfeit names in theelectoral rolls. Earlier in the day,a Division Bench consisting ofChief Justice S Manikumar andJustice Shaji P Chaly directed theElection Commission to permitvoters to leave the polling boothsonly after the indelible ink isdried.

Kerala goes to the polls onApril 6 to elect the 140 memberLegislative Assembly in a singlephase polling. ThoughChennithala said there were only

4.3 lakh fake voters in therolls, Prof Stanly Sebastian, aneducational entrepreneur-cum-social activist claims there aremore than 20 lakh fake votersin the State’s electoral rolls. TheCPI(M) which has gone on thedefensive following the disclo-sures by the Leader of theOpposition said the partywould initiate criminal actionagainst Chennithala for disclos-ing State Secrets in the publicdomain.

MA Baby, polit bureaumember, who is the chief ide-ologist of the party, said thatChennaithala would have toface legal action for uploadingthe names of 4.3 lakh fake vot-ers in a website by name oper-ationtwins.com. “Who autho-rised Chennithala to upload thenames of such voters in a por-tal? Has he taken the permis-sion from the voters before dis-closing the names through theportal,” asked Baby, a Marxistleader held in high reverence by

the party cadre.N Gopalaswamy, former

Chief Election Commissioner,told The Pioneer that there wasno chance of the court inter-vening in the issue at thisjuncture. “The Chief ElectoralOfficer has to reply to thischarge. How this many nameswere included in the electoralroles? What was the CEOdoing all these months?” askedthe former CEC.

G Rajagopal, counsel forthe ECI said the situation wasvery grave but one the pollprocess begins nothing couldbe done to stop it. “The onlyoption is to ensure that the fakevoters who managed to get intothe rolls do not cast the votes,”said Rajagopal.

The view was echoed by KRamkumar, senior advocate,Kerala High Court. He was ofthe view that it was not possi-ble to hold fair election basedon the rolls prepared by theCEO. PNS

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The second wave of Covid-19turned into a crisis in

Maharashtra on Thursday, as thedaily infections touched an all-time high of 43,183 cases and 249more people died of the pan-demic in various parts of thestate. A day after the state record-ed a staggering 39,544 infectionswere recorded, the Covid-19

situation in Maharashtra wors-ened on Thursday, as the dailycaseloadA rose to an alarming43,183 and the death tollincreased to 249 as against 239fatalities registered onWednesday.

With 43,183 fresh cases, thetotal infections in Maharashtraclimbed from 28,12,980 to2,85,61,63. Similarly, with 249new deaths, the total Covid-19

toll rose from 56,649 to 54,898.As 23, 600 patients were dis-

charged from the hospitals acrossthe state after full recovery, thetotal number of people dis-charged from the hospitals sincethe second week of March lastyear went up to 24,33,368.. Therecovery rate in the state droppedfrom 85.34 per cent to 85.20 percent. Meanwhile, the number of“active cases” total cases in the

state increased from 3,56,243 to3,66,533. The fatality rate in thestate dropped from 1.94 per centto 1.92 per cent.

There are a maximum of64,599 “active” cases in Pune, fol-lowed by Mumbai (54,807)Nagpur (48,806), Thane(42,151), Nashik (36,292),Aurangabad (14,482), Jalgaon(6959), Amaravati (2983) andAkola (4054).

New Delhi/Mumbai: Cricketbetting syndicates linked withunderworld gangs operatingprimarily in Gujarat,Maharashtra and Karnatakaallegedly paid "protectionmoney" to disgraced Mumbaicrime branch officer, SachinVaze, presently being interro-gated by the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) atits Mumbai office. Vaze's aide

Naresh Gor, a well knownbookie in Mumbai, identifiedbetting syndicates and extort-ed 'protection money' duringcricket season at the behest offormer crime branch officer,highly placed sources revealedto IANS.

Commenting on the Vaze'smulti-crore extortion racket,reportedly patronised by keypeople in Maharashtra govern-

ment, the BJP spokespersonRam Kadam said that besidesextorting large amount ofmoney from dance bars andclubs, Vaze's men were mintingmoney by sheltering bettingcartels." Naresh Gor, a big timebookie, was Vaze's pointsmanwho targeted illegal bettingrings operating in the state, andcollected huge amounts fromthem. IANS

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Following Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman’s

announcement of withdrawalof the interest rate-slashingorder, the Opposition onThursday hit out at her askingwhether the U-turn was an“oversight” or an “election-dri-ven hindsight” and even soughther resignation.

The Congress asked theFinance Minister to clarify if theinterest rates would not bereduced after the ongoingAssembly elections anddemanded a guarantee on that.It also asked whether the rulingBJP was running a “circus” or aGovernment on the manner inwhich the order was issued by“oversight” and later withdrawn.

Congress leader RahulGandhi alleged that the smallsaving rates would be reducedsoon after the elections in fourStates and a UnionTerritory.”There was already aloot on petrol and diesel andsoon after the elections end, thesmall saving rates will be reducedand there will be a loot on thesavings of the middle-class. ThisGovernment is of jumla(rhetoric) and the loot of com-mon people,” he said in a tweetusing the hashtag “oversight”.

“Really NirmalaSitharaman ‘oversight’ in issu-ing the order to decrease inter-est rates on GOI schemes orelection driven ‘hindsight’ in

withdrawing it?” Congressleader Priyanka Gandhi wroteon Twitter.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, party leader RajeevShukla said Sitharaman shouldclarify whether the order hasbeen withdrawn, postponed orwould be re-implemented later.

Congress general secre-tary and chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala saidSitharaman has no right tocontinue as the FinanceMinister. “Madam FM, Are urunning a ‘Circus’ or a‘Government’? You have nomoral right to continue asFM,” he wrote on Twitter.

“One can imagine the func-tioning of economy when suchduly approved order affectingcrores of people can be issuedby an ‘oversight’. Who is thecompetent authority referred inorder,” Surjewala added.

Senior Congress leader andformer Finance Minister PChidambaram said when infla-tion is at about six per cent andexpected to rise, the BJP

Government is offering inter-est rates below six per cent, hit-ting the savers and the middleclass below the belt.

“The BJP Government haddecided to launch anotherassault on the middle class byslashing the interest rates andprofiting itself. When caught,the FM is putting forward thelame excuse of ‘inadvertenterror’,” he tweeted.

The Trinamool Congresstook a dig at the ModiGovernment with its MPsWhile Derek O’Brien andMahua Moitra calling it anApril’s Fool joke even as thenew entrant in the party andformer Finance MinisterYashwant Sinha tweeted, “Rollback Modi’.

“What is the biggest AprilFool’s joke here? That a nowrolled back small savings ratecut was issued by ‘oversight’?Or that Nirmala Sitaraman isFin Min of this country?”Moitra tweeted. O’Brien said itwas egg on face again. “BecauseMO-SHA too busy throwingpetals from trucks and crack-ing April Fool jokes of falsepromises at election rallies,” hemocked at the BJP leadership.

Sinha made a tongue-in-cheek remark. “I am very sadtoday. I thought I alone had themonopoly of roll backs. This govthas outdone even me. Labourlaws, small savings interest ratesare a couple of examples. RollBack Modi,” he tweeted.

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With the objective ofachieving self-reliance in

the defence sector, the DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) hasdeveloped a light-weight bul-letproof jacket which meets thequalitative requirements of theIndian Army.

Giving the details here onThursday, officials said theDRDO laboratory, DefenceMaterials and Stores Researchand DevelopmentEstablishment (DMSRDE),Kanpur has developed the lightweight Bullet Proof Jacketweighing 9.0 kilogrammes.

The Front Hard ArmourPanel (FHAP) jacket was test-ed at Terminal BallisticsResearch Laboratory (TBRL),Chandigarh and met relevantBIS standards.

The importance of thisvital development lies in thefact that each gram of jacketweight reduction is crucial in

enhancing soldier comfortwhile ensuring the survivabil-ity. This technology reduces theweight of the medium sizedjacket from 10.4 to 9.0 kilo-grammes. Very specific mate-rials and processing technolo-gies have been developed in thelaboratories for the purpose.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh congratulated the DRDOscientists and Industry fordeveloping the light weightbullet proof jacket to make thesoldiers more comfortable.Secretary Department ofDefence R&D and ChairmanDRDO G Satheesh Reddy con-gratulated the DMSRDE teamfor the development.

The infantry soldiersguarding the Line of ActualControl(LAC)facing China andthe Line of Control(LOC)withPakistan besides troopsdeployed in counter-terroristoperations need these jackets.

The jacket has to be lightyet able to stop the bullet as thesoldier carries lot of other

equipment including the rifle, spare ammunition, com-munication set and other relat-ed items for fighting effective-ly.

Till about ten years backthere was a shortage of morethan three lakh bullet proofjackets. However, in 2016, the

government ordered procure-ment of more than 1,80,000jackets worth over � 650 crores.The entire lot, more or less, hasbeen delivered.

Incidentally, the first everIndia Standard (IS) on BulletResistant Jacket specifically forIndian armed forces to protect

against small arms and ammu-nition was released in 2019.Now, India has its ownStandard for Bullet ProofJackets (BPJ)which prescribesminimum requirements of bul-letproof jackets against smallarms and their evaluation pro-cedures.

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In order to fast-track synergyamongst the three Services

and cut down costs, Chief ofDefence Staff(CDS)GeneralBipin Rawat on Thursday oper-ationalised the third JointLogistics Node in Mumbai.This node will supply ammu-nition rations and fuel besidesother items to the Army. Navyand IAF. Earlier, the servicesused to have their own set-upsto cater to these needs therebyenhancing expenses and dupli-cation.

With the rapidly changingnature of war fighting and oper-ational preparedness, all futureconflicts will be conducted byTri-Service in an integratedmanner. Keeping this objectivein focus and to enable theIndian Armed Forces to con-duct successful operations, it isessential that they be providedwith sound logistics supportduring all stages of the war, offi-cials said here on the need forsuch nodes.

The third node in Mumbaiwas operationalized by Rawatfrom New Delhi through videoconferencing. These nodes willprovide integrated logisticscover to the Armed Forces fortheir small arms ammunition,rations, fuel, general stores, civilhired transport, aviation cloth-ing, spares and also engineeringsupport in an effort to synergisetheir operational efforts.

Speaking on the occasion,Rawat said establishment andoperationalisation of joint nodesis a very important first step inthe direction of logistics inte-gration of our three Services.Acceptance of each other’s lim-itations and learning from eachother’s strengths and best prac-tices is essential to help improvethe functioning and efficacy of

these nodes. This initiative will accrue

advantages in terms of saving ofmanpower, economise utilisa-tion of resources, besides finan-cial savings. Successful func-tioning of these three nodes willprove to be important steppingstones for opening of moresuch centres in different parts ofthe country.

The nodes would enhancejoint inter-operability betweenthe Services and go a long wayin improving the logisticsprocesses of the Armed Forcesin accordance with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s direc-tions to enhance the jointnessamong the three Services.

The CDS also emphasisedon the need to work towardsgreater logistics integration withnational logistics, which hasbeen provided renewed impetusin the recent past by saying itwould help the Armed Forces totake benefit from the infra-structural and logistics improve-ments taking place at the nation-al level.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Thursday barred

former Union Minister andDMK leader A Raja fromcampaigning for 48 hourswith immediate effect anddropped him from the list ofDMK’s star campaigners inpoll-bound Tamil Nadu, overhis “derogator y” and“obscene” remarks againstTamil Nadu Chief Minister EK Palaniswami.

The EC also advised Raja“to be watchful and not tomake interpretate indecent,derogatory, obscene remarksand lower the dignity ofwomen in future during theelection campaign”.

The order did not specifythe exact time the ban wouldend, but if the communicationwas received by Raja thisafternoon, he cannot cam-paign till the afternoon ofApril 3. The 48-hour banmeans that Raja would not be

able to address any publicmeetings, rallies, press con-ferences or even give mediainterviews until April 3. . If aleader is a “star campaigner”,his campaigning expenditureare borne by the party and notby the candidate himself.

“The Commission alsoadvises you to be watchful andnot to make intemperate,indecent, derogatory, obsceneremarks and lower the digni-ty of women in future duringelection campaign,” the orderread. There have beeninstances where the EC hasmentioned the exact timewhen the ban would end.

In his reply to the EC,Raja had defended his state-ment saying that in Tamiloratory, simile is a well-accepted norm. In myspeech, evolution of thepolitical heights and theirmeans of MK Stalin andEdappadi K Palaniswamiwere compared through asimile as new born babies forthe easy understanding of the

masses. This was in responseto the CM’s repeated allega-tions that MK Stalin hasnever worked hard tobecome a leader. Hence, ifthe full text is considered bythe committee, I’m hopefulthat it will wipe out the insultand consequent injur yinflicted on me,” the formerUnion minister added.

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The ElectionCommission

on Thursdayissued a show-cause notice toAssam Minister and BJP leaderHimanta Biswa Sarma forallegedly making threateningremarks against Oppositionleader Hagrama Mohilary ofthe Bodoland People’s Front.He has been asked to respondto the notice by 5 pm on April2.

“...the Commission is,prima facie, of the view thatthat Sarma has violated theabove said provisions of theModel Code of Conduct. Now,therefore, the Commissiongives you an opportunity toexplain your position in mak-ing above statement on orbefore 5 pm of April 2, failingwhich the Commission shalltake a decision without any fur-ther reference to you,” thenotice read.

The notice was issued bythe EC following a complaintfiled by the Congress party

a g a i n s tH i m a n t aB i s w aSarma fora l l e g e d l ym a k i n gthreateningr e m a r k s

against opposition leaderHagrama Mohilary of theBodoland People’s Front. TheBodoland People’s Front is anally of the Congress in Assam.

Assembly elections inAssam are being held in threephases. While the first phasewas on March 27, voting in thesecond phase is underway onThursday. The last phase is onApril 6.

The notice to Sarma citedvarious provisions of the modelcode, including the one dealingwith refraining from makingunverified allegations againstpolitical rivals and, avoiding“corrupt practices” and offencesunder the election law, such asbribing of voters, intimidationof voters, impersonation ofvoters.

It also quoted a transcriptof the speech provided by thestate election machinery.

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As the Covid-19 vaccinationfor all those above 45 began

on Thursday, health expertshave called for inoculating everyadult above 18 citing studies thatthe new Covid variants aremore threatening to youngerpeople.

However, the Governmentis presently more keen on vac-cinating those 45 years since thisage group is reporting highmortalities.

“Those above 45 years areconsidered to be at highest risk-- 90 per cent of Covid-19deaths in India have been in thecategory of those above the ageof 45.

“This step has been takenafter detailed deliberations withthe states and Union Territorieson March 31 to optimally utiliseall COVID-19 VaccinationCentres across the public andprivate sectors to ensure rapidincrease in the pace and cover-age of Covid vaccination,” theUnion Health Ministry said.

“This decision is in line withthe graded and pro-activeapproach employed by the gov-ernment of India along with thestates and UTs for Covid-19 vac-

cination,” it said in a statement.However, health experts

feel that it’s time to cover theentire population as the coun-try is witnessing the secondwave. “Today we’ve got a crisisupon us with infections anddeaths registering new highevery passing day. We shouldvaccinate the entire adult pop-ulation and provide them witha walk-in option to get the jabat any vaccination centre. Ourvaccination pace is not soimpressive given the huge pop-ulation we have,” said Dr RahulBhargava, senior hematologistfrom Fortis Hospital,Gurugram.

He agreed with AIIMSdirector Dr Randeep Guleria’sview that more kids andyounger people are gettinginfected during the second waveas compared to the first wavereported in August andNovember last year. The mor-bidity and mortality due to thedeadly virus is higher in elder-ly people.

“At a time when theGovernment has itself warnedthat the situation is going frombad to worse, our efforts shouldbe to scale up vaccination paceand cover maximum people.

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The Election Commission(EC) has seized liquor,

unaccounted cash, narcotics,freebies worth �366.09 croretill the second phase of pollingin Assam and West Bengal.The total seizure is over sixtimes higher than the totalcombined seizure of �60.91crore during the assembly pollsin 2016. “Till date �112.54crore has been seized in Assam(as against a total seizure of�16.58 crore in 2016) and atotal of 253.55 crores for WestBengal (as against a totalseizure of �44.33 crore in2016),” the EC said.

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Establishment of alternatefunding through voluntary

crowd and corporate funding,and increase in assistance forpatients needing one-timetreatment from �15 lakh to � 20lakh and identifying centre forexcellence are some of the keyfeatures proposed by the UnionHealth Ministry in the newly-drafted Rare Disease Policy.

As per the policy, rare dis-eases have been earmarkedunder three categories based onthe nature of treatment. Theyare disorders amenable to one-time curative treatment, dis-eases requiring long term orlifelong treatment having rela-tively lower cost of treatmentand diseases for which defini-tive treatment is available butchallenges are to make optimalpatient selection for benefit,very high cost and lifelongtherapy, like Lysosomal StorageDisorders (LSD) like GaucherDisease, Hunter Syndrome andFabry Disease.

The policy comes on thelast day of the deadline given bythe Delhi High Court whichhas asked for the government’sentire unspent budget allocat-ed to rare diseases for the pastthree years to be immediatelymoved into the rare diseasesfund. However, the policy issilent on this aspect.

