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The Congress on Fridaystaged a countrywide

protest against price rise, GSTand unemployment, but theparty leaders were more vocalon criticising the Centre alleg-ing that the Governmentunleashed the EnforcementDirectorate against the Gandhisin the National Herald case.

The epicentre of theprotest was Delhi where RahulGandhi and Priyanka Gandhiled from the front, but the partyalso mobilised its cadre in sev-eral States to give it a shape ofpan-India agitation against thepolicies of the ModiGovernment.

Congress chief SoniaGandhi led the protest insideParliament premises but didnot attend the march due tohealth issues.

Wearing black outfits,Rahul , Priyanka, and nearly 60Congress MPs from bothHouses of Parliament and hun-dreds of Congress workers

were detained when they triedto march to Rashtrapati Bhavanfrom Parliament.

Ahead of the protest, Rahuladdressed a Press conferenceduring which he alleged thatIndia is witnessing the “deathof democracy” and anybodywho stands against the onset ofdictatorship is “viciouslyattacked”.

He said the Gandhi fami-ly is attacked because it fightsfor democracy and for com-munal harmony.

He charged that the soleagenda of the Government isthat people’s issues such asprice rise, unemployment andviolence in society must notbe raised.

“What we are witnessingis the death of democracy.That is what India is witness-ing. What India has builtbrick by brick, starting almosta century ago, is basicallybeing destroyed in front ofyour eyes,” said Rahul, whowas flanked by party leadersJairam Ramesh and AshokGehlot.

Asked about the ques-tioning by the EnforcementDirectorate of Congress pres-ident Sonia and him in theNational Herald case, Rahulsaid, “Question all you want,there is absolutely nothingthere, everybody knows it.We are not going to be intim-idated by such tactics.”

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While her party has beenattacking the Modi

Government over actions bythe Enforcement Directorate(ED) against the TMC leadersin West Bengal, State ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee metPrime Minister Narendra Modiin the national Capital onFriday and raised a host ofissues concerning her State,including GST dues and thetimely release of funds by theCentre under various schemes.

Mamata’s meeting with thePrime Minister and later withPresident Droupadi Murmucame a day ahead of the VicePresident’s election in which

her party has broken rankswith the Opposition and decid-ed to abstain.

The meeting came againstthe backdrop of the arrest ofher Minister Partha Chatterjeeby the ED.

The Prime Minister’sOffice shared a picture of themeeting, which lasted aboutan hour. In a memorandumto the PM, Mamata said shehad repeatedly sought hisinter vent ion for urgentrelease of funds due to theState on account of the imple-mentation of MGNREGA,PM Awas Yojana and PMGramin Sadak Yojana. Theamount due under theseschemes stood at �17,996.32crore, she said.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Friday said for-

eign powers could keep Indiaunder their rule as they suc-ceeded in creating an inferior-ity complex among Indianswhich should be uprooted toachieve Independence in itstruest sense.

He said that the foreignrulers created a myth thatIndians were illiterate, ignor-ing the fact that the Gita, the

Vedas, astronomy, and zerowere given to this world byour country. Shah was speak-ing after the launch of a megaserial “Swaraj — Bharat KeSwatantrata Sangram KiSamagra Gatha”, produced byDoordarshan to mark the75th anniversar y ofIndependence. The 75-episode mega show chronicleslesser-known tales aboutIndian history and would betelecast from August 14 onDoordarshan in Hindi andregional languages.

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The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Friday hiked the

key lending (repo) rate by 50basis points. This is the thirdincrease since May to tackle ris-ing inflation. The rate hike willmean home, auto and otherloan EMIs will rise further.

The hike by 50 bps to 5.40per cent is 25 bps higher thanthe pre-pandemic repo level.

RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas indicated that this may notbe the end of the tighteningregime. The RBI, however, didnot revise its existing econom-ic growth or inflation forecastdespite indications of a globalslowdown. See P10

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The Members of Parliamentwill vote on Saturday to

elect the next Vice President ofIndia in an election whereNDA candidate JagdeepDhankhar is pitted againstOpposition pick MargaretAlva. With numbers stacked infavour of the NDA, Dhankhar,a former Governor of WestBengal, is set for an easy win.

Cracks were visible in theOpposition camp as MamataBanerjee’s TrinamoolCongress decided to abstainfrom voting alleging lack ofconsultations in deciding onthe name of Alva.

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While the BJP called theCongress protest on

Friday a ploy to shield theGandhis from the NationalHerald corruption probe,Union Home Minister AmitShah and Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathlinked the agitation by

Congress leaders in blackclothes to the “appeasement”politics alleging the protestwas planned on the day PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadlaid the foundation of RamJanambhoomi temple in 2020.

“The Congress chosethis day for protest andwore black clothes becausethey want to give a subtlemessage to further promotetheir appeasement politics,”said Shah.

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A36-year-old femaleUnani doctor attempt-ed suicide by taking

overodose of drugs after shewas sexually assaulted andexploited for the past threeyears by her compopunder atFirdous Nagar underTeelajamalpura police stationarea, police have startedsearching for the accused.The doctor, who was indepression, attempted suicideby taking an overdose of thedrug, she was admitted toSultania Hospital in criticalcondition and her condition isreportedly stable.In the statement given to thepolice, she told about accusedwho sexually exploited her.According to Tila Jamalpurapolice, a 36-year-old woman

living in Firdous Nagar is aUnani doctor. She has a clin-ic in Congress Nagar and hasappointed Rihan Ali, a resi-dent of Housing BoardNishatpura, as compounderfor the clinic.The woman told the policethat in December 2019, herfriendship with Rihan Aligrew and turned into love.The woman told the policethat during this time the com-pounder raped her and whenshe resisted, he promised tomarry.In March 2022, the womanforced the compounder tomarry but he refused. On thisa dispute started between thetwo. On Wednesday night, thewoman attempted suicide bytaking an overdose of thedrug. Due to deterioratinghealth, the family got heradmitted to Sultania Hospital

in critical condition and whenshe regained consciousness,she recorded her statement inwhich she told that Rihansexually exploited her.Tila Jamalpura police stationin-charge RadheshyamRanger said that the womanhas two children. The lasttime she was raped by theaccused in Kohefiza area.Preliminary statements wererecorded by Talaiya policestation. After this, the Talaiyapolice forwarded the matter tothe Gautam Nagar police sta-tion.The Gautam Nagar police didnot register an FIR because thevictim does not reside under thelimit of the police station. TheTila Jamalpura police registereda case late on Thursday night.After this the police reached thehouse of the accused but he wasfound missing from home.

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Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan has saidthat the 75 years of inde-

pendence should be celebratedwith the basic mantra of SabkaSaath, Sabka Vikas, SabkaVishwas and Sabka Prayas(Everyone's development witheveryone’s faith, cooperationand effort) under the leadershipof Prime Minister NarendraModi. All the residents of the stateshould participate in the AmritMahotsav of independence.Public participation should beensured in the programme ofAugust 15 Independence Dayfrom district to panchayat andward level. CM Chouhan wasaddressing a review meeting atthe residence office regarding

the activities conducted in theAmrit Mahotsav of Azadi.It was informed in the meetingthat a series of programmeswere started from March 12,2021 by preparing a calendarfor the Amrit Mahotsav ofindependence in the state. Onthis day, various programmesrelated to Amrit Mahotsavstarted simultaneously at 407urban bodies and 23 archaeo-logical sites in the state and

more than 2800 activities havebeen conducted so far.Principal Secretary CultureSheo Shekhar Shukla informedthat offline and online activitiesand programmes have beenconducted to make the newgeneration aware of the infor-mation related to the contribu-tion of the known, unknownrevolutionaries, martyrs, war-riors, female freedom fightersand public heroes of the state inthe freedom and their valour.Activities such as lectures,research seminars, paintingworkshops and film-makingwere organised on the birthanniversary and martyrdomday of many Jan Nayaks (pub-lic heroes) including RaniAvantibai, Rani Durgavati, RaniLaxmibai, Tatya Tope, AmarShaheed Chandrashekhar

Azad, Shankarshah-RaghunathShah and Raja Saryu Prasad. Inthis sequence, MahatmaGandhi Samman on GandhiJayanti and Ram-Rahim BhajanSandhya and Adi Vidrohi the-atrical celebrations were held.For the first time, programmesfull of patriotism were held inBhopal with the collaborationof the Army, along with theMadhya Pradesh Police andNCC cadets. Seminars and competitionswere organised by theDepartment of HigherEducation focused on "EkBharat-Shreshtha Bharat" (OneIndia-Great India). In themeeting, a short film focusingon the activities of the AmritMahotsav of Independencewas screened by variousdepartments.

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Principal SecretaryTourism and ManagingDirector Tourism Board

Sheo Shekhar Shuklainformed that the last date forregistration in "MadhyaPradesh Tourism QuizCompetition 2022" has nowbeen extended till August 12,2022 by the tourism board,which was August 05 earlier.This decision has been takento increase the participation ofstudents in the competition

and also a busy schedule ofadministrative staff in theelection work in the district.Collectors of all districts havebeen directed in this regard. "Madhya Pradesh TourismQuiz Competition 2022" isbeing organized by MadhyaPradesh Tourism Board withthe objective of acquaintingschool students with thetourism of the state and todevelop the process of learn-ing through tourism. Studentsstudying from class IX to XIIin government, non-govern-

ment, CBSE and KendriyaVidyalayas of the state will beable to participate in the com-petition. The winning teams ofthe competition will be givena tour package of the hotels ofthe Tourism Corporationalong with certificates andmedals. The competition willincrease tourism-related infor-mation among children alongwith attraction towards dif-ferent are of MP for future.The board has successfullybeen organizing this compe-tition since 2016.

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Jyotiraditya Scindia,Minister of CivilAviation and Steel,

Government of India haswritten to Minister ofExternal Affairs,Government of India, SJaishankar, drawing hisattention to the need of aPassport Seva LaghuKendra (PSLK) in Gwalior.In his letter Scindiabrought to the notice ofthe External AffairsMinister, the difficultiesfaced by the people ofGwalior_ ChambalDivision due to theabsence of a proper pass-port office. He informedJayashankar that the cur-rent Postal PassportCentre in Gwalior is ill-

equipped to meet thedemands of the thousandsof passport applicants. Headded that passport appli-cants from 7 districts ofthe division throng thePostal Passport Centre inGwalior daily but have toreturn disappointed as theoffice is equipped to han-dle only 50 applicants in a

day. He also brought to thenotice of the ExternalMinister the fact thatIndore, being a PSLK isissuing 350 normal pass-ports and 50 tatkal pass-ports in a day. In his letter Scindia men-tioned that there is no pro-vision in the Gwalior pass-port office for Tatkal pass-ports due to the shortageof enough staff. He added that these fac-tors have been recentlyhighlighted in the localnewspapers and theGwalior chapter of theMadhya PradeshChamber of Commercealso has demanded thesetting up of a PassportSeva Laghu Kendra inGwalior.

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Bhawna Dehariya, whohas illuminated thename of Madhya

Pradesh in the world byconquering the world'shighest peak Mount Everest,will now hoist the tricolor onEurope's highest peakMount Elbrus in Russia(height 18,510 feet) onAugust 15. Under the AmritMahotsav of Azadi, MadhyaPradesh Tourism Board hassupported Bhawna. AMD Vivek Shrotriyapresented the national flagto mountaineer Bhawna andwished her success. She alsotalked about taking the HarGhar Tricolor campaign tomaximum people andspreading fitness awarenessamong the people. Underthe guidance of Culture,Tourism and Religious Trustand Endowment MinisterUsha Thakur and PrincipalSecretary of TourismDepartment and ManagingDirector Madhya PradeshTourism Board, SheoShekhar Shukla, theTourism Board iscontinuously working toencourage talent. In thisspree, known mountaineerBhawna of Tamia village ofChhindwara district visited

the office of MadhyaPradesh Tourism Board. Deputy Director Adventureand Film UmakantChaudhary also wishedBhawna. Chowdharyinformed that the TourismBoard is assisting in suchefforts to increase theattraction of youth towardsadventure and trekking inthe state. Mountaineer Bhawna is oneof the few and first womenof the state to achieve thesummit of Mount Everest onMay 22, 2019. In the year 2019, India's flagwas waved by her all over theworld by conquering thehighest peak of Africancontinent MountKilimanjaro on the day ofDiwali and MountKosciuszko of Australiancontinent on the day of Holi.

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In an inspiring move,Anahita Bajaj, a nineyear old girl has written

an interesting fictional storybook – Tummy Tales, theGurgaon based girl attempt-ed to pen down her journeyin her mummy’s tummy isexemplary. What began as aroutine bedtime affairturned into a literary col-laboration between Anahitaand her parents who gavewings to her imaginationand encouraged her toobserve, think and write. Anahita’s book titled‘Tummy Tales’ is an inter-esting story of her adven-tures during her nine-monthstay in her mom’s womb.The book has recently beenformally published byEmbassy Books, ‘TummyTales’ was recently launchedat the Om Book Store,Gurgaon. The book is available at OmBooks and online stores likeAmazon, Flipkart, FirstCry& Snapdeal. All the pro-ceeds of the book will go ina charity.Besides talking about thewomb story, Anahita’s booktalks about how she madefriends with the variousbody parts during her

tummy-stay and has herinteresting interpretation ofdigestive and nervous sys-tem (of what she experi-enced in the tummy vis-a-vis what she is learning nowin her school, DPSInternational, Gurgaon).Ask this little author aboutwhere did she got the inspi-ration to write a book onsuch a unique concept, andshe said, “My father inspiredme,” adding that her fatherused to narrate numerousinteresting stories of thetimes when she was in hermum’s womb. “And I built up on that,”adding further she said, “Ilove to read, listen and writestories, and my parents havealways encouraged me to dowhat I love doing.”“I used to tell Anahita fic-tional bedtime stories,including one where I wentto God and asked for her.Interestingly, one day shestarted sharing her experi-ence of staying in hermummy’s tummy and howshe made friends with all thebody parts. Her imaginationwas so vivid and powerfulthat I asked her to write itdown. This is how ‘TummyTales’ was born,” says DeepBajaj, the proud father of thelittle author Anahita Bajaj.

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Heavy rainfall is like-ly at isolated placesin next 24 hours, as

new systems are gettingactive again in the state; thestate capital received 1 inchof rainfall during the last 24hours and Bairagarhrecorded 3 mm of rainwhile visibility dipped to3000 meters during therains.According to theM e t e o r o l o g i c a lDepartment, similar weath-er will prevail for the nexttwo to three days. However,there may be heavy rain atisolated places. Heavy rainswill start in the state fromAugust 6. Heavy rain mayoccur in many areas fromAugust 8.

Met official said that thereis a possibility of heavyrain in Bhopal after 5-6days. So far, MadhyaPradesh has received about7 percent more rain thannormal. Normally, till nowthere was about 20 inches ofrain, while this time it hasbeen 21 inches.After 9 days the weatherchanged in Bhopal onThursday. Due to the cool-ness of the rain, the tem-perature in Bhopal haddropped by 4.8 degreeswhich is brought by mon-soon trough and it is alsodrawing moisture. The day'stemperature was recordedat 31.8 degree Celsius whichdropped by 1.9 degreeCelsius. The night temper-ature was 24.9 degreeCelsius. During the rain,

Bhopal also experienced awind speed of 16 kmph.Few regions have witnessedrains much less than nor-mal which are Datia,Niwari, Tikamgarh,Chhatarpur, Damoh,Panna, Satna, Rewa, Sidhi,Singrauli, Katni, Umaria,Shahdol, Anuppur,Dindori, Umaria andNarsinghpur districts. Herethe rainfall quota was belownormal by 21 to 47 percent.Bhopal, Sheopur, Vidisha,Guna, Rajgarh, AgarMalwa, Sehore, Dewas,Harda, Narmadapuram,Betul, Chhindwara, Seoni,Burhanpur, Khandwa andDewas received more than50 percent rain. Alongwith this, Indore has alsoreceived less rain thannormal.

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Madhya Pradesh onFriday reported 169COVID-19 cases and

one death, which took the tallyto 10,50,844 and toll to 10,758,a state health department offi-cial said. The recovery countincreased by 247 during the dayto reach 10,38,701, leaving thestate with an active caseload of1,385, he said.The official said the overallnumber of coronavirus testsconducted in MP was2,97,57,446, including 7,187on Friday. A governmentrelease said that 12,61,51,748coronavirus vaccine doses havebeen administered so far in thestate, of which 77,869 jabs weregiven during the day.Coronavirus figures in MP areas follows: Total cases 10,50,844,new cases 169, death toll 10,758,recoveries 10,38,701, activecases 1,385, number of tests sofar 2,97,57,446.

Bhopal: For the regained senseof pure elegance and savoir-faire, Corneliani, a Italianmenswear fashion giant haslaunched it’s Spring/Summer2023 collection which focuseson traditional menswear arche-types and sartorial separates.Infused with a touch ofNostalgic escapism this collec-tion consist of classic polo T-shirts, minimal graphical print-ed T-shirts in muted tones, shirtjackets, woolen jackets, cardi-gans fabricated from sustain-able cotton, chino trousers andcollared shirts which is byinspired by a Mediterraneansummer. Authentic masculine elegance isbrought back with soft tailoring,elaborate precision and detail-ing, as true luxury in thedesigner’s eyes comes fromquality, good taste and the con-fidence that a man senses whenfeeling comfortable and at easein his clothes.

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Medical EducationMinister VishwasKailash Sarang held a

review meeting to start PPPmodel based medical college inMadhya Pradesh. In the review,it was decided to establish PPPmodel based medical colleges infive districts of the state in thefirst phase. In this, decision wastaken to start medical collegeson PPP model in Bhopal,Indore, Jabalpur, Balaghat andKatni.

State government will pro-vide land on lease of 99 years(60 years + 39 years) to privateinvestors for setting up medicalcollege. Apart from this, 300bedded hospital building willalso be provided to the stategovernment to privateinvestors.

It was decided in the meet-ing that the medical collegewould be constructed on the

land provided by the privateinvestor at his own expense. Itsoperation and maintenance willbe done by him.

Minister Sarang directedthat the Medical College will beestablished on DBFOT (Design,Build, Finance, Operate andTransfer) model by PPP part-ner. Under this, the expenses ofmedical college, hostel, resi-dential complex, equipment,books and journals etc. will bebeared by the private investor.

Free treatment will bemade available in PPP modelbased hospitals, to financiallyweak patients along withAyushman patients. On theother hand, non-Ayushmanpatients will get the facility oftreatment at market rates.

Notably, according to theestablishment policy of medicalcollege on Government ofIndia’s PPP model, PPP basedmedical college will be estab-lished for admission of 100MBBS seats.

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Bhopal: The husband of a newlyelected woman sarpanch alleged-ly took the oath of office insteadof his wife in a gram panchayatin Madhya Pradesh's Damohdistrict following which the dis-trict authorities have sought adetailed report in the matter.

The matter pertains to theGaisabad Panchayat of Damohdistrict, where after the three-tierpanchayat election, a womansarpanch of the scheduled classwas elected and some otherwomen panches also emergedvictorious.

