5@?¶E ECJ :?5:2¶D A2E:6?46 A> H2C?D 49:?2 - Daily Pioneer

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P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday gave a stern warning to China, saying while India wished to maintain peace, it will not stay quiet if provoked. In his first remark on the killing of 20 Indian soldiers by the Chinese Army in Ladakh on Monday, the PM said the nation must be proud to know that the Army jawans who died in “Galwan valley” died fight- ing till the end. The Prime Minister made these remarks before address- ing the two-day videoconfer- ence of State Chief Ministers on Covid-19 crisis. He also requested the attending CMs and Union Ministers to main- tain two minutes of silence for the slain warriors. “India wants peace, but if India is provoked, it is capable of giving a befitting reply. With respect to our Indian martyrs, the nation will be proud to know that they died fighting. I want to assure the nation that its martyrs’ sacrifice will not go in vain. The PM is expected to address the nation on June 21. The Prime Minister said India believes in peaceful res- olution of any conflict and did- n’t want that differences should become disputes. “We never provoke anyone but we will not compromise with integrity and sovereignty. Whenever time has come, we have proved our strength and capabilities in protecting our integrity and sovereignty. Sacrifice and resilience is in our national character. But valour and courage is also our country’s character,” the Prime Minister warned. India will always protect its sovereignty and no one should be under any illusion, Modi said. This is perhaps for the first time in six years in office that Modi has gone so offensive against the Chinese regime. The PM visited China nine times during the last six years and held 18 meetings with the Chinese President. But Chinese are obviously upset with Modi for joining hands with US President Donald Trump’s bid to isolate Beijing. With Opposition parties calling upon the Government to take them in confidence regarding the face-off with China, the Prime Minister has called for an all-party meeting at 5 pm on June 19. Presidents of various political parties would take part in this virtual meeting. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met three Service Chiefs (Army, Navy and Air Force) and the Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat on Wednesday and reviewed the country’s defence preparedness to deal with any situation along the LAC. Singh also spoke to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the current India- China border situation. O n a day when the Congress went on offensive against the Modi Government over the martyrdom of the 20 India soldiers by the Chinese forces at Ladakh with party president Sonia Gandhi asking how much India’s land Chinese have grabbed, the Centre con- vened an all-party meeting on June 19 to brief the political leaders about the ground situ- ation. “Today when there is so much anger over Chinese intrusion, the PM should come out and tell the nation how the Chinese managed to commit this act of aggression,” Sonia said in a video message. Later, presidents of various political parties will participate in the meeting at 5 pm on Friday via video, the Prime Minister’s Office said. Former party chief Rahul Gandhi too turned up the heat against the Prime Minister questioning his silence on the issue. “Why is the PM silent? Why is he hiding? Enough is enough. We need to know what has happened,” he tweet- ed on Wednesday. T aking strong exception to the clashes on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan valley in Ladakh result- ing in the martyrdom of 20 Indian soldiers by the Chinese, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said the attacks were “premeditated and planned.” Conveying this terse mes- sage to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the phone, he also said these clashes will have an impact on bilateral relations. China blamed India for the incident. In the end, both the sides decided to deal with the mat- ter in a peaceful manner and de-escalate as soon as possible, but there was no mention of any Chinese willingness to vacate the area occupied. This development came in the aftermath of tension still continuing at the flashpoint in the Galwan valley even though the troops from both the sides had disengaged after bloody brawl. Conveying the country’s strong reaction, Jaishankar said the Chinese soldiers took “pre-meditated and planned action” that was directly responsible for the clash and casualties. In the first ever interaction between the two leaders since the escalation of tension on the LAC, Jaishankar said the unprecedented devel- opment “will have a serious impact on the bilateral relationship” and China had to reassess its actions and take corrective steps. He also said the attack reflected an intent to change the facts on ground in violation of all “our agreements to not change the status quo.” A mid demand of cancella- tion of a 1,126 crore con- tract bagged by a Chinese firm, Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co Ltd (STEC), for the con- struction of a 5.6-km-long underground stretch between New Ashok Nagar-Sahibabad of Delhi Meerut Regional Rapid transit System (RRTS) project, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on Wednesday said the tender is still under process and yet to be finalised. According to the Ministry, the multi-lateral procurement guidelines do not allow dis- crimination among firms and countries if the project is fund- ed by Asian Development Bank or World Bank. In Maharashtra, the State Government has signed mem- orandum of understanding with 12 firms companies from different countries, including three firms from China, to invest 16,000 crore. The Ministry said this is an ADB funded package for design & construction of 5.6 km tunnel through Tunnel Boring Machine and one RRTS station. It said bids were invit- ed on November 9, 2019 while the technical bid was opened on March 16, 2020. “Five bidders submitted bids and qualified for financial bid opening, including (i) Tata Projects Limited - South Korea E&C Joint Venture (TPL - SKEC JV) (ii) STEC (China), (iii) L&T (India), (iv) Afcons (India) and (v) Gülermak Agir Sanayi Insaat ve Taahhut AS (Gulermak) (Turkey). On June 12, finan- cial bids were opened and Chinese construction com- pany STEC emerged as the lowest bidder. The National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited is the implementing agency for the project. A mid apprehensions that the India casualties may rise with four or five soldiers seriously injured in the Ladakh brawl, Army sources said even though outnumbered in the initial stages, the Indians also managed to kill at least 40 to 45 Chinese, including their commanding officer, in hand to hand combat. Unconfirmed reports from Chinese media pegged the figure of Chinese casualties at 30 plus. The brawl which claimed the life of Colonel B Santosh Babu, the commanding officer of 16 Bihar and 19 others, broke out after the Indian patrol asked the Chinese to vacate a particular site at the Galwan river valley as per an agreement reached some days back. However, the Chinese did not do so and returned after sometime with a large number of troops and attacked the small Indian team led by Babu. They were attacked with batons, barbed wires and rods studded with iron nails. Outnumbered, the Indians also called for reserves and at least 200 soldiers from both sides then went all out at each other. In the ensuing fracas some injured Indian soldiers slipped and fell into the Shyok and Galwan rivers. Severely injured, they lay submerged in the shal- low river for some hours before rescue teams pulled them out. It is feared some of them died due to hypothermia as the water is very cold in sub-zero hour temperature at the confronta- tion site at a height of more than 14,000 feet, sources said. The Chinese soldiers also suffered the same fate when many of them fell in the river and some of them got hit by submerged stones causing seri- ous injuries, sources said. They said the number of 45 deaths was deduced by radio inter- cepts, helicopter sorties throughout Monday night and Tuesday morning besides fren- zied ambulance movement across the LAC. N ot willing to take any chances after the unprece- dented clash at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, the Armed forces have ramped up their efforts by deploying additional troops, placing fighter jets on the standby and the warships on active deployment in the strate- gically important Indian Ocean. With growing maritime prowess, the Chinese have started making forays into the Indian Ocean thereby threat- ening India’s strategic interest as more than 70 per cent export and import come through sea lanes of this ocean. The Centre has also put the ITBP on high alert post- Galwan valley bloody face-off with People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in eastern Ladakh. The ITBP posts are also being reinforced even as the BSF has been asked to remain on maximum alert along the Western frontier with Pakistan. India has a distinct advan- tage in Indian Ocean as it can easily choke off China’s energy supply. More than 90 per cent of its oil supply imported from the Gulf and other regions pass through the Malacca Straits near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Indian Navy has been given the go ahead to block it if need be, sources said here on Wednesday. Similarly, the IAF is also in active duty mode now after sit- uation worsened over the last one month on the LAC in Ladakh. New Delhi: The Telecom department has decided to rule out the use of Chinese equipment in the upgradation of the 4G equip- ment of the state-owned BSNL. Sources in the Government said the Ministry has decided to “firmly tell BSNL” not to use Chinese equipment in view if security issues. H eavy showers lashed the State capital providing relief from the hot and humid weather conditions prevailing for the past whole week while several regions started good amount of rainfall after the arrival of the monsoon in the State. The east Madhya Pradesh region is likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours. The trend of heavy rainfall would continue for the next three days till the end of the week. On the west Madhya Pradesh region thunder storm and lightening are likely to be witnessed in the next 24 hours and at the end of the week heavy rainfall at isolated places would occur. Ujjain, Indore and Hoshangabad regions have received heavy rainfall at most of the places while few regions in Bhopal division witnessed rainfall. Under the changed pattern of weather rainfall has dipped the temperatures still Shahdol and Sagar divisions’ recorded significant increase in the tem- peratures. The districts in which southwest monsoon has arrived are Alirajpur, Barwani, Khargone, Khandwa, Burhanpur, Harda, Hoshangabad, Betul, Chhindwara, Narsingpur, Damoh, Panna, Satna, Rewa, Sidhi, Singrauli, Umaria, Shahdol, Anuppur, Katni, Chhindwara, Narsingpur, Jabalpur and Balaghat districts. Monsoon has entered most parts of Sehore, Jhabua, Raisen, Sagar, Chhatarpur districts and parts of Indore, Dhar Dewas districts. The Met department has issued warning of heavy rain- fall in Shahdol division and Sidhi, Singrauli, Chhindwara, Seoni, Raisen, Sehore, Hoshangabad, Harda, Khandwa, Khandwa, Khargone, Dewas and Shajapur districts. Gwalior, Sagar and Chambal divisions are likely to witness thundery activities and strong winds. The State capital received 49.3 mm rainfall on Wednesday, while the total rainfall of the season till date is 73.8 mm. D espite having lost their son at a tender age of 21, his devastated family based in Rewa is holding their heads high due to the honour earned by Deepak Singh. Deepak Singh, a native of Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, was among those Indian soldiers who laid down their lives pro- tecting their motherland at LAC. His family was shattered as the Army informed them about his martyrdom late evening on Tuesday. A native of village Farehda in Mangawan tehsil in Rewa, Deepak was married eight months ago in November. His mortal remains are kept in Leh and will be flown to Rewa on Thursday. The martyred will be cremated at his native village Farehda with full state honours. To add, Dipak had followed footsteps of his elder brother while joining the army. "We married him in November last year and it’s hardly eight months now," said his father Gajraj Singh who claimed that Deepak had last came to the village in February and no one thought he would be wrapped in tricolour when he visits next. The news has left us with a heavy heart but still, my son, made all of us proud, said the sobbing father. Locals claimed that a fort- night ago, he had called up his wife and claimed that he would be back soon and will be bring- ing Kashmiri shawl and orna- ments for her. For obvious rea- sons, his wife and mother are inconsolable after the news of Dipak’s martyrdom broke on them. People from all walks of life including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, exCM Kamal Nath and others poured heartfelt condolences on social media on the martyrdom of the young soldier.

Transcript of 5@?¶E ECJ :?5:2¶D A2E:6?46 A> H2C?D 49:?2 - Daily Pioneer

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday gave a

stern warning to China, sayingwhile India wished to maintainpeace, it will not stay quiet ifprovoked. In his first remark onthe killing of 20 Indian soldiersby the Chinese Army in Ladakhon Monday, the PM said thenation must be proud to knowthat the Army jawans who diedin “Galwan valley” died fight-ing till the end.

The Prime Minister madethese remarks before address-ing the two-day videoconfer-ence of State Chief Ministers onCovid-19 crisis. He alsorequested the attending CMsand Union Ministers to main-tain two minutes of silence forthe slain warriors.

“India wants peace, but ifIndia is provoked, it is capableof giving a befitting reply. Withrespect to our Indian martyrs,the nation will be proud toknow that they died fighting. Iwant to assure the nation thatits martyrs’ sacrifice will not goin vain.

The PM is expected toaddress the nation on June 21.

The Prime Minister saidIndia believes in peaceful res-olution of any conflict and did-n’t want that differences shouldbecome disputes. “We neverprovoke anyone but we will notcompromise with integrity andsovereignty. Whenever timehas come, we have proved ourstrength and capabilities inprotecting our integrity andsovereignty. Sacrifice andresilience is in our nationalcharacter. But valour andcourage is also our country’scharacter,” the Prime Ministerwarned.

India will always protect itssovereignty and no one shouldbe under any illusion, Modi

said.This is perhaps for the first

time in six years in office thatModi has gone so offensiveagainst the Chinese regime.The PM visited China ninetimes during the last six yearsand held 18 meetings with theChinese President. But Chineseare obviously upset with Modifor joining hands with USPresident Donald Trump’s bidto isolate Beijing.

With Opposition partiescalling upon the Governmentto take them in confidenceregarding the face-off withChina, the Prime Minister has

called for an all-party meetingat 5 pm on June 19. Presidentsof various political partieswould take part in this virtualmeeting.

Meanwhile, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh metthree Service Chiefs (Army,Navy and Air Force) and theChief of Defence Staff BipinRawat on Wednesday andreviewed the country’s defencepreparedness to deal with anysituation along the LAC.

Singh also spoke toExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar on the current India-China border situation.

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On a day when the Congresswent on offensive against

the Modi Government over the martyrdom of the 20 India soldiers by the Chineseforces at Ladakh with partypresident Sonia Gandhi askinghow much India’s land Chinesehave grabbed, the Centre con-vened an all-party meeting onJune 19 to brief the politicalleaders about the ground situ-ation.

“Today when there is somuch anger over Chineseintrusion, the PM should comeout and tell the nation how theChinese managed to committhis act of aggression,” Sonia

said in a video message.Later, presidents of various

political parties will participatein the meeting at 5 pm onFriday via video, the PrimeMinister’s Office said.

Former party chief RahulGandhi too turned up the heatagainst the Prime Ministerquestioning his silence on theissue. “Why is the PM silent?Why is he hiding? Enough isenough. We need to knowwhat has happened,” he tweet-ed on Wednesday.

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Taking strong exception tothe clashes on the Line of

Actual Control (LAC) in theGalwan valley in Ladakh result-ing in the martyrdom of 20Indian soldiers by the Chinese,External Affairs Minister SJaishankar on Wednesday saidthe attacks were “premeditatedand planned.”

Conveying this terse mes-sage to his Chinese counterpartWang Yi on the phone, he alsosaid these clashes will have an impact on bilateralrelations. China blamed Indiafor the incident.

In the end, both the sidesdecided to deal with the mat-ter in a peaceful manner andde-escalate as soon as possible,but there was no mention ofany Chinese willingness tovacate the area occupied.

This development camein the aftermath of tension stillcontinuing at the flashpoint inthe Galwan valley even though

the troops from both the sides had disengaged afterbloody brawl.

Conveying the country’sstrong reaction, Jaishankarsaid the Chinese soldiers took“pre-meditated and plannedaction” that was directlyresponsible for the clash andcasualties. In the first everinteraction between the twoleaders since the escalation of

tension on the LAC, Jaishankarsaid the unprecedented devel-opment “will have a seriousimpact on the bilateral relationship” and China had to reassess its actions and take corrective steps. He alsosaid the attack reflected anintent to change the facts onground in violation of all “ouragreements to not change thestatus quo.”

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Amid demand of cancella-tion of a �1,126 crore con-

tract bagged by a Chinese firm,Shanghai Tunnel EngineeringCo Ltd (STEC), for the con-struction of a 5.6-km-longunderground stretch betweenNew Ashok Nagar-Sahibabadof Delhi Meerut RegionalRapid transit System (RRTS)project, the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs onWednesday said the tender isstill under process and yet to befinalised.

According to the Ministry,the multi-lateral procurementguidelines do not allow dis-crimination among firms andcountries if the project is fund-ed by Asian Development Bankor World Bank. InMaharashtra, the StateGovernment has signed mem-

orandum of understandingwith 12 firms companies fromdifferent countries, includingthree firms from China, toinvest �16,000 crore.

The Ministry said this is anADB funded package fordesign & construction of 5.6km tunnel through TunnelBoring Machine and one RRTSstation. It said bids were invit-ed on November 9, 2019 whilethe technical bid was openedon March 16, 2020.

“Five bidders submittedbids and qualified for financialbid opening, including (i)Tata Projects Limited - SouthKorea E&C Joint Venture(TPL - SKEC JV) (ii) STEC(China), (iii) L&T (India),(iv) Afcons (India) and (v)Gülermak Agir Sanayi Insaatve Taahhut AS (Gulermak)(Turkey). On June 12, finan-cial bids were opened andChinese construction com-pany STEC emerged as thelowest bidder.

The National CapitalRegion Transport CorporationLimited is the implementingagency for the project.

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Amid apprehensions thatthe India casualties may

rise with four or five soldiersseriously injured in the Ladakhbrawl, Army sources said eventhough outnumbered in theinitial stages, the Indians alsomanaged to kill at least 40 to45 Chinese, including theircommanding officer, in handto hand combat. Unconfirmedreports from Chinese mediapegged the figure of Chinesecasualties at 30 plus.

The brawl which claimedthe life of Colonel B SantoshBabu, the commanding officerof 16 Bihar and 19 others,broke out after the Indianpatrol asked the Chinese tovacate a particular site at theGalwan river valley as per anagreement reached some daysback.

However, the Chinese didnot do so and returned aftersometime with a large numberof troops and attacked thesmall Indian team led by Babu.They were attacked with

batons, barbed wires and rodsstudded with iron nails.Outnumbered, the Indians alsocalled for reserves and at least200 soldiers from both sidesthen went all out at each other.

In the ensuing fracas someinjured Indian soldiers slippedand fell into the Shyok andGalwan rivers. Severely injured,they lay submerged in the shal-low river for some hours beforerescue teams pulled them out.It is feared some of them dieddue to hypothermia as the wateris very cold in sub-zero hour

temperature at the confronta-tion site at a height of more than14,000 feet, sources said.

The Chinese soldiers alsosuffered the same fate whenmany of them fell in the riverand some of them got hit bysubmerged stones causing seri-ous injuries, sources said. Theysaid the number of 45 deathswas deduced by radio inter-cepts, helicopter sortiesthroughout Monday night andTuesday morning besides fren-zied ambulance movementacross the LAC.

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Not willing to take anychances after the unprece-

dented clash at the Line ofActual Control (LAC) inLadakh, the Armed forces haveramped up their efforts bydeploying additional troops,placing fighter jets on thestandby and the warships onactive deployment in the strate-gically important IndianOcean.

With growing maritimeprowess, the Chinese havestarted making forays into theIndian Ocean thereby threat-ening India’s strategic interestas more than 70 per centexport and import comethrough sea lanes of this ocean.

The Centre has also putthe ITBP on high alert post-Galwan valley bloody face-offwith People’s Liberation Army(PLA) in eastern Ladakh.

The ITBP posts are alsobeing reinforced even as theBSF has been asked to remainon maximum alert along theWestern frontier with Pakistan.

India has a distinct advan-tage in Indian Ocean as it caneasily choke off China’s energysupply. More than 90 per centof its oil supply imported fromthe Gulf and other regions passthrough the Malacca Straitsnear the Andaman and Nicobar

Islands. The Indian Navy hasbeen given the go ahead toblock it if need be, sources saidhere on Wednesday.

Similarly, the IAF is also inactive duty mode now after sit-uation worsened over the last one month on the LAC inLadakh.

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������������ ���������������������������������New Delhi: The Telecom department has decided to rule out theuse of Chinese equipment in the upgradation of the 4G equip-ment of the state-owned BSNL. Sources in the Government saidthe Ministry has decided to “firmly tell BSNL” not to use Chineseequipment in view if security issues.

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Heavy showers lashed theState capital providing

relief from the hot and humidweather conditions prevailingfor the past whole week whileseveral regions started goodamount of rainfall after thearrival of the monsoon in theState.

The east Madhya Pradeshregion is likely to receive heavyto very heavy rainfall in thenext 24 hours. The trend ofheavy rainfall would continuefor the next three days till theend of the week.

On the west MadhyaPradesh region thunder stormand lightening are likely to bewitnessed in the next 24 hoursand at the end of the weekheavy rainfall at isolated placeswould occur.

Ujjain, Indore andHoshangabad regions havereceived heavy rainfall at mostof the places while few regionsin Bhopal division witnessedrainfall.

Under the changed patternof weather rainfall has dippedthe temperatures still Shahdoland Sagar divisions’ recordedsignificant increase in the tem-

peratures.The districts in which

southwest monsoon has arrivedare Alirajpur, Barwani,Khargone, Khandwa,Burhanpur, Harda,Hoshangabad, Betul,Chhindwara, Narsingpur,Damoh, Panna, Satna, Rewa,Sidhi, Singrauli, Umaria,Shahdol, Anuppur, Katni,Chhindwara, Narsingpur,Jabalpur and Balaghat districts.

Monsoon has entered mostparts of Sehore, Jhabua, Raisen,Sagar, Chhatarpur districts andparts of Indore, Dhar Dewasdistricts.

The Met department hasissued warning of heavy rain-fall in Shahdol division andSidhi, Singrauli, Chhindwara,Seoni, Raisen, Sehore,Hoshangabad, Harda,Khandwa, Khandwa,Khargone, Dewas andShajapur

districts. Gwalior, Sagarand Chambal divisions arelikely to witness thunderyactivities and strong winds.

The State capital received49.3 mm rainfall onWednesday, while the totalrainfall of the season till date is73.8 mm.

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Despite having lost their sonat a tender age of 21, his

devastated family based in Rewais holding their heads high dueto the honour earned by DeepakSingh.

Deepak Singh, a native ofRewa in Madhya Pradesh, wasamong those Indian soldierswho laid down their lives pro-tecting their motherland at LAC.

His family was shattered asthe Army informed them abouthis martyrdom late evening onTuesday. A native of villageFarehda in Mangawan tehsil inRewa, Deepak was marriedeight months ago in November.

His mortal remains are keptin Leh and will be flown to Rewaon Thursday. The martyred willbe cremated at his native villageFarehda with full state honours.To add, Dipak had followedfootsteps of his elder brotherwhile joining the army.

"We married him inNovember last year and it’shardly eight months now," saidhis father Gajraj Singh whoclaimed that Deepak had lastcame to the village in Februaryand no one thought he would bewrapped in tricolour when hevisits next. The news has left uswith a heavy heart but still, myson, made all of us proud, saidthe sobbing father.

