4Rae ^VVed DYRY dVed `WW daVTf]ReZ`_ - Daily Pioneer

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A midst political turmoil in poll-bound Punjab, for- mer Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, setting off political speculation about his next course of action. Singh had an hour-long meeting with Shah, however, he refused to comment whether he would join the BJP. The visit after his assertion on Tuesday that he would be meeting “any political leader” in the national Capital, came amid reports that Singh, 79, may be inclined to an offer to join the BJP or strike an alliance with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after floating a regional outfit. While both Singh and Shah did not comment on the pur- pose of the meeting, Singh’s media adviser said that the former Punjab CM met the Home Minister to discuss the ongoing farmers’ agitation against the three controversial farm laws. “Met Union Home Minister @Amit Shah in Delhi. Discussed the prolonged farm- ers’ agitation against #Farms Laws & urged him to resolve the crisis urgently with the repeal of the laws & guarantee MSP, besides supporting Punjab in crop diversification,” he tweeted. The BJP is on a weak wick- et in Punjab with an election battle in the border State. The saffron party is keen to woo the former Punjab Chief Minister after he was asked to step down in favour of new leader- ship. After his exit, Singh had said he was “humil- iated” at the hands of the Congress high command. Singh has been alleging that instability in Punjab may give Pakistan a handle to cre- ate disturbance in the border State. He has also accused his bête noire Navjot Singh Sidhu of being “close to (Pakistan Prime Minister) Imran Khan” and alleged that he is “danger- ous” for the border State. He also said he would “exercise his options when the time comes”. Besides, alluding to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra, he said they are “inexperienced”. Continued on Page 2 D ay-long hectic efforts to placate sulking Navjot Singh Sidhu came to naught on Wednesday with the cricketer- turned-politician remaining adamant on his resignation from the Punjab Congress president’s post. He made it clear that he would not com- promise on his “principles” even if it meant sacrificing any posts. On the other hand, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi reached out to Sidhu describing him as the “head of the family” while inviting him for talks to resolve the issue. In fact, after holding back-to- back meetings with senior party leaders and also officials all day, Channi left for Patiala late in the evening. Channi, while addressing the media earlier in the day, asserted that he was ready to roll back any move if it sends out a wrong message. Sidhu, who finally breaks his silence after generating political tremors on Tuesday with his sudden resignation that were felt in New Delhi, repeatedly made clear his intentions to all the leaders and party workers who met him that he was in no way going to backtrack on the issues raised by him and stand by his resignation. Continued on Page 2 I ndia’s national Covid-19 vac- cination programme has achieved yet another mile- stone, with almost one in every four eligible Indians (24.8 per cent) having been fully vacci- nated by the end of Tuesday, as per data available with the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday till around 7 am. Another 43.5 per cent have been partly vaccinated. The milestone in coverage comes at a time when the number of active cases of Covid-19 in the country has dropped below the 3,00,000 mark for the first time in at least six months, data shows. Himachal Pradesh leads the country in vaccination cov- erage. The national programme was launched on January 16 this year. India reported less than 20,000 daily new cases for the second successive day as 18,870 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. Impressed by the vaccina- tion pace, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandivya tweeted, “Soaring high on #COVID19 vaccination! India administers 88 crore vaccines in a bid to strengthen our fight against the pandemic. This momentous feat is a celebration of the nation’s determination.” As of Tuesday evening, India has administered 876.2 million doses of Covid-19 vac- cine to 642.5 million people, making the country second only to China (1.1 billion peo- ple inoculated) in terms of the number of people who have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Continued on Page 2 T he Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the roll-out of the “PM POSHAN in Schools” scheme that will provide hot cooked meals to students of Classes 1 to 8 in Government and Government- aided schools across the country. The existing mid-day meal scheme will be subsumed into the PM Poshan Shakti Nirman scheme with the addition of several new components in it, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said while briefing media. “The scheme will cover about 11.80 crore children studying in 11.20 lakh schools across the country,” he said. “The CCEA, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the con- tinuation of ‘National Scheme for PM POSHAN in Schools’ for the five years, from 2021-22 to 2025-26, with a financial outlay of 54061.73 crore from the Central Government and 31,733.17 crore from the State Governments and Union Territory administrations,” the Government said in a statement. The Central Government will also bear the additional cost of about 45,000 crore on food grains. “Therefore, the total scheme Budget will amount to 1,30,794.90 crore,” the statement added. Continued on Page 2 T he Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) requesting the Indian Government to resume com- mercial flights to Kabul in Afghanistan. The letter was written by acting Minister for Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority Alhaj Hameedullah Akhunzada to DGCA chief Arun Kumar earlier this month. This is the first official communication from the Taliban. The last commercial flight between India and Afghanistan was operated by Air India on the Kabul-New Delhi route on August 15, the day Kabul fell to the Taliban. Officials said the letter is currently under review by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). In the let- ter dated September 7, Akhunzada said, “You are well informed that recently the Kabul airport was damaged and made dysfunctional by American troops before their withdrawal. By technical assis- tance of our Qatar brother, the airport became operational once again and a NOTAM in this regard issued on September 6, 2021”. Akhunzada further stated that the intention of this letter is to keep the smooth passen- ger movement between the two countries based on the signed MoU and our national carriers (Ariana Afghan Airline & Kam Air) aimed to com- mence their scheduled flights. Therefore, Afghanistan Civil aviation authority requests you to facilitate their commercial flights”. According to reports, Akhunzada is one of the 14 members of the Cabinet who are listed under the UN Security Council’s sanctions regime. He had been the head of Ariana airlines during the first Taliban regime. Last week, Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced that it is asking airlines to resume commercial flights to Kabul, saying the bat- tered airport is now “fully operational” and promising “full cooperation” with carriers. Currently, international flights in and out of Afghanistan are only being operated from Iran and Pakistan. Besides, there have been special flights from the UAE, Qatar, Turkey and Ukraine. Prior to the Taliban takeover, Air India and low- cost airline SpiceJet operated flights between Delhi and Kabul. These flights mainly flew medical tourists, students, and traders, while carrying spices and dry fruits as cargo. India is yet to recognise the Taliban Government in Afghanistan amid growing concerns over the future of the country across the world. F ollowing a marked improve- ment in the Covid-19 situ- ation in the national Capital, schools for junior classes in Delhi could open after Diwali, said sources. A decision regarding reopening of schools for Classes 6 to 8 in Delhi will be taken after the festival season, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal said on Wednesday fol- lowing a DDMA meeting here. While the L-G did not mention the particular month for a decision on reopening schools for junior classes, sources present at the meeting said it could happen “post Diwali”. “As suggested by the experts, it was decided to con- sider opening middle school classes 6-8, after the festive sea- son,” Baijal, who chaired the meeting, said in a tweet. Continued on Page 2 A mid reports that miscre- ants have infiltrated Bhabanipur in great numbers a day ahead of the high-voltage Assembly by-election, the Election Commission of India on Wednesday deployed addi- tional 20 companies of Central forces to man Thursday’s elections. The ECI had earlier ear- marked 15 companies of Central forces for the high-pro- file constituency from where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting against main contender BJP and the CPI(M). The election is crucial for her as she was defeated in the April-May polls from Nandigram seat and has to win an Assembly seat within the first week of November to con- tinue on her post. After EC decision to rush in more troops, Bhabanipur will witness an unprecedented 35 companies of CAPF man- ning the elections as against Jangipur and Shamshergang constituencies in the border district of Murshidabad where 19 and 18 companies of para- military forces have been deployed. The EC decision to deploy additional companies came after the BJP leadership met the ECI officials and demanded strict implementation of elec- toral procedures in the wake of an alleged attack by Trinamool Congress supporters on party national vice president Dilip Ghosh a few days ago. Continued on Page 2 T he Punjab Police on Wednesday withdrew the security of former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s 20 close associates, including retired IAS officer Suresh Kumar, Lieutenant General TS Shergill (retd), Raveen Thukral, Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, and the former Advocate-General Atul Nanda. The order stated as the per- sons were no longer holding any official position, security personnel deployed with them would be withdrawn. Continued on Page 2 A mid the turmoil in the Punjab Congress, voices of resentment against the role of the Central Congress leadership have once again grown loud. Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday sharpened his attack on the party high command asking who is taking the decisions for the party. Another senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has written to party president Sonia Gandhi demanding an immediate meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) to dis- cuss the current state of affairs in the organisation. The sharp criticism by Sibal did not go down well with a section of party workers who agi- tated in front of his residence with placards that read “Get well soon, Kapil Sibal”. Continued on Page 2 Mumbai: As many as 75 per cent of Covid-19 patients were overcharged by private hospi- tals, a survey carried out in Maharashtra has found. Nearly half of these patients died dur- ing treatment, said Dr Abahy Shukla of the Jan Aarogya Abhiyan, an umbrella group of activists working in the health- care sector. “We surveyed the cases of 2,579 patients, spoke to their relatives and audited the hos- pital bills. Ninety-five per cent of them were admitted to pri- vate hospitals,” he said. Bengaluru: A residential school in Bengaluru has become a Covid-19 cluster after 60 of its nearly 500 stu- dents tested positive. Two were found to be symptomatic and the school has been shut till October 20.

Transcript of 4Rae ^VVed DYRY dVed `WW daVTf]ReZ`_ - Daily Pioneer

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Amidst political turmoil inpoll-bound Punjab, for-

mer Chief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh onWednesday met Union HomeMinister Amit Shah, setting offpolitical speculation about hisnext course of action. Singhhad an hour-long meeting withShah, however, he refused tocomment whether he wouldjoin the BJP.

The visit after his assertionon Tuesday that he would bemeeting “any political leader”in the national Capital, cameamid reports that Singh, 79,may be inclined to an offer tojoin the BJP or strike analliance with the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA)after floating a regional outfit.

While both Singh and Shahdid not comment on the pur-pose of the meeting, Singh’smedia adviser said that theformer Punjab CM met theHome Minister to discuss theongoing farmers’ agitationagainst the three controversialfarm laws.

“Met Union HomeMinister @Amit Shah in Delhi.Discussed the prolonged farm-ers’ agitation against #FarmsLaws & urged him to resolvethe crisis urgently with therepeal of the laws & guaranteeMSP, besides supportingPunjab in crop diversification,”he tweeted.

The BJP is on a weak wick-

et in Punjab with an electionbattle in the border State. Thesaffron party is keen to woo theformer Punjab Chief Ministerafter he was asked to stepdown in favour of new leader-ship. After his exit, Singh had said he was “humil-iated” at the hands of theCongress high command.

Singh has been allegingthat instability in Punjab maygive Pakistan a handle to cre-ate disturbance in the borderState. He has also accused hisbête noire Navjot Singh Sidhuof being “close to (PakistanPrime Minister) Imran Khan”and alleged that he is “danger-ous” for the border State.

He also said he would“exercise his options when thetime comes”. Besides, alludingto Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra, he said they are “inexperienced”.

Continued on Page 2

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Day-long hectic efforts toplacate sulking Navjot

Singh Sidhu came to naught onWednesday with the cricketer-turned-politician remainingadamant on his resignationfrom the Punjab Congresspresident’s post. He made itclear that he would not com-promise on his “principles”even if it meant sacrificingany posts.

On the other hand, ChiefMinister Charanjit SinghChanni reached out to Sidhudescribing him as the “head of

the family” while inviting himfor talks to resolve the issue. Infact, after holding back-to-back meetings with seniorparty leaders and also officialsall day, Channi left for Patialalate in the evening.

Channi, while addressingthe media earlier in the day,asserted that he was ready toroll back any move if it sendsout a wrong message.

Sidhu, who finally breakshis silence after generatingpolitical tremors on Tuesdaywith his sudden resignationthat were felt in New Delhi,repeatedly made clear his

intentions to all the leaders andparty workers who met himthat he was in no way going tobacktrack on the issues raised by him and stand by his resignation.

Continued on Page 2

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India’s national Covid-19 vac-cination programme has

achieved yet another mile-stone, with almost one in everyfour eligible Indians (24.8 percent) having been fully vacci-nated by the end of Tuesday, asper data available with theUnion Health Ministry onWednesday till around 7 am.

Another 43.5 per cent havebeen partly vaccinated. Themilestone in coverage comes ata time when the number ofactive cases of Covid-19 in thecountry has dropped belowthe 3,00,000 mark for the firsttime in at least six months, datashows. Himachal Pradesh leadsthe country in vaccination cov-erage. The national programmewas launched on January 16this year.

India reported less than20,000 daily new cases for thesecond successive day as 18,870new cases were reported in thelast 24 hours.

Impressed by the vaccina-tion pace, Union HealthMinister Mansukh Mandivyatweeted, “Soaring high on#COVID19 vaccination! Indiaadministers 88 crore vaccinesin a bid to strengthen our fightagainst the pandemic. Thismomentous feat is a celebrationof the nation’s determination.”

As of Tuesday evening,India has administered 876.2million doses of Covid-19 vac-cine to 642.5 million people,making the country secondonly to China (1.1 billion peo-ple inoculated) in terms of the

number of people who havereceived at least one dose ofCovid-19 vaccine.

Continued on Page 2

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved the

roll-out of the “PM POSHANin Schools” scheme that willprovide hot cooked meals tostudents of Classes 1 to 8 inGovernment and Government-aided schools across the country.

The existing mid-day mealscheme will be subsumed intothe PM Poshan Shakti Nirmanscheme with the addition ofseveral new components in it,Union Minister forInformation and BroadcastingMinister Anurag Thakur saidwhile briefing media.

“The scheme will coverabout 11.80 crore children

studying in 11.20 lakh schoolsacross the country,” he said.

“The CCEA, chaired byPrime Minister NarendraModi, has approved the con-tinuation of ‘National Schemefor PM POSHAN in Schools’for the five years, from 2021-22to 2025-26, with a financialoutlay of �54061.73 crore fromthe Central Government and�31,733.17 crore from the State

Governments and UnionTerritory administrations,” the Government said in astatement.

The Central Governmentwill also bear the additionalcost of about �45,000 crore onfood grains. “Therefore, thetotal scheme Budget willamount to �1,30,794.90 crore,”the statement added.

Continued on Page 2

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The Taliban’s Islamic Emirateof Afghanistan has written

to the Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA)requesting the IndianGovernment to resume com-mercial flights to Kabul inAfghanistan. The letter waswritten by acting Minister forAfghanistan Civil AviationAuthority Alhaj HameedullahAkhunzada to DGCA chief Arun Kumar earlier this month.

This is the first officialcommunication from theTaliban. The last commercialflight between India andAfghanistan was operated byAir India on the Kabul-NewDelhi route on August 15, theday Kabul fell to the Taliban.

Officials said the letter iscurrently under review by theMinistry of External Affairs

and the Ministry of CivilAviation (MoCA). In the let-ter dated September 7,Akhunzada said, “You are wellinformed that recently theKabul airport was damagedand made dysfunctional byAmerican troops before theirwithdrawal. By technical assis-tance of our Qatar brother, theairport became operationalonce again and a NOTAM inthis regard issued onSeptember 6, 2021”.

Akhunzada further statedthat the intention of this letteris to keep the smooth passen-ger movement between thetwo countries based on thesigned MoU and our nationalcarriers (Ariana Afghan Airline& Kam Air) aimed to com-mence their scheduled flights.Therefore, Afghanistan Civil aviation authorityrequests you to facilitate theircommercial flights”.

According to reports,Akhunzada is one of the 14members of the Cabinet whoare listed under the UNSecurity Council’s sanctions

regime. He had been the headof Ariana airlines during thefirst Taliban regime.

Last week, Taliban’sMinistry of Foreign Affairshad announced that it is askingairlines to resume commercialflights to Kabul, saying the bat-tered airport is now “fullyoperational” and promising“full cooperation” with carriers.

Currently, internationalf lights in and out ofAfghanistan are only beingoperated from Iran andPakistan. Besides, there have

been special flights from theUAE, Qatar, Turkey and Ukraine.

Prior to the Talibantakeover, Air India and low-cost airline SpiceJet operatedflights between Delhi andKabul. These flights mainlyflew medical tourists, students,and traders, while carryingspices and dry fruits as cargo.

India is yet to recognise theTaliban Government inAfghanistan amid growingconcerns over the future of thecountry across the world.

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Following a marked improve-ment in the Covid-19 situ-

ation in the national Capital,schools for junior classes inDelhi could open after Diwali,said sources.

A decision regardingreopening of schools forClasses 6 to 8 in Delhi will betaken after the festival season,Lieutenant Governor AnilBaijal said on Wednesday fol-lowing a DDMA meeting here.

While the L-G did notmention the particular monthfor a decision on reopeningschools for junior classes,sources present at the meetingsaid it could happen “postDiwali”. “As suggested by theexperts, it was decided to con-sider opening middle schoolclasses 6-8, after the festive sea-son,” Baijal, who chaired the

meeting, said in a tweet.Continued on Page 2

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Amid reports that miscre-ants have infiltrated

Bhabanipur in great numbersa day ahead of the high-voltageAssembly by-election, theElection Commission of Indiaon Wednesday deployed addi-tional 20 companies of Central forces to manThursday’s elections.

The ECI had earlier ear-marked 15 companies ofCentral forces for the high-pro-file constituency from whereChief Minister MamataBanerjee is contesting againstmain contender BJP and theCPI(M). The election is crucialfor her as she was defeated inthe April-May polls fromNandigram seat and has to winan Assembly seat within the

first week of November to con-tinue on her post.

After EC decision to rushin more troops, Bhabanipurwill witness an unprecedented35 companies of CAPF man-ning the elections as againstJangipur and Shamshergangconstituencies in the borderdistrict of Murshidabad where19 and 18 companies of para-military forces have been

deployed.The EC decision to deploy

additional companies cameafter the BJP leadership met theECI officials and demandedstrict implementation of elec-toral procedures in the wake ofan alleged attack by TrinamoolCongress supporters on partynational vice president DilipGhosh a few days ago.

Continued on Page 2

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The Punjab Police onWednesday withdrew the

security of former ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh’s 20 close associates,including retired IAS officerSuresh Kumar, LieutenantGeneral TS Shergill (retd),Raveen Thukral, Bharat InderSingh Chahal, and the formerAdvocate-General Atul Nanda.

The order stated as the per-sons were no longer holdingany official position, securitypersonnel deployed with themwould be withdrawn.

Continued on Page 2

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Amid the turmoil in the Punjab Congress,voices of resentment against the role of the

Central Congress leadership have once againgrown loud. Senior Congress leader and formerUnion Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesdaysharpened his attack on the party high commandasking who is taking the decisions for the party.

Another senior Congress leader GhulamNabi Azad has written to party president SoniaGandhi demanding an immediate meeting of theCongress Working Committee (CWC) to dis-cuss the current state of affairs in the

organisation.The sharp criticism by Sibal did not go down

well with a section of party workers who agi-tated in front of his residence with placards thatread “Get well soon, Kapil Sibal”.

Continued on Page 2

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Mumbai: As many as 75 percent of Covid-19 patients wereovercharged by private hospi-tals, a survey carried out inMaharashtra has found. Nearlyhalf of these patients died dur-ing treatment, said Dr AbahyShukla of the Jan AarogyaAbhiyan, an umbrella group ofactivists working in the health-care sector.