Instead, the policy pro-poses the formulation of analternative form of funding tohelp patients of rare diseases.This includes voluntary crowd-funding treatment by setting upa digital platform for voluntaryindividual contribution andcorporate donors to voluntar-ily contribute to the treatmentcost of patients of rare diseases.

Noting that India has closeto 50-100 million people affect-ed by rare diseases or disorders,the policy report said almost 80per cent of these rare conditionpatients are children and aleading cause for most of themnot reaching adulthood is dueto the high morbidity andmortality rates of these life-threatening diseases.

It also seeks to provideassistance for patients needingone-time treatment for rarediseases increased to �20 lakhfrom �15 lakh.

“Assistance to be providedunder the Rashtriya ArogayaYojana,” the policy said addingthat the beneficiaries of theassistance are not limited to theBPL families but extended toalmost 40 per cent of popula-tion eligible under the PradhanMantri Jan Arogya Yojana.

The policy also notes thatas the number of persons suf-fering from individual rarediseases is small, they do notconstitute a significant marketfor drug manufacturers todevelop and bring to marketdrugs for them.

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Scientists have developed anew technique to track the

huge bubbles of gas, threadedwith magnetic field lines, whichare ejected from the sun dis-rupting space weather andcausing geomagnetic storms,satellite failures, and poweroutages, the Department ofScience and Technology said

Thursday.The new technique will be

used in India’s first solar mis-sion Aditya-L1.

As the ejections from thesun, technically called CoronalMass Ejections (CMEs), causevarious disturbances of thespace environment, forecast-ing their arrival time is veryimportant. However, forecast-ing accuracy is hindered by

limited CME observations ininterplanetary space, the DSTstatement said.

A software namedComputer Aided CMETracking Software (CACTus)based on a computer visionalgorithm was so far used todetect and characterise sucheruptions automatically in theouter corona where theseeruptions cease to show accel-erations and propagate with a

nearly constant speed, it said.However, this algorithm

could not be applied to theinner corona observations dueto the vast acceleration expe-rienced by these eruptions.

This severely limited thecapability to track the erup-tions as CMEs accelerate inthe lower corona. Moreover,with the advancement inspace technology, there hasbeen a tremendous increase inthe amount of data obtainedfrom spacecraft, according tothe statement.

Identifying and trackingsolar eruptions in huge num-ber of images can becometedious if done manually, thestatement said.

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The Government has pro-cured 78,392 tonnes of

wheat in the first fortnight ofthe fresh procurement seasonwhich began on March 15,2021 as compared to the 60metric tons last year duringthe same period.

According to the Ministryof Consumer Affairs, the pro-curement has started only inRajasthan, Gujarat andMadhya Pradesh. It is likely topick up pace as it takes off inHaryana, Maharashtra, UttarPradesh and Uttarakhandfrom April 1. The procure-

ment of Punjab has beendelayed to April 10 due to aspike in Covid-19 cases in thestate.

Last year also, Punjab haddelayed procurement for 10days due to the pandemic.The procurement estimatefor wheat has been fixed as427.36 LMT for the year2021-22.

During previous year2020-21, a quantity of 390LMT procured in the centralpool and benefitting 43.36lakh farmers. The harvestingexercise will pick up in acouple of days with procure-ment.

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The NIA has conductedsearches at 31 locations in

Andhra Pradesh andTelangana in MunchingputMaoist case of Hyderabadrelating to furtherance of theultra-Left agenda.

On Wednesday, the NIAconducted searches at 31 loca-tions spread across eight dis-tricts of Andhra Pradesh--Visakhapatnam, Guntur,Prakasam, Srikakulam,Kurnool, Krishna, EastGodavari and Kadapa besidesfour districts of Telangana

namely Ranga Reddy,Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Medak.

The case relates to fur-thering the activities of theproscribed organisation, CPI(Maoist) in Andhra Pradesh inthe guise of frontal organiza-tions.

The case pertains toseizure of revolutionary liter-ature of CPI (Maoist), pressnotes, medicines, wire bundlesand explosive substances fromaccused Pangi Naganna , whowas intercepted byMunchingput Police duringvehicle checking.

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The Indian Army will par-ticipate in a four-nation

military exercise inBangladesh from April 4 to 12which is being organised tomark the birth centenary ofBangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman and 50 years of thatcountry’s liberation war, offi-cials said on Thursday.

A 30-member IndianArmy team comprising offi-cers, junior commissioned

officers (JCOs) and soldiersfrom the Dogra regiment willparticipate in the exercise‘Shantir Ogroshena’ (frontrunner of peace), they said.

Besides armies ofBangladesh and India, theexercise will be participated byRoyal Bhutan Army and SriLankan Army, the defenceministry said.

“The theme of the exerciseis ‘Robust Peace KeepingOperations’. Military observersfrom the US, UK, Turkey,

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,Kuwait and Singapore willalso be in attendance through-out the exercise,” it said.

The year 2021 marks the50th anniversary of the liber-ation of Bangladesh and thebirth centenary of Rahman.

In reflection of close ties,India is also hosting a numberof events to mark the 50thanniversary of the 1971 warthat led to liberation ofBangladesh.

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Lucknow: Controversies, oneafter another, seem to bechasing mafia don and BSPMLA Mukhtar Ansari. Nowit is the ambulance that tookthe jailed don to Punjab'sMohali court that has raiseda storm.

The vehicle had a registra-tion number belonging to UttarPradesh.

The registration number ofthe ambulance, UP41 AT 7171,belongs to Barabanki districtand had expired in 2017. It hasnot been renewed since then.Also, the name of the hospitalin which the ambulance was

registered is dubious.Barabanki RTO officials,

who did not wish to be named,said that apart from the regis-tration, the fitness of the vehi-cle had also expired in 2017.

What is intriguing is whywas an ambulance from UttarPradesh used to take MukhtarAnsari to a court in Punjabfrom Ropar jail.

The Punjab Police, onWednesday, had producedAnsari before the court inconnection with an alleged2019 extortion matter.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Alka

Rai, said, "Who provided theso-called ambulance in whichMukhtar Ansari was presentedin court? It should be investigated.

Whether it was an ambu-lance or the luxury vehicle ofthe mafia don should also beinvestigated.

Under what circumstancesdid the vehicle of UP registra-tion number reach Punjab andhow is the mafia don roamingin this car?"

Mukhtar Ansari is chargedwith the murder of Alka Rai'shusband Krishnanand Rai whowas shot dead in 2005. IANS

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4,00,000 e-rickshaws were soldin 2019-2020, with over a mil-lion on the roads across India.

It would be prudent forthe Ministry of RoadTransport to establish betternorms for the next generationof e-rickshaws, from passen-ger safety to battery disposal.But the Ministry as well ascities and States should look atother viable opportunities inelectrification. Buses are oftenspoken about as the next bigopportunity; being large lad-der-on-frame vehicles, sys-tems such as battery swappingare being spoken about foradditional range. But whatabout buses that get used a bitless? Airport buses, for exam-ple. At many airports acrossIndia, buses are still used totransport passengers and crewto and from planes. Why can’tthose and many other airportinfrastructure vehicles such asbaggage tractors and airlinecars be electric? The addition-al costs of such equipment canbe passed on to airline passen-gers, which amortised overmillions of passengers will bea few rupees per ticket.

What about school busesand other transport for stu-dents? Most such transport isused only twice a day over a

limited distance, usually wellunder 100 km, and mosteducational institutions haveenough parking area to buildcharging infrastructure. Startcalculating the impact ofputting children in electricbuses as it will help themunderstand the economicand environmental benefits.

But the biggest near-termelectrification opportunity liesin commercial deliveries. Thefastest growing sector of theIndian commercial vehiclemarket over the past decadehas been Light CommercialVehicles (LCVs). This hascoincided almost perfectlywith the rise of online com-merce. While changing fromthe LCVs, colloquially knownas “Chhota Hathi”, will be dif-ficult with little charging infra-structure and uneven roads,the metropolitan areas caninsist on a changeover to elec-trifying such vehicles.However, this cannot be abruptand must not happen thanks tothe fiat of a bureaucrat orMinister, let alone a judge in acourt. But happen it must; aplanned switchover in a cou-ple of years will not only givethe industry an opportunity toscale up manufacturing, it willalso aid in the creation of

charging infrastructure.An even greater and blind-

ingly obvious opportunity is infood and local delivery usingelectric two-wheelers. It isheartening to see that somedelivery boys and girls haveswitched over to electric two-wheelers and even electrifiedcycles such as Yulu, but still notenough. A large order by a foodretailer or even an e-commerceoperator for electric two-wheel-ers specifically oriented fordelivery will also give a massiveboost to the manufacture ofsuch products in India.

The holy grail of electrifi-cation is of course a wide-scalechangeover in passenger vehi-cles and public transportation.There are several technologyissues that remain to be sortedout; should India look athybrids as a middle step, forexample, or should investmentsbe made in hydrogen? Thereare also serious cost questionsbut, most importantly, the pub-lic has to be convinced of theutility of such vehicles.

This is the third part of aseries on electric vehicle adop-tion and policy issues aroundthe same in India.

(The author is ManagingEditor, The Pioneer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

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There is one thing that Ihave to get off my chest:The rapid adoption ofelectric three-wheelers,

e-rickshaws as we call them, hasbeen dramatic. Whenever anopportunity arises in India,companies emerge to takeadvantage of it. However, e-rickshaws while a brilliant modeof transport for last-mile connec-tivity are patently unsafe, whichis particularly ironic since theGovernment is promoting vehic-ular safety by imposing new con-ditions on passenger vehicles andmotorcycles while totally ignor-ing the e-rickshaw space.

That said, it would be sillyto ignore how much e-rickshawshave changed the economicprospects of workers in manyparts of India. In the part ofDelhi where I live, e-rickshawshave given domestic workers theability to travel to and from theirhomes for �10 each way, savingthem a half-hour one-way walk,which not only saves them fromthe intense heat of the summersun but the time saved allowsmany such workers to take onanother job, an investment of�500 a month on transportallows them to earn much more.The push towards safety, nomatter how well-intentioned,will increase the price of e-rick-shaws and thus the amountthat users will pay; however itwill need to be done because e-rickshaws need to be reined in.

But there is no doubt that thesuccess of e-rickshaws is proofthat electric vehicles can be a suc-cess as they have almost com-pletely replaced cycle-rickshawsacross major urban centres.

The reason for this successwas simple; there was a need forlast-mile transportation, which isnon-existent in India.Transportation from bus stops,Metro and railway stations usingauto-rickshaws was expensiveand while cycle-rickshaws costthe same amount per ride as ane-rickshaw, they took longer. Assuch, these e-rickshaws have notbeen a ‘replacement’ of a mode oftransport, rather they have beenadditive. While there have beensome legal wrangles around reg-istration and sales, an estimated

�� Sir —The BJP is going from strength tostrength, and the Modi juggernaut is on aroll. Irrespective of the results in the fiveStates that are undergoing polls, theOpposition has much work to do. TheCongress is neither here nor there. Tall lead-ers are deserting the party one after anoth-er. At another level, the partners of theUnited Progressive Alliance (UPA) appeardisillusioned with a lethargic Congress.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, per-haps for the first time in her long stint,appears to be losing her grip on the coali-tion partners. Top UPA leaders have, at leastinternally, expressed their deep resent-ment with the way Sonia Gandhi has beenpersisting with her son Rahul Gandhi to takeover from her. Against this backdrop, revivalof the “third front” is being discussed inpolitical corridors.

The “third front” can make someimpact if it is able to guard itself from col-lapsing like a pack of cards due to disagree-ments and ambitions. Leaders have to rallybehind a pivot; personal agendas should beleft behind. Many experienced and ablenon-BJP and non-Congress leaders werelooked upon with suspicion by the peoplebecause of their inability to stay united. The2014 “third front” flattered to deceive: It wasgrounded even before it took off. One won-ders whether some headstrong leaders, likeMamata Banerjee, can ever mingle with therest when it comes to fighting the BJP.However, Sharad Pawar, fresh from his“king-making manoeuvres” in Maharashtra,may act as a fulcrum for the third front, ifhe can bring all non-Congress and non-BJPparties, that are unambiguous in their ide-ology and agree on a common minimumprogramme, on a single platform.

Ganapathi Bhat | Akola

�� Sir — The Pakistan Cabinet’s latest decisionagainst the earlier one, which had ratifiedthe import of sugar and cotton from Indiaafter nearly two years, can hardly be termeda positive development for the relations

between the countries. The positive newshad come amid a series of diplomatic over-tures to thaw the bilateral ties. The earliermove had come in the wake of Pakistan’sPremier Imran Khan writing to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and calling for thecreation of an enabling environment for a“result-oriented dialogue” with India.

The reopening of trade at Wagah forcotton and sugar exports, had it come about,would have been among the first substan-tive relaxations in bilateral ties following theFebruary 25 restoration of the ceasefire atthe Line of Control. One was hoping to seea new beginning in the bilateral relations,which can improve through bilateral talksonly; the use of force and third-partyinvolvement is not a viable option.

Devendra Khurana | Bhopal

�� Sir — It refers to the editorial ‘All hands on

deck’ (April 1). Having a district action planis indeed a good idea by the Governmentto avoid bigger lockdowns like last year.During the second surge, we need to beproactive and use the lessons learnt last year.

A better coordination between Statesand the Centre will decide our fate. Threekey elements of success are — Tracing,Testing and Vaccinating, and more vaccinesshould be rolled out at the earliest to havea wider range for such a vast population asours. Also, there is no substitute to takingprecautions like wearing masks and main-taining social distancing.

All eligible people must come out andvaccinate themselves without further delay.Exporting vaccines to other countries cantake a back seat for some time now.

Bal Govind | Noida

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The Coronavirus-induced lockdown, which leftmillions of workers unemployed, recently hadits anniversary on March 25. Unfortunately, this

coincides with the start of the second wave of the out-break of the deadly virus. During the lockdown, eco-nomic activities came to a standstill and so did theincome of millions. The pandemic has pushed mil-lions of labourers and their families deep into pover-ty. Many labour-intensive industries were shut downduring lockdown and even afterwards. The mass exo-dus of migrant workers from cities and industrial townson foot and by other means reminds us of the painthat they and their family members have gone through.The Government aid, inoculation drives and policystimuli certainly endeavoured to extend a helping hand;yet the damages to jobs, income and social equalityare irreversible. Economists and multilateral agencieshave expressed grave concerns on the rising levels ofpoverty and inequality. In the current scenario dom-inated by recession and uncertainty, it becomes vitalto study the factors that can help alleviate poverty inIndia.

However, poverty and inequality are not newissues in our country. Rather, they have been the co-travellers with the journey of our economic growthand have started turning more severe recently due tothe pandemic and subsequent uncertainty that loomslarge on the economy. At the international level also,the World Bank’s Millennium Development Goals putthe objective of ‘poverty eradication’ on priority.Eradication of poverty lifts the living standard of indi-viduals in terms of education, health and social sta-tus, thus bringing equality in the society. Poverty isdirectly linked to employment which is a derivativeof productive sectors which differ in States. Thus, thepoverty levels in various States are also significantlydifferent from one another. However, the commonobjective of all the States is ‘poverty alleviation’.

The historical data from as many as 23 States werestudied in terms of poverty reduction and associatedfactors. including unemployment and growth of pro-ductive sectors — agriculture, industry and services.An attempt was made to empirically fathom the rela-tionship between poverty reduction and associatedmacro-economic factors. The latest State-wise data onpoverty for 2004-05 and 2011-12 were sourced fromthe Reserve Bank of India’s ‘Handbook of Statistics onIndian States’. With the increasing levels of industri-alisation, the States have managed to reduce povertylevels in a span of seven years. Goa, Andhra Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and Uttarakhand witnessedhighest poverty reduction of more than 65 per cent.In contrast, Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh bare-ly lifted their people from poverty, with less than 20per cent reduction in it. The poverty ratio had declinedfrom 37 per cent in 2004-05 to 22 per cent in 2011-12. Historically, rural areas witnessed a higher pover-ty ratio (26 per cent) as compared to urban (14 percent).

Poverty reduction rate in States is found to be neg-atively correlated with growth in the rural unemploy-ment in a significant manner, but was found not asso-ciated with the urban unemployment growth. Thisimplies that the States with higher reduction in ruralunemployment (Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura,Kerala and Punjab) excelled in poverty reduction.However, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Naduand Madhya Pradesh are exceptions to this. TheseStates, despite exhibiting a higher growth in ruralunemployment, managed to gain higher in poverty

alleviation. In contrast, the States thatexhibited a high growth in ruralunemployment (Assam, Jharkhandand Chhattisgarh) had to pay the costof slender poverty alleviation. It con-cludes that the rural employment in theStates holds the key to eradication ofpoverty.

India, where more than 65 percent of population lives in villages, can-not afford to ignore the role of ruralemployment and income generation.To alleviate poverty, employment gen-eration in rural areas is more impor-tant than that in urban India. Thisaligns with the fact that rural Indiaexhibits more poverty ratio than urbanareas. The major source of income inrural areas is believed to be agricultureand the allied services.