Locals claimed that a fort-night ago, he had called up hiswife and claimed that he wouldbe back soon and will be bring-ing Kashmiri shawl and orna-ments for her. For obvious rea-sons, his wife and mother areinconsolable after the news ofDipak’s martyrdom broke onthem. People from all walks oflife including Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan, exCMKamal Nath and others pouredheartfelt condolences on socialmedia on the martyrdom of theyoung soldier.

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Two days after the policelodged an FIR against

senior Congress leader DigvijaySingh and others, on a com-plaint by Bharatiya Janata Party,the Congress party handedover a complaint to policeagainst CM Shivraj SinghChouhan over his old tweet onthen Congress president RahulGandhi.

“If an FIR was lodgedagainst me over a tweet, then Iurge the police to also lodge anFIR on Shivraj Singh Chouhanas he has done the same offenceand we have the real and edit-ed clip of the said video (whichShivraj tweeted),” said DigvijaySingh who re-affirmed hisaccusations that he was raisingthe issue of �4.50 cr deceit withthe tribals in Budni (Shivraj’shome town) and threatened tostage dharna at CM House soa case was lodged against him.

We demand from MPpolice that an FIR should alsobe lodged against CMChouhan. Besides, I am receiv-ing complaints that Congressworkers are being harassed bypolice over the same tweet soI urge them not to act againstanyone until the probe into thesaid tweet isn’t over.

On being asked about BJP’sallegation that it is an oldtweet which Singh is talkingabout, the senior leader hitback saying the video tweetedby me was also an old one.

The BJP Government isunnerved in Madhya Pradeshand are misusing governmentmachinery to lodge fake casesagainst Digvijay Singh ji andother Congress workers, Singh’s

son Jaivardhan who accompa-nied his father to Crime Branchpolice station told the media.Such FIRs can’t intimidate us,affirmed the MLA.

PCC chief Kamal Nath,former Assembly Speaker NPPrajapati and several seniorleaders of the part accompa-nied Singh to the Crime

Branch police station onWednesday.

Notably, Singh is referringto an old video of RahulGandhi which was later tweet-ed by Shivraj Singh Chouhansuggesting that Gandhi read awring name of the MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister in thespeech.

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Swiss hygiene companyLivinguard, with operations

in India, as well as Germany,USA, Singapore, Japan, andSouth Africa, has come upwith a revolutionary and firstof its kind face mask, that candirectly inactivate bacteria andviruses, including 99.9% of thenovel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

While most masks availableacross counters or open marketsare preventive in nature,Livinguard face masks are pro-tective and prevent bacteria andviruses from spreading, benefit-ing both self and others in closeproximity. The globally patent-ed technology was invented bySanjeev Swamy, an entrepre-neur of Indian origin, who alsoheads the company.

Researchers from the FreeUniversity of Berlin at theInstitute for Animal Hygiene andEnvironmental Health have beenable to demonstrate that textilestreated with LivinguardTechnology can reduce veryhigh amounts of SARS-CoV-2particles by more than 99.9%within a few hours.

“The textiles in these maskscan thus continuously inactivatethe exhaled viruses and canmake handling these masks evensafer overall,” says Professor UweRösler. The masks were launchedon Wednesday in India througha virtual press conference wherethe founder joined from theirSwiss headquarters.

Sanjeev Swamy, Founder,Inventor & CEO, LivinguardTechnologies said, “The WorldHealth Organisation estimates89 million medical masks willbe required every monththroughout the pandemic.Providing superior quality of

daily life has always been ouraim. Our mission is to providehygiene suited for the modernworld, hence the reason that wechose to conduct our tests atthe FU Berlin, who isrenowned for their higheststandards; and we are honoredto be able to introduceLivinguard masks in India.With the number of cases ris-ing in the country daily, it hasbecome crucial to find ananswer to the problem."

He further added,“Livinguard’s current focus is toapply this Technology to solu-tions that lessen the health riskand economic impact of thecrisis by enabling people toprotect themselves, return towork, and take back their lives.Since our product is washableand reusable, and mostly madefrom cotton, the mask is eco-friendly and sustainable. Ourresearch shows that if a millionpeople use one reusableLivinguard mask 210 times, wecan save 36,000 tonnes of waste.It is also cheaper than a regu-lar mask because one will need210 masks to compare with oneof ours.”

One of the most respectedscience leaders of India,Raghunath Mashelkar, said“This scientific breakthroughof deactivating SARS-COV-2virus on contact with the mask,authenticated fully by world’stop universities, is a globalgame changer.”

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Hanumanganj police hasnabbed two miscreants

for attacking a youth withsharp-edged weapons after herefused to provide money nearFoota Makbra area on June 15.

According to the police,the victims, identified asDanish and Aman, wereattacked by miscreants identi-fied as Faizan Bheda, Rehmanand Salman. Police havearrested Faizan Bheda,Rehman whil search forSalman is still on.

The victims are a residentof Old Categorised Marketand the accused tried to extortmoney and when they failedthey attacked victim with

sharp edged weapon andescaped the spot.

Fiazan was nabbed nearFoota Makbra while Rehmanwas arrested while he was try-ing to escape on his bike.

Police found that the vic-tim was on his way to housewhen he was

obstructed by accused anddemanded money which herefused to provide and whichresulted in the attack withsharp edged weapon. In theattack victims were injuredand rushed to nearby hospital.

A case under section 341,307 and 34 of the IPC was reg-istered.

The two have been sentunder judicial custody.

Meanwhile, Kotwali police

have nabbed a 23-year-oldyouth who attempted to breakan ATM of SBI and ICICIbank at Peergate late onTuesday night.

According to the police,policemen patrolling foundthat ATM was found damagedin the and nabbed the mis-creants who failed to getthrough the machine andreach the cash which was histarget.

In the initial investiga-tion, police found that theaccused, identif ied asShubham Mavliya, attemptedto break the ATM at around 2in the night. The police haveregistered a case under section457 of the IPC and have start-ed further investigation.

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Crime Branch policenabbed 15 gamblers,

recovered �1.08 lakh cash, acountry made pistol and a livecartridge from their posses-sion from Amjhara inBilkharia area on Tuesday.The firearm was recoveredfrom the operator of the gam-bling den.

Acting on a tip-off, 15gamblers were nabbed whowere caught gambling. Thenabbed miscreants were gam-bling at a house in Amjharavillage. The accused are fromdif ferent areas and areinvolved in different works.

The operator and mastermind behind the gamblingLakhan Rajput was nabbedand a country made pistol anda live cartridge was recoveredfrom him. Police said that oneof the accused was having firearm and in the

investigation it was foundthat he was the master mindoperating the gambling.

Apart f rom LakhanRajput, the nabbed were iden-tified as Abdul Rafeeq (48) ofJogipura runs a grocery shop,Rajesh(50) of Piplani workwith private contractor,Devendra Sahu(29) of Semrawork with private contractor,Mohsin(28) of Jehangirabadworks as carpenter, Nilesh Rai (35) of Aishbaghdeals in utensi l sel l ing,Mannu (25) of Old Minal Residency works astravel agent, Sachin Paasi(35)Piplani work as caterer,Sandeep Rai (31) of Aishbagh works as conductor,Mohan Negi (35) of Semraruns a shop, vijay (35) ofAmrai work as caterer, RamuRai (34) of Udaipura is farmer and Vikas Prajapati(30) works as helper.

The accused confessed thatthey work during the day andafter working hours they would involve in gamblingin their areas and have built abig network of gamblers whowould search for new g a m b l i n gplaces.

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The school students have anopportunity to showcase

their knowledge about COVID19. The Regional ScienceCentre Innovation Hub isorganising Covid 19 CollectionContest for school studentsand inviting hub members.

Objects help in recreatingthe present in our future andthereby help in gaining expe-riences to fight such recurringand dreadful epidemics.

Thus, it is felt there isinnate responsibi l ity ofhuman society of which we allare part to build the tapestryof present scenario for ourfuture.

Understanding this aghasttime of the human society

required to be preserved andrecorded by the most intelli-gent creation of nature wehuman beings.

Thus, Regional ScienceCentre, Bhopal has come upwith an unique OnlineContest named Covid 19Collection for the school stu-dents and Innovation Hubmembers of the Centre.

The participants have tocollect information related toCovid 19 like posters, newsarticles, masks and sanitisers,research papers and more.After collecting the objects,the participant will presenttheir research and develop-ment on Covid 19.

For registrations, rulesand regulations participantmust refer the google form onFacebook handle.

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Th eS p e c i a l

O b s e r v e rappointed byE l e c t i o nCommissionof India, T.R.Meena, ChiefE l e c t o r a lOfficer and Additional ChiefSecretary, Kerala, PrincipalSecretary of Madhya PradeshLegislative Assembly andReturning Officer for RajyaSabha AP Singh visitedVidhan Sabha Bhawan toreview preparations andarrangements made for votingfor the Rajya Sabha electionon June 19 Singh also shareddetai l information withSpecial Observer Meena ofpreparations being made toprevent the spread of infectionof Novel Corona virus amongthe electors and staff involvedin the election process.

He said that electoralmembers who are affected byCovid-19 and are admitted inthe hospital of the state, can beprovided with the

facility of postal ballot bythe returning officer.

This facility will be givenon the basis of the advice ofthe doctors that the con-cerned voter is not in a posi-tion to vote at the pollingplace due to illness.

The facility of postal bal-lot will be available only byapplying to the ReturningOfficer by the concernedvoter.

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An online lecture on ‘Eclipseand its Types’ based on

Annular Solar Eclipse was heldon Wednesday. It was organ-ised by Regional ScienceCentre, Bhopal.

The Director of NehruPlanetarium, New DelhiNandivada Rathnashree waskeynote speaker on popularonline lecture. Notably,Annular Solar Eclipse 2020will occur on June 21.

An annular solar eclipsewill occur on June 21, 2020. A

solar eclipse occurs when theMoon passes between Earthand the Sun, thereby totally orpartly obscuring the image ofthe Sun for a viewer on Earth.

An annular solar eclipseoccurs when the Moon's appar-ent diameter is smaller than theSun's, blocking most of theSun's light and causing theSun to look like an annulus(ring). An annular eclipseappears as a partial eclipseover a region of the Earththousands of kilometres wide.

Nandivada Rathnashreehas done doctoral work in

Astrophysics related to stellarevolution and also has anexpirence in pulsars. Currently,she is the Director of NehruPlanetarium, New Delhi. Shealso does in astronomy out-reach activities across the coun-try.

She talked about annulareclipse and its types. She alsotalked about the similar eclipsesand informed about its viewingand visibility. As it was a livesession, an question answer ses-sion was held wherein sheanswered various queries of thestudents.

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Congressmen paid tributeto the martyred Indian

soldiers who were targeted byChinese Army deceptively;they paid tribute by lighten-ing candles, burning effigiesof the President of China andvowed to boycott goods ofChina and not to use anyChinese goods in future.

China had attackedIndian soldiers with decep-tion while repeating history,20 Indian soldiers were martyred in a violent clashsaid Congress mediaspokesperson Vivek Soni.

Soni said that China hadattacked Indian soldiers with

deception while repeating his-tory, 20 of our Indian soldierswere martyred in aviolentfight.

In the evening onWednesday, under the direc-t ion of City CongressPresident Mahesh Soni,Distr ict Congress President Kamal Patel, allCongress men paid tribute tothe martyred soldiers atBhartiya Stambh in ShaheedPark

Protesting the attackwhile lead to martyrdom ofsoldiers, effigy of

Chinese President Jinpingwere burnt and slogans ofMurdabad and boycotting allthe Chinese goods were

raised.At the gathering to protest

China’s attack and unjustaction, people present vowednot to use the Chinese goodsfrom now onwards.

During the gatheringFormer Chairman Dr.Batukshankar Joshi,Panchayat President DistrictKaran Kumaria Seva DalPresident Manish Gome HafizQureshi Maya Rajesh Trivedi District Workingcommitt ing PresidentJitendra Goyal, Shiv Lashkari,Syed Iqbal, Jaisingh Darbar,Kailash Bisen, WomenCongress leader Sonia ThakurCongress people were present.

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Japanese companies haveexpressed interest in invest-

ing in Madhya Pradesh. In awebinar organized by the Japanbased Indian Embassy, a pre-sentation on industrial sce-nario, conducive investmentatmosphere and friendly indus-trial policies of the state wasmade by the Principal SecretaryIndustrial Policy andInvestment Promotion SanjayShukla.

More than 70 Japanesefirms and over 95 participantsattended the webinar. PrincipalSecretary Shukla highlightedthe favourable ecosystem andindustrial environment of thestate. He informed about the

key strength areas of the stateand how Madhya Pradeshbeing located in the middle ofthe country will help theJapanese companies to set uptheir infrastructure.

Shukla mentioned that allthe requirements of Japanesecompanies wish to invest in thestate will be fulfilled.

During the webinar,Japanese companies showedkeen interest on prospects ofinvestment, available in varioussectors in the state. Moreover,Japanese companies expressedenthusiasm on the IndustrialPromotion Policy of the statebesides world class industrialinfrastructure along withreforms in labour laws maderecently in the state and ease ofdoing business.

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The Central Board ofSecondary Education

(CBSE) is inviting applicationsfor the CBSE Teachers andPrincipals Awards 2019.

It is to be noted that theseawards are given every year onSeptember 5. In this award cer-emony the winners get a meritcertificate and a cash prize of�50,000. Interested and eligiblecan apply at the official website,cbse.nic.in on or before July 10.

The teachers who havebeen working for last 10 yearsand has experience in CBSEaffiliated schos are eligible forapplying for this award.Besides, principals with expe-rience of 10 years or more canapply for the CBSE Teachersand Principals Award.

It is also to be noted thatthose who have applied earli-er but not awarded will be con-sidered again, if eligible. Teachers or principalswho have already been award-ed CBSE Teachers Award canapply for the National Awardfor Teachers.

It is also noteworthy that tjecandidates will be shortlisted byNational Scrunity Committee.The committee will also pre-pare a merit-list based onscores obtained by a candidate.The names of the top six scor-ers will be forwarded to theMinistry of HRD for NationalTeachers Award.

Candidates will be short-listed based on their qualifica-tion, scholarly contributions,mentoring colleagues or fellowteachers, participation in per-sonal and professional development activities in thelast 10 years.

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Muscle power is not every-thing in police work!”

This is one of the lessons wehave rediscovered as the worldbattles the Covid-19 pandem-ic.

The Covid-19 (coron-avirus) triggered lockdown hasbrought a lesser-seen compas-sionate side of men and womenin khaki, who do not enjoy agood reputation and are usuallyknown for their brutality andcorruption.

When Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had on March24 announced a nationwidelockdown, to prevent furtherspread of coronavirus, the

duties of the police changedovernight with no precedentsor a standard operating proce-dure (SOPs) to guide them onthe ground.

From being used to chas-ing criminals for preventingcrime to providing securitycover to VIPs till now, thepolice force was faced with anew task of enforcing the lock-down rules, chasing peoplewho violate home quarantine,trace the travelers and take legalaction against those floutingthe lockdown orders.

Just like medical profes-sionals, the last three monthshave been quite hectic anddifficult for the cops also in theUT of Chandigarh as they aregetting accustomed to the new

normal and remain at a high-er risk of contractingCoronavirus themselves.

Chandigarh Police consta-ble Suman Kumari, 26, whowas found Covid-19 positivelast month has recovered fromthe virus and joined back herduty. She is, however, still recu-perating from the impact thatthe deadly virus had on herphysical and mental health.She was deputed for maintain-ing law and order in grain mar-ket, Sector 26 here and under-went Covid test due to breath-ing trouble. After she testedpositive, around 11 of her col-leagues were also quarantined.

“I was tested positive onMay 12 and was admitted toGMSH-16. Later I was shifted

to a quarantine facility at SoodDharamshala here, where Ispent around 13 days. Isolationperiod was not easy as the virustook a toll on my physical andmental health. After recovery,I stayed in the isolation atPolice Hospital Sector 26 for afew days,” recalls Suman, whohad joined the police force justa year back. Coronavirus out-break was the first big challengeshe faced while discharging herofficial duty.

The woman constable, whohails from Bhiwani (Haryana)is now performing beat duty inSector 39 market. “As situationis still risky, there is a sense offear at the back of the mindafter contracting this virus butduty comes first…” she adds, as

her hectic official duty of morethan ten hours during the pan-demic keeps her busy the entireday.

Fortunately, only one pos-itive case has been reported inChandigarh Police so far.

During the pandemic, theday-to-day policing activitieshave changed. For, the policepersonnel are now seen 24x7on the roads and marketswarning people and checkingviolations of Covid-19 safetyprotocols.

Be it standing continuous-ly for more than ten hours shiftin the June sun at the barri-caded containment zones ormaintaining round-the-clocksecurity at the designatedCovid-19 facilities, police per-

sonnel are taking up diversework profiles during the pan-demic. People’s reluctance tofollow protocols and the spateof violent attacks on the policeforce for enforcing lockdownrestrictions, perhaps remain abig challenge for ChandigarhPolice.

Yet again, there were alsoreports of aggressive policeenforcement of restrictionswith violators made to do sit-ups and police using batons toensure social distancing.

Chandigarh’s SeniorSuperintendent of Police,Nilambari Vijay Jagdale tellsThe Pioneer, “The precedingthree months have been toughon both fronts be it professionalor personal.

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Atotal of 13 persons died asthe coronavirus death toll

climbed to 130 in Haryana onWednesday while the totalpatients in the State jumped to8832 with the State healthdepartment reporting 560 newpatients of the disease onWednesday. Meanwhile, on apositive note, 204 patients weredischarged from different hos-pitals of the State on the dayafter their complete recoveryfrom the disease.

The spike in the number ofCoronavirus infected patientsin four districts of the State areshowing no sign of slowingdown. On Wednesday, 228new patients were reportedfrom Faridabad district, takingthe total in the district to 1807while 180 cases surfaced inGurugram, taking the total inthe district to 3962. In Sonepat,

37 new patients were found,taking count to 668 while ninecases reported in Jhajjar, takingtotal to 158.

As many as 37 Covid-19positive patients are critically illand have been put on oxygensupport while 14 patients onventilator, said the HaryanaHealth officials.

In what is of grave concernfor the authorities and an indi-cator of worsening condition,a total of 13 patients of the dis-ease died on Wednesday whichincreased the death toll in theState to 130. Out of 13 Covid-19 deaths on the day, fivereported from Gurugram whilefive from Faridabad and twofrom Sonepat and one eachfrom Karnal.

With 3952 people curedand discharged from the hos-pitals, there are 4750 activeCovid-19 cases in Haryananow.

Health official said thatout of 1, 97, 703 samples, 1, 83,395 were found negative for thedisease on Wednesday. Headded that reports of 5476samples are still awaited by the

department. The State has arecovery rate of 44.75 per cent,fatality rate at 1.47 per centwhile tests per million beingconducted are 7799. The dou-bling rate in the State is 10 days.

On Wednesday, in Ambala,four new patients were found,taking count to 212 while 16patients from Palwal, four inPanipat, two in Panchkula, sixin Jind, 16 in Karnal, 15 inYamunanagar, two in Sirsa,four in Fatehabad, five inBhiwani, 19 in Hisar, eight inRewari and five inKurukshetra.

DEATH TALLY REACHES78, NEW CASES 126 INPUNJAB

Recording deaths for theseventh consecutive day andfresh cases in three-digit figuresfor the third consecutive day,Punjab’s Covid-19 death tollhas reached 78 while the tallyis inching close to 3500 in theState at 3497.

June has witnessed 46 per-cent of the total deaths report-ed in the State, after the firstwas recorded on March 18.

Besides, the State has alsorecorded 35 percent of theState’s Covid-19 cases in Junealone.

On Wednesday, the Statehas reported 126 new cases ofcoronavirus, including 70 ascontacts of the already diag-nosed positive cases, 38 “new”cases having no travel or con-tact history comprising 17 withInfluenza-like Illness (ILI),three ANC (health workers),and one police official. Besides,17 have travel history fromother states or countries, withmaximum eight foreignreturnees in Jalandhar.

The state has also record-ed six deaths—four fromAmritsar, and one each fromSangrur and Ferozepur.

Three districts —Ludhiana, Jalandhar andAmritsar — accounted for 69percent of Wednesday’s cases.These three districts have thehighest number of cases in thestate, and account for 43 per-cent of the total positive casesreported till date with 659,449, and 409, respectively.

In fact, the top five dis-

tricts, in terms of number ofcases in the state, account formore than half of the totalcases. Amritsar, Ludhiana,Jalandhar, Mohali and Patialatogether make up 53.85 percentof the total cases.

Of the 126 cases reportedon Wednesday, Ludhianareported the highest 40, ofwhich 34 were the contacts ofalready diagnosed cases, threewere categorized as ILI andthree others were the newcases with no contact history.Jalandhar, for the second suc-cessive day, reported more than30 cases. Among the 31 posi-tive cases, 21 were the contactsof already diagnosed cases,eight were people who justreturned from abroad, and twowere new cases with no contactor travel history. AmongAmritsar’s 17 cases, 12 were ILIcases and five were contacts ofpreviously diagnosed patients.

While a policeman wastested positive in Tarn Taran,three health workers — two inMoga and one in FatehgarhSahib — were tested positive.

Besides Jalandhar, six

other districts reported caseswith travel history — SASNagar (Mohali) with one of thefive cases with travel history toGurgaon), Pathankot wth twoout of six cases of travel histo-ry to Delhi, Kapurthala withone case of travel history toTamil Nadu, Fazilka with onecase of travel history to Delhi),Mansa with all three new caseswith travel history to Delhi, andMoga with one of the three newcases of travel history to Delhi.

As many 77 patients —including 46 from Jalandhar,nine from Sangrur, five fromMohali, three each fromPathankot and Kapurthala, twoeach from Tarn Taran, Patiala,Fatehgarh Sahib, Moga, andMansa, besides one fromGurdaspur — have recoveredand discharged. With this, atotal of 2538 persons havebeen recovered at a recoveryrate of 72.57 percent, leavingjust 881 active cases, whichforms 25 percent of the totalpositive cases reported till date.