“We surveyed the cases of2,579 patients, spoke to theirrelatives and audited the hos-pital bills. Ninety-five per centof them were admitted to pri-vate hospitals,” he said.

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Bengaluru: A residentialschool in Bengaluru hasbecome a Covid-19 clusterafter 60 of its nearly 500 stu-dents tested positive. Two werefound to be symptomatic andthe school has been shut tillOctober 20.

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Hyderabad: A woman hasalleged that she was raped byfour people after making herdrink alcohol, police said onWednesday.

Based on preliminaryinformation, a police officialsaid the incident happened inNizamabad, about 175 kmfrom here, late Tuesday.

The four on bikes offeredto drop the woman at herhouse and took her to a build-ing which was earlier a hospi-tal where they made her drinkthe alcohol and allegedly sex-ually assaulted her, the policesaid. The woman was shifted toa health facility, the officialsaid. PTI

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New Delhi: The remnants ofCyclone Gulab are likely toenter the Arabian Sea onSeptember 30 and intensifyinto a cyclonic storm a day laterand then move towardsPakistan, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) said on Wednesday.

Many areas in Gujarat arelikely to receive rainfall due tothe remnants of Cyclone Gulab.

The IMD said a low pres-sure area -- a remnant ofCyclone Gulab -- was formedover south Gujarat region andadjoining Gulf of Khambhat onWednesday morning.

"It is very likely to move

west-northwestwards, emergeinto northeast Arabian Seaand intensify into a depression by tomorrow(September 30).

"Then it is very likely tomove further west-northwest-wards and intensify into acyclonic storm during the sub-sequent 24 hours (October 1).Thereafter, it is likely to con-tinue to move west-northwest-wards towards PakistanMakran coasts, moving awayfrom the Indian coast," theIMD said.

The IMD said light tomoderate rainfall at most placeswith heavy to very heavy falls

at a few places and extremelyheavy falls at isolated places arevery likely over Saurashtra andKutch in Gujarat.

Heavy to very heavy andextremely heavy falls at isolat-ed places are likely over Gujaratregion, Daman, Diu, Dadra andNagar Haveli and heavy tovery heavy falls at isolatedplaces over north Konkan.

Light to moderate rainfallat most places with heavy tovery heavy falls at isolatedplaces are very likely overSaurashtra and Kutch andheavy falls at isolated placesover Gujarat region and northKonkan, the IMD added. PTI

*,$&����� ���)����� �������������0���! Dumka (Jharkhand): A man

and a woman have beenstripped and paraded naked ina village in Jharkhand's Dumka district for allegedlyindulging in an extra-maritalrelationship, police said onWednesday.

Superintendent of PoliceAmber Lakra said that six peo-ple were arrested during theday over the incident that tookplace in Mayurnacha village inMuffasil police station area onMonday night.

The woman hails fromMayurnacha, while the man isfrom neighbouring Kulhadiavillage, and both workedtogether as daily wage labour-ers. PTI

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From Page 1The Cabinet also decided

to list ECGC (formerly knownas Export Credit GuaranteeCorporation of India Ltd.) toinfuse Rs 4400 crore capital infive years and also approveddoubling of Rajkot-Kanalus,Nimach-Ratlam railway lines.Detailing the ECGC listing,Commerce Minister PiyushGoyal said the Government hasundertaken a series of mea-sures to provide a boost to theexports sector.

The Minister also said thecountry’s exports till September21, 2021, this fiscal were atUSD 185 billion and may touchUSD 190 billion by the end ofthe first of the financial year.The approved infusion alongwith efforts made to suitablysynchronise with the listingprocess of ECGC through theInitial Public Offering willincrease the underwritingcapacity of ECGC to supportmore exports.

Goyal said Rs 500 crore willbe infused in the ECGC imme-diately and another Rs 500crore in the next financial year.The rest would be need-based.He also said the Governmentwill start the process to list theState-owned entity soon, andthe IPO would hit the marketduring the next financial year.

The doubling of theRajkot-Kanalus railway line inGujarat and the Nimach-Ratlam railway line in MadhyaPradesh is at an estimated costof Rs 1,080.58 crore. “The totalestimated cost of the projectwill be Rs 1,080.58 crore and itsescalated completion cost is Rs1,168.13 crore,” theGovernment said in a state-ment after the meeting. Thetotal length of doubling of theline is 111.20 km and the pro-ject will be completed in fouryears.

From Page 1The Delhi Disaster

Management Authority(DDMA) meeting was attendedby Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain and DelhiTransport Minister KailashGahlot, Niti Ayog member VKPaul, AIIMS Director RandeepGuleria,, ICMR DG BalramBhargava and other senior offi-cials of departments concerned.

“Even as the expertsexpressed satisfaction at the

prevailing situation and effortsbeing undertaken by depart-ments and agencies concerned,it was strongly reiterated thatguards in terms of Covid-appro-priate behaviour and its enforce-ment cannot be let down, espe-cially in light of the forthcom-ing festive season,” a sourcesaid.“As advised by the experts,it was decided to open theremaining classes in schoolsafter the festive season,” headded.Several private schoolshave been demanding that theschools reopen now for junior

classes. A group of parents andschool teachers had last weekstaged a protest outside ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal’s res-idence here, and demandedreopening of schools for stu-dents of primary section andClasses 6-8.“Disappointing deci-sion once again by the govern-ment. It has been a month sincethe schools reopened for seniorclasses and all has been wellthankfully so what is the harmin calling other classes as well.The attendance has been less inprivate schools not because of

Covid concerns but becausenot all schools are providingtransport,” said RC Jain, presi-dent, Delhi SchoolsAssociation.However, DelhiParents Association’s presidentAparajita Gautam hailed theGovernment’s decision.

“There have already beenpredictions about a possiblethird wave in October-November. Also the festivalrush can contribute to a rise incases so it’s wise to take aninformed decision after the fes-tivals,” Gautam said.

From Page 1Posting a four-minute video on

Twitter on Wednesday morning toshed light on the reasons for hisabrupt resignation, Sidhu raisedquestions over the recent keyappointments in the Government,including that of the DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP), the State’sAdvocate-General, and even thosefacing corruption charges.

Raising the issues of Bargarisacrilege, Sidhu said that those peo-ple who had given clean chit to theBadals and those who had secured“blanket bails” to former DGPSumedh Singh Saini have beenappointed in the system asAdvocate-General.

“Where are those issues now?I will keep raising them,” he saidwhile attacking the CongressGovernment. “I will not compro-mise. I am not for posts. I can sac-rifice anyone,” he said.

Clarifying that he had no “per-sonal agenda” against anyone,Sidhu said that his 17 years longpolitical career has been for a pur-pose, “to make difference, to takea stand and to make people’s livesbetter...I cannot compromise on myethics, moral authority”.

Sidhu said, “When I see thoseissues are being compromised, Icannot take it when I had vowed tofight for justice for my Guru(Granth Sahib)...I will not misleadthe high command nor can I lethigh command be misled. I willtake it upon myself to fight for jus-tice for my Guru. I will sacrifice anyposts.”

Maintaining that he, alongwith others, worked on removingthe tainted leaders and officersfrom the system, Sidhu said thatnow they are back, and he wouldnot allow that to happen.

A day before, Sidhu sent theCongress party into a tizzy byannouncing his resignation min-utes after the Ministers were allot-ted the portfolios. It has beenlearnt that he was upset over theallotment of Home portfolio toDeputy Chief Minister SukhjinderSingh Randhawa, and insisting onkeeping it with the Chief Ministeronly. Besides, Sidhu was also upsetwith the appointment of senioradvocate APS Deol as AG. He wasbacking another senior advocateDS Patwalia. Deol, till recently, wasappearing as the counsel for Saini,the then State police chief duringthe incidents of sacrilege and policefiring on protesters. What is more!He was also unhappy with givingan additional charge of State DGPto IPS Sahota as he was batting forS Chattopadhyay.

Sidhu was also opposed to theparty’s decision to induct RanaGurjit Singh in the State Cabinet ashe had, in 2018, stepped down asMinister for facing allegations inthe sand mining scandal. Moreover,Rana Gurjit has close ties withSidhu’s bête noire Capt Singh.

Meanwhile, after talking toSidhu, Channi maintained that hehad informed the senior partyleader that “we can talk out if he hasany issues”. Describing the partypresident as “the head of the fam-ily”, Channi said: “The head shoulddiscuss the matters within the

family. I have spoken to Sidhu sahibtoday and invited him for dialogue.I have told him that the party’s ide-ology is supreme and aGovernment follows that ideology.I have told him that if he has anyissues, we can talk those out.”

Channi also maintained thatthis was not an “ego tussle” and hewas willing to invite Sidhu to dis-cuss his issues with the party.“Sidhu does not want to destroy theGovernment...I have already spo-ken to him on the phone since hisresignation,” he added.

Talking on the controversyabout the appointment of Saini’scounsel as the State’s AG, Channisaid that the Government will setup a special team to fight allimportant cases, including that ofsacrilege. “A team of a specialprosecutor and 10 lawyers is beingset up. This team will work underthe special prosecutor. The teamwill handle all important cases ofthe State Government,” he said.

At the same time, he made itclear that all the decisions would betaken as per “the people’s liking”.

“If any move sends out a wrongmessage, I am ready to roll it back.But I will fight till my last breath onthe issues that I have been raisingall this while,” he said.

Even as the reports are that theDeol may be asked to step down,sources informed The Pioneer thatthe Chief Minister has assured thestate’s top law office that he wouldstay. Speculations are rife that dur-ing the expected Channi-Sidhumeeting at the latter’s Patiala resi-dence late at night, Sidhu maydemand Deol’s removal.

From Page 1Youth Congress national president BV Srinivas

took to Twitter and in a reply to Sibal's “who is theparty president?”, said, “Suniye Ji-Huzoor, the partypresident is the one who always ensured that youreach Parliament, who made you a minister when theparty was in power, who made you a Rajya Sabhamember when the party has been in the Opposition.And now when the time comes for struggle...”

Sources said Azad, a former Leader of Oppositionin the Rajya Sabha who currently leads the “Groupof 23” leaders who have demanded organisationaloverhaul in the past, has sought internal discussionsin the wake of exodus of its leaders.

At the same time, Lok Sabha MP from PunjabManish Tewari stated that the kind of politics thatwas going on in his home State was unfortunate, andsince it is a sensitive border State, Pakistan may tryto fish in the troubled waters.

Addressing a Press conference, Sibal, who is partof the G-23 members (group of senior Congress lead-ers unhappy over the state of affairs in the party) alsoquestioned the delay in the election of the party pres-ident, saying the party was in a situation where itshould not be.

“In our party, there is no president. So we don’tknow who is taking these decisions. We know andyet we don’t know”, Sibal said, claiming to speak onbehalf of the group of 23 leaders.

The G-23 leaders wrote a strongly worded letterto party president Sonia Gandhi last year, raising ques-tions over the manner in which the party was beingled. Party general secretary Ajay Maken rebutted Sibalsaying, “Sonia Gandhi ji had ensured that Kapil Sibalbecomes a Minister in the Union Cabinet despite nothaving organisational background. Everyone in theparty is being heard. Want to tell Sibal and others thatthey shouldn’t degrade the organisation that gavethem an identity.” Sibal said he and other G-23 lead-ers did not want to leave the party but strengthen it.“I am speaking in my personal capacity and on behalfof like-minded people who had written the letter lastyear. I stand here with a heavy hart. I am a part of aparty that has a glorifying past. I can’t see the situa-tion it is at the moment,” Sibal said.

Sibal’s remarks come at a time when the PunjabCongress unit is in a fresh crisis after Navjot SinghSidhu resigned as the Punjab Pradesh CongressCommittee (PPCC) chief on Tuesday. Sidhu’sannouncement came as a shock to the Congress cen-tral leadership, which oversaw a leadership changein the State in the last 10 days.

Sibal said the situation the party is in today is dueto the fact that it is without a leader. “There is no pres-ident. The demand is growing to call CWC (CongressWorking Committee) to have some dialogue,” he said.

Sibal said he and the G-23 leaders were notamong those who would leave the Congress to joinother parties. “Ironically, those who were supposedto be close to the central leadership have left them,”he said. “I would urge those leaders who left to comeback because the Congress party is alone which cansave the country,” he added.

From Page 1Among those whose security has been withdrawn

include former Chief Minister’s chief principal secre-tary Suresh Kumar, his senior adviser Lieutenant GeneralTS Shergill (retd), his media adviser Raveen Thukral,another adviser Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, his secu-rity adviser Khubi Ram, his political secretary GurmeharSingh Sekhon, and his press secretary Vimal Sumblyamong others.

Security cover of his team of advisers and OSDs -Amardeep Singh, GS Sodhi, Sandeep Singh Brar,Damanjit Singh Mohi, Gurpreet Singh Dhesi, AnkitBansal, Jagdeep Singh Sidhu, Honey Sekhon, KaranbirSingh, and Narinder Bhabri - was also removed.

The order stated that for those residing in Punjab,the security has to be withdrawn by the Senior

Superintendent of Police (SSP) and Commissioner ofPolice (CP). While for Chandigarh residents, the forcemust be withdrawn by the Punjab Armed PoliceCommandant 82 battalion, Chandigarh, and compli-ance report be sent by 11 am on Wednesday. “Any per-sonnel failing to report by the given time be markedabsent and further departmental action be initiatedaccordingly,” the order further stated.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit SinghChanni reiterated his emphasis on curtailing securityin order to curb VVIP culture in the State and askedthe Police Department to keep only a bare minimumnumber of security personnel with him. During a secu-rity review meeting, the State Director General of Police(DGP) Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota apprised the ChiefMinister that the security personnel strength is beingreviewed keeping in view his directions as well as thethreat perception since he is a SPU protectee.

From Page 1Joining hands with Singh

would give the BJP the much-needed political clout in Punjabwhich it lost following theAkali Dal’s exit from the NDAin protest against three centralfarm laws.

After reaching Delhi, theformer Punjab CM hadclaimed that his visit does notinvolve meeting any politicalleader. “I have come to Delhi tovacate the Kapurthala Housefor the new Chief Minister(Charanjit Singh Channi)”, hehad said.

The sources said the vet-eran Congress leader may alsomeet some of the “Group of 23”leaders, including Kapil Sibaland Ghulam Nabi Azad.

From Page 1Apart from increasing the

number of Central forces, theEC has also directed webcast-ing of polls in all the booths. Inaddition, Section 144 too hasbeen clamped in Bhawaniporeone of the upmarket areas ofSouth Kolkata.

“There will be 17 quickresponse teams and hundredpercent CCTV coverage…inaddition, all the 287 booths willhave micro-observers,” said anEC official adding “the decisionto upgrade security was taken

following a demand from theOpposition.” Massive ban-dobast has been done for theJangipur and Shamsherganjseats in Murshidabad border-ing Bangladesh. Elections tothese constituencies were coun-termanded early this year afterthe Congress and Left candi-dates died of corona.

While 19 companies ofCAPF will man Jangipur whichhas 363 booths, 18 companieshave been deployed atShamsherganj with 329 booths.In total, more than 7.5 lakh vot-ers would cast their votes inWednesday’s polls.

From Page 1Of these, 233.6 million people have received both doses of

the vaccine, while another 408.9 million people have been par-tially vaccinated, said a statement of the Ministry.

Himachal Pradesh leads the country in not only overall cov-erage, but also the proportion of people fully vaccinated. TheState’s entire adult population has been vaccinated with at leastone dose and nearly half (48.3 per cent) fully vaccinated.

Kerala is on the second spot with 92.1 per cent adults hav-ing received at least one dose and 40.3 per cen both jabs.Uttarakhand (91.1 per cent at least one dose and 38.2 per centboth doses), Gujarat (85.3 per cent and 38.1 per cent, respec-tively) and Delhi (79.1 per cent and 37.4 per cent) make up thetop five states in the country.

More than 4.57 crore (4,57,98,120) balance and unutilisedCovid vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to beadministered, said the Minster.

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Government employees,teachers and bus drivers

should be mandatorily vacci-nated against Covid as theyinteract with multiple peopleon a daily basis, said experts ata DDMA meeting held here onWednesday.

At the meeting, it was alsodecided to undertake a “tar-geted” and “intensified” vacci-nation drive through campsand mobile vans with ambu-lances to facilitate the elderly,differently-abled, indisposedand domestic helps, etc. Forinoculation.

The meeting, which washeld under the chairmanship ofLieutenant-Governor AnilBaijal, was attended by seniorofficials of the DelhiGovernment.

They discussed the Covidsituation in Delhi, the vacci-nation programme and thereopening of schools for stu-dents of classes six to eight.

The experts stressed on achange in strategy in the vac-

cination programme to manda-torily cover all groups that areworking in overcrowded set-tings.

They said Governmentservants, teachers and staff inschools and service providerslike auto/taxi and bus driversand delivery personnel shouldbe mandatorily vaccinatedagainst the virus, according toofficial sources.

The vaccination driveagainst Covid-19 had startedacross the country, including inDelhi, on January 16.

The total number of anti-coronavirus vaccine dosesadministered in Delhi hadcrossed the one crore-markon July 31.

Nearly 1,215 Governmentvaccination centres are opera-tional in the national capital,with the capacity of adminis-tering over 3.39 lakh doses.

Till 6.30 pm onWednesday, 1,51,507 vaccinedoses were administered, tak-ing the total number of dosesto 1,77,08,804. Of which,57,16,014 were second doses.

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The national Capital record-ed 41 coronavirus cases

with a positivity rate of 0.06 percent and zero fatality due to theinfection on Wednesday,according to a health bulletinissued by the city Government.

With the new cases, theoverall infection tally in the cityclimbed to 14,38,821. Over14.13 lakh patients have recov-ered from the disease, and thedeath toll stood at 25,087.

Delhi has recorded onlyfive fatalities due to the infec-tion in September so far.

Delhi recorded 34 Covid-19 cases and two deaths due tothe infection on Tuesday, whenthe positivity rate stood at 0.05per cent.

The national capital hadrecorded 32 Covid-19 caseswith a positivity rate of 0.06 percent and zero death due to thedisease on Monday. There arecurrently 392 active Covid-19cases in Delhi, up from 373 onTuesday.

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The Delhi High CourtWednesday sought a

response from Delhi Police ona bail application of an accused,arrested in a case concerningalleged communal sloganeeringat an event at Jantar Mantar lastmonth. Justice Mukta Guptaissued notice to the police onthe bail plea by Sushil Kumarand sought a status report.

The judge posted the mat-ter for the next hearing onOctober 26.

The accused, who is thechief of an organisation called‘Hindu Army’, was arrestedfrom Lucknow, Uttar Pradeshon August 20 and is in judicialcustody since then.

On September 23, a trialcourt here had dismissed hisbail application, saying thatthe investigation was at a cru-cial juncture and there was astrong possibility of him inter-fering in the investigation of thecase and/or influencing andthreatening the witnesses.