However, the swearing-inceremony became a subject ofcontroversy after there were alle-gations that instead of thewomen, their husbands had pre-sented themselves at the time ofthe oath-taking. The electedsarpanch and other women wereto be administered the oath ofoffice and secrecy, for which aprogram was organized in thevillage Panchayat.

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With a view toimprove the qualityof health services

being provided in health insti-tutions, Kaya-Kalp Awardsare being given to 394 healthinstitutions of the state in theyear 2021-22. Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan willpresent Kaya-Kalp Awards toselected health institutionsat Kushabhau Thakre Hall onAugust 8 and will also dis-tribute an amount of Rs 55crore under Mission Sehat tothe in-charges of governmentinstitutions with a single click.The development health insti-tutions in the state as per thekaya-kalp (rejuvenation) cri-teria was initiated in the year2015. Health institutions aredeveloped according to thekaya-kalp criteria and are

rewarded after evaluatingthem at three levels. 9 healthinstitutions were selected forthe Kaya-Kalp Award in theyear 2015-16, 65 in the year2016-17, 63 in the year 2017-18, 96 in the year 2018-19,269 in the year 2019-20, 220in the year 2020-21 and 394health institutions wereawarded in the year 2021-22despite the Covid-19 pan-demic. Developing the insti-tution as per the Kaya-Kalpcriteria has resulted in clean-liness in the institutions, pre-vention of infection topatients and reduction inhospital infections.There is an improvement inthe quality of services beingprovided in health institu-tions and continuous trainingis being imparted to theemployees. Training is beingimparted on subjects like

National Quality AssuranceStandard, Bio-wasteManagement, InfectionControl, Patient Safety,Internal AssessmentTechniques, QualityManagement Techniques etc.Due to the availability ofhigh level protocols of infec-tion control in health insti-tutions, the staff in the insti-tutions themselves did not getinfected with Covid-19 andthe patients admitted in theinstitution also recoveredquickly. Continuous effortsare being made by the stategovernment to develop healthinstitutions as per NQAS andKaya-Kalp norms.To provide quality and decenthealth facilities to the citizensof the state, arrangementshave been made for propertreatment in all 52 DistrictHospitals, 119 Civil Hospitals,

356 Community HealthCentres, 1266 Primary HealthCentres and 10 thousand 287Sub Health Centres. Keeping in mind the con-venience of patients comingfor treatment in all thesehealth institutions, arrange-ments are being made forthe maintenance of infra-structure, availability ofhigh quality essential med-ical equipment, varioustypes of tests, checkups,dialysis and cancer treat-ment etc. To overcome the shortage ofmedical specialists in healthinstitutions, an action planhas been made to expandtele-medicine facilities andprovide facilities like help-desk and queue manage-ment to assist the patientsand their relatives visitingthe OPD of the hospital.

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This Raksha Bandhanan exhibition of design-er dresses, kurtis, saris

and other accessories will beput on display for the shopa-holics of the city. Riwaaz atwo day lifestyle exhibitionwill be put here at HotelRaddison on Monday. The two day exhibition cumsale will be all about thedesigner dresses, kurtis, saris,clutches and accessories. This exhibition is an offeringto fashion lovers who are pas-sionate to wear somethingbeautiful, exclusive andunique. This is also anattempt to get the vibrantcolours and Indian coutureon the same stage.The exhibition cum sale willshowcase a magnificent mix

of contemporary fashion andmore from across the State.The exhibition cum sale wasa fusion of various styles ofMadhya Pradesh. Some stalls will display baghprint while some showcasedchanderi and maheshwariwith a western twist. Theexhibition cum sale will giveshoppers ample choice ofaccessories, clutches andIndian wear such as saris,dresses and kurtis.Besides, the exhibition cumsale aims to capture not onlythe young crowd but also midaged and aged ladies to be inthe league of latest trendsprevailing. This exhibitionwill cover all the assorted andhandmade rakhis, fashiontrends and other lifestyleessentials that are must in thisfestive season.

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After the constructionof Shri Ram temple inAyodhya, VHP will

return to its original work.Under this, strategic goalswill be set again for socialharmony, stopping conver-sion, ‘Ghar Wapsi’ campaignand service works. Thisdemand was raised by the 80delegates who arrived from41 provinces at the RajivGandhi TechnologicalUniversity campus inBhopal where a four dayprovincial organising secre-tary’s training programmewas organised from 1 to 7August.RSS Chief MohanraoBhagwat is also in Bhopal toaddress the members of thetraining programme. Themembers attending the pro-gramme demanded that

continuous strengtheningof VHP from organisation-al point of view should nowbe the goal, for that country-wide effort would have to bemade.On Thursday morning,before the intellectual ses-sions , Sangh Pramukh Dr.Mohanrao Bhagwat, SanghAll India ExecutiveCommittee member SureshBhaiyaji Joshi, RGPV ViceChancellor Dr. Sunil KumarGupta and other office bear-ers planted saplings in thepremises. Bhagwat left forthe next programme fromthe VHP's event at 7 pm.After this, he also has to par-ticipate in the ongoingWorld Federation events inBhopal. On the other hand,at 11.05 am, VHP VicePresident Champat Raireached, who will also havesome sessions on Friday.

VHP working presidentAlok Kumar could notreach, who is likely to reachon Friday.In fact, the provincial organ-isation training session ofVishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP) is being held from 1to 7 August this time inBhopal, the heartland ofMadhya Bharat province.In this event, officials of 41provinces of 12 regionsunder the arrangement ofRashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) from all overthe country are participat-ing.The special thing is that theprogramme was attendedby RSS chief Dr. MohanraoBhagwat himself for threedays from 2 to 4 August.During this, Bhagwat tookvarious sessions in the train-ing class where he also hadhis speeches.

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Congress which hasbeen at odds with theCentre, about the

price rise and hike in GST,held a mass protest againstprice rise, unemploymentand the GST hike on essen-tial items throughout thecountry on Friday. Rahul Gandhi, PriyankaGandhi led the protestmarch wearing blackclothes, the entire Congresswas in black clothes inDelhi, while senior partyleader Suresh Pachouri ledprotest in Bhopal. RahulGandhi compared the vic-tory of BJP and PrimeMinister Narendra Modito Hitler.Rahul Gandhi even com-

pared Modi to Hitler.”Hitler has also won elec-tions, he too used to winelections. How did he use to do it ? Hehad control of allGermany’s institution…Give me the entire system,then I will show you howelections are won “saysGandhi.BJP retaliated on this state-ment of Rahul Gandhi.From Madhya PradeshChief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan andMadhya Pradesh BJPreplied to Rahul Gandhifrom their Twitter account.In fact, after the protest,when the media questionedRahul Gandhi that you areraising the issue of unem-ployment and inflation, but

the BJP says that electionsare the best way in ademocracy and the publicis blessing them.After Rahul Gandhi's state-ment, CM Shivraj tweeted“Now tell me, who shouldexplain to them that elec-tions are won by winningthe hearts of the public notby any structure, but by ser-vice, dedication, and truth.BJP Madhya Pradesh alsotweeted – Rahul Gandhihimself has admitted thatnow he will not be won bythe public, now he willhave to adopt Hitler's tac-tics to win the election. Rahul Gandhi has all thequalities of his grandmoth-er, it shows that he willnever miss an emergencyfor the sake of power”.

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Congratulating thenewly electedPanchayat represen-

tatives, Chief Minister ShriShivraj Singh Chouhanwished them for dischargingtheir responsibilities as perthe expectations of the peo-ple. CM Shri Chouhan saidthat elected Panchayat rep-resentatives should leave nostone unturned in the devel-opment of their area andwelfare of the people, theState Government is withthem. CM Shri Chouhaninspired the newly electedPanchayat representativesto participate enthusiasti-cally in the Amrit Mahotsavof Independence. He saidthat the country is cele-brating the Amrit Mahotsav

of Independence under theleadership of PrimeMinister Shri NarendraModi. The country has gotfreedom through sacrifice,hard work, dedication andstruggle. It is the duty ofevery resident of state to cel-ebrate this period as a fes-tival. Let us all cherish thisfestival of independencewith joy and enthusiasm byjoining the "Har GharTiranga" campaign.

Chief Minister ShriChouhan was addressingthe newly elected represen-tatives of Panchayati RajInstitutions from the resi-dence office through videoconferencing. AdditionalChief Secretary GeneralAdministration Shri VinodKumar, Principal SecretaryCulture Shri Sheo Shekhar

Shukla and officers ofPanchayat and RuralDevelopment Departmentwere present. All the pan-chayats of the state partici-pated virtually in the pro-gramme.

Chief Minister ShriChouhan said that the "HarGhar Tiranga" is a campaignto inculcate the feeling ofpatriotism among the coun-trymen by creating aware-ness about the national flag.Independence week will becelebrated across the coun-try from 11 to 17 August.We all must hoist the tri-colour at our homes, officesand business places from 13to 15 August. It is a mani-festation of our love, respectand dedication towardsMother India. It is necessarythat we buy the national flag

ourselves and hoist it.Women's self-help groupsand cooperative societiesare engaged in making thenational flags in the state.CM Shri Chouhanexpressed gratitude to PrimeMinister Shri Modi for theGovernment of India allow-ing to hoist the NationalFlag during the day as wellas at night.

Chief Minister ShriChouhan said that to ensureeveryone's participation inthe "Har Ghar Tiranga"campaign, activities forbuilding the atmosphere aregoing on at a large scale inthe entire state. Peopleshould be motivated to par-ticipate in the "Har GharTiranga" campaign throughtiranga rallies, prabhatpheris and bhajan troupes in

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Bhopal: Nursing College incollaboration with Paediatricsand Neonatology department,AIIMS Bhopal, on the occa-sion of World BreastfeedingWeek from Aug 05 with theme"Step up for breast feeding;educate and support" orga-nized a Breastfeeding promo-tional rally including puppetshowand a breastfeeding lit-eracy programme to spreadawareness among mothersand general public aboutimportance of early initiation

of breastfeeding, exclusivebreastfeeding and role ofpartner, family members andsociety in supporting breast-feeding followed byInternational Webinar on thisyear's theme.

Honourable ExecutiveDirector,AIIMS BhopalProf.(Dr.)Ajai Singh, flaggedoff the Breastfeeding promo-tional rally in presence ofMedical superintendentAIIMS, Bhopal, Dean(Academics), Deputy Director,

Principal Nursing College,Finance & Chief AccountsOfficer, faculties NursingCollege and nursing students.Executive Director Sir empha-sised on importance of breast-

feeding andthis awarenessprogramme should not berestrictedto onlyoneweek, itshould be continued through-out the year via various modeof communication.

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Madhya Pradesh PowerTransmission Company(MP Transco) has con-

structed 132 KV 50 kmsSihawal-Sidhi line and 132 KVnew sub-station at Sihawal inSidhi district at an estimated costof Rs 53.26 crore. EnergyMinister Shri Pradyuman SinghTomar apprised that this sub-sta-tion has been energized with 50MVA with power transformercapacity for the purpose of pro-viding quality electricity to theconsumers and electricity supplyhas also been started for the con-sumers from the 33 kV feeders.With the construction of newsub-station, there has been a sig-nificant increase in the trans-mission capacity of Sidhi district,the consumers of Sihawal regionwill now be able to get betterquality electricity at proper volt-

age.Energy Minister Tomar

informed that Girua region willbe the most benefited with theconstruction of this sub-sta-tion, which was earlier getting 33kv supply from Tyonthar sub-station located 75 km away.Now the Girua region will getsupply from only 200 meterslong line, due to which this areawill get low interruption quali-ty power at proper voltage.Similarly, instead of 70 km, thesupply to Bichi will be availablefrom a 22 km long line and forUkada and Amelia region therewill be only 12 km line.

Energy Minister Shri Tomarinformed that now five 33/11KV sub stations of this area willget supply with the help of fourfeeders of 33 KV from 132 kvsub station. This includes 33 KVregions Amalia, Bichhi(Singrauli), Girua and Ukaya.

Approximately 27 thousandpower consumers will be bene-fited here, who will get qualityelectricity with minimum dis-ruption.

Sihawal is the fifth ultra highpressure power sub-station inSidhi district. Prior to thisMadhya Pradesh PowerTransmission Company used tosupply power from 220 KV Sub-Station Sidhi, 132 KV Sub-Station Sidhi, 132 KV Sub-Station Rampur Nekin and 132KV Sub Station Madwas to Sidhidistrict.

With the commissioning ofthe sub-station, the transmissioncapacity of Sidhi district hasincreased to 600 MVA. of whichthere are 320 MVA. 220 KV sideand 280 MVA 132 KV sides. Thefirst super high pressure sub-sta-tion in Sidhi district was com-missioned on 29 April, 1987under the name 132 KV sub sta-

tion Sidhi. Then its capacity was20 MVA which has increased to80 MVA today. The capacity of132 KV Sub-station RampurNekin is 40 MVA, capacity of220 KV Sub-station side in 22 kvsub station Sidhi is 320 MVAand 132 KV Side capacity is 60MVA and capacity of Madwas132 KV Sub-station is 50 MVA.

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Bhopal: Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan along with NCCcadet and mountaineer Smt. JyotiRatre planted Neem, Banyan andMoulshree saplings in the SmartCity Garden at Shyamala Hills.

Along with Chief MinisterChouhan, NCC cadets of IECUniversity Bhopal, AbhishekKumar Singh, Jitendra PrakashShrivastava, Nitesh Kushwaha,Gaurav Yadav and Kumari JhilmilKushwaha planted saplings.University's Dean Student WelfareRenu Yadav and Prof Sonu Lalwere present. Various communi-ty development activities are con-ducted by NCC cadets alongwith plantation, cleanliness.Along with mountaineer JyotiRatre, Mumtaz Khan also plant-ed saplings. Ratre is the mostsenior woman in the country toclimb Mount Elbrus, the highestpeak in the continent of Europe.

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Former Congress PresidentRahul Gandhi on Friday

alleged that India is witnessingthe "death of democracy" andanybody who raises people'sissues and stands against theonset of dictatorship is "vicious-ly attacked" and put in jail.

Addressing a Press confer-ence at the AICC headquartersahead of the nationwide protestby the Congress against pricerise and GST hike on essentialitems, Rahul said the Gandhifamily is attacked because itfights for democracy and forcommunal harmony. Hecharged that the sole agenda ofthe government is that people'sissues such as price rise, unem-ployment and violence in soci-ety must not be raised.

The idea is that people'sissues, whether they are pricerise, unemployment, violencein society, must not be raised,Rahul said, alleging that themore he raises people's issuesand speaks the truth, the morehe will be attacked.

"My problem is that I speakthe truth and I do not fear any-thing. I will raise issues of price

rise, and I will be attackedmore. But, the one who threat-ens himself fears," he claimed,alleging that they fear price rise,unemployment and the powerof people.

The Congress leader fur-ther alleged that no institutionin the country is independentand the entire infrastructure ofthe government is with oneparty.

"There is financial monop-oly and institutional monopoly,that is why the opposition is noteffective," he said. On BJP'sclaim that they have been win-ning elections, he said, "Hitleralso used to win elections. Hehad the entire institutionalstructure with him. Give methe power on the institutionsand I will show you how elec-tions are won."

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India has asked China to refrainfrom violating airspace close to theLine of Actual Control (LAC) in

Ladakh to avoid escalation of tensionin the region. This issue was flaggedduring a meeting between militarydelegations of the two sides at the bor-der earlier this week.

The Indian team comprisingArmy and IAF officers expressed con-cern over recent flying activities byChinese air force near the LAC on itsside in late June and early July,sources said here on Friday addingthe parleys took place on Tuesday.

The need for raising this matterby New Delhi came after one Chinesejet reportedly came very close to theLAC and the IAF had to scramble itsjets to thwart any possible threat.

These violations took place during theannual Chinese military exercise inthe Tibetan plateau region in the lasttwo months.

Sources said India and China dis-cussed ways to better establish under-standing to manage air space andavoid air space violations along theLine of Actual Control (LAC). Thiswas discussed during the routineConfidence Building Measures(CBM) talks on the ground held onTuesday. The Indian delegation wasled by a Major General.

The two sides also promised toadhere to the pacts between the twocountries as part of confidence build-ing measures to avoid any escalationat the LAC.

As per existing agreementsbetween India and China, operationof fighter aircraft and armed heli-

copters is restricted to a distance often kms on each side of the LAC.

According to the ‘Agreement onMaintenance of Peace and Tranquilityalong the LAC in India-China BorderArea’ of 1996, “combat aircraft (toinclude fighter, bomber, reconnais-sance, military trainer, armed heli-copter and other armed aircraft)shall not fly within 10 km of the LAC.”

The LAC is not fully demarcat-ed and there are differences of per-ception on the alignment due towhich such incidents keep happen-ing, they said.

Given the continuing face-offs atsome friction points at the LAC inEastern Ladakh for the past two yearsand violent incidents in May 2020, theIAF has activated nearly all its forwardbases facing China. Moreover, it hasdeployed most of its front line jetsincluding SU-30,Mirage and even therecently inducted Rafales to meet anychallenge.

Incidentally, the latest talkstermed as confidence building mea-sure efforts came nearly a month afterthe Corps Commanders of the twoarmies held the 16th round of talksin Ladakh. The issue of airspace vio-lations by China was raised even then.

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Health experts andactivists on Friday

here called for strength-ening the tobacco controllaw, saying that the con-tinuation of designatedsmoking areas (DSAs) andads of tobacco products atPoint of Sale (PoS) in thecountry were like “a tacitapproval from the author-ities stating that it is ok forthe tobacco users andyouth to consume thedeadly product whichevery year claim over 13lakhs lives.”

The stringent COTPA

(Cigarettes and OtherTobacco Products Act)Amendment Bill will notonly help save several livesbut also reduce burdenon the healthcare system,said the experts includingDr Shalini Singh, a cancerspecialist and Director,ICMR-National Instituteof Cancer Prevention andResearch, Shweta Shalini,activist and BJPspokesperson fromMaharashtra and DrArchana Dhawan Bajaj, afertility expert.

At a webinar held bythe Tobacco-Free India, acitizens group, Dr Shalini

Singh focused on the needto spread awareness abouttobacco related cancersand plethora of other dis-eases while Shweta Shalini,youth BJP leader elabo-rated on the urgency andthe immediate need foraction to fight against thelobby engaged in trashingout the tobacco productshealth, India can neverbecome world Guru,” shesaid.

During the discussion,Dr Singh also revealedthat the tobacco industryis now trying to trap youththrough ‘synthetic nico-tine’ which is as harmful

and addictive as the nico-tine but does not comeunder the legal purview.

Dr Archana DhawanBajaj, a well-known gynae-cologist focused on tobac-co-induced infertilityamong couples, which, shesaid, is rising at a disturb-ing rate in the country.“Smoking and tobacco usecan have a serious impacton the fertility of bothmen and women, and con-sequently the quality of lifein pregnancy as well asnegative health on theunborn and borne child,miscarriage, and death,”she added.

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Developed countries are no matchto India in the speed at achiev-

ing their pledges for clean energy asit has concern for the environmentand is working towards becomingself-reliant in the energy sector,Minister of Power and New andRenewable Energy R K Singh said inthe Lok Sabha on Friday.

