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IRREGULAR by MANJUL

You must see all those ads my govt isreleasing, you will realise how much

I’ve changed your life!

POST NEWS NETWORK

Nayagarh, Nov 24: Six personsincluding two women and two mi-nors were killed after being hitby a dumper in Sarankul town ofNayagarh district, Tuesday af-ternoon. The deceased were iden-tified as Rajesh Mohapatra, 17, ofGudiasahi, Nilakantha Moharana,80, his granddaughter KajalMoharana, 15 of Suarsahi in thetown, Subhasini Sahu, 42, SarojiniSahu, 35, and Padmalochan Sahu,30, of Narendrapur.

The mishaps occurred at twoseparate places in the town.Notably, at first, the dumper hit twowomen— Subhasini and Sarojini—near Narendrapur of the townkilling them on the spot. As thedriver fled the scene at a higherspeed, it hit four more persons atSuarsahi on the way. MORE P5

Dumper mows down6 people in Nayagarh

Actor Bidita Bag believes the world will be abeautiful place if men and women startsupporting each other more

WISHFUL THINKINGChina successfully launched its unmannedspacecraft mission to the Moon to bring lunar rocks

CHINA’S ‘SPACE DREAM’

INTERNATIONAL | P10

VOLUME 10, ISSUE 233 | www.orissapost.com

LEISURE | P2

The Commissionerate Police claimed it has crackedthe daylight heist from IIFL’s Nayasarakbranch in Cuttack DOWNTOWN | P4

CUTTACK IIFL HEIST CRACKED

12 PAGES | `4.00BHUBANESWAR | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25 | 2020

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AGENCIES

New Delhi, Nov 24: Even though novaccine has made an official entry inthe markets, least in India, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi kind of laidout an SOP for future vaccination inthe country. In a meeting with chiefministers and other representativesfrom states and Union Territories,Modi asked states to put in place ade-quate infrastructure like cold storagefacilities for future vaccine distributionplans, saying it is a national commit-ment that everyone gets inoculated.

Noting that alertness has givenway to "widespread" negligence aboutCOVID-19 among people, Modi said afew states have seen a surge in the in-fection in the same way as many coun-tries witnessed after an earlier de-cline and asked chief ministers tofocus on bringing down positivity andfatality rates by curbing the virustransmission.

India has come out of the "deep sea"of this crisis after the world hadthought that it will find it difficult todeal with the pandemic and the coun-try is now moving towards the shores,he said, while using a famous verse tocall for avoiding a situation where"our ship capsizes where the water isshallow" (hamari kashti wahan doobi,jahaan paani kam tha).

Just like the focus in the COVID-19fight has been on saving each andevery life, the priority in the vacci-nation drive will be to ensure that itreaches everyone, he asserted.

He, though, avoided giving a time-line about the vaccine, saying the gov-ernment is keeping a close watch assome vaccine candidates have reachedthe final stage of the trial. He asserted

that the safety of citizens will be asmuch a priority for the government asthe speed of the vaccination pro-gramme. While experts and scientistswork on developing the vaccine, the cen-tral and state governments have tofocus on containing the virus spread,he said, cautioning against any laxityand negligence which, he added, havebeen seen in the "fourth stage" of the

fight against the pandemic.India has so far limited the harm due

to the pandemic at the minimum andis in a much better state than manyother countries in terms of recoveryand fatality rates, he said. In the meet-ing, which had a special emphasis oneight states that have seen an upwardtrend in the corona cases, Modi askedall chief ministers to work to bring

down the positivity rate to near five percent and the fatality rate to below oneper cent. He called for a higher shareof RT-PCR tests. These eight stateswith high caseloads are Haryana,Delhi, Chhattisg arh, Kerala,Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat andWest Bengal. The cumulative nationalCOVID-19 positivity rate stands at 6.87per cent as on date, while the dailypositivity rate is 3.45 per cent, as perthe health ministry data. Some states,however, have higher positive ratesthan the national average. The na-tional fatality rate stands at 1.46 per cent,but it is higher in Delhi and a fewother states. Modi said the first phaseof the disease was marked by fearwith reports of a few people even tak-ing their own lives in panic, while thesecond phase saw a sense of appre-hension creeping in as people avoidedothers and hid their infection in fearof getting socially ostracized.