Additional sessions judgeAnil Antil had stated that thevideo clip and transcript onrecord were “explicitly infestedwith communal overtures hav-ing the tendency to incite com-munal hatred, disharmony, andill-will between other section ofthe community” and theaccused “has not even specifi-cally disputed his identity in thealleged clip.”

“The allegations are seriousin nature, the offence alleged isalso no less severe than thenature of the accusations,” thetrial court had stated.

Delhi police had opposedthe bail plea of Sushil Kumaron the ground that the videoclips clearly showed that he wasdelivering the allegedly inflam-matory speech at the event heldon August 8.

It was claimed that theobjectionable slogans andhatred/inflammatory speecheswere delivered by the appli-cant/accused against a partic-ular community as part of awell-hatched conspiracy.

The accused had contend-ed before the trial court that thevideo of the alleged incidentwas an “edited record” that wasprepared to intentionally anddeliberately book him.

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The Delhi High CourtWednesday sought replies

from the Centre, Google andIndia Kanoon on a plea seek-ing removal of a judgement andan order in connection with aseven-year-old FIR under‘Right to be Forgotten’, andasked how far this rule can bestretched.

Justice Rekha Palli issuednotices asking them to respondto the petition while listing thematter for further proceed-ings on December 1, when sev-eral similar petitions are alsofixed for hearing.

The court orally observedthat the ‘right to be forgotten’depends on how far it has to bestretched.

“‘Right to be forgotten’depends on how far it has to bestretched. Tomorrow, peoplewho defraud the banks will

come and say ‘please removethe judgment’. We have to bal-ance the rights,” it said.

The court was hearing apetition by one SukhmeetSingh Anand seeking removalof a judgement and an orderpassed in 2015 and 2018 inconnection with an FIR regis-tered against him in 2014 bythe Economic Offences Winghere. The FIR was registeredagainst the petitioner and otherpersons in 2014 pursuant to acomplaint by Samsung GulfElectronic FZE, Dubai.

The plea, filed throughadvocate Tarun Rana, saidmerely by typing Singh’s nameon Google, the web page takesvisitors directly to the links ofthe orders.

In August 2018, the peti-tioner had challenged the non-bailable warrants issued againsthim and the plea was dis-missed by the high court.

Thereafter, he filed anoth-er plea seeking directions to thehigh court registry to blocksearch engines from assessingthe orders in the matter, whichwas also dismissed in May2019.

The plea referred to aninterim order passed by thehigh court in April this year,directing removal of the judge-ment from the search resultsregarding the petitioner in thatcase. It said the petitioner senta notice to Kanoon SoftwarePvt Ltd to withdraw the ordersfrom its system; however, itrefused to remove the orders onthe pretext of website policy.

The petitioner also sentnotices to the Centre andGoogle to take necessary stepsfor removal of the two ordersfrom being viewed throughthe web portal. Google alsoshowed inability to do anythingin this regard, it said.

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The Delhi Police has issuedover three lakh challans,

mostly for not wearing facemasks, so far between April 19and September 28 this year forviolation of various Covid-19-

related guidelines, officials saidon Wednesday.

According to the latest datashared by the Delhi Police,3,00,692 challans have beenissued for such violations sincethe announcement of lock-down in the national Capital onApril 19.

The data showed that ofthe total challans so far, a max-imum of 2,65,258 were issuedfor violation of the mask rule,followed by 29,982 for notadhering to social distancingnorms and 2,365 for con-sumption of liquor, pan,gutkha, tobacco etc. Another1,624 challans were issued forspitting and 1,463 for holdinglarge public gatherings andcongregations, the data stated.

The unlock process beganin Delhi in a phased mannerwith the Government allowingconstruction and manufac-turing activities from May31.

n the following weeks,markets, malls, metro trains,restaurants and bars and manyother activities were allowed bythe city Government.

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The Delhi Government onWednesday decided to

extend the validity of all trans-port documents, including dri-ving licence and permits tillNovember 30. TransportMinister Kailash Gahlot saidthe step has been taken in viewof the problems being faced bythe common people amid thepandemic and to reduce over-crowding at zonal offices.

The Transport Departmentwill issue necessary ordersregarding this extension soon,an official said.

The Delhi Government isalso planning to include around88 Delhi University colleges inthe licence making task, whichwill be open for college stu-dents as well.

In a bid to make the wholesystem more efficient and read-

ily available, the Governmenthas also come up with theDigiLocker platform or themParivahan mobile app, afterthe installation of which car ortwo-wheeler owners will nothave to carry their DrivingLicense (DL) and RegistrationCertificate (RC) all the time.Instead, they can provide a softcopy of these documents to theTraffic Police or TransportDepartment.

Gahlot also convened ameeting with TransportCommissioner Ashish Kundraand other senior officials andinstructed the officers to expe-dite the process of resolving thetechnical issues, pendenciesand grievances related toFaceless Services.

He also asked them toensure that the user experienceof Transport Services be apleasant one and should estab-

lish a benchmark in public ser-vice delivery in the entire coun-try.

According to the DelhiGovernment, in the first phaseof Faceless Services inFebruary, the department hasreceived 2,16,835 applicationsfor vehicle-related services and2,08,224 applications forDriving Licence-related ser-vices, until September 27. Outof which 92 per cent and 79.9per cent of all applicationsunder Driving Licence andvehicle related services respec-tively got approved. The num-ber of applications for Learner’sLicence from August 7 toSeptember 28 is 57,755. Asmuch as 78.7 per cent of can-didates successfully receivedtheir Learner’s Licence from thecomfort of their homes itself,and 12,260 applicants are yet toattempt their tests.

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The South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) has

decided to roll back the hikedproperty tax rates for com-mercial rented establishments,educational institutions, ban-quet halls among others.

The decision to roll backtax hikes will benefit traders. Asenior SDMC official said thatit was decided to put the deci-sion to hike property tax onhold for now.

As per the proposal tabledin the house meeting earlier,the tax on rented commercialproperties was increased on therecommendations of theMunicipal ValuationCommittee-3 (MVC-3) whichwas implemented in April lastyear.The MVC-3 had recom-mended nearly doubling theproperty tax on rented com-mercial premises, telecom tow-ers, vacant commercial lands,vacant industries, marriagehalls, banquets, educationalinstitutions, entertainment andrecreation facilities. These rec-ommendations were imple-mented in April 2020 but wereapproved in July 2020 with ret-rospective effect. A seniorSDMC official said that thecorporation will bear losses ofRs 70-80 crore per year with thedecision to roll back the hike.

Gurugram: The matter inwhich the construction anddemolition (C&D) waste plantoperator who had completelysublet its work to a third partyin blatant violation of norms,has now reached the UnionMinister Rao Inderjit.

The Minister said onWednesday that if theMunicipal CorporationGurugram (MCG), Mayor haswritten to the MCG officials foraction against the company,then the officers should takestrict action against the com-pany.

Union Minister RaoInderjit Singh was present inGurugram to lay the founda-tion stone for developmentworks worth �36 crore withinthe Municipal Corporationboundaries.

While speaking to themedia, Singh was told aboutthe wrongdoing committed bythe IL&FS company the con-cessionaire of C&D waste.

“The Mayor is the electedrepresentative of the public,so the civic body officersshould not ignore the ordersgiven by the Mayor,” Singhsaid.

Now after the matterreached the Union MinisterRao Inderjit, it is speculatingthat strict action will be takenon the company by the MCG

Commissioner soon.Meanwhile, Following an

enquiry into the matter thecompany is yet to respond tothe show-cause notice to theMCG even after severalweeks.

A notice was issued by the civic body asking thecompany to explain whyaction should not be takenagainst it.

The company, instead ofreplying, has sought more timeto file its reply again. MCGCommissioner Mukesh KumarAhuja had given the companytime to file its reply bySeptember 27 which is stillawaiting.

Apart from this, no actionhas been taken on behalf ofthe corporation till nowagainst that operator which isillegally lifting constructionwaste and charging from thepeople.

The work of disposal ofdebris on behalf of theMunicipal Corporation hasbeen signed with the Companybut the company sublet itswork to some other agencywhich is against the agree-ment.

During the probe it foundthat the company gave thecontract to a third party, com-pletely flouting the contractnorms.

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A30-year-old constable ofthe Rajasthan Armed

Constabulary deployed at theDelhi High Court allegedlyshot himself with his serviceweapon on Wednesday. Policesaid that no suicide note hasbeen recovered from the spot.

The deceased has beenidentified as Tinku Ram and hebelonged to Kotkasim inRajasthan’s Alwar.

According to DeepakYadav, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), New Delhi district, aninformation was received thata constable of Rajasthan ArmedConstabulary deployed in HighCourt security has reportedlycommitted suicide by his ser-vice weapon.

“He was taken to a hospi-tal where he was declaredbrought dead, he added.

According to police, theconstable had joined duty at9.30 am on Wednesday at gateno.3 of the court complex afterreturning from a leave.

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ADelhi Police team posed asemployees of the

Municipal Corporation ofDelhi and arrested four men fortheir alleged involvement in acase of burglary in the nation-al Capital.

The accused identified asNitin (25), Anoop (24), Irfan(26) and Ashu (24) – commit-ted a burglary on September 18in a house in southeast Delhi’sKalkaji area. Apart from theburglars, another man – BideshHaldhar (28) – a Mehrauli-based jeweller – was nabbed forbuying these stolen gold andsilver ornaments from theaccused. According to EshaPandey, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Southeast district, onSeptember 18, a resident ofKalkaji lodged a complaintalleging that she left for officealong with her husband in themorning and when shereturned in the evening, shefound the main door of her

house open and her jewelsmissing.

“The CCTV footage of thecrime scene were analysed andfour men were seen roamingrecklessly carrying a poly bagon the day of the incident. Theywere seen carrying the com-plainant’s stolen bag, the DCPsaid, adding CCTV footage ofother cameras in the areashowed the accused men tak-ing an auto-rickshaw fromRavidas Marg. The auto-rick-shaw driver was questioned. Hetold police that he had droppedthem in Mehrauli. Laterthrough sources, police foundthat the men had shifted toAmbedkar Colony, said theDCP. To trace and nab the sus-pects, a team from Kalkajipolice station then posed them-selves as MCD employees andchecked the suspected housesin densely populated colony ofAmbedkar Nagar and nabbedthe first accused, Nitin. Hisarrest subsequently led to thearrest of his associates, said theDCP.

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Amid changing securitydynamic and enhanced

threat from terrorism, theCRPF is in the process ofreforming the organisationalstructure of the paramilitary onthe lines of the Defence forcesto inculcate cohesiveness andcamaraderie in the ranks so asto maximise operational effi-ciency besides being optimal-ly battle-prepared.

On the lines of the Defenceforces, the young cadre officersof the CRPF would be requiredto spend one month, directlyafter passing out from theacademy, with the men in theirbarracks so that they are able tounderstand each other.

“The Training Directorateof the CPRF is in the process ofmaking guidelines for conductof familiarisation training bythe Directly AppointedGazetted Officers (DAGOs)on joining their battalion onfirst posting after Passing OutParade on the pattern of Army,”reads a communication fromthe Training Directorate to theCRPF Academy where thecadre officers are trained.

In Regimented Army Unitslike infantry, armoured unitsand artillery, the young officersin their first month of joining

their units and barracks, usethe same toilet, mess and samefacilities are provided to themen. Each day, they performduties of each rank right fromSepoy up to Senior JCOs(Junior CommissionedOfficers).

After completion of onemonth, their written/practicaltest is conducted by the UnitAdjutant and Final interview istaken by Commandant. Onlyafter their successful comple-tion of one month familiariza-tion training that their formalinduction as an officer in theunit is done by dining in at theofficers’ mess, according to the

communication.This training gives an offi-

cer practical experience andactual feel of each appointmentfrom Sepoy to senior JCO.Also, his men come to knowabout the officers’ traits. Thisalso develops cohesiveness andcamaraderie, it said.

“It is proposed to imple-ment similar familiarizationtraining for DAGOs also,” readsthe order through which theTraining Directorate has soughtcomments from the CRPFacademy to finalise the pro-posed guidelines.

The Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) created through

an Act of Parliament in 1949 isan armed force of the Unionunder the Union HomeMinistry. However, the ethosand culture of CRPF got dilut-ed in the last three decades dueto excessive interaction withthe civil administration andState authorities and continu-ous deployments in aid of thepolice, officials said.

Given the dynamic char-acter of the evolving securityscenario in the region, theCRPF being the lead Forceunder the Home Ministry, willhave to cope with bigger chal-lenges involving low intensityconflicts with high impact for

which it needs to be better pre-pared, they said.

While the CPRF, officialssaid, had been successfullydeployed in various interna-tional conflict theatres in thepast like IPKF (1987-1989) inSri Lanka along with the Army,in Ladakh in 1959 amid borderrow with China, and during1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars

as the organizational of theparamilitary was then on thelines of an infantry battalion ofthe Army. The CRPF was alsoeffectively deployed for unifi-cation of the princely statespost-Independence, they said.

While the young officers inthe CRPF lead the men fromthe front and spend days andnights in jungle operations in

Naxal-hit States, taking LUP(Lying Up Position) and con-ducting long duration opera-tions of over 72 hours, the lat-est move is expected to furtherstreamline the system, theysaid.

While officials welcomedthe move to inculcate cama-raderie in the young officers inthe rank of Assistant

Commandant, they lamentedtheir stagnation in the rank for12 years without proper careerprogression due to the wran-gling between cadre officersand deputationist officers fromthe Indian Police Service. Thecadre officers are also notallowed to reach the top posi-tion of the Director General inthe paramilitary forces.

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The IAF issued an advisoryon Wednesday asking citi-

zens to refrain from throwingeatables in the open as itattracts birds thereby posing agrave threat to aircraft. TheIAF will conduct rehearsalsfrom October one in thenational capital region culmi-nating in the fly past onOctober eight to mark the89th Air Force day.

The main ceremony will beheld at Air Force StationHindan (Ghaziabad).Rehearsals for the display willcommence from October one

wherein aircraft will be flyingat low levels are Wazirpurbridge -Karwalnagar - Afjalpur-Hindan, Shamli - Jiwana -Chandinagar - Hindan, Hapur- Philkua - Ghaziabad -Hindan.

The flypast will includeheritage aircraft, modern trans-port aircraft and frontline fight-er aircraft.

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The BJP on Wednesdaydescribed the Punjab polit-

ical turmoil and developmentsin the State Congress unit asa “clash of ambition” and saidit reflected a “colossus failure”of former Congress president

Rahul Gandhi.Addressing a Press confer-

ence here, BJP nationalspokesman Sambit Patra saidon account of its gross mis-management in Punjab theOpposition party has nowstarted targeting journalists todivert the attention from the

ongoing power struggle in the State.

He said the “personalambitions” are the cause of cri-sis in Congress as the key play-ers there are only pushing theirown agenda with no concernfor peoples’ suffering.

The colossal failure ofRahul, and the entire Congresshigh command came to thefore with the Punjab crisis, he said .

“The Congress, in order todivert the attention from thePunjab episode, has threat-ened journalists and mediatoday and we have seen theconsequences,” he said.

Patra said the party is incomplete disarray which hasalso been pointed out byCongress insiders and leadersthemselves.

BJP leader questionedRahul in Kerala saying that he“ does not believe in borders..”and wondered as to whyCongressman Navjyot SinghSidhu interacted with Pakistanleaders the way he did and whyKanhaiya Kumar, allegedlypart of ‘tukde tukde gang’, wasadmitted into the Congress.Patra expressed concern overthe state of affairs in a sensitiveborder state.

Patra also asked theEditors Guild to take notice ofthe threat allegedly given by asitting Chief Minister to awoman reporter.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday said the CBI

report on use of toxic chemi-cals in manufacturing fire-crackers is very serious and“prima facie” it appears thatthere has been violation of thecourt’s orders on use of bariumand labelling of fireworks.

The bench of Justices M RShah and AS Bopanna said theCBI has found harmful chem-icals such as barium salts in theseized items. The apex courtnoted that manufacturers such

as Hindustan Fireworks andStandard Fireworks purchasedbarium in huge quantities andused these chemicals in thefireworks.

“The CBI report states thatvarious samples of firecrackersand raw materials were col-lected from manufacturing fac-tories which were sent forchemical analysis. It has beenfound that in many firecrack-ers barium and barium saltshave been found. “It has alsobeen found that a huge quan-tity of barium/barium salts hasbeen bought by manufacturersdespite the ban imposed on the

chemical in 2019. It has alsobeen found that labels of fin-ished crackers have revealedthey did not contain the chem-ical composition and year ofmanufacture,” the bench said.

The court had noted onMarch 3 last year that StandardFireworks, HindustanFireworks, Vinayaga FireworksIndustries, Shree MariammanFireworks, Shree SuryakalaaFireworks and Selva VinayagarFireworks were directed toshow cause why they not bepunished for contempt for vio-lation of earlier orders forusing the banned chemicals.

“Considering the reportsubmitted by CBI, prima facieit appears that they violated thiscourt and earlier orders on bar-ium salts and orders onlabelling of firecrackers,” thebench said.

However, it added that “togive one further opportunity tothe manufacturers to put for-ward their case and give thema report of CBI... We direct theAdditional Solicitor GeneralAishwarya Bhati to furnish acopy of enquiry report torespective counsels appearingfor manufacturers by tomor-row. The copy of the report bealso furnished to the counselfor the petitioner”.

The bench said it will beopen for concerned manufac-turers against whom allegationsare made to file a counter affi-davit and granted one moreopportunity to the manufac-turers to put forward theircase with respect to the reportof the Joint Director, CBI,Chennai. It also issued noticesto the manufacturers of thefirecrackers in the case. Thenext hearing is scheduled onOctober 6.

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The society should comeforward to persuade the

Government to make front-of-pack-labelling (FOPL) warn-ings mandatory for the foodindustry to curtail rampantavailability of high fat, salt andsugar foods which are taking atoll on the heart and overallhealth of the people, healthexperts said on Wednesday onthe occasion of World HealthDay.

FOPL is a nutritionlabelling system where infor-mation about the nutrientsand their quality is presentedupfront on a food package in asimple manner and is a prac-tice followed in most developedcountries.

The doctors also advised

the youth to keep themselvesoff tobacco which is a cause ofcancer too. “Because tobaccoleads to a painful slow death,”Cardiac Surgeon Dr DeviShetty said adding, “Indians arethree times more vulnerable toheart attacks than Europeansand Americans. We developheart attacks at a much youngerage. In India, it is the bread-winners of the family who arecoming for a bypass graft. It isvery sad to see an old fatherbringing his son for a bypassgraft. Indians are developingheart attacks like an epidemic,”he said.

Dr Rohit Goel, Consultant,Interventional Cardiology,Fortis Memorial ResearchInstitute, Gurugram, was ofthe opinion that besides tobac-co, unchecked consumption ofunhealthy food and sedentary

lifestyle besides absence ofFOPL on unhealthy food prod-ucts too are harmful for theheart, with youth as young as 40years dying due to heart disease.

“Hence, FOPL warningsare the need of the hour. Theyshould be made mandatory onan urgent basis for the foodindustry so that consumershave informed and healthychoices while purchasing pack-aged food,” said Dr Goel. Itshould be on the line of manda-tory pictorial warnings ontobacco products which havebrought significant changes inpeople’s perception towardstobacco consumption, headded.