FIVE FEMALES TEST POS-ITIVE IN CHANDIGARH

Five female residents weretested positive for Covid-19 inChandigarh on Wednesdaytaking the total number ofcases to 370. New cases werereported from Sector 25 colonyand Ramdarbar. All cases arefamily contacts of already pos-itive patients in the city.

“Three family contacts of a35 years old positive patientfrom Sector 25 colony havebeen tested positive forCoronavirus. The three mem-bers include women aged 26,30 and 54 years,” stated theChandigarh HealthDepartment’s evening bulletin.The 35 years old man wasworking at an office- PMIDCat Sector-35 and a total of 32contacts of the patient weretraced by UT officials forscreening and testing.

“Two fresh cases have beenreported from Ramdarbar. Twowomen aged 48 and 25 yearshave been tested positive. Theyare family contacts of alreadypositive case from Ramdarbar,”the bulletin stated. On Tuesdaynight, a 58 years old male res-ident of Ramdarbar was tested

positive. He is a workplacecontact of four already diag-nosed Covid-19 positive casesof Punjab.

Four patients have alsorecovered and been dischargedin the city on Wednesday. 306patients have recovered tillnow and the recovery rate ofCovid-19 patients inChandigarh stood at 82 percenton Wednesday. The total casestill the evening were 370 whichincluded 58 active patients,the bulletin added.

Meanwhile, the nomen-clature of nursing staff waschanged on Wednesday toencourage the frontline Covidwarriors “The new nomencla-ture for ‘staff nurse’ will be‘nursing officer’.

For ‘nursing sister’, the newnomenclature will be ‘seniornursing officer’,” stated an orderissued by UT Administration.Manoj Parida, Adviser to UTAdministrator said, “Toencourage our Covid warriors,the designation of staff nursesis changed to nursing officerand nursing to senior nursingofficer.”

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In the 2015 Behbal Kalanpolice firing case, Punjab

Police Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) probing the case onWednesday made its secondarrest, apprehending a Faridkotresident on the charges of fab-ricating evidence and conniv-ing with the guilty police offi-cer, the then Moga SSPCharanjit Singh Sharma.

Sharma was arrested earli-er and charge-sheeted in thecase, but is currently out oninterim bail from the Punjaband Haryana High Court onhealth grounds.

Giving details, SIT’s chiefinvestigating officer KunwarVijay Pratap Singh said that theaccused, Suhail Singh Brar, hadbeen produced before a courtand remanded to four days ofpolice custody. Initial investi-gations showed that it was at theresidence of Brar, a close con-fidant of Sharma, that the entireself-defence conspiracy ofSharma and other corruptpolice officials of that time was executed.

Brar allegedly facilitatedthe police officials by provid-

ing them his residential premis-es and his 12 bore gun to fireshots on the pilot gypsy ofSharma, who had claimed thatit was after the gypsy was firedat by a mob of protestors thatthe police retaliated.

As per the SIT investiga-tions, when the firing took placein Behbal Kalan on October 14,2015, on innocent protestors sit-ting peacefully on dharna aftera series of incidents of sacrilegeof Guru Granth Sahib at Bargariand other places, the policeteam responsible for the firinghatched a conspiracy theory ofself-defence. They fabricatedevidence by creating fake bulletmarks on the pilot gypsy of thenMoga SSP, Charanjit SinghSharma, to support their self-defence theory.

Further, Sharma’s driverGurnam Singh, who was dri-ving the escort vehicle, has con-firmed that no shot was firedon his Maruti Gypsy.

Kunwar Vijay said: “WithBrar’s arrest had unraveled amajor link in the chain ofevents in the Behbal Kalan case,and further investigations wereexpected to unravel moreaspects of the conspiracy.”

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Haryana Health MinisterAnil Vij on Wednesday

said that a Sero Survey will beconducted in all the districts ofthe state for a test named'COVID KAVACH ELISA' toexamine the community preva-lence of Covid-19 in the State.Haryana is among a few select-ed States in the country forconducting this type of inves-tigation.

Vij said that this test willidentify the antibodies beingproduced in the body to com-

bat corona. In this test a bloodtest is conducted which willdetect whether a person iscorona-infected or has hadany such infections before. Heinformed that in the initialphase this survey will be start-ed in NCR, Hotspot areas andHigh-Risk Areas. Amongthem, priority will be given toblood screening of doctors,nursing staff, paramedical staff,police and other frontlineworkers of Gurugram,Faridabad and National CapitalRegion.

Managing Director,

Haryana Medical ServicesCorporation, Saket Kumarsaid that it has been planned toexamine blood samples of peo-ple. The entire cost of testingwill be borne by the govern-ment. He said that this test kithas been developed by theICMR-National Institute ofVirology, Pune and is com-pletely indigenous. It has beenused in 83 hotspot districts ofthe country. During this peri-od, more than 26,400 people ofthe country have been investi-gated, which has yielded posi-tive results.

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Lashing out at Akalis forsupporting “anti-Punjab”,

“anti-farmers”, and “anti-Sikhs” decisions being con-sistently taken by the BJP-ledCentral Government, seniorCongress leaders and CabinetMinisters on Wednesday saidthat Akalis were equallyresponsible in throttling thefederal structure by the BJP.

Issuing a joint statement,the Cabinet Ministers TriptR aj inder Singh Bajwa,Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa,Gurpreet Singh Kangar,Sukhbinder Singh SukhSarkaria and Balbir SinghSidhu said that the recentthree ordinances issued bythe Centre were completely against the farm-ers, which would badly hitthe agrar ian state of Punjab.

“By supporting theseordinances, SAD presidentSukhbir Badal has provedthat they pawned their ide-ology before the BJP for sav-ing the chair of HarsimratKaur Badal in the Cabinet ofModi government,” they said.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi paid tribute to the

martyred army officers andsoldiers before the start of thevideo conference with the ChiefMinisters of the States onWednesday.

Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan also paidhomage to the martyred Armypersonnel. The Minister forHome and Health NarottamMishra, Chief Secretary IqbalSingh Bains and DGP VivekJohri were present on the occa-sion.

Along with the PrimeMinister Modi, the ChiefMinisters present at the videoconference also observed twominute silence in their respec-tive V.C. rooms and paid trib-ute to the martyred army per-sonnel.

The Prime Minister Modisaid that every citizen of Indiais hurt by the incident hap-

pened on LoC in East Ladakhyesterday. We pay tribute to theArmy Officers and Soldiersfor their supreme sacrifice.Modi further mentioned thatIndia gives highest importanceto its integrity and sovereign-ty. India always wants peace,but if someone plays foul withthe country's integrity and sov-ereignty, India is also capable torespond appropriately.

He further mentioned thatsacrifice is part of our nation-al character. Valour is our iden-tity. It has always been oureffort that differences shouldnever become dispute. Indiaalways believes in workingclosely with neighbours. PrimeMinister Modi said ‘I want toassure the country that unityand sovereignty will be givenparamount importance’. Thewhole country is with the fam-ilies of the martyred Armypersonnel. We will protectevery inch of our land and self-respect.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi said that we have to

accelerate the pace of econo-my activities wherever possi-ble, amidst the efforts to pre-vent corona infection. Weshould decide the next phaseof unlock and move forwardin that direction. Have tocome out from the pressure oflockdown.

Now, states have to decidehow the next Unlock Phaseshould be. It is a matter of joythat every state is makingefforts to give momentum tothe economic activit ies .Restr ict ions should bereduced and states shouldgive priority to increase eco-nomic activities and infra-structure development.

The Prime Minister fur-ther stated that we all arecommitted and constantlymaking efforts to overcomecorona and to save lives ofIndians. We have controlled

the situation. Citizens of Indiahave displayed amazing dis-cipline during the lockdown.Increase in medical infra-structure should be our top-most priority.

We need to emphasise ontele-medicine. Have to pre-pare young volunteers in fightagainst corona and make peo-ple conscious. With the effortsof you all, we will not onlyachieve victory over coronabut will touch new heights inthe field of economic devel-opment.

The Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan par-ticipated in the VC fromMantralaya. The Minister forHealth Narottam Mishra,Chief Secretary Iqbal SinghBains, Additional ChiefSecretary Health MohammadSuleman, Director Generalof Police Vivek Johri andPrincipal Secretary HomeS.N. Mishra were present onthe occasion.

Modi also held discus-sions with the Chief Ministers

of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka,Bihar and Telangana. Hesought information as regardto the situation in writingfrom the Chief Ministers ofthe remaining states.

States corona infectionrate is less than half as com-pared to country.

As regard to the situationin Madhya Pradesh, it wasinformed that the pace ofcorona infection is less thanhalf as compared to the wholecountry. The corona infectiongrowth rate of MadhyaPradesh is 1.7 percent ascompared to Indias growthrate of 3.8 percent. The dou-bling rate of the state is 41.1days, whereas the doublingrate of the country is 19.4days.

As compared to May 12,when the Prime Minister

reviewed the Corona situationin the states, the recovery rateof corona patients in MadhyaPradesh was 46.7 percent, thesame surged to 73.6 on June16. The recovery rate ofCorona in India is 52.5 per-cent. As many as 8 thousand152 patients have recoveredfrom corona in MadhyaPradesh.

The active cases of coro-na are constantly on declinein Madhya Pradesh. As oftoday, there are 2,455 activecorona cases in MadhyaPradesh, which account to 1.6percent of the total activecorona cases of India. Thenumber of corona active casesin India is One lakh 53,178.On May 12, the number ofcorona active cases in MadhyaPradesh was 1901. The num-ber of corona positive cases inMadhya Pradesh is 11083,which account to 3.2 percentof the country.

The number of coronapositive cases in the countryis 34,3090.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday rub-

bished all speculation of reim-position of lockdown, callingall Chief Ministers to “fightrumours”, as he asked Statesand Union Territories to beready for Unlock 2.0 whilebeing mindful of the chal-lenges ahead.

Addressing the second dayof the video conference withChief Ministers of variousStates, the Prime Minister saidthat the country has been ableto fight COVID-19 and controlits spread because of the time-ly measures taken by theGovernment.

“At present, ventilator andICU care is needed for very fewpatients across the country.We have been able to fightCOVID19 and control its

spread because of the timelymeasures taken by us," saidModi. The number of patientswho have recovered fromCOVID-19 till now is morethan the number of activecases in the country, the PrimeMinister reiterated as he point-ed out that a day before therecovery rate of Coronavirusaffected people was over 50percent in the country. India’scoronavirus count stands atover 3,60,000 by June 17.

The Prime Minister reject-ed all speculations of bringingback lockdown as he askedstates and Union Territories toget ready for Unlock 2.0 whilebeing aware of the challenges.While discussing strategy postlockdown 01 with the ChiefMinisters in his 6th video con-ference with Chief MinistersModi told them that there is a"need" to fight "rumours of

lockdown”.The Chief Ministers

briefed the Prime Ministerabout the ground situation in

states and their preparedness totackle the impact of coron-avirus. They talked abouthealth infrastructure available

to meet the challenge and stepstaken to strengthen it further.

Union Home MinisterAmit Shah who participated in

the meeting said though thecountry has been successful inits fight against the pandemic,but the “battle is far fromover”.

"We've so far been quitesuccessful in our fight againstthe virus under the leadershipof the Prime Minister, but thebattle is far from over. Heunderlined that as we begin tounlock, we must stay vigilant,"

a statement from the PrimeMinister’s office (PMO) quot-ed Shah as saying.

"Chief Ministers thankedthe PM for his leadership andbriefed him about the groundsituation in states and their pre-paredness to tackle the impactof coronavirus. They talkedabout health infrastructureavailable to meet the challengeand steps taken to strengthen

it further”, PMO said.An added focus in the

meeting was on Uttar Pradeshand Bihar. Though thepatient count has been rela-tively low in UP and Bihar, itmay rise due to lakhs ofmigrant workers who havereturned to their hometowns inthe two states. The Centre haspushed for increase in testingin these two States.

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Before a safe and effectivedrug/vaccine becomes

available, combining isolationand intensive contact tracingwith social distancing mea-sures might be the most effec-tive and efficient way toachieve and maintain pan-demic control, according to astudy published in The LancetInfectious Diseases journal.

Using social-contact dataon more than 40,000 individ-uals from the BBC Pandemicdatabase to simulate SARS-CoV-2 transmission in differ-ent settings and under differ-ent combinations of controlmeasures, the researchers esti-mated that a high incidence ofCovid-19 would require a con-siderable number of individu-als to be quarantined to controlinfection.

“Successful strategies willlikely include intensive testingand contact tracing supple-mented with moderate formsof physical distancing, such aslimiting the size of social gath-erings and remote working,which can both reduce trans-mission and the number ofcontacts that need to betraced," said study researcher

Dr Adam Kucharski from theLondon School of Hygiene&amp; Tropical Medicine inthe UK.

The researchers have usedsocial contact data to quanti-fy the potential impact of con-trol measures on reducing individual-level trans-mission of SARS-CoV-2 inspecific settings.

They aimed to identifynot only what would theoret-ically control transmission, butwhat the practical implica-tions of these measures wouldbe in terms of numbers quar-antined.

However, the authorsnoted that the model is basedon a series of assumptionsabout the effectiveness oftesting, tracing, isolation, andquarantine--for exampleabout the amount of time ittakes to isolate cases withsymptoms (average 2.6 days)and the likelihood that theircontacts adhere to quarantine(90 per cent)-which, althoughplausible, are optimistic.

In the study, researchersanalysed data on how 40,162people moved about the UKand interacted with othersprior to Covid-19 to simulatehow combinations of differ-

ent testing, isolation, tracing,and physical distancing sce-narios might contribute toreducing secondary cases.

They also modelled therate at which the virus istransmitted-known as thereproductive number (R), orthe average number of peo-ple each individual with thevirus is likely to infect at agiven moment--under dif-ferent strategies.

The model suggested thatmass testing alone, with fiveper cent of the populationundergoing random testingeach week (i.e. 460,000 testsper day in the UK), wouldlower R to just 2.5 because somany infect ions would either be missed or detectedtoo late.

Compared with no con-trol measures, self-isolationof symptomatic cases (athome) alone reduced trans-mission by an estimated 29per cent.

“Our results highlightseveral characteristics ofSARS-CoV-2 which makeeffective isolation and contacttracing challenging,” saidstudy co-author Dr HannahFry from University CollegeLondon in the UK.

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With the stigmatisation ofpeople with Covid-19

becoming disturbingly com-mon and hindering fightagainst the virus, the Centrehas issued an illustrated guide,saying that it is forcing peopleto conceal symptoms, hesitatein seeking medical care andnot follow interventions dur-ing home quarantine.

“There have been reportsof harassment of Covid-19patients as well as suicides byinfected persons fearingostracisation from the society.Hence the guidelines to createawareness among the com-munity about the disease aswell as how to behave with thepatients,” said an official fromthe Union Health Ministrywhich has prepared the guide-lines.

The guidelines with illus-trations notes that the stigma-tisation can lead to peoplehiding symptoms, hesitate inseeking medical help and not

following quarantine norms.Henceforth, delay in thereporting of cases or peoplehiding will make the pandem-ic management even more dif-ficult.

The guide stated, “Covid-19 pandemic is a public healthemergency that is causing astressful and difficult time foreveryone. During this crisis,rumours and misinformationcreate more stress and canhamper Covid-19 recovery.”

The ministry suggestedthat adopting preventive mea-sures can be effective in pro-tecting people from the dis-ease. Though the virus is con-tagious but preventive mea-sures such as physical distanc-ing, washing hands frequent-ly and wearing a face cover andmask are the key to preventinfection. Further, the guideStates that if a person getsinfected despite precautions, itis not his/her fault as anyone issusceptible to contracting thedisease.

The patients and their

families need support andcooperation. Those who haverecovered do not have thevirus and there is no risk oftransmission, the ministry stat-ed. The guide related by theministry has listed Dos andDon’ts according to which oneshould be appreciative andsupportive of the efforts madeby frontline workers and sharepositive stories of those whohave recovered from coron-avirus.

The official said that therehave been various cases report-ed about the way the commu-nities have behaved with theirneighbours who return afterhospitalisation.

There has also been thecases where a few Covid-19patients committed suicidebefore they could reach to thehospitals. Social stigma asso-ciated with a disease usuallyarises from lack of awareness,lack of education and lack ofcorrect perceptions about thenature and implications of thedisease in question, he said.

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The Government has issuedDo’s and Don’ts for the

Bed and Breakfast (B&B),Homestay and Farm-stay unitswhile attending tourists torestrict further transmission ofthe deadly coronavirus antici-pating tourists activities amidstfurther easing of the lockdownrestrictions.

According to the “Safetyand Hygiene Protocols andOperational Recommendationsfor Tourism Service Providers”,the Union Ministry of Tourismhas asked the B&B/ Homestay/Farmstay to take suitable mea-sures such as online transac-

tions, maintain social distancewhile providing accommoda-tion and other tourist services.

The guidelines aims tominimise all possible physicalcontacts between a staff andguest and maintain social dis-tancing and other preventiveand safety measures to checkthe spread of the deadly dis-ease.

A few days back, theMinistry had issued SOPs forhotels and restaurants.

“The guidelines alsoendeavors to make the trace-ability of the guests easier, incase a situation in future war-rants so,” a senior official fromthe Ministry said.

Availability of hygiene andsanitation equipment at pro-active replenishment, ther-mal gun thermometer for tem-perature checking of staff andguests, hand sanitisers, handgloves and masks have to bemade available while sufficient disinfectants likesodium hypochlorite has to becarried out time to time, as perthe guidelines.

It also seek from the own-ers of the accommodations toensure social distancing,adoption of CPWD guidelinesin case of air-condit ioning/venti lat ionwhile ensuring temperaturesetting of all air conditioning

devices in the range of 24-30C. Relative humidity shouldbe in the range of 40-70 percent, according to the guide-lines.

“All employees mustmandatori ly downloadAarogya Setu mobile appli-cation while staff must usetray to avoid hand contactwhile serving water bottle/

toiletries/ medicines/ foodetc. while maintaining 6 feetdistance.

“In case any guest devel-ops symptoms of Covid-19,he/she has to be accommo-dated in a room or a desig-nated area where they are iso-lated from others till suchtime he/she is examined by adoctor,” says the guidelines.

The staff need to maintainempathy with the guests andin case suspected guests flee/ not traceable,inform the police immedi-ately.

The guidelines have rulesfor the guests too asking themnot to step out of the room

unnecessarily. “Wear a maskwhenever outside the roomand Keep the doors closedand avoid any contact withthe doorknobs,” it says.

Payments should be madevia an online platform withcashless transactions only.“After every check-out, tables,cupboards, wardrobes, lockers, light switches, mir-rors, electronic devices orany other item which a guestmay touch during his/herstay, should be cleaned prop-erly. Garbage needs to be dis-posed as – dry, wet, glass,biodegradable in bio-hazardbags as per the Governmentrules” says the guidelines

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Senior Indian Forest Service(IFS) officer Ramesh Kumar

Pandey from UP Cadre hasbeen appointed Director,National Zoological Park in thenational Capital. The zoo hasbeen in the controversy latelyfor various reasons includingallegations of mismanagementin recording deaths of wild ani-mals and their illegal procure-ment.

Prior to this current post-ing at NZP also known asDelhi Zoo, Pandey, the 1996-batch IFS officer was serving as

Chief Conservator Forests inLucknow and Secretary, UPState Bio-diversity Board. He isknown for his investigationand intelligence gathering onpoachers. He was recentlyconferred with prestigious AsiaEnvironmental EnforcementAward by the United NationsEnvironment Programme.

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Expediting settlement ofclaims through concilia-

tion, the National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI) hassettled claims worth �13,349crore for �3,743 crore, theGovernment said onWednesday.

In its endeavour for fastersettlement of claims and reduc-ing liabilities thereby, NHAI hasrigorously started the process ofconciliation by constitutingthree Conciliation Committeesof Independent Experts (CCIE)

of three members each, it said.“NHAI is working on a fast

track mode to resolve all the dis-putes through conciliation...TillNow, 108 cases have beenreferred to CCIE and claimsworth Rs 13,349 crore havebeen successfully settled for anamount of Rs 3,743 crore," theMinistry of Road Transportand Highways said in a state-ment.

These conciliation com-mittees are being headed byretired officials from the judi-ciary, senior experts from pub-lic administration, finance aswell as from the private sector.

As per the Arbitration Act,2015 and its amendment in2019, all arbitration disputes areto be settled within a period of12 to 18 months.

“However, the possibility ofresolution of claims within 12months is very less, as it involvesvarious procedures," it said.

At the same time, the con-ciliation route ensures amicablesettlement of claims in faster,fairer and transparent manner,the statement said.

Conciliation-cum-settle-ment proceedings are complet-ed in each case through five sit-tings within a period of notmore than six months from theday the reference is made toCCIE.

Moreover, conciliation asper the Arbitration andConciliation (Amendment) Act,2015 is more robust, muchfaster and the settlement arrivedthrough this process has thesame legal value as of an arbi-tral award or decree of court, itsaid.

Conciliation of cases is notonly reducing the legal hasslesof both the parties in a long-drawn arbitration process butthe money stuck in arbitralcases can be unlocked for revivalof the private sector, it added.

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Abiography about a person and thattoo more than a century after his

death, speaks volumes about his great-ness. The man who would have been the“Mahatma” and “the Father of theNation” had he not rejected such titlesand honorifics is making a virtual comeback to India’s political narratives 103years after his demise.

It was Mahatma Gandhi himself whodescribed Dadabhai Naoroji as Mahatmaand Father of the Nation which he polite-ly declined. Later, the first Asian to getelected as the member of the BritishParliament, Dadabhai Naoroji was con-ferred the title “The Grand Old Man ofIndia” by the people of the country.

What makes Naoroji stand out inIndian history is the fact that it was thisGujarati-speaking Parsi born in Navsariwho told the world through his interna-tionally acclaimed work “Poverty and Un-British Rule in India” (1901) that focusedon how the British colonial rulers trans-ferred wealth from India to England.