In the third phase, Modi noted, therewas a sense of acceptance about thedisease with those infected even an-nouncing it publicly and asking oth-ers to take care while people generallybecome more alert. As the recoveryrate grew, people began thinking thatthe virus is not harmful and has weak-ened, he said of the fourth phase.Many thought even if they are in-fected, they will be cured, he added.

No vax in sight, PM issues SOP

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: TheSrimandir at Puri is likelyto open its door to devoteesby the third week ofDecember, a senior officialof the SJTA said Tuesday.The 12th century shrine isclosed since March due tothe COVID-19 pandemic.

This was informed byShree Jagannath TempleAdministration (SJTA) chiefadministrator KrishanKumar barely an hour afteropposition BJP andCongress MLAs in theAssembly demanded theopening of the Puri templefor public as devotees aredenied a glimpse of theTrinity since March.

The SJTA chief admin-istrator said a specialStandard OperatingProcedure is being formu-lated for allowing the devo-tees to enter the temple. Hesaid the SOP will deal withthe conduct of smooth dar-shan of devotees adheringto the COVID-19 guidelines.

Replying to a question onNagarjuna Besha to be heldFriday, Kumar said a 3-layersecurity arrangement willbe made at the temple dur-ing the event. Nobody otherthan the servitors will beallowed to enter the templepremises. Action will betaken against any kind of vi-olation. This apart, the servi-tors will not be allowed tocarry phones with them.

Meanwhile, the templereopening issue was raisedin the Assembly by BJP

chief whip Mohan Majhiwho demanded the imme-diate opening of the shrineas devotees are denied 'dar-shan' of their deities sinceMarch. "When the govern-ment of Maharashtra couldopen temples and places ofworship amid the prevailingCOVID-19 pandemic, whyis the Odisha government re-luctant in opening ShreeJagannath Temple in Puri,"Majhi asked. Congress ChiefWhip Taraprasad Bahinipatiwith folded hands urgedSpeaker to give a ruling onopening all the temples in-cluding Srimandir.

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Nov 24: The Indiangovernment banned 43 mobileapps Tuesday under section 69A ofthe IT Act. The action has beentaken against mobile applicationswhich were involved in activitiesprejudicial to India's sovereignty,integrity, defence, security andpublic order.

“Ministry of Electronics andInformation Technology today is-sued an order under section 69A ofthe IT Act blocking access to 43mobile apps. This action was takenbased on the inputs regarding theseapps for engaging in activitieswhich are prejudicial to sover-eignty and integrity of India, de-fence of India, the security of thestate, and public order.

“Ministry of Electronics andIT has issued the order for block-ing the access of these apps byusers in India based on the com-prehensive reports received fromIndian Cyber Crime CoordinationCenter, Ministry of Home Affairs,”a government press release stated.Recalling, that the governmentJune 29 and September 2 had alsobanned several apps to protest thesovereignty and integrity of India.

On June 29, 2020 the Centrehad blocked access to 59 mobileapps and September 2, 2020 118more apps were banned undersection 69A of the IT Act.

43 more apps banned

AGENCIES

Wilmington, Nov 24: US President-elect Joe Biden Tuesday began anew phase in his transition to theWhite House after the Trump ad-ministration gave the Democrat ac-cess to critical resources that willenable him to take the reins ofpower in January.

The General ServicesAdministration’s announcementMonday that it would formally rec-ognize Biden’s transition came afterweeks of the president falsely claim-ing that the November 3 election hadbeen marred by widespread voterfraud. Trump, in a post on Twitter,offered support for the move.

Critics have said the president’s

refusal to accept the results un-dermined US democracy and un-dercut the next administration’sability to fight the novel coron-avirus.

While Trump stopped short ofconceding, it was the closest he hascome to acknowledging that it istime to hand over power to Biden,who will take office January 20.The GSA announcement will allowthe president-elect to access mil-lions of dollars in funds and focuson putting together a leadershipteam.