“Similarly, FOPL too canhelp cut down non-communi-cable diseases (NCD) burdenwhich is increasing at an alarm-ing rate in India,” Dr Goel said

at the Healthy Talks pro-gramme on the topic “Saveyour Heart from unhealthypackaged foods,” initiated byIGPP, a health platform.

Dr Goel cited examples ofcountries like Chile, Brazil,France and Israel which afteradopting FOPL have succeed-ed in bringing down NCDs lev-els.

The genetic predisposi-tion, high incidence of diabetes,higher stress level, sedentarylifestyle and obesity are themain reasons among others forsuch an alarming rise. Therecent shift of modifiable riskfactors towards increasing con-sumption of red meats, satu-rated fats and trans fats, junkfood is also an important rea-son for this, said Dr TarunKumar, Professor ofCardiology, at RML Hospital.

The doctors said peoplemust adopt a heart-healthylifestyle where they consumefresh fruits and vegetables,engage in physical activity mostdays of the week, work towards

weight reduction and quitharmful habits while theGovernment, on its part,should expedite the process ofmaking FOPL compulsory forthe food industry.

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Sustaining the pace of mod-ernisation, the Government

on Wednesday approved acqui-sitions worth over �13,000crores for buying helicopters,ammunition and rockets forthe armed forces.

The nod was given forthese procurements in a meet-

ing of the Defence AcquisitionCouncil (DAC) chaired byDefence Minister RajnathSingh. Moreover, out of the �13,165 crores proposed acqui-sitions, procurement worth�11,486 cr. (87%) is from thedomestic sources, defence min-istry officials said after theDAC meeting. They said keyapprovals include helicopters,guided ammunition and rock-

et ammunition.Looking into the need of

the Indian Army for anAdvanced Light Helicopters(ALH) Squadron, to improveits integral lift capability ensur-ing its operational prepared-ness, the DAC accordedapproval of procurement of 25ALH Mark III helicopters fromthe public sector aerospacegiant Hindustan AeronauticsLimited(HAL) under BuyIndian-IDDM at an approx.cost of �3,850 cr, in keepingwith the continued thrusttowards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’

and ‘Make in India’.At present, the army has 90

ALH and 75 Rudra,weaponised ALH, helicoptersin service which are indige-nously designed and devel-oped by the HAL in addition toaround 160 older Cheetah andChetak utility helicopterswhich are in need of urgentreplacement.

Meanwhile, giving boost toindigenous design and devel-opment of ammunitions, theDAC accorded approval forprocurement of TerminallyGuided Munition (TGM)

under Buy (Indian-IDDM) cat-egory at an approximate cost of�4,962 cr. from domesticsources. Other proposalsworth �4,353 crores were alsoapproved, they said.

In addition, the DAC alsoapproved a few amendments tothe Defence AcquisitionProcedure(DAP) 2020 as a partof business process re-engi-neering to ensure further ease of doing business for theindustry as well as measures toenhance procurement efficiency and reducing timelines.

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Vice President M Venkaiahon Wednesday said the

emerging geopolitical situationin our neighbourhood is like-ly to pose new challenges tothe border guarding forcesand expressed confidence thatthe Border Security Force(BSF) will continue to thwartthe nefarious designs of ene-mies of peace.

Sounding this note of cau-tion while addressing BSFofficers during his visit theBSF’s Jodhpur FrontierHeadquarters, he also said theuse of drones for smugglingarms and drugs has becomethe latest challenge., he added.

“The way BSF has beensecuring the borders of thenation for the last 56 years ishighly commendable, “ Naidusaid. Appreciating the com-prehensive briefing given byInspector General PankajGoomer along with his team ofofficers to him, Naidu said theBSF had many great achieve-ments since it was raised onDecember one, 1965.

He said, the Force foughtvaliantly the 1971 war with

Pakistan in both Eastern andWestern theatres and broughtmany decorations and laurelsto the nation.

Referring to the inhos-pitable terrains in which theForce remains deployed rang-ing from sub-zero tempera-tures of Jammu and Kashmirto Thar deserts of Rajasthanwhere the temperature rises upto 55 degrees, Naidu observedthat the Force has proved itscapacity to curb insurgencieseffectively in different parts ofthe country. “I am aware thatat present, the Force is fight-ing Naxals in Chhattisgarhand Odisha”, he added.

Stating that the BSF hasmade many supreme sacrificesin the line of duty to preserve

the unity and integrity of thecountry, he said the force’s vig-ilance at the borders andcounter-action against the ene-mies and hostile elementsreinforces the confidenceamong the border populationand provides a sense of secu-rity to them.

The Vice President com-mended the BSF personnel forextending help to people indistress during natural disas-ters like earthquakes andfloods.

He expressed his happi-ness that BSF personnel havebeen sensitizing people in bor-der areas on the COVID-19pandemic and providing nec-essary support to them underthe Civic Action Program.

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Observing that the court’spower of contempt can’t

be taken away even by a leg-islative enactment, theSupreme Court onWednesday held the chair-person of an NGO guilty ofcontempt for not depositing�25 lakh for “scandalisingand browbeating” the court.“We are of the view that thecontemnor is clearly guilty ofcontempt of court and hisaction to scandalise the courtcannot be countenanced,” thetop court said.

A bench of Justices SanjayKishan Kaul and M MSundresh said the chairpersonof NGO, Suraz India Trust,Rajiv Daiya has been “throw-ing mud” at all and sundryincluding the court, adminis-trative staff and the state gov-ernment. “The power to pun-ish for contempt is a consti-tutional power vested with thiscourt which cannot be takenaway even by a legislativeenactment,” the court said.

The apex court issuednotice to Daiya and directedhim to be present on October7 for hearing of the sentence.With regard to recovery of

money, the bench said it cantake place as arrears of landrevenue. The top court hadissued contempt notice toDaiya as to why he should notbe proceeded against and sen-tenced for his endeavour toscandalise the court.

Daiya had told the benchthat he did not have theresources to pay the costsimposed by the apex courtand would approach thePresident of India with amercy plea. The apex courtwas hearing an applicationfiled by Daiya seeking recall ofthe apex court’s 2017 judge-ment by which it had imposedcosts of Rs 25 lakh on it for fil-ing 64 PILs over the yearswithout any success and“repeatedly misusing” thejurisdiction of the top court.

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In an effort to furtherstrengthen the growing

defence ties, India andAustralia on Wednesday inkedan agreement on the “Terms ofReference for the Conduct ofNavy-to-Navy talks betweenthe Indian Navy and the RoyalAustralian Navy.”

The signing ceremony washeld virtually between RearAdmiral Jaswinder Singh andRear Admiral ChristopherSmith. It was consequent to thesigning of ‘Joint Guidance forthe India - Australia Navy toNavy Relationship’ documentby the Chiefs of the IndianNavy and the Royal AustralianNavy on August 21 this year,navy officials said here onWednesday.

The ‘Joint Guidance’ doc-ument sets forth the Navy toNavy Talks as the ‘Principal’medium for the guiding thebilateral relationship. The bilat-eral defence relations betweenIndia and Australia havestrengthened over the years.

Comprehensive StrategicPartnership, Mutual LogisticsSupport Agreement, conduct oftrilateral Maritime SecurityWorkshop and Australian Navyparticipation in Exercise MAL-ABAR are significant mile-stones which underline therole played by both Navies inbolstering this relationship inrecent times. The document

would be pivotal in consoli-dating the shared commitmentto promote peace, security,stability and prosperity in theIndo - Pacific region.

The inaugural Navy-to-Navy Talk with Australia washeld in 2005. Since then, thetwo nations and Navies havecontinued to grow closer at alllevels and with over a decadeof bilateral talks, they remainmore committed than ever tostrengthen and deepen thisimportant Navy to Navy rela-tionship.

The document underpinsthe broad objective of deepermutual understanding, trustand transparency, improvedgoodwill and understanding ofeach other’s concerns andfuture directions, and providesdetailed guidance for the con-duct of the Talks. It also pro-vides flexibility for implemen-tation of separate agreementsbased on the specific outcomesof the Talks.

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The Indian Navy carriedout a rescue mission in

adverse weather conditionoff the coast of Kochi and air-lifted a Filipino crew memberof a merchant vessel after hishealth deteriorated due tosuspected corona. He wasadmitted to naval hospital fortreatment in Kochi.

Giving details here onWednesday, navy officialssaid Michel John Abaygar, theChief Officer of the vesselMV Lyric Poet, was evacuat-ed using an Advanced LightHelicopter (ALH) by theSouthern Naval Command(SNC) on Tuesday. The shipwas en route to Machongfrom Gibraltar.

The Navy got an input at

about 4 PM regarding sus-pected Covid-19 positive caseof a Filipino male crew fromCoast Guard headquarters.The vessel’s local agent inti-mated that the medical con-dition of the Chief Officer,Michel John Abaygar wasseverely deteriorating withdepleting oxygen levels andrequired immediate medicalevacuation.

An ALH was immedi-ately launched from INSGaruda to undertake themedical evacuation. “Thepilots of the helicopter dis-playing tremendous skill andprofessionalism successfullycompleted the mission inadverse weather conditionsand ensured safe evacuationof the patient,” the Navyspokesperson said.

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Monson Mavunkal is thenew ‘star’ in Kerala’s land-

scape. A school dropout fromAlappuzha district, Monsonhas literally taken Keralaites fora ride with his glib speech, cav-alcade of swanky high-endimported cars and display ofwealth.

The VIPs who fell for thisfraudster who introduced him-self as a collector of rare antiqueartefacts include two Ministersin the Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet,KPCC chief K Sudhakaran,former chief of Kerala PoliceLoknath Behra, additionaldirector general ManojAbraham, MPs, MLAs andeven superstars of the movieindustry.

The crime branch sleuthswho took him into custodyhave been grilling him formore details. Monson whocheated a group of people bydefrauding them to the tune of�6 crore has been arrestedearly this week by the CrimeBranch wing of Kerala Police,but not before pictures of Behraand Abraham sitting atop a

chair which the former hadclaimed as the royal chair ofTippu Sultan. Abraham wasseen holding a sword whichMonson portrayed as thefavorite dagger used by Tippu.But sources in Police said thatall antique materials inMonson’s custody were eitherfake or counterfeit.

The confidence tricksterwent to the extent of claimingthat he had in his collection the‘staff of Moses’, the olive oillamp used by Razool, one of theprophets and the original of therare paintings by classicalpainters.

The Government of Keralaeven used a 350 old copperplaque with inscription statingthat the holy shrine ofSabarimala was never a Hindupilgrimage center in its affidavitto the Kerala High Court inconnection with the case ofwomen’s entry in Sabarimala.

Visitors to his house in asuburb in Ernakulam weretaken aback when they saw theartefacts adoring the cupboardin the high security drawingroom.

He had in his collection

two of the thirty silver coinswhich were given to Judas inexchange for betraying JesusChrist and many such things.

He defrauded many peoplein the State with the claim that�2,60,000 crore which was sentto him from abroad had beenheld back by the union financeministry and he needed �10crore to get the cash released.

Monson’s social mediapage is full of pictures of himrubbing shoulders with thepower and mighty of Kerala. KSudhakaran, while speakingto reporters, said he knewMonson as a fitness expertand had sought his help to getrid of a medical disorder.Congress MP Haiby Eden hasissued a stern warning to themedia for publishing his pic-tures with Monson. “This is ahandiwork of the ChiefMinister’s Office to deliberate-ly tarnish my reputation,” saidSudhakaran.

The fraudster has friend-ship with many senior policeofficers who allegedly torpedoed all investigationsordered against him by the topbrass.

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The daily Covid-19 deathscame to 49 and infections

rose marginally to 3,187 inMaharashtra on Wednesday,even as 3,253 patients were dis-charged from various hospitalsacross the State after full recov-ery.

A day after the state loggedCovid 19-triggered 60 deathsand 2,844 infections, the pan-demic claimed 49 lives and left3,187 others infected.

With 49 fresh deathsreported on Monday, the totalnumber of deaths in the Stateincreased from 1,38,962 to1,39,011.

With 3,187 fresh cases, thetotal number of infections rosefrom 65,44,606 to 65,47,793.

As many as 3,253 patientswere discharged from the hos-pitals across the State after fullrecovery, the total number ofpeople discharged from thehospitals since the second weekof March last year increasedfrom 63,65,277 to 63,68,530.The recovery rate in the statestood static at 97.26 per cent.

The total “active cases” inthe state dropped marginallyfrom 36,794 to 36,675. Thefatality rate in the state stoodstatic at 2.12 per cent.

Pune with 9,280 activecases emerged as the first in thestate in terms of maximumnumber of “active cases” in thestate, while Thane with 6,083cases stood second in the state,followed by Ahmednagar(5,237), Mumbai (5,144) andSatara (2,038).

Of the 5,88,84,819 samplessent to various laboratoriesacross the state so far, 65,47,793have tested positive (11.18 percent) for Covid-19 untilWednesday.

Currently, 2,52,309 peopleare in home quarantine while1,453 people are in institutionalquarantine.

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First of its kind Army muse-um and a state-of-art war

memorial are being set up inMumbai to commemorate theglorious achievements of theIndian Army and to showcasethe experiences of its bravery,prowess and restraint.

The MaharashtraGovernment plans to throwopen a section of the museumby the 75th anniversary ofIndia’s Independence onAugust 15, 2022.

Presiding over a meeting oftop Army personnel and seniorbureaucrats held at his officialresidence “Varsha” in southMumbai, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeraydirected to find a location forthe project immediately andtake steps to complete thedevelopment of the museum bythe next Independence day. “We want a part of the Museumto be opened to the public byAugust 15, 2022,” he said.

At the meeting, IndianArmy’s Lt. Gen. S. K. Parasherand Brig. Achalesh Shanker,BMC Commissioner I. S.Chahal, Urban DevelopmentPrincipal Secretary BhushanGagrani, CMO’s Ashish KumarSingh, Vikas Kharge and oth-ers were present.

The Chief Minister askedthe state administration to setup an advisory and designcommittee with the participa-tion of army officers to preparea blueprint on the variousaspects of the proposed armymuseum.

He said that the proposedmuseum should provide visi-tors a glimpse of the difficultterrains the soldiers work in the

border areas of the country,provide them a feel of howarmy bunkers look like, howsoldiers survive in extremeweathers like minus zerodegree in Siachen Glacier or thewalking through scorchingdeserts with heavy weapons,and the dense jungles.

Among other things, themuseum will highlight successstories of the heroism of thedefence forces, the soldiersand officers from the statewho participated and fought invarious wars, display theweapons and ammunition,tanks, planes, boats, medals,uniforms and rank structure ofthe soldiers.

In addition, on display atthe museum will be replicas ofaircraft, boats, helicopters,tanks with historical informa-tion about IndianIndependence, the photographsof top medal winners and theirheroic exploits. There will alsobe an amphitheatre attached tothe museum.

The chief minister saidthat there would be an activi-ty area for the youth to getinformation and guidance onphysical fitness, motivate themto join the armed forces, alongwith some basic practicalcourses.

“A system should be inplace to provide a rich andwholesome experience to thevisitors and tourists throughcomprehensive information onthe overall strength of theIndian Army and the defenceforces,” the chief minister said.

Currently, Maharashtra hasa full-f ledged dedicatedCavalry TankMuseum inAhmednagar in westernMaharashtra.

One of its kind museumsin Asia, this museum wasestablished by the ArmoredCorps Centre and School inFebruary 1994. It houses about50 exhibits of vintage armouredfighting vehicles.

The oldest exhibit is thesilver Ghost Rolls –RoyaceArmoured car (Indian Pattern).The older exhibits date to FirstWorld War vintage and servedon the battlefields of CambrianSomme and Flanders. A largenumber of vehicles are from theSecond World War period.

Among the exhibits, thereis a British Valentine whilethere are two Churchill Mk. VIIinfantry tanks, along with aMatilda II of similar type, anImperial Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go light tank and a Type 97Chi-Ha medium tank, a USSherman Crab mine-flail tank,a British Centurion Mk. IImain battle tank (MBT), aNazi German SchwererPanzerspähwagen lightarmoured car and IndianVijayanta MBT.

Also on display is a BritishArcher tank destroyer (basedon the Valentine tank), aCanadian Sexton self-propelledartillery tracked-vehicle, USM3 Stuart and M22 Locustlight tanks, together with anAmerican M3 Medium Tankand various armoured carsfrom different eras and periodsof conflicts.

A Nazi German 88mmanti-aircraft/armour field-guncaptured from German troops(possibly belonging to the 15thPanzer Division of the AfrikaKorps), based on the division-al markings on the artillery-piece, is also on display at themuseum.

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Atotal of 12 cadres of the newly-formed insurgentgroup, United Liberation of Bodoland (ULB),

on Wednesday surrendered with a cache of arms inAssam, a senior police officer said.

The insurgents surrendered near the India-Bhutan border in Udalguri district and werebrought to Dimakuchi police station for complet-ing necessary formalities, Special DirectorGeneral of Police-cum-IGP (BTAD) L R Bishnoi

told PTI. "Among them, self-styled ‘Kokrajhar dis-trict commander-in-chief ' of ULB Pinjit is there. Thecadres also deposited some arms,” he said.

With this development, all members of the ULBhave surrendered, Bishnoi said. ]The police hadearlier arrested 12 cadres of the outfit and two ULBinsurgents had died in an encounter, Bishnoiadded.

Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister HimantaBiswa Sarma tweeted, “Continuing our outreach tobring home youths from path of militancy, all thecadres of newly formed group United Liberation ofBodoland (ULB) have returned home today.”

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The General Officer Commanding of theArmy's 15 Corps led all ranks on

Wednesday in paying tributes to a soldierwho died in a landslide in Jammu andKashmir's Baramulla district.

"The GoC, Chinar Corps and all rankslaid a wreath on the mortal remains of thebraveheart, Naik Dharmendra KumarSingh of the EME, posted with the SikhRegiment, at the Chinar Corps WarMemorial," a Defence spokesperson saidhere.

He said Singh was detailed for dutywhen a part of an operational track brokedue to a small landslide and an Army truckfell off the edge down into a deep valley,leading to the soldier's death on the spotat Gugaldhar on Monday.

Singh (36), who had joined the Armyin 2008, hailed from Bihar's Rohtas district.He is survived by his wife.

His mortal remains will be taken for thelast rites to his native place, where he wouldbe laid to rest with full military honours,the defence spokesperson said.

Lucknow: The Congress in Uttar Pradesh isexpected to launch its poll campaign for the 2022Assembly elections on October 9 with partyGeneral Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadraaddressing a public rally in Varanasi.

Former Varanasi MP Rajesh Mishra con-firmed that preparations for the rally have begunand added that the event was being organisedto give a message of change to the people acrossthe state.

The Congress has also decided to bet onyoung candidates for the 2022 Assembly elec-tions and sources said that the party may give60 per cent of its tickets to those in the age groupof 30 to 40 years.

Priyanka, who is in Lucknow on a five-dayvisit, is said to have given her consent for this.