“Britain is draining money out ofIndia,” said Naoroji and he proved thesame with economics, commerce andstatistics at a time when calculators and

computers were unheard of. It was in2006 Angus Maddison, economic his-torian, told the world that India andChina accounted for half the GrossDomestic Product (GDP) of the worldtill 1820.

Dadabhai Naoroji was the mostimportant modern Indian leader beforeGandhi. It is hard to imagine what Indiannationalism would have looked likewithout him. We can find his influencein its bedrock ideas, its institutions, itsguiding principles, and its ultimategoals.

He was also a remarkable figure inBritish history. Naoroji put Indian pol-itics in touch with the wider world. Hecultivated relations with anti-imperial-ists in Europe and America, suffragistsand women's rights advocates, interna-tional socialists, Irish home rulers, andmembers of the global African diaspo-ra. And yet, surprisingly, Naoroji is todaycuriously forgotten in India, GreatBritain, and the wider world. My bookis a direct response to this contemporaryneglect, stressing Naoroji's historicalsignificance and the continued relevanceof his ideas,” said Dinyar Patel, author ofthe book “Naoroji-Pioneer of IndianNationalism”.

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Despite an abatement in the num-ber of persons testing positive

for coronavirus on Wednesday inKerala, Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan has sounded a caution andasked the people to be careful in thecoming days in view of more num-ber of expatriates returning homefrom abroad. The State saw 75 per-sons testing positive for Covid-19 onWednesday out of which 53 wereexpatriates and 19 from other partsof the country.

‘We have entered a very seriousphase of the pandemic. Since the daywe relaxed the restrictions, the num-ber of covid patients have shot up.Till May 3rd there were only 3deaths in Kerala. But the lifting of therestrictions saw the fatalities increas-ing and till date 20 persons havedied,” said the Chief Minister whobriefed the media late Wednesdayevening.

Vijayan said the Centre shouldbear the expenses of Truenat BetaCovid-19 detection tests to be con-ducted at airport abroad for Keralitesreturning home. The Chief Ministeralleged that the Central Government

was wavering in its stance frequent-ly while his government has beensteadfast in its policies.

Earlier in the day, the Kerala cab-inet in its weekly meeting decidedthat only those expatriates whocarry no-covid-19 certificates wouldbe allowed to come back to Kerala.Those expatriates wishing to comeback to the State from abroad haveto get certified by a doctor at thebeginning of the journey back home.The Kerala Government has writtento the Centre to issue directives toembassies in all countries to makearrangements for Truenat BetaCovid-19 detection test at the air-ports for testing the passengersreturning to the State.

The decision is believed to be inthe backdrop of the surge in coron-avirus positive cases in expatriatescoming back to the State as part ofthe Vande Bharat Mission. There hasbeen increase in the number ofcovid-19 cases in the State followingthe return of expatriates.

K Surendran, Kerala BJPPresident, said the decision of theKerala Government making no-covid certificate mandatory is crueland with an eye to subvert the

Vande Bharat Flights instituted by theCentre. Dr Vishad Viswanath,Thiruvananthapuram based rheuma-tologist, is of the view that thoughoutwardly everything looks fine inthe State , the slow but steadyincrease in the number of coron-avirus cases was a matter of concern.“As on date there are nearly 1300covid-19 patients in the State. Withmore and more Non-ResidentIndians returning to the State in thecoming weeks, we do have fearabout a surge in the number ofcases,” said Dr Viswanath.

He said the absence of a vaccineand Kerala’s dependence on otherStates for food and vegetables are fac-tors causing worries even amongmedical fraternity. “The initial fearseems to have dissipated but there isa looming threat of wider outbreak,”said Dr Viswanath. He pointed outthat though people wear facemasksin public places, they are not keen onmaintaining social distancing.

The doctor who is keenly mon-itoring the character of the coron-avirus in the State expressed his sat-isfaction over the low mortality ofKerala which he explained as the oneof the lowest in the world.

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With 2,174 persons testingpositive for coronavirus

on Wednesday and 48 personssuccumbing to the pandemicon a single day, Tamil Nadu hasreached a new high in thenumber of covid-19 patientsand the intensity of transmission.

The release issued by theGovernment of Tamil Nadu onWednesday said the total num-ber of cases diagnosed as pos-itive for the pandemic covid tilldate reached 50,193 and thetotal fatalities 576.

The dead includeDamodaran (57), private sec-retary to Chief MinisterEdappadi Palaniswamy. He wasailing for sometime and hadbeen admitted to GovernmentRajiv Gandhi General Hospitalin Chennai where he breathedhis last on Wednesday. Thereare reports that 123 employeesworking in the State Secretariathave been tested positive forcoronavirus.

In a major achievement,the Health Department couldtest 25,463 samples in just 24hours, said the release. Tamil

Nadu has 79 laboratories acrossthe State functioning 24X7 totest samples.

While these laboratoriestested 24,621 persons onWednesday, till date the Statehas tested 7.37 lakh persons.The day saw 842 patientsreturning home cured of thepandemic and this took thetotal number of patients whohave been cured of the diseaseto 27,624.

Chennai continued to bethe epicentre of Tamil Nadu’scoronavirus cases as 1,276 ofthe 2,174 were from theMetropolis. Chengalpet(162),Tiruvallur (90) andKancheepuram (61) are theother districts with high coro-navirus cases. All these districtswould be locked down fromJune 19 for 12 days as part ofthe measures to control thespread of the pandemic.

Out of the 48 deaths onWednesday, ten persons diedwithout co-morbidities whilethe remaining 38 personsincluding a nonagenarian hadco-morbidities (they were suf-fering from serious ailments).

A release issued by ChiefSecretary K Shanmugam saidthe decision to lock down the

four districts was taken as a fol-low up to the requests made bythe collectors of remainingdistricts who told the govern-ment that they would getenough elbow room to controlthe pandemic if these four dis-tricts are shut down.

The lockdown has beenordered under DisasterManagement Act 2005, said therelease issued by the chief sec-retary.

Though factories havebeen allowed to function, theoperating staff have to stayinside the factory premises orin a spot close to the factory.Similarly construction activitieswould continue with workersdeployed in the site. Except formedical emergencies no pub-lic or private vehicles would beallowed in these four districts.

Wednesday saw shoppersin Chennai scrambling alonglanes and by-lanes to buyessential commodities andthrowing social distancingguidelines to the winds.

The government order hasclearly stated that all shops sell-ing essential commoditieswould remain open from 6 amto 2pm during the lock downperiod.

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Adopting a new practice, theJammu & Kashmir

Government on Wednesdaydecided to operationalise 'dur-bar move' offices in both thecities of Jammu and Srinagarwith effect from July 6, 2020.

As per the Governmentorder issued by the GeneralAdministration department,different departments havebeen directed to operationalisetheir headquarters along withrecords for the forthcomingAnnual durbar move- 2020.

According to a press state-ment issued by the departmentof Information and PublicRelations, “The departmentswhose headquarters will moveto Srinagar include CivilAviation, Culture, Estates,

Finance, Floriculture, GeneralAdministration, Horticulture,Higher Education, Hospitality& Protocol, Industries &Commerce, InformationTechnology, Law, Justice &Parliamentary Affairs, Labour& Employment, Public Works,Social Welfare, SchoolEducation, Skill Development,Tourism , Youth, Services &Sports.

While as Animal/SheepHusbandry & Fisheries , ARI &Trainings, Cooperative,Disaster Management Relief,Rehabilitation Reconstruction,Election, Food, Civil Supplies& Consumer Affairs, Forest,Ecology & Environment ,Health & Medical Education,Home, Housing & UrbanDevelopment, Information, JalShakti, Planning, Development

& Monitoring, PowerDevelopment, Revenue, RuralDevelopment & PanchayatiRaj, Transport and TribalAffairs will function fromJammu Secretariat.

Likewise, AgricultureProduction and Science &Technology would functionfrom both Jammu and SrinagarSecretariats.

In its previous order datedJune 8, the GeneralAdministration departmenthad made it clear that the civilsecretariat complex will remainfunctional both at Jammu andSrinagar and the moveemployees shall work on 'as iswhere is' basis i.e Kashmirbased staff shall work fromSrinagar secretariat andJammu based staff shall workfrom Jammu secretariat.

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The CBI has conducted raids at five locationsin Mumbai in connection with a case regis-

tered against two firms and four individuals,including city BJP leader Mohit Kamboj forallegedly defrauding Bank of India to the tune of�57.26 crore.

The locations where searches were conduct-ed in Mumbai included that of the residential &official premises of Kamboj and other accusedincluding private companies allegedly involvedin the fraud.

The searches led to recovery of certainincriminating documents including property,loan, various bank account details & locker keys.

The CBI has registered a case against twoMumbai based private companies & othersincluding MD, Directors of private company andunknown others including unknown public ser-vants/bank officials on the allegations of cheat-ing Bank of India to the tune of �57.26crore.

The firms and individuals named in the caseare: M/s. Avyaan Overseas Pvt. Ltd. (Nowknown as M/s. Bagla Overseas Pvt. Ltd.),Mumbai and its Managing Director MohitKamboj, Jitendra Gulshan Kapoor, SiddhantBagla, Irtesh Mishra (All Directors of privatecompany) and M/s. KBJ Hotels Goa Pvt. Ltd.

The CBI’s case that between 2013 and 2018,the Mumbai-based Avyaan Overseas Pvt. Ltd.represented by its MD and others includingunknown public servants allegedly entered intoa conspiracy with an intent to cheat the Bank ofIndia, Mid Corporate Branch, Fort, Mumbai inthe matter of availing FB Purchase/ Foreign BillsNegotiation Limit and Export Packaging CreditLimit.

As part of the alleged conspiracy, the com-pany allegedly got sanctioned and released saidfacilities of Rs.60 crore (approx.). After availingthe said limits, the accused company allegedlydiverted the funds and prepared forged and fab-ricated documents in support of the claim, result-ing in a loss to the tune of �57.26 crore (approx.)was caused to the Bank of India.

Kamboj, who is being investigated by theCBI's economic offences unit in the bank fraudcase, is general secretary of BJP (Mumbai).

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Apparently irked at being “ignored” inthe Wednesday’s virtual meeting

between Prime Minister Narendra Modiand the Chief Ministers, MamataBanerjee said a day would come whenBengal would not wait to be invited insuch meetings but would convene them.

While her senior party leaders onTuesday called the omission of hername from the list of speakers in the PM-CMs meet as an affront to Bengal, theChief Minister herself said that not beinginvited to speak in one meeting shouldnot be construed as big issue “becausethey (Centre) have not invited us to talkbecause they might have thought that weare not worth it or there could be someother reason. So there is no reason to takeit very seriously.”

The Chief Minister was briefing themedia on the State’s corona status reportson Wednesday when she made suchremarks reminding “Bengal is a State thatalways prefers to keep its head heldhigh… Invitation to speak or not we willcontinue to move ahead with our headsheld high,” she said adding a day willcome when Bengal will organize suchmeetings and invite others for talks.

“Remember the famous adage that‘what Bengal thinks today rest of Indiathinks tomorrow’ and be sure that oneday Bengal will take the centre stage andconvene such meetings and invite oth-ers for talks instead of being invited,” shesaid.

Claiming that the corona situationwas improving in Bengal she said that the

recovery rate in the State had crossed the50 percentage mark adding “today thereare more people who have recoveredthan those who are being treated.”

While the number of patients gettingtreated were about 5,386 the number ofthose getting cured were 6,028 she said.The total number of cases in Bengal hadcrossed 12,000 mark.

Insisting that the State’s corona sit-uation wa under control till the migrantworkers were shifted back to the StateBanerjee said “we have received about 12lakh migrant workers and the numberwill go up further as some more trainsare coming with people from hotspots,”and added that “the States corona situ-ation would have been far better hadthere not been a large-scale entry ofinfected people from the other States.”

Meanwhile, a former BengalMinister and Siliguri Mayor AshokBhattacharya has been found infectedwith corona sources said. He was initiallyadmitted with renal infection but sub-sequent tests conducted on him con-firmed his infection. The septuagenari-an CPI(M) leader from Siliguri was cur-rently undergoing treatment in a privatefacility in the North Bengal city.

Besides, a senior official of SouthEastern Railway and 10 policemen fromJagat Ballabhpur Police Station inHowrah were also found to be coronainfected sources said.

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hasexpressed solidarity with the Centre in its deci-sion vis a vis China and appealed to New Delhito take appropriate measures to resolve the issuesoon. Though the Chief Minister would not com-ment on the border dispute saying it was for theExternal Affairs Ministry to talk she welcomedthe Prime Minister’s decision to call an all-partymeeting on the issue.

Banerjee who on Wednesday announced acompensation of �5 lakh for the next of kin of thetwo soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Indo-China border skirmish also offered jobs to oneperson each from the two families. Rajesh Orangand Bipul Roy were from Birbhum and Alipurduardistricts of Bengal.

They fell to the cowardly acts of the enemysoldiers along with their 18 other comrades whenthe Chinese soldiers suddenly mounted amedieval-type barbaric attack on unsuspectingIndian soldiers when peace talks were going onin the evening of June 15.

Subsequently writing her condolencesBanerjee tweeted: “My heartfelt condolences tothe families of the brave men martyred atGalwan Valley. I’m at pain to say that two of thembelonged to West Bengal: Sepoy Rajesh Orang (VillBelgoria, PS Md Bazar, Birbhum) & Bipul Roy onGeneral Duty (Vill Bindipara, PS Samuktala,Alipurduar).”

She further wrote: “Nothing can compensatefor the supreme sacrifice made by them for thenation or the bereaved families’ loss. We stand bythe (families of the) next of the sons of our soilin this difficult time. To this regard, we'll provide� 5 lakh & a Go WB job to one member in thedeceased’s family.” PNS

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Congress on Wednesdaydecided to field senior

party leader BK Hariprasad andincumbent Naseer Ahmed ascandidates for the coming leg-islative council polls inKarnataka.

“The Congress PresidentSonia Gandhi has approved theproposal for the candidature ofBK Hariprasad and NaseerAhmed as Congress candi-dates to contest the biennialelections to the LegislativeCouncil of Karnataka to beelected by the MLAs,” theAICC said in a release.

The election is necessitat-ed as the term of seven MLCs— Naseer Ahmed, Jayamma,MC Venugopal, NS Bose Raju,HM Revanna (all Congress),TA Sharavana (JDS) and inde-pendent DU Mallikarjuna —will end June 30.

Polling will be held onJune 29 to fill seven MLCberths, and June 18 is the lastdate for filing of nominations.While the BJP is in a positionto win four out of seven seats,the Congress can win two andthe JD(S) one. Twenty-eightvalid votes of MLAs arerequired for each candidate towin.

Hariprasad's candidaturehas been announced as histenure in the Rajya Sabha iscoming to end on June 25. Hehas also served as general sec-retary of the party. NaseerAhmed, who is retiring asMLC on June 30, will be seek-ing another term.

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Amaravati: With 275 freshCovid-19 cases reported in thepast 24 hours ending 9 a.m. onWednesday in Andhra Pradesh,the cumulative tally of the statereached 5,555. The spike in thenumber of cases is the highestas the previous one-day highwas 253 reported on Sunday.

With two more deaths, thedeath toll on Wednesday wasreported to be 90. One deathwas reported from Kurnoolwhile the other was reportedfrom Guntur.

However, the mortality rateof the state has been improvingas it dipped from 1.31 per centto 1.27 per cent on Wednesday.

As per the latest data,Andhra Pradesh stands at 11thposition in terms of mortalityamong other states of the coun-try. The nationwide mortalityrate has jumped to 3.36 per centfrom 2.9 per cent.The totalnumber of active cases in theState went up to 2,559 from2,341 while 55 people recoveredand were discharged from thehospital. IANS

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New Delhi: After 20 soldierswere martyred in Ladakh, anti-China protests erupted withprotesters burning Chineseproducts and images of China’sPresident Xi Jinping acrossIndia.

From Uttar Pradesh'sVaranasi to Jharkhand’s Ranchiand Bihar’s Patna to Rajasthan’sBikaner, people came out onstreets to protest against theChinese troops. TheConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) has released alist of more than 500 Chineseproducts to be boycotted. Thetraders also demanded cancel-lation of Chinese firm bid for theDelhi-Meerut Regional RailTransit System. In the meantime,the Swadeshi Jagran Manchcalled for a ban on the Chinesecompanies in the tenderingprocess in the country.

“By calling for the boycott ofthese Chinese products, theobjective is to reduce import ofChinese Finished goods by $13billion or about Rs one lakhcrore, by December 2021,” CAITSecretary General PraveenKhandelwal said.

“We have raised some veryimportant issues with the gov-ernment today including can-cellation of Delhi-Meerut RRTSproject. It should be given to anIndian company instead of theChinese firm. Secondly, thegovernment should look close-ly at Chinese funding in variousIndian startups such as Paytmand BigBasket,” Khandelwalsaid. The issue of People's Bankof China (PBoC) recently rais-ing its stake in the country'slargest non-banking mortgageprovider HDFC was also takenup, Khandelwal added.

The list of over 500 itemsreleased by CAIT includeFMCG products, consumerdurables, toys, furnishing fabrics,textiles, builder hardware,footwear, apparel, kitchen items,luggage, hand bags, cosmetics,gift items, electrical and elec-tronics, fashion apparel, food,watches. gems and jwellery,clothing, stationery, paper,household items, furniture, light-ing, health and, packaging prod-ucts, auto parts, Yarn, FengShui Items, Diwali and HoliItems and optical items. PNS

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Several parts of North India saw a rise in tem-peratures as Rajasthan continues to endure

heat wave conditions with mercury soaring over48°C in Bikaner and Jaisalmer on Wednesday.

The India Meteorological Department(IMD) predicted heatwave to severe heatwaveconditions over West Rajasthan and heat-waveconditions over East Rajasthan and Punjab overthe next two to three days. In the national cap-ital, the heat wave is likely to continue for anoth-er 3 days with temperature remaining above40°C before light rains could bring somerespite.

Boosted by two low-pressure systems, oneover southeast Arabian which later turned into‘severe cyclone’ Nisarga and another system overthe Bay of Bengal, the IMD said the monsoonwas passing through Kandla and Ahmedabad(Gujarat), Indore, Raisen, and Khajuraho(Madhya Pradesh) and Fatehpur and Bahraichin Uttar Pradesh, where it has reached at leastfive days in advance. IMD said the low-pressure

system, which helped the monsoon flowadvance, has weakened now. So, there is unlike-ly to be any rain in northwest India over the nextthree days. It added the monsoon, was, howev-er, on a normal track.

It said that it is expected to arrive in Delhiearlier than the normal date of June 27. It hascovered areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh, westernand eastern Madhya Pradesh, IMD said. Thenational capital region and the nearby areas innorthwest areas will continue to experienceabove normal temperatures for the next threedays.

Meanwhile, “isolated to fairly widespread”rainfall with a thunderstorm, lightning and gustywinds are also expected over the WesternHimalayan Region and plains of Northwest Indiabetween June 19 and June 21, according to theweather office.

Widespread rains are also very likely alongthe West Coast with isolated heavy to very heavyfalls over Coastal Karnataka, Konkan and Goa,Northeast, East and adjoining Central India dur-ing the next five days.

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The Maharashtra Government added1000 additional Covid-19 beds to

the available health infrastructure inMumbai on Wednesday, as chief min-ister Uddhav Thackeray inauguratedthe Phase-II of the makeshift hospitalat Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) innorth-central Mumbai.

The state-run MumbaiMetropolitan Region DevelopmentAuthority (MMRDA), which hadundertaken the construction of thishospital facility on March 30 BKCgrounds today handed it over to theBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC).

With these new beds, the totalnumber of Dedicated COVIDHospitals (DCH) and DedicatedCOVID Health Centres (DCHC) totreat patients classified as either “mod-erately ill” or “severely ill” has gone upto 11450.

While inaugurating the new make-shift health facility at a virtual function,chief minister Uddhav Thackeray saidthat by setting up a massive Covid-19facility – including Intensive Careunits -- on an open BKC ground,Maharashtra had set an example forother states in the country.

The new Phase II facility has addi-tional 1,000 beds, of which 100 bedswill serve as the intensive care unit(ICU), while the rest of the 900 bedswill have oxygen and non-oxygenfacilities.

The facility is equipped with ven-tilator machines (30 units), dialysismachines(18 units), ICCU beds (107)incuding five function motarised beds,CT-scan machine, R.O System(1250LPH), quarantine beds, oxygenpipeline connection, noiseless session,portable X-ray machine,Electrocardiography machine, PulseOxymetre, computed radiology solu-tions, digital BP apparatus, portal ses-

sion, mortuary (12 dead bodies) besideshaving housekeeping staff to take careof BKC's both the COVID care centre.

The makeshift hospital has beenconstructed using German tent tech-nology, and the structure is designedto be waterproof.

MMRDA Commissioner R ARajeev said: “We are really very happyto set up this mega health care centreat BKC for the treatment of COVIDpositive patients. It gives me immenseconfidence that we were able to do ourbit in this critical time of Pandemic”

“The patients who received treat-ment in the first phase facility of thehealthcare centre have shared their tes-timony and expressed their satisfactionin getting timely treatment and neces-sary care which was required to elim-inate corona. I only hope and pray thatwe as a nation fight corona and onceagain start living our routine life,Rajeev said.

For the construction of the firstphase of covid care centre at BKC, theMMRDA had incurred an expenditureof Rs 19.01 crore.

The Phase I facility has 1036 quar-antine beds, oxygen pipeline connec-tion, portable X-ray machines,Electrocardiography machine, PulseOxymetre, computed radiology solu-tions, digital BP apparatus, portal ses-sion, laboratory fridge and hot air oven,rapid point blood gas analyzer, bed sidelockers, CCTV cameras, etc to keep ancloser security and safety check on cen-tre

Apart from the first phase ofCorona Care Centre-2 (CCC-2) –having 1000-bed capacity – set up at theBKC grounds, the Maharashtra gov-ernment had earlier created secondsuch facility with a capacity of 2600beds at Goregaon’s NSE ground innorth Mumbai and modular hospitalat Mahalaxmi race course.