Further, the association of pover-ty reductions with growth of produc-tive sectors — agriculture, industry andservices — in different States isanalysed. As expected, the correlationbetween poverty reduction and thegrowth rates of all productive sectorsis significant with varying magnitudesand directions. The productive sectors,with their varying productivities, serveemployment as well as generate incomewhich helps people lift from poverty.Interestingly, growth in agriculture isnot sufficient to absorb the increasingjob requirements in rural India andhence is alone not capable of povertyreduction. The States with a highergrowth in the agriculture sector(Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh), exhib-ited lowest gains in poverty reduction.Notably, these States could not thrivein a higher growth of industry and ser-vices sectors. In contrast, the States with

the lowest growth in agriculture buthighest growth in industry and services(Goa, Andhra Pradesh and HimachalPradesh) outperformed the otherStates in attaining the poverty allevi-ation objective. In other words, it is notagriculture but industry and servicessector that buttress poverty alleviationacross States in India. Between indus-try and services, services turned out tobe more influential in poverty reduc-tion.

This finding echoes the theory ofeconomic growth and structuralchange presented by Nobel laureateand American economist SimonKuznets. According to the theory, adeveloping economy shifts from agri-culture (primary) to industry (sec-ondary) and then to services (tertiary)sector — a process of ‘structuralchange’. In this process, employmentshifts from the lower to higher produc-tive sector, yielding an overall produc-tivity and income gain in the econo-my. India, being a developing econo-my, treaded this path of structuralchange, however, bypassing industri-alisation and tertiarisation.

At present, even if industrialisa-tion is promoted with the primaryobjective of poverty reduction, Indiamay not gain much in terms ofemployment. This is due to the capi-tal intensification facilitated by high-er fixed-capital investment in indus-tries, making them capital intensive.Collectively, this issue of dispropor-tionate growth in employment ascompared to output growth is termedas ‘jobless growth’ in industries. In con-trast, the services sector, being moreproductive and labour-intensive as

compared to agriculture and industry,guarantees a higher level of incomeand contributes significantly in pover-ty eradication. This is substantiated bythe findings of the instant study: Thetop six States in poverty reduction —Goa, Andhra Pradesh, HimachalPradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura andKerala — are the ones with the high-est growth and share of services inState GDP.

Conclusion: State-wise povertyreduction is quite heterogeneous dueto differences in the employmentscenario and sectoral growth of States.While some States outperformed theothers in poverty alleviation, others arestill struggling to lift their people upfrom poverty line. It is important tounderstand the factors impactingpoverty reduction in the States of Indiafrom historical evidences. In terms ofemployment, it is the rural employ-ment that drives poverty alleviation.Whereas, in terms of productive sec-tors, it is the services sector that is themajor source of employment genera-tion and hence poverty reduction.

The key of poverty alleviation lieswith employment generation in therural India that houses two-third ofIndia’s population. More than agricul-ture, industry and services sectorsdevelopment— industrialisation andtertiarisation— must be promoted inrural India. The current wave of pri-vatisation and production-linkedincentive schemes must consider theinclusion of rural areas. At the sametime, skill development in rural areasis the need of the hour to enable therural population to join the workforcein higher productive sectors.

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The initial bootlessskilling setup in Indiawas nothing but a

notion of a lopsided skilldevelopment. The potentialof India’s demographic div-idend was realised with thelaunch of Skill India Missionby the Ministry of SkillDevelopment andEntrepreneurship (MSDE)on July 15, 2015.

The Governmentfocused on developing acomprehensive programme,which would provide an aidin removing the stumblingblocks to the mission. Themain focus of the pro-gramme has been to createconvergence across the sec-tors and the States in termsof skill training activities.

Recognising the poten-tial of the India’s youth, af lagship programme,Pradhan Mantri KaushalVikas Yojana (PMKVY), was

launched with its six keycomponents aiming to skillone crore youth by 2020.Various studies suggestedthat the respondents weresatisfied with the skills train-ings imparted to them,which further helped themin attaining gainful employ-ment.

The scheme, however,suffered from various loop-holes in terms of traininginfrastructure, limited par-ticipation by the private sec-tor, lack of compliance tointernational standards anda considerable gap betweenthe industries’ demands andskills supply. A sequel ofthis scheme, PMKVY 2.0,was launched the followingyear with an aim to over-come all the drawbacks ofPMKVY.

The scheme was aimed atskilling 10 million youthduring 2015-16 and acquired

a budget of �12,000 crore.However, it could achieveonly approximately 50 percent of its set target by 2019and thus failed to stop themass migration triggered bythe pandemic. The casecould have been less intensehad the scheme been suc-cessful in providing employ-ment to people in their areasonly.

Apart from this, arequirement of skilled work-force as reported by theNational Skill DevelopmentCorporation (NSDC) wasestimated at 347 million, tobe achieved by 2022, whichseems a distant dream asIndia has been facing ashortage of skilled manpow-er for more than a decadenow.

The training capacitystands approximately at 4.3million, in contrast to 12 mil-lion people which are expect-

ed to join the workforceevery year for training, thusdepriving them of effectiveskill training modules. Thismakes the scenario worseand is a major obstacle inIndia’s growth. This patternof escalated numbers hasbeen witnessed to drain thefunds of the State, resultingin a shortfall of funds forother imperative areas.

A realistic estimation oftargets along with the flexi-bility for the usage of allocat-ed cash reserve is the need of

the hour. Another factorwhich serves as a major gapin the skill developmentframework is the ignoranceof quality by the traininginstitutes, which furtherhampers the trust of thetrainees. A Government-appointed committee high-lighted this issue.

A sincere resolution tothis problem can be achievedby regular audit of the train-ing centres, which theGovernment has alreadybeen doing for some timenow. In addition, the trainerscan be encouraged toupgrade their knowledge andrewarded for their achieve-ments based on the students’feedback. This wouldundoubtedly enhance thequality of the trainers hiredand the subsequent trainingsprovided by them to the can-didates.

Nevertheless, the private

sector, too, plays a crucial rolein the vocational trainingframework. Initially, the pri-vate sector was quite alien tothis Government initiative;however, it did not remainsecluded for long. TheGovernment realised thatindustry linkages serve as asine qua non, for the effectivetraining and employment ofyouth. With almost 90 percent of the population below60 years of age, and 35 percent of it below 19 years,employment generation isdefinitely not a cinch andrequires relevant and ade-quate industry linkages, so asto make the workers trainedand meet the internationalbenchmarks. This wouldcontribute to enhancing theirskill set, making them glob-ally competent and creatingnew opportunities for them.

Despite the Public-Private Partnership (PPP)

models adopted by the State,there seems to be a lot ofuntapped potential for thesame, which called for anoth-er initiative, called thePMKVY 3.0, introduced bythe Government on January15, 2021, in 600 districts.

Launched with a targetof skilling 8 lakh youth with300 courses over 2020-21, thescheme focuses on impartingmore demand-driven skillsand revolves around digitaltechnology and Industry 4.0skills. The scheme is vestedwith a total of �948.90 croresand emphasises upon therole of District SkillCommittees (DSCs) andState Skill DevelopmentMissions (SSDM) inanalysing the skill-demandgaps at a district levels. Thisscheme looks promising as itexcludes any of the draw-backs of the previousschemes.

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Swapnil is senior researchscholar at IISc, Bengaluru,and Majumder is an inde-

pendent researcher. Theviews expressed are personal.

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The writer is AssistantProfessor at the GoswamiGanesh Dutta Sanatan

Dharma College,Chandigarh.

The views expressed are personal.

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GST collections remainedabove the � 1-lakh-crore

mark for the sixth month in arow in March, rising 27 percent annually to record � 1.23lakh crore, the finance ministrysaid on Thursday.

The ministry said the steepincreasing trend in goods andservices tax is a clear indicationof rapid economic recoverypost pandemic.

Closer monitoring againstfake-billing, deep data analyt-ics using data from multiplesources including GST, incometax and customs IT systemsand effective tax administrationhave also contributed to thesteady increase in tax revenueover past few months, it added.

The gross GST revenue

collected in March 2021 stoodat � 1,23,902 crore. Of this,central GST stood at � 22,973crore, state GST at � 29,329crore, integrated GST at �62,842 crore (including �31,097 crore collected onimport of goods) and Cess at �8,757 crore (including � 935crore collected on import ofgoods).

GST revenue in March2020 was � 97,590 crore. “GSTrevenues during March 2021are the highest since the intro-duction of GST.

“In line with the trend ofrecovery in the GST revenuesover past five months, the rev-enues for the month of March2021 are 27 per cent higherthan the GST revenues in thesame month last year,” theministry said in a statement.

During the month, rev-enues from import of goodswere 70 per cent higher and therevenues from domestic trans-action were 17 per cent morethan the revenues from thesesources during the same monthlast year.

The GST revenues declined41 per cent and 8 per cent inthe June and September quar-ters, respectively. However,with economic recovery, themop-up grew 8 per cent and 14per cent in December andMarch quarters of this financialyear.

GST collections, whichdirectly reflect the state of eco-nomic activity, had plummet-ed to a record low of � 32,172crore in April 2020, after thegovernment imposed a nation-wide lockdown to curb the

spread of coronavirus.The lockdown, categorised

by several agencies as one of thestrictest in the world, pum-melled the economy, asdemand dried up and non-essential businesses were shut-tered. In the April-June quar-ter, the economy contracted bythe steepest ever 24.4 per cent,and 7.3 per cent in Septemberquarter. However, in October-December it came back inpositive territory with 0.4 percent growth. As restrictionswere gradually lifted, manysectors of the economy wereable to spring back into actionalthough output remains wellbelow the pre-pandemic levels.

Deloitte India SeniorDirector M S Mani said, “Inaddition to the trend of high-er overall GST collections over

the past six months, all majorstates have shown a significantincrease compared to the pre-vious year.”

He added that the increasein collections on importsaccompanied by the increase indomestic transactions wouldindicate that the overall pro-duction and consumption cycleis back to normal.

ICRA Principal EconomistAditi Nayar said the healthyGST collections in March 2021,along with the additional devo-lution of � 45,000 crore to thestate governments for the just-concluded fiscal, confirm therating agency's view that the taxrevenues in FY2021 haveexceeded the RevisedEstimates. “We continue toexpect the GoI’s fiscal deficit toundershoot the FY2021 RE of

� 18.5 lakh crore, suggestingample cash balances at thestart of FY2022.”

EY India Tax PartnerAbhishek Jain said the Marchnumbers clearly shows a sus-tained economic recovery, andalso is a result of GST audit clo-sures and the governmenttightening compliance andanti-evasion measures.

GST collection in Februarywas over � 1.13 lakh crore,January (over � 1.19 lakhcrore), December (� 1.15 lakhcrore), November (�s 1.04 lakhcrore), October (� 1.05 lakhcrore) and September (�95,480 crore).

The mop-up stood inAugust at � 86,449 crore, July(� 87,422 crore), June (� 90,917crore), May (� 62,151 crore)and April (� 32,172 crore).

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Investors’ wealth jumped over� 2.95 lakh crore on

Thursday, the first day of thenew financial year, amid arally in the equity market.

The 30-share BSE bench-mark index rallied 520.68points or 1.05 per cent to closeat 50,029.83.

Driven by the bullish sen-timent, the market capitalisa-tion of BSE-listed companiesrose by � 2,95,587.25 crore toreach � 2,95,587.25 crore atclose of trade on Thursday.

IndusInd Bank, KotakBank, Ultratech Cement andBajaj Finance were the promi-nent gainers. In contrast, HUL,HDFC Bank, Nestle and TCSsuffered losses.

“Markets started the newfinancial year on a robust noteled by optimism in the globalmarkets,” Ajit Mishra, VicePresident of Research at

Religare Broking Ltd, said.Vinod Nair, Head of

Research at Geojit FinancialServices said, “markets acrossthe globe were boosted byBiden’s USD 2.3 tn spendingplan”. The rally in the domes-tic market was led by positivecues from global peers, strongbuying in metal stocks andrecovery in banking sector, headded.

Among sectoral indices,BSE metal rose by 5.41 per centfollowed by basic materials,utilities, power and telecom.

In the broader market, theBSE midcap index gained 1.66per cent and smallcap indexrose 2.05 per cent.

The 30-share BSE bench-mark had clocked 20,040.66points or 68 per cent gain lastfiscal. Investors’ wealth grewmassively by � 90,82,057.95crore in 2020-21 driven by anextraordinary rally in the equi-ty market.

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Mallika Srinivasan,Chairman and Managing

Director of Tractors and FarmEquipment (TAFE) Limitedhas been appointed as thechairperson of the PublicEnterprises Selection Board(PESB), an order issued by thepersonnel ministry onThursday said.

This is for the first timethat a private sector specialist

has been appointed as the headof the PESB, responsible forappointment of top manage-ment posts in the CentralPublic Sector Enterprises(CPSEs), officials said.

The AppointmentsCommittee of the Cabinet hasapproved the appointment ofSrinivasan as the chairperson ofPESB for a period of three yearsfrom the date of assumption ofcharge, or until the attainmentof the age of 65 years, it said.

Sailesh, a 1985-batch IASofficer, has been appointed asmember, PESB.

He is at present Secretary,Department of PublicEnterprises.

Sailesh, who was due tosuperannuate in Septemberthis year, has been appointedPESB member for a period ofthree years from the date ofassumption of charge, or untilthe attainment of the age of 65years, the order said.

-!�� ! � �� 145�+4.*,

Leading automakers MarutiSuzuki, Hyundai and Tata

Motors on Thursday reportedrobust sales in March as ashift towards personal mobili-ty and pent up demand con-tinued to help companies pushdispatches to their respectiveretail partners.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor,Honda Cars and Mahindraand Mahindra (M&M) alsoreported strong sales lastmonth as compared to theyear-ago period, when dis-

patches were adversely impact-ed due to the impending tran-sition to BSVI from April 2020and the nationwide lockdownto contain the coronaviruspandemic. The country’s largestcarmaker Maruti Suzuki Indiasaid its domestic sales stood at1,49,518 units last month. Theauto major had reported salesof 76,976 units in March 2020.

Both dispatches and pro-duction were hit last year dueto the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Domestic sales in March2020 had dropped about 48 percent due to COVID related dis-

ruptions. It will be seen thatdomestic sales in March 2021have only recovered to March2019 levels,” MSI said in a state-ment.

Sales of mini cars, com-prising Alto and S-Presso,stood at 24,653 units lastmonth. The company had sold15,988 units in March 2020.

Similarly, sales of compactsegment vehicles, includingSwift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno andDzire stood at 82,201 units lastmonth. The company hadreported dispatches of 40,519cars a year ago.

��"��,�� !�� ,��N�1��New Delhi (PTI): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman onThursday said salary income earned by non-resident Indians inGulf countries would continue to be exempt from tax in India.

Quoting a tweet of TMC MP Mahua Moitra, Sitharaman clar-ified that the Finance Act 2021 has not brought in any new oradditional tax on Indian workers in Saudi/UAE/Oman/Qatar.

The minister said the said amendment in the Finance Act,2021, has merely incorporated general definition of the term“liable to tax” in the Income Tax Act to provide clarity.