The Congress is inviting applications fromprospective candidates till October 10.

"Focus on the youth and their issues is clearin various strategy, election, campaign and man-ifesto meetings. The leadership feels that this isthe group which has suffered most at the hands

of the myopic vision of the BJP Government and,therefore, wants change. Putting up good can-didates with whom the public can relate is a nat-ural thought," a party functionary said.

Veterans in the party, however, believe thatthe Congress needs more than a formula for itsrevival in Uttar Pradesh.

"The party is still struggling to put thingsin an affirmative and clear perspective. The for-mula may not find many buyers in a highly casteand religion sensitive UP unlike Kerala wheredevelopment and candidates are considered overtraditional factors," said a party veteran.

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After winding up a series of‘Prabuddh Varg Sammelan’

to attract Brahmin voters aheadof the 2022 Assembly polls, theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP)chief Mayawati has decided toadopt a different procedurefor selecting candidates whenthe State goes to the hustings.

The process of finalisingthe candidates has been start-ed on the basis of a panel ofcandidates received from thesector in-charges. The respon-sibility of announcing thenames which have beenstamped by the BSP supremoin the districts has been nowentrusted to district chiefs andsector in-charges.

Traditionally the BahujanSamaj Party has been declaringits candidate ahead of otherparties for any election andsources said that efforts wereunderway to announce themaximum number of candi-dates by October 15.

The BSP chief believes thatthe candidate gets a full chancefor election preparation bydeclaring their names well inadvance. After sector in-charges sent the finalised panelof candidates, the names arebeing finalised. The list of can-didates has also been handedover to other districts of thestate and the sector in-chargeshave been given the responsi-bility to declare the names byholding a conference.

Mayawati has also made itclear that this time, criminalsand leaders with tainted back-ground will not be given tick-ets. Acting on this line, BSPstate president Bhim Rajbharhas been fielded from Maureplacing sitting party legisla-tor Mukhtar Ansari. Even

though the names of the can-didates are being announcedon the basis of the panel, if atainted candidate is declaredfraudulently, then his candida-ture be withdrawn and he willbe replaced a suitable personbefore the election.

Sources said that BSP lead-ers who want to contest theelections in Uttar Pradesh willalso have to share their expe-rience of social media.

Not only this, what kind ofwork has been done in socialmedia about party founderKanshi Ram and Mayawatiwill also have to be narrated.Only after this, his or her can-didature will be confirmed bythe party.

The BSP chief has releasedthe application form for aspir-ing leaders wherein each onehas to clearly mention his/heractivism in social media andwork done on Kanshi Ram'smission. In the applicationform, an aspiring candidate hasto mention how aware he orshe is about the policies of theBSP and the policies of Dalitmessiah Baba Saheb BRAmbedkar along with his polit-ical experience and back-ground.

Previously not very keenon any kind of media platform,Mayawati, of late, has been con-stantly active on Twitter and onFacebook page. She is attackingthe government by tweeting onevery issue and keeping herparty’s perspective on everyissue.

Jaipur,: Youths affiliated with the RajasthanUnemployed United Federation will hold aprotest on Thursday against the alleged irreg-ularities in the recently conducted teachers' eli-gibility test REET-2021.

The State Government had on Tuesday sus-pended an administrative service officer, twopolice service officers, 13 education departmentpersonnel and three other policemen for theiralleged involvement in irregularities during theRajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers-2021 held on Sunday.

In Sawai Madhopur district, Wazirpur Sub-Divisional Officer Narendra Kumar Meena (RASofficer) and two RPS officers Narayan Tiwari andRajulal Meena were suspended.

The protesters said they will press the gov-ernment for the termination of employees whowere involved in the alleged irregularities. Rajasthan Unemployed United Federation state

president Upen Yadav told reporters severalkinds of irregularities including a paper leak haveand delayed arrival of papers at various exam-ination centers have come to the fore.

He said the unemployed youths are angrydue to the "large scale irregularities".

He termed the suspension of some officersand employees a damage control exercise.

The youths will protest at Shaheed Smarakon September 30 to demand the termination ofemployees and seize their properties, he said.

State BJP leaders, who have been demand-ing a CBI inquiry into the allegations have nowdemanded a judicial inquiry into the matter.

BJP chief spokesperson Ramlal Sharma saidthe State Government's decision to suspendedofficers and employees proves the allegations ofirregularities are correct.

He said theState Government should ordera judicial inquiry in the matter. PTI

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industries in the State had beenpromoted by the British andvery few by indigenous people.When the British disinvestedafter 1947, not a single enter-prise was bought by any localentrepreneur save one, namelyJardine Henderson, which wasinvested in by one Gujarati fromPrayagraj (Uttar Pradesh). Therest went to entrepreneurs fromRajasthan.

Individuals may or may notrealise it, but this was not desir-able. The reason was that therewas a divide whereby the localsfelt that outsiders were themaliks (owners) while they hadbecome workers. A few ofthem, from a zamindari back-ground, ironically went on tobecome trade union leadersrather than entrepreneurs. Thisunfortunate divide, instead ofpromoting more and betterindustries, actually destroyedindustry in West Bengal. A Statefrom which in 1947 was theparadise of industries went onto become their graveyard by1977.

Bihar and Jharkhand too,are primarily inclined towardsfarming. At the same time,most of the region is well fedwith water, riverine or throughrainfall. Shillong in Meghalaya,for instance, may be at an alti-tude, but Cherrapunji in the

same State is also quite nearby.In spite of all these factors,

no special emphasis has beenlaid on farming in the east. It isnot realised in our country thatindustry is the employment ofmachines and not so much ofmen. Machines earn deprecia-tion for the company whereasthe cost of workers, on accountof annual increments, keepsincreasing. As a result, thefocus of an efficient industrial-ist is oriented towards reducingthe quantity of the workforce,even if this has to be done byautomation. It is true that theindirect employment thatcomes in the wake of establish-ing a factory or industry, like thedevelopment of transport andcommunication, housing,hotels and ancillary industriesis useful. Nevertheless, theinvestment required to employone person directly is estimat-ed to be �2 crore or more. Incontrast, tourism, for example,would entail a cost of only �3-5 lakh per head.

In India’s northeast, thecurrent productivity of the landas compared to its actual poten-tial is low. Assam, apart from teawhich it is famous for, also pro-duces excellent silk. Rubberplantation is becoming a pop-ular commercial plantation inTripura. Arunachal Pradesh is

ideal for horticulture and fruitorchards apart from rice, maize,millet, wheat, pulses, sugar-cane, ginger and oilseeds.Plantation crops such as premi-um coffee, cardamom and teaare grown in hilly areas ofNagaland, while Mizoram spe-cialises in floriculture and hor-ticulture, in which it hasbecome an exporter as well. TheState also has good potential forforestry, fisheries and sericul-ture. Climatic conditions inMeghalaya permit a large vari-ety of horticulture crops, includ-ing fruits, vegetables, flowers,spices, mushrooms and medi-cinal plants. Manipur’s climatemakes it well suited for horti-culture, especially rare andexotic medicinal plants andherbs. Sikkim is home to thecultivation of crops such asmaize, millet, wheat, barley,oranges, tea and cardamom.The State produces more car-damom than any other IndianState and is home to the largestcultivated area of cardamom.

(This is part of an ongoingseries on India making multi-dimensional advance-ment across States and nations).

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist, an author and a for-mer member of the RajyaSabha. The views expressedare personal.)

����������������������Sir — One of the reasons why the mod-ern concept of live-in relationships doesnot get social acceptance in India is thatit poses challenges to the basic tenets ofmarriage. The Indian judiciary has oftenpointed out that such relationships are notillegal. On the other hand, courts haverefrained from authenticating such rela-tionships. The Rajasthan High Courtrecently pronounced a judgment that cou-ples living in legal or illegal relationshipscannot be refused protection grantedunder Article 21 of the Constitution. Thecourt affirmed that the State cannot denyprotection if one of the individuals is mar-ried to another person.

The court observed that public moral-ity cannot be allowed to overshadow con-stitutional morality. It must be noted thatthe Punjab & Haryana High Courtobserved in May this year that live-in rela-tionships are gradually getting social accep-tance. Society has changed and people mustthink rationally and progressively. Wemust value individual freedom over soci-etal constraints. Social changes are reflect-ed in the judgments of courts. Hence, it isof paramount importance to imbibe therealities in the observations of courts.Modifications must be made in the mar-riage system by incorporating traditionaland global practices.

Venu GS | Kollam

� �������� �� ���������Sir — The Supreme Court in April 2021had sought comments of the Union andState Governments on reports of adulter-ated honey being marketed in India. Eventhe popular brands of renowned compa-nies use a special type of sugar importedfrom China which is mixed with honey.The final product bypasses the quality testsas required by the Food Safety and StandardAuthority of India (FSSAI) as per researchdone by the Centre for Science andEnvironment which further says that onlythree out of 70 samples of honey being mar-keted in India could pass internationallyaccepted by NMR spectroscopy test.

If the report is correct, then these

brands are playing with the health ofIndian people. Many diabetic peopleconsume honey marketed under popularbrands because honey is otherwise con-sidered a safe sweetener for diabetic peo-ple. Instead of further time-consuming lit-igation proceedings, the FSSAI shouldadopt an internationally accepted NMRspectroscopy test for giving sales permis-sion to honey manufacturers in India.Moreover, all honey packs under differ-ent brand names must have on their labelsa copy of affidavit by some company exec-utive wherein 100 per cent purity of theproduct may be guaranteed.

Madhu Agrawal | Delhi

�� ������ ������������Sir — In the 22 years of the 21st century,Cyclone Gulab is only the third Bay ofBengal cyclone to make landfall inSeptember, during the active monsoon sea-son. However, barely hours after the rem-nant of Cyclone Gulab crossed the Odishaskies, the State is bracing for another low

pressure which is likely to dump heavy rainsin the State. Authorities have issued warn-ings to districts and asked fishermen toreturn from the sea. Cyclone Gulab, whichmade landfall in Andhra Pradesh andOdisha Sunday night, marked an aberra-tion as far as the climate calendar goes.

Generally, the monsoon conditions arenot favourable for cyclones to develop inthe North Indian Ocean. This is becauseof the strong opposing winds in thisregion — the lower atmospheric winds arein one direction (southwesterly) and theupper atmospheric winds are in the otherdirection (northeasterly). This prevents acyclone from developing vertically. Multiplefactors, including “warmer ocean condi-tions”, are now assisting cyclone formationduring the onset (June-July) and withdraw-al of monsoon (September), when the mon-soon is not at its peak.

Gundu K Maniam | Ghaziabad

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Prime Minister NarendraModi has recently sug-gested to the country’sfarmers 35 new and varied

types of vegetations that are of highyield or high value, or both.Among the crops the PrimeMinister has suggested for futur-istic agricultural development arechickpea, wilt and sterility mosa-ic resistant pigeonpea, early matur-ing variety of soya bean, diseaseresistant varieties of rice, bio-for-tified varieties of wheat, pearlmillet, maize, quinoa, buckwheat,winged bean and faba bean,among others.

Apart from prospects forIndia’s agricultural, this suggestioncould just be the answer for a pros-perous eastern India as well. In arecently published book, titledHad Patel Been Prime Minister, thisauthor has delved into how SardarVallabhbhai Patel, had he been thecountry’s PM instead of JawaharlalNehru, would have treated theissue of India’s economic develop-ment and particularly that of east-ern India. Patel had novel ideas. Hewould have notionally treatedeastern India distinctly for farm-ing and agriculture. In his time, the35 new crops suggested by our cur-rent Prime Minister might nothave been known. Yet, the conceptthat there are plants that aredrought resistant, inimical to pestsor excessive rain or flooding wasindeed known.

The thrust of this submissionis to reiterate an important aspectof Sardar Patel’s outlook. He wasfrom a farmer’s family and wellacquainted with farmers’ issuesand problems. In fact, he organisedand led the Bardoli Satyagraha asfarmers’ revolt against excessivetaxes in the face of financial diffi-culties in 1928. The movementmade Sardar Patel a nationalleader. Prior to his political careerand role in the country’s indepen-dence movement, Vallabhbhaiwas also a prominent lawyer inAhmedabad and not unfamiliarwith industry. Moreover, he wasaware that to develop easternIndia, agriculture was the key, notindustry.

The Seven Sisters of northeast-ern India, as well as people ofAssam, are also comfortable withfarming. Uncannily, West Bengal,truly speaking, is also similar.Prior to Independence, most

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The resignation of Navjot SinghSidhu from the post of PunjabCongress President was perhapsthe culmination of an eventful

month where all political developmentstook place in the fast forward mode, trig-gering not only surprise but also a senseof unscripted political discourse.

“Khela Hobe” was the curt two-linereply of a senior Congress leader whenasked about the latest developments inPunjab. The two words have become thestandard vocabulary of politicians eversince Mamata Banerjee made a spectac-ular comeback in West Bengal despite theodds.

Of course, the game is on-of one-upmanship, political ambitions, fragileegos and what not. No one for sure knowswhat turn the political developments willtake given the uncertainty on the groundwhich has affected not only the Congressworkers and middle-level leaders but alsothe top echelons of party leadership in theState.

“Khela Hobe” now characterisesPunjab more than West Bengal as the res-ignation of Sidhu has plunged the partyinto a crisis even as the newly installedCharanjit Singh Channi government wasgetting ready to fix things up and tidy upthe loose ends of governance before themodel code of conduct set in the State bythe end of January 2022.

As Punjab is in a political tailspin fol-lowing the two resignations — first byCaptain Amarinder Singh as ChiefMinister and then Sidhu — many in theCongress are saying that the grand oldparty is on a self-destruct mode and isdeliberately sitting on the branch whichis going to be axed. A gleeful CaptainAmarinder, who was arm-twisted toresign due to intense lobbying of Sidhuwith the Gandhi siblings, said, “I told youso…he is not a stable man and not fit forthe border state of Punjab.”

So, what happens now in the Statewhere elections are five months away?Before answering this, let us first comeback to the forced resignation of CaptainAmarinder. It was widely felt in the StateCongress circles to be a “good move” and“good riddance” as the Maharaja ofPatiala had lost touch with the groundrealities, grassroots politics and the peo-ple. He was running the state with hisloyal bureaucrats, unmindful of the factthat he was a Congress chief minister andthere were MLAs, ministers and partyfunctionaries around who needed atten-tion.

For Congress, nothing could havebeen better at the end of an unimpressivefour-and-a-half years of his regime thanto remove him to beat the massive anti-incumbency that was already building up.Aam Aadmi Partywas catching up withits image of being a street fighter and eventhough the Shiromani Akali Dal had a lotof ground to cover, its leaders werehopeful that with Captain Amarinder at

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One of the major issueshighlighted in the pub-lished draft Science

Technology Innovation Policy(STIP ) 2020 is the promotionof Indian Journals. It recom-mends creation of a digitalversions of Indian print jour-nals to make them moreaccessible to the internation-al scientific community.Promoting Indian Journals isan issue long due in Indian sci-ence.

There was time whengreat Indian scientists used topublish their discoveries inlocal magazines or journals.Still, their work got wide pub-licity across the globe. Eventhe multi-disciplinary journalCurrent Science started in1932 by stalwarts of Indian sci-entists like CV Raman, BirbalSahni, Meghnad Saha, Martin

Foster, and SS Bhatnagar, isnot getting enough attentionfrom our present-day scientif-ic community. The notionthat scientific discoveries getattention only if published inwestern journals is not com-pletely true. If the work is ofvery high quality, language isnot a barrier.

In pursuit of writing apaper in the format of a reput-ed western journal, we oftenforget the novelty and creativ-ity in research. This badlyaffects innovation in ourresearch. This culture shouldgo away. Why cannot thewestern scientific communityfollow our procedure? Wehave to make them follow us,rather than we follow them.

Researchers publish theirresults in foreign journals toincrease visibility and respect.

Even though there are con-cerns regarding the assessmentof quality by looking at theimpact factor, so far this is theonly scale used to assess thequality of a researcher. Inorder to increase the visibili-ty of journals, few editorsspecifically ask the authors tocite at least few published

papers from their journalsduring the last 10 years. In theprocess few predatory journalsalso get cited in the web of sci-ence.

If our scientists publishtheir great contributions inour journals, naturally, the sci-entific community will cite ourjournals in their work. Thiswill in turn increase the visi-bility of our journals in the sci-entific community. If Indianjournals should be promoted,government should make itmandatory to publish theresearch outputs coming fromour public sector institutions,through government-fundedprojects, only in Indian jour-nals.

The practice of givingpreference to aspirants havingpublications in foreign jour-nals should be abolished. Most

of the universities, of late,have made it mandatory topublish in web of scienceindexed journals, in the nameof improving research quality.This creates unnecessary pres-sure among young scholars.Rather than focussing on pro-ductivity of their researchwork, they are looking at howto publish in high impactjournals. This is one of the rea-sons for rise in scientific fraud-ulence in our community.The recent such case report-ed from our most reputedNational Centre for BiologicalSciences (NCBS), Bangalore isan ample proof of this.

The universities shouldapprove research work pub-lished in Indian journals,including journals in region-al languages, without stressingits impact factor. This will

encourage young researchersto publish in Indian journals.

Similarly, the undueimportance given to high-impact publications in recruit-ing processes should change.One should check the credibil-ity and ability of theresearchers rather than thepublications. A researcherwho works with a team ofNobel laureates will fetchmore publication than with anordinary research team, how-ever meagre his/ her contribu-tions are. So, publication in aforeign journal cannot assurequality of a candidate. Thereare hundreds of researchers inour universities who are doingbreak-through works, but dueto lack of exposure their workis not getting enough atten-tion.

The Government should

think of developing our ownAltmetrics tools to put a benchmark of our journals. The cur-rent system being followedamong scientific circles isbased on Clarivate Analytics,which follows the quality stan-dards visualised by westernjournals. It cannot evaluate theworks being published in one'snative languages in a foolproof manner.

It is true that science isuniversal and there should notbe any compartmentalisation.However, blindly followingthe standards and principlesset by western journals won'thelp in developing IndianScience. Journals are the mir-ror of scientific researchthrough which we sees ourquality face. It's high time welook through our own mirrorsrather than someone else's.

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POINTCOUNTERPOINT

(The writer is SeniorResident Editor, ThePioneer, Chandigarh.

The views expressed arepersonal.)

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the helm, it had a fighting chance.Remember, Punjab has neverrepeated a government for the lastalmost five decades, except in2012 when the Akali Dal returnedto power again. So, Amarindernever really had a chance to leadthe party to victory.

On the face of it, makingCharanjit Singh Channi the chiefminister was a game changer-amove which has the potential toyield political dividends. WhileSAD, AAP and BJP were promis-ing and talking of making a DalitDeputy Chief Minister post-2022elections in a state where theycount for over 32 per cent of thepopulation, Congress did it withthe stroke of a pen. It also wasaimed at taking the message acrossthe political spectrum, in severalother poll-bound states like UttarPradesh and Gujarat, thatCongress meant business inempowering this section.