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Paradoxically, ChinesePresident Xi Jinpingappears to have beeninspired by the old impe-rial tradition that “every-

thing under the heavens belongs tothe emperor.” He has got himselfelected as the emperor by theCentral Committee of theCommunist Party of China. Likehim, Joseph Stalin, a Russian dic-tator (1924-53), dreamt superdreams. Before World War II,Russia was a normal Europeanpower. There was no superpowerin Europe. It was the Americaninfluence on the continent duringand after the war that gave rise tothis new geopolitical concept.Moreover, many Russians believedthat they had primarily won thewar because they reached Berlinfirst; perhaps so did Stalin.Thereafter, presumptuously,Moscow postured as a superpow-er equal to the US. America hadthe atom bomb and, therefore, theSoviet Union had to have one, nomatter the cost. By 1952, thePentagon had exploded a ther-monuclear device. Stalin was impa-tient and regardless of the cost pro-portionate to the Soviet economy,a thermonuclear bomb was readyin 1953. That was not really beat-ing the US and, hence, the Sputnik,the world’s first artificial earthsatellite, was floated in October1957. Here, the US appeared over-taken in the space race.

Stalin died in 1953 but his spir-it of superpowerdom, no matterthe cost, carried on, to the extentthat the First Secretary, NikitaKhrushchev, thumped his shoe onthe table at the United Nations(UN). He also told the US, implic-itly the entire capitalist world,that “we shall bury you.” No mat-ter who the First Secretary or thePrime Minister was, the intoxica-tion carried on merrily untilMikhail Gorbachev became theFirst Secretary. He immediatelyknew that his country was well pastbankruptcy and called forPerestroika (reconstruction) andGlasnost (openness). But hardlycould anyone realise that it was for-mer US President Ronald Reaganand his programme of “Star Wars”that finished the Soviet economy.It was a competition in escalationof arms that the Soviets could notafford and fell by the wayside. Totry and revive it, India’s thenPrime Minister, PV NarasimhaRao, doled out $1 billion toMoscow when Boris Yeltsin was

the President. Meanwhile, the16 Soviet Republics that madeup the Union broke up.

Had Joseph Stalin contin-ued to believe that he was a“European” and not “superian”,would such an eventuality havecome to pass? The empire theTsars had so assiduously builtover two centuries crashed in1990-91. Uncannily, it took atleast three decades until afterthe World War II before the USdevised a clear-cut, simple strat-egy to defeat the Soviet Union.That began when formerPresident Ronald Reagan cameto power in 1981 and soon con-demned the Soviet Union as an“evil empire” and decided on anarms race to test how far theSoviets could sustain such arace. They could not build any-thing similar to what theAmericans had envisaged ie,platforms in the skies to firelasers at and destroy incomingballistic missiles. The Sovietrulers could apparently notunderstand what was going on.All they knew was that theywere short of every kind ofnecessity, food, consumer goodsand industrial manufacturing ofsophistication. Yet, they didnot cut down on their militarybudget. In fact, formerPresident Mikhail SergeyevichGorbachev of the USSR reiter-ated his predecessors’ policy bystating that his country would“match the Star Wars build-upof the US.” Evidently, he wasoblivious of the economic situ-ation his country was in. Therewas no comparison between the

economic strengths of the twopowers and the inevitable crashof the USSR happened.

Nevertheless, it was alsoGorbachev, the last of the SovietUnion’s First Secretaries, whowas the first one to see the rotwithin his country’s system.He embarked on Perestroika,which meant reconstruction.Well-wishers of Russia wouldhave wished that he hadstopped at Perestroika and notcoupled his reform programmewith Glasnost or openness ordemocracy. These two reformstogether led to chaos ratherthan any improvement.

The contrast was seen inChina under Deng Xiaoping,wherein he confined his coun-try’s reforms to Perestroika. Ofcourse, Deng’s words were:“The colour of the cat does notmatter so long as it catchesmice.” To this day, over 30years later, there is no realGlasnost in China. There hasbeen Perestroika all the way butno freedom or democracy.Those classes, who haveenriched China and themselvesthrough these reforms, obvious-ly feel powerful. The questionis: Will they remain subservientin a communist regime or seeka democratic vote before long?

Communist China has pur-sued the same autocratic pathas has been its tradition for thelast 22 centuries as was theRussian from time immemor-ial. The Soviet regime wascalled a “dictatorship of the peo-ple.” Before 1917, it was theimperial rule of the Tsars. The

modern rulers probably pre-sumed that the old blood runsin the veins of the modernyouth, whether rich or poor. Inreality, the soil is ideal for dic-tatorship so long as the societyis feudal. The time the SovietUnion turned an industrialautocracy, inefficiencies beganto show up. The Soviet rulersdid not have the vision todetect this decline. World War-II, under the love of motherRussia to an extent, enthusedthe workers and concealed thedeficiencies. In this context,the worst enemy is the absenceof democracy. Rulers do notobtain any feedback from theirpeople. Those, who providesuch feedback, do so throughthe screen of terror.

The other factor is thatautocracy, whether Russian,Soviet or Chinese, acts as a per-petual inebriant and keeps therulers out of contact with theirpeople. In the bargain, theyshould have plenty of time tothink about governance;although they miss out on whattheir people want. This discon-nect is an eternal fault of dicta-torship. The commissars havesuffered from it; the Chineseless so and the Russians more.Perhaps they have learnt a les-son from the Soviets.

Another fault of autocracyis the immediate feeling ofpower in the ruler. The wiserperson restrains himself. Whileretiring, Deng had advised hissuccessors to “hide theirstrength and bide their time.”Three of his successors name-

ly, Zhao Ziyang, Jiang Zeminand Hu Jintao followed thisadvice. They took care not toannoy the US. China tradedprolifically with the West anddeposited dollars withWashington. All was hunkydory.

President Xi Jinping, how-ever, is given to ambition andhas had himself declaredemperor and, thus, made it clearthat he is recalling the entirepast imperial era of his country.The Chinese call themselves the“Middle Kingdom” and theiremperor has represented theheavens on earth. EarlierAmerican Presidents, confi-dent in their country’s suprema-cy, did not take much notice ofall this. However, US PresidentDonald Trump is a business-man by vocation and recently,the world has been ravaged bythe COVID-19 virus that beganfrom the city of Wuhan inChina. Business is an exchangeof goods or services for moneyand not for anything else,including diplomacy or flattery.But recently, China veered fromthe path of business to that ofovert power. In the process, ithas very few friends other thanNorth Korea and Pakistan.

This may not be the fault ofthe communist ideologybecause history has seen anynumber of dictators drunk withpower and embarking upondisproportionate campaigns,leading their countries to ruin.

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author. Viewsexpressed are personal)

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Sir — In a hearing last Sunday,a Supreme Court Bench grantedrelief from arrest until July 6 tojournalist Vinod Dua whilerefusing to stay the sedition caseagainst him. The case had beenlodged against him by a purport-ed BJP leader. Dua has beenbooked for allegedly instigatingviolence against the Governmentand of accusing the PrimeMinister of using deaths and ter-ror attacks to garner votes.

Interestingly, when Dua’slawyer asserted that the com-plainant in the case is a “pup-pet in the hands” of the rulingparty, he was reportedly askedby the court to not “use suchadjectives.” While respectfullyagreeing with this advice, onewonders how else can onedescribe the numerous newschannels and print media hous-es, which in the garb of nation-alism, praise the Governmentall day and spread fear againstdissent so that people whoagree with Dua and others likehim cannot speak up in theirsupport. How long can peoplebe expected to be silent?

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

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Sir — It was distressing to reada report about a 70-year-oldwoman from Odisha’s Nuapadadistrict, who was seen draggingher 100-year-old bedriddenmother on a cot to a nearby bankto withdraw pension money of�1,500. As a banker, I under-stand the plight of the manag-

er, who was the lone officer, andthe problems he faced in man-aging the surging crowd single-handedly. When it is a single-man branch and given the cir-cumstances, should not the high-er authorities have extendedstaff support to the manager?Are they, too, not equally or evenmore responsible for the incidentto happen? A policy decisionmust be taken by banks to

ensure at least two officers arepresent in every branch despitetheir size.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Amid crisis, brewing politics canwait” (June 17) by Kalyani

Shankar. Differences betweenthe partners in the MaharashtraVikas Aghadi Government aswell as the Opposition’s bid toexploit the situation have furtherexacerbated problems for ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray.Generally, coalitionGovernments last as long as theykeep their partners in goodhumour. But in Maharashtra, thelatter harbour starkly adversepolitical ideologies. Of course,Uddhav succeeded in keepingthe Sena ship afloat but runninga Government and that, too, acoalition one, is a daunting task.

The writer’s suggestion thatUddhav should have soughtsage advice of NCP chief SharadPawar with regard to the han-dling of the pandemic holdsgood. The grand old party, too,could have helped in some mea-sure given his political adver-saries are up to fishing in thetroubled waters. The Congressshould not shrug off its respon-sibility either. Uddhav shouldkeep alliance partners abreastabout his significant decisionsvis-a-vis tackling COVID-19.

Azhar A KhanRampur

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The ability to sustain the momentum ofreforms amid an economic crisis is the markof a decisive and robust leadership.

Historically, wars, financial downturns, revolutionsand pandemics have tested the economic stew-ardship of national leaders, triggering tectonicshifts in policies that were previously inconceiv-able. That Modi 2.0 has the political will andretains enough political capital to pursue the pathof reforms is evident from the spate of recent pol-icy interventions. While Modi 1.0 accomplishedthe most ambitious social sector reforms post-Independence, Modi 2.0 in its second avatar haspersisted with the pace and scale of path-break-ing changes.

The series of watershed reforms under wayhave ranged from commercial mining of coal,making India a global hub for aircraft mainte-nance and repair, building more world-class air-ports in Public Private Partnership (PPP) andmoving towards indigenisation in defence pro-duction.

What remains to be undertaken on a war foot-ing in the second year of Modi 2.0 is what I call“rurbanisation” of the economy which needs togather pace as it will act as the much-needed socialequaliser to bridge the growing inequality gaps.The World Bank estimates that the Coronavirus-induced recession could push 60 million peopleinto extreme poverty in developing countries.

As India is among the most impactednations, policymakers need to resolve the hous-ing, education and healthcare deficits of rural Indiathat have persisted since 70 years. Given the lim-itations of revenue collections in 2020, these goalscan be achieved by the Government of India(GOI) in PPP mode, lowering the cost and avail-ability of land, power and capital.

To accomplish the objectives of education andhealthcare for all, the advanced onset of digitisa-tion post-Coronavirus will act as the vital “equal-ity enhancer” in expediting social and financialinclusion, extending to even rural India. This isbecause the pandemic has brought forward dig-ital adaptation across strata by at least three to fiveyears, virtualising almost overnight offices, edu-cation, healthcare, the marketplaces and gover-nance.

Towards this goal, Doordarshan has planned32 channels to deliver its Swayam Prabha content,which will act as a force multiplier.

Further, in order to complete the set of socialreforms undertaken during Modi 1.0, there is needfor few more additions to Jan Dhan, AyushmanBharat, village electrification, toilets and so on,by bringing migrant labour beneficiaries, too,under the ambit of Direct Income Transfers (DIT).With 380 million PMJDY accounts till date, theJan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile trinity has created anefficient database for social benefits to be trans-ferred to beneficiaries through Direct BenefitTransfer (DBT.)

The way forward is by providing income sup-port through digital delivery for displacedmigrants by way of Universal Basic Income andUniversal Basic Health and Education. TheCentre already spends five per cent of the GrossDomestic Product (GDP) on subsidies thatinclude multiple programmes. If an additional oneper cent of the GDP is apportioned for a speci-fied time, confined and limited to the durationof the Corona-induced crisis, this will provide themuch-needed mitigative relief to rehabilitate thedisplaced migrants. India has roughly 80 millionmigrant workers across the country, which is dueto the disproportionate economic development

across States that has persisted post-Independence.

As industrial activity resumes grad-ually, it faces a crippling shortage of upto 52 per cent in the construction andreal estate sector; 44 per cent in the man-ufacturing sector; 42 per cent in thehealthcare and pharmaceuticals sectorand 30 per cent in Fast-MovingConsumer Goods (FMCGs). With com-panies now willing to offer extra wages,incentives, bonus and transportation inan effort to woo labour back, the short-age in demand-supply makes it a plus,having the potential in the long-term toturn the job market into an “employee-market” as against an “employers’ mar-ket.”

The migrant crisis has bought to thefore the need for rural-urban rebalanc-ing, making it even more important forStates to grow their own Gross StateDomestic Product (GSDP) and turningaatma nirbhar (self-reliant) by incentivis-ing the domestic industry to invest intheir States by creating specialisedindustrial parks where possible, and pro-viding tax-exemptions for the first six toseven years.

Urban India has woken up belated-ly to realise just how crucial low-skilledlabour is to the host states. To providelabour an option to choose betweenworking in their state of origin, policymakers and domain experts need to re-design a modern, rural India: a ‘RurbanIndia’. The PM has already urged indus-try to invest in the rural economy, thinkon lines of Smart Villages and partici-pate in the rental housing scheme formigrant workers.

The fact is that in the interim, thereis no alternative to Government spend-ing on infrastructure or welfaristschemes and, therefore, we will just haveto “spend and borrow our way out of thecrisis”, till the job market stabilises. The

Mahatma Gandhi EmploymentGuarantee Act, 2005 (MNREGA) isalready looking at an ambitious targetof 10 million man-days of work per dayto absorb the influx of semi-literate/semi-skilled returnees.

Government-spend to handholdlabour through cash transfers andskilling until the economy recovers is nota wasted expenditure, but on the con-trary will yield remunerative outcomesin the near future as multi-lateral insti-tutions like the International MonetaryFund (IMF) count India as one of thefew economies that will rebound faster.This is because “India’s wide range ofstructural trends, including healthydemographics and competitive unitlabour costs, work in its favour.”

Blue-collared and low-skilled/semi-skilled labourers have made the largestcontribution to free market economiesin producing goods and services ataffordable rates, especially in develop-ing countries like India, which has stillnot fully adapted to automation. Theabundant skilled and semi-skilled labourpool is our single-largest human asset ifwage-costs remain well-priced, which isdifferent from being under-priced.India’s labour assets alone hold thelargest weightage factor in luring relo-cating global value chains.

Re-accommodating reverse migra-tions has thrown up a forced opportu-nity to rebuild the rural economy fromscratch, not repeat the blunders ofunplanned urbanisation and insteadmove towards well-planned “rurbanisa-tion.”

Labour-exporting States must cap-italise on their resident human assetsnow back with them in order to buildtheir own economies through those veryhands that built a prosperous urbanIndia. Out of 40 million migrants thatreturned home, 7.5 million are now

seeking employment closer to home insemi-urban and rural areas.

Further, post-pandemic, the indus-tries that are set to rise and which willhelp uplift rural India are in the sectorsof remote education through Ed-techplatforms, tele-health, agripreunership,and the Khadi Gramodyog, which hashelped in financing and setting up twolakh industry units since the last fiveyears, while directly employing 5,26,000artisans. Additionally, the Khadi andVillage Industries Commission (KVIC)is set to become a nodal agency that sup-ports jobs through the Prime MinisterEmployment Generation Programme(PMEGP) and also provide micro-credit. Micro finance lenders, too, canplay an important role by buildingproducts suitable for semi-skilled pro-fessionals who are returnees from bigcities, “So that in future they are not leftas appendages of urban economy capi-talists who had a ‘use and throw’ attitudeto the vulnerable.”

Finally, my one actionable recom-mendation to complete the virtuous setof reforms for social and financialinclusion is that the biggest enableraatma nirbharta is through owninggadgets like smartphones, televisions andtablets to bridge the digital divide.

Therefore, there is a need to lowerthe cost of these enabling gadgets byachieving economies of scale, increas-ing teledensity and improving digital lit-eracy which will enable the transition toremote education, e-commerce, Fintechand telemedicine.

As Modi 1.0 prioritised delivery ofsocial sector schemes, Modi 2.0 mustprioritise end-to-end solutions that willenable last-mile connectivity to helpIndia leapfrog to the digital revolution.

(The writer is author, columnist andchairperson for the Committee onFinancial Inclusion at the Niti Aayog.)

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It takes a village to raise a child,” goesa famous African proverb, empha-sising on the role of the communi-

ty to raise children in a safe and healthyenvironment. A contextual question intoday’s times is whether it must alsotake a village to teach a child? Becauseglobally and in India, education hasbeen one of the biggest victims ofCOVID-19. During and post-pan-demic, it will require a collaborativeapproach to rethink and reprioritisestrategies to keep children in school,especially girls.

A recent UNESCO report high-lighted that school closures due to thenational lockdown have affected over320 million children in India; of these,about 158 million are girls. One can-not argue against the principles ofschool closure because the idea is tokeep students safe at home. The real-ity, however, is that for millions of stu-dents, especially girls, closure of insti-tutions of learning could mean perma-nently dropping out of school andreversing the gains made in recentyears.

As the Coronavirus pandemictranslates into a migrant crisis and aneconomic slowdown, the damage toeducation will be severe. If people haveto make choices between survival,hunger and education, it is nobody’sguess which option will prevail. In acountry like India, where girls’ educa-tion already lags behind that of boys,this could have a catastrophic impacton the schooling of the girl child and

initiatives such as Beti Bachao, BetiPadhao.

Recently, in the fifth tranche of the�20 lakh crore COVID-19 packages,Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanannounced various steps to boostonline education during the lockdown,including the launch of the PrimeMinister e-Vidya programme underwhich, there will be 12 Direct To Home(DTH) channels introduced for class-es one to 12.

However, most of this discussionon e-learning still remains anurban/semi-urban privilege. It ignoresboth — India’s huge digital divide aswell as pre-pandemic education chal-lenges of keeping children, especiallygirls in school. According to theIAMAI-Nielsen India Internet, 2019report, India has 451 million activeinternet users. Internet penetration inurban areas is twice of that in ruralIndia. Even with an increasing num-ber of internet users, there is a huge

gender divide — only less than half ofthe users are women. This disparity isworse in rural India.

In a situation where many house-holds do not have internet or requisitegadgets and those where boys will begiven preferential treatment for use ofthe single, available internet-enabledgadget in the household, girls will suf-fer the most. The digital divide, cou-pled with gender and class divide,makes access to education unequal inthe current times.

Even before the pandemic, Indiawas off-track to meet the SustainableDevelopment Goal four target, whichfocusses on free, equitable and quali-ty primary and secondary educationto all girls and boys. According to edu-cational statistics (ESAG 2018) of theMinistry of Human Resources andDevelopment (MHRD), the overallGross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for ele-mentary education in India was 96.9,a marginal decline in enrolment in

absolute terms for 2015-16, in whichgender disparity was a continuingtrend.

Now add a pandemic scenario tothis pre-existing situation. There are noprizes for guessing what the out-comes are likely to be. If you look atglobal examples of health emergenciesand their linkage to education, thereare compelling reasons to believe thatwe have all must worry about India’seducation statistics.

In 2014, during the Ebola epidem-ic, a similar countrywide lockdown inthe African countries of Guinea,Liberia and Sierra Leone resulted inclosure of more than 10,000 schools.According to various studies, thisresulted in a large number of schooldropouts, especially girls. Most girlsdropped out of school due to increaseddomestic care and responsibilities,including supporting income genera-tion. Boys were prioritised over girlsto attend school. With limited eco-

nomic avenues within families and anincreasing financial burden due to joblosses, pay cuts and so on, many fam-ilies are likely to evaluate the oppor-tunity cost of sending girls to school,thus preventing their re-enrolment.Similarly, many boys will drop out ofschools to support their family throughthis financial crisis. Given the compa-rable socio-economic settings in Indiain today’s COVID-19 context, wecould face identical consequences inthe foreseeable future.

In addition to the impact on edu-cation, closure of schools could lead tomulti-pronged social and healthimperatives on vulnerable communi-ties. These could be from limitingaccess to proper nutrition to children,which was easily available in schoolsas part of the Mid-Day Meal pro-gramme, to making children vulner-able to trafficking, child marriageand more susceptible to physical andsexual violence.

If we do not invest in properrecovery planning and strategies oneducation during these times, this pan-demic is only going to undo all the suc-cesses achieved thus far in making edu-cation accessible and inclusive. We alsoneed to consider financial aid throughfee-waivers, more active private sectorparticipation in scholarships, provid-ing free resources for online andoffline learning to lessen the econom-ic burden of schooling on needy fam-ilies. It is vital to have a genderedapproach in post-pandemic restorationof education in India. We need to fac-tor in gender budgeting to support girleducation in these times and it is alsocrucial to monitor girls’attendance/rejoining upon schoolreopening. A multi-pronged strategyis necessary to manage this crisis inorder to build a resilient and inclusiveeducation system in the long term.

(The writer is Vice-President, PublicPolicy, Chase India.)

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London: The UK Government on Wednesdayauthorised the state-funded National HealthService (NHS) to use steroid dexamethasone, the“world’s first” coronavirus treatment proven toreduce the risk of death among severely illpatients.

The Department of Health said the cheap andwidely available anti-inflammatory steroid hasbeen immediately approved to treat all hospi-talised COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen,including those on ventilators, after an OxfordUniversity trial confirmed positive results onTuesday.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed thegovernment-funded trial as the “biggest break-through”, which has “greatly reduced” patients’chances of dying from COVID-19.

“I am proud of these British scientists,backed by UK government funding, who have ledthe first, robust clinical trial anywhere in the worldto find a coronavirus treatment proven to reducethe risk of death,” he said.

According to scientists, the drug has beenproven to reduce the risk of death significantly inCOVID-19 patients on ventilation by as much as35 per cent and patients on oxygen by 20 per cent.“The standard treatment for COVID-19 willinclude dexamethasone, helping save thousandsof lives while we deal with this terrible virus,” saidUK Health Secretary Matt Hancock. AP

Washington: Following weeksof national protests since thedeath of George Floyd,President Donald Trump hassigned an executive order thathe said would encourage bet-ter police practices.