Script Open High Low LTPTATASTEEL 821.00 868.65 818.65 862.85TATAMOTORS 306.50 309.80 303.05 307.60IDEA 9.30 10.12 9.22 9.98SBIN 366.65 371.80 363.00 370.55VEDL 229.90 231.80 228.75 231.15ADANIPORTS 715.00 742.10 705.00 736.25ADANIENT 1044.00 1115.30 1034.95 1107.30HDFCBANK 1502.00 1502.00 1469.85 1486.50JSWSTEEL 471.65 512.90 471.00 508.60SAIL 79.50 84.40 79.45 83.80RELIANCE 2019.70 2030.00 2003.35 2021.70ICICIBANK 587.70 596.10 580.35 593.95HDFC 2524.00 2538.00 2480.45 2530.95AXISBANK 706.00 716.90 695.60 713.55JINDALSTEL 345.80 373.45 345.80 370.55IDFC 47.90 48.35 46.50 47.65TCS 3190.00 3215.70 3146.00 3165.90BAJFINANCE 5216.00 5285.00 5162.10 5270.00ATGL 977.10 1087.40 964.75 1058.25HCLTECH 993.00 1013.25 992.25 1002.60HINDALCO 332.95 351.90 328.95 350.15GRASIM 1469.50 1469.50 1437.30 1454.00TECHM 1004.00 1007.55 986.60 991.75UPL 647.55 656.70 635.00 653.85INDUSINDBK 958.50 997.70 958.50 993.35KOTAKBANK 1765.00 1812.70 1751.00 1804.45BHARTIARTL 519.75 523.90 514.25 520.90TATACHEM 761.95 791.75 756.00 779.20ADANIPOWER 83.05 89.30 81.35 89.30MARUTI 6885.00 6990.00 6851.75 6922.60TATAPOWER 104.20 105.50 103.45 105.05IBREALEST 82.00 90.90 81.50 88.25GRAPHITE 520.00 580.20 518.55 557.75BAJAJ-AUTO 3690.00 3763.80 3690.00 3747.10INFY 1380.00 1391.50 1370.70 1385.30BANKBARODA 74.55 76.00 73.45 75.65MOTHERSUMI 203.10 212.35 202.70 210.35WIPRO 419.10 422.75 414.50 416.20PNB 37.05 38.45 36.80 38.15HEROMOTOCO 2941.00 3003.75 2930.40 2958.10SBICARD 931.05 984.40 931.05 975.00DEEPAKNI 1675.00 1693.15 1635.05 1646.45IBULHSGFIN 199.60 205.50 196.35 204.65CANBK 150.10 157.25 150.10 156.30GAIL 135.90 140.85 135.20 140.15ADANITRANS 924.90 999.15 917.30 999.15ASIANPAINT 2536.75 2563.95 2534.25 2545.50ITC 219.85 220.55 217.25 220.05TATACONSUM 645.75 653.20 640.95 650.30ASTRAZEN 3007.00 3535.55 3007.00 3437.10SRTRANSFIN 1450.00 1478.00 1425.25 1472.55HEG 1480.50 1603.80 1480.00 1581.95ASHOKLEY 119.90 119.90 113.60 118.10ESCORTS 1305.00 1320.00 1262.85 1273.00CONCOR 605.00 605.80 593.75 597.10LTTS 2660.05 2756.00 2626.25 2722.30TATAELXSI 2700.00 2795.00 2700.00 2770.60BPCL 430.00 439.75 428.10 437.55PRESTIGE 303.35 310.20 300.35 307.00DLF 289.90 293.40 283.60 291.70DISHTV 9.35 10.86 9.27 10.31MINDTREE 2094.00 2111.45 2054.45 2074.75BHEL 48.90 51.15 48.90 50.95NAUKRI 4284.15 4321.90 4172.35 4263.85M&M 800.05 809.60 780.00 806.00LUPIN 1028.00 1034.80 1019.10 1027.90BRITANNIA 3630.00 3668.60 3610.05 3618.40ONGC 103.25 104.85 101.30 104.20EDELWEISS 63.00 66.65 63.00 66.65IDFCFIRSTB 56.40 57.80 56.10 57.05APOLLOTYRE 225.90 237.15 224.05 236.25NATIONALUM 54.90 59.10 54.65 58.80COROMANDEL 774.00 774.00 746.45 748.85RBLBANK 210.75 217.00 208.30 216.15ULTRACEMCO 6817.70 6934.30 6731.70 6898.45ENDURANCE 1456.15 1462.00 1426.00 1442.00BAJAJFINSV 9705.00 9823.35 9673.15 9785.85DRREDDY 4535.00 4594.75 4521.85 4587.85LT 1430.50 1447.80 1420.55 1444.55IRCTC 1756.40 1778.85 1749.75 1751.95GUJGAS 553.00 565.80 541.75 547.45SUNPHARMA 601.00 612.65 597.50 610.85COFORGE 2959.90 3070.00 2890.00 2937.75HINDUNILVR 2432.15 2444.20 2392.00 2399.45JSWENERGY 88.95 92.70 87.80 90.65SRF 5410.00 5773.55 5410.00 5743.25COALINDIA 131.00 132.50 130.60 132.25AUBANK 1258.05 1279.95 1214.85 1271.90TITAN 1565.00 1593.20 1551.70 1558.50ZEEL 204.00 210.65 202.20 209.20WELCORP 139.10 148.70 139.10 147.25IEX 335.00 348.25 335.00 346.60CIPLA 822.00 823.80 811.80 817.00GLENMARK 465.50 487.50 462.50 482.25MPHASIS 1760.10 1809.00 1736.75 1749.00SYNGENE 553.80 560.00 548.25 557.85DIVISLAB 3628.00 3640.00 3605.00 3616.50PEL 1799.00 1819.25 1763.30 1776.25JUSTDIAL 877.70 915.20 870.00 902.90FEDERALBNK 76.70 79.40 76.35 78.85SHREECEM 29350.00 30248.35 29350.0029977.75DIXON 3714.00 3720.00 3572.00 3590.60BANDHANBNK 342.00 355.20 338.90 351.15LAURUSLABS 360.60 369.00 360.60 364.75NESTLEIND 17105.00 17143.05 16968.9017102.15STAR 844.50 872.85 841.75 850.40AMBUJACEM 312.25 313.85 303.55 309.80NMDC 135.50 139.10 135.50 138.40

EICHERMOT 2605.00 2649.20 2589.00 2630.55AUROPHARMA 884.00 886.95 866.55 881.45HSCL 42.00 44.50 41.95 43.95PVR 1223.00 1245.20 1213.05 1236.80M&MFIN 202.50 205.25 198.55 204.25INTELLECT 753.80 774.15 715.35 730.75L&TFH 96.20 100.05 96.10 99.50APOLLOHOSP 2885.00 2907.25 2845.00 2892.60HDFCLIFE 700.00 704.00 682.50 693.00FSL 114.20 120.85 114.20 118.00SWSOLAR 263.05 282.20 262.80 279.20GICRE 200.50 210.75 196.00 208.25BEL 126.15 126.95 124.35 126.10JUBLFOOD 2945.00 2967.90 2909.65 2950.00IOC 92.00 93.30 91.25 93.15MRF 82864.45 83442.85 82200.0583054.50MMTC 42.70 46.60 42.55 46.60TATACOMM 1045.30 1134.65 1045.30 1124.45

BALKRISIND 1695.00 1707.70 1654.65 1681.20SUZLON 4.94 5.22 4.85 5.08GODREJPROP 1380.00 1405.90 1361.30 1390.60DELTACORP 165.00 170.35 163.10 169.10VBL 1005.90 1013.15 994.25 1005.65RAIN 144.35 154.00 144.05 150.00CAPPL 410.00 463.45 406.65 452.30IOB 17.20 17.60 16.55 17.00AARTIIND 1324.25 1389.80 1316.15 1362.45GNFC 307.00 314.90 304.00 312.05INDIAMART 7770.00 8018.95 7770.00 7978.20CENTRALBK 16.80 17.15 16.65 17.15LICHSGFIN 432.45 433.85 424.15 432.80AFFLE 5502.00 5715.80 5491.60 5600.45TAKE 45.50 53.90 45.35 52.85DMART 2890.00 2925.00 2860.00 2911.40ASTRAL 1647.00 1693.00 1635.05 1686.05INDIACEM 170.30 173.75 167.50 169.90TATAMETALI 814.15 852.50 808.85 843.60SCI 111.00 116.45 111.00 114.40ABCAPITAL 119.40 122.95 119.30 121.50CUMMINSIND 928.95 933.45 889.00 895.75BHARATFORG 599.90 615.50 596.55 612.95BSOFT 255.00 268.45 254.45 262.25CHOLAFIN 565.00 568.45 549.50 563.50THYROCARE 902.75 949.00 902.75 948.00GMRINFRA 24.55 25.15 24.15 25.00INDUSTOWER 247.15 256.80 246.75 255.20GILLETTE 5923.30 5923.30 5540.00 5690.00SONATSOFTW 515.00 528.55 514.00 525.40IDBI 38.85 39.50 38.45 39.00IGL 518.00 527.80 515.70 526.75WABAG 253.60 261.60 252.00 256.80NTPC 107.40 108.70 107.00 107.75RVNL 29.25 30.15 29.20 29.65MANAPPURAM 151.95 158.70 149.80 156.65MUTHOOTFIN 1212.15 1217.25 1200.00 1215.35INDIGO 1643.00 1643.00 1602.00 1617.50FRETAIL 40.65 44.80 40.60 44.80JKPAPER 150.00 155.40 149.30 154.45BATAINDIA 1420.00 1437.40 1410.30 1424.40ACC 1920.00 1920.00 1887.70 1913.00PRSMJOHNSN 132.70 134.90 130.35 133.35HAVELLS 1079.80 1079.80 1046.70 1058.70HINDPETRO* 236.00 238.70 232.45 237.40GMM 4315.15 4536.55 4300.90 4449.75PIDILITIND 1819.10 1832.55 1808.80 1822.75TVSMOTOR 590.50 592.45 582.75 586.00BALRAMCHIN 220.60 220.60 213.00 214.00SOUTHBANK 8.32 8.72 8.25 8.69HDFCAMC 2950.00 2974.55 2894.15 2962.65TATACOFFEE 120.65 123.75 120.65 123.15LALPATHLAB 2719.90 2750.00 2666.00 2731.90UJJIVAN 212.65 227.60 212.65 224.00FINOLEXIND 651.90 668.00 641.95 654.75ABFRL 202.85 207.00 197.65 199.00IRCON 88.35 90.35 88.35 89.85BIRLACORPN 968.00 978.00 960.90 974.00HAL 1015.00 1051.30 1014.95 1034.25QUESS 690.10 703.35 682.00 686.00APLLTD 964.95 989.90 959.05 984.70IRB 110.80 115.00 109.05 113.85WOCKPHARMA 421.00 432.90 415.00 427.75ADANIGREEN 1105.00 1159.50 1105.00 1159.50LTI 4060.00 4189.60 4060.00 4120.00RADICO 563.10 569.35 559.45 563.00BEML 1259.90 1332.30 1257.00 1319.35

SUNTECK 286.00 298.65 279.20 281.40AMBER 3345.00 3389.85 3231.00 3246.55POWERGRID 216.50 219.40 214.75 218.00BAJAJCON 264.60 281.50 261.75 269.35BANKINDIA 71.40 72.30 68.95 69.85AVANTI 417.75 430.50 417.75 418.80DABUR 539.00 543.85 536.25 538.60VOLTAS 1018.00 1018.00 1002.40 1005.25SPICEJET 70.55 72.60 69.80 72.15PAGEIND 30510.00 30714.50 29984.7029984.70MFSL 867.25 883.15 862.50 879.95TRENT 755.00 762.95 740.35 751.75BIOCON 410.00 413.15 408.90 410.30GRANULES 304.15 313.20 304.15 312.20RECLTD 133.00 133.50 131.10 132.65GSFC 81.95 87.85 81.95 87.15OBEROIRLTY 565.00 595.45 565.00 579.50NBCC 47.50 48.30 46.85 47.95TATAMTRDVR 129.95 133.00 129.30 131.40VGUARD 250.35 262.00 245.00 246.90COLPAL 1566.00 1577.00 1556.85 1562.65ICICIPRULI 446.95 449.20 437.75 445.00NCC 77.90 82.30 77.90 81.10NBVENTURES* 70.20 75.25 69.90 73.10SBILIFE 890.00 890.00 876.35 888.00BOMDYEING 71.35 73.50 70.75 73.40RCF 79.00 80.55 77.45 79.00GODREJCP 729.10 735.40 724.05 724.30MOIL 156.80 157.65 152.55 155.40CEATLTD 1562.00 1606.25 1552.60 1600.00MEGH 117.85 121.15 116.45 118.45MIDHANI 178.85 193.70 178.15 191.25TRIDENT 14.34 14.36 14.06 14.19PFC 114.85 114.85 113.50 114.60CADILAHC 446.45 446.65 440.55 441.85HFCL 25.35 26.95 25.05 26.40INDHOTEL 111.90 113.20 109.45 112.10JKTYRE 108.85 119.70 108.85 119.70APLAPOLLO 1430.00 1440.95 1300.00 1326.50INFIBEAM 47.50 48.30 46.95 47.60AJANTPHARM 1798.55 1805.85 1725.80 1743.65PHILIPCARB 192.35 201.70 192.35 198.95DEEPAKFERT 232.00 235.80 228.50 234.60CROMPTON 392.00 398.95 383.45 392.25UNIONBANK 34.15 35.10 34.15 34.90EXIDEIND 184.90 186.30 184.30 186.15DBL 584.90 602.20 580.10 593.25CHAMBLFERT 233.00 233.30 226.60 230.20HINDCOPPER 120.70 125.45 120.60 125.45ABBOTINDIA 15000.00 15150.00 14910.0015020.00CASTROLIND 126.70 126.85 123.60 124.80CGCL 386.00 396.00 380.70 394.00SUNTV 478.00 480.00 467.45 478.35HUDCO 44.30 45.85 44.20 45.15PNCINFRA 257.45 262.60 254.30 257.30GREAVESCOT 127.25 134.90 127.25 133.60WELSPUNIND 82.75 85.25 82.15 84.70PETRONET 227.70 228.60 225.60 227.70SUNDRMFAST 815.00 839.00 790.00 799.00KTKBANK 61.35 65.40 61.35 64.95CUB 157.50 161.85 156.50 161.25METROPOLIS 2250.00 2266.75 2146.75 2155.05NAVINFLUOR 2781.00 2816.45 2757.05 2772.00MARICO 413.80 413.80 406.00 407.20HINDZINC 278.00 282.85 274.30 280.10CANFINHOME 615.50 617.55 602.50 608.30OFSS 3250.00 3266.00 3189.25 3206.10IFCI 12.09 12.63 12.09 12.62NATCOPHARM 825.55 854.00 825.55 840.00ATUL 7080.00 7450.00 7062.00 7404.05JBCHEPHARM 1289.45 1289.45 1240.00 1251.75BALMLAWRIE 129.70 134.45 128.50 133.50RAMCOCEM 1006.00 1028.50 1003.25 1025.00SIEMENS 1843.20 1865.00 1837.10 1856.05ICICIGI 1435.10 1446.00 1407.60 1437.953MINDIA 30452.35 30975.00 29408.7029480.00ALKEM 2775.00 2793.15 2737.20 2775.80POLYCAB 1399.00 1402.00 1376.75 1391.25RAYMOND 362.00 370.50 362.00 368.40BOSCHLTD 14255.85 14413.95 14029.2014250.00ENGINERSIN 76.75 79.00 76.75 78.50PERSISTENT 1955.00 1976.55 1923.05 1955.00PTC 77.50 79.80 77.50 78.75ORIENTELEC 319.85 319.85 313.25 318.15SCHNEIDER 93.50 98.60 93.50 96.75SPARC 142.65 153.15 142.40 152.20ALKYLAMINE 5733.85 5833.00 5701.50 5796.00BLUESTARCO 952.00 958.00 917.05 922.15UCOBANK 11.44 11.50 11.16 11.42BERGEPAINT 768.00 770.00 761.80 764.85JAICORPLTD 86.25 88.50 85.05 87.90CENTURYTEX 466.00 471.00 455.60 458.65MGL 1185.80 1192.90 1158.50 1182.00MINDAIND 550.15 551.30 531.45 538.00DCBBANK 104.95 105.15 103.10 104.60JSLHISAR 124.55 130.70 124.50 128.00ASHOKA 102.55 104.10 100.15 101.45EQUITAS 87.30 89.15 87.20 87.85MAHABANK 21.25 21.95 21.00 21.45HONAUT 48000.00 48000.00 45876.0045965.80GMDCLTD 55.55 59.70 55.55 58.95CYIENT 654.00 679.00 651.65 661.80MCX 1526.95 1543.70 1508.00 1515.00SWANENERGY 136.85 141.00 134.70 137.30RATNAMANI 1921.00 2069.60 1905.70 2001.00GSPL 275.10 280.30 273.40 274.00STLTECH 198.70 207.70 196.10 206.65RELAXO 875.00 910.00 875.00 907.00INDIANB 117.25 119.50 117.00 118.25