Has Congress lost all the gainsit made by appointing Channi afterthe dramatic and unexpected res-ignation of Sidhu? Loyal Congressworkers are emphatic, “not really”.As Congress ministers, accompa-nied by Channi, took control oftheir departments after beingsworn in, there was a sense that itwas Channi’s “masterstroke” to get“rid” of Sidhu by making certainappointments unpalatable to him.

It is widely understood thatthere were sharp differences ofopinion between Sidhu andChanni on the Cabinet berths, somuch so in the end Channi alonewent to New Delhi to get the listapproved by the high command.

Sidhu apparently saw this asthe assertion of Channi and per-haps felt that the chief minister hada sharp political mind of his own,was here to stay and not merely asa rubber stamp and he could notact as a “Super CM” as he intend-ed. Of course, the new Cabinet hascontroversial faces and is notwithout blemishes but in the gameof political one-upmanship,Channi had his say.

As Sidhu is looking at the chiefministerial chair post-Congressvictory in the 2022 Assemblypolls, appointments in the Cabinet,particularly of Home MinisterSukhjinder Singh Randhawa, wasnot to his liking. At one point,Randhawa, also a Jat Sikh likeSidhu, was in the race to becomechief minister but due to fierceopposition by Sidhu, he lost therace and Channi was appointed.Now that Randhawa has the all-important Home portfolio and isalso a Deputy CM, Sidhu apparent-ly feels that he could come in hisway of becoming a chief ministerif Congress wins and forms thenext government. Giving impor-tance to Randhawa despite Sidhu’sopposition was of course a masterstroke of Channi to needle Sidhuand sideline him in the decisionmaking.

Also, in the last few days sinceChanni took over, he deliberatelybuilt an image of “people’s ChiefMinister” by performing Bhangraon stage in a public function, giv-ing shagun to married couples onthe road, stopping at roadsides andenquiring about the problems ofpeople, shunning security, etc.

Many in Punjab feel that ifChanni’s image gets consolidatedin the next few weeks, the Dalitsvote en masse for Congress and theparty wins, it would be almostimpossible to change him andbring in Sidhu.

Realising the fast-changingpolitical developments, “resigna-tion” was the only possible weaponleft for Sidhu to use to extract hispound of flesh. But what exactlywill he ask for now, only Sidhuknows.

Those who have watchedSidhu’s political trajectory over theyears say the resignation in 72 daysof being appointed as PCC chiefcould mean that he might belooking for political alternatives inthe state and given the state ofPunjab politics at present, it couldbe AAP. Sidhu started with BJP in2004 from Amritsar Lok Sabhaand within 10 years in 2014, hisrelations with the saffron partysoured when his “political guru”Arun Jaitley was fielded fromAmritsar. Soon after, he joinedCongress and built up a good rap-port with the Gandhi siblings-Rahul and Priyanka.

If Sidhu stays put and refusesto take back his resignation, it willalso be a big setback to Rahul andPriyanka who almost went by thescript written by the cricketer-turned-politician for the removalof Captain Amarinder in their bidto write a new chapter of assertionof Congress high command. IfSidhu could fail his political guruArun Jaitley, he can as well fail hisfriends in the grand old Congressparty. He has done that.

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Ramallah: Dozens of Israelisettlers attacked a Palestinianvillage in the occupied WestBank, hurling stones at cars andhomes and leaving several peo-ple wounded, including aPalestinian toddler, activistssaid on Wednesday.

Video of Tuesday’s attackreleased by an Israeli rightsgroup showed several shirtlesssettlers with scarves wrappedaround their faces hurling stonesat a cluster of homes and vehi-cles. Israeli troops stood amongthe settlers but did not appear tobe taking any action to stopthem. Israeli military declined tocomment. Police described it asa “friction incident” and said twoPalestinians and a settler werearrested. It said people werewounded on both sides and thatit is still investigating the incidentafter complaints were filed onWednesday. AP

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The top American generalhas dubbed the 20-year

war in Afghanistan a “strategicfailure” as the Pentagon lead-ership told lawmakers thatthey had recommended having2,500 troops in Afghanistan toprevent a collapse of the West-supported Government inKabul, but President Joe Bidendisagreed.

The White House, howev-er, defended the presidentialdecision, acknowledging that itwas a split recommendationfrom Biden’s advisors and gen-erals. US Defence Secretary

Lloyd Austin, Chairman of USJoint Chief of Staff GeneralMark Milley and Gen FrankMcKenzie, Commander of USCentral Command, told mem-bers of the Senate ArmedServices Committee onTuesday that the Pentagon hadrecommended Biden about theneed to keep 2,500 Americantroops in Afghanistan postwithdrawal.

“I won’t share my person-al recommendation to the pres-ident, but I will give you myhonest opinion, and my honestopinion and view shaped myrecommendation. I recom-mended that we maintain 2,500

troops in Afghanistan. And Ialso recommended earlier inthe fall of 2020 that we main-tain 4,500 at that time. Thoseare my personal views,”McKenzie told the senators.

Milley told the lawmakersthat he also agreed with the rec-ommendations that the USmaintain 2,500 troops inAfghanistan.

“Outcomes in a war likethis, an outcome that is astrategic failure — the enemyis in charge in Kabul, there’s noway else to describe that — thatis a cumulative effect of 20years,” he said, adding thatlessons need to be learned.

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Twenty-two Republican sen-ators have introduced a leg-

islation in the Senate to imposesanctions on the Taliban inAfghanistan and on all the for-eign Governments that supportthe hardline Islamic group thatseized power in Kabul.

The ‘AfghanistanCounterterrorism, Oversightand Accountability Act’ wasintroduced by Senator JimRisch, a ranking member of the

Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee, on Tuesday.

The legislation also seeks areport from the Secretary ofState about his assessment ofthe role of Pakistan in sup-porting the Taliban from 2001-2020; in the offensive that ledto the toppling of theGovernment of Afghanistanand the looking into thePakistan support for Taliban offensive againstPanjshir Valley and Afghanresistance.

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Tokyo: Former Japanese ForeignMinister Fumio Kishida won thegoverning party’s leadershipelection on Wednesday and is setto become the next PrimeMinister, facing the tasks ofreviving a pandemic-hit econo-my and ensuring a strongalliance with Washington tocounter growing regional secu-rity risks.

Kishida replaces outgoingparty leader Prime MinisterYoshihide Suga, who is steppingdown after serving only one year.

As new leader of the LiberalDemocratic Party, Kishida is cer-tain to be elected the next PMon Monday in parliament, wherehis party and its coalition part-ner control both houses.

In his victory speech,Kishida vowed to tackle “nation-al crises” including COVID-19,

the pandemic-battered economyand the declining populationand birthrate. He said he wouldpursue “important issues relat-ed to Japan’s future” through avision of “a free and open Indo-Pacific” that counters China’sassertiveness in the region.

Kishida defeated popularvaccinations minister TaroKono in a runoff after finish-ing only one vote ahead of himin the first round, in whichnone of the four candidates,including two women, wasable to win a majority.

In a landslide 257-170 vic-tory in the second round,Kishida received support fromparty heavyweights who appar-ently chose stability over changeadvocated by Kono, who isknown as something of a mav-erick and a reformist. AP

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Abattle between prisongangs in the coastal city of

Guayaquil killed 30 inmatesand injured 47, according toEcuadorian officials.

Police Commander FabianBustos told reporters that apolice and military operationhad regained control of theprison after five hours. He saidseveral weapons had beenseized. The violence involvedgunfire, knives and explosionsand was caused by a disputebetween the “Los Lobos” and“Los Choneros” prison gangs,officials said.

Television images showedinmates firing from the win-dows of the prison amid smoke

and the detonation of firearmsand explosives. The Guayasstate government postedimages on its Twitter accountshowing six cooks being evac-uated from one of the prison’swings. In July, PresidentGuillermo Lasso decreed astate of emergency in Ecuador’sprison system following sever-al violent episodes that result-ed in more than 100 inmatesbeing killed.

The bloodiest day occurredin February, when 79 prisonersdied in a simultaneous riot inthree prisons in the country. InJuly, 22 more prisoners losttheir lives in the Litoral peni-tentiary, while in September apenitentiary centre was attackedby drones leaving no fatalities.

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North Korea said onWednesday it successfully

tested a new hypersonic missileit implied was being developedas nuclear capable, as it con-tinues to expand its militarycapabilities and pressureWashington and Seoul overlong-stalled negotiations overits nuclear weapons.

The missile test earlyTuesday was North Korea’sthird round of launches thismonth and took place shortlybefore North Korea’s UN.Envoy accused the UnitedStates of hostility and demand-ed the Biden administrationpermanently end joint militaryexercises with South Korea

and the deployment of strate-gic assets in the region.

A photo published in NorthKorea’s state media showed amissile mounted with a finned,cone-shaped payload soaringinto the air amid bright orangeflames. The official KoreanCentral News Agency said themissile during its first flight testmet key technical requirements,including launch stability andthe maneuverability and flightcharacteristics of the “detachedhypersonic gliding warhead.”

South Korea’s Joint Chiefsof Staff assessed the missile tobe at an early stage of devel-opment and said North Koreawould need “considerable time”to be able to deploy it operationally.

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Tunisia’s President onWednesday named the

country’s first female PrimeMinister, appointing her tolead a transitional Governmentafter her predecessor wassacked and Parliament sus-pended.

President Kais Saiednamed Raoudha BoudentRamadhane, a 63-year-old pro-fessor at a prestigious engi-neering school, to the PM’s postin a surprise decision.

The President’s office saidin a statement that Saiedinstructed the new prime min-ister to name a new Cabinet assoon as possible.

Tunisia has had no primeminister and has been in limbosince Saied froze the parliamentand seized executive powers onJuly 25.

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Six schools rebuilt in Nepal aspart of India’s USD 50 mil-

lion grant assistance for reconstruction projects in the education sector follow-ing the 2015 earthquake were inaugurated onWednesday in theKavrepalanchowk district.

Anurag Srivastava, JointSecretary (North), Ministry ofExternal Affairs of India, joint-ly inaugurated six newly recon-structed schools along withGokul Prasad Baskota,Member of Parliament ofNepal, Kavrepalanchowk-2 andGanga Bahadur Tamang,Member of Parliament ofNepal, Kavrepalanchowk-1,and Dhurba Prasad Sharma,Executive Member, NationalReconstruction Authority,Government of Nepal.

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New Delhi:Dismissingrumours about cheap Chineseapples coming into India,Commerce Minister PiyushGoyal on Wednesday said theGovernment has not reducedany duties and all imports takeplace in accordance with theWTO stipulations.

"Some people are spread-ing falsehood that the govern-ment hasreduced duties onapples coming from China.This is a rumour without anybasis. Government has not

taken any such decision," hesaid at a press conference whilereplying to a question on cheapapples coming from the neigh-bouring country. All importstake place under the normsprescribed by the World TradeOrganization (WTO), he said."I was asked this question ear-lier also...No such decision hasbeen taken. I feel some people'sjob is only to spread baselessrumours which have no mean-ing," he said.

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Indian companies' externalcommercial borrowings

surged manifold to over USD2.84 billion in August 2021, theReserve Bank data showed onWednesday.

The domestic firms hadraised USD 145.74 millionfrom the overseas markets inAugust 2020.

Of the total funds raisedduring the month underreview, USD 2.25 billion wasthrough the automatic route ofECBs, while USD 600 millioncame in via the approval route.

Break-up wise, the gov-ernment undertaking REC Ltd,which finances and promotespower projects in the country,was the only company to tapthe automatic route, raisingUSD 600 million for on-lend-ing.

Major borrowers in theautomatic route includetelecommunications companySummit Digitel Infrastructure

USD 500 million for refinanc-ing of rupee loans; HindustanPetroleum Corporation USD450 million for modernisationpurpose; Indiabulls HousingFinance USD 275 million foron-lending; FS India SolarVentures USD 207.60 millionfor import of capital goods andHousing Development FinanceCorporation (HDFC) raisedUSD 200 million for on-lend-ing.

Flextronics Technologies(India) raised USD 100 millionfor working capital require-ment; rubber and plastics prod-ucts manufacturer ATC TiresAP USD 96 million for a newproject; and furniture manu-facturer Uflex Ltd raised USD51.77 million for import of cap-ital goods and new project.

Wistron InfocommManufacturing (India) raisedUSD 45 million for refinancingof earlier ECB and IMPSEducational Trust USD 40.44million for infrastructure devel-opment.

New Delhi:Capital marketsregulator Sebi on Wednesdaydecided to introduce a swingpricing mechanism for open-ended debt mutual fundschemes, a move that will dis-courage large investors fromsudden redemptions.

To begin with, the swingpricing framework will bemade applicable only for sce-narios related to net outflowsfrom the schemes, theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) said in a circu-lar. PTI

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The financial institutions inthe G20 economies have

nearly USD 22 trillion of expo-sure to carbon-intensive sec-tors, of which 60 per cent arewith banks, 30 per cent withasset managers equity holdingsand the rest are weightedtowards cash and Governmentsecurities, according to areport.

While banks' exposure is tothe tune of USD 13.8 trillion,asset managers' equity holdingsare worth USD 6.6 trillion, andthe remainder USD 1.8 trillionare in cash and governmentsecurities, Moody's Investor

Service said in its report.By sector, manufacturing,

power and other utilities,transportation and oil and gasfeature heavily among the G20financial institutions' top car-bon-intensive exposures, thereport said, adding by region,Asia leads with USD 9 trillionfollowed by the Americas(USD 8 trillion) and theEMEA taking up USD 5 tril-lion.

The report did not offercountry-specific numbers. Forbanks, the decarbonization taskcompounds many of the indus-try's other risks from transfor-mative forces like digitisationand cyber risks.

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India's external debt rosemodestly by 2.1 per cent

year-on-year to USD 570 bil-lion as of March-end 2021,notwithstanding the Covid-19pandemic, according to theFinance Ministry.

External debt to GDP ratiorose marginally to 21.1 per centfrom 20.6 per cent as at end-March 2020.

Reserves to external debtratio, however, increased to101.2 per cent from 85.6 percent during the same period,thereby consolidating the coun-try's position as a net creditorto the world, as per the statusreport on India's external debtreleased by the Ministry.

The sovereign debt atUSD 107.2 billion rose higherby 6.2 per cent over its level ayear ago, mainly because of anincrease in external assistancemore than compensating the

fall in FPI investment in gov-ernment securities (G-Secs), itsaid.

The augmented externalassistance reflected larger dis-bursement of Covid-19 loansfrom multilateral agencies dur-ing 2020-21.

The non-sovereign debt,on the other hand, grew 1.2 percent on a yearly basis to USD462.8 billion.

Commercial borrowings,NRI deposits and short-termtrade credit account for 95 percent of the non-sovereign debt.

While NRI deposits grew8.7 per cent to USD 141.9 bil-lion, commercial

borrowings at USD 197.0billion and short-term tradecredit at USD 97.3 billionshrank by 0.4 per cent and 4.1per cent, respectively. AtMarch-end 2021, long-termdebt (with original maturity ofabove one year) was at USD468.9 billion, recording an

increase of USD 17.3 billionover the year-ago level.

US dollar-denominateddebt remained the largest com-ponent of India's external debt,with a share of 52.1 per cent asof March-end 2021, followedby Indian rupee (33.3 per cent),yen (5.8 per cent), SDR (4.4 percent) and the euro (3.5 percent). "Over the years, policy onexternal debt has enabled theprivate sector to access foreigndebt in a calibrated manner. Asat end-March 2021, the level ofnon-sovereign debt was morethan four times that of sover-eign debt, compared to half asat end-March 1991," it said.

Given its relative size, typ-ically in a normal year, it is the

relative rise in non-sover-eign debt that influences thedynamics of India's externaldebt, thereby supplementingdomestic savings to fund larg-er investments as the economyexpands, it said.

Mumbai:The rupee slid by 8paise to close at a more thanone-month low of 74.14 againstthe US dollar on Wednesday,declining for a fourth session ina row due to month-end dol-lar demand and a strongergreenback in the global mar-kets amid rising bond yields.The rupee dropped to an intra-day low of 74.26, a level notseen since August 26, but sus-pected RBI intervention limit-ed its losses.In the four tradingsessions to Wednesday, therupee has lost 50 paise or 0.68per cent as the US bond yieldsfirmed up onfears of taperingin bond purchases by the USFed before the end of the year.

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Equity benchmarks buckledunder selling pressure for

the second straight day onWednesday, weighed by bank-ing and finance counters, asglobal sentiment remainedrisk-averse amid spiking USbond yields and inflation con-cerns.

A depreciating rupee,which tumbled for the fourthsession on the trot, also took atoll on investor confidence,traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensexopened weak and extended itslosses, before staging a come-back in late-afternoon trade toclose at 59,413.27, still down by254.33 points or 0.43 per cent.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty declined 37.30 points or

0.21 per cent to finish at17,711.30.

HDFC was the top laggardon the Sensex chart, shedding1.96 per cent, followed byKotak Bank, Asian Paints,UltraTech Cement, HUL,HDFC Bank and TechMahindra.

The HDFC duo andReliance Industries accountedfor most of the benchmark'slosses. On the other hand,NTPC, PowerGrid, SunPharma, SBI, Titan and TataSteel were among the gainers,rallying as much as 6.52 percent. "Domestic market start-ed on a very negative trend dueto global sell-off on Tuesdayand high crude prices. SpikingUS treasury yields and slowingeconomy were impactinggrowth stocks.

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved cap-

ital infusion of � 4,400 crore inthe state-owned Export CreditGuarantee Corporation(ECGC) and its listing throughan initial public offering.

The Government willinject �4,400 crore in theECGC over a period of fiveyears beginning 2021-22, saidCommerce Minister PiyushGoyal told reporters after theCabinet meeting.

He also said �500 croreinfusion will be done immedi-ately. The listing of ECGC islikely to happen next year.The minister also informed

that exports have totalled � 185billion till September 21, 2021in the current fiscal.

The Cabinet also approvedcontinuation of the NationalExport Insurance Account(NEIA) scheme and infusion of�1,650 crore Grant-in-Aid overfive years. Capital infusion inNEIA will help tap the hugepotential of project exports infocus market.ECGC was estab-lished to promote exports byproviding credit insurance ser-vices to exporters against non-

payment risks by the overseasbuyers due to commercial andpolitical reasons. It also pro-vides insurance covers to banksagainst risks in export creditlending to the exporter bor-rowers. Capital infusion inECGC will enable it to expandits coverage to export-orientedindustry particularly labour-intensive sectors. ECGC is amarket leader with around 85per cent market share in exportcredit insurance market inIndia.

Mumbai:In Q3 2021, housingsales surged 113 per cent y-o-y across the top 7 cities - fromapproximately 29,520 units inQ3 2020 to nearly 62,800 unitsin Q3 2021, Anarock has saidin its latest report.If this growthin sales, MMR or Mumbaimetropolitan region for 33 percent of the total sales, followedby NCR with a 16 per centshare.As per the report,increased sales also improvednew launches as it rose in thetop 7 cities by 98 per cent year-ly - from approximately 32,530

units in Q3 2020 to approxi-mately 64,560 units in Q32021. While MMR continuedto see the highest number ofnew launches (of approximately16,510 units) in the quarter,Hyderabad was close behindwith a new supply infusion ofapproximately 14,690 units.