But he made no mentionof the roiling national debateover racism spawned by policekillings of black men andwomen.

Trump met privately withthe families of several black Americans killed in interactions with police beforehis Rose Garden signing ceremony and said he grievedfor the lives lost and familiesdevastated.

But then he quickly shift-ed his tone and devoted mostof his public remarks to a needto respect and support “thebrave men and women in bluewho police our streets andkeep us safe.” He characterizedthe officers who have usedexcessive force as a “tiny”number of outliers among“trustworthy” police ranks.

“Reducing crime and rais-ing standards are not oppositegoals,” he said before signingthe order Tuesday, flanked bypolice officials.

Trump and Republicans inCongress have been rushing torespond to the mass demon-

strations against police bru-tality and racial prejudice thathave raged for weeks acrossthe country in response to thedeaths of Floyd and otherblack Americans.

It’s a sudden shift thatunderscores how quickly theprotests have changed thepolitical conversation andpressured Washington to act.

But Trump, who has faced

criticism for failing to acknowl-edge systemic racial bias andhas advocated for rougherpolice treatment of suspects inthe past, has continued to holdhis ‘law and order.”

At the signing event, herailed against those who com-mitted violence during thelargely peaceful protests whilehailing the vast majority ofofficers as selfless public ser-

vants.Trump’s executive order

would establish a databasethat tracks police officers withexcessive use-of-force com-plaints in their records.

Many officers who windup involved in fatal incidentshave long complaint histories,including Derek Chauvin, thewhite Minneapolis police offi-cer who has been charged

with murder in the death ofFloyd.

Those records are oftennot made public, making itdifficult to know if an officerhas such a history.

The order would also give police departments afinancial incentive to adoptbest practices and encourageco-responder programs, inwhich social workers joinpolice when they respond tononviolent calls involving men-tal health, addiction and home-less issues.

Trump said that, as part ofthe order, the use of choke-holds, which have become asymbol of police brutality,would be banned “except if anofficer’s life is at risk.”

Actually, the orderinstructs the JusticeDepartment to push localpolice departments to be cer-tified by a “reputable inde-pendent credentialing body”with use-of-force policies thatprohibit the use of choke-holds, except when the use ofdeadly force is allowed by law.Chokeholds are already large-ly banned in police depart-ments nationwide.

While Trump hailed hisefforts as “historic,” Democratsand other critics said he did-n’t go nearly far enough. AP

Jakarta: An Indonesian courton Wednesday sentenced threePapuan pro-independenceactivists to nearly yearlong jailterms on treason charges fororganizing anti-racism protestslast year, despite calls fromrights groups and politicians todrop the charges and releasethem.

Judges in the BalikpapanDistrict Court in EastKalimantan province read outthe verdicts in three separate tri-als, which were held remotelydue to the coronavirus pan-demic. Four other defendantswere due to hear their verdictslater Wednesday. The judgesordered the period of detentionthat the men had already servedto be deducted from the sen-tences, meaning they will walkfree within several weeks. AP

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Washington: They are nursesand doctors, artists, students,construction workers, govern-ment employees; black, brownand white; young and old.

Hundreds of thousands ofdemonstrators have taken to thestreets in big cities and tinytowns in every US State — andeven around the world — toprotest the killing of GeorgeFloyd, who died after a policeofficer pressed his knee into hisneck as he pleaded for air.

They say they are protestingpolice brutality, but also the sys-tematic racism non-whiteAmericans have experiencedsince the country’s birth. Manysay they marched so that oneday, when their children askedwhat they did at this historicmoment, they will be able to saythey stood up for justice despiteall risks. Most say they do notsupport the violence, fires andburglaries that consumed someof the demonstrations, but some

understand it: these are desper-ate acts by desperate people whohave been screaming for changefor generations into a worldunwilling to hear them.

Yet suddenly, for a momentat least, everyone seems to bepaying attention.

A Washington Post-ScharSchool poll shows roughlythree-quarters of Americanssupport the protests, and a widemajority, 69 per cent, say theysee the killing of Floyd as a signof broader problems in policing.That is up dramatically from apoll six years ago, that showedjust 43% found the killings ofunarmed black men as signs oflarger problems. Some demon-strators describe losing friendsand family to police bullets, andwhat it feels like to fear the verypeople sworn to protect you.Their white counterparts saythey could no longer let theirblack neighbors carry this bur-den alone. AP

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AUS ambassador saidWednesday that

Washington “is committedto addressing its shortcom-ings, including racial dis-crimination,” and is beingtransparent about holdingviolators accountable — as theUN’s top human rights bodywas taking up an urgentdebate.

Andrew Bremberg, theU.S. Ambassador in Geneva,noted that President DonaldTrump has condemned theactions of police officerslinked to the May 25 death ofGeorge Floyd, and on Tuesdaysigned an executive order onpolice reform.

Floyd was a black manwho died after a whiteMinneapolis police officerpressed a knee into Floyd’sneck for several minutes as hepleaded for air and eventual-ly stopped moving.

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Beijing: Beijing’s airports can-celled more than 1,200 flightsand schools in the Chinese cap-ital were closed again onWednesday as authoritiesrushed to contain a new coro-navirus outbreak linked to awholesale food market.

The city reported 31 newcases on Wednesday while offi-cials urged residents not toleave Beijing, with fears grow-ing about a second wave ofinfections in China, which hadlargely brought its outbreakunder control.

Tens of thousands of peo-ple linked to the new Beijingvirus cluster -- believed tohave started in the sprawlingXinfadi wholesale food market-- are being tested, with almost30 residential compounds inthe city now under lockdown.

At least 1,255 scheduled

flights were cancelledWednesday morning, state-run People’s Daily reported,nearly 70 percent of all trips toand from Beijing’s main air-ports.

The outbreak had alreadyforced authorities to announcea travel ban for residents of“medium- or high-risk” areas ofthe city, while requiring otherresidents to take nucleic acidtests in order to leave Beijing.

Meanwhile, severalprovinces were quarantiningtravellers from Beijing, whereall schools -- which had most-ly reopened -- have beenordered to close again andreturn to online classes.

“The epidemic situationin the capital is extremelysevere,” Beijing city spokesmanXu Hejian warned Tuesday.

Officials have closed 11

markets and disinfected thou-sands of food and beveragebusinesses in Beijing after theoutbreak was detected.

The city has now reported137 infections over the last sixdays, with six new asymp-tomatic cases and three sus-pected cases on Wednesday,according to the municipalhealth commission.

An additional two domes-tic cases, one in neighbouringHebei province and another inZhejiang, were reported bynational authorities onWednesday, while there were11 imported cases.

Authorities have so farbanned group sports, orderedpeople to wear masks in crowd-ed enclosed spaces, and sus-pended inter-provincial grouptours in response to the out-break. AGENCY

United Nations: The UNGeneral Assembly has begunelections for President of the75th session of the Assembly,five non-permanent membersof the Security Council andmembers of the Economic andSocial Council on Wednesdayunder special voting arrange-ments put in place here due toCOVID-19 related restrictions.

India is expected to regis-ter a comfortable victory in theSecurity Council elections thatwill bring the country to theUN high-table as a non-per-manent member for the 2021-22 term. India’s victory is cer-tain since it is the sole candi-date vying for the lone seatfrom the 55-member Asia-Pacific grouping.

New Delhi’s candidaturewas unanimously endorsed bythe Asia-Pacific grouping,including China and Pakistan,in June last year.

President of the UNGeneral Assembly TijjaniM u h a m m a d - B a n d eannounced the commence-ment of the elections at around9 am Wednesday.

UN diplomats, staff andother personnel arrived at theGeneral Assembly hall wearingmasks and immediately leftthe venue after casting theirballots. In previous years, theGeneral Assembly hall waspacked to capacity during theelections as UN diplomats andofficials participated in theballots.

In adherence to social dis-tancing guidelines due toCOVID19 pandemic, the 193UN Member States have beenallotted different time slots tocast their ballots next week inthe General Assembly Hall forthe crucial elections.

Eight time slots have beenallocated to Member States tocast their ballots in the GeneralAssembly Hall starting at 9AM, in adherence to social dis-tancing guidelines. The votingwill continue till 1 pm with anadditional 30 minute time slotfor voters who are unable tovisit the GA hall during thespecific time slot communi-cated to them. The time slot forIndia to cast its ballot is 11:30am-12noon. PTI

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Seoul: North Korea said onWednesday it will redeploytroops to now-shuttered inter-Korean cooperation sites, rein-stall guard posts and resumemilitary exercises at front-lineareas, nullifying the tension-reducing deals reached withSouth Korea just two years ago.

The announcement is the latest in a series of hard-line steps North Koreahas taken in what expertsbelieve are calculated moves toapply pressure on Seoul andWashington amid stallednuclear diplomacy.

On Tuesday, the Northdestroyed an empty inter-Korean liaison office in itsterritory.

Though North Korea’srecent actions haven’t causedclashes or bloodshed, it’s stillraising animosity on thepeninsula to a level unseensince the North entered

nuclear talks in 2018.The North’s General Staff

said military units will bedeployed to the DiamondMountain resort and theKaesong industrial complex,both just north of the heavilyfortified border.

The sites, both built withSouth Korean financing during

a past era of reconciliation,have been shuttered for yearsdue to inter-Korean disputesand US-led sanctions imposedon North Korea because of itsnuclear program.The Northsaid it will resume militaryexercises, reestablish guardposts, boost military readi-ness in border areas and open

front-line sites for flying pro-paganda balloons towardSouth Korea.

These steps would end theSeptember 2018 agreementsreached between the Koreasaimed at lowering militarytensions at border areas.

Later Wednesday, SouthKorea’s military expressedregret over the North Koreanannouncement and warnedthat the North will faceunspecified consequences if itviolates the 2018 deals.

Maj. Gen. Jeon Dong Jin atthe Joint Chiefs of Staff toldreporters that South Koreamaintains a firm military readi-ness and will strive to preventmilitary tensions from rising.

Under the 2018 agree-ments, both Koreas halted live-firing exercises, removed someland mines and destroyedguard posts inside the world’smost heavily armed border. AP

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Washington: The United States on Wednesdayimposed its toughest sanctions ever targetingSyrian President Bashar al-Assad to choke offrevenue for his government in a bid to forceit back to United Nations-led negotiations andbroker an end to the country’s nearly decade-long war.

The fresh round of penalties on Syria, which designate Assad and his wife Asma personally, come at a time when Assad is grappling with a deepening economic crisis after a decade of war and amid a rare outbreak of protests in govern-ment-held areas.

In a statement announcing the designa-tions imposed under the Caesar Syria CivilianProtection Act – signed by President DonaldTrump in December – U.S. Secretary of StateMike Pompeo said ‘many more’ sanctionsshould be expected in the coming weeks andmonths.

“We will not stop until Assad and hisregime stop their needless, brutal war againstthe Syrian people and the Syrian governmentagrees to a political solution to the conflict,”Pompeo said. AGENCY

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UK Prime Minister BorisJohnson’s car was involved

in a crash outside the gates ofParliament in London onWednesday as a protesterrushed towards his convoy.

Downing Street said thereare no reports of any injuriesafter social media imagesemerged of the incident, whichtook place shortly after Johnson,55, left the House of Commonsafter the weekly Prime Minister’sQuestions (PMQs) session.

One of the security vehi-cles within his prime ministe-rial motorcade was seen tohave hit the back of the UKPM’s silver Jaguar as his driverslammed the brakes, resultingin a major dent.

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Kabul: Taliban fighters killed at least 18 Afghansecurity personnel on Wednesday in two attackson checkpoints in the north, officials said, the lat-est violence ahead of expected peace talks.

In one pre-dawn raid, militants killed 12Afghan security force members when theystormed a checkpoint in Jawezjan province,Maroof Azar, spokesman to the governor, toldAFP. He said four security personnel were cap-tured by the militants and five Taliban fighterswere killed in the fighting. The ministry ofdefense confirmed the attack and said six of itssoldiers were among the dead. The Talibanspokesman for the group’s fighting forces,Zabihullah Mujahid, gave a higher toll.

Separately, Taliban fighters were blamed fora raid on an army outpost in Kunduz. 6 soldierswere killed in fighting, said Aminullah Iddin, amember of the provincial council. Armyspokesman Hadi Jamal confirmed the attack, say-ing 4 Taliban fighters were also killed. TheTaliban has not commented on that raid. AFP

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Washington: Democrats con-trolling the House have slated avote next week to make theDistrict of Columbia the 51ststate, an issue that they say hasbecome far more important inthe aftermath of protests forracial justice in both Washingtonand across the nation.

Next Friday’s vote, if suc-cessful, would pass a D.C.Statehood bill for the first timein the House, but the legislationfaces insurmountable oppositionin the GOP-controlled Senate.

It comes even as theCOVID-19 pandemic has forceddelays in the consideration ofmost other legislation. Morethan enough lawmakers areofficially backing the bill for it to

pass. In 1993, the Democratic-controlled Congress defeated aD.C. Statehood bill by an almost2-1 margin.

But the much-criticisedadministration move to use fed-eral forces to clear LafayetteSquare near the White House ofpeaceful protesters to enablePresident Donald Trump totrumpet his law and order cre-dentials in a photo op twoweeks ago promptedDemocratic leaders to schedulethe vote.

“We both agreed this was anappropriate time to bring a billforward to show respect for thecitizens of the District ofColumbia,” said Majority LeaderSteny Hoyer. AP

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New Delhi: Raising concernsover the Delhi government’srequisitioning of private hotelsfor treatment of Covid19patients, the hospitality indus-try has said hotel infrastructureis not equipped to provide crit-ical care and the move wouldhave a significant businessimpact. Leading industry bodyFederation of Hotel andRestaurant Associations of India(FHRAI) wrote a letter to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi soonafter the Delhi governmentauthorities on Tuesday ordereduse of Indian Hotels CompanyLtd’s iconic Taj Mahal hotel inas a Covid-19 facility. PTI

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The ongoing India-Chinaborder tensions may not

have any immediate impact onthe bilateral trade relations,according to experts. Experts,however, pointed out that if thesituation aggravates furtherthen it could affect bilateraltrade relationships.

“I do not see any impact onthe bilateral trade relationsdue to the current border ten-sions between the two keytrading partners,” Federation ofIndian Export Organisations(FIEO) President S K Saraf said.

He added that there arehuge trade opportunities forbusinesses of both the countriesto explore in each others’ mar-ket. Ludhiana-based HandTools Association PresidentSubhash Chander Ralhan saidthat China is a big market forIndian exporters and there is a

need to look at ways to boostexports to the neighbouringcountry to bridge the wideningtrade deficit.

“Putting any kind ofrestrictions on imports fromChina may impact our exports.

But if the tensions at theborders would get aggravatedthen it may impact the bilater-al trade relations,” Ralhanadded. Apparel ExportPromotion Council of India(AEPC) Chairman A Sakthivelalso hinted that trade may takea hit if both the countrieswould not be able to resolve theissues soon.

“If the situation get wors-ened then there will be a prob-lem. We do not export appar-el in huge numbers but weimport lot of fabrics fromChina,” Sakthivel said.

Biswajit Dhar, a professorof economics at JawaharlalNehru University, said putting

any kind of trade restrictionson China may have implica-tions for India.

“Our dependence onChina is huge on several criti-cal products like APIs (activepharmaceutical ingredients).

There are no serious alter-natives or market for us forthose critical products and sit-uation would not change in aday,” Dhar said.

He added that increasingtariffs or import duties will onlyburden domestic consumers.

“The only solution left is tostrengthen domestic manufac-turing in critical sectors,” he said.

The Indian Army onTuesday said that 20 Army per-sonnel, including a Colonel,were killed in the clash onMonday night, in the biggestever military confrontationbetween the two armies inover five decades.

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Equity benchmarks closedlower after a see-saw session

on Wednesday as border ten-sions with China and spikingcoronavirus cases keptinvestors on the back foot.

After gyrating 600.70points during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 97.30points, or 0.29 per cent, lowerat 33,507.92.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty settled 32.85 points, or0.33 per cent, down at 9,881.15.

Kotak Bank was the toplaggard in the Sensex pack,shedding 2.81 per cent, fol-lowed by ITC, M&M,PowerGrid, HDFC, AsianPaints and NTPC.

On the other hand, Marutirallied over 4 per cent. BhartiAirtel, Axis Bank, IndusIndBank and Bajaj Finance alsofinished in the green.

According to traders, bor-der tensions with China, spikein Covid-19 cases and unabat-ed foreign fund outflowsweighed on investor sentiment.

As many as 20 IndianArmy personnel were killed ina clash with Chinese troops inLadakh on Monday night, thebiggest military confrontationin five decades that has signif-icantly escalated the alreadyvolatile border standoffbetween the two countries.

There were around 35casualties on the Chinese side,sources said, citing US intelli-gence reports.

Adding to investors’ woes,India witnessed its highest sin-

gle-day spike of 2,003 Covid-19 deaths.

Meanwhile, foreign insti-tutional investors sold equitiesworth a net Rs 1,478.52 croreon Tuesday, provisionalexchange data showed.

“After another day of inde-cisive trades, brought by thethreat of escalation in border dis-pute with China, Indian bench-mark indices ended slightly neg-ative. The losses were mainly dueto financial stocks. “The majorsectoral gainer was the auto sec-tor, led by gains in Maruti. FIIshave also been net sellers in equi-ty this week which have impact-ed the markets,” said VinodNair, Head of Research at GeojitFinancial Services.

BSE power, utilities, metal,finance, bankex, capital goodsand FMCG indices shed up to1.05 per cent, while telecom,

auto, teck, consumer durablesand realty rose up to 2.35 percent. Broader BSE mid-capand small-cap indices outper-formed the benchmarks, spurt-ing up to 0.71 per cent.

Global equities were large-ly in the positive territory asinvestors focused on econom-ic recovery, even as someregions reported fresh coron-avirus cases.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong and Seoul ended higher,while Tokyo settled in the red.Stock exchanges in Europewere trading on a positive notein early deals.

International oil bench-mark Brent crude futuresslipped 0.83 per cent to USD40.62 per barrel.

On the currency front, therupee settled 4 paise higher at76.16 against the US dollar.

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Stock market regulator,Securities and Exchange

Board of India (SEBI) hasamended the takeover norms toallow promoters to increase theirstake by up to 10 per centthrough a preferential allotment.

The move will give a boostto promoters wanting toincrease their stake and enhanceinvestor confidence as the pro-moter buying more shares is agood signal to shareholders.

The amendment in the reg-ulations allows a promoter own-ing 25 per cent or more votingrights in a company to increaseshareholding by up to 10 per

cent in a year versus the earlierlimit of 5 per cent. This is validonly for the current financialyear and is allowed for a pref-erential issue of equity shares.

“SEBI relaxation on thecreeping acquisition is a doublewhammy for promoters. Theywill not only be able to increasetheir stake but this will alsobuild investor confidence.” saidRajesh Thakkar, Partner &Leader/ Transaction Tax, Tax &Regulatory Services, BDO India.

As per a notification, theamendments have been made tothe Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (SubstantialAcquisition of Shares andTakeovers) Regulations, 2011.

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The Government onWednesday asked state-

owned banks to defer avoidableexpenditure, including purchaseof staff cars and refurbishmentof guest houses, to ensure moreproductive utilisation of finan-cial resources amid the coron-avirus pandemic.

In a detailed advisory tothe heads of all public sectorbanks, the department of finan-cial services (DFS) said it wasnecessary that the banks takeappropriate measures to ensureproductive use of their finan-

cial resources for core businessactivities.

The advisory also comesagainst the backdrop of PunjabNational Bank (PNB) recentlypurchasing three Audi carsworth over Rs 1.30 crore fortravel of its top executives.

Banks are advised to deferavoidable expenditure beyondthe current financial year,including purchase of staffcars, except where unavoidable,the advisory said.

DFS has also directed banksto postpone expenditure on dec-orative, non-functional itemsfor the interiors in non-customer

facing premises like administra-tive offices and back offices,and refurbishment of guest hous-es. Further, the banks have beenasked to effect significant reduc-tion in expenditure on activitiesother than those pertaining tocore business activities.

“Economy in expenditureto the tune of 20 per cent year-on-year or more may be effect-ed on activities or heads ofexpenditure such as entertain-ment, publicity, by makingefficacious use of social mediaand press releases, and poolingresources with other PSBs(Public Sector Banks) for com-

mon publicity campaignswhere appropriate,” it said.

Besides, DFS has directedbanks to avoid travel and adoptdigital means of communica-tion as well as make effectiveuse of locally available admin-istrative officers.

“The bank board’s executivecommittee/ management com-mittee may review the compo-sition of the existing fleet ofvehicles engaged on hire, whiletaking into account functionalimperatives and the profitabil-ity and the cost to income ratioof the bank’s operations and theoccupancy level of guest hous-

es,” the advisory said.DFS, which comes under

the finance ministry, has askedbanks to place the advisorybefore their respective boardsand issue appropriate instruc-tions internally. “Top manage-ment may also suitably sensitisesenior executives to give effectto this advisory in letter andspirit,” it said. In addition, DFShas directed banks for revisionof entitlements and perquisitessuch as entitlements to fixedassets like vehicles and furnitureand lease/ rent amounts admis-sible for hired residentialaccommodations.

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In line with the PrimeMinister’s self-reliance call,

the coal ministry will onThursday launch the auctionprocess of 41 blocks for com-mercial mining with an aim toachieve self-sufficiency inmeeting energy needs andboost industrial development.

Prime Minister NarendraModi will address the launchevent through video confer-encing and outline his vision toachieve self-reliance in themining sector.

The commercial miningof these coal blocks is expect-ed to generate approximatelyRs 33,000 crore of capitalinvestment in the country over the next five to sevenyears, the coal ministry said ina statement.

These blocks will con-tribute Rs 20,000 crore rev-enues annually to the stategovernments, it added.