JKLAKSHMI 437.40 440.00 426.55 438.65GODREJAGRO 524.75 531.80 514.30 517.80JINDALSAW 74.80 77.60 74.75 76.65NIACL 153.20 158.80 153.20 155.60TV18BRDCST 29.25 29.35 28.55 29.20NOCIL 177.85 182.90 177.80 180.10KPITTECH 179.00 180.55 174.00 175.75GHCL 231.30 232.95 226.75 230.00IFBIND 1129.35 1149.75 1085.00 1096.10PIIND 2274.55 2304.75 2233.05 2248.50NAM-INDIA 338.65 346.50 335.80 343.85FORTIS 202.00 204.00 198.05 202.10WHIRLPOOL 2236.40 2260.95 2212.20 2245.00JAMNAAUTO 69.25 69.25 66.00 68.80ISEC 385.20 397.40 385.20 393.75SUMICHEM 294.00 294.00 287.00 288.65ORIENTCEM 98.40 102.75 98.40 102.00IPCALAB 1907.20 1910.70 1872.00 1891.50WABCOINDIA 6587.95 6665.95 6390.00 6438.15VIPIND 357.80 361.00 351.30 354.20RAJESHEXPO 484.00 495.65 481.00 492.40SIS 395.00 408.00 382.00 406.75LINDEINDIA 1800.00 1830.00 1773.20 1801.00TORNTPHARM 2560.00 2560.00 2526.00 2545.00ERIS 623.00 636.85 600.05 600.05ECLERX 1127.00 1128.15 1100.00 1101.00J&KBANK 25.75 26.75 25.75 26.70CARBORUNIV 522.00 522.00 504.60 509.00AMARAJABAT 867.00 867.00 856.00 859.95TORNTPOWER 429.95 429.95 422.30 427.05RALLIS 254.95 260.90 254.95 259.60ABB 1420.95 1425.00 1393.00 1397.25NHPC 24.70 24.80 24.50 24.70EIDPARRY 324.20 325.90 319.25 325.50CESC 599.00 609.70 599.00 607.45EPL 236.50 243.65 233.75 235.80BLUEDART 5630.50 5644.65 5514.25 5601.35PFIZER 4522.00 4589.80 4517.65 4555.00CARERATING 411.25 432.00 411.25 430.75BBTC 1125.95 1149.00 1125.95 1145.35CRISIL 1870.35 1870.35 1768.10 1790.40COCHINSHIP 375.20 381.00 372.80 379.80GALAXYSURF 2546.00 2606.25 2522.65 2530.00KANSAINER 599.50 604.70 585.95 591.60MINDACORP 101.00 102.40 100.35 101.10UBL 1244.00 1250.50 1231.30 1239.00PNBHOUSING 378.80 395.50 378.80 393.50JYOTHYLAB 137.55 145.00 137.55 143.85JUBLPHARMA 702.00 718.00 688.75 718.00BASF 2089.80 2160.95 2089.80 2131.05VAIBHAVGBL 3950.00 4040.00 3903.00 4033.20ITI 116.45 118.20 115.65 117.30PARAGMILK 106.75 111.95 106.00 111.35BAJAJELEC 990.00 999.55 975.65 990.45INOXLEISUR 285.25 289.20 277.20 279.05IIFLWAM 1300.85 1346.00 1235.00 1301.80SUPREMEIND 2050.00 2050.00 1986.90 2013.50LUXIND 1775.00 1843.05 1775.00 1821.05GODREJIND 555.85 555.85 533.60 540.00CSBBANK 238.00 239.10 233.65 237.15DALBHARAT 1591.70 1593.00 1552.00 1561.35UFLEX 380.95 390.00 378.75 390.00AEGISLOG 303.05 308.70 292.65 301.25GESHIP 313.00 326.35 312.30 313.50GODFRYPHLP 920.90 934.55 920.55 925.00HEIDELBERG 235.00 241.40 233.10 238.85FINEORG 2305.75 2332.20 2254.20 2287.60SUPRAJIT 283.90 292.25 280.05 289.90JMFINANCIL 86.00 86.25 84.25 85.95MAHLIFE 566.80 571.00 555.00 559.05NLCINDIA 50.95 50.95 50.50 50.75LEMONTREE 37.65 38.00 37.45 37.75KEC 414.75 422.05 412.90 419.40SANOFI 7939.00 8040.20 7872.00 8025.00THERMAX 1346.05 1374.20 1312.00 1329.90REDINGTON 191.00 192.55 182.95 182.95ZENSARTECH 274.40 276.40 268.40 276.40SHOPERSTOP 218.05 218.75 212.55 215.75IIFL 295.00 295.05 282.85 295.05TIMETECHNO 60.90 63.00 60.50 61.70FLUOROCHEM 578.10 616.05 576.25 615.00GARFIBRES 2598.95 2625.00 2582.05 2601.35UJJIVANSFB 31.00 32.00 30.80 31.90TASTYBIT 14319.05 14601.00 14300.0014449.50HIMATSEIDE 147.05 148.15 146.40 146.90MOTILALOFS 618.15 643.60 618.15 643.60MAHINDCIE 164.25 168.70 163.45 166.05TATAINVEST 1038.85 1043.50 1031.65 1035.30JSL 69.45 71.00 67.90 69.55NESCO 529.00 534.90 521.50 523.65VINATIORGA 1415.00 1415.65 1384.40 1399.55AKZOINDIA 2308.15 2377.75 2299.50 2355.50BDL 333.00 339.50 333.00 337.55MAHSEAMLES 270.50 289.30 270.00 284.00TIINDIA 1211.00 1211.00 1153.05 1200.00TNPL 146.75 161.35 145.40 153.90ADVENZYMES 351.80 360.00 351.80 356.75BLISSGVS 100.00 108.00 99.00 101.35KAJARIACER 947.00 950.30 927.75 940.30RITES 242.75 247.00 242.00 244.50SKFINDIA 2273.35 2280.00 2200.00 2252.00MRPL 39.40 40.60 39.05 40.00EMAMILTD 486.80 493.00 481.00 485.50ITDC 384.75 395.20 384.50 388.05DHANUKA 694.15 720.00 694.15 715.00KNRCON 215.90 216.75 210.90 212.80OIL 124.80 124.80 122.65 124.25DCMSHRIRAM 506.20 523.40 506.20 516.35TTKPRESTIG 7288.70 7317.70 7147.30 7257.25

TEAMLEASE 3800.00 3850.00 3713.80 3773.05JAGRAN* 58.70 59.15 58.60 58.95BAJAJHLDNG 3310.00 3376.05 3279.00 3340.10PGHL 6206.00 6206.65 6122.00 6173.90VENKYS 1570.25 1588.00 1553.80 1566.00SJVN 26.10 26.45 25.95 26.15DCAL 110.00 114.95 109.50 113.25NH 415.00 422.45 411.60 417.85DBCORP 93.55 93.55 88.80 91.15VARROC 380.00 385.00 371.00 378.55GRSE 187.80 191.85 186.60 190.05PCJEWELLER 27.35 28.40 27.05 27.60CCL 236.00 238.45 229.10 230.95SUDARSCHEM 524.00 529.75 519.95 522.50AIAENG 2083.65 2089.95 1989.90 2052.00VMART 2797.90 2827.40 2772.05 2820.00SHANKARA 415.00 435.00 414.10 425.10CHENNPETRO 100.00 103.50 99.70 103.35SYMPHONY 1284.40 1312.70 1260.00 1296.00HAWKINCOOK 5414.95 5414.95 5335.00 5390.00ORIENTREF 229.10 240.00 226.30 237.70TCNSBRANDS 500.55 532.35 491.25 521.10AAVAS 2469.95 2519.90 2365.30 2413.30CENTURYPLY 319.00 323.00 315.35 320.00SHRIRAMCIT 1379.90 1447.05 1378.45 1430.00GUJALKALI 347.00 358.20 344.80 353.70

KRBL 184.00 184.00 178.10 179.15ARVINDFASN 139.50 145.70 139.50 144.55VTL 1333.20 1333.20 1257.75 1267.60POWERINDIA 1381.30 1400.00 1347.20 1397.00PGHH 12612.00 12789.95 12466.4012559.20KEI 525.85 533.00 522.65 528.60ZYDUSWELL 1965.65 1990.00 1943.95 1987.95SHK 112.60 116.80 112.60 113.05GRINDWELL 964.90 965.00 930.00 930.00EIHOTEL 94.00 97.35 94.00 95.40STARCEMENT 97.15 100.70 96.75 98.80FCONSUMER 6.00 6.58 6.00 6.58GEPIL 286.00 290.15 284.30 285.45PHOENIXLTD 771.80 775.60 761.30 769.00JKCEMENT 2944.00 2961.00 2900.70 2924.00GLAXO 1440.75 1455.00 1410.90 1425.55BRIGADE 281.00 281.00 264.00 266.00GPPL 99.70 100.50 97.60 99.85FORCEMOT 1170.00 1220.35 1170.00 1206.75JCHAC 2634.10 2695.95 2624.05 2682.00NAVNETEDUL 81.10 85.10 81.10 83.80TCIEXP 935.90 948.00 925.85 928.15JTEKTINDIA 84.35 86.90 84.05 86.30MAHSCOOTER 3608.40 3627.30 3525.90 3607.70MHRIL 213.50 224.00 213.20 220.45ALLCARGO 124.60 127.45 123.85 127.40REPCOHOME 335.10 338.25 333.00 337.50BAYERCROP 5280.00 5390.00 5266.05 5290.00HATHWAY 26.10 26.10 25.20 25.45MASFIN 858.85 864.50 842.00 860.00SOBHA 449.50 449.50 439.00 446.10LAXMIMACH 6853.70 6893.20 6749.00 6885.00HERITGFOOD 293.95 315.00 293.95 313.45CERA 3947.10 3999.00 3843.55 3843.55ESABINDIA 1823.65 1835.00 1788.05 1834.70CREDITACC 675.00 675.00 660.45 667.00NILKAMAL 2016.00 2016.00 1940.00 1970.00KPRMILL 1060.00 1072.35 1054.85 1063.65TVSSRICHAK 1810.00 1818.00 1783.50 1800.00GET&D 115.10 123.80 115.10 121.85SFL 2020.00 2020.00 1980.00 1987.20VSTIND 3414.55 3414.55 3344.75 3369.90CHOLAHLDNG 598.05 603.75 590.45 595.55INDOCO 290.95 294.75 286.20 289.40GULFOILLUB 729.00 744.50 723.50 740.00KALPATPOWR 381.30 384.20 378.75 384.20FDC 285.90 291.95 285.90 289.15WESTLIFE 464.50 464.50 449.30 456.05SCHAEFFLER 5430.00 5550.00 5430.00 5478.05TIMKEN 1300.00 1318.00 1300.00 1308.50FINCABLES 384.05 391.00 383.45 387.25GDL 177.50 181.45 175.65 176.90KSB 910.00 910.10 886.15 888.45SOLARINDS 1292.45 1292.45 1256.00 1291.10TVTODAY 274.85 274.85 265.90 270.75MAHLOG 593.00 593.00 571.10 579.55INDOSTAR 318.20 319.50 312.10 318.00VRLLOG 236.95 236.95 233.00 233.00ASTERDM 138.00 139.05 136.50 139.00SPANDANA 617.00 621.25 613.65 615.00SOMANYCERA 420.20 438.00 420.20 434.85LAOPALA 223.45 225.95 219.80 220.85OMAXE 69.00 69.00 68.00 68.10

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 14798.40 14883.20 14692.45 14867.35 176.65JSWSTEEL 470.55 512.95 470.00 505.50 37.05HINDALCO 329.75 352.00 328.45 348.30 21.45TATASTEEL 821.00 868.90 819.00 858.90 47.05ADANIPORTS 713.50 742.00 705.00 733.55 31.15INDUSINDBK 964.00 997.00 959.10 996.00 41.55KOTAKBANK 1770.00 1813.25 1750.65 1804.00 51.00BPCL 430.60 439.95 428.05 438.00 10.05ICICIBANK 587.55 596.10 580.20 594.75 12.65ULTRACEMCO 6766.00 6933.70 6731.20 6882.00 144.05AXISBANK 706.30 717.00 695.55 711.95 14.50BAJFINANCE 5210.00 5288.50 5161.95 5255.00 105.15SUNPHARMA 600.00 612.70 597.35 610.00 12.20ONGC 103.00 105.25 101.15 104.20 2.05UPL 640.95 656.90 635.00 654.30 12.45BAJAJ-AUTO 3704.00 3764.30 3690.20 3740.00 69.40SBIN 367.70 371.90 363.10 370.95 6.65HCLTECH 992.00 1013.50 990.60 1000.60 17.95TATAMOTORS 306.75 309.85 303.05 307.25 5.45TATACONSUM 641.00 652.95 640.65 650.10 11.20LT 1432.00 1447.85 1420.50 1442.00 23.10HEROMOTOCO 2949.00 3004.95 2933.00 2960.00 46.40DRREDDY 4550.00 4594.95 4522.05 4585.05 69.05IOC 92.00 93.35 91.20 93.20 1.35M&M 801.50 809.80 779.75 806.90 11.65BAJAJFINSV 9730.00 9826.00 9667.50 9810.00 141.40COALINDIA 131.45 132.40 130.60 132.20 1.85SHREECEM 29570.00 30279.50 29445.40 29850.00 384.60INFY 1380.00 1391.60 1371.00 1386.00 17.95HDFC 2524.00 2536.95 2480.00 2530.00 31.90NTPC 107.50 108.75 106.95 107.80 1.25POWERGRID 216.65 219.35 214.75 217.75 2.10MARUTI 6950.00 6991.50 6855.00 6922.00 62.80RELIANCE 2018.00 2030.00 2003.15 2020.00 16.90SBILIFE 881.60 890.05 876.50 887.90 7.05ITC 220.00 220.60 217.30 220.05 1.55WIPRO 418.85 422.85 414.35 416.70 2.55BHARTIARTL 519.95 523.90 514.55 520.45 3.15EICHERMOT 2610.80 2649.00 2588.85 2617.00 13.05CIPLA 819.50 824.00 811.60 818.00 2.90ASIANPAINT 2532.00 2564.55 2532.00 2545.00 7.60GRASIM 1460.00 1467.00 1436.95 1453.05 2.50HDFCBANK 1499.40 1499.40 1465.00 1492.50 -1.15TECHM 1000.00 1007.80 986.00 990.20 -1.25BRITANNIA 3635.00 3670.00 3610.25 3619.10 -5.95TITAN 1560.00 1593.30 1551.55 1553.00 -5.05TCS 3191.10 3215.00 3145.00 3167.00 -10.85DIVISLAB 3618.00 3639.00 3603.00 3610.00 -12.80HDFCLIFE 699.80 704.35 682.30 692.40 -3.80NESTLEIND 17165.20 17188.55 16967.60 17051.00 -114.20HINDUNILVR 2446.80 2446.80 2392.05 2399.00 -32.50

SE 500B

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 34365.60 34743.60 34238.40 34689.55 513.30ADANITRANS 923.00 999.20 917.05 999.20 90.80ADANIENT 1043.40 1116.05 1035.00 1104.65 73.50SBICARD 935.00 985.00 935.00 979.00 50.75ADANIGREEN 1104.90 1160.05 1104.90 1160.05 55.20MOTHERSUMI 203.00 212.40 202.50 210.40 8.95PNB 37.00 38.50 36.80 38.25 1.60BANDHANBNK 341.95 354.95 339.00 352.30 13.40INDUSTOWER 249.80 256.90 246.80 254.50 9.50GAIL 136.25 140.95 135.20 140.25 4.75IGL 519.60 527.80 515.65 526.00 13.65NMDC 136.10 139.20 135.75 138.10 2.75PEL 1777.40 1819.55 1761.80 1786.80 33.65DMART 2885.00 2925.00 2855.50 2910.00 50.95DLF 288.10 293.60 283.50 292.00 4.95LTI 4082.00 4189.00 4072.30 4121.05 66.75JUBLFOOD 2944.95 2968.00 2906.20 2957.00 46.05BOSCHLTD 14244.95 14404.95 14033.15 14300.00 211.60PETRONET 226.80 228.75 225.55 228.00 3.35HINDPETRO 236.00 238.65 232.50 237.80 3.30BAJAJHLDNG 3310.00 3380.00 3277.35 3334.00 40.95HDFCAMC 2935.00 2975.00 2891.15 2955.00 36.00VEDL 229.25 231.80 228.75 231.00 2.25YESBANK 15.65 15.85 15.35 15.75 0.15MRF 83148.00 83449.95 82200.00 82999.00 739.55HAVELLS 1062.75 1072.00 1046.15 1059.00 8.60MUTHOOTFIN 1222.00 1222.00 1199.75 1214.00 8.10PIDILITIND 1811.00 1833.00 1809.10 1821.00 11.60AMBUJACEM 311.85 313.45 307.25 310.70 1.85ACC 1920.00 1920.00 1886.95 1912.00 8.75ICICIGI 1438.00 1446.95 1411.00 1439.00 5.80SIEMENS 1850.00 1866.75 1835.00 1850.95 6.95ALKEM 2766.00 2794.00 2735.25 2780.10 10.30LUPIN 1033.00 1034.95 1019.10 1024.00 3.55MCDOWELL-N 559.00 561.90 552.25 558.00 1.65BIOCON 409.20 413.20 408.80 410.00 1.10CADILAHC 445.00 447.15 440.45 442.00 1.10NAUKRI 4300.95 4324.20 4170.00 4286.90 6.35COLPAL 1555.35 1578.00 1555.35 1560.70 1.35BERGEPAINT 768.00 770.00 761.00 765.00 0.00AUROPHARMA 879.00 886.95 866.35 880.60 -0.70ICICIPRULI 447.45 449.05 437.50 445.00 -0.60TORNTPHARM 2548.95 2556.45 2525.70 2541.00 -4.05UBL 1242.00 1250.05 1230.15 1238.00 -3.45APOLLOHOSP 2886.35 2913.95 2843.40 2894.00 -8.65ABBOTINDIA 15000.00 15160.05 14901.00 14936.00 -47.30GODREJCP 730.70 735.90 723.70 726.80 -2.85DABUR 540.45 543.95 536.80 538.00 -2.50PGHH 12620.00 12796.05 12425.00 12605.00 -73.95MARICO 411.30 411.60 406.20 407.15 -4.15INDIGO 1631.90 1640.00 1601.40 1614.40 -17.55

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London: The most seniorBlack adviser to UK PrimeMinister Boris Johnson hasresigned, the government saidThursday, the day after a reporton racial disparities concludedthat Britain does not have a sys-temic problem with racism.

The government deniedany link between the departureof Samuel Kasumu and themuch-criticized report, whichhas been accused of ignoringthe experiences of ethnic-minority Britons.

The prime minister’s officesaid Kasumu would leave his

job as a special adviser for civilsociety and communities inMay, as had “been his plan forseveral months.”

It denied the resignationwas related to Wednesday’spublication of a report by theg o v e r n m e n t - a p p o i n t e dCommission on Race andEthnic Disparities, which con-cluded that Britain is not aninstitutionally racist country.

But Simon Woolley, a formergovernment equalities adviserand a member of the U.K. Houseof Lords, said Kasumu’s exit wasconnected to the “grubby” and

“divisive” report.“(There is a) crisis at No. 10

when it comes to acknowledg-ing and dealing with persistentrace inequality,” Woolley said.