Interestingly, the mid-seg-ment (homes priced �40-80lakh) and premium homes(priced b/w �80 lakh to �1.5Cr) continue to dominate newsupply with 41 per cent and 25per cent shares, respectively.

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The actor, producer, and champion for nature,Dia Mirza, has completed three years as a UN

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocate.In her three-year tenure, she has been the face ofmany crucial environmental campaigns across thecountry. As a goodwill ambassador, she has tire-lessly worked to spread the message on priorityareas, including climate change, single-use plas-tics, clean air, oceans, and wildlife conservation.

This year, Nobel laureate and fellow Indian,Kailash Satyarthi, joined her as a SDG advocate.During a virtual meeting convened by the sec-retary-general of the United Nations, AntónioGuterres, for all SDG advocates, Dia noted, “I amespecially proud to welcome KailashSatyarthi to the cohort of SDG advocates.We have become stronger with your gra-cious acceptance to join this globalmovement. We will work to provide thefinal push for the SDGs and the begin-ning of a long and hopeful recoveryfrom the worst impacts of the pan-demic.”

“A global shock like Covid notonly creates risks, but also exposespre-existing fractures of our soci-eties. So, 120 million more peoplewill be pushed into poverty,around 225 million jobs havebeen lost, school closures havemeant that many children will notreceive quality learning, not justbecause of the virus, but because wewent into this pandemic with fourbillion of the world’s populationwithout any social protection, with adeep digital divide, and with egre-gious inequalities. The virus showedus that the three priorities, namely,climate action, gender equality, andreducing inequalities, are intercon-nected agendas, and none can beachieved without the other two,” theactor added.

She underlined how inequalitiesdivide the world between those who canafford to shelter from the virus, wash their

hands at home, and the billions who don’t haveaccess to quality sanitation. She also pointed outthat such inequalities will also determine who willimmediately lose livelihoods and homes to anextreme weather event and who can survive a lit-tle longer. Even outside this pandemic, she said,natural disasters force 26 million people intopoverty each year and claim millions of lives, par-ticularly of women.

She expressed, “Around 50-70 per cent ofhealthcare and frontline workers are womenacross the countries, and they are also the firstto be impacted by global shocks like pandemicsand climate change.”

Dia emphasised that climate action must beprimarily about people and their relationshipwith nature, and added, “We must keep ourfocus on those most vulnerable and ensure thatrenewable energy and water conservation

efforts better the lives of the poorest.”The SDG advocate also highlighted

the importance of mainstreaming thegreen economy through multi-stake-holder approaches, especially whennature and its services contribute to halfof the world’s GDP.

She said, “We must recognise thatrainforests are our lungs and coastlinesare our livelihoods. Development can-not just be GDP, it must mean naturalcapital, and climate action cannot mere-

ly be implemented in conference rooms;it must become the main conversation inthe next ten years. We must encouragesustainable lifestyles, green school cur-riculums, and social media campaigns forthe science of climate change in the faceof disinformation.”

With the help of her Instagram cam-paign ‘Down to Earth with Dee,’ and var-ious far-reaching activities, Dia hasbeen trying to advocate a more mind-ful, sustainable lifestyle, along with otherSDG advocates from around the world,and young climate champions every-where, she would be able to help builda green new normal for all.

Brands have been part of thesocial narrative ever since

the advent of the brandingindustry. Iconic brands becomea tool for a target consumer toexpress their identities i.e. ‘I eatvegan cheese because I care foranimals’ or ‘I wear khadibecause I appreciate clotheshandcrafted by local artisans’,and so on.

One way consumers expresstheir identity is by supportingideas and causes they believe inand sustainability is one suchidea that consumers deeply careabout. This is the rather newniche where the brands want tofit in and thrive.

Visit the website of anynew age brand and you will finddifferent versions of the state-ment, ‘We are a sustainable______ brand’, proudly dis-played. You can fill out theblank with a different categorylike coffee, candy, apparel,shoes, toothpaste and evenunderwear.

Digging a little deeper, whatdoes sustainability even mean?The term is broader than eco-friendly, organic, fair trade, andso forth. If you visualise this asa venn diagram, then sustain-ability would encompass all ofthe above and more.

It essentially means the abil-ity to maintain the status quo,the ability to be up-held, to co-exist. If I have to define it in thecontext of business, it would bethe ability of the environment,society and economy to flour-ish. To see the environment,society and economy as aninterconnected system wherethe only way to make gains is ifall the three components ben-efit or profit each other.

In my opinion, brands areengaging with sustainability onthree levels:

Hygiene: This is the bare

minimum expected of a brandusing the term ‘sustainable’.Most brands here have a limit-ed understanding of sustainabil-ity and restrict their participa-tion to planting trees,biodegradable packaging, anduploading relatable posts onsocial media.

Advocate: These are a set ofbrands who understand whatsustainability means, theyunderstand that every econom-ic activity has an impact and theidea is not to shut down carbonemissions but to balance it out.

Brands here try and min-imise their impact, some exam-

ples could be trying to becomecarbon-positive, practise wastedisposal, and provide fair wagesto field-level and ground-levelemployees.

Pioneers: These are brandsthat have their business modelsbuilt around sustainability.Their bottom line is heavilydependent on their actions onsustainability. Finding an alter-native to plastic, respectingcommunities and looking atthem as stakeholders, donatinga part of their profits to chari-ty, et al. For them, ideas that fur-ther the cause of sustainabilityare not looked at as expensesbut considered as investments.

The good news for youngbrands is that due to the natureand size of business, incumbentbrands have to move throughthese levels, while challengerbrands have the option tobecome pioneers.

(The author is the founderand CEO of GO DESi, a

new-age packaged foodbrand.)

Aditya Chopra and Siddharth Anand gave a visu-al feast like never before to audiences in War and

looks like the producer-director combo is going tocreate a new benchmark in visual extravaganza withtheir next offering, Pathan. We hear that the stage isset for the superstars of Pathan — Shah Rukh Khanand Deepika Padukone — to shoot one of the mostelectrifying songs set in one of the most expensiveand exquisite travel destinations of Mallorca in Spain.

“The aim is to make Pathan a visual spectacle thatno one has seen before and Sid Anand and YRF areleaving no stone unturned to achieve this ambitiousgoal. Pathan team is heading to Spain where they willbe shooting in a grand destination like Cadiz, a stun-ning port city, and Vejer De La Frontera, one of themost picturesque hilltop towns in Europe. The teamis reported to be in Europe from October 10 to 31.

Since no other Bollywood film has ever been shotin these places so the majority of audience, whohaven’t been to these exquisite spots, will see themfor the first time. Visually these settings will addgrandeur and lavishness to the film.

“When you have two of the biggest superstars ofthe country, you have to create a visual extravagan-za like never before and the makers want to do jus-tice to the pairing they have in Pathan. It will be asensational shoot, to say the least,” adds a source.

Every year Women’s day is celebrat-ed, on March 8, to stand as a unit-ed force and to advance gender

equality around the world. However,gender inequality and biases still remaina global challenge. In order to fill the gap,there is a need to empower womenthrough employment. Following this hasmyriad advantages. Let us discuss thebenefits in detail.

�Employing women can make themindependent

There should be more work open-ings accessible to women that are not justexclusively open to the females who livein metropolitan cities but also to theindividuals who live in tier II, III citiesand vi l lages. According to theInternational Finance corporation study,incorporating more females in work-places makes them independent but atthe same time, it is also good for busi-ness growth. When a woman is indepen-dent, she can stand against any physicaland emotional abuses.

�Women strengthen team dynamicsWomen have the skills to unite peo-

ple and draw together opinions and pro-posals, this is the reason more womenshould be given a chance to work in theorganisation. Overall, this favours the cre-ation of teams, furthers participation andoptimises the decision-making process.Organisations should be committed tobuilding policies focussed on encourag-ing women to take up leadership roles andtry every way to fight back genderinequality.

�Improved productivity andinnovation

Diversity iskey to the com-pany’s growthwhere womenshould bee m p l o y e dequally with thenumber of maleemployees in anyorganisation. There isevidence highlightingthat the co-existence ofmen and women in thesame organisation deliversbetter and enhanced pro-ductivity.

These are only a fewreasons why womenshould be empowered andincluded in work-sectorsmore. To achieve this, pro-viding proper skills tothem is of utmost impor-

tance. It is crucial to hone skillsof women so that they

can sustain competi-tion and stay rele-

vant. However,it is also essen-tial to connectwith mentorsand peers whocan support andenable growth.Having saidthat, companies

have started real-ising that empow-ering a woman isequal to empower-ing the entire soci-ety. While therehave been trailblaz-ers like RebeccaParsonsi, IndraNooy and GitaGopinath, recentlypeople are realisingthat business ben-efits through a

diverse leadership. For example, SEBI reg-ulations from 2014 made it mandatoryto have at least one woman on a compa-ny’s board. The step was initiated toincrease the diversity in the boardroomfrom just six per cent in March 2014 to17 per cent in 2020.

Companies like Nestle are internal-ly building a more diverse culturethrough their Gender Acceleration plan,aiming to raise the proportion of womenin its top 200 senior executive positionsto 30 per cent by 2022. Many organisa-tions today have robust diversity andinclusion programmes.

But there are still some areas whereinequality appears entrenched in manyorganisations. In the public sectors ofIndia, the benefits and compensation areequal regardless of gender, but the pri-vate sector still has a long way to fill thegender gap. Companies still showcase acertain level of hesitation in the matterlike maternity leave, during probationperiods and in the cases like hiring offemale personnel right after maternityleave.

Reducing limitations and ensuringequitable access to quality jobs forfemales requires focused and targetedaction by the private sector as well asfrom the government, even though theIndian Government has taken certainsteps in this direction. Their role is alsopivotal in empowering women. Toencourage the women owners of MSME,the government offers them certainschemes with lucrative offers. Some of theschemes like Bharatiya Mahila BankBusiness loan, Mudra Yojana scheme, andso on, are few of the initiatives that aimto improve the status of women bymaking them financially independentand self-reliant.

Recently, Prime Minister NarendraModi, in his Mann Ki Baat radio pro-gramme, asserted, “Our dream of newIndia is an India where women areempowered, strengthened, and wherethey become equal partners in the all-round development of the country.”

It can be concluded that empower-ing women is essential. No country cangain its actual potential if half of itshuman capital is not contributing to itsgrowth. However, Indian society will haveto dampen gender inequality in allforms. With the hybrid working modelgaining prominence, bringing morewomen back into the work-force postCovid-19 is expected.

(The writer is the founder of anddirector at ReBrand Gurus, a

tech-branding organisation workingtowards women empowerment.)

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To celebrate World TourismDay, a bike rally from Jammu

Tawi Golf Course to Basohli wasorganised by the Directorate ofTourism, Jammu, on September27. The rally was flagged off bythe Jammu’s ADGP, MukeshSingh (IPS) and the divisionalcommissioner of Jammu, DrRaghav Langer (IAS) in thepresence of the director ofTourism for Jammu, VivekanandRai (IRS).

Around 60 bikers participat-ed in the bike rally which cov-ered tourist destinationsSurinsar, Mansar, Mahanpur,Basohli and Purthu Beach. Thearea from Surinsar to Basohli viaBillawar is connected withnumerous linked roads whichoffer a scenic and panoramicview of natural wonders.

The chief guest of the occa-sion, Singh, said that the rally-will help in attracting tourists,especially adventure enthusi-

asts. The guest of honour on theoccasion, Dr Langer, said, “Therally will help in building a pos-itive image of the UT and bringBasohli in the limelight on thenational forum owing to its glo-rious historical past, rich cultur-al heritage, unique monuments,miniature painting and for thenatural beauty gifted by thebountiful nature.”

Towards the end the partic-ipants were provided with cer-tificates and safety helmets atPurthu Beach, Basohli.

LIC of India and theDepartment of Posts,

Government of India haveetched an agreement for print topost solutions. The print topost solutions are provided bythe Department of Posts,Government of India for print-ing and dispatch of the policybooklet issued under a lifeinsurance policy. LIC of India isavailing these solutions and anagreement to that effect wassigned at the Headquarters ofLIC in Mumbai on Monday,September 27, 2021, in thepresence of high ranked officialsof LIC of India and theDepartment of Posts.

Present for the event wereM R Kumar, the chairperson ofLIC of India and the MDs,Mukesh Kumar Gupta, RajKumar, Mini Ipe, and the exec-utive director of new businessand reinsurance, PraveenKumar. The Department ofPosts was represented by AjayKumar Roy, the deputy directorgeneral of the Postal Directoratein New Delhi, T M Sreelatha,postmaster general & K ADevaraj, the director of Postal

Services (Headquarters) inTelangana circle and Ganesh VSawaleshwarkar, the postmastergeneral of Navi Mumbai region,Maharashtra circle.

Speaking on the occasion,LIC’s chairperson congratulat-ed the Department of Posts forentering this venture and saidthat product delivery is ofutmost importance to LIC.

Roy, the deputy directorgeneral of the Postal Directorateat New Delhi, who spoke on theoccasion, said that ‘delivery onthe day of receipt’ is the work-ing theme of India Post. He alsohighlighted the long and histor-ical relationship between LIC ofIndia and Department of Postsand that this venture would onlygo on to strengthen the relation-ship.

In his closing remarks, theMD of LIC, Mukesh KumarGupta, while congratulating thedepartments on this historicagreement said that the end-to-end solutions would provide themuch needed fillip in the issueof policy documents withreduced TAT to enhance thecustomer experience.

Dharam Pal (IAS), adviserto the administrator ofChandigarh, launched the

placemaking implementation tocommemorate Azadi Ka AmritMahotsav at New Park, IndraColony, Sector 13, Manimajra,Chandigarh in the presence ofRavi Kant Sharma, the Mayor ofChandigarh, on September 28.

While Pal was the chiefguest, Nitin Kumar Yadav (IAS),Home Secretary and Dr VijayNamdeorao Zade (IAS), FinanceSecretary of Chandigarh wereguests of honour during theprogramme. Parveer Ranjan(IPS), the DGP of Chandigarh,Mandeep Singh Brar (IAS), thedeputy commissioner, AninditaMitra, MCC’s commissioner,Arun Sood, BJP’s state presidentin Chandigarh, Mahesh InderSingh Siddhu, the senior deputymayor, Vinod Aggarwal, the areacouncillor and other senior offi-cers of MCC were also presentduring the occasion.

While addressing the gather-ing, Pal said that the Azadi KaAmrit Mahotsav is an initiativeof the Government of India tocelebrate and commemorate 75years of progressive India and theglorious history of its people, cul-ture and achievements. He saidthat the occasion is an embodi-ment of all that is progressiveabout India’s socio-cultural, polit-ical and economic identity. Theofficial journey of ‘Azadi KaAmrit Mahotsav’ commenced

on March 12, 2021 and is a 75-week countdown to our 75thanniversary of Independenceending on August 14, 2023.

He further said thatChandigarh is celebrating theoccasion from September 28 to

October 3, 2021 with variousactivities throughout the city.Under placemaking implemen-tation where 22 cities of thecountry are participating totransform their underdevelopedareas, Chandigarh has envis-

aged to develop the New Park inSector-13, Manimajra throughcontinuous work spread over 75hours, he added.

Ravi Kant Sharma,Chandigarh’s Mayor said that heis proud to start the transforma-tion of city spaces in Sector-13Manimajra including placemak-ing of the new park. “Efforts areon to put together a light, quickand cheap intervention andanchor with events that educateand celebrate the spirit of free-dom. Placemaking exercise isbeing undertaken as a multi-faceted approach to planning,design and management of pub-lic spaces,” said the Mayor.

While sharing the develop-ments to take place during theplacemaking event, he elaborat-ed that this new park in Pocket8, Indira Colony will be an asset,and its potential will be realisedwith the intention of creatingpublic spaces that promote peo-

ple’s health, happiness and well-being. It will inspire people toreimagine and reinvent publicspaces as the heart of everycommunity, strengthening theconnection between people andthe places they share. The parkwill be divided into variouszones, like the art zone, fitnesszone, elders zone and kids zone.

He further stated that vari-ous activities like yoga sessions,interactive games for children,live painting competition, kabad-di and tug of war, among othershave been organised today andscheduled for the next two daysfor public engagement on thesite. Apart from this, a dedicat-ed toilet block for the facilitationof the users of the park is underconstruction and will be hand-ed over to the public onSeptember 30.

He also said that a corner hasbeen developed with an herbalgarden wherein various types ofherbal plants are being plantedwhich can be used by the localresidents. The park has beenrevamped with newly paintedgazebos, grills and pathways.The park has been dedicated tothe citizens with a newly installedopen gym, gymnastic/exercisingequipment and various types ofswings for children. He said thatwith these interventions, weforesee inspiration for the trans-formation of other such under-developed spaces in Chandigarhand make them sustainable.

Vellore Institute of Technology(VIT), Vellore conducted its

36th annual convocation virtual-ly on Tuesday, September 28, 2021.Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, thedirector of Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT) Madras tookpart in the convocation as chiefguest and delivered the convoca-tion address virtually.

In his speech, ProfRamamurthi urged students todive deep into at least some of thesubjects, if not all, during their for-mal education and learn how to get

to the core of the concepts involvedin them.

“To use a familiar Indiandescription, one should aim forvidwath in at least a few subjects.But how do we know which ones

to do this in, which subjects arelikely to be useful in one’s career?Well, one cannot know this, andthe curious thing is, it does notmatter. What the effort itself does,irrespective of the subject, is toteach one how to delve deep, howto know when one has understoodthe core underlying concepts well,and how to recognise when one isslowly but surely becoming a vid-waan,” he said.

Delivering his address, thefounder and chancellor of VelloreInstitute of Technology (VIT), Dr

G Viswanathan said that out of theeligible 14 crore youth in India,only 4 crore get the opportunity togo for higher education. Listing outthe challenges in higher education,Dr Viswanathan said that shortageof teachers, low input for research,and inadequate industry linkageshad made India lag behind othercountries like Japan, China, SouthKorea.

A total of 7,569 undergraduate,postgraduate students, andresearch scholars graduated thisyear.

As part of Government of India’s initiativetowards enhanced transparency and

ease of doing business, BHEL has been spear-heading procurement of goods and servicesthrough the Government e-marketplace(GeM) portal, which is a unified public pro-curement portal for goods and services.

The company’s procurement throughGeM has crossed �1,500 Crore in the first sixmonths of the current fiscal, as against �389Crore in the entire 2020-21. The companywas also ranked number one among top 20PSUs for procurements from this portal dur-

ing the first quarter of the current year.Significantly, BHEL is not only procur-

ing goods and services through GeM, but isalso registered as a ‘seller’ for various prod-ucts on the platform and is receiving ordersfrom the same.

Notably, the company is streamlining itsprocurement processes using data analytics,and ensuring substantial cost savings by scal-ing up procurement through GeM. The goalis to utilise data analytics through a singledashboard by every concerned BHELemployee.