He made the remarks after mov-ing the Energy Conservation(Amendment) Bill in the House forconsideration. The Bill seeks tomake it mandatory for buildings witha minimum connected load of 100kW to meet their energy require-ments from renewable sources.Singh said every country wants toreduce emissions of greenhousegases to deal with climate change and

global warming, which has led to acampaign towards adopting renew-able or clean energy. At the 2015United Nations Climate ChangeConference, COP 21, India hadpledged that by 2030, 40 per cent ofits energy generation capacity wouldbe met from non-fossil fuel sourcessuch as renewable energy, Singhsaid, adding that this was achievedin November 2021 itself.

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The CBI has registered a caseagainst 33 accused includ-

ing then Medical Officer of BSFand Jammu and KashmirServices Selection Board offi-cials besides an owner of acoaching centre and conduct-ed searches at 30 locations inconnection with alleged irreg-ularities in the recruitment ofSub-Inspector in J&K police.

Searches were conductedtoday at 30 locations, includingat Jammu, Srinagar andBengaluru at the premises ofthe accused persons and enti-ties, the CBI said.

The accused persons andentities are Dr Karnail Singh,Medical Officer, BSF FrontierHeadquarters, Paloura, AshokKumar, ASI, Jammu andKashmir Police and AshwaniKumar, former CRPF official.

Avinash Gupta, owner of‘EDUMAX Classes, Akhnoor,Akshay Kumar, Manager of‘EDUMAX Classes, RoshanBral, teacher, Narayan Dutt,then member Jammu andKashmir Administrative

Service (JKKAS), , Bishan Dass,then Under Secretary, JKSSB,Anju Raina, then SectionOfficer, JKSSB and MeritTracServices Private Limited,Bengaluru have also beennamed as accused in the case.

The case was registeredon the request of Jammu andKashmir government againstthe 33 accused on the allega-tions of irregularities in writtenexamination for the posts ofSub-Inspectors in the Jammuand Kashmir police on March27, conducted by J&K ServicesSelection Board (JKSSB), itsaid. The results were declaredon June 4. There were allega-tions regarding malpractices inthe examination. The J&K gov-ernment had constituted anInquiry Committee to lookinto the same.

“It was alleged that theaccused entered into conspir-acy amongst officials of JKSSB,Bengaluru-based private com-pany, beneficiary candidatesand others, and caused grossirregularities in conduct ofwritten examination for theposts of SIs,” the agency said in

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Cabinet SecretaryRajiv Gauba was on

Friday given an exten-sion of one more year inser vice by theGovernment. This ishis second extension on the post.

Gauba, a former Union HomeSecretary, was appointed to the coun-try's top bureaucratic post for two yearsin 2019. He was given a one-year exten-sion in August last year.

The Appointments Committee ofthe Cabinet has approved extension inservice to Gauba, a 1982-batch IASofficer of Jharkhand cadre, as CabinetSecretary for a further period of one-year beyond August 30, 2022, said theFriday's order.

Gauba played a key role in draft-ing the Jammu and KashmirReorganisation Act, 2019, under whichthe erstwhile state of Jammu andKashmir was divided into two Unionterritories following the abrogation ofthe special status given to it underArticle 370 of the Constitution.

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) hasconducted searches against one of the

directors of Zanmai Lab Pvt Ltd whichowns the popular crypto-currencyexchange WazirX and issued an order tofreeze their bank balances to the tune ofRs 64.67 crore on money launderingcharges.

The ED is conducting money laun-dering investigation against a number ofIndian NBFCs and their fintech partnersfor predatory lending practices in viola-tion of the RBI guidelines by using tele-callers who misuse personal data and useabusive language to extort high interestrates from the loan takers.

Various fintech companies backed byChinese funds could not get NBFClicense from RBI for carrying out lend-ing business. So they devised the MoUroute with defunct NBFCs to piggybackon their license. After the criminalinvestigation against such entities, manyof these fintech APPs have shut shop anddiverted away the huge profits earnedusing this modus operandi.

The fund trail investigation by the EDfound that large amount of funds werediverted by the fintech companies to pur-chase Crypto assets and then launderthem abroad, the agency said in a state-ment. These companies and the virtualassets are untraceable at the moment.Summonses were issued to the Crypto-

exchanges. It is seen that the maximumamount of funds were diverted to WazirXexchange and the crypto-assets so pur-chased have been diverted to unknownforeign wallets.

The ED probe revealed that ZanmaiLabs Pvt Ltd., the company owningWazirX Crypto Exchange, has created aweb of agreements with -- Crowdfire Inc.USA, Binance (Cayman Islands),ZettaiPte Ltd Singapore -- to obscure theownership of the crypto exchange.

Earlier, their Managing DirectorNischal Shetty had claimed that WazirXis an Indian Exchange which controls allthe crypto-crypto and INR-crypto trans-actions and only has an IP and prefer-ential agreement with Binance.

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The Enforcement Directorate(ED) on Friday conducted

searches at half-a-dozen loca-tions in Tamil Nadu in connectionwith its money laundering probeconnected to alleged irregularitiesin the issuance of visas to 263Chinese nationals in 2011, in

which Congress MP KartiChidambaram is also anaccused.

Officials said the premis-es of some companies andtheir promoters are beingsearched in Chennai and near-by areas. The ED had initiat-ed a probe in May and filed acase under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) after taking cogni-

sance of a CBI FIR in the samecase. The case relates to alle-gations of Rs 50 lakh beingpaid as kickbacks to Kartiand his close associate SBhaskararaman by a top exec-utive of Vedanta group com-pany Talwandi Sabo PowerLtd. (TSPL), which was settingup a power plant in Punjab,according to the CBI FIR.

The CBI had then

searched the premises of theChidamabram family andarrested Bhaskararaman evenas Karti Chidambaram wasquestioned by it. KartiChidambaram, 50, a CongressMP from the Sivaganga con-stituency in Tamil Nadu, hasdenied the allegations andsaid in a statement that "if thisis not harassment, not a witchhunt, then what is."

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Shiv Sena leader and a RajyaSabha member Sanjay Raut,

currently in the EnforcementDirectorate's (ED) custody inan alleged money launderingcase, has thanked Oppositionparties for supporting him.His party colleague and MP inRajya Sabha PriyankaChaturvedi on Friday releaseda letter signed by Raut.

In the letter addressed toLeader of Opposition in RajyaSabha Mallikarjun Kharge, theShiv Sena spokesman thankedleaders of all Opposition partiesincluding the Congress, NCP,TMC, DMK, AAP, CPI and CPI(M) for expressing solidaritywith him. The Shiv Sena's RajyaSabha member was arrested on

August 1 by the ED in a caserelated to alleged irregularities inthe redevelopment of PatraChawl, a row tenement in sub-urban Goregaon. On Thursday,a court extended his ED custodytill August 8. "The toughesttimes show you who your reli-able allies are," the letter said. "Iam thankful for the over-whelming support given to meduring the political witch-huntand motivated attack directedagainst me by the central gov-ernment through central agen-cies.

My fight will continue forwhat is right. Neither will I bowdown to pressure nor will it breakmy resolve to see this fightthrough," Raut wrote recallingferocious Balasaheb Thackeray.

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At least seven people diedand 15 others fell ill with

some of them even losing theireyesight in a suspected hoochtragedy in Saran district of dryBihar, officials said on Friday.

It is, however, not knownwhen the spurious liquor wasconsumed as the family mem-bers of victims are not ready toshare information.

Saran District MagistrateRajesh Meena said all the caseswere reported from villagesfalling under Maker police sta-tion area and more than 10people among the seriously illhave suffered loss ofvision.""Prima facie it appearsthat the villagers had con-sumed spurious liquor.

Five people died here whiletwo deaths occurred at PatnaMedical College and Hospital(PMCH) where those whohave fallen seriously ill werereferred on Thursday,” he said.

Saran Superintendent of PoliceSantosh Kumar said “We are-conducting raids in Maker,Marhaura and Bheldi policestation areas to nab the sus-pected bootleggers. We will beable to state the number ofarrests after the operation isover.” Asked when the deceased

and the ill had consumed theliquor, the SP said that it will beknown after investigation."Family members are not forth-coming with the information,"he said. To another query,Kumar said that two victimsdied at PMCH on Thursday."We are not sure of the other

deaths as the bodies were cre-mated without informing thepolice or a post mortem". Localresidents said on condition ofanonymity that the drunkenrevelry began on Tuesday nightand continued through theearly hours of Wednesday.They said consumption ofintoxicants like cannabis hasbeen a custom during NagPanchami festival, which fell onAugust 2 this year, and sometook alcohol for intoxication.

State minister AshokChoudhary, a key aide of NitishKumar, told reporters in Patnathat all the accused will beapprehended and brought tojustice. "Action will also betaken against those police per-sonnel whose laxity, or evencomplicity, may have led to theincident".

Asked about questionsbeing raised over feasibility ofprohibition law in the light ofhooch cases being reportedregularly, Choudhary shot back

"Dowry deaths have notstopped, nor have rapes. Butthat does not mean we scraplaws against these crimes".

More than 50 people havedied in hooch tragedies in thestate, declared a dry state oversix years ago, since November2021. Saran itself had reportedfive hooch deaths in Januarythis year. In July two personshad died after consuming spu-rious liquor in Patna.

Sale and consumption ofliquor were completely bannedin Bihar by the Nitish Kumargovernment in April, 2016,following an electoral promisethe chief minister had made tothe women of Bihar ahead ofstate polls held in the previousyear.

However, implementationof the stringent prohibitionlaw has often been criticised bythe opposition parties, thecourts and also ruling alliancepartners like former chief min-ister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

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The decomposed body of a32-year-old student of the

Film and Television Institute ofIndia (FTII) here was foundhanging in his hostel room onFriday, police said. Police sus-pect it to be a case of suicide,but no suicide note has beenfound so far.

"The student, identified asAshwin Anurag Shukla, wasfound hanging in his hostelroom this morning. The bodywas in a decomposed state,"Murlidhar Karpe, seniorinspector of DeccanGymkhana police station, said."Prima facie, it is a case of sui-cide. But no suicide note hasbeen found so far and ourinvestigation is on," he added.

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Thanks to infighting in theKerala BJP and the craving

for positions in CentralGovernment, party workers aswell as hardcore Sangh Parivaractivists are leaving the organ-isation in search of greener pas-tures. On Wednesday, SubhasChand, the standing counsel ofthe Central Government endedhis association with the SanghParivar and joined the CPI(M)to work for “socialism, secu-larism and communal amity”which he says has been jeop-ardized by the RSS and the BJP.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Subash Chand who was thepresident of the Ernakulam

district unit of Viswa HinduParishat till Wednesday saidthat the CPI(M) was the onlypolitical entity in the countrywhich could preserve socialismand secularism in India. “Ihad a meeting with the Stateleaders of the CPI(M) andthey wholeheartedly welcomedme,” he said.

It is expected that SubashChand’s entry to the CPI(M)would strengthen the publicimage of the party as the pre-sent leadership in Ernakulamdistrict has not succeeded inmobilising support. This wasdiscernible in the recent assem-bly by-poll held atThrikkakkara where the partycandidate was trounced by

Uma Thomas of the Congress.The BJP candidate lost thesecurity deposit. Many closefollowers of Chand too wouldjoin the Marxists and this iscertainly a setback for theSangh Parivar, according to KJayashankar, political critic.

“It is surprising to notethat it took Chand eight yearsto understand that secularismwas facing a threat from theBJP Government at theCentre,” said Jayashankar. Hesaid the Sangh Parivar leadergot a much needed enlighten-ment after eight years. “It is likea homecoming for SubashChand. He was a leader of theCPI(M) before he fell out withthe then leadership.

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Expressing its displeasure atthe poor implementation of

the rural housing scheme inChhattisgarh, the Centre haswarned the Congress-led StateGovernment that “it will haveto reconsider its support to itsother core schemes" if it fails toduly implement the PradhanMantri Awas Yojana-Gramin(PMAY-G).

The central rural housingflagship has been implement-ed from April 1, 2016, with anobjective of providing "Housingfor All" by March 2024. In a let-ter to Chhattisgarh ChiefSecretary Amitabh Jain, Rural

Development SecretaryNagendra Nath Sinha has men-tioned that state governmenthas not shown satisfactoryprogress despite several lettersand meetings in this connec-tion. "If the state is unable toimplement PMAY-G..., theministry shall be compelled toreconsider its support to othercore Rural Development(Ministry) schemes/pro-grammes," Sinha said in letter.

He said despite severalrounds of communicationfrom "various levels of UnionMinistry to ChhattisgarhGovernment, it has neithershown satisfactory progressnor released due state share of�562 crore, as a result of which

the work of PMAY-G has cometo a standstill in the state, a sit-uation, which you are wellaware of ".

Underlining that scheme isimplemented on the groundlevel by state governments,Sinha said Chhattisgarh in2020-21 withdrew the majori-ty of the 6.48 lakh houses allo-cated to it "due to difficulty inreleasing corresponding stateshare."

In 2021-22, the RuralDevelopment Ministry wascompelled to withdraw allo-cated target of nearly 7.82 lakhhouses, again due to the state'sinability in releasing its share,amounting to �562 crore, Sinhaadded.

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In another step towards easingair travel in the most popu-

lous state, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, onFriday, inaugurated AirAsiaIndia’s air services connectingstate Capital Lucknow withBengaluru, New Delhi and Goa.

AirAsia’s flights fromLucknow to Kolkata andMumbai will commence inSeptember.Emphasising impor-tance of seamless air connec-tivity in ensuring state’s devel-opment and inclusive growth,Yogi Adityanath reiterated hisresolve to present Uttar Pradeshas the best state in terms of con-nectivity, which would alsoopen up new employmentopportunities for youth in state.

On occasion, congratulat-ing people of Lucknow for get-ting better air services, UnionMinister for Civil AviationJyotiraditya Scindia laudedefforts of Chief Minister YogiAdityanath for improving airconnectivity in state.

“To develop UP accordingto its potential, as many as 63new routes have been addedrecently which will also be toabout 108 routes,” he said.

The chief minister said thatUttar Pradesh had benefitedimmensely from 'UDAN'scheme launched by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. “Therapid expansion in air connec-tivity is a testament to PrimeMinister Modi’s commitmentwhere he said that even thosewho wear slippers’ should beable to travel in flights,” he said.

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Thousands of youth, includ-ing sportsmen from differ-

ent parts of the Kashmir valleyon Friday converged at thenewly renovated BakshiStadium to celebrate the thirdanniversary of Abrogation ofArticle 370 and 35-A.

The atmosphere inside sta-dium was electrifying. Playersrepresenting different gamesparticipated in march pastamidst thunderous applausefrom audience. Earlier, theBakshi stadium, refurbished ata cost of over 50 crore, wasthrown open by Lieutenant

Governor Manoj Sinha. After itsformal inauguration world classsports facility would be thrownopen to sportsmen to takeadvantage of best training facil-ities. Outside stadium, normallife remained peaceful through-out day even as elaborate secu-rity arrangements were made toprevent any untoward incident.The main city centre of LalChowk also witnessed hecticactivity despite 'hartal call'.

On the other hand, region-al political parties in Kashmirvalley including PeoplesDemocratic Party and NationalConference registered theirtoken protest.

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Hundreds of Congress lead-ers — including State

party president Nana Patole,leaders Prithivirakj ChavanAshok Chavan, BalasahebThorat Varsha Gaikwad andChandrakant Handore — weredetained by police on Friday,ahead of their scheduleddemonstration in front of RajBhavan in south Mumbai inprotest against price hike, GSTon essential commodities,unemployment and also man-ner in which their leadersRahul Gandhi and PriyankaGandhi were treated in Delhi.

While Patole, AshokChavan, Thorat, Handore,Varsha Gaikwad were pickedup from Vidhan Bhavan area,

Prithviraj Chavan, ManikraoThakre, Nitin Raut, AslamSheikh, Mumbai CongressPresident Bhai Jagtap and oth-ers were detained at MalbarHills in neighbourhood of RajBhavan. In a statement issued

later in the evening, theMaharashtra Pradesh CongressCommittee (MPCC) claimedthat more than 10,000 partyactivists were detained fromvarious parts of the metropo-lis and surrounding areas.

Jammu: Chief of Army Staff(COAS) General Manoj PandeFriday visited forward areasalong the Line of Control andformations in the hinterland inthe area of operation of WhiteKnight corps. During his visit,

he was briefed by the localcommanders on the existingsecurity situation. "GeneralManoj Pande, COAS visitedWhiteknight_IA and wasbriefed about the prevailingsecurity situation. He visited

the forward areas and compli-mented the commanders &troops for their professionalstandards, operational pre-paredness & ability to thwartany threat" , spokesman of theIndian army said in a writtenstatement.

Meanwhile, an army jawanand a civilian were injuredduring an encounter in theSouth Kashmir district ofKulgam.

According to police, a cor-don and search operation wasjointly launched by the securi-ty forces in the Redwani area ofKulgam district followinginformation about the presenceof terrorists in the area. PNS

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Former Bengal Minister andTrinamool Congress secre-

tary general Partha Chatterjeeand his close aide ArpitaMukherjee arrested by theEnforcement Directorate inconnection with school levelrecruitment scam and moneywere on Friday remanded in 14days' judicial custody by a spe-cial PMLA court.

While Chatterjee was sentto high security PresidencyJail, Mukherjee was taken towomen's prision amid fears ofthreat to Arpita's life expressedby the ED.

Subsequently the jailauthorities have been directedto arrange special security forArpita, sources said addingeven food and water for theaccused would have to be pre-tasted. Contesting Chatterjee'sbail plea the ED told the courtthat whatever had been recov-

ered from the accused persons'houses were just tip of the ice-berg and hence they would berequired to be grilled again.

The court subsequentlyallowed the ED to interrogatethe duo in jail. Chatterjee andMukherjee have been in EDremand since July 23 when theywere arrested after Rs 22 crores,jewellery and documents wererecovered from her appart-ment.

Chatterjee is also facingcharges of illegal appointments— for cash — of teaching andnon-teaching staff in Bengalschools Chatterjee a formernumber two in MamataBanerjee Cabinet handling anumber of important min-istries was subsequentlyrelieved of his ministerial dutiesby the Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, even asChatterjee denied any connec-tion with the money and prop-erty documents recovered from

Arpita's house the ED onFriday told the court thatArpita had told the investiga-tors that the mountain of cashrecovered from her housebelonged to Chatterjee.

Rs 50 crore and jewelleryand property deeds worth tensof crores were recovered fromArpita's two apartments.

The ED also told the courtthat during a face-to-facegrilling Chatterjee denied closeacquaintance with Arpita.When the ED asked as to howhis name figured as a nomineein as many as 31 LIC policiesof Arpita the former ministerkept quiet.

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�� Sir —As per the report, the Chineseresearch and survey ship has left and isexpected to reach the China-runHambantota Port in southern Sri Lanka onAugust 11, which is a very serious and dan-gerous issue and India must closely mon-itor the situation and must be on alert. Thereport quoted Sri Lanka's Defence Ministrymedia spokesman Colonel NalinHerathhave confirmed that it is the cause for con-cern for India as the ship is capable ofmonitoring military installations. Navalships from India, China Russia, Japan, andMalaysia from time to time have request-ed Sir Lanka but they have granted per-mission to China. with this China is try-ing to enter Sri Lanka like Pakistan,Nepal, Taiwan, and Indian territories ineastern India to corner it from all sides. Itis high time the Indian leadership serious-ly concentrate on these issues for the safe-ty of the country.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

��Sir — It is quite surprising to see thateverything appears quite well for ourfinance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.The common man is most worried aboutthe rise of prices and GST on food items,the common man facing the brunt of infla-tion but still, our finance minister is notaccepting that the prices of food items haveincreased.