Kasumu had consideredquitting in February. He wrotea resignation letter, obtained bythe BBC, that accused Johnson’sConservative Party of pursuing“a politics steeped in division.”He was persuaded to stay in hisjob temporarily to work on acampaign encouraging peoplefrom ethnic minorities to getvaccinated against the coron-avirus. AP

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Protesters in Myanmar onThursday marked two

months since the militaryseized power by once moredefying the threat of lethalviolence and publicly demon-strating against the toppling ofthe democratically elected gov-ernment.

The February 1 coup hasbeen met with massive publicresistance that security forceshave been unable to crushthrough escalating levels ofviolence, including now rou-tinely shooting protesters.Outside efforts including sanc-tions imposed by Westernnations on the military regimehave failed to help restorepeace.

In Yangon, the country’sbiggest city, a group of youngpeople shortly after sunriseThursday sang solemn songshonoring the more than 500protesters killed so far. Theythen marched through thestreets chanting slogans calling

for the fall of the junta, therelease of deposed leader AungSan Suu Kyi and the return ofdemocracy.

Protests were also held in

Mandalay and elsewhere.The demonstrations fol-

lowed a night of violenceincluding police raids and sev-eral fires. In Yangon, several

retail shops owned in whole orpart by Myanma EconomicHoldings Limited, which is aninvestment arm of the military,went up in flames. The shopsare the targets of boycotts bythe protest movement.

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Opponents of Myanmar’smilitary government

declared the country’s 2008constitution void and put for-ward an interim replacementcharter late Wednesday in amajor political challenge tothe ruling junta.

The moves, while moresymbolic than practical, couldhelp woo the country’s armedethnic militias to ally themselveswith the mass protest movementagainst the military’s seizure ofpower in February.

The actions were taken bythe CRPH, an underground,self-styled alternative govern-ment established by elected law-makers who were not allowed totake their seats when the militarystaged the coup and ousted anddetained civilian leader AungSan Suu Kyi. The CommitteeRepresenting Pyidaungsu

Hluttaw, the national Parliament,made the announcements onsocial media.

The 2008 constitution,implemented under army rule,ensured the military maintainedits dominance during the coun-try’s decade of progress towarddemocracy, such as by reservingit a quarter of the seats inParliament and retaining respon-sibility for state security. Thejunta that seized power from thecivilian government February 1cites emergency provisions in thecharter as giving its takeover con-stitutional legitimacy.

The CRPH also presenteda Federal Democracy Charteras an interim constitution. Itaims to end Myanmar’s longhistory of military dictatorshipas well as meeting the long-standing demands of its myri-ad ethnic minority groups forgreater autonomy in theirregions.

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The influx of refugees fromMyanmar at the Indian

and Thai borders and else-where is “ominous” and likelyjust the beginning, UNSecretary General’s specialenvoy on Myanmar has told theSecurity Council, warning thatregional security could deteri-orate further and no country inthe region would want a “failedstate” as their neighbour.

Myanmar’s military top-pled the country’s governmenton February 1 and seizedpower for one year, detainingtop political figures, including

de facto leader Aung San SuuKyi and President U WinMyint. The coup sparkedprotests and other acts of civildisobedience, leading to thedeaths of hundreds in militarycrackdown.

The 15-nation Councilheld closed consultations onMyanmar on Wednesday, daysafter the country witnessed thebloodiest day since the demon-strations against the February1 coup began, with securityforces killing at least 107 indi-viduals — including sevenchildren, on March 27.

In her remarks to theclosed meeting of the Council,

obtained by PTI, Special Envoyof Secretary-General AntonioGuterres on MyanmarChristine Schraner Burgenersaid that a robust internation-al response requires a unifiedregional position, especiallywith the neighbouring coun-tries leveraging their influ-ence towards stability inMyanmar.

“The regional security andeconomic consequences aregetting worse and could dete-riorate further. The influx ofrefugees at the Indian andThai borders and elsewhere isominous and likely just thebeginning,” she said.

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US President Joe Biden onThursday let the ban on

foreign workers visa, in par-ticular H-1B, lapse as the noti-fication issued by his prede-cessor Donald Trump expired,a move which is likely to ben-efit thousands of Indian IT pro-fessionals.

Amidst a national lock-down and the Covid-19 crisis,Trump in June last year issueda proclamation that suspendedentry to the US of applicants forseveral temporary or “non-immigrant” visa categories,including H-1B, arguing that these visas pre-sented a risk to the US labourmarket during the economicrecovery.

On December 31, Trumpextended the order to March31, 2021, noting that an exten-

sion was warranted as the pan-demic continued to disruptAmerican’s lives, and high lev-els of unemployment and jobloss were still presenting serious economicchallenges to workers acrossthe US.

Biden did not issue a freshproclamation for the ban on H-1B visas to continue afterMarch 31.

He had promised to lift thesuspension on H-1B visas, say-ing Trump’s immigration poli-cies were cruel.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows UScompanies to employ foreignworkers in specialty occupa-tions that require theoretical ortechnical expertise. Technologycompanies depend on it to hiretens of thousands of employeeseach year from countries likeIndia and China.

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Ashooting at a SouthernCalifornia office building

on Wednesday killed four peo-ple, including a child, andinjured a fifth person beforepolice shot the suspect, policesaid. Shots were being fired asofficers arrived at a two-storyoffice building on LincolnAvenue in Orange, southeast ofLos Angeles, at about 5.30 pm,Lt. Jennifer Amat said.

“An officer-involved shoot-ing occurred” and the suspectwas taken to a hospital, Amatsaid, but she didn’t immediate-ly know his condition.

The shooting was on thesecond floor of the building,Amat said. Media reports saidbodies could be seen on thebuilding’s second-floor walkwayand in a courtyard.

Amat had no details aboutthe confrontation, what mayhave sparked the attack or whya child may have been at thebuilding at 202 W. Lincoln Ave.Signs outside indicated a hand-ful of businesses were locatedthere, including an insuranceoffice, a financial consultingfirm, a legal services businessand a phone repair store.

By 7. pm, the situation hadbeen stabilised and there was-n’t any threat to the public,police said. In a tweet, Gov.

Gavon Newsom called thekillings “horrifying and heart-breaking.”

“Our hearts are with thefamilies impacted by this terri-ble tragedy tonight,” he wrote.

Rep. Katie Porter, aCalifornia Democrat whose dis-trict includes the city of Orange,said on Twitter that she was“deeply saddened” by reports ofthe shooting. “I’m continuing tokeep victims and their lovedones in my thoughts as wecontinue to learn more. Myteam and I will continue tomonitor the situation closely.”

A Facebook livestream,posted by a resident who livesnear the office building, showedofficers carrying a motionlessperson out and providing aid tosomeone else, the OrangeCounty Register reported.

The livestream also showedofficers taking two handgunsfrom someone who was lyingon the ground and providinghelp to another person. Twoother people were led away inhandcuffs, the paper said.

The killings were the latestmass shooting in the UnitedStates in the last two weeks. Tenpeople were killed in a Boulder,Colorado, supermarket last weekand eight people were fatally shot– including six Asian women –in three Atlanta-area spas theweek before that.

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The US state of Alabamahas blocked a yoga bill that

would have lifted a decades-old ban on the popular age-old Indian practice in publicschools after objections fromconservative groups whofeared that fol lowers ofHinduism could engage inconversion, according to amedia report.

Pushed by conservativegroups, the Alabama Board ofEducation in 1993 had voted toprohibit yoga, along with hyp-nosis and meditation in publicschools in the southeastern

state. Last year in March, theAlabama House ofRepresentatives voted 84-17to pass the “Yoga Bill” whichwas moved by state legislatorJeremy Gray from theDemocratic Party.

The bill was then moved tothe state Senate for approval,paving the way for it to becomea law and end the 28-year banin schools. However, the SenateJudiciary Committee onWednesday deadlocked the billafter a testimony fromChristian conservatives, includ-ing representatives of formerAlabama chief justice RoyMoore’s Foundation for Moral

Law, who claimed it would leadto proselytising in publicschools by followers ofHinduism, Tuscaloosa-news.Com reported.

Opposing the bill, conser-vative activist Becky Gerritsonsaid that yoga is a very big partof practicing Hindu religion.Christian-aligned groups havebeen opposing the bill, sayingit would introduce the Hindureligion in schools, the reportsaid. Gray, who had moved thelegislation for its approval, dis-missed the notion that it wouldlead to proselytising in publicschools by followers ofHinduism.

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European nations’ immu-nization campaigns against

Covid-19 are “unacceptablyslow” and risk prolonging thepandemic, a senior WorldHealth Organization officialsaid Thursday.

Dr Hans Kluge, WHO’sregional director for Europe,said vaccines “present our bestway out of this pandemic,” butnoted that to date, only 10% ofEurope’s population hasreceived one dose and thatonly 4% have been fully pro-tected with two doses.

“As long as coverageremains low, we need to applythe same public health andsocial measures as we have inthe past, to compensate fordelayed schedules,” Kluge said.

Even those numbers hidethe true scope of the problemsfacing the European Union’s 27nations, where only about 5.6per cent of its people have hada first vaccine shot, accordingto the bloc. In Britain, that fig-ure is 46 per cent of its popu-lation.

Kluge warned Europeangovernments against having “afalse sense of security” for

having started their immu-nization campaigns. He notedthat Europe remains the sec-ond-most affected region inthe world in terms of newcoronavirus infections anddeaths.

WHO said new COVID-19 infections are increasing inevery age group except thoseover 80, in a sign that vaccina-tion efforts are having animpact in slowing outbreaks.But the U.N. Health agencysaid “early action” to stop thevirus’ spread must be taken inthe absence of high immu-nization rates.

;()% ��3� $)41�-.�><�4��-�,+2,��,1��72=and hacked to death, party men said accus-ing the BJP of the attack. Seven people hadbeen arrested in that incident. A BJP sup-porter allegedly committed suicide byhanging at Nandigram after he was intim-idated by the TMC men, his family mem-bers said though the police said there wasno external injuries found on his person.The Commission had sought report onboth the incidents.

In a third incident the polling agent ofanother TMC candidate Siuli Saha wasattacked and hit on his head by allegedTMC men. The victim had been hospi-talised with Saha complaining of large-scale rigging by the BJP men.

Notwithstanding the second phase sawa healthy 80.43 per cent polling by 5 pmwith Nandigram witnessing 80.79 per centcasting their votes.

With long queues of voters still shownin many areas the polling percentage couldgo up by another 5-6 per cent, officials said.

A district-wise breakup of polling saw81.23 per cent polling for East Midnaporewhile neighbouring West Midnapore wit-nessed 78.02 per cent. In South 24Parganas 79.65 cast their votes whileBankura saw 82.92 per cent polling.

Meanwhile, the BJP had lodged a com-plaint with the ECI alleging how the ChiefMinister blocked polling at Boyal booth inNandigram for more than two hours. “Wehave drawn the attention of theCommission on how the Chief Ministerstopped the voters from coming to thebooth … she also broke prohibitoryorders by taking along with her more than20 people inside the booth,” BJP leader SisirBajoria said.

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However, like Arnold Schwarzenegger,Thalaivar always comes back.

And so he did after a three-year sab-batical, when he came up with the block-buster comedy-horror film“Chandramukhi” in 2005.

Over the years, new-age directorslike S Shankar, K S Ravikumar, PaRanjith, and AR Murugadoss have inter-preted the charm of Rajinikanth in theirown manner in films like “Sivaji: The Boss”,“Lingaa”, “Kaala”, and “Darbar”.

The ‘demigod’ ventured into politicsbut unlike his courageous on-screenself, retreated due to frail health.

After months of speculation on ‘willhe, won’t he’, the actor in December 2020announced he will not float his ownparty. He, however, said he will servepeople in whatever ways he can withoutentering electoral politics.

Rajinikanth is currently filming“Annaatthe”.

He is married to Latha Rajinikanthand is father to two daughters — RDhanush and Soundarya Rajinikanth.The actor never behaves like a superstar,Aishwarya wrote in a book “Standing onan Apple Box” about her life as a celebri-ty child.

“The truth was that my father left hisstardom and his work at the door whenhe came into the house. He was our Appaat home, strict when necessary and lov-ing all through...

“My father never ever behaves like asuperstar at home. For that matter, hedoesn’t behave like one anywhere, exceptin his movies,” Aishwarya, who is mar-ried to superstar Dhanush, wrote in thebook.

In his five-decade career Rajinikanthhas received several awards, includingthe Tamil Nadu State Film Best ActorAwards and Filmfare Best Tamil ActorAward as well as the Padma Bhushan, thePadma Vibhushan and now theDadasaheb Phalke.

The Dadasaheb Phalke award haspreviously been given to icons such asincluding Akkineni Nageswara Rao,Satyajit Ray, Bhupen Hazarika, SivajiGanesan, K Balachander, LataMangeshkar, Shyam Benegal and Gulzar.Amitabh Bachchan was its recipient in

2018. PTI

&' �<>��'.-1��-,+��<,1+&��2,4��4�'.<=,1��,�2-1��5<2;42�financial assistance to support all theindustries that were providing job oppor-tunities to the migrant workers in the state,similar to the Handloom Industries wherea grant of ��1,000 to ��2,000 is given perlabourer.

“This will in turn generate ample jobopportunities at the local level for all themigrant labourers,” the official said.

Under this scheme, all the migrantworkers who have registered themselves onthe portal of the state government will alsobe linked to schemes like VishwakarmaShram Samman Yojana andMukhyamantri Pravasi Rojgar Yojana.

Amid the heavy influx of over 40 lakhmigrant labourers and workers from otherstates following the lockdown, the YogiAdityanath government made plans to har-ness their skills by providing jobs to themin accordance with their profiles.

The official said that the governmentprepared a strategy to provide jobs andsocial security to workers, for which skillmapping of over 25 lakh labourers wasdone. He said to cater to the vulnerablemigrant labourers the government initiatedthe concept of community kitchens andalso took all possible measures to providethem the basics, including food, cleanpotable water, primary health care andshelter.

About 6.75 crore food packets werealso distributed to them during the lock-down, he added.

��O��&21<&��,1�-��-��He has been asked to respond to the noticeby 5 pm on April 2.

The EC data shows that Assembly con-stituencies Sipajhar recorded 83.30 per centvoter turnout, Nalbari 86.69 per cent,Marigaon 81.24 per cent, Laharighat 87.29per cent, Katlicherra 80 per cent, Kalaigaon80.87 per cent, Jagiroad 83.72 per cent and

Dalgaon 81.70 per cent.Reacting to the EC’s notice, the AIUDF

leader Maulana Badruddin Ajmal tweet-ed that Sarma scared of losing election,that’s why using NIA as a threat. His state-ment came as a reaction to the EC’s noticeagainst Sarma over allegedly makingthreatening remarks against Oppositionleader Hagrama Mohilary of the BodolandPeople’s Front.

The second phase of elections wereconducted for 39 Assembly Constituenciesin Assam. More than 73 lakh electoratesacross 10,592 polling Stations are registeredto exercise their franchise in this phase.The election and police officials said thatno incident of violence was reported so farfrom the 13 districts.

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The NHAI has set speed limits forcommuters using the expressway. In phase1, which is in Delhi, the maximum per-missible speed limit is 70 kmph. In theremaining three phases, all in UttarPradesh, the maximum permissible speedlimit is 100 kmph.

The phase thrown opened for publicon Thursday are the second and fourthphases of the Expressway. The first phasei.e. Akshardham to UP Gate of 14 kms, and22-km-long phase 3 from Dasna to Hapurare already operational. The phase 2 of 19kms links UP Gate and Dasna and phase4 of 32 km link Dasna and Meerut.

The project has been developed at thecost of Rs 8,346 crore.

The expressway connecting the citieshas 60 km of expressway drive andremaining national highway. Twenty-foursmall and big bridges, 10 flyovers, threerailway bridges, 95 underpasses and sev-eral pedestrian bridges have been con-structed on the expressway besides high-way amenities.

More than 4,500 lights and camerashave been installed on the entire road.

Over 2.5 meters cycle corridor and 2meters-wide footpath have been drawn

alongside the roads on phase 1 and phase2 of the expressway for the safety of thepedestrians and cyclists.

In order to make the corridor a smartexpressway, weather, travel and otherdetails about the expressway will be pro-vided to the commuters during theirtransit.

The expressway will also be using theautomatic number plate reader (ANPR)technology, with high definition highspeed cameras to tax tolls without the needof the vehicles to stop, thus avoidingunnecessary traffic and saving fuel.

The expressway will also reduce thetime to travel from the national Capital toUttarakhand and much visited places likeHaridwar and Dehradun.

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The steepest fall of 1.1 per cent waseffected in the one-year term deposit. Thenew rate was brought down to 4.4 per centas compared to 5.5 per cent.

The Congress hit out at the FinanceMinister and asked whether the U-turnwas an “oversight” or an “election-drivenhindsight”. Congress leader Rahul Gandhialleged that the small saving rates wouldbe reduced soon after elections.

“There was already loot on petrol anddiesel and soon after the elections end, thesmall saving rates will be reduced and therewill be a loot on the savings of the mid-dle-class. This Government is of jumlas(rhetoric) and the loot of common people,”Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi using thehashtag “oversight”.