For pensioners/ familypensioners residing

abroad, the following meth-ods are available for submis-sion of life certificate:

�A pensioner/ familypensioner residing abroadand drawing the pensionthrough any bank includedin the Second Schedule tothe Reserve Bank of IndiaAct, 1934, the life certificatemay be signed by an officerof the bank. They getexemption from personalappearance subject to pro-duction of a life certificatesigned by the aforemen-tioned officer of the bank.

�Pensioners not resid-ing in India, if their dulyauthorised agent produces alife certificate signed by amagistrate, a notary, abanker or a diplomatic rep-resentative of India, areexempted from personalappearance.

�Pensioners can alsoprovide digital life certificatesonline through Aadhaar-based biometric authentica-tion system on https://jee-vanpramaan.gov.in

�In case of NRI pen-sioners who are unable tocome to India for personalidentification, pension maybe allowed on the basis of acertificate to be issued by anauthorised official of theIndian Embassy/ HighCommission of India orconsul of Indian Consulatein the country where thepensioner/family pensioneris residing. This certificate isto be issued on verificationof pensioner/ family pen-sioner on the basis of thephotograph pasted in thePPO or passport or anyother such document.

�In case the pensioner/family pensioner is unable tovisit the Embassy ofIndia/Consulate, he/she maysubmit requisite documentsby post to theEmbassy/Consulate, includ-ing a doctor’s certificateshowing the pensioner’s/family pensioner’s inabilityto present himself/ herself inperson. Embassy ofIndia/High Commission/Indian Consulate may alsoassist pensioners/familypensioners in submissionof the Life Certificate.

Metro Railway alwaysgives top priority to the

safety and security of thecommuters. In order tocheck the preparedness ofMetro staff to tackle any fire-related incident in theMetro, inside the tunnel, apassenger evacuation mock-drill was conducted inbetween Esplanade and ParkStreet metro stations onSeptember 26.

Metromen were impart-ed training on how to takeimmediate necessary action

to rescue passengers in caseof a fire in the running rakeinside the tunnel.

The objective of thismock drill was to upgradethe evacuation skills as wellas check alertness and pre-paredness of Metromen dur-ing such emergencies.

Senior officers and staffof different departmentswere present during thisdrill.

The 7th foundation day ofthe youth wing of the

Aam Aadmi Party and thebirth anniversary ofShaheed Bhagat Singh wascelebrated on September28. AAP Delhi convenor,Gopal Rai, attended thefoundation day organised atthe party headquarters.During this, while address-ing the people, Gopal Raisaid that on the birthanniversary of Bhagat Singh,the entire team of the youthwing of the Aam AadmiParty is celebrating its foun-dation day. “On one hand,the Youth Wing is celebrat-ing Foundation Day, whileon the other hand, takinginspiration from Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, DelhiChief Minister ArvindKejriwal has created histo-ry inside India. Delhi hasbecome the first state in thecountry to inspire the chil-dren of Delhi to follow inthe footsteps of revolution-aries like Bhagat Singh,Rajguru, Sukhdev,Chandrashekhar Azad, bystarting implementation ofthe Deshbhakti Curriculumin schools.”

He said that I am surethat this curriculum willprepare new Bhagat Singhsfrom the schools of Delhiand will produce a genera-

tion of youths who willhave the spirit of sacrificingeverything for their moth-erland.

He said that electionsare an important part toexpress our voice but wehave not entered politics justto become councillors,MLAs, MPs, chief ministers.“Before we become any-thing, first we have to dosomething for this country.When we take the name ofBhagat Singh, it seems thatBhagat Singh is the onewho wields a pistol. ButBhagat Singh fired a pistolonly once in his life. WhenBhagat Singh threw a bombin the assembly, threw it atan empty space so that noone would get hurt. WhenBhagat Singh went to jail, hefasted for 63 days,” he said.

Gopal Rai said that theyouth wing of the AamAadmi Party is differentfrom the youth wing of allparties. “Live for your fam-ily too, but when you haveto choose any of these, then,first of all, you shouldchoose the passion to livefor the country. People ofother parties also do politicsand we also do politics. Butthey do politics of hate, wedo politics of love. They dopolitics to get power forthemselves and we do it tohighlight the name andprestige of the country. Theway to move towards BhagatSingh's politics is to create usfrom within the youth wing.Remembering BhagatSingh, we all need to workwith a new idea and a newgoal in this country.”

The 32nd Annual General Meetingof Power Grid Corporation of

India Limited (POWERGRID) washeld on Friday, September 24, 2021through video conferencing. CMD, KSreekant, addressed the stakeholdersand apprised them of the latest devel-opments and future plans of theorganisation.

The virtual AGM was attended bythe CMD, Seema Gupta, the directorof Operations, V K Singh, the direc-tor of Personnel, Abhay Choudhary,the director of Projects, M TajMukarrum, the director of Finance,M N Venkatesan, independent direc-tor apart from government nominee,directors Mrityunjay Kumar Narayanand Dilip Nigam.

Rajasthan’s Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, hascalled for more cooperation from NABARD

in giving impetus to the cooperative movementand strengthening cooperative institutions in thestate. He has said that NABARD can play morevigorous and active participation in the projectsrelated to the development of the state throughcooperatives.

NABARD’s chairman, Dr GR Chintala metGehlot on September 27 at the CM’s residence.During this, the CM said that the state govern-ment is making constant efforts to promote coop-erative institutions in the state and for their finan-cial empowerment. He asked the chairman ofNABARD to cooperate in the expansion andcomputerisation of village service cooperativeinstitutions in the state. At the same time, empha-sising on the diversification of the work of vil-lage service cooperative societies, he talked aboutbenefiting them under the schemes of NABARDto connect them with other innovative activitieslike agricultural processing and marketing etc.

The CM called upon NABARD to cooper-ate in providing market linkage at national andinternational level to the people associated withhandicrafts and spice growers to get reasonableprices for their products.

During this, Gehlot also urged NABARD toincrease the loan targets given for the develop-ment of infrastructure for the state from �1800crores per annum to �10 thousand crores perannum. This will help the state government inbetter implementation of schemes related toroads, agriculture, animal husbandry and ruraldevelopment.

Dr Chintala informed the Chief Ministerabout the financial support being done throughthe bank in the projects related to the develop-ment of rural infrastructure in the state. He saidthat NABARD would extend full cooperation forthe development of the state.

The festive season has begunin India and in a move that

will cheer consumers inLucknow, Kotak MahindraBank (KMBL) has reduced itshome loan rates once again bya further 15 basis points (bps)from 6.65 per cent to 6.50 percent per annum. Kotak homeloan interest rates now begin at6.50 per cent per annum, offer-ing the best value to home buy-ers in Lucknow. These rates arevalid for a limited period tillNovember 8, 2021.

This special rate is avail-able across all loan amountsand is linked to a borrower’scredit profile.

With this new rate, exist-ing home loan borrowers whoare paying a higher interestrate on their current homeloan, can lower their EMIswith unbelievable savings byshifting their home loan toKotak Home Loans.

To apply for a Kotak HomeLoan online, please visit KotakHome Loans. Existing Kotakcustomers can also applythrough the Kotak mobilebanking app or net banking.

In a move to double thejoy this festive season

holds for its cardholders,SBI Card, India’s largestpure-play credit cardissuer, has announcedlaunch of the three-daymega shopping festiveoffer 2021, ‘DumdaarDus’, starting October 3,2021. During this one-of-its-kind online shoppingfestival, SBI Card retailcardholders will have thefreedom to shop onlineon any domestic e-com-merce site, and not berestricted to just one ortwo, to avail the 10 percent cashback.Importantly, in line withthe growing popularity ofEMI transactions, theoffer will also be availableon online merchant EMItransactions.

SBI Card continu-ously brings exceptionaloffers, designed toenhance the overall shop-ping experience of its val-ued customers.

With ‘Dumdaar Dus’,SBI Card is set to take thisexperience to the nextlevel, as it will empowercustomers to shop from

‘any’ domestic e-com-merce site they prefer.Customers will be able topurchase a wide variety ofproducts, includingmobiles and accessories,TV and large appliances,laptops and tablets, homefurnishing and kitchenappliances, fashion andlifestyle, sports and fit-ness, among many others,and receive the cashback.The offer will not beapplicable on onlinespendings in some cate-gories such as, insurance,travel, wallet, jewellery,education, healthcare,utility merchants etc.

To amplify its festiveoffer, SBI Card plans tolaunch a digital campaignfeaturing actor JaavedJaaferi who accentuatesthe brand message effort-lessly with his versatilityand humour.

SBI Card FestiveOffer 2021 can be availedby all SBI Card cus-tomers, across India,starting October 3, 2021.More details of the offerwill be available on thelaunch date at www.sbi-card.com.

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Rajasthan CM calls forstrengthening cooperatives

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Former Indian cricketer SunilGavaskar believes Rohit

Sharma should be India's captainin the next two T20 WorldCups. He also said that he looksat KL Rahul and Rishabh Pantas his choice for vice-captain inthe T20I format.

"I think Rohit Sharma forthe next two World Cups. Youcould say they (World Cups)are back-to-back, onestarting in a month andanother exactly a yearfrom now. So clearly,yes, you don't want tochange too many cap-tains at this particu-lar stage. RohitSharma would def-initely be mychoice for captain-cy of the Indianteam for boththese T20 WorldCups," saidGavaskar on 'CricketConnected' show onStar Sports.

Sharma is tipped totake over as India's newT20I captain after ViratKohli steps down fromthe post after the men'sT20 World Cup scheduledto take place in the UAE andOman in October and

November. Sharma has wonthe IPL trophy for MumbaiIndians five times as a captain.

In Indian colours, he cap-tained the team to winning the2018 Nidahas Trophy and AsiaCup.

Gavaskar mentioned thenames of Rahul and Pant forvice-captaincy, but spoke on alength about Pant's stint as a cap-tain for Delhi Capitals in IPL2021. "And then, I'm looking atKL Rahul for vice-captain. Iwould also keep Rishabh Pant inmind because he has been real-

l yimpressive in the way he

has led a star-studded Delhiteam and the bowling changesthat he has been making in the

T20 format, using Nortje andRabada in such a clevermanner that actually shows

a street-smart captain, and youalways want a street-smart cap-tain who can read situations andact immediately. So yes, Rahuland Pant are the two guys Iwould look at as ViceCaptains."

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During their match againstKolkata Knight Riders in

Sharjah, captain Rishabh Pantbroke Virender Sehwag's recordto achieve a milestone for theDelhi Capitals.

On Tuesday, Pant scored 39runs against KKR in their IPLgame and while batting, hebroke a record of former DCcaptain and legendary cricketerSehwag. The former cricketerhad for long been the highestrun-getter for the franchise,having scored 2382 runs in 85innings. Pant went past Sehwagand now leads the chart with

2390 runs in 75 innings.Former Delhi skipper

Shreyas Iyer is in the third posi-tion with 2291 runs for thefranchise in 82 innings. Andveteran batsman, ShikharDhawan is currently fourth,having scored 1933 runs for theCapitals in just 58 innings at anaverage of 40.27.

The Capitals' team manage-ment would hope that Dhawan,Iyer and Pant keep playing likethis in the remaining matchesof the IPL 2021 season and helpthe franchise clinch its maidenIPL trophy. Capitals just need towin one match to book theirplayoffs berth.

�������� Indian left-arm wrist spinnerKuldeep Yadav underwent a knee surgeryon Wednesday for an injury that he sus-tained during the ongoing IPL in the UAE.

Kuldeep posted the update on his offi-cial Twitter page.

"Surgery was a success and the road torecovery has just begun. Thank you somuch to everyone for your amazing sup-port. The focus is now to complete myrehab well and be back on the pitch doingwhat I love as soon as possible," tweeted the26-year-old. On September 27, PTI hadreported that Kuldeep sustained a seriousknee injury and was likely to miss mostaaa-

dia with his IPL campaign cut short.The out-of-favour India international,

who was with Kolkata Knight Riders, isexpected to go through a long rehabilita-tion process before attempting a comebackto competitive cricket.

"Yes, we got the information thatKuldeep sustained a nasty knee injury dur-ing a practice session in UAE. Apparentlywhile fielding, he twisted his knee and it wasreally bad at that point," a senior BCCI offi-cials had revealed.

"There was no chance that he couldhave taken any further part and was sentback to India." PTI

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India skipper Mithali Rajon Wednesday called for

the return of red-ball crick-et in women's domestic cir-cuit if one-off Tests becomea regular feature in theirinternational assignments.

Mithali, whose side hasjust got two practice sessionsahead of the historic day-night Test against Australiastarting Thursday, wanted

more preparation time butthe COVID-hit schedulingdid not allow that.

India played their firstTest in seven years in June

and the Australia Test istheir first with pink-ball.

"Clearly, if the girlsneed to do well in this for-mat they have to have somesort of match experience inthe domestic circuit. So, ifthis (Test) is going to be reg-ular (feature) then probablywe will have another addi-tion to our domestic calen-dar of playing days format,"said Mithali on the eve ofthe day-nighter.

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Having gained signifi-cantly in confidence

with a fighting performancein one-dayers, the Indianwomen's cricket teamwould now go through atrial by fire when it make itsday-night Test debut againstAustralia in the one-offgame beginning here onThursday.

India and Australialast played a Test in 2006with only Mithali Raj andJhulan Goswami featuringin that game among thecurrent players on bothsides.

With the third ODIheld on Sunday and the fol-lowing day being a rest day,the Mithali Raj-led squadhas got only two practicesessions in the lead up to

the landmark Test. The vis-itors lost 1-2 in the shorterformat series. The squadhas very little idea abouthow the shiny pink ball willbehave during the course ofthe game at the MetriconStadium.Australia, whoplayed their lone day-nightTest in November 2017,also go into the game withlimited practice but theirpotent pace attack will belooking forward to wreak-ing havoc at the greenishpitch here.

India did well in theirfirst Test outing in sevenyears, drawing againstEngland in June, but theplayers and experts believethe skiddy pink-ball willpose a much tougher chal-lenge for the visitors.

"I would call it a trial byfire for the Indians. The

players have hardly playedwith red ball in the lastthree four years. Day-nightTest is a completely differ-ent ball game and a muchtougher challenge," said for-mer India captain andBCCI Apex Council mem-ber Shantha Rangaswamy.

"Though Australia havemore Test experience thanIndia of late, their playersalso haven't played a lot inthe whites. Some of theirkey players are missing andIndia showed (in ODIs)that Australia are beatable,"she added.

Shantha, who led Indiato their maiden Test win in1976, also lauded the BCCIfor resuming Test cricket forwomen and hoped two-dayred-ball cricket will bebrought back to domesticcricket.

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Boxing legend MannyPacquiao is officially hang-

ing up his gloves.The eight-division world champion andPhilippines senator onWednesday announced hisretirement from the ring,

"As I hang up my boxinggloves, I would like to thank thewhole world, especially theFilipino people for supportingManny Pacquiao. Goodbyeboxing," the 42-year old said ina 14-minute video posted onhis Facebook page.

"It is difficult for me toaccept that my time as a boxeris over. Today I am announc-ing my retirement."

Pacquiao finished his 26-year, 72-fight career with 62wins, eight losses and twodraws. Of those 62 wins, 39were by knockout and 23 bydecision. He won 12 worldtitles.

His retirement from box-ing followed a dishearteningdefeat to Yordenis Ugas inParadise, Nevada on Aug. 21.

The younger Cuban boxer,who defected to the UnitedStates in 2010, beat Pacquiao byunanimous decision, retain-ing his WBA welterweight title.

It was Pacquiao's first fight inmore than two years.

"Thank you for changingmy life, when my family wasdesperate, you gave us hope,you gave me the chance to fightmy way out of poverty,"Pacquiao said in the video.

"Because of you, I was ableto inspire people all over theworld. Because of you I havebeen given the courage tochange more lives. I will neverforget what I have done andaccomplished in my life that Ican't imagine. I just heard thefinal bell. The boxing is over."

Pacquaio had hinted atretirement recently. It also hadbeen expected because he issetting his sights on a biggerpolitical battlefield.

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After two straight wins, India wentdown 1-3 to a formidable Russian

team in a fourth Pool A match in theFIDE World Women's Team ChessChampionship, here.

India, which has qualified for thequarterfinals, will face France in the fifthand final preliminary match later onWednesday

D Harika, the top Indian player, heldAleksandra Goryachkina to a draw as didMary Ann Gomes against PolinaShuvalova but Tania Sachdev and RVaishali suffered defeats as the team lostto Russia in the fourth round late onTuesday. Earlier on Tuesday, the Indianwomen had beaten a strong Armenia 2.5-1.5 in the third round. Tania Sachdev andBhakti Kulkarni notched up the impor-tant wins to set up the victory overArmenia.

Harika had settled for a draw againstElina Danielian while the talented, youngVaishali lost to Lilit Mkrtchian.

India and Armenia now have 5points each after four rounds behindRussia (8). A team gets two points for win-ning a match and one for a draw.

In the India-Russia encounter, thehigher rated Katernya Lagno andAlexandra Kosteniuk put it across TaniaSachdev and Vaishali to assert the Russianteam's superiority. After drawing 2-2 withAzerbaijan in the opener, India hadbeaten Spain 2.5-1.5 in round two.

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KS Bharat and GlennMaxwell were the chiefcontributors in Royal

Challengers Bangalore clinching

a seven-wicket win overRajasthan Royals in match 43 ofIPL 2021 at Dubai InternationalStadium on Wednesday. Thewin increases Bangalore's pointsto 14 while retaining their third

place in the points table.Chasing 150, Bangalore

were off to a flying start as ViratKohli slammed Chris Morris forthree boundaries in the openingover. Devdutt Padikkal

crunched Kartik Tyagi for twoboundaries in the second overbefore slamming MustafizurRahman for a brace of bound-aries in the next over.

Bangalore were 48 for noloss in f ive overs beforePadikkal, dropped at six, swungacross the line, only for Rahmanto disturb the stumps. In thenext over, Kohli tried to sneaka run on a misfield by RiyanParag at backward point. But adirect hit from Parag caughtKohli short of the crease at non-striker's end.

Bharat and Maxwellstitched a stand of 69 runs forthe third wicket. The duosmashed boundaries whilerotating the strike, which keptthe asking rate under check.Bharat was more impressive ofthe two, slog-sweeping ChrisMorris for a big six before play-ing a gentle reverse sweep offRahul Tewatia.

Rahman broke the part-nership in the 16th over asBharat pulled straight to fineleg. After Bharat's dismissal,Maxwell whipped Morris for asix over mid-wicket followed bythree fours, the last of whichbrought up his fifty in 30 balls.

AB de Villiers finished offthe chase with a sweep throughsquare leg off Parag to seal aneasy win for Bangalore.

Brief Scores: RajasthanRoyals 149/9 in 20 overs (EvinLewis 58, Yashasvi Jaiswal 31,Shahbaz Ahmed 2/10,Yuzvendra Chahal 2/18) lost toRoyal Challengers Bangalore153/3 in 17.1 overs (GlennMaxwell 50 not out, KS Bharat44, Mustafizur Rahman 2/20)by seven wickets.

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