It is ridiculous that she is comparingcurrent prices of tomatoes, onion, potatoes,etc with the rates in 2013, but she has for-gotten that the rates of other commoditieshave raised ten times more than in 2013.Boasting that Centre has collected morethan 1.49 crores in July on GST proves thathow common man has been forced to paythis amount on GST. We are having anignorant finance minister. When the priceof onions rose, she said that she doesn't eatonions. Unemployment, joblessness, andfrustration among our youth are increas-ing, and food inflation is hurting the poor

with the rise of prices but our Finance min-ister and Government is least bothered.The Opposition parties are protesting andsaying that Government is helpingAmbanis and Adanis and the commonman is suffering. The opposition leadersare getting suspended from both housesstill all is well for our finance minister andthe Government.

Zeeshaan | Kazipet

��Sir — Progressive CJI Ramana and teamare a boon to India. His forward stepsinclude speedier justice to people, friend-ly courts, modern solutions suitable tomodern needs, etc. Now CJI is right in say-ing ‘setting of the expert body’ for regu-lation of freebies.

Our first request to CJI is that manynations of Europe have free education forthe poor ... provide various scholarshipsto poor and middle-class students. Also,they provide many comforts and care tocitizens. In many European nations, richpeople voluntarily do not accept freebies

of education. Please study those modelstoo.

Second, define what are freebiesbecause Indian vast majority of the poorlive a hand-to-mouth sustenance life.

Third, let only the expert body makea list of freebies to the poor and have thefreedom for updating the list (free educa-tion, subsidized essential commodities,etc.) list. Only that list should be adheredto by all state governments and theCentre. So no scope for promises duringelection times. However, anyone, anyparty can make suggestions to the 'expertsbody'.

Fourth, please have many virtualcourts (online, video conferences type) forgiving speedier justice, preferably withhappy development and joyful successsolutions, (not blame game or mistakesfinding... in this modern scientificallyadvanced era.

Sahasra N Vislesha | Secunderabad

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SOUNDBITE

values, and intrusion of mate-rialistic aspirations-drivenvisions, the standard (especial-ly moral) of administrationhas seen many a subversion(paradigm shift from value-based administration to vice-imbued governance). Theresult is that the cardinal prin-ciples of administration likehonesty, integrity, sincerity,etc have started taking thebackseats. It is astonishingthat even some young bureau-crats are falling prey to thelures of material comforts andlucrative postings.

The intricate social calcu-lus and material morbidityhave also come to affect youngmandarin minds. The mostdeplorable aspect is that someyoung officers are startingtheir careers with a touch ofcorruption, whether in form ofmalfeasance misfeasance, ornonfeasance. Then who isresponsible for this unhealthyand insalubrious trend?

A tryst with the prevail-ing conditions would revealthat the bureaucracy has tosquarely take the blame for los-ing its sheen. Some of thesenior mandarins have forgot-ten the golden command-ments of ethics of civil servicesand at the same time haveceased to be the philosopher,guides, and pathfinders for

young entrants. The Achillesheel is exposed. Multiple fac-tors like lack of appropriateand relevant training so as toadapt to changing circum-stances, lack of proper postingpolicy, absence of the conceptof reward and punishment, therole of political dynamics andpower, and materialistic aspi-rations are responsible for itsdenigration.

Attitudinal /emotionalramifications and skewed cog-nitive perception held by someof the senior bureaucrats haveresulted in its distorted imageprojection on the silhouette ofsocietal expectation. The par-adigm shift (negative) usher-ing in the attitudinal crisis andperceptional blunder associat-ed with aspiration for materi-al comfort of bureaucracyhave already witnessed therust and wilt in the steel frame.

Though easier to tell thanto give effect to it, it is time forthe bureaucracy to mend itselfto return to the golden era andrewrite the saga of its ownglory. A little change in mind-set can usher in a plethora ofpositivity for the civil ser-vices. Other factors would fallin line as nothing deters orhinders a positive mind to ini-tiate a change. The bureaucra-cy should never forget tounderstand that they all are

functioning in a democracy,where people are the mastershowever illiterate or simplethey might be. Public ser-vants are servitors to serve thecause of people (taking salarymoney) and never their mas-ters. The sooner mandarinsbecome pro-people, proac-tive, and pro-poor the better.

The civil servants areappointed to implement lawsnot hinder them. Yes, whenthere are illegalities they canraise voices. Sans ego, sans lurefor plum postings (and post-retirement benefits) theyshould work with dedicationto salvage the lost glory.

All the sermons or solu-tions can't be delineated in ashort space but as an insider,I want to profess that it is timefor the bureaucracy to molditself for the new role to gainthe confidence of the systemand of the people. The saying'bend it like Beckham' from thesoccer world may be applied toadministration as it may haverelevance. It can be said, tobend it to change and changeit to perfection. Bureaucracytoday should lead again withservice to people (sans ego)keeping spatial and temporalaspects in mind.

(The author is a superan-nuated senior IAS officer. Theviews expressed are personal.)

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The dilemma perpetualhas of late affected themandarins critically, pos-ing the conundrum

worst confounded. Being target-ed from most corners as ineffi-cient, corrupt, and negative-minded; Indian bureaucracy hasexhibited signs of wilting underthe pressure of diatribes and vit-riolic sophistry. More so it hasprompted both insiders and out-siders to question what ails thebureaucracy.

The incisive comments maynot be fair for all the officers, asstill, some officers maintain thecardinal virtues of administrationlike sincerity, honesty integrity,and alacrity but it can't wipe offthe smeared image that hasengulfed the mandarins labelingthat they are seldom pro-people,pro-poor and proactive and assuch are a bunch self-centeredofficers more interested in in-ser-vice (plum postings and sundrybenefits ) and post- retirementbenefits rather than growth of thenation or people.

A little in-depth study woulddiscern that the imbroglio as toresponsiveness to people's cause-vis a vis personal materialisticaspirations has left the civil ser-vice at the crossroads. Needless tosay that a significant number ofbureaucrats are still industriousand sincere but it is revealed thatthe steel frame has begun wiltingunder the pressure of unscrupu-lous aspirations. If merit is rele-gated to the background andexcellence is rendered unexpect-ed or unwanted by the ownsenior tribesmen i.e the seniorofficers, then the young lots losethe direction and succumb tobureaucracy's first ever maladywhich is corruption. As an insid-er, I have felt that the concept ofcamaraderie has vanished. Nosupport is forthcoming for thehonest officers when needed asunethical ones marvel at others'sufferings!

Not surprised when JohnKerry states that Indian bureau-cracy lacks internal cohesion.The formation of small powergroups at the highest level has leftthe young ones in quandary.

With fast changing societal

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Israel is all set to go for the unprece-dented fifth election in three years asthe ruling coalition is no more readyto run the joint government. The

Arab League, which was a part of the cur-rent government, withdrew its support cit-ing Israeli aggressive settlements over thePalestinians land. This is not the only rea-son but one important among others.

Naftali Bennett had ousted PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu last year,ending his 12 years in power. The right-wing leader and former Netanyahu ally’seight-party coalition consisted of hisown nationalist party, as well as right-wing, centrist and leftist parties and ofcourse an Arab-Israeli party for the firsttime.

The Bennett government before tak-ing over Israel had been showcasingitself as a government for change but itsstand on many fronts remained the sameas that of Netanyahu; be it the issue ofexpansion of West Bank settlements or theopposition to Palestinian State, the newgovernment walked the Banjamin's way.There were hopes that the new govern-ments in the USA and Israel will serious-ly think over the crisis in West Asia butnothing changed.

In a report released last week, the UNCommission set up for the Israel-Palestineconflict reiterated that Israel wants ‘com-plete control’ of the land owned byPalestinians. Israel has been occupyingPalestine in bits and pieces after its initialoccupation in 1967. The Commission alsohighlighted that Israel has been “acting toalter the demography through the main-tenance of a repressive environment forPalestinians and a favourable environmentfor Israeli settlers”.

This is certainly not the first report byan intentional human rights entity orwatchdog underlining the Israeli zeal tooccupy areas inhabited by Palestinians.Any individual with an elementary schoollearning of geopolitics understands thatit is not Israel that itself is the centralpower working behind the redundant mis-sion to occupy Palestine, rather thesource of power lies in the West, especial-ly in the USA. The world knows that thepolicies of Washington DC are largelymade on the streets of Tel Aviv - this ishow mighty the Jewish lobby in the USAis! From corporate to politics and fromacademia to cinema, the Jewish lobbydominates almost every field in the USA.

If truth be told, the USA was one ofthe very first countries to publicly expressits sympathy and tacit support for theJewish state when it began to be createdin 1948. By being the first country to offi-cially recognise Israel, it played cunning-ly to further its interests in the MENAregion. Additionally, it has also provideda few hundred billion dollars as aid to therogue nation and has provided the verybase of its economy by roughly account-ing for almost one-fourth of imports andhalf of its exports.

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(The author is a seniorJD(U) leader and former

Rajya Sabha MP)

Another reason behind thefailure of back-to-back optics isthe acts of the international com-munity, masquerading as effortsto secure the human rights ofPalestinians, while most of theEuropean Union nations havestrong ties with Israel, mentoredby the USA. After all, who canforget that these were the first fewnations to recognise the JewishState within a few months after itscreation?

The nation which suffers from‘Big Brother’ syndrome and issuper quick to impose unilateralsanctions on nations itself grosslyviolates the United NationsCharter and customary interna-tional law principle of the inadmis-sibility of the acquisition of terri-tory by force by supporting Israeland poking nose into affairs ofPalestine by use of force.

The Israeli aggression hasbecome graver with the increasingrift between the OIC countries,especially the Gulf nations. Thetussle between the Saudi-led blockand the Qatar-led group haspushed the Saudi and the UAEcloser toward Israel, and the UAEalong with a few other nations ofthe same block even went to theextent of establishing diplomaticties with the Jewish nations just afew months ago.

The desperation to preventIran’s nuclear program and bul-wark its dominance in the regionhas also compelled Saudi Arabia toplay hands in gloves with its one-time foe, Israel. Besides, the entireworld is aware of the rift betweenTurkey and Saudi Arabia, prevent-ing the Muslim world to collective-ly call out Israeli aggression.

Given its geographic posi-tion, military might, and intelli-gence capabilities, Israel hasbecome an irresistible ally for theSaudi-led alliance now. To securetheir interests through a commonminimum agenda, the nations ledby Saudi Arabia have now turnedtheir eyes away from thePalestinian massacre and haveburied their heads in the sand likean ostrich to unsee the truth.

Nevertheless, the Israeliaggression of 2021 after which thesaid UN Commission was consti-tuted has reflected the delay andcollective failure of the globalcommunity to solve the conflict.Out of many possible ways, thefirst prerogative for striking asolution to the Israel-Palestineconflict is an outlook entirelybased on human rights and not oninterests. Through my personalobservations and decades-longpolitical career, I could confident-ly say that interest-based solutionsare never sustainable, but human-centric ones certainly are.

Further, the global communi-ty should urgently restrict the USfrom becoming a stakeholder or aparty to the conflict, as it hasalways ignited it and added fuel tothe fire without contributing eventwo cents. The USA shouldremember the quote by one of itsbrightest minds Wayne Dyer, whosaid, “conflicts cannot survivewithout your participation”.

Most importantly, the worldwill have to recognise and realisethe fact that what has been donecannot be undone in a nuclear-weaponized world. The worldshould try to establish an envi-ronment of tranquility by strik-

ing a seemingly perfect equilib-rium between the Jewish and thePalestinian people and ensurethat Israel keeps guns down,practices a ceasefire, and pledgesnot to further invade the remain-ing territory. Peace negotiationscan then take place between thetwo nations, by involving deserv-ing nations as parties to thosenegotiations.

However, the most immediaterequirement is to compel Israel tofollow the ‘Fourth GenevaConvention’ by securing thehuman rights of the Palestinians,especially those trapped in theGaza strip. Along with theConventions, it should also abideby the 2004 ruling of theInternational Court of Justice thatasked it to protect the rights of thecitizens of Palestine under itsoccupation as per humanitarianand human rights law.

Conclusively, the global Northshould come out of hypocrisy andstop defending Israel and refrainfrom giving it shelter and refuge tokeep abusing the human rights ofPalestinians under the Sun andensure deniability at the sametime. The North needs to ownaccountability as well as make theJewish nation a state accountablefor its actions.

It is high time for the world toask itself: has it done enough forthe human rights of Palestinians?Has it handled the situation effi-ciently and with integrity? It isindeed a time to introspect andponder over what Ronald Reaganhad once said: “Peace is not theabsence of conflict; it is the abili-ty to handle conflict by peacefulmeans”.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on 25 July, whileaddressing a naval seminar

Swavlamban, said that thenational defence is no longerlimited to borders, but has abroader ambit, and the armedforces and other stakeholdersmust work together to bolsterthe country’s military capabili-ties. Attempts from within thecountry or abroad to harmIndia’s interests must be thwart-ed effectively, cautioned Modi,asking the armed forces to bealert against new challenges,including disinformation cam-paigns.

He batted for combatting amyriad of security challenges,saying they are no longer limit-ed to land, sea and sky, andasserted that the armed forcesmust work together to bolsterthe country’s military capabili-

ties. The seminar was organisedby the Naval Innovation andIndigenisation Organisation(NIIO) and the Society of IndianDefence Manufacturers (SIDM).

The NSA Ajit Doval, AirChief Marshal VR Chaudhari,Navy Chief Admiral R HariKumar and Defence SecretaryAjay Kumar attended the sem-inar among others. The concernof the prime minister is verygenuine but unfortunately he isnot getting the support from theopposition parties even onnational security and defencematters. A disintegrated oppo-sition with poor leadership is adisaster for the nation.

The Opposition’s right andduty, if it believes the publicinterest is at stake, is to opposethe government’s policies andactions by every legitimate par-liamentary means. In doing so,

the Opposition tries to convincethe electorate that they shouldchange places with the govern-ment, which is impossible unlessit changes its attitude on issuesof national interest.

Highlighting the impor-tance of self-reliance in thedefence sector, the prime min-ister said dependence onimports for small requirementsof the armed forces could poseserious strategic challenges.Cautioning the armed forcesagainst new threats, Modi saidcontours of national securityhave become widespread andthe challenges are movingtowards space, cyberspace, socialspace and the economic sphere.

We also have to intensifyour war against forces chal-lenging India’s self-confidence,self-reliance, said Modi, addingas India is establishing itself on

the global stage, there are con-stant attacks through misinfor-mation, disinformation and falsepublicity. Keeping faith, theforces harming India’s interests,whether in the country orabroad, have to be thwarted intheir every effort, he added.

Defence is a principal com-ponent of national power.Defence policy is an integral partof national security policies.The role of the armed forces isto preserve the core values ofsurvival and political indepen-dence against any external orinternal threats by deterrence orby waging a war. In his address,the prime minister said his gov-ernment has developed a newdefence ecosystem in the coun-try to boost domestic manufac-turing. In the last 4-5 years,Modi said, the defence importshave come down by about 21

per cent and the country is mov-ing fast from being the biggestdefence importer to becoming abig exporter.

The prime minister said Rs13,000 crore worth of defenceexport was achieved last yearand more than 70 per cent of itwas from the private sector.

Talking about long delays indefence acquisition, Modi saidmost of the procurement pro-grammes kept facing questionsand abusing politicians becamevery easy. Recalling the gloriousmaritime tradition of the coun-try, Modi said that the defencesector of India used to be verystrong even before indepen-dence. At the time of indepen-dence, there were 18 ordnancefactories in the country, wheremany types of military equip-ment, including artillery guns,were made. He said India was an

important supplier of defenceequipment in World War II.

Referring to the importanceof oceans and coasts in India’seconomy, Prime Minister Modisaid that the role of the IndianNavy is continuously increasingand therefore self-reliance of theforce is of critical importance.

Today, a large part of thebudget earmarked for the pur-chase of defence equipment isbeing spent on procurementfrom Indian companies, saidModi, while complementing thedefence forces for preparing a listof 300 items that will not beimported.

Modi’s mission is to makethe country Atmanirbhar sothat the defence budget is furtherreduced and the benefits go todomestic industry. In the era ofeconomic globalization withmore interdependence among

the countries and the facilities ofdigital marketing and commu-nication available, it is difficultto think that any country cansurvive in isolation.

A country is said to beAtmanirbhar (self-reliant), if itproduces sufficient amounts ofgoods and services for its domes-tic needs along with surplus forexport to earn foreign exchange.An Atmanirbhar country neednot necessarily manufacture eachand every product required by it.Rather, it will prefer manufactur-ing and processing more suchproducts which it can do withexpertise at low cost and thedemand of which is globallymore. At the same time, it can-not indefinitely depend on suchcountries that are dumping theirlow quality goods and aredestroying the industrial growthof the importing country.

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(The author is a retiredprofessor of international

trade)

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China on Friday announ-ced sanctions on USHouse Speaker Nancy

Pelosi and her immediate fam-ily in retaliation to her high-profile visit to Taiwan thisweek and cancelled talks withWashington on defence, cli-mate change and a range ofother issues.

Meanwhile, White Housesummoned Chinese envoy overTaiwan provocations.

Pelosi, 82, the highest-ranking US official to visitTaiwan in 25 years, visited theisland on Tuesday, whichBeijing claims as part of it andvows to integrate with theChinese mainland.

The Chinese ForeignMinistry, which stridently crit-icised her visit and lodgedstern protests against the US bysummoning its Ambassadorto China Chris Burns andannounced four-day high-intensity military drills inTaiwan Strait, issued a state-ment on Friday imposing sanc-tions against Pelosi and herfamily. “In disregard of China'sgrave concerns and firm oppo-sition, Speaker of the US Houseof Representatives Nancy Pelosiinsisted on visiting China'sTaiwan region,” the statementsaid. “This constitutes grossinterference in China's internalaffairs. It gravely underminesChina's sovereignty and terri-torial integrity, seriously tram-ples on the one-China princi-ple and severely threatens peaceand stability across the Taiwan

Strait,” it said. “In response to Pelosi's

egregious provocation, Chinadecides to adopt sanctions onPelosi and her immediate fam-ily members in accordancewith relevant laws of thePeople's Republic of China,” itsaid. The sanctions againstPelosi were regarded as sym-bolic and it bans her and herfamily members from travellingto China. Earlier, China hadimposed sanctions against 28former Trump administrationofficials, including the thenUS Secretary of State MikePompeo.

In another statement, theChinese Foreign Ministryannounced countermeasuresagainst the US, which includ-ed cancellation of the China-US Theatre Commanders Talk,China-US Defence PolicyCoordination Talks (DPCT),and the China-US MilitaryMaritime ConsultativeAgreement (MMCA) meet-ings.