It also paves the way for Biden andVice President-elect Kamala Harristo receive regular national secu-rity briefings that Trump also gets.On Tuesday, Biden and Harris for-

mally introduced their appoint-ments to critical national securityand foreign policy positions inWilmington, Delaware.

Two Trump administration of-ficials said the Biden agency re-view teams could begin interact-ing with Trump agency officials assoon as Tuesday. The Biden tran-sition team said meetings wouldbegin with federal officials onWashington’s response to the coro-navirus pandemic, along with dis-

cussions of national security is-sues.

Biden Monday tapped trustedaide Antony Blinken to head theState Department and John Kerry,a former US senator, secretary ofstate and 2004 Democratic presi-dential nominee to serve as his spe-cial climate envoy.

Biden, who plans to undo manyof Trump’s “America First” policies,also named Jake Sullivan as hisnational security adviser and LindaThomas-Greenfield as US ambas-sador to the United Nations - bothwith high-level government expe-rience.

He is likely to tap former FederalReserve Chair Janet Yellen to be-come the next Treasury secretary,

according to two Biden allies, whospoke on condition of anonymity todiscuss a personnel decision that wasnot yet public.

Sue Gough, a spokeswoman forthe Pentagon, said that theDepartment of Defense had beencontacted by the Biden-Harris team.

“DoD is prepared to provide post-election services and support in aprofessional, orderly, and efficientmanner that is befitting of the pub-lic’s expectation of the Departmentand our commitment to nationalsecurity,” Gough said.

While Trump Monday said hebacked GSA Administrator EmilyMurphy’s decision, he and his ad-visers vowed to continue fighting theelection results.

Biden names team after Trump clears way for transition

SELF-IMMOLATION BID ROCKS ASSEMBLY

Srimandir likelyto reopen in Dec

$20 SPUTNIK SHOT IN INDIA BY JAN NEW DELHI: Russian Sputnik V vaccine will costless than $10 (around Rs 700) for single dose,said Krill Dmitriev, head of the Russian DirectInvestment Fund, Tuesday. Sputnik V is a two-dose vaccine. This means the two-shot coursewill cost around Rs 1,400. This means the priceat the launch will be two or more times cheaperthan mRNA vaccines with similar efficacy levels,claimed Dmitriev. However, Sputnik V will begiven free of charge for Russian citizens. RDIFand partners have launched production of the lyophilized (dry) form of the vaccine,which is stored at a temperature of +2 to +8 degrees Celsius. Such a regime enablesthe distribution of the vaccine in international markets, as well as expanding its use inhard-to-reach regions, including areas with tropical climates. The current agreementsbetween RDIF and leading foreign pharmaceutical companies allow the Sputnik V vac-cine to be produced abroad for 500 million people per year, starting from 2021. RDIF iscurrently considering additional applications from a number of countries and compa-nies to further increase production capacity. The first international deliveries of theRussian Sputnik V vaccine will be made to customers in January 2021 based on theexisting partnerships with foreign manufacturers. Those customers, who have recentlysubmitted their requests, will be able to receive the first batches of the vaccine start-ing from March 2021. Meanwhile, the second interim analysis of clinical trial datashowed a 91.4% efficacy for the Sputnik V vaccine on day 28 after the first dose.

STAY ALERTn The priority in the vaccination drive

will be to ensure that it reacheseveryone

n Safety will be as much a priority asthe speed of the vaccinationprogramme

n High caseloads in Haryana, Delhi,Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Maha, Raj,Gujarat, WB

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NO ONLINE VIEWING OF NAGARJUNA BESHA

PURI: Srimandir authoritiesTuesday rejected a proposalto allow online Darshan ofNagarjuna Besha of LordJagannath which is beingorganised after a gap of 25years. The authorities madeit clear that ‘Patitapabana’ atthe Lions’ Gate would not bedecorated with the warriorattire November 27.“Srimandir tradition doesnot permit online Darshan ofNagarjuna Besha. Similarly,the temple Record of Rightshas no provision for decorat-ing Patitapabana with theNagarjuna Besha,” saidSrimandir chief administra-tor Krishan Kumar.