The ministry said that thecommencement of this auctionprocess of coal mines is part ofthe series of announcementsmade under the ‘AtmanirbharBharat Abhiyan’.

“Prime Minister will gracethe occasion by delivering anaddress during the launch ofthe auction process outlininghis vision for the country toachieve ‘atmanirbharata’ inmining sector which is thekey source of input for manybasic industries like power,steel, aluminium, sponge ironetc,” the statement said.

Coal and mines minister Pralhad Joshi will alsobe present during the launch event.

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Ever since the Governmentannounced Unlock 1.0, veg-

etables’ supply and demandalong with their prices haveincreased. According to the ratelist of the Agriculture ProduceMarket Committee (APMC) ofAzadpur Mandi here, the whole-sale prices of tomatoes haveincreased by two and a halftimes while the prices of pota-toes, onions and other greenvegetables have also increased.

The traders here said thatafter restaurants, dhabas, can-teens and eateries have opened,the demand for vegetables hasincreased by almost 20 percent. Due to the increase in thewholesale demand for vegeta-bles, their retail prices havegone up.

As per the rate list, twoweeks ago the average whole-sale price of tomatoes was Rs 3per kg while on Wednesday itwas Rs 6 per kg. Though the

minimum wholesale price oftomatoes here remainedunchanged at Rs 1.25 per kg themaximum wholesale priceincreased from Rs 4.75 per kgto Rs 18 per kg, a hike of 279per cent in two weeks.

The minimum wholesaleprice of onion was Rs 2.50 perkg while the maximum was Rs8.75 per kg on June 3, whichincreased to Rs 4 and Rs 11.50per kg, respectively. The aver-age retail price of onion has alsoincreased by about 36 per centfrom Rs 6.25 to Rs 8.50 per kg.

The minimum wholesaleprice of potato increased fromRs 6 to Rs Rs 8 per kg while themaximum wholesale priceincreased from Rs 18 to Rs 21per kg. The average wholesale

price of potato increased fromRs 14.50 to Rs 15.75 per kg inthe last 15 days.

The increase in the whole-sale price has resulted in theincrease of the retail price also.In Delhi-NCR, the retail priceof onion has gone up to Rs 25-30 from Rs 20 per kg whiletomatoes were being sold at Rs30-35 per kg. The retail pricesof all green vegetables haveincreased by Rs 5-10 per kg.

Chamber of Azadpur Fruitsand Vegetables AssociationPresident M.R. Kripalani saidthough the demand for fruitsand vegetables has increased inthe last few days, it is still lessthan the supply.

The demand for vegetablesand fruits had come down dueto which the prices had alsocome down drastically, so thefarmers were not getting a fairprice for their produce, butnow they would get a fair priceas the demand is expected toincrease further, he said.

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Kolkata: Union ministerMansukh Mandaviya onWednesday exuded hope thatthe economy will tide over theCovid-19 crisis and be on trackin the next two-three months.

He said the shipping min-istry is likely to come out witha policy for effective use of landowned by the Syama PrasadMookerjee Port (Kolkata PortTrust) in a month or so.

“I can’t say about othercountries, but Indian economywill be on track in 2-3 monthsbefore Diwali,” Mandaviya said,while explaining how the Rs 20lakh crore stimulus will work infavour of the various sectors.Prime Minister Narendra Modihad on Tuesday said the econ-omy is showing “green shoots”as the country emerges fromthe coronavirus lockdown.

Addressing an e-sessionorganised by Bharat Chamber

of Commerce, the shippingminister said AtmanirbharBharat or self-reliant Indiadoes not mean a complete haltof imports, but to reduce thetrade deficit by raising exportsand curbing imports.

The Prime Minister hadearlier chartered out his visionfor an Atmanirbhar Bharat —one that is not dependent onany other country in strategicsectors and one that embracesthe world on its own strength.

Asked about issues relatedto some shipping lines whichare not considering the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdownas grounds for invoking forcemajeure, a clause absolvingcompanies from meeting theircontractual commitments forreasons beyond their control,Mandaviya said he is aware ofthe fact and a solution will beworked out. PTI

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In 2016, actor Sushant SinghRajput told students at IITBombay how in pursuit of

becoming an actor, he left engineer-ing in the fourth year, when onlytwo months were left for the finaldegree. Why did he do so? He wasprecise and honest. Because his goalwas to get recognition and money.Fast. And guess what? He did getboth. He did find big breaks in anindustry about which many havedreamt of and started fromnowhere for it. Through his non-descript but realistic roles, he tran-sitioned from TV star into aBollywood A-lister! “I literallystarted from nothing, absolutelynothing. It’s not even zero, it’s likeminus. I was doing something elseand was at a momentum to becomean engineer. Suddenly, I discoveredthis thing I really like...” But storiesin Bollywood are never about per-fection, especially if talent races pastthe entitled and royalty. The result,the elite club pushes out the newtoast in town or coopts him/her asa servile courtier only to justify theirposition. Those who do not com-promise take the extreme step thatSushant did.

Why does Bollywood, the so-called and otherwise “talent recog-nition and management agency”,take outsiders for granted? Simplybecause they expose their inade-quacies, which would not otherwiselet them be where they are. Whatwould their reason for existing andflirting with stardust be? No won-der netizens called out Alia Bhattfor such hypocrisy when sheexpressed her grief over Sushant’sdeath through her post. Socialmedia was flooded with reposts ofone of her clips from an episode ofKoffee With Karan, where she askshost Karan Johar in a rapid firegame of listing actors according topreference, “Sushant who?”Netizens have also dug out similarvideos of Sonam Kapoor from thesame chat show and KareenaKapoor Khan from an award cer-emony. Even though, this does notsuggest that they are responsible forthe actor’s suicide, it does exposetheir sense of privilege and ivorytower logic. This stems from thefact that for all pretensions ofbeing an industry, Bollywood con-tinues to be ruled by family busi-nesses and incestuously works withits own. Even corporate studioshave not been able to break throughsuch lobbies and align with themfor joint ventures. The result?Newcomers are good enough forindependent films and ventures. It’sjust that the audience has receivedthem well and given them hightrading value. It is because of the lat-ter that someone like Dabanggdirector Abhinav Singh Kashyapwas picked up by Salman KhanProductions. But once it was amega hit, it was attributed toSalman’s persona and heft whileAbhinav was made to feel that hewas lucky to be chosen by the king.Through a Facebook post, Kashyapcalled out Salman Khan and hisfamily for “ruining his career overthe past decade and constantly sab-otaging all his projects and creativeendeavours.” He said that he hasbeen “repeatedly threatened withlife and rape threats given to/for thefemale members of my family.The sustained gaslighting and bul-lying destroyed my mental healthand that of my family and led to mydivorce and breaking up of my fam-ily in 2017.”

Talking about Sohail Khan,

Abhinav added, “Sohail intimi-dated the then Viacom CEO,Vikram Malhotra. My project wassabotaged and I was made toreturn my signing fee of Rs 7 croreplus an interest of Rs 90 lakh. It’sonly then that RelianceEntertainment came to my rescueand we forged an enduring partner-ship for my film Besharam.”

While actor Kangana Ranauttoo posted on Instagram a videosaying that such inside politicscompelled Sushant to take his life,director Shekhar Kapur tweeted, “Iknew the pain you were goingthrough. I knew the story of thepeople who let you down so badthat you would weep on my shoul-der. I wish you had reached out tome. What happened to you wastheir Karma, not yours.”

Actor Gulshan Devaiah alsotweeted, “As actors, somewheredeep down, we think we know whyhe did it and that’s why it’s so dis-turbing even if you didn’t know himat all. It’s a hard game to play buthe played it very well but the gamewon in the end. Really sorry to bedoing this, but Bollywood isn’t afamily, it never was and never willbe.”

How can nepotism beaddressed openly in Bollywoodsince smaller actors might find ithard to talk against the biggies inthe industry, fearing beingambushed in their careers that theyhave bet on? Interdisciplinary actorand director Sujoy ProsadChatterjee recalls the version ofnepotism he encountered. He says,“I have worked as an actor on stage,

television and a few films. The kindof nepotism I have faced is quite dif-ferent. For example, I was body-shamed by a TV director twice onthe floor and when I wanted toblow the whistle, I was victimised.Without taking names, the produc-tion company and the channel sub-stituted me on the grounds of mydate issues, misconduct (because Ispeak loud and clear) and of course,because I was doing some veryinteresting national work. InBollywood, star kids face a differ-ent kind of discrimination, too.Why should people expectAbhishek Bachchan to be a versionof Amitabh? Why should SandipRay be compared with SatyajitRay? Isn’t it silly? Having said that,privilege clubs exist everywhere. Inthe entertainment scene, the dan-

ger and harm posed by these clubsis of a different degree. There’s nopoint in isolating one Karan Joharbut yes it’s important to address theelephants in the room. The privi-lege clubs in Kolkata exist in artstoo.”

Actor Rajeev Khandelwal says,“Nepotism exists in every field andwill continue to as long as humansexist. It is a very human tendencyto prioritise your own over others.We live in a capitalist world and nota socialist world so it is very nat-ural to give preference and privilegeto your kith and kin over others.Parents will always favour their ownkids whether deserving or not. Theopportunities any parents will pro-vide for their own kids will alwaysbe way more than what they wouldprovide for the kids of anyone lessprivileged even if they are way moredeserving then their own kids.These are the challenges everyindividual from outside, who is try-ing to make a place for oneself ina new world, will have to face.

Those who have it in them willbreach the walls of nepotism andcarve out a place for oneself.Success comes when every obsta-cle in the way is breached withnepotism being one of the many.The important thing what I feel isthat every individual needs todefine success in their own headand not define it how the worlddoes.”

Social media has also beencomparing the#EndNepotismIn2020 campaignto the #MeToo movement.However, Sujoy says that the scaleof #Me too is more severe thannepotism. He adds, “You can fightback nepotism if you have talentbut #MeToo talks about assault.And yes, if you can unmask a fewfaces without fear of losing out onwork, you must. I don’t believe inpetition signatures for everything.I am not saying it is non-serious butit can be dealt with.”

Well, let’s see where this debateends!

Discovery’s new venture, Listento the Sea, sheds light on one

of the country’s greatest calamities,Cyclone Fani, taking a deep diveinto critical 48 hours before thelandfall of extremely severecyclonic storm, which threatenedwidespread damage to life andproperty in Odisha.

While the property, especial-ly critical infrastructure like power,telecom, roads — both nationalhighways, state highways and rural— were severely damaged, Indian’smeteorological department’s(IMD) pinpoint accuracy in pre-dicting the time, path and severi-ty of the cyclone, helped immense-ly in saving lives. The governmentactivated the disaster manage-ment program, leveraging the 48-hour notice by IMD, and evacuat-ed more than 1 million people tosafety. Listen to The Sea is a storyof hope as Odisha triumphed overthis sever cyclone through its gal-lant efforts.

“We cannot control naturaldisasters and catastrophes butafter the devastation caused bysuper cyclone in 1999, our aim wasto make sure that as much as pos-sible, no human life should be losthenceforth in such disasters. In a

state which has almost 500 kilome-ters of coastline, one should listento the sea,” said, Naveen Patnaik,Chief Minister of Odisha. “CycloneFani was a test of our preparedness.I would like to take this momentto highlight the efforts of all thosewho stepped in — over 45,000 vol-unteers who worked alongsidethe government officials to help inthe evacuation process. It is due tothis combined effort that Odishasuccessfully conducted Asia’slargest evacuation before CycloneFani by getting more than a mil-

lion people to safety.”Megha Tata, managing direc-

tor, South Asia, Discovery, said,“This is not a documentary abouta cyclone that threatened to ravagea state. It is a story of human willand what it can do in the face ofabject disaster. This two-part doc-umentary series is a story ofOdisha’s resilience.”

(The series launches on June 20on Discovery & Discovery HDChannel at 9 pm. Viewers candownload Discovery Plus app tostream the show on June 23.)

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Tackling an unprecedentedcrisis of the nature andcombating the challenges

thrown by the pandemic requiredifferent and innovativeapproaches. One segment that hasbeen severely impacted during theongoing crisis has been the tribalpopulation.

In such a scenario, the VanDhan start-ups, established underthe scheme initiated by TRIFED,Ministry of Tribal Affairs, hasemerged as a source ofemployment generation for tribalgatherers, forest dwellers and alsothe home-bound labour andartisans.

A media briefing wasorganised by TRIFED on June 15for members of the mediafraternity (both print andelectronic media) to familiarisethem with this innovativeapproach so that they can furtherspread awareness among people.

The webinar titled Van Dhan:Tribal Start-ups Bloom in India waschaired by Pravir Krishna,Managing Director, TRIFED andwas attended by over 40participants. Nanu Bhasin, ADG,PIB and Abhishek Singh, CEO,MyGov were among those whoattended the webinar to knowmore about the Van Dhan start-ups. The TRIFED team wasrepresented by all the heads ofdepartments and senior officials.

Krishna gave the welcomeaddress and a quick introductionof the Van Dhan Yojana. Heprovided a snapshot of what itintends to achieve and how thescheme has been faring in thesecurrent times. 1205 tribal

enterprises have been establishedto provide employmentopportunities to 3.6 lakh tribalgatherers and 18,000 self-helpgroups in 22 states. He also addedthat the slogan Go Vocal for Local,a mantra in these troubled times,has been adapted to include GoVocal for Local Go Tribal — MeraVan Mera Dhan Mera Udyam. Theaim of the start-ups scheme totreble the coverage to 10 lakhtribal gatherers through theCOVID-19 relief plan of theMinistry of Tribal Affairs underarticle 275(I) was also stated. Astate wise snapshot was alsopresented to show how the statesare faring. Started in Nagaland andfollowed by Maharashtra inDecember, 2019 the start-upsspread rather quickly to all the 22states, almost became acompetition once the statesrealised the value added by thisinitiative.

He presented some real lifeexamples from Nagaland,Rajasthan, which ensures that theproceeds from the sales of thesevalue-added products go to thetribals directly. The value-addedproducts benefit largely from thepackaging and marketing thatthese tribal enterprises provide.Testimonials from different partsof the country, along with contactdetails of the Van Dhan VikasKendras and the products that arebeing sold were showcased.Krishna mentioned that 2,000products have been identifiedthrough the country. A bird’s eyeview was provided to theparticipants and samples such aswild honey, broomsticks, donna

pattal, samidha sticks, coffee, bayleaf, bel pulp were displayed.

It has managed to createmarket linkages. Many of thesetribal enterprises are connected tomarkets and have received manyorders already. As an example, hecommended the efforts of thestart-ups in Manipur which haveturned out to be a modelenterprise for the rest of thecountry, in terms of the packaging,innovations, and training. Krishnaalso recounted the entire successstory in Manipur and hailed it as achampion state and as an exampleof how this tribal enterprisescheme can benefit the tribalsextensively, with the right pushand support.

In Manipur, 77 Van Dhancentres have been established forvalue addition and processing of

forest produces. They havereported sales of MFP productsworth ��49.1 lakh since September2019. What stood out in the case ofManipur is the exemplary foodsafety and hygiene standardsadopted by these 77 centres thathave been established, theattractive packaging of theprocessed products — Amla juice,tamarind amla candy and plumjams, and the innovative brandingand marketing of these products.A mobile van service has also beenstarted in one of the districts toensure the selling of theseproducts.

Krishna also spoke about thenext steps regarding theprogramme. The first is to expandthe current coverage of 18,000SHGs to 50,000 Van Dhan SHGsand to treble the coverage to 10

lakh tribal gatherers through theCOVID-19 relief plan. Theultimate aim is to transform of thetribal ecosystem across the countryby establishing this programme asthe next “Amul revolution” interms of MFPs. Krishna alsomentioned that convergences andpartnerships are being plannedwith other ministries anddepartments and key institutionsto take this cause ahead.

A major initiative which willshow the way forward is theplanned migration to complete thedigital platforms including forprocurement. Krishna informedthe audience that a TRIFEDw e b s i t e(https://trifed.tribal.gov.in/) wasbeing commissioned for a trial runtill 30 June (before the formallaunch by the Minister) and a

procurement platform which willbe launched by 30 July. All details,statistics and real-time informationof the programme across thecountry can be viewed athttps://trifed.tribal.gov.in/vdvk/auth/login.php

A peek look into the websiteand the mobile app was provided.He then followed up with hisconcluding remarks and openedthe floor (Zoom chat room in thiscase) for any questions. NanuBhasin, ADG, Press InformationBureau, Government of Indiakindly moderated the questions.Ambika Pandit, Times of Indiawanted to know whether thewebsite had any grievance andfeedback mechanism for the VanDhan Vikas Kendras. The teaminformed her that such amechanism in the form of afeedback form does exist and alltypes of feedback are welcome.Priscilla from PIB had somequeries about the level ofinvestment from the governmentin each of these centres and therevenue that has been generated sofar. He explained that 15 lakh fromthe central government has beenprovided to each of these centres.So far 25 to 30 per cent of thisgrant has been spent by theVDVKs on purchase of rawmaterials and labour costs. Heclarified and iterated that thebeauty of this scheme is that it isnothing but a set of flexibleguidelines. An amount has beenset aside for each of these kendrasand how they use the money andon what is for them to decide. Healso mentioned that in the case ofNagaland, approximately 3.5

crores worth of sales have beendone. Krishna was sure that onceall the other states pick up steamwith respect to this scheme, 1crores sales per state in a fewmonths would be possible. In aresponse to the question regardingthe medium through which thesesales have occurred, Krishnamentioned that the sales are takingplace through state governmentsales centre, states sales pitches,Tribes India retail outlets and thee-platforms.

Post the question-answersession, Krishna announced thenext webinar (in this series ofwebinars that will give a ringsideview into the lives of the tribalcommunities and the initiativesbeing undertaken to help easetheir plight) on MSP for MFPTakes Roots in Tribal Indiaplanned with the media fraternityon June 18. He gave a briefintroduction to the MinimumSupport Price for the Minor ForestProduce Scheme and said that hewould speak more about how thathas become another success storyin these troubled times.

He thanked Abhishek andNanu for their support and hailedthe enthusiastic response from allparticipants attending this session.He solicited feedback andrequested them to could reach outto the TRIFED team for anyinputs or further queries or anyfeedback. These initiativesrepresent the first steps in thejourney for Go Local for Vocal forTribal, as TRIFED sets out on itsmission to become the nextNDDB (albeit for the tribalpeople).

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Justice NV Ramana, ExecutiveChairman, National Legal

Services Authority (NALSA),released ‘Handbook of formats:Ensuring effective legal services’at a webinar in the presence ofExecutive Chairpersons of StateLegal Services Authorities,Chairpersons of High CourtLegal Services Committees andMember Secretaries of all StateLegal Services Authorities,Chairpersons and Secretariesof District Legal ServicesAuthorities.

In the keynote address,Justice Ramana highlighted thefollowing issues: Unfortunately,even though three months havepassed, the situation is still notunder control. Pursuant to thelockdown, thousands of peoplehave lost their lives and liveli-hood, large scale migration hastaken place. Women have beenburdened with more work andchildren are unable to go to

schools. In spite of all the trou-bles, the Legal ServicesAuthorities have done tremen-dous activities during the pre-vailing pandemic by adoptingthe latest technology.

One of the critical areaswhich has come to our noticewas rising violence within thefamily itself. We also sawincreasing rise in the number ofinstances of child abuse. Duringsuch times, when the victimscannot reach us, it’s imperativefor us to reach them.Acknowledging the urgency ofthe situation we have establishedOne Stop Centres (OSCs).Persistent efforts have beentaken to provide legal assis-tance through tele-services offemale panel lawyers in everydistrict. In other matters, peti-

tions have been filed under theDomestic Violence Act.

Another focus area for theLegal Services Authorities acrossthe country was to ensure thereduction of over-crowding inprisons. As per the directions ofthe Supreme Court, the SLSAshave actively assisted High

Powered Committees to identi-fy and complete the necessaryformalities for the release ofprisoners, both undertrials andconvicts.

It is equally imperative thatlegal aid providers are able todocument and report theirinterventions, which is essentialto effectuate the various NALSAschemes and frameworks. Thishandbook is the first crucial steptowards standardising andbringing in uniformity in the useof formats. This handbook is aneffective tool for management ofhuman resources and in futurewill prove as a small but signif-icant step in realising justice forall.

The pandemic has present-ed multiple emerging issuesbefore us. The most predomi-

nant one is that of reversemigration. Massive reversemigration will invariably lead toincrease in poverty, inequityand discrimination. This calls fora persistent and target orienta-tion action plan, which we allhave to work out together. Thefuture is going to be challenging— let’s stay committed.

Additionally, JusticeRamana also shared that it is alsobeing ensured that Toll freeNational Legal Helpline 15100remains fully functional. LegalServices Authorities have organ-ised hundreds of webinars acrossvarious states and are utilisingcost effective tools such as socialmedia, community radio sta-tions, local cable television chan-nels and other digital platformsto increase outreach.

He concluded by saying,“Let these challenging timesnot paralyse you, like all darknights this shall pass too.”

Bharti AXA General Insurance, a joint venturebetween Bharti Enterprises and AXA, said the

company has registered a 38 per cent increase inits premium income in the financial year 2019-20.

“We are pleased to grow much faster than theindustry and maintain a steady growth perfor-mance across key matrices of the business in thefinancial year 2019-20. The expansion of distri-bution network and partnerships, new businessalliances along with improved business activa-tions from the robust bancassurance accompa-nied by diversified product portfolio helped usachieve healthy premium growth at more thantriple of the industry growth rate in the last fis-cal,’’ said Sanjeev Srinivasan, MD and CEO, BhartiAXA General Insurance.

Driven by crop, commercial lines, motor andhealth insurance, he said that all product seg-ments witnessed strong double-digit growth in2019-20. Crop insurance grew by 59 per cent to�828 crore in the last financial year from �519crore in 2018-19. Commercial lines segmentfocused on SME and MSME to grow by 49 percent at �430 crore in the year ended March 31,2020, against �289 crore in the corresponding fis-cal a year earlier. Similarly, motor insurance post-ed 30 per cent growth to �1,488 crore in the lastfiscal from �1,143 crore in 2018-19, whilehealth insurance grew by 23 per cent at �410 crorein 2019-20 against �334 crore in the correspond-ing financial year a year ago.