The ministry alsoannounced the suspension ofthe China-US cooperation onthe repatriation of illegal immi-

grants, the China-US cooper-ation on legal assistance incriminal matters, China-UScooperation against transna-tional crimes, China-UScounter-narcotics cooperation,and China-US talks on climatechange.

The cancellation of thedefence dialogue between thetwo countries was regardedsignificant here as the majorpowers currently involved inintense strategic rivalry heldperiodic consultations, whichobservers say helped in avoid-ing accidental conflicts inhotspot areas like the disputedSouth China Sea, where the UShas stepped up naval and aer-ial expeditions to assert free-dom of navigation.

China's claims to most ofthe South China Sea are close-ly contested by the Philippines,Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia andTaiwan.

China's sanctions againstPelosi and the other counter-measures came amid rare vocalcriticism by the Chinese, espe-cially in the local media, onBeijing's failure to stop Pelosi'svisit to Taiwan.

Pelosi's visit was regardedas a setback for the image ofChinese President Xi Jinping,who is widely expected to getan unprecedented third-five-year term, unlike his prede-cessors.

He is expected to beendorsed in the once-in-a-five-year Congress of the rul-ing Communist Party of Chinain the next few months.

Besides the diplomaticoffensive against Pelosi, Chinahas announced four-day mili-tary drills since Thursday inwhich the Chinese militaryfired ballistic missiles and flewfighter aircraft into the TaiwanStrait in a major show ofstrength. Beijing also pressed itsaircraft carrier group whichincluded a nuclear submarineinto the drills.

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Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak con-vincingly won over an audience of

Conservative Party members in a head-to-head television debate with rival ForeignSecretary Liz Truss in the leadership con-test to elect a new Tory party leader andBritish Prime Minister.

The ‘Battle for Number 10' on ‘SkyNews' on Thursday night brought the final-ists face to face with Conservative mem-bers who are entitled to vote in the elec-tion but are mostly undecided on theirchoice. After the two contenders put for-ward their arguments for why they shouldreplace Boris Johnson at 10 DowningStreet, the audience members were askedwho they thought had won the argumentand they picked Sunak in a show of hands.

It will come as a boost for the BritishIndian ex-minister who has been trailingTruss in most recent opinion polls, withthe last survey putting her around 32 per-centage points ahead of Sunak among Torymembers. He was asked by an audiencemember and potential voter if he plannedto step aside in the race at any point, giventhe polling figures.

"The quick answer is no, and that's

because I'm fighting for something I real-ly believe in and I'm taking my ideasaround the country,” Sunak replied.

"I'm going to fight incredibly hard untilthe last day of this campaign for each andevery one of your votes. The stakes are real-ly high," he declared. He was also askedwhy so many senior Tory ministers and fig-ures were endorsing Liz Truss. “Every stageof the parliamentary process, I had thebroadest and biggest support," Sunakpointed out. “We're all one team, we're allone family, we're going to come together

after this and we're going to take it to[Opposition Labour Leader] Keir Starmerand win the next election, because that'sthe real prize. Plenty of people sat aroundthe Cabinet table also support me. I've beenreally humbled actually," he said.

The former finance minister stuck tohis central plank and focussed his messageon the need to get a grip on soaring infla-tion before cutting taxes. "But it all startswith not making the situation worse.Because if we just put fuel on the fire ofthis inflation spiral, all of us, all of you, arejust going to end up with higher mortgagerates, savings and pensions that are eatenaway, and misery for millions,” he said.

It came just hours after the Bank ofEngland warned of a looming recession asit hiked interest rates. Truss insisted arecession is "not inevitable" and promised"bold" action compared with her rival'scaution. However, Sunak dismissed accu-sations that it is the tax burden which iscausing the recession, saying: "That's sim-ply wrong. What's causing the recession isinflation." Both candidates received aheavy grilling on their various policyplanks, including Brexit, immigrationand support for the state-funded NationalHealth Service (NHS).

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US Secretar y of StateAntony Blinken said

Friday that China's militaryexercises aimed at Taiwan,including missiles fired intoJapan's exclusive economiczone, represent a “significantescalation” and that he hasurged Beijing to back down.China launched the drills fol-lowing a visit by US HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi toTaiwan that infuriatedBeijing, which claims the self-governed island as its own ter-ritory.

Blinken told reporters onthe sidelines of a meetingwith the Associat ion ofSoutheast Asian Nations inCambodia, however, thatPelosi's visit was peaceful anddid not represent a change inAmerican policy towardTaiwan, accusing China ofusing it as a "pretext toincrease provocative militaryactivity in and around theTaiwan Strait."

He said the situation hadled to a “vigorous communi-cation” during East AsiaSummit meetings in PhnomPenh in which both he andChinese Foreign MinisterWang Yi took part along withthe ASEAN nations, Russiaand others.

“I reiterated the pointsthat we made publicly as wellas directly to Chinese coun-terparts in recent days, again,about the fact that theyshould not use the visit as apretext for war, escalation, for

provocative actions, that thereis no possible justificationfor what they've done andurge them to cease theseactions,” he said.

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China says it summonedEuropean diplomats in the

country to protest statementsissued by the Group of Sevennations and the EuropeanUnion criticising threateningChinese military exercises sur-rounding Taiwan.

The Foreign Ministry onFriday said Vice Minister DengLi made “solemn representa-tions” over what he called“wanton interference in China'sinternal affairs”.

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US House Speaker NancyPelosi said Friday that

China will not isolate Taiwanby preventing US officialsfrom travelling there. Shemade the remarks in Tokyo onthe final leg of an Asia tourhighlighted by a visit toTaiwan that infuriated China.

The Chinese have tried toisolate Taiwan, Pelosi said,including most recently bypreventing the self-govern-ing island from joining theWorld Health Organization.

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UN experts say North Koreais paving the way for addi-

tional nuclear tests with newpreparations at its northeasterntest site and continues to devel-op its capability to produce a keyingredient for nuclear weapons.

The experts also said in keyexcerpts from their latest reportobtained late Thursday by TheAssociated Press that NorthKorea conducted two majorhacks this year, resulting in thetheft of cryptocurrency assetsworth “hundreds of millions ofdollars.”

They said Pyongyang alsocontinues illicitly importing oiland exporting coal in violationof UN sanctions, using the samecompanies, networks and vessels.

South Korean and US intel-ligence officials have said theydetected North Korean efforts toprepare its northeasternPunggye-ri testing ground foranother nuclear test. It would be

the North's seventh since 2006and the first since September2017, when it claimed to havedetonated a thermonuclearbomb to fit on its interconti-nental ballistic missiles.

The panel of experts' reportto the UN Security Councilprovides some details of thework being carried out at the siteby the Democratic People's

Republic of Korea, the country'sofficial name.

The experts said theyobserved that the DPRK startedre-excavation work in March atthe entrance to Tunnel 3 atPunggye-ri “and reconstructedsupport buildings originally dis-mantled in May 2018”.

“Satellite imagery showedincreased numbers of vehicle

tracks around this secondaryentrance from mid-February2022, followed by constructionof a new building adjacent to theentrance at the beginning ofMarch,” the panel said. “A pile oflumber, for possible use in theconstruction of the tunnel struc-ture, was also detected aroundthe same time."

It added that, “Piles of soilfrom the tunnel excavationaround the entrance wereobserved during this period.”

“Work at the Punggye-rinuclear test site paves the way foradditional nuclear tests for thedevelopment of nuclearweapons,” the experts said,adding that this is an objectivestated at the Eighth Congress ofthe country's ruling Workers'Party of Korea in January 2021.

In another aspect of theDPRK's nuclear program, ana-lysts said satellite images lastSeptember showed that NorthKorea was expanding a uraniumenrichment plant at its main

Yongbyon nuclear complex, asign that it wanted to boost pro-duction of the key bomb mate-rial.

The UN experts said in thenew report: “DPRK continued todevelop its capability for the pro-duction of nuclear fissile mate-rials at the Yongbyon site.”

Nuclear negotiationsbetween the United States andNorth Korea have stalled since2019 over disagreements over theDPRK demand to lift cripplingUS-led sanctions andWashington's demand for sig-nificant steps by Pyongyangtoward nuclear disarmament.

North Korean leader KimJong Un has expanded his bal-listic missile programme amidthe diplomatic pause, and ana-lysts say another nuclear testwould escalate his brinkmanshipaimed at cementing the North'sstatus as a nuclear power, andnegotiating economic and secu-rity concessions from a positionof strength.

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Former Vice President DickCheney excoriated Donald

Trump in a new campaignvideo for his daughter Rep. LizCheney, calling the formerpresident a “coward” and say-ing there has never been any-one who is a “greater threat toour republic."

The video was released onThursday by Rep. Cheney's re-

election campaign, two weeksbefore a Republican primaryelection in Wyoming that thethree-term congresswoman isbracing to lose.

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French Prime Minister Elisa-beth Borne warned that

France is facing the “mostsevere drought” ever recordedin the country and announcedthe activation of a governmentcrisis unit.

Borne said in a writtenstatement on Friday that manyareas in France are goingthrough a “historic situation” asthe country endures its thirdheatwave this summer.

“The exceptional droughtwe are currently experiencingis depriving many municipal-ities of water and is a tragedyfor our farmers, our ecosystemsand biodiversity,” the state-ment said.

Weather forecasts suggestthat the heat, which increasesevaporation and water needs,could continue for the next 15days, possibly making the sit-uation even more worrying, the

statement stressed.The government's crisis

unit will be in charge of mon-itoring the situation in thehardest-hit areas and coordi-nate measures like bringingdrinking water to some places.

It will also monitor theimpact of the drought onFrance's energy production,transport infrastructure andagriculture.

The drought may forceFrench energy giant EDF to cutpower production at nuclearplants which use river water tocool reactors.

France now has 62 regionswith restrictions on water usagedue to the lack of rain.

The minister for ecologicaltransition, Christophe Béchu,said during a visit to south-eastern France that more than100 municipalities are not ableto provide drinking water tothe tap anymore and need toget supplied by truck.

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Hundreds of thousands ofIraqis heeded the call of an

influential Shiite cleric to gath-er in a show of strength for amass prayer in the heart ofBaghdad's government zoneon Friday.

The gathering took placeamid an escalating politicalcrisis that has put the country'scapital on edge.

The powerful cleric,Muqtada al-Sadr, had called onhis followers from across Iraqto come to pray insideBaghdad's Green Zone — aheavily fortified area in theheart of the city that housesgovernment buildings and for-eign embassies.

They arrived and stoodoutside in the scorching sum-mer heat, with temperaturesreaching 48 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, in the holysouthern city of Najaf, thehead of Iraq's U.N. Mission,Jeannine Hennis-Plasschaert,met with al-Sadr Friday.

She told reporters after-ward that they discussed theimportance of finding a solu-tion to the political crisis.

Friday's mass prayer wasthe latest display of strength bythe cleric, whose politicalpower derives from his stronggrassroots support base.

The crowds stretched formiles, spilling into the streetsoutside the square.

Several people fainted afterwaiting for hours for the prayerto start and were taken to hos-pital in ambulances.

Al-Sadr has used his largegrassroots following as a pres-sure tactic against his rivalsafter his party was unable toform a government despitehaving won the largest numberof seats in federal elections lastOctober.

He abandoned efforts toform the next government inJune.

His followers gathered fac-ing the Victory Arch, a monu-ment erected during SaddamHussein's regime to commem-orate the Iran-Iraq war and forholding military parades.

Farid Jaafar, 16, arrivedfrom southern Babylon

province to show his supportfor al-Sadr. His transport waspaid by al-Sadr's party.

“I love Muqtada,” he said.Holding the prayer within

the highly restrictive zoneclosed off to most Iraqis pointsto the cleric's power and influ-ence.

Last Saturday, thousands ofhis followers stormed parlia-ment in a bid to derail attemptsby al-Sadr's Shiite rivals toform a government.

Around 125 people wereinjured in the violence, most ofthem protesters and 25 mem-bers of the security forces.

Al-Sadr's followers campedout inside the parliament untilhe ordered them, after fourdays, to withdraw from theassembly building but maintaina sit-in outside. He's calling forthe dissolution of parliamentand early elections.

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Aunique antique object,termed "Buddha pendant",

has been found very close to thearchaeological site of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan's Sindhprovince after the area waslashed by heavy rains, accord-ing to a media report on Friday.

Believed to be of archaeo-logical importance, the objectwas found in the Dikshit Southarea of Mohenjo-daro after adownpour on August 3, theDawn newspaper reported.

Irshad Ahmed Solangi, aprivate tour guide and a resi-dent of Dhand village locatedvery close to the archaeological

site, said on Thursday that hehad found the object in a ditchthat was developed during therecent rainfall on Wednesday.

After he discovered theobject, he immediately report-ed it to site officer and conser-vator Naveed Sangah, the reportsaid.

Ali Haider Gadhi, a seniorconservationist at the archae-ology department, reaffirmedthat heavy rainfall led to thesurfacing of the antique object.

After examining the object,Mohan Lal, a former chiefengineer of the department ofarchaeology and museums andcurrently working as projectdirector of the Endowment

Fund Trust (EFT) identified itas "Buddha pendant" and sug-gested it to be a "unique antiq-uity."

“This rare discoverydemands further studies tofind out the missing historylinks,” the report quoted him assaying.

An unnamed senior officialat the culture department whiledescribing the object said thatit appeared like a pendant oftenworn around the neck by peo-ple.

He said further examina-tion of the discovery will revealmore insights into the makeand age of the object, and willhelp in knowing its historic andprehistoric value.

We have approached anexpert working in the culturedepartment to know about theobject's make and age,” he said.

Mohenjo-daro is an archae-ological heritage site discoveredby Indian archaeologist R DBanerji in 1922. It is located onthe east of the Indus River in thesemi-arid region of Sindhprovince. Extending over 618acres, it is the largest and best-preserved urban centre of theIndus Civilisation (2600-1900BC).

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Abomb hidden in a cart wentoff on Friday near a mosque

in a minority Shiite neighbour-hood of the Afghan capital,killing two civilians and wound-ing another three, a Talibanofficial said. According to KhalidZadran, the Taliban-appointedspokesman for the Kabul policechief, the attack happened inwestern Kabul, in the Sar-eKarez area. There were fears thecasualty numbers could riseafter further reports come in.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility, but blameis likely to fall on the Islamic Stategroup, which has targetedAfghanistan's minority Shiites inlarge-scale attacks in the past.

The regional affiliate of IS,known as the Islamic State inKhorasan Province, hasincreased attacks on mosquesand minorities across the coun-try since Taliban seized power.

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Defiant anti-government demonstrationsnear the Sri Lankan presidential office can

go on for another week following an assuranceby the Attorney General in a top court here onFriday that no action to remove the protestersfrom the Galle Face protest site will be takenuntil August 10. The development comes a dayafter protesters vowed to defy an order from thepolice to vacate the area by Friday evening.

The protesters said the police had notobtained a court order to remove them from theGalle Face area, which was the epicenter of anti-government protests here against the previousRajapaksa regime. Three writ applications werefiled at the Court of Appeal on Thursday onbehalf of the protesters after the police orderedthe protesters to leave the protest site.

The Attorney General told the court onFriday that the structures will not be removedwithout following the proper legal procedure.

The Sri Lankan police on Wednesday set anAugust 5 deadline for the protesters to removeall illegal tents and camps at Galle Face near thepresidential office. The police claim the struc-tures were illegal and need removing accordingto the law as the site is the property of the UrbanDevelopment Authority. Some of the structureswere removed by the protesters on Wednesdayand Friday following the police order to quit.

The protesters have been occupying the area,including the gate of the presidential secretari-at, since April 9. They also claimed that the areawas designated as an agitation site by the pre-vious government headed by former PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa and there is no need forthem to quit the protest site. Protesters in Marchbegan demonstrating against the Rajapaksa fam-ily and demanded the resignation of the entireRajapaksa family, leading to the resignation ofthen-Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on

May 9, and his brother, President GotabayaRajapaksa, who fled the country on July 13 andresigned the following day from Singapore.

After the resignation of Rajapaksa and theappointment of his successor RanilWickremesinghe, the protesters were forciblyevicted from the presidential secretariat and thegate on Jul 22, drawing widespread internationalcondemnation.

According to the Human Rights Watchgroup's statement, Sri Lankan security forces onJuly 22, Friday, forcibly dispersed people at apeaceful protest site near President's Secretariat,assaulted them leaving more than 50 personsinjured. Sri Lanka has been witnessing one ofthe worst economic crises since Independencein 1948. They have defaulted on internationalloans as well. The United Nations has warnedthat 5.7 million people "require immediatehumanitarian assistance," with Sri Lankansexperiencing extreme shortages of essentialsincluding food, fuel and medicines.

The new Sri Lankan government faces thetask of leading the country out of its econom-ic collapse and restoring order. Sri Lanka hasseen months of mass unrest over the worst eco-nomic crisis, with the government declaringbankruptcy in mid-April by refusing to honourits international debt.

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The crucial talks on thepossibility of forming anall-party government to

tackle Sri Lanka's economicmeltdown will take place onFriday evening, officials andpolitical leaders here said.

Sri Lanka's newly-electedPresident Ranil Wickreme-singhe on Wednesday invitedthe political parties to form anall-party government to over-come the current economiccrisis as the Parliament recon-vened after a seven-dayadjournment.

The talks will take place onFriday evening, officials andpolitical leaders said.

“We expect the president totake a new approach, the coun-try will get destroyed if there isno collective action,” formerpresident Maithripala Sirisenatold reporters here.

Vasudeva Nanayakkara, aveteran leader from the rulingcoalition's 10-party breakawaygroup, said they would be look-ing at Wickremesinghe'sapproach closely.

“Wickremesinghe has saidthat he was formulating a planto find solutions to the eco-nomic and political impasse. Heis going to seek our views, let'shope the talks will be success-

ful,” Nanayakkara said.However, the main oppo-

sition party Samagi JanaBalawegaya (SJB) said theirapproach is to form a commonall-party programme ratherthan an all-party government.

“We are willing to strength-en the oversight committeesystem and make our contri-bution,” SJB national organiser

Tissa Attanayake said.Wickremesinghe, the

leader of the United NationalParty (UNP), was elected pres-ident by lawmakers on July 20- the first such occasion since1978. The 73-year-old Presidentwas appointed for the rest of theterm of Gotabaya Rajapaksawho fled the country andresigned on July 13 in the face

of a popular uprising against hisgovernment for mismanagingthe island nation's economy.

The majority of his supportin the 225-member Parliamentcame from Rajapaksa's SriLanka Podujana Peramuna(SLPP) party.

A constitutional amend-ment has been recently gazettedto make Parliament's role

stronger, while an interim bud-get to be presented early nextmonth is expected to announcemuch needed reforms in theeconomy.

Sri Lanka has seen monthsof mass unrest over the worsteconomic crisis, with the gov-ernment declaring bankruptcyin mid-April by refusing tohonour its international debt.

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Three more ships carryingthousands of tons of corn

left Ukrainian ports Friday, inthe latest sign that a negotiateddeal to export grain trappedsince Russia invaded Ukrainenearly six months ago is slow-ly moving forward. But majorhurdles lie ahead to get food tothe countries that need it most.