Congress leader Priyanka GandhiVadra said, “Really Nirmala Sitharaman‘oversight’ in issuing the order to decreaseinterest rates on GOI schemes or electiondriven ‘hindsight’ in withdrawing it?”

Party general secretary and chiefspokesperson Randeep Surjewala hit outat Sitharaman and said she has no right tocontinue as the Finance Minister.

“Madam FM, Are u running a ‘Circus’or a ‘Government’,” Surjewala asked.

“You have no moral right to continueas FM,” he said.

“One can imagine the functioning ofeconomy when such duly approved orderaffecting crores of people can be issued byan ‘oversight’. Who is the competentauthority referred in order,” he said onTwitter.

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There was no official word on the deci-sion of the Cabinet.Ahead of the Cabinetmeeting, Khan’s close aide and Minister forHuman Rights Shireen Mazari said that allECC decisions have to be approved byCabinet and only then they can be seenas “approved” by the Government.

“Just for the record — All ECC deci-sions have to be approved by Cabinet &only then they can be seen as “approvedby govt”! So today in Cabinet there will bediscussion on ECC decisions incl tradewith India & then govt decision will betaken! Media shd be aware of this atleast!”Mazari, known for her hawkish stand onKashmir, tweeted.

Azhar’s announcement on Wednesdayto import cotton and sugar from India hadraised hopes of a partial revival of bilat-eral trade relations, which were suspend-ed after the August 5, 2019 decision of NewDelhi to revoke the special status ofJammu and Kashmir.

India is the world’s biggest producerof cotton and the second biggest sugarmanufacturer.

In May 2020, Pakistan had lifted theban on import of medicines and raw mate-rial of essential drugs from India amid theCovid-19 pandemic.

Ties between India and Pakistannose-dived after a terror attack on thePathankot Air Force base in 2016 by ter-ror groups based in Pakistan.Subsequent attacks, including one on anIndian Army camp in Uri, further dete-riorated the relationship.

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Parineeti Chopra is basking in the goodreviews that she has got for her powerful and

versatile performances in three back to back films— The Girl On The Train (TGOTT), Sandeep AurPinky Faraar (SAPF) and the recently releasedSaina. Pari reveals that going forward she willonly look to ‘shock and awe’ people with her filmchoices that will allow her to showcase her act-ing skills effectively.

Pari says, “I’m currently over the moon withthe reviews that I have got for TGOTT, SAPF andSaina and I realised that what the audience andcritics loved was my decision to pick versatileroles that helped me shine as a performer. Goingforward too, my film choices will be instinctive,bold and hopefully I will be able to shock andawe people like I have done with these three backto back films.”

For Pari, 2021 has started on a good note andshe intends to capitalise on this positive momen-tum. She says, “They have been praising my workand saying things like Parineeti 2.0, return ofParineeti, the power packed hat-trick of ParineetiChopra. It feels very special and rare as no actorhas achieved this feat of releasing three films inone month and I cannot believe it. It’s been agood start to my year because people have real-ly liked what I have tried to do on screen.”

She adds, “Their love is a big validation thatI should always get out of my comfort zone andshake things up for myself. It’s a big lesson thatI have learnt and I’m going to ensure that Iapply this when it comes to my film choicesgoing forward.”

Listening empowers you to seewith your eyes closed. Yes, visual-isation is what I am talking about.

Since the beginning of humankind,whenever a person wanted to focus onsomething or listen carefully to remem-ber or absorb knowledge, the first stepwas to close the eyes primarily to cutoff the mind from the outer world (visu-als) and remove every distraction. Inearlier times, whether people used totravel to dif ferent parts of thecountry/world without any map serviceor understand a process, they used toclose their eyes and listen carefully tocreate a mental image to remember thedirections and memorise.

We have enough instances from ourmythology or history about the impor-tance of sound, especially in learning.Today, even though the ecosystem isdynamic and the invention of newertechnologies like VR, 4D, AR, etc, areproviding multiple means to consumecontent and learn, the importance ofaudio as the fundamental means oftransferring knowledge cannot be dis-counted. Moreover, with so many for-mats of content, there is an increased

chance of facing distraction andergonomic difficulties in learningthrough video/VR-based education.Even though these formats offer greatentertainment and leisurely experi-ences, it does not suitably address theabove concerns, especially consideringthe post-COVID scenario. During thepandemic, screen times have skyrock-eted, and as a positive measure, peopleare turning to less captive formats tosave their time and health.

Audio-based learning answers allthese concerns so well that some of thesubjects/topics are now made availablein audio formats. These topics can bebest learned on audio, hence, the term‘Audio First’ was coined to describe it.For instance, if an individual has tostudy history by reading a book, theprocess itself is so long and monotonousthat the student loses interest to con-sume the relevant pointers. If you tryto learn the same subject throughvideo, content production becomesunaffordable and time-consuming.However, the same can be taught inaudio most effectively without worry-ing about the high cost of content pro-

duction or long hours of monotonousreading.

Another robust case can be madefor learning languages, which under-standably has considerable marketpotential. Whenever someone wants tolearn a new language, the most crucialelement in the process is to listen to thecontent in the language carefully. It willhelp people attain a knack for the lan-guage, develop better pronunciationand fluency, and eventually make learn-ing much less complicated.

Let us also look beyond students orlearners for developing life skills. Thereis another vast use case of learningthrough audio in corporate L&D formultiple industries like hospitality,travel, food delivery, e-commerce, taxiservice, etc. All the mentioned indus-tries are operations-intensive and haveprofessional requirements to train theirpeople on SOPs (Standard OperatingProcedures) many times over. Withminimal infrastructure or devicerequirements, audio becomes thesmartest choice for corporates to traintheir employees on SOPs without tak-ing additional time from their workschedule or their lives. Audio helps toconvert any activity time into learningtime, unlike other mediums/formats,which require dedicated schedules toconsume the content.

In the next three years, AI-basedvoice assistants will take learning to thenext level. Further to this, voice assis-tants will seamlessly deliver quizzes,facts and interaction-based knowledgein such streamlined ways that peoplewill start preferring them over tradition-al teaching methodologies. This can beattributed to the convenience and per-sonalisation that these voice assistantsare capable of providing.

With the extent of transformationbrought to us every day by AI, machine-learning, data-analytics, and other tech-nologies, it won’t be surprising to see bigleaps in human productivity. A lot of thedevelopments will be linked to the con-sumption of content through audio aspeople are preferring to multitask andcater more time to learning. Rather thanwasting precious time in transiting forwork, moving physical things likebooks, tablets, and computers around,they would prefer to operate devicesthrough voice-commands for a hassleand stress-free lifestyle. We are alreadywitnessing disruption through freshideas like voice recognition, wherein, anAI and machine learning-based techdelivers customised content after recog-nising the owners’ voice. The possibil-ities for the future are immense, andpeoples’ love for audio will be at the cen-ter of new learning experiences. Thenext generation of technology in audiowill be embraced with open arms, justlike radio, MP3 devices, and audio appshave been in recent years.

(The writer is the COO of Khabri.)

Be honest now, are you a bitpartial to Diet Cola? I am.

As much as I like carbonateddrinks, truth be told, they arequite sugary and since mybody can’t get rid of that sugarefficiently enough, the onlyway to fuel myself is the dietpath. But being a diet cola doesnot mean that there has to bea sacrifice on the taste front. Agood diet cola should give youthe same satisfaction as thereal thing. Now, you must bewondering why any discussionaround 350-horsepower carswould have the word ‘diet’ init. Both the Audi S5 and theBMW M340i are not the full-fat, fire-breathing ultra sportssedans. The six-cylinder tur-bocharged petrol-drinkingRS4 and the M3 are no joke,but they are saner than theirbrethren.

So let us get a couple ofthings out of the way. TheBMW M340i can be slotted inbetween the 330i sedan andthe M3. The Audi RS5 isAudi’s only performance sedan

on the market right now. Theyboth have almost 350 horse-power and they can both hit 0-100 in around 4.5 seconds. TheAudi has a V6 and the BMWa straight-six. They have bothbeen sprinkled with the fairydust of each company’s perfor-mance engineers, with suspen-sion and engine tweaks. Butthe big difference is in price,the BMW has an ex-show-room price of �63 lakh and theAudi costs �79 lakhs. Thishuge difference is explainedalmost entirely by the factthat the BMW is locally assem-bled at BMW’s plant nearChennai and the Audi is animport.

But there should be nopresumption here that theBMW is superior to the Audibecause, even though I have a

soft sport for BMW, I love theS5. I loved it in the previousgeneration and I love the cur-rent one. One of my mostmemorable automotive expe-riences was in the S5 and thislatest iteration of the car is a lotof fun to drive. Get onto apiece of tarmac where you canlet the car slide around a bitand it will put a smile on yourface. It has before-you-know-it fast speed and I must admit,I have always been partial tothe Sportback shape of the S5which, in my opinion, is theperfect size for a Sportback.

But you can’t really ever

argue with the sticker price, anon-road price difference of 20lakh is quite massive and makeno mistakes the M340i is noslouch. BMW has given thiscar the manufacturer’s XDrive

all-wheel-drive system whichgives it massive amounts ofgrip no matter what the roadconditions. Unlike a full-fat Mcar, and the M3 is on its waysoon to be one, you cannot put

the car into rear-wheel-driveonly mode. But given thatthis car is relatively affordable,that is not a bad thing. Toomuch power too soon is arecipe for disaster. The M340ihas just the right amount ofpower and performance. It isnot a full-fat M3, but it givesyou a great experience ofpower and performancedespite being a bit of a ‘sleep-er’.

But the Audi is possibly anicer car to live with, and eventhough it feels a bit moredated on the inside, it is the carthat I’d rather live with.

Actor Daisy Shah is an ani-mal lover and often feeds

strays. She says that she alwayscarries food with her when sheventures out. The actor wasrecently seen feeding the straydogs and cows in Andheri.

“I often feed the strays Icome across, as and when I can.I actually have a box of dog bis-cuits in my car wherever I go.So, if I stop at a signal or if I amwalking from my car to some-place and I see these adorableanimals, I always feed them.There is unmatchable pleasurein doing so,” she said.

She says that proper segre-gation of garbage needs to bedone in order to make sure thatanimals don’t consume thewrong things.

“One needs to understandthat stray animals require to eatas well, so they try to fish outfood from wherever possible.Many a time it lands up beingfrom the big garbage bins thatare around the city, which areprovided by the BMC. Thegovernment has surely done itsbit in keeping our city clean byproviding us with these garbagebins, but people are yet unawareof segregating their garbagecorrectly.”

She urges people to dividetheir garbage properly so that itcan be disposed off in an appro-priate manner.

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An American author, MaryAntin, once said, “Amongthe liveliest of my memories

are those of eating and drinking...”Well, I won’t deny it either. Recently,for instance, I, along with three ofmy friends, each distinct from theother, headed towards Gurugram’s32nd Milestone. Climbing up awhite spiral staircase, we made ourway into an Asian-themed bar anddiner — RYU.

The dragon was the prime ele-ment of the bar that distinctlydominated the first floor’s visuals asthe concept creator of the restaurantbelieves that every dragon has a per-sonality of its own, thus, inspiringpeople to delve deeper into theirlayers and exploring different ver-sions of themselves as they relaxcomfortably at the restaurant.

Walking past the interiors, wemoved towards the rooftop andfound a comfortable spot — a cor-ner table. But I was overcome withcuriosity about the meaning ofRYU? To find out the same, Igoogled the name and came toknow that RYU is a fictionalJapanese fighting character andthe protagonist of Capcom’s StreetFighter series. Sitting under theshade of an intricate Japaneseumbrella, I, then, realised that therestaurant is inspired by the cultureand tradition of Japan, China andMalaysia. The warm, dim yellowlights and soft music in the back-ground set our mood for the night.

We started with Chilli garlicmushrooms. The tender buttonmushrooms were tossed in therich flavour of garlic. The slightpungency could be traced to thevinegar and soya sauce. Though ittasted a little sweet due to the useof caramelised onions. Even though

I am not a huge fan of mushrooms,I found myself indulging and goingfor a second round.

Thai crispy vegetables whichhad broccoli, carrots, bell peppers,cabbage and cauliflower wok-tossedin lemon, chilli and a few other Thaiherbs was served next. To ensurethat these remained crunchy evenafter turning a bit cold, the execu-tive chef Lekh Bhadur KhadgaMagar used rice flour. This garlicky,super crunchy dish was certainlythe star of the night, not only for mebut for my pals as well.

Next up was the Classic vegspring rolls. Served with sweetchilli sauce, these vegetables stuffedcrispy tangy rolls were fried to per-fection and didn’t have any trace ofoil, which usually is the norm inother places. Not high on spices orany kind of excessive flavours, it was

comfort food at its best.I wanted to pair beer with the

meal, however, one can’t help butlook at the menu when it has a widerange of cocktails to choose from.Taking suggestions from the mixol-ogist Nikit Singh, we orderedaround five drinks, each with a dif-ferent base. While Pandarama wasa sweet mixture of vermouth, pas-sion fruit, orange juice, thyme &lime float with flamed absinthe(anise-flavoured spirit) and cinna-mon, Sex on the roof had maliburum, Midori, banana puree, pineap-ple and lime. It reminded me of thebeach while chilling on the rooftop.The third was Smoked popcorn old-fashioned. It was a twist of classic oldfashioned incorporated withflavours of popcorn and grapefruitsmoked with RYU’s special osman-thus woodchip and Jameson. The

fourth — Junglebird, with its strongflavours — made the best impact onmy already impressed tastebuds.Another reason was the presenta-tion. It came in a bird-shapedglass, which was surrounded by anest-like arrangement, which jus-tified its name. A twist to aMalaysian classic, this versioninfused jackfruit and thyme rum,tiramisu syrup, Campari, pineapplejuice and lime. Last, the fifth wasgin-based Flower power. It came inwine glasses, shaken with elder-flower yuzu, thyme and lemonjuice topped with in-house saltedcoconut foam.

But I was yet to be done withthe food, Yasai tempura made itsway to my table. This was the veg-etarian version of tempura whichusually consists of seafood, meatand vegetables battered and deep-

fried. But it also had elements ofsushi. It had tempura fried aspara-gus, carrot wrapped with Japaneserice and seaweed flavoured withspicy Japanese mayonnaise. To saythe least, sushi is often a disap-pointment for me but this partic-ular one wasn’t... for sure.

They say an Asian menu isincomplete without dim sumsand momos. It’s true! So we triedtheir Veg momos and Bok choyasparagus. The momos hadminced vegetables as the stuffingand were steamed to perfection.The dim sums filling had steamedbok choy, asparagus and corian-der. It was served with hot chillisauce. You know the dim sum, ifliterally translated, means “touchthe heart”. And this one just didthat.

We were pretty near satura-tion and we ordered a Veg kebabplatter, which included oven-cooked paneer tikka, malai broc-coli and hara bhara kebab. It wasserved along with mint chutney.While paneer tikka and harabhara kebab were exactly howthey are served everywhere, malaibroccoli was the exception. As itis I am fond of broccoli and I havebeen a fan of cheese for as long asI can remember — it was a per-fect fusion for me as it wasflavoured with cream cheese.

I must say — if not for thedelectable bites, people must visitRYU for its exceptional signaturecocktails. In the words of ShyamThakur, co-founder of the restau-rant, “I have always been incred-ibly passionate about cocktails.The flavours, the skill, the kind ofprecision that goes inside creatingone great cocktail – it’s an art wor-thy of obsession.”

Among the zillion other things thatthis pandemic has changed in our

lives, it has changed the way we eat.This means different things for differ-ent people.

While many of us used the timeat home to turn to cooking and bak-ing and completely did away withordering in and takeaways — there-by eating cleaner and healthier; therewere also those who had to juggleWFH and household chores anddidn’t find time to streamline theirdiets.

On the contrary their lifestylebecame more sedentary and eatinghabits more disorganised. Not tomention the physiological reasons forturning to food when the world hasturned upside down.

In short, people are strugglingwith their eating right now andprobably in different ways thanthey’re used to. An expert on Tata SkyFamily Health, Mona Johar,Functional Integrative Nutrition andCo-Founder Mechanism Wellness,lists down ways of mindful eating inthe time of work from home.

STRUCTURE YOUR DAYNot having the usual comfort

zones like socialising, travelling towork or spending time outdoors innature, has pushed us towards eatingdisorders in the last one year. And ofcourse, the havoc caused by theabsence of a routine. It is importantfor people to carry on with a sched-ule, to try to wake up at set times andgo to sleep at certain times. This willgive them a purpose and do away with‘pandemic boredom’. Once there is astructure, things like diet, exercise andsleep will automatically fall into place.

DESKTOP DIETWhen life revolves around a table

and chair for most parts of the day,thanks to home-schooling and WFH,the obvious conclusion is meals on thedesk (read more snacking)! Whilesnacking may help in keeping yourenergy levels up, in a sedentary envi-ronment it also aids your body in stor-ing unnecessary fat. One should havea combination of either low calorieand high protein snacks or low calo-rie and high fiber snacks. Plan yourmeals in advance and keep them asfresh and organic as possible.