A man walks along a shore before the landfall of Cyclone Nivar at Marina Beach in Chennai,Tuesday PTI PHOTO

TURBULENT TIME

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: A couplefrom Nayagarh district attemptedself-immolation outside the Assemblyhere Tuesday, alleging that they havebeen denied justice in the alleged ab-duction and killing of their five- year-old daughter. The incident resonatedin the Assembly where oppositionBJP and Congress came down heav-ily on the BJD government.

The incident took place duringnoon when the House was discussinglaw and order situation in the state.The victim girl's father has allegedthat the main accused in the case is

a key aide of a minister fromNayagarh, and the police were "bow-ing down to political pressure".

The couple, identified as AshokSahu and his wife Soudamini fromJadupur village in Nayagarh district,was however rescued by the secu-rity personnel. Though the couplehad poured kerosene oil on their bod-ies, they were prevented from light-ing the matchstick by the securitypersonnel.

Ashok alleged that his five-year-old daughter "Pari" was kidnappedwhile she was playing near homeJuly 10. Her body was later foundin the backyard of the house with

eyes gouged out and kidneys re-moved.

"We lodged a complaint atNayagarh Sadar police station, butno action was taken. We found herbody dumped in our backyard twoweeks later," the distraught fathersaid. "We had even named the ac-cused at the grievance cell of the

Superintendent of Police and theCollector, but no action has beentaken," Ashok stated.

He also alleged that the accusedand his associates attacked themOctober 26, as they refused to with-draw the complaint in connectionwith the case. "Although the policearrested 10 people for attacking us,it spared the main accused," heclaimed. Bhubaneswar DCPUmashanakar Das said the couplewas first taken to Capital hospitalfor medical examination and latersent to Nayagarh. The Nayagarh SPalso talked to the couple over phoneand assured them all help.

SPEAKER ORDERS MOS HOME TO MAKE A STATEMENT ON THE ISSUE IN THE HOUSE WEDNESDAY

P2 POLICE BRUTALITY IS NOTHING NEW, SAYS JADA PINKETT

leisure Actress Jada Pinkett Smith says police brutality isnothing new, and is glad that the atrocity is gettinghighlighted thanks to social media. “Police brutality isnothing new but it's more visible now because ofcellphones and social media sharing images and video,”variety.com quoted Pinkett Smith as saying.

Singer Liam Payne says he has moved into ahaunted house, and that is why he is havingtrouble sleeping. The former One Direction singerwas convinced there was a ghost in his old Londonhome. Now, he thinks he has moved into anotherhaunted house, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 25 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

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AQUARIUSToday, you will iron outany trouble with ease.But you may choose toplay martyr and shouldera bit of blame. That’s quite a lot to do forothers, even if it is done out of compas-sion. You may think you are setting stan-dards for others to follow, says Ganesha,but that may not be the case.

PISCESNeedless rigidity onlyserves to imprison youwithin outmoded walls offaulty reasoning.Inculcating some flexibility will giveyou some much-needed wriggleroom to manoeuvre things your wayfor good, says Ganesha.

SAGITTARIUSYou become your ownjudge today. Throughintrospection, you try tofind you the variouscauses that lead to troubles in your life.Though it may take time, eventually youachieve what you want and try to findreasonable solutions for the same.

LIBRAGanesha says you willlearn a lot from yourpast experiences for ashining future. You willbe slightly possessive about some costlyitem that you own. There will be small con-cerns during the day about different mat-ters, which will give you mental stress. Onthe whole the day will pass by nicely.

SCORPIONo matter how rich andsuccessful you become, itis very important to staygrounded. Never let yoursuccess go to your head, advisesGanesha. Rudeness and overconfidencemay take away everything from you andmay leave you empty handed.

LEOYou will not be in themood to take up signifi-cant tasks today. Youwill want to throw yourresponsibilities to the wind and pursueleisurely activities. However you willstill need to tackle some pressingissues. It is easier to swim with the tide,than against, , says Ganesha.

VIRGOYou will be bubblingwith ideas today. Youmay face a dilemmabetween your obliga-tions and present duties, which couldprove to be very perplexing. New con-tacts turn out to be very useful.Ganesha says blood is thicker thanwater, and family and friends willcement their relationship with you.