The ships bound forIreland, the United Kingdomand Turkey follow the firstgrain shipment to pass throughthe Black Sea since the start ofthe war. The passage of that ves-sel heading for Lebanon earlierthis week was the first under thebreakthrough deal brokered byTurkey and the United Nationswith Russia and Ukraine.

The Black Sea region isdubbed the world's breadbasket,with Ukraine and Russia keyglobal suppliers of wheat, corn,barley and sunflower oil thatmillions of impoverished peo-ple in Africa, the Middle Eastand parts of Asia rely on for sur-

vival.While the shipments have

raised hopes of easing a globalfood crisis, much of the grainthat Ukraine is trying to exportis used for animal feed, not forpeople to eat, experts say. Thefirst vessels to leave are amongmore than a dozen bulk carri-ers and cargo ships that hadbeen loaded with grain butstuck in ports since Russiainvaded in late February. Andthe cargoes are not expected tohave a significant impact on theglobal price of corn, wheat andsoybeans for several reasons.

For starters, the exportsunder the deal are off to a slow,cautious start due to the threatof explosive mines floating offUkraine's Black Sea coastline.

And while Ukraine is amajor exporter of wheat todeveloping nations, there areother countries, such as theUnited States and Canada, withfar greater production levels thatcan affect global wheat prices.And they face the threat ofdrought.

“Ukraine is about 10% ofthe international trade in wheat,but in terms of production it isnot even 5%,” said DavidLaborde, an expert on agricul-ture and trade at theInternational Food PolicyResearch Institute inWashington.

The three ships left Fridaywith over 58,000 tons of corn,but that is still a fraction of the20 million tons of grains thatUkraine says are trapped in thecountry's silos and ports andthat must be shipped out tomake space for this year's har-vest.

Around 6 million tons ofthe trapped grain is wheat, butjust half of that is for humanconsumption, Laborde said.

There is an expectation thatUkraine could produce 30% to40% less grain over the comingnext 12 months due to the war,though other estimates put thatfigure at 70%.

Grain prices peaked afterRussia's invasion, and whilesome have since come down to

their pre-war levels, they are stillhigher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Corn prices are70% higher than at the end ofFebruary 2020, said JonathanHaines, senior analyst at dataand analytics firm Gro

Intelligence. He said wheatprices are around 60% higherthan in February 2020.

One reason prices remainhigh is the impact of drought onharvests in North America,China and other regions, as well

as the higher price of fertilizerneeded for farming.

“When fertilizer prices arehigh, farmers may use less fer-tilizer. And when they use lessfertilizer, they will produce less.And if they will produce less,

supply will continue to remaininsufficient,” Laborde said.

The three ships that depart-ed Ukraine on Friday give hopethat exports will ramp up todeveloping nations, where manyare facing the increased threatof food shortages and hunger.

“The movement of threeadditional vessels overnight is avery positive sign and will con-tinue to build confidence thatwe're moving in the right direc-tion," Haines said. “If the flowof grain from Ukraine contin-ues to expand, it will helprelieve global supply con-straints."

The Turkish-flagged Polar-net, carrying 12,000 tons ofcorn, left the Chornomorskport destined for Karasu,Turkey. The Panama-flaggedNavi Star left Odesa's port forIreland with 33,000 tons ofcorn. The Maltese-flaggedRojen left Chornomorsk forthe United Kingdom carryingover 13,000 tons of corn, theU.N. Said.

It added that the Joint

Coordination Center — run byofficials from Ukraine, Russia,Turkey and the U.N. Overseeingthe deal signed in Istanbul lastmonth — authorized the threeships and inspected a ship head-ed for Ukraine. The Barbados-flagged Fulmar S was inspectedin Istanbul and is headed for theChornomorsk port.

The checks seek to ensurethat outbound cargo ships carryonly grain, fertilizer or food andnot any other commodities andthat inbound ships are not car-rying weapons. The vessels areaccompanied by Ukrainian pilotships for safe passage because ofexplosive mines strewn in theBlack Sea.

After Turkey, which hasrelations with both Russia andUkraine, helped broker the fooddeal two weeks ago, PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan was tomeet Russian PresidentVladimir Putin later Friday inSochi, Russia. That meetingfollows another face-to-facemeeting the two leaders had inIran three weeks ago.

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US Secretary of State AntonyBlinken joined the foreign

ministers of Russia and Chinaat a meeting on Friday with topdiplomats from Southeast Asiathat comes at a time of increasedtensions between Washington,Moscow and Beijing.

The East Asia Summit ofthe ongoing Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations meet-ings in Cambodia's capital wasthe first time the three men werescheduled to take part in thesame forum.

It came a day after WNBAstar Brittney Griner was con-victed of drug possession andsentenced to nine years inprison by Russia in a political-ly charged case amid ongoingfriction over the Russian inva-sion of Ukraine.

China, meantime, is furiousat the US following House

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visitthis week to Taiwan — a self-governing island Beijing claimsas its own — and is in the mid-dle of show-of-force militaryexercises in response.

Chinese Foreign MinisterWang Yi patted Russian ForeignMinister Sergey Lavrov on theshoulder as he entered the roomand gave the already-seatedLavrov a quick wave beforetaking his own seat. Lavrovwaved back in response.

Blinken, who entered theroom last, did not even lookover to Lavrov as he took hisown seat about a half-dozenchairs away, or to Wang whowas seated farther down thesame table as Lavrov.

Ahead of the Phnom Penhtalks, the US State Departmentindicated Blinken had no plansto meet one-on-one with eitherman during the course of themeetings.

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Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan travelled to

Russia on Friday for talks withRussian President VladimirPutin expected to focus on agrain deal brokered by Turkey,prospects for talks on endinghostilities in Ukraine, and thesituation in Syria.

Last month, Turkey andthe United Nations helped bro-ker agreements between Russiaand Ukraine clearing the wayfor Ukraine to export 22 mil-lion tonnes of grain and otheragricultural products stuck inits Black Sea ports ever sinceMoscow sent troops into thecountry more than five monthsago.

The deals also allow Russiato export grain and fertiliser.

Three more ships carryingthousands of tons of corn leftUkrainian ports Friday fol-lowing the departure of the firstvessel earlier this week.

Kremlin spokesmanDmitry Peskov said Friday'stalks in Sochi will allow Putinand Erdogan to review theimplementation of the graindeal.

He noted that the two lead-ers will also discuss the situa-tion in Ukraine and in Syria.

In March, Turkey hosted a

round of talks between Russianand Ukrainian negotiators whodiscussed a possible deal to endthe hostilities.

But the talks fell apart afterthe meeting in Istanbul, withRussia and Ukraine blamingeach other for the lack ofprogress.

NATO-member Turkeyand Russia have a complex rela-tionship. While the two coun-tries support opposing sides inSyria and Libya, they cooper-ate closely on defense, energyand trade deals.

Their relationship has frus-trated Turkey's Western allies,who were particularly annoyedby Ankara's purchase of asophisticated Russian airdefense system.

Turkey has providedUkraine with drones, which

played a significant role indeterring Russian advance inthe early stage of the conflict,but it hasn't joined sanctionswith Russia.

Amid a major economiccrisis with official inflationhitting nearly 80%, Turkeyincreasingly relies on Russia fortrade and tourism.

It also depends on Russiafor natural gas imports andRussia's atomic agency is build-ing Turkey's first nuclear powerplant.

Russia-Turkey relations hita low point in 2015 whenTurkey shot down a Russianwarplane near the Syrian bor-der and Moscow responded byhalting tourism to Turkey andbanning imports of fruit andvegetables and other itemsfrom Turkey.

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Israel unleashed a wave ofairstrikes in Gaza on Friday,

killing at least seven people,including a senior militant,and wounding another 40,according to Palestinian offi-cials. Israel said it was tar-geting the Islamic Jihad mili-tant group amid days ofheightened tensions followingthe arrest of a senior militantin the occupied West Bankearlier this week.

The strikes risk igniting yetanother war in the territory,which is ruled by the Islamicmilitant group Hamas and ishome to about 2 millionPalestinians.

The assassination of asenior militant would likely bemet by rocket fire from Gaza,pushing the region closer to all-out war. A blast could be heardin Gaza City, where smokepoured out of the seventh floorof a tall building on Fridayafternoon.

The Palestinian HealthMinistry said seven peoplewere killed, including a 5-year-old girl, and at least 40 werewounded.

Islamic Jihad said a Gazacommander, Taiseer al-Jabari,was among those killed.

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Fourteen people were killedand dozens badly injured

when a fire broke out earlyFriday at a crowded music pubin eastern Thailand, police andrescue workers said. At least adozen survivors were in criti-cal condition.

Videos on social mediashowed thick black smoke andthen flames pouring from thefront entrance as peopleattempted to flee, some withtheir clothing on fire. Policesaid the fire was reportedaround 12:45 a.M.

The Mountain B pub inSattahip district of Chonburiprovince, about 160 kilometerssoutheast of Bangkok, waslined with flammable sound-proofing, and it took two hoursfor firefighters to put out theblaze, Manop Theprith of a pri-vate emergency rescue servicegroup told Thailand's PPTVtelevision news. His group said

40 people had been injured.Several witnesses described

seeing smoke and fire on theceiling near the stage, followedby explosions.

Thirteen people died atthe scene and another personwith burns over 90% of hisbody died later, police, rescuersand Queen Sirikit NavalHospital said.

The hospital said 15patients required intubation,with most suffering third-degree burns over more than60% of their bodies. Twopatients were transferred to ahospital in Bangkok foradvanced treatment.

“All the patients are con-sidered to be in critical condi-tion," said Capt. AnuchaLikitvong, chief of the hospital'smedical team.

“In a medical sense, the sit-uation for patients sufferingfrom this degree of burns canchange sharply in the next 48hours.”

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The Reserve Bank on Fridayraised the key interest rateby 50 basis points, the

third straight increase sinceMay in an effort to cool stub-bornly high inflation and defendthe rupee.

The repurchase rate wasraised by 50 basis points to liftthe interest rate to the pre-pan-demic level. The 5.40 per centrepo rate was last seen in August2019.

Announcing the rate hike,RBI Governor Shaktikanta Dasdid not offer any indication ofa change in the stance or a pos-sible pause in the next policydue in late September.

The Reserve Bank of India'ssix-member rate-setting panelvoted unanimously on the ratehike decision while sticking toits resolve to withdraw theaccommodative stance.

It, however, retained GDPgrowth projection at 7.2 percent for the current fiscal end-ing March 31, 2023, and keptthe inflation outlook for theyear unchanged at 6.7 per cent.

"Inflationary pressures arebroad-based and core inflationremains elevated. Inflation isprojected to remain above theupper tolerance level of 6 percent through the first threequarters of 2022-23, entailingthe risk of destablishing infla-tion expectations and triggeringsecond-round effects," he said.

The RBI targets inflation at2-6 per cent.

June was the sixth consec-utive month when headlineCPI inflation remained at orabove the upper tolerance levelof 6 per cent.

Stating that there has beensome let-up in global com-modity prices, particularly inprices of industrial metals, andsome softening in global foodprices, the governor saiddomestic edible oil prices areexpected to soften further onthe back of improving supplies

from key producing countries.Further, the advance of the

southwest monsoon is by andlarge on track and kharif sow-ing has picked up in the recentweeks.

"The shortfall in kharif sow-ing of paddy, however, needs tobe watched closely, althoughbuffer stocks are quite large.Household inflation expecta-tions have eased but they stillremain elevated," he said.

The central bank surprisedmarkets with a 40 bps hike at anunscheduled meeting in May,

followed by a 50 bps increase inJune, but prices have shown lit-tle sign of cooling off yet.

The latest increase mirrorsthe US Federal Reserve-ledglobal tightening of interestrates to rein in spiraling prices,caused by supply snarls andenergy price shocks followingRussia's invasion of Ukraine.

The MPC believes "cali-brated withdrawal of mone-tary policy accommodation iswarranted to keep inflationexpectations anchored and con-tain the second round effects,"

Das said.On the rupee depreciating

against the US dollar, he said ata 4.7 per cent decline, the rupeefared much better than severalreserve currencies as well asmany of its EME and Asianpeers.

"The depreciation of theIndian rupee is more onaccount of the appreciation ofthe US dollar rather than weak-ness in macroeconomic funda-mentals of the Indian economy.Market interventions by theRBI have helped in containingvolatility and ensuring theorderly movement of the rupee,"he said.

He said the RBI will remainwatchful and maintain the sta-bility of the rupee.

The Indian economy hasbeen impacted by the globaleconomic situation and is grap-pling with the problem of highinflation.

"Nevertheless, with strongand resilient fundamentals,India is expected to be amongstthe fastest growing economiesduring 2022-23 according to theIMF, with signs of inflationmoderating over the course ofthe year," he said.

The financial sector is wellcapitalised and sound whilethe foreign exchange reserves -supplemented by net forwardassets - provide insuranceagainst global spillovers. "Ourumbrella remains strong," hesaid.

�� 4542,

The "unacceptably high"inflation trending

around 7 per cent mark ledthe Reserve Bank of India tohike rates by an aggressive0.50 per cent on Friday,according to GovernorShaktikanta Das.

Stating that there aresigns that headline inflation,which has breached the 6 percent upper threshold set forthe RBI for six consecutivemonths, has peaked, Das onFriday said policy movesfrom here on will be "cali-brated, measured and nim-ble" and will depend onunfolding dynamics.

The governor refused tospell out any guidance on theway forward, pointing outthat we live in a dynamicworld where things arechanging very fast. He alsonoted that generally, guid-ance in a rate hiking cycle isdifficult as compared to thatin a rate cut cycle.

"... Inflation still remainsat uncomfortably or unac-ceptably high levels andtherefore, monetary policyhas to act," he told reportersafter the central bank's six-member rate setting paneldecided to hike the reporate at which it lends to thesystem by 0.50 per cent.

It can be noted thatahead of the policyannouncement, many ana-lysts had been of the viewthat the hike would be a cal-ibrated 0.35 per cent while afew expected the RBI to

frontload by being aggressivewith a 0.50 per cent increase.

"Monetary policy will becalibrated, measured andnimble depending on theunfolding dynamics of infla-tion and economic activity.The focus will remain onensuring safe and soft land-ing for the economy," headded. He said steps have tobe taken to contain inflationand inflation expectationsin the economy.

The Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) also tookthe growth aspect into con-sideration while taking itscall, he added. The governoralso mentioned that as perthe RBI's assessment, Indianeconomy is an isle of macro-economic and financial sta-bility in a turbulent oceanright now, and has bravedtwo black swan events of thepandemic and the Russianinvasion of Ukraine.

Seeking to defend thedeep rate cuts undertakenduring the pandemic, Dassaid inflation does not haveits roots in the monetary pol-

icy actions of the past but isled by supply-side factorsand international events.

In what may come as arelief to many, he reiteratedthat inflation may havepeaked and will moderategoing forward. It can be notedthat while the MPC retainedthe FY23 forecast at 6.7 percent, it said the April-June2023 quarter will see theheadline number at 5 percent. There was also a men-tion of the objective to achieve4 per cent CPI target in Das'statement earlier in the day.

When asked about therole played by the depreciat-ing rupee in the policy for-mulation, Das admitted thatthere is an impact of import-ed inflation but added thatthe MPC's deliberations wereinfluenced by the overallinflation and growth aspects.

Without spelling outwhat constitutes "volatility"for the RBI, Das said the cen-tral bank does not have alevel in mind for the rupeeand intervenes only when itfinds volatilities to ensurethat the currency movessmoothly. The MPC alsodeliberated on the negativeinterest rates being earned atpresent, Das said, terming itas a "matter of concern".

Answering a query onwhether we have hit the neu-tral rate yet, Deputy GovernorMichael Patra, who headsthe important monetary pol-icy function and also sits onthe rate setting panel, said,"the path to the neutral rateis a two milestone journey".

��

The Delhi High Court has said that an e-commerce platform permitting a third-

party seller to "latch on" to the name or markand product listings of another seller on itsplatform is "nothing but riding piggyback" andcannot be allowed. Justice Prathiba M Singhsaid that "latching on" is a mode of encash-ing upon the reputation of another entity andthe consent and authorisation of the brandowner as well as the listing owner would berequired before such conduct is permitted.

The court's observations were made on alawsuit by an online clothes seller against ane-commerce platform. The plaintiff allegedthat the defendant's platform allowed third-party sellers to "latch on" to its product list-ings. The court, in its interim order, said thatprima facie, the defendant was permittingother third-party sellers to "latch on" to the bestsellers in one particular segment of productsand directed the defendant to disable the fea-ture in relation to the plaintiff and restrainedit allowing any third-party sellers from "latch-ing on" to the mark and product listings of theplaintiff.

"In the opinion of this Court, permittinga third-party seller to 'latch on', in this man-ner, to the Plaintiff 's name/mark and prod-uct listings is nothing but `riding piggy back'as is known in the traditional passing-off sense.It amounts to taking unfair advantage of thegoodwill that resides in the Plaintiff 's markand business," said the court in its order datedAugust 2.

"This Court is satisfied that such a feature

cannot be allowed to be used or offered, to thedetriment of the owner of the brand or the per-son who has created the original product.Consent and authorisation of the brandowner and the listing owner would berequired before such conduct by any seller ispermitted," it said.

The plaintiff told the court that thedefendant was "encouraging and allowingthird-party sellers" to "latch on" and use itsmark along with the photographs of its prod-ucts.

It was the plaintiff 's grievance that bydoing so, several third-party sellers who arenot connected to it were able to portray them-selves as the plaintiff and ride on its popularity,leading to the loss of business to such smalland medium entrepreneurs.

The court said that while e-commerceplatforms provide an alternate platform forsmall and medium entrepreneurs to conducttheir businesses in a profitable manner, cer-tain features on these platforms can also causedamage to them.

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Interest rate sensitive bank,realty and auto stocks ended

on a mixed note on Friday, ona day when the RBI raised thekey interest rate by 50 basispoints. Among bank stocks,ICICI Bank climbed 2.26 percent, AU Small Finance Bankadvanced 1.66 per cent, AxisBank (0.90 per cent) andFederal Bank (0.88 per cent).

However, Bandhan Bankdeclined 1.70 per cent, IndusIndBank fell 1.30 per cent, Bank Of

Baroda (0.59 per cent), StateBank of India (0.42 per cent),HDFC Bank (0.27 per cent) andKotak Mahindra Bank (0.08 percent).

The BSE bank index ended0.47 per cent higher at43,550.81. Home, auto andother loan EMIs are set to risefurther after the RBI on Fridayraised the key interest rate by 50basis points, the third straightincrease since May in an effortto cool stubbornly high infla-tion. "RBI hiking repo rate by 50bps is not surprising... Despite

rise in interest rates RBI retain-ing the projection of growth rateat 7.2 per cent should be the keytakeaway for market partici-

pants," Siddarth Bhamre, Headof Research at Religare BrokingLimited, said.

RBI expects India's GDPgrowth to remain strong at 7.2per cent in FY23.

From auto pack, TVSMotor Company advanced 1.46per cent, followed by EscortsKubota (0.50 per cent), MRF(0.19 per cent) and Bajaj Auto(0.03 per cent).