EAT MINDFULLYMindful and intuitive eating prac-

tices are not diets. They are mindsetsthat require you to trust your naturalinstincts and listen to your body’shunger and fullness cues. Mindful eat-ing is about rethinking food choicesand practices; going back to tradition-al ways of eating and engaging yoursenses by noticing colors, smells,sounds, textures, and taste. Work yourway up to eating mindfully every dayand forgive yourself when you don’t.It can take weeks, months so bepatient with yourself, and enjoy theprocess of building a stronger mind-body connection and improving yourrelationship to food.

START AN INTUITIVE JOURNEY

�Honour hunger: Keep your bodybiologically fed with adequate energyand carbohydrates. Once you reach themoment of excessive hunger, all inten-tions of moderate, conscious eating arefleeting and irrelevant.

�Don’t eat for the wrong reasons: Getin touch with your feelings and don’tlet food become an excuse for not deal-ing with emotions such as anger, anx-iety, or loneliness.

�Make peace with food: Buy food youfeel like eating. Listen to your foodcravings, it is alright to indulge everyonce in a while.

�Stop when full: Listen for the bodysignals that tell you that you are nolonger hungry. Observe the signs thatshow that you’re comfortably full.

�Don’t over-exercise: Check in withyour body, do not exercise hard whenexhausted, opt for a gentler routine.Have a variety of workouts at your dis-posal and pick and choose based onhow your body’s feeling.

�Exercise and move for enjoyment:Not expressly for weight loss or calo-rie burning.

�Eat nutrient dense food: Notice howyou feel when you choose healthy,high-quality food. Take stock of yourphysical, mental and emotionalresponses.

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The increased participa-tion of English playersin the IPL, where there

is constant pressure to per-form, will benefit them duringthe T20 World Cup to be heldin India later this year, reck-ons star all-rounder BenStokes.

Over the years more andmore English players havechosen to take part in thelucrative league. This year,there are 14 England crick-eters contracted to play IPL,including white-ball skipperEoin Morgan, Jos Buttler,Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, MoeenAli, Sam Curran, Tom Curran,Sam Bil l ings, LiamLivingstone, Jason Roy, ChrisWoakes and Dawid Malan.

“Yes — the percentage of

English players in the IPLhas probably grown in the lastfive or so years,” Stokes, whowill turn up for the RajasthanRoyals, told Sky Sports.

“Not only is that great forthe individual but it is alsogreat for the players involvedin the England set-up; it givesthem experience in the mosthigh-profile competition inthe world but not only that —you are under constant pres-sure to perform,” the impos-ing all-rounder added.

India is set to host the T20World Cup later this year andStokes feels it is the perfectopportunity for English play-ers, who were a part of therecently-concluded tour ofIndia, to get more familiarwith the Indian conditions.

“You’ve got billions ofpeople watching you and

you’ve got the pressure of thefranchise on you.

“Being constantly exposedto that is a huge benefit to usas a team, especially with theT20 World Cup coming up atthe end of the year in India; it’sa great chance for the Englishguys to get more experience inthese conditions,” Stokes said.

After being held in theUnited Arab Emirates lastyear due to the Covid-19 pan-demic, the IPL returns toIndia and Stokes hopes fanswould be allowed back in thestadiums soon.

“It’s great for the compe-tition that it’s come back to itsroots after taking place inDubai last year, which was anachievement in itself.

“Fingers crossed that fanswill be allowed back in atsome point during this IPLbecause they are a huge partof this game and why we play.

“It was an amazing feelingto have fans back in thegrounds on our (England’s)

recent tour of India — eventhough 100 per cent of thecrowd were against us! Beingback in the thick of thatatmosphere was amazing!”

The Royals had a disap-pointing campaign last year,finishing last. However, Stokes

is optimistic about the seasonahead.

“Last year was obviouslydisappointing. Yes, we fin-ished bottom of the table butI think it’s not as simple as that.We ebbed and flowed with ourperformances throughout the

season: we had some greatones followed by some prettypoor performances.

“But every year is a cleanslate and we are really excitedabout the prospects of what weare able to do on the field thisyear,” he added.

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New Zealand beatBangladesh by 65 runs in

a rain-shortened third T20I atEden Park on Friday to claima series clean sweep.

With their innings reducedto 10 overs due to bad weath-er, Bangladesh were all out for76 with three balls to spare, wellshort of the 142 target set byNew Zealand.

The Black Caps made 141for four after losing the toss andbeing asked to bat, with FinnAllen hitting 71 from 29 balls.

Spinner Todd Astle was thestandout bowler, taking fourwickets for 13 runs in his twoover spell.

Captain Tim Southee saidit was satisfying for the NewZealanders to notch their sev-enth home series win of theseason on all formats.

“It’s been a great summer

and we’ve played some goodcricket and seen a lot of guyscome into the environmentand do well,” he said.

Bangladesh captain LitonDas said mistakes cost his side,including a series of droppedcatches that allowed Allen to

run away with the match.“We’re not playing good

cricket in batting and fielding,”he said.

“We’ve been very goodbowling but that’s cost us.We’re a young team and we’relearning.”

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Australian Open championNaomi Osaka crashed out

of Miami Open in the quarter-finals on a day of upsets that alsosaw top-seeded DaniilMedvedev ousted.

Seventh-seeded SpaniardRoberto Bautista Agut beatMedvedev 6-4, 6-2, for his thirdwin in as many meetings withthe Russian who was runner-upto Novak Djokovic at theAustralian Open and ascendedto No 2 in the world with hisvictory at Marseille in March.

Bautista booked a semi-final showdown with 19-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner, theworld No 31 who beatKazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik7-6 (7/5), 6-4.

Against Sinner, he’ll belooking to avenge a three-setdefeat in the third round atDubai.

Women’s world No 2 Osaka— seeded second behind top-ranked Ashleigh Barty in theprestigious ATP Masters andWTA hardcourt tournament— had bowed out hours earli-er, the Japanese star’s 23-matchwinning streak coming to acrashing halt with a 6-0, 6-4 lossto Greece’s Maria Sakkari.

Osaka hadn’t dropped a setat love since her last defeat,which came in February 2020 ina Fed Cup match.

“She has the most wins sofar this year so she’s in greatform — it meant a lot to me,”said Sakkari, who let loose ascream of delight after the finalpoint.

Sakkari will face eighth-seeded Canadian BiancaAndreescu for a place in thewomen’s final.

Andreescu, ranked ninth inthe world, clawed out a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over tenacious58th-ranked Spaniard SaraSorribes Tormo.

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Returning to action afterserving a one-year ban,

Bangladesh star all-rounderShakib-Al-Hasan is ready toplay any role that his IPL sideKolkata Knight Riders expectsfrom him in the upcomingseason.

The Bangladesh super-star, who was part of KKRtitle-winning campaigns in2012 and 2014, played justthree matches for SunrisersHyderabad in 2019 before theban spelt his ouster from thegame.

The ICC had bannedhim for two years, with oneyear of that sentence sus-pended, after he acceptedthree charges of breaching theICC anti-corruption code.

Now in his secondinnings at KKR, Shakib is notaverse to open the batting likeSunil Narine or play the roleof a finisher, beside bowlingthose tidy left-arm spin — toseal his place.

“I’m open to anything tobe honest,” the 34-year-old,who was bought by his formerfranchise for �3.2 crore said.

Since his ban ended inOctober last year, he hasplayed only for his domesticside Khulna in theBangabandhu T20 Cup.

“I’m very much confi-dent, it’s just that I need onegood game to get it going. IfI can start well, I think I cando well for the team.”

In his last stint for SRH,he only played three match-es, while at KKR too he maynot be a regular as he’s primar-ily seen as a back-up optionfor Sunil Narine.

Shakib said it indeedaffects the overseas players tosit out in a game but with theoptions being limited he hasto have an open-mindapproach.

“There are 8-10 overseasplayers in each team andonly four can play. You can-not blame the team selection.

You have to keep an openmind, keep training hard andneed to make sure wheneveryou get a chance, you grab theopportunity with both hands.”

In the post-GautamGambhir era, KKR havemissed playoffs for two yearsin a row and Shakib hopedthings would change this timeround.

“From outside, you cansee it in different ways. Thisteam has grown in last twoyears. This is the year I thinkKKR will be able to deliver theperformance that fans havebeen asking for. I’m verymuch optimistic, KKR will getthe result.”

KKR also have includedveteran India off-spinnerHarbhajan Singh to an alreadystrong spin lineup featuringSunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadavand Varun Chakravarthyamong others.

“We got a very good spindepartment, having said thatwe have got a great pacebowling lineup too. All in all,we have got a very goodbowling lineup,” he conclud-ed.

The two-time champi-ons will kick-start their cam-paign against SunrisersHyderabad in Chennai onApril 11.

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Australia and Chennai SuperKings fast bowler Josh

Hazlewood has pulled out of theupcoming edition of the IndianPremier League to take a smallbreak from cricket and keephimself fresh for the Ashes andthe T20 World Cup later thisyear.

Hazlewood was to departwith other Australia’s IPL-boundplayers and join CSK but decid-ed to skip the cash-rich league,which will start on April 9 andgo on till May 30, and spendtime at home for the next twomonths.

The 30-year-old playedthree games for CSK in the IPLlast season.

“It’s been a long 10 monthsin bubbles and quarantine at dif-ferent times, so I decided to havea rest from cricket and spendsome time at home and in

Australia in the next twomonths,” Hazlewood was quot-ed as saying by cricket.Com.Au.

“We’ve got a big winterahead. The West Indies is goingto be a long tour, withBangladesh (T20 tour) potential-ly thrown on the end of that.

Then potentially the T20 WorldCup leading into the Ashes, soit’s a big 12 months.

“As it always is withAustralia, and I want to givemyself the best chance to bementally and physically ready forthat,” he added.

The right-armer followscompatriots Josh Philippe (RCB)and Mitchell Marsh (SRH) inwithdrawing from the IPL, whilesome other Australians mayconsider opting out also, accord-ing to the report.

With the pulling out of theIPL, Hazlewood is now availablefor the back end of the domes-tic season. He is expected to beavailable for NSW for theSheffield Shield final if theyqualify. “I haven’t been bowlinga great deal ... Workloads are abit too low … hopefully I can usethe next two weeks to build upand if we’re in the Shield final Ican play that,” the pacer said.

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Rajasthan Royals’ newrecruit Shivam Dube says

he is ready to bat at anyposition for his team and islooking to get some “extratips” from Director Of CricketKumara Sangakkara toimprove his batting duringthe IPL.

Dube, who has featuredin one ODI and nine T20s forIndia, was brought by theRajasthan Royals for a whop-ping �4.40 crores.

“I think, I have played atmany positions, so I don’t caremuch about what I can do, Icare much about what teamsneeds from me,” 27-year-oldDube said.

“So if they want me to batup the order, I can bat at any

number, early in the innings,and if they want me as a fin-isher in any game, I can dothat also.

“I have played the roles in

many formats, so I am reallyfree about that.”

After the IPL auctions,Sangakkara had said thatDube’s batting will be themain focus and “if there is anopportunity for him to bowl,it would be very rarely andvery few overs, if at all.”

Dube said he is lookingforward to getting some“extra-tips” from the SriLankan legend, with whomhe will be working in theupcoming season.

“... He (Sangakkara) hasplayed a lot of cricket and heis going to watch me andgoing to tell me what I needto add in my game to improveand to be a better left-hand-ed batsman,” he said.

“Many things would bethere, but from a batting

perspective, it would be morefrom my side to get someextra t ips from Sanga(Sangakkara), so I can per-form well in the tourna-ment.”

Dube said he is solelyfocused on winning the tro-phy for his team.

“First of all ... If I am play-ing for any team, I just expectmy team and myself to aimfor the trophy. I don’t expect(anything personally). . .Because as a professional youknow what you want andwhat teams will give you,what roles you have to playand that you will get from thecoach...

“The one thing I wouldalways be grateful is that I willbe playing for Rajasthan andthey will be trusting me a lot.”

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�&2��>��,��#��$��#'��0��A6Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Ridersbatsman Nitish Rana was onThursday cleared to train withhis teammates after testingnegative for Covid-19, morethan a week after returningpositive for the infectious dis-ease.

The 27-year-old lefthanderhad tested positive a day afterhis arrival in Mumbai onMarch 21, following which hewent into isolation in the teamhotel.

“Nitish Rana had checkedinto the KKR team hotel inMumbai, on March 21 with anegative Covid report whichwas done on March 19... Hewas tested on March 22, dur-ing his quarantine and thereport showed that he waspositive,” KKR said in a state-ment.

“He has had no symptomsand has been completelyasymptomatic since. He isolat-

ed himself and was tested againtoday. We are glad to reportthat he has tested negative. Weexpect him to start trainingwith the team shortly and befully fit well before the start ofthe season.”

Rana had scored 352 runsin 14 matches during the IPL2020 season.

It remains to be seenwhether he will be fit to play fortheir season-opener againstSunrisers Hyderabad inChennai on April 11. PTI

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Germany fell to a humiliating 2-1 home loss to North

Macedonia on Wednesday, hand-ing the hosts their first World Cupqualifying defeat in 20 years andpiling the pressure on coachJoachim Löw.

Napoli midfielder Eljif Elmasscored the winner five minutesfrom time, after Ilkay Gundogan’spenalty had drawn Germany levelfollowing 37-year-old strikerGoran Pandev’s first-half opener.

The four-time world champi-ons have never failed to qualify forfootball’s biggest tournament, butdid not enter the inaugural editionin 1930 and were banned in 1950.

However, Löw’s men arealready languishing third in theGroup J table, three points adriftof leaders Armenia and behind theMacedonians on goal difference.

“That should not have beenallowed to happen,” fumedGermany’s stand-in captainGundogan to RTL after the nation’s

first World Cup qualifying losssince the infamous 5-1 thrashingby England in 2001.

“It felt as though NorthMacedonia only got near our goaltwice and scored twice — it wastoo easy.”

The defeat was just the latestsetback suffered by Germany, aftertheir embarrassing 6-0 drubbingby Spain last November and the

shock group-stage exit at the 2018World Cup in Russia.

The loss, which ended an 18-match winning streak in WorldCup qualifying, will pile more pres-sure on Löw, who will step downafter Euro 2020 in July after 15years in charge.

The result will also weigh onstruggling Chelsea striker TimoWerner, who squandered a gold-

en chance with the score 1-1 aftercoming off the bench in the sec-ond half.

The former RB Leipzig strik-er has now scored only two goalsin his last 31 appearances for cluband country.

In other matches, AntoineGriezmann scored the only goal ofthe game in the second half asreigning world champions Franceground out a 1-0 victory overBosnia and Herzegovina.

Griezmann headed in AdrienRabiot’s cross on the hour inSarajevo to give the holders theirsecond away win in four days.

At Wembley, Harry Maguirethundered home a late winner asEngland beat Poland 2-1 to seizecontrol of their group with threewins from three.

Captain Harry Kane gaveGareth Southgate’s men a first-halflead from the penalty spot but theyfaded at an empty Wembley andwere punished when Jakub Moderstruck after a defensive howlerfrom John Stones.

England looked likely to droptheir first points of the campaignbefore Manchester United defend-er Maguire saved Stones’s blusheswith five minutes remaining afteran assist from the Manchester Cityman.

Also, Italy and Spain winagainst Lithuania (2-0) and Kosovo(3-1) respectively.

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�� Annapurna Club defeated Charminar Club by 41

runs to enter the semi-final of the 1st Mumtaz BegumMemorial Cricket Tournament at NDBG ground olnThursday. Opting to bat, Annapurna scored 198 runsin 34.3 overs, with Rahul Pal (69) being the top scor-er. In reply, Charminar Club were bundled out for 157runs in 27.2 overs.BRIEF SCORES:ACC: 198 (Rahul 69, Vivek 35; Akhil 27/4, Aman38/3, Wahabul 42/2)CCC: 157 (Anuj 45, Vishal 30, Lakhan 23; Chandan28/3, Vivek 45/3)

�� >�� Andhra Pradesh, SAI, Haryana and Punjab won

their respective league matches in the 43rd NationalJunior Girl’s Handball Championship, underway atGreen Park stadium in Kanpur. Andhra Pradeshcrushed Leh-Laddakh 18-1 while SAI registered anone-sided 24-2 win over Uttrakhand. Haryanascored an impressive 18-4 win over Odisha whereasPunjab thrashed Telengana 18-3. Host Uttar Pradeshwill take on Daman & Diu on Friday.

�� ?�� 3Vikas Pandey’s allround show helped CAL

Umpires & Scorers beat Super Nova Club by sevenwickets in a Holi Festival match at Ras Bihari TiwariStadium on Thursday. Batting first, Super Nova Clubpiled up a handsome tottal of 184 runs in the allot-ted 30 overs. In reply, CAL Umpires & Scorersachieved the target in 24.2 overs for the loss of threewickets.BRIEF SCORES:Super Nova Club: 184 (Avinash Singh 35, PaarthNayer 31, Jasmeet Singh 24, Bhupendra Kumar 18,Vikram Monindra 17; Vikas Pandey 4/29, ShahbazKhan 2/37, Abhishek Yadav 1/8)Umpires & Scorers XI: 186 (Santosh Singh 56,Abhishek Yadav 51, Vikas Pandey 39, Anoop Nair 11;Sandeep Chabra 2/28, Jasmeet Singh 1/27).

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