Bharti AXA General Insurance, which cur-rently distributes through nine banks and over50 NBFCs and Cooperative Banks, also addeda significant number of distribution partnershipsin the financial year 2019-20. The combined ratio,a measure of profitability that takes into accountclaims and expenses as a proportion of premi-ums, has gone up by 5.4 per cent and stood at120.7 per cent in 2019-20 against 115.3 per centin 2018-19. This was a result of increased invest-ments in technology, infrastructure and humancapital to strengthen distribution network andservice delivery platforms as the company is cur-rently in the investment phase of its growth jour-ney.

Continuing on its path of innovation, the

company also proposed two new products —Short Term Health Insurance and Usage-basedMotor Insurance — under the Sandbox initia-tive launched by IRDAI and received approvalfor both the innovative products in 2019-20.

“The current financial year looks challeng-ing in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and dis-ruptions caused by the nationwide lockdown.Focus on technology and automation of process-es has helped us operate seamlessly as we con-tinue to service our customer and partnersremotely, successfully managing business, ser-vicing, surveys and claim settlement. In 2020-21, we will pursue opportunities across chan-nels with constant emphasis on customer cen-tricity, focus on superior risk selections, prudentcost management, claims efficiency with invest-ments in technologies and innovation to boostall lines of businesses,” Srinivasan said.

The Institute of CompanySecretaries of India (ICSI)

celebrated its first virtual PCSDay through a series of delib-erations on the significant roleof Practicing CompanySecretaries, recognitionsawarded to them and theiremerging areas of practice witheminent speakers from acrossthe country.

The Minister of State forFinance and Corporate Affairs,Anurag Singh Thakur, gracedthe occasion as a chief guestand appreciated the efforts androle that Company Secretarieshave been playing in creatingawareness about the reformmeasures taken by the Ministryof Corporate affairs,Government of India.

Thakur, emphasising onthe three ‘Es’, said, “Qualityeducation and employmentopportunities will lead toempowered CompanySecretaries, who in turn willempower the country.”

CS Ashish Garg, President,

ICSI, rejoicing the spirit of theday, echoed the sentiments ofthousands of PractisingCompany Secretaries byacknowledging the responsibil-ity showered onto the instituteby the regulatory authoritiesand the Government of Indiain making the country a fivetrillion economy by 2024. “Ourcommitment and dedication,

even in these times of pandem-ic, stands undeterred,” headded.

Pandey said, “CompanySecretaries should now be seenas Corporate Secretaries forthey are playing roles beyondthat of the traditional compli-ance officers and are helping inbringing in international busi-ness to the country.”

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Union Minister of State(Independent Charge),

Development of North EasternRegion (DoNER), MoS PMO,Personnel, Public Grievances& Pensions, Atomic Energyand Space, Dr Jitendra Singhlaunched an e-Booklet on oneyear achievements of theDepartment of Pension andPensioners’ Welfare(DoPPW)” through VideoConferencing.

While addressing theofficers of the department, hecongratulated the team forcarrying out a series of reformswhich not only highlighted thesensitivity of the governmentbut also the dedication of theteam during the trying timesof the pandemic. He stated thatthe department went outsideits call of duty to organise awebinar on COVID bybringing in doctors to addressthe anxiety of the pensioners.

Among a series of reformsin pension policy, the mostnotable was the Amendmentof Rule 54 of CCS PensionRules, 1972 to provideenhanced family pension inthe event of unfortunate death

of government servant evenbefore completion of sevenyears of service.

Earlier only those familieswere eligible for enhancedfamily Pension (@50 per centof last pay drawn) wherein thedeceased government servanthad completed seven years ofservice.

Another OM in the recent

year was extending the OldPension scheme to thoseemployees who joined on orafter January 1, 2004 butwhose result for recruitmenthad been declared before thesame date. This was a longstanding demand of employeescovered under the NationalPension System (NPS) and wasthe cause of several court cases

and anxiety among suchemployees.

Soon after the formationof the new government a seriesof welfare measures for thepensioners were also carriedout such as opening of anIntegrated Grievance Cell &Call Centre with toll freenumber 1800-11-1960 tofacilitate elderly pensioners inregistering their grievancesand get information ofpending grievances, holding of“All India Pension Adalat”wherein more than 50locations were connectedthrough live interactive videoconferencing which resulted inresolution of more than 4000grievances by a single event.

The other welfare activitiescarried out in the last one yearinclude facilitating doorstepservice for submission of lifecertificate with the help ofPension Disbursing Banks,DLC from home campaign byinvolving Pensioners’associations in 24 cities,organising the First RegionalAdalat at Jammu, and issuanceof consolidated instructions tobanks in order to ensure ease

of living for pensioners.The department also

organised a tele-consultationfor pensioners on COVID-19with pulmonologist anddirector, AIIMS, Dr RandeepGuleria and Dr PrasunChatterjee, Associate ProfessorAIIMS.

Dr Kshatrapati Shivaji,Secretary (P&PW), thankedthe Union Minister for guidingDoPPW to make pensionreforms which affected thelives of the pensioners. Hestated that departments, evenprior to the pandemic was ane-office and therefore, thetransition to work from homewas easy to implement. Allofficials have been providedwith a VPN which enablesthem to work from whereverthey are and therefore theworking of this departmentremained unaffected duringthe pandemic.

Joint Secretary, SanjivNarain Mathur conducted theproceedings which werecompletely online with allsenior officers of thedepartment. Ruchir Mittal, DSgave the vote of thanks.

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�����@ Roland Garros chiefs onWednesday said that the delayedFrench Open will get underwayon September 27 as the rulingbodies of world tennis revealeda new-look calendar for a sportplaced on ice since mid-Marchdue to the coronavirus.

The French Open wasswitched from its traditionalMay-June slot because of thepandemic with September 20pencilled in as a start date.

Now, the Paris main draw ofthe season’s final Grand Slamevent will begin a week later andfinish on October 11.

With the US Open alreadyconfirmed to start on August 31,the ATP and WTA toursannounced their restart dates.

The ATP Tour will resumein Washington from August 14while the WTA starts inPalermo, Italy, on August 3.

Unlike the US Open inNew York, Roland Garros willmaintain its qualifying event inthe week before the main draw.

“In the current, difficult cli-

mate, we are well aware that itis a privilege to be able to holdRoland Garros in its usual for-mat,” said Bernard Giudicelli,the president of FrenchTennis Federation (FFT).

“Especially since thequalifying tournamentwill help to financiallysupport a category of pro-fessional players who havebeen severely affected by thisunprecedented crisis.

“The responsible decision

we made on March 17 to post-pone the Roland Garros tourna-ment until the autumn means

that the 2020 clay season canbe saved, providing thecurrent situation contin-ues to improve.”

After Washington,the ATP Tour will skip

the now cancelled RogersCup in Toronto, and head for

New York for CincinnatiMasters and then the US Open.

Once the US Open is over,

the tour heads to Europe for claycourts events at the MadridOpen and Italian Masters in therun-up to the French Open.

The ATP said a furtherupdate on a possible Asia swingahead of European indoorevents, culminating with the sea-son-ending ATP Finals inLondon, is expected in mid-July.

Unlike the ATP, the WTAset out plans to visit Asia afterthe conclusion of Roland Garroswith the China Open in Beijingset for October 12, leadingtowards the WTA Finals atShenzhen from November 9-15.

WTA tournaments, howev-er, will not have fans on site.

“For now, the vital energyof spectators in stadiums willbe greatly missed, but ourbroadcast and social mediapartners are exploring newways to engage with our fantas-tic fans,” said WTA chief exec-utive Steve Simon. AFP

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Robert Lewandowski saidBayern Munich hadproved they are the best

club in Germany after securingtheir eighth straight Bundesligatitle on Tuesday as the Polishstriker’s first-half volley sawthem claim a 1-0 win at WerderBremen.

Bayern were confirmedGerman champions for the30th time in the club’s proudhistory to maintain their iron-grip on the Bundesliga shield inrecent years.

“We have showed that weare the best team in Germany,”said Lewandowski.

Lewandowski struck twominutes before the break witha brilliant chest and low strike,but Bayern had to endure anervy final 11 minutes afterteenage left-back AlphonsoDavies was sent off for a secondyellow card.

At the end of a first 45 min-utes dominated by Bremen’sdogged defending and pouringrain, Bayern broke throughwhen centre-back JeromeBoateng chipped over the topfor Lewandowski to score.

It was the Poland striker’s31st league goal of the season,a career best, keeping him oncourse to be named the league’stop scorer for the fifth time.

The result means club stal-wart Thomas Mueller nowequals the league record of for-mer Bayern great FranckRibery with his ninthBundesliga title.

Head coach Hansi Flicklanded the Bundesliga title inhis first season in charge hav-ing stepped in when Niko

Kovac was sacked lastNovember.

Even the coronavirus lock-down could not stopBayern’s momentum,with the championswinning eight consecu-tive games in all compe-titions since theresumption of Germanfootball last month.

Flick, assistant coach when

Germany won the 2014 WorldCup, could land the treble asBayern face Bayer Leverkusen

in the German Cupfinal on July 4 and holda 3-0 first-leg lead overChelsea in theChampions League last16. “This is BayernMunich, the goals are

always high,” said Flick afterclub president Hainer Herbert

had said the treble is the goalthis season.

“We have now reached ourfirst big goal, the cup is now thenext goal, then the ChampionsLeague, but you can’t plan forthat.”

The home defeat meansBremen, who are three pointsfrom guaranteed safety withtwo games left, badly need aresult at fellow strugglers Mainz

this Saturday or againstCologne at home on the finalday of the season.

Elsewhere, BorussiaMonchengladbach overpow-ered Wolfsburg 3-0. While lastplaced Paderborn was relegat-ed into the second divisionafter losing 0-1 to newly-pro-moted Union Berlin, whoremain another season inGermany’s top flight.

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Lionel Messi was rugby tack-led and then scored a penal-

ty as Barcelona put the pressureback on Real Madrid by easingto a 2-0 victory over Leganes atan empty Camp Nou onTuesday.

Messi was hauled to theground in the first half by a div-ing Unai Bustinza wrappingtwo arms around his waist andhe was knocked over again inthe second, this time earning apenalty, which he converted.

After 33 appearances,Messi now has 26 goals this

season. In his last eight games,he has seven goals and eightassists.

The 17-year-old AnsuFati had earlier givenBarcelona the lead, contin-uing his breakthrough sea-son with a fifth goal in eightleague starts.Leganes could have made

the reigning champions feeluncomfortable if Miguel-Angel Guerrero had takeneither of two golden earlyopportunities but the first wascleared off the line and the sec-ond denied by the post.

“We had a bit of luck at thebeginning,” admitted Barcacoach Quique Setien.

But his team’s reward for arather underwhelming perfor-mance is a five-point advantageover Madrid, who can reducethat back to two by winning athome to Valencia on Thursday.

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The 2019-2020 ChampionsLeague, suspended since

March because of the coron-avirus pandemic, will be com-pleted in a ‘final eight’ format inLisbon in August, UEFA said onWednesday.

Europe’s top club competi-tion will be decided by a seriesof one-off matches beginning inthe Portuguese capital on August12, with the final on August 23,European football’s governingbody confirmed following ameeting of its executive commit-tee.

Similarly, the Europa Leaguewill be completed with a ‘finaleight’ across four German cities,with the final in Cologne onAugust 21.

The closing stagesof the women’sChampions Leaguewill also go ahead in aneight-team straightknock-out tournamentin Bilbao and SanSebastian, in Spain, from August21 to 30.

“Football is leading thereturn to a more normal life herein Europe,” said UEFA presidentAleksander Ceferin, but in allcases it remains to be seen if anysupporters will be allowed toattend matches.

Almost all games aroundEurope are currently beingplayed behind closed doors

amid strict health guidelines,and Ceferin said no decisionwould be made on whether to letspectators in “until mid-July”.

“If I would answer todaythen we don’t think we couldhave spectators at the Europa

League and ChampionsLeague quarter-finals,semi-finals and finalsbut things are changingrapidly,” he said.

“A month ago Icouldn’t even answer ifwe could play the com-

petition. Now we will play it,hopefully.”

With the European deathtoll from the coronavirus easingand numerous EU countriesthis week opening their bordersagain to visitors, there is somehope that matches can be playedbefore crowds.

The men’s ChampionsLeague final was initially due tobe played in Istanbul in May

before the Covid-19 crisis tookhold.

The Turkish city will nowhost the 2021 final instead, withSaint-Petersburg, Munich andLondon hosting the followingthree years.

Similarly, the Europa Leaguefinal that was supposed to beplayed in the Polish city ofGdansk, will now host nextyear’s final instead.

The quarter-finals andsemi-finals are usually held overtwo legs, home and away, butwill now be played as single ties.UEFA said all matches would besplit between Benfica’s Estadioda Luz, and the nearby EstadioJose Alvalade, home of Sporting.

The 65,000-capacity Estadioda Luz hosted the final of Euro2004 and the Champions Leaguefinal in 2014, while Sporting’s50,000-seater stadium was alsoused at Euro 2004 and for theUEFA Cup final in 2005.

�����@Napoli’s all-time top scorer DriesMertens signed a new contract until 2022with the Serie A club on Wednesday, justhours before they face Juventus in theItalian Cup final.

“Those who love Naples know thatthis love is eternal. I will giveeverything until the last dayto remain in the history ofthis club and this city,” theBelgium international saidin a video posted onhis Twitter account.

The 33-year-old’s new deal willrun until 2022 butalso has theoption of a thirdseason.

“Happy to betogether for a longtime. Long liveDries!” tweeted clubpresident Aurelio DeLaurentiis. AFP

�1�*����=���>@ Serena Williams committed to play atthis year’s US Open on Wednesday as US TennisAssociation officials vowed they can safely stage the firstGrand Slam since the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.

With top men’s stars questioning the wisdom of thestaging the event, the USTA said the event will be stagedAugust 31 to September 13 without spectators at NewYork’s National Tennis Center, which in April became atemporary hospital facility to combat the coronavirus pan-demic.

“I really can’t wait to return to the US Open 2020,”Serena Williams said in a video message. “I think the USTAis going to do a really good job of ensuring everyone isgoing to be safe.

“This is crazy. I’m excited.”The Flushing Meadows fort-

night will be the first GrandSlam event staged since the dead-ly virus outbreak shut down glob-al sport.

The site will also hostthe ATP Western andSouthern Open, typi-cally staged inCincinnati, the weekbefore the US Openwith a similar safety“bubble” that includestesting for players.

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England captain Joe Rootsees a shade of Virat Kohli

in his deputy Ben Stokes andfeels the flamboyant all-rounder will lead by examplelike the Indian skipper if he hasto take charge during the three-Test series against the WestIndies beginning July 8.

Root is expecting thearrival of his second child inJuly and he could miss a matchor two to be with his wifeCarrie and also to maintain thebio-security protocols to tack-le Covid-19.

“You know Virat (Kohli)goes out there and performs

and expects everyone to goand do the same within thesame team and I imagine

that’s how Ben will go abouthis business,” the premier

English batsman said in achat show on Sony Ten’s Pit

Stop.

Stokes has already said he’sready to take the challenge tobe the “the Scottie Pippen to JoeRoot’s Michael Jordan”, refer-ring to the basketball legend’sChicago Bulls team of the late1990s.

“I think Ben is better...Ben would make a better‘Michael Jordan’ than me. He(Stokes) has a great quality,

leads from the front, just asMichael Jordan did you know,”Root quipped.

“He’s already a big leader inthe team as the vice-captain...There’s a huge amount

of respect for him. He has obvi-ously accomplished so muchwithin the game and withinTest cricket that he’s more thanwell enough equipped to do areally good job.”

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Reigning world 100m cham-pion Christian Coleman

was provisionally suspendedon Wednesday over a misseddrugs test, putting him at riskof a two-year ban that wouldrule him out of next year’sTokyo Olympics.

Coleman, who only nar-rowly avoided being bannedlast year after three violationsof anti-doping “whereabouts”rules across 2018 and 2019,said in a statement on Twitterthat he was the victim of “apurposeful attempt to get meto miss a test.”

The Athletics IntegrityUnit (AIU), the anti-dopingarm of World Athletics,responded by saying testershad followed the rules whenthey visited Coleman’s apart-ment on December 9, 2019.

Coleman said he was out

shopping for Christmas pre-sents. “I was more than readyand available for testing and ifI had received a phone call Icould’ve taken the drug testand carried on with my night,”he said.

“I’ve been contacted byphone literally every other time

I’ve been tested,” said Coleman.The AIU responded in an

e-mail to AFP in which theysaid “we will not comment onthe specifics of an ongoingcase” but that “a phone call isdiscretionary and not amandatory requirement.”

“Any advanced notice oftesting, in the form of a phonecall or otherwise, provides anopportunity for athletes toengage in tampering or eva-sion or other improper con-duct which can limit the effi-cacy of testing,” the AIUadded.

Coleman, 24, is now barredfrom competition pending ahearing under World Athleticsanti-doping rules.

The news came 12 daysafter another 2019 worldchampion, Bahrain’s Salwa EidNaser, winner of the women’s400m, was provisionally sus-pended for the same reason.

�1� ���@ Young Indiabatswoman JemimahRodrigues believes a full-fledged women’s IndianPremier League (IPL) canmake a difference byunearthing talent such asShafali Verma which wouldhelp the national team do wellat the global level.

Countries such asAustralia and England organ-ised T20 tournaments forwomen to develop the gameand Rodrigues believes thesame will happen in India ifthere’s a women’s IPL.

“If you see the Big Bashand the Kia Super Leaguehave developed the game

out there so much forAustralia, England and noweven New Zealand has start-ed. That’s (IPL) definitelygoing to develop the game andit’s also going to get newer tal-ent,” Rodrigues said on ICC’s

100% Cricket.She cited the example of

the 16-year-old Shafali, whoshone at the ICC Women’sT20 World Cup with herexplosive batting, as one of thefinds of the IPL.

“We came to know aboutShafali Verma through theIPL, she did so well in the IPL.We knew she could do well inthe domestic circuit but afterthat playing against

International players andbeing that fearless person wecan get many more talents ris-ing up playing such matches,”she said.

The BCCI has hostedwomen’s IPL exhibitionmatches in the last two yearsbut has said a full-fledgedtournament will take sometime to take shape.

The Board had decided toorganise a four-team women’s

T20 challenge to run parallelto the men’s IPL play-offswith a total of seven matchesto be played .

Acknowledging theBCCI’s efforts to expand thewomen’s IPL, Rodrigues saidthe tournament was a greatlearning experience for theIndian players who got theopportunity to rub shoulderswith veterans of the game.

“Playing matches in frontof a crowd its a differentexperience, that’s what’s goingto help us play internationalcricket alongside the experi-ence we are going to get shar-ing the dressing room withSophie Devine, Meg Lanning,we ourselves will get to learnso much.

“It will be great to have awomen’s IPL, the BCCI are onit, and hopefully soon we willbe having a proper women’sIPL,” she added. PTI

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Cricket is set to resume in SouthAfrica on June 27 as the country’s

board (CSA) on Wednesdayannounced the launch of an innov-ative competition titled 3TCricket,where three teams will play in a sin-gle match at SuperSport Park inCenturion.

According to a Cricket SouthAfrica statement, the three teams willcompete for the inaugural SolidarityCup. It will be the first Live sportingevent organised in the country sincethe coronavirus-forced lockdown inMarch.

As per the new format, 24 ofSouth Africa’s top cricketers will fea-ture in three teams playing twohalves in one match.

The teams are the Eagles, to becaptained by AB de Villiers,Kingfishers, to be led by KagisoRabada and the Kites, which will haveQuinton de Kock as captain.

The match will have 36 overs intwo halves of 18 overs each. Eachteam will bat for one innings of 12

overs, split into two 6-over periods.Each 6-over period will be bowled bya different opponent.

The starting positions will bedetermined by a draw. The teamsrotate from batting to bowling/dugoutin the first half.

In the second half, the teams batin order of highest score in the firsthalf. In case a team loses seven wick-ets, the last batsman can bat alone buthe can score only in even number ofruns.

The team with most runs bagsthe Gold, while the next two sides winSilver and Bronze respectively.

�1����@ Rio Games Bronzemedallist Sakshi Malik has saidthat growing up she did notknow what the Olympics were,and the desire to one day sit inan aeroplane fuelled her ambi-tion to become successful insport as it would help her trav-el across the world.

“I had been playing sportssince I was a child but had littleidea about the Olympics,Commonwealth Games andAsian Games. It was after I gotinto wrestling and started win-ning medals at a junior level thatthe interest in these events start-ed going up,” Sakshi said onWednesday.

“Later on, as Sushil Kumarand Yogeshwar Dutt startedwinning medals including at theOlympics, it served as a hugemotivation for me. IANS

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0������������50�1��� /��������������"����"������ ���+ �����2���&��������N=D����� ��������J����������@ England includedeight uncapped players in a 30-man training group announcedon Wednesday ahead of nextmonth’s Test series against theWest Indies.

The England & WalesCricket Board last monthnamed a 55-strong traininggroup. But the selectors havenow whittled the number downto those who are more likely tobe in contention for the Test sideas opposed to the one-dayteam.

The new group will meet atthe Ageas Bowl on June 23 andremain at Hampshire’s head-

quarters as they prepare for anintra-squad match on July 1-3.

That will give players achance to press their case forinclusion in the Test squad.

Among the uncapped play-ers in the 30-man squad arebatsman Dan Lawrence, wick-etkeeper-batsman James Braceyand seamer Ollie Robinson.

But there were no majorsurprises in the squad, whichincludes Test skipper Joe Root.

Rory Burns, Jofra Archer,James Anderson & Mark Woodwere all selected even thoughthey have been making theirway back from injury. AFP

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