Mahindra & Mahindra fellby 2.04 per cent, Eicher Motors(1.81 per cent), Maruti (1.50 percent), Hero MotoCorp (1.33 per

cent), Tata Motors (0.70 percent) and Ashok Leyland (0.69per cent).

The BSE auto index ended1.12 per cent lower at 29,365.58.

The 30-share BSE Sensexended 89.13 points or 0.15 percent higher at 58,387.93 afterfacing volatility during the fag-end of trade.

Among realty counters, ThePhoenix Mills climbed 1.62 percent, Indiabulls Real Estate(0.84 per cent), Sobha Limited(0.50 per cent) and PrestigeEstates Projects (0.20 per cent).

�� 4542,

Mahindra Group chairman AnandMahindra on Friday said there is

a need to boost manufacturing to cre-ate jobs on a mass scale and take advan-tage of the global factors that are mov-ing in India's favour.

Addressing shareholders at the com-pany's 76th annual general meetinghere, Mahindra said that there are somegaps that need to be filled in to take fulladvantage of the opportunities arisingout for the country.

"The most important of these (gaps)

is jobless growth. The Indian unem-ployment rate is hovering around 7-8 percent, according to CMIE (Centre forMonitoring Indian Economy). This isbecause job growth has not kept pace

with GDP growth."Only 40 per cent of the labour force

that is capable of working is actuallyworking or looking for work. Thebiggest sufferers are youth and women,"said Mahindra.

The country's unemployment rate inJuly fell to 6.80 per cent, the lowest levelin the last six months, amid rising agri-culture activities during monsoon,according to the latest CMIE data.

The unemployment rate dropped to6.80 per cent in July from 7.80 per centin June, as per the CMIE data.

"With one of the largest youthful

populations in the world, it's easy toimagine the potential for social unrestif jobs don't grow along with the youth-ful population," the Mahindra groupchairman said.

"The government is trying to do itsbit and has (also) announced plans tohire one million people in governmentjobs by 2023, given that the country hasa 900 million strong workforce, there'sa lot more to do," Mahindra said.

According to him, in the private sec-tor, job creation is happening mainly atthe lower end of the gig economy,which is not "enough".

�� 4542,

The Reserve Bank on Friday decided to expand thescope of Internal Ombudsman framework by

including Credit Information Companies (CICs) witha view to strengthening grievance redressal system.

The Reserve Bank-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme(RB-IOS) has improved the customer grievance redres-sal mechanism.

The turnaround time of grievance redressal underRB-IOS has declined considerably, RBI said in Statementon Developmental and Regulatory Policies.

"With a view to strengthen the internal grievanceredress by CICs themselves, it has been decided to man-date CICs to have their own Internal Ombudsman (IO)framework," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said afterunveiling the bi-monthly monetary policy.

The RB-IOS 2021 covers Regulated Entities (REs)such as scheduled commercial banks including urbancooperative banks, non-banking financial companies(NBFCs) and non-scheduled primary co-operativebanks with a deposit size of Rs 50 crore and above.

In order to make the RB-IOS more broad based,it has been decided to bring CICs also under the ambitof RB-IOS 2021, the statement said adding this will pro-vide a cost-free alternate redressal mechanism to cus-tomers of REs for grievances against CICs.

Further, it said, with a view to strengthening theinternal grievance redressal of CICs and to make it moreefficient, it has also been decided to bring CICs underthe Internal Ombudsman (IO) framework.

With regard to outsourcing, the RBI said REs areincreasingly using outsourcing as a means for reduc-ing costs as well as for availing expertise not availableinternally.

Although outsourcing of a permissible activity isan operational decision of REs, it exposes REs to var-ious risks.

��

NBFC startup Seeds Fincap on Friday saidit has completed loan disbursement of Rs

100 crore and aims to reach Rs 250 crore inthe current fiscal. To fund its expansion plans,Gurugram-based Seeds said it has raised debtfrom financial institutions, such as UCInclusive Credit Pvt Ltd (UCIC), InCredFinancial Services Limited, Ananya, NorthernArc, and AU Small Finance Bank, among oth-ers.

Currently, it has 20 lending partners andplans to raise further funding in debt.

"With landmark of Rs 100 crore achievedin the early part of the financial year, we areconfident of achieving our target of Rs 250crore disbursement in this financial year," itsco-founder, Managing Director and CEO

Subhash Acharya said.The startup serving MSME customers has

operations in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana andRajasthan with 34 branches in Tier 2 and 3towns. It has about 13,500 customers in theMicro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME) sector. Among the 13,500 cus-tomers financed so far, 59 per cent of enter-prises are rural-based and the rest semi-urbanand urban. The company received its licensefrom the RBI in April 2021.

However, owing to the second wave ofCOVID-19, it could commence its full-scaleoperations in July 2021, the company said.Seeds said it has also tied up with two finan-cial services companies in some pockets ona Business Correspondent model basis.

In the current financial year, it plans toraise Rs 50-60 crore.

�� 4542,

The rupee appreciated by 17paise to close at 79.23 (provi-

sional) against the US dollar onFriday after the Reserve Bankhiked interest rates by 50 basispoints.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the domesticcurrency opened at 79.15 per dol-lar. It hovered in a range of 78.94to 79.29 during the session.

The domestic unit finally set-tled at 79.23, up 17 paise over itsprevious close of 79.40.

The Reserve Bank on Fridayraised the key interest rate -- thethird straight increase since May-- in an effort to cool stubbornlyhigh inflation and defend therupee.

The repurchase rate was raisedby 50 basis points to lift the inter-est rate to the pre-pandemic level.The 5.40 per cent repo rate was lastseen in August 2019.

Meanwhile, the dollar index,which measures the greenback'sstrength against a basket of six cur-rencies, was up 0.25 per cent at105.95.

Forex traders said foreign

fund inflows into capital marketsand softening crude oil pricesboosted the local currency.

Foreign institutional investorsremained net buyers in the capi-tal market on Thursday as theypurchased shares worth Rs1,474.77 crore, as per exchangedata.

Brent crude futures, the glob-al oil benchmark, rose 0.20 percent to USD 94.31 per barrel.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI)Governor Shaktikanta Das said theRBI will remain watchful andmaintain the stability of the rupee.

"The depreciation of theIndian rupee is more on accountof the appreciation of the US dol-lar rather than weakness in macro-economic fundamentals of theIndian economy.

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Elon Musk accused Twitter of fraudin a countersuit over his aborted $44

billion deal for the social media com-pany, which he said held back necessaryinformation and misled his team aboutits true user base, according to mediareports.

According to The WashingtonPost, the countersuit filed by the bil-lionaire and Tesla CEO filed Thursdayalleges that Twitter committed fraud,breach of contract and violation of theTexas Securities Act.

Musk's counterclaims were filed

confidentially last week and unsealed ina filing late Thursday at the DelawareChancery Court, the Wall Street Journalreported.

Musk had offered to buy the com-pany earlier this year, then tried to backout of the deal by claiming the socialplatform was infested with much larg-er numbers of "spam bots" and fakeaccounts than Twitter had disclosed.

Twitter sued to force him to com-plete the acquisition.

Musk responded by filing his coun-tersuit.

Musk's attorneys argued thatTwitter's own disclosures revealed that

it has 65 million fewer "monetisabledaily active users," who can be showndigital ads, than the 238 million thatTwitter claims, the Post and the Journalreported.

The filing also said most of Twitter'sads are shown only to a sliver of thecompany's user base, the Post said.

In an unexpected twist, Twitter filedits response denying Musk's accusationsbefore Musk's own counterclaims sur-faced.

Twitter called Musk's reasoning "astory, imagined in an effort to escapea merger agreement that Musk nolonger found attractive."

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Mortgage lender HDFC Ltd onFriday said it has raised USD 1.1

billion (around Rs 8,700 crore) from aclutch of investors under 'SyndicatedSocial Loan Facility' to cater to theaffordable housing segment in thecountry.

The country's largest mortgagelender by asset size said it has raised theamount by way of external commercialborrowings (ECBs).

"This landmark financing furtherpromotes HDFC's longstanding mission

to be the leading provider of housingfinance in India. Proceeds from thesocial loan would go towards financingaffordable housing loans," the compa-ny said in a release.

MUFG Bank Ltd (MUFG) is thelead social loan coordinator for thistransaction along with being one of theMandated Lead Arranger andBorrowers (MLAB), it said.

CTBC Bank, Mizuho Bank, StateBank of India and Sumitomo MitsuiBanking Corporation are the otherMLABs and joint social loan coordi-nators.

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Rupee rises 17 paise to close at 79.23 against US dollar

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On Wednesday, Tejaswin Shankar hadwon a Bronze in men's high jump to openIndia's medal account in athletics in thisCWG.

It was Sreeshankar's first medal in amajor international competition and amulti-sport event. Before this, he had wona Bronze in the 2018 Asian U-20Championships in Gifu, Japan.

The medal will give him some sort ofrelief after his disappointing performancein the World Athletics Championships inEugene, USA, where he had finished sev-enth in the final last month.

He had gone into the WorldChampionships as a dark horse for amedal with a season's and personal bestof 8.36m.

�.��0�0�� Commonwealth Games Silver medal-

list long jumper Murali Sreeshankar ruedmissing out on a Gold, saying his fourthjump, which was ruled a foul under laser-based new technology, would have beenlegal in earlier system and big enough tofinish on top of the podium.

The 23-year-old Sreeshankar said heinitially thought he had a big valid jumpin his fourth attempt which would havegiven him a Gold. However, his jump wasadjudged a foul under the new system.

"I was very surprised, you can't callit (fourth jump) a foul because I neveroverstepped the foul board but she (pit-side official) explained to me the exactjumping position, movement of my footwhich was crossing the perpendicularplate," Sreeshankar said in a virtualinteraction.

"If it was the previous system whichwe had in past years, it would not havebeen called a foul," said the nationalrecord holder (8.36m).

He said the conditions during theCWG long jump final was not ideal as itwas a bit cold and windy.

"Performance on the particular daymatters. In major championships, win-ning a medal is the priority.

"I completely messed up the first threejumps, trying to have safe jumps (by leav-ing good gap). My focus after that was tobe on podium with good jumps in finalthree attempts."

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Murali Sreeshankar clinched a sil-ver in men's long jump event togive India a second medal in ath-

letics at the Commonwealth Games hereon Thursday.

The 23-year-old national record hold-er soared to 8.08m in his fifth attempt tofinish second behind Laquan Nairn ofBahamas in a nerve-wrecking men's longjump final.

Nairn also had a best jump of 8.08mbut his second best of 7.98m was betterthan 7.84m of Sreeshankar.

Under rules, if two jumpers are tiedon same distance, the one who has a bet-ter second best effort will be ranked ahead.

Jovan van Vuuren (8.06m) of SouthAfrica took the Bronze.

The other Indian in the fray,Muhammed Anees Yahiya ended at fifthwith a best jump of 7.97m.

Sreeshankar's became the first Indianmale long jumper to win a Silver at theCWG. Suresh Babu had won a Bronze inthe 1978 edition.

Among women, Prajusha Maliakkalwon a Silver in the 2010 edition in Delhi,while legendary Anju Bobby Georgebagged a Bronze in 2002.

Sreeshankar had gone into CWG asGold medal favourite on the basis of hisseason's and personal best of 8.36m, whichhad put him in joint second ranking in theworld this season.

But he struggled in his first four jumpsregarding his landing on the foot board.He began with a 7.64m before jumpingidentical 7.84m in his second and thirdattempts. His fourth jump was a foul.

He was outside the medal contentionat the end of the fourth round as he wasat sixth place at that stage but his fifthattempt of 8.08m took him to the secondplace.

In a dramatic final round jump, heseemed to have crossed the 8m mark --which would have given him a gold -- butto his and the Indian contingent's disap-pointment, his foot landed 2cm ahead ofthe line on the foot board.

The final attempt was thus ruled asa foul and Sreeshankar had to settle fora Silver.

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Star Indian boxer LovlinaBorgohain is not losing sleep

over her shock quarterfinal exitand says a CommonwealthGames success would not havehelped her much in her quest fora second successive Olympicmedal in 2024 as she was com-peting in a non-Olympic catego-ry in Birmingham CWG.

Lovlina, who became theonly second Indian womanboxer to win an Olympic medalin Tokyo last year, competed inthe light middleweight catego-ry, which does not figure in the2024 Paris Games roster.

"That's why CWG was notthat important to me as my maintarget is Paris and this was notan Olympic weight category. Itwould not have helped me muchin the larger scheme of things,"Lovlina said.

"Yes, CommonwealthGames have a big stature nodoubt about that. But my targetis Paris and to get myself pre-pared is the main objective."

At her maiden CWGappearance in Gold Coast in2018, Lovlina had also met asimilar fate, bowing out in thequarterfinals.

"Every loss or win is anexperience. And I'm taking thisloss in a positive way. I've towork on myself.

"Ultimate goal is Paris,whatever the difficulties maybe,I've to overcome them. Life has

many ups and downs but 'haarnahin maan na hai' (it's notabout giving up)."

She made headlines forwrong reasons in the build-up tothe CWG as she alleged "men-tal harassment" after her person-al coach Sandhya Gurung wasdenied entry into the GamesVillage. Sandhya was added tothe contingent days before herbout.

"Yes, I was a bit distracted inthe build-up to the Games. Butthankfully everything was sort-ed before the competition. I gotmy coaches.

"But I feel it did not affectme. There was a lot of publici-ty but I was away from socialmedia. I wasn't aware of what'sgoing on around me. Even now,I've kept it off to keep myselfaway from it."

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Star Indian shuttlers P VSindhu and Kidambi

Srikanth had another easy out-ing as they stormed into thequarterfinals of the women'sand men's singles events respec-tively with comfortable wins atthe Commonwealth Gameshere on Friday.

Sindhu, a Silver medallist atthe 2018 edition, expectedlyfaced no resistance fromUganda's Husina Kobugabe,winning 21-10, 21-9 in herpre-quarterfinal match.

Srikanth, who had also fin-ished second best at Gold Coast,too didn't break any sweat onhis way to a 21-9, 21-12 winover Sri Lanka's DuminduAbeywickrama in the men'ssingles.

Earlier, Indian women's

pairing of Gayatri Gopichandand Treesa Jolly had entered thelast eight with a 21-2, 21-4 winover Mauritius' Jemimah LeungFor Sang and GaneshaMungrah.

Double Olympic medallistSindhu will face Malaysia's GohJin Wei in the next round for aplace in the semifinals.

Sindhu had defeated Goh intwo tight games in the final ofthe mixed team final and can ill-afford to lower her guard againstthe 22-year-old Malaysian, awinner of the World JuniorChampionships gold in 2015and 2018.

Former world number oneSrikanth will be up againstEngland's Toby Penty, who isranked 54th in the world.

Gayatri and Treesa willmeet Jamaica's Tahlia Richard-son and Katherine Wynter next.

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Indian paddlers ManikaBatra and Sreeja Akula

entered the women's singlesquarterfinals in the table ten-nis event of theCommonwealth Games hereon Friday.

Batra steamrolledAustralian Jee Minhyung 11-4, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10 to bookher place in the quarterfinal.

The 27-year-old star pad-dler wil l now take onSingapore's Jian Zeng in thelast eight-clash later tonight.

Sreeja, on the other hand,played out a nerve-wrackingencounter against CharlotteCarey from Wales to secureherself a last eight berth.

The 24-year-old toiledhard but held her nerves tobeat Carey 8-11, 11-7, 12-14,9-11, 11-4, 15-13, 12-10.

Sreeja will lock horns withCanada's Mo Zhang in thequarterfinal which is also slat-ed to be held later tonight.

Earlier in the day, bothManika and Sreeja alsoreached the mixed doublesquarterfinal events.

Batra and mixed doublespartner SathiyanGnanasekaran humbledNigerians Olajide Omotayoand Ajoke Ojomu 11-7, 11-6,11-7.

The two wil l faceMalaysia's Javen Choong andKaren Lyne in the first quar-ter-final event on Friday.

Sreeja and her partnerAchanta Sharath Kamal, onthe other hand, came frombehind to beat Malaysia's

Leond Chee Fang and HoYing 5-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-5.

They wil l square upagainst home favourites LiamPitchford and Tin-Tin Ho inthe second quarterfinal clashon the same day.

Meanwhile, ReethTennison, bowed out in thewomen's singles event aftershe went down to Singapore'sFeng Tianwei in a round of 16game.

The Singaporean Tianweiproved too strong forTennison and the latter wasbeaten 11-2, 11-4, 9-11, 11-3,11-4.

Meanwhile, Kamal andGnanasekaran stormed intothe quarterfinals of the men'sdoubles event after easingpast Bangladesh's Bawm

Ramhimlian and RidoyMohutasin Ahmed.

The Indian pair won 11-6, 11-1, 11-4 in three straightgames in their round of 16clash.

Kamal and Gnanasekaranwill now take on English pairof Tom Jarvis and Sam Walkerlater tonight.

The pair of HarmeetDesai and Sanil Shetty alsowas through to the last-eightstage after they defeatedAustralian pair of ChambersDillon and Yan Xin 3-1.

Desai and Shetty, whowon 11-3, 9-11, 9-11, 7-11,will now lock horns withSingapore's Clerance Chewand Shao Feng Ethan Poh inthe last eight round match,later in the day.

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India's Sudhir claimed the Gold medalin men's heavyweight para powerlifting

event at the Commonwealth Games hereon Thursday.

Sudhir, an Asian Para Games Bronzemedallist, lifted 208kg in his first attemptbefore increasing it to 212kg in his sec-ond effort to gather 134.5 points andbreak the Games record.

The 27-year-old Sudhir, who has animpairment due to the effects of polio,thus opened India's para sports medalaccount in the ongoing CWG.

Ikechukwu Christian Obichukwuwon the Silver with 133.6 points, whileMicky Yule bagged the Bronze with130.9 points.

Sudhir had won a Bronze in men'supto 88kg with a best lift of 214kg at the

World Para Powerlifting Asia-OceaniaOpen Championship in South Korea inJune.

Sudhir, who had started powerliftingin 2013 in Sonipat, has also qualified forHangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games, whichwas postponed to next year.

��India's Bhavina Patel cruised to the

women's singles class 3-5 para table ten-nis final and assured herself of a medal atthe Commonwealth Games here on Friday.

The Tokyo Paralympics Silver medal-list thrashed England's Sue Bailey 11-6, 11-6, 11-6 to seal her final berth.

The 35-year-old Gujarat paddler willtake on Nigeria's Christiana Ikpeoyi in thefinal on Saturday.

Sonalben Patel, on the other hand,went down to Ikpeoyi 11-8, 6-11, 4-11, 7-11. She will now face Bailey in the Bronzemedal match.

Raj Aravindan Alagar also lost 11-7,8-11, 4-11, 7-11 to Nigeria's Nasiru Sulein the men's 3-5 class semifinal.

He will now cross swords withNigerian Isau Ogunkunle in the Bronzemedal play-off on Sunday.

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Star Indian wrestler BajrangPunia was a class apart

while defending his title as heconceded just two points enroute the Gold medal showwhile birthday girl AnshuMalik grabbed a Silver in hermaiden CommonwealthGames, here on Friday.

Such was Tokyo OlympicsBronze medallist Bajrang'sdominance in the 65kg com-petition that he won three ofhis four bouts inside firstrounds.