GEMINIToday, you are likely toremain transparent in allyour dealings, forecastsGanesha. You can be optimistic about yourchances of success if you choose to pro-pose to that special someone. The day willbring more pleasure than pain.

CANCERYou will spend your dayreflecting on your pastand thinking what wentwrong, predictsGanesha. But keep in mind that yourmistakes won't lead to the end of theworld, unless you are a nuclear scientist.So get your act together, and stopbrooding over your mistakes.

ARIESIt is a sunny, sparklingday, and the stars spellsuccess. If you're feelingcreative, simply pick up a paintbrush ortry a new recipe. However, care andcaution should be the buzzwords if youare driving alone, suggest Ganesha.

FORTUNE FORECAST

TAURUSYour romantic relation-ship will be working on anoverdrive today, saysGanesha. You will discover answers tothe finer aspects of your love life.Overall, you will have a refreshinglycreative outlook all through the day. Itis a favourable day for those who cher-ish unrequited love, says Ganesha.

CAPRICORNMounting pressure ofwork and responsibilitiesduring the day may drainyour energy, but not yourenthusiasm, feels Ganesha. The secondhalf of the day will be tiring, as you willbe fighting a tough battle with yourcompetitors. You'll come out triumphantfrom the fight as you perform smartlyand get your acts right.

BREVITY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS CROSSWORDSUDOKU

SOLUTIONS

CRO

SSW

ORD

SUD

OKU

CHECK FOR SOLUTIONS OF THE PUZZLES TOMORROW

post To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the numbers 0 to 9 and the letters A to E.

LIAM PAYNE’S SPOOKY REASON FOR LOSING SLEEP

New Delhi: The web series DelhiCrime has won the Best DramaSeries award at the 48thInternational Emmy Awards, heldvirtually this year owing to the on-going Covid pandemic. The show be-comes the first Indian programmeto win an International Emmy.

The news was confirmed by theInternational Emmy Awards on itsofficial page on Twitter.

Writer-director Richie Mehta’sseven-episode series has ShefaliShah in the central role of DCPVartika Chaturvedi, and narratesthe story of investigation in the af-termath of the heinous Delhi gang-rape of December 2012.

As soon as the show is declaredwinner in the Drama Series category,

Shefali can be heard reacting withdelirious joy. Although we don't seeher in the video, she can be heardshrieking ‘Oh my God!’ severaltimes. In his acceptance speech,writer-director Mehta thanked allthe producers, the OTT platformNetflix that streams the show, thecasting crew and the cast, with a spe-cial mention of Shefali Shah, his par-ents and wife, the Sundance FilmFestival, and the Delhi police teamheaded by ‘Neeraj Kumar and theamazing Chhaya Sharma’ thathelped them bring the show alive.

He paid a special tribute to the vic-tim and her mother. “Finally the fear-less and tireless hero of all moth-ers and her daughter. Not a daygoes by when I don’t think about you

both and what the world subjectedyou two to. And I hope none of usever forget that,” he said.

The fictionalised crime dramaseries also features Rasika Dugal,

Adil Hussain, Rajesh Tailang, AvijitDutt, Gopal Dutt, Jaya Bhattacharya,Denzil Smith and YashaswiniDayama in pivotal roles.

Delhi Crime bags Int’l Emmy AwardWRITER-DIRECTOR RICHIE MEHTA’S SEVEN-EPISODE SERIES WITH ACTRESS SHEFALI SHAH IN THE CENTRAL

ROLE BECOMES THE FIRST INDIAN PROGRAMME TO WIN AN EMMY SINCE ITS CONSTITUTION IN 1973

Mumbai: Actress Bidita Bagcalls herself a manist, and be-lieves the world would be a beau-tiful place if men and womenstart understanding and sup-porting each other more.

“I understand men very well.I call myself a manist. I believemen should be feministsand women shouldsuppor t men.Then automat-ically theworld will be-come a bet-ter place!We don’thave todo so-cial

awareness campaigns andprotests for equality,” she said.

The actress not only calls her-self a manist, she also likes toparticipate in the No