The 28-year-old defend-ing champion beat Naurau'sLowe Bingham and Mauritius'Jean Guyliane Joris Bandou 'byfall' before winning by techni-cal superiority againstEngland's Geroge Ramm.

Canada's Lachlan MauriceMcNeil fought well againstBajrang but the Indian was farsuperior in technique and sta-mina as he won the bout 9-2.

Bajrang has been strug-gling to play freely since lastyear and his over defensive tac-tics put a question-mark overhis ability to extend his dom-inance in international arenabut on Friday he made hismoves without inhibition.

However, the CWG is notthe best platform to judge ifBajrang has got his mojo backbecause of the inferior fieldquality.

Anshu, who has takenrapid strides in her career,reached the women's 57kgfinal with similar dominancebut ended up second-bestwith a Silver medal.

The Nidani wrestler, whoturned 21 on Friday, won bytechnical superiority againstAustralia's Irene Symeonidisand Sri Lanka's NethmiAhinsa Fernando Poruthotage.

It did not take Anshumuch time to measure heropponents. Her trademarkaggression and quality was toohot to handle for her rivals till

the gold bout.The World Championship

Silver medallist though couldnot breach the defence ofNigeria's Odunayo FolasadeAdekuoroye, losing the goldbout 3-7. The Nigerian wasstrong with her defence andAnshu could not find a way tomake her moves.

She left mat with tears inher eyes as it was not the birth-day present she wanted to giveherself.

For Sakshi Malik, who hasbeen battling for relevancefor long, it was an ideal oppor-tunity to get some confidenceback and she used it to opti-mum level in the 62kg contest.She began by pinning hometeam wrestler Kelsey Barnesand followed that with a tech-nical superiority win againstCameroon's Berthe Emilienne.

In her two bouts, she didnot concede a single point andwill now clash with Canada'sAna Paula Godinez Gonzalezfor her first CWG gold. Shehas a bronze and silver in herCWG collection.

Also making the goldmedal round was DeepakPunia (86kg) who did not lookhis dominant and quick selfbut still won his bouts withoutgiving a point to his rivals.

The wrestler from Chharavillage began with technicalsuperiority win over MatthewClay Oxenham from NewZealand and beat Canada'sAlexander Moore 3-1, settingup the Gold medal boutagainst Pakistan's MuhammadInam. Divya Kakran thoughgot a tough draw as she foundTokyo Olympic Silver medal-list and 11-time African cham-pion Blessing Oborududufrom Nigeria.

The first round was wortha final though Divya was out-played by the formidableNigerian. The Asian GamesBronze medallist won herrepechage round againstBlandine Nyeh Ngiri by fall.

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The Indian women's pair ofLovely Choubey and

Nayanmoni Saikai were knockedout of the the CommonwealthGames here on Friday afterthey went down in the quarter-final clash.

The Indian duo lost toEngland's Sophie Tolchard andAmy Pharoah 18-14.

Choubey and Saikai led ontwo occasions, first 5-2 after fourrounds and 8-6 after end nine.

However, they squanderedan early advantage and allowedthe English pair of Tolchard(lead) and Pharoah (skip) tomake a strong comeback.

After the 10th round,England surged ahead and keptincreasing their lead and even-tually emerged victorious.

England will now face NewZealand in the semi-final, whileAustralia will take on Malaysiain other last four clash.

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George Miller, 75 years andeights months old, on

Friday became the oldest play-er to win a medal at theCommonwealth Games whenhe bagged the mixed pairs Goldin lawn bowls for Scotland.

The team, lead Melanie Innes, her directorMiller and skip director Sarah Jane, scriptedScotland's 16-9 victory over Wales to win Goldin the para mixed pairs B2/B3 at Victoria Park

here."I think Rosemary is quite

pleased," said Miller, while replac-ing teammate Rosemary Lenton asthe oldest Gold medal winner inCommonwealth Games history:

On his message to older peo-ple who might want to get involvedin the sport:

"Bowls is quite easy for older people but anysport, walking, football, rugby, you name it, getout there, exercise, play games. Competing is bril-liant whatever age you are," he said.

SREESHANKAR LONG JUMPS TO WIN SILVER

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The Indian men's 4x400m relayteam qualified for the final at

the Commonwealth Games afterfinishing second in its heat racehere on Friday.

The Indian quartet ofMuhammed Anas Yahiya, NoahNirmal Tom, Mohammed Ajmaland Amoj Jacob took the automat-ic qualification route, clocking3:06.97s to finish second behindKenya in heat 2.

India were fourth before thelast leg bend but Amoj overtooktwo runners at the final stretch tofinish second. He had suffered ahamstring injury while running

4x400m relay as part of the Indianquartet during the National Inter-State Championships in Chennailast month.

India finished sixth overallacross the two heats with Botswana3:05.11s being the quickest.

The final will be held onSunday.

In women's 100m hurdles,national record holder JyothiYarraji crashed out in the firstround heats with a below-parshow. She clocked 13.18m to fin-ish fourth in heat 2 and 10th over-all. She holds the national recordof 13.04s.

The heat races were held underwindy conditions and Yarraji ran

with a tailwind of 2m/s. All thecompetitors ran with tailwind of2m/s or above.

The 22-year-old Yarraji hadbettered her national record thricethis season.

Ancy Sojan also failed to qualify for the women's long jump final. She was ranked 13thoverall in the qualifying round witha best jump of 6.25m, which waswind-assisted (tailwind of 2.3m/s).

Those who touched 6.75m orat least 12 best performers acrossthe two groups advance to the final.

The 21-year-old Sojan, whohas a season and personal best of6.55m, was seventh in Group Aqualifying round.

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American teenager CocoGauff built a big lead early

then had to dig deep late for a6-4, 6-4 victory over four-timeGrand Slam champion NaomiOsaka on Thursday (FridayIST) at the WTA hardcourttournament in San Jose,California.

The 18-year-old, whoreached her first Grand Slamfinal at the French Open in June,needed just one break of serveto seize the first set 6-4 in theblockbuster encounter.

With booming serves andmatching ground strokes, shethen roared to a 5-1 lead in thesecond set.

But the Japanese superstar,unseeded in her first tourna-ment since an opening-roundexit at Roland Garros, didn't godown without a fight.

She saved match points —

all on her own serve, beforeGauff was finally able to serve itout. "Even though I was up 5-1and 40-0 I knew I didn't have thematch in the bag yet and obvi-ously she proved that," Gauffsaid.

"Whenever you play Naomishe can play lights-out tennis. Ifeel like maybe two of the matchpoints I had an actual shot on.

It was, and sixth-seededGauff advanced to a quarter-final clash with second-seedPaula Badosa of Spain.

In other second-roundaction, unseeded AmericanShelby Rogers toppled top-seedMaria Sakkari 6-1, 6-3.

Fourth-seeded ArynaSabalenka and ninth-seedVeronika Kudermetova made itthrough to the quarters.Sabalenka beat AmericanCaroline Dolehide 4-7, 6-1, 7-5and Kudermetova toppedAmerican Claire Liu 6-2, 7-5.

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World number one Daniil Medvedev pow-ered into the semi-finals of the ATP hard-

court tournament in Los Cabos, Mexico, onThursday (Friday IST) with a 6-2, 6-2 victoryover Ricardas Berankis.

Medvedev, playing his first tournament sincebowing out of the quarter-finals at Mallorca inJune, had launched his return with his 250thcareer match win over Australian qualifier RinkyHijikata on Wednesday.

He said the victory over Lithuania's Berankisfelt "very different" but the outcome was thesame and never looked in doubt as Medevedevreeled off eight straight games to go from 2-2in the opening set to 6-2, 4-0 and fully in con-trol.

"My opponent played very different, muchmore aggressive," Medvedev said, adding that

it actually worked to his advantage.Medvedev will face fourth-seeded serb

Miomir Kecmanovic for a place in the final.Kecmanovic beat Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 6-4.

If he reaches the final here, Medvedev willbe assured of taking the world number one rank-ing into his defense of the US Open title atFlushing Meadows later this month.

�� .��.��9�Washington: Reigning US Open championEmma Raducanu of Britain advanced to thequarter-finals of the ATP and WTA WashingtonOpen, refusing to wilt Thursday after a marathonmatch in sweltering heat.

The English 19-year-old outlastedColombia's Camila Osorio 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4)after two hours and 50 minutes for a gritty vic-tory in the WTA's longest two-set main drawmatch of the year.

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Wimbledon champion NovakDjokovic, whose refusal to be vacci-

nated against Covid makes him unable toenter Canada, has officially withdrawnfrom the ATP hardcourt tournament inMontreal, organizers said on Thursday.

The Serb star's unvaccinated statusmade it unlikely he would play in the pres-tigious ATP Masters tournament, just as itmeans he will probably miss the US Openstarting later in August as the United Statesalso requires visitors to the country to showproof of vaccination.

Germany's Oscar Otte has also with-drawn from the tournament which startsMonday with Benjamin Bonzi of Franceand Australia's Wimbledon runner-up

Nick Kyrgios moving into the main draw,Tennis Canada said.

In addition, three-time Grand Slamchampion Andy Murray was handed a wildcard on Thursday, along with BelgianDavid Goffin and Canadians Vasek Pospisiland Alexis Galarneau.

Britain's Murray, a former world num-ber one who won the Canadian title in2009, 2010 and 2015, has been rising in therankings this season from 134th to 50th.

He reached finals in Sydney in Januaryand Stuttgart in June, but fell in the firstround in Washington earlier this week toSweden's Mikael Ymer.

Even if Iyer makes the cut for Asia Cup or T20 WorldCup, there is a miniscule chance of him getting a first XIlook-in in a jam-packed top-order.

�� /��While Suryakumar Yadav's awe-inspiring shots left

all and sundry wide-eyed, he is expected to have his skip-per Rohit Sharma for company at the top of the order.

In the third game in Basseterre, Rohit wasforced to retire hurt with a back spasm when hewas batting on 11 and it was more like a precau-tionary measure with a three-day gap in betweengames.

The Indian captain would like to continuehis recent good form and positive intent in the tworemaining games but at the same time would have thebest seat to judge the form of some of his batters.

Rishabh Pant has looked good in all his short stintsat the crease and wouldn't mind having a big one in frontof a packed audience at Central Broward Park Stadium.

��/��0��.��Avesh Khan has been taken to cleaners in the last two

games but Dravid-Rohit pair has no other option but tocontinue with the profligate MP speedster as Harshal Patelhasn't fully recovered from his rib-cage injury.

Avesh throughout his career has been a bit one-dimensional with either bowling too short or too full giv-ing batters ample time to work on the pace or play thefull-blooded drive.

It will be interesting to see if Kuldeep Yadav gets agame in the series and India play an extra spinner in caseHarshal doesn't get fit in time.

��India: Rohit Sharma (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer,Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, IshanKishan, Dinesh Karthik, Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja,Axar Parel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, KuldeepYadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, BhuvneswarKumar, Harshal PatelWest Indies: Nicholas Pooran (C), Rovman Powell,Shamarh Brooks, Dominic Drakes, Shimron Hetmyer,Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, BrandonKing, Kyle Mayers, Obed McCoy, Keemo Paul, RomarioShepherd, Odean Smith, Devon Thomas, Hayden Walsh.

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Shreyas Iyer's performance will be under intense scruti-ny as India gear up for the back-to-back T20I gamesagainst West Indies, starting here on Saturday, with

the twin objective of winning the series and also firm-ing up squad for T20 World Cup.

India are currently leading the five-match series 2-1 and nothing would be more satisfying than a coupleof thumping wins in front of the USA's Indian diaspo-ra, which is anticipating an enjoyable weekend cricket car-nival.

However in this current India set-up, if there is oneman whose performance will be monitored more thananyone else, it has got to be Iyer.

Deepak Hooda, who has used most of the opportu-nities handed to him, looks good to outwit Iyer at themoment as far as the big ticket T20 World Cup berth isconcerned.

With KL Rahul and Virat Kohli all set to be back inthe playing eleven for the Asia Cup, time is certainly run-ning out for the 27-year-old Mumbaikar, who has hadscores of 0, 10 (11 balls) and 24 (27 balls) in the threegames so far in the ongoing series.

He looked distinctly uncomfortable against the fastand rising deliveries.

While the short ball is his main problem, watchingIyer gives a feeling that he is unable to decide at what paceand which gear would he bat in a T20 game, somethingthat's not the case when he is taking strike in 50-over for-mat.

In head coach Rahul Dravid's regime so far, no play-er has got a raw deal in terms of chances and are givenlong enough rope to succeed.

However in case of Iyer, his T20I game hasn't exact-ly yielded the results that one has seen him deliver in theODI cricket.

Even then, Dravid has given Iyer nine T20I gamesin last two and half months, out of which, one inBengaluru was a wash-out and there hasn't been a sin-gle fifty-plus score even when he got chance to come outwithin first 10 overs.

If Iyer gets a go in the last two games, he has no optionbut to put his best foot forward as the Asia Cup team, inall probability, will also be the likely team for the T20World Cup.

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Manchester City manager PepGuardiola will not stand in

Bernardo Silva's way should he wish tojoin Barcelona before the end of thetransfer window.

Guardiola said there has been nobid from his former club for thePortuguese midfielder, but would notkeep Silva in Manchester against hiswill.

Despite debts of 1.3 billion euros($1.3 billion) Barcelona have embarkedon a spending spree this summer andwill reportedly turn their attentions toSilva should Frenkie de Jong depart theCamp Nou.

City have already let Gabriel Jesusand Oleksandr Zinchenko join Arsenaland sold Raheem Sterling to Chelseathis summer as all three sought moreregular game time.

By contrast, Silva has been a vitalplayer in City winning four PremierLeague titles in the past five seasons andwould be difficult to replace in the finalweeks of the transfer window.

"I was comfortable working withOleks, Raheem, Gabriel, incrediblecharacters that helped us achieve whatwe achieved," Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference ahead of thestart of City's Premier League defenceat West Ham on Sunday.

"Sometimes for the club, sometimesfor the players, sometimes for theagent, sometimes you have to divide ourpath.

"Especially the desire of the playeris the most important thing. Of courseI would love Bernardo to continue here,he is a special player for us. But I don'tknow what is going to happen.

"What happens will happen and ifhe stays it is perfect and in the end ifhe has to leave it is because football islike this, the player has a desire. I willnot be a person to stop a desire for thepeople."

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The International League(ILT20) in UAE has report-

edly offered 15 top Australianplayers a whopping AUD700,000 deals to ditch the BigBash League (BBL), dates ofwhich are overlapping, causingconsiderable tension in CricketAustralia (CA)'s ranks.

The Big Bash League will beplayed between December 13 toFebruary 4 while the inauguraledition of ILT20 is scheduledfrom January 6 to February 12,making it virtually impossiblefor Australian players to takepart in both the tournaments.

According to a report inSydney Morning Herald, "Asmany as 15 Australian playershave been offered contractsworth up to AUD 700,000 a yearto abandon the Big Bash Leagueand play in the UAE T20 tour-nament in January."

Most of the top Australianplayers have no obligation toplay BBL under their existingcentral contract, with Warnernot having played a single edi-tion since 2014.

The BBL's highest paymenttill date from the draft has beenD'arcy Short's $258,000 (AUD370,000) and the money com-

pared to what has been paid tomarquee Australian players inIPL, has been significantly less-er.

But with Indian IPL ownersinvesting in UAE and CSA T20leagues, the BBL will need torevamp its pay structure tokeep the best in the businessinterested.

According to Australiannewspapers 'The Age' and 'TheSydney Morning Herald' bysenior cricket sources, "the scaleof the attempted raid onAustralian players goes farbeyond the threat of losing oneplayer - David Warner - to theUAE because he does not havea BBL deal."

The paper also revealed:"UAE contract sizes so far aboveand beyond what has been onoffer in the BBL have placedCricket Australia and theAustralian CricketersAssociation under pressure toreassure players that they are notbeing left behind the rest of theworld by remaining loyal to thegame in this country."

However it is learnt CA inits bid to retain the sheen andquality of BBL, is keen on sign-ing a lucrative one-off deal withWarner, which will prevent himfrom taking up the ILT20 offer.

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Sikandar Raza and InnocentKaia struck centuries as

Zimbabwe recovered from adisastrous start to stunBangladesh by five wickets onFriday in the first match of athree-game ODI series.

The home team lost open-ers Regis Chakabva and TarisaiMusakanda with just six runs onthe scoreboard as they chased aformidable Bangladesh total of303-2 that included four halfcenturies.

A third Zimbabwe wicketfell after they lifted the score to62 and then Raza and Kaia cametogether to put on 192 runs forthe fourth wicket and set up abrilliant victory as Zimbabwereached 307-5 with 10 balls tospare. Raza was unbeaten on135, including six sixes andeight fours, while Kaia strucktwo sixes and 11 fours in his 110before being caught by Shorifulislam at short fine leg.

Bangladesh, seventh in theODI rankings and eight placesabove Zimbabwe, took advan-tage of being put in to bat bybuilding what appeared to be awinning score.

Opener Liton Das led theway with an unbeaten 81 beforebeing forced to retire hurt witha suspected hamstring injury.

He faced 89 balls and scoredone six and nine fours.

Anamul Haque (73), cap-tain Tamim Iqbal (62) and

Mushfique Rahim (52) werethe other scorers of half cen-turies for a team fresh from a 3-0 ODI hammering of the WestIndies.

But while the visiting bats-men scored freely, their bowlershad no answers to Pakistan-born Raza and Kaia at Hararesports Club.

The pair reached centurieswithin two balls of each otherduring the 39th over with Kaiascoring his maiden ton througha single while two runs fromRaza gave him his fourth 100 inthe 50-over format.

Victory continued aremarkable transformation ofZimbabwe since former battingstar Dave Houghton began asecond stint as coach after 3-0ODI and T20 whitewashes byAfghanistan in June.

They hosted a T20 WorldCup qualifying tournament lastmonth and won all five match-es to clinch a place at the mainevent in Australia from October.

Then, earlier this week, theyedged Bangladesh by 10 runs ina thriller to snatch a 2-1 victo-ry in a T20 series.

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Bangladesh's biggest crick-eting star Shakib Al Hasan hasonce again courted controversyas country's cricket board is setto investigate an alleged socialmedia post from him endorsinga sports betting company.

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp on Fridaysaid he was reluctant to dip into the trans-

fer market in order to solve "four-week"injury problems.

Reds centre-back Ibrahima Konate suf-fered a knee injury in the friendly againstStrasbourg on Sunday which Klopp said willsee the defender out "for a while".

Konate has joined a list of sidelinedLiverpool players that already includesKostas Tsimikas, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain,Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones and reserve goal-keeper Caoimhin Kelleher, with Naby Keitaset to resume training on Friday after near-ly a week out with illness.

None of the absentees are understood to be suffering with long-term injuries, however.

"We have too many injuries, that's true,"said Klopp. "But in the moment nothing haschanged (in terms of new signings). A lot ofunlucky situations. Started with Caoimh andDiogo, pretty much one was injured and onehad a re-injury.

"In a few weeks' time they will be back,but they've missed pre-season and that's notcool.

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Medvedev races into Los Cabos semi-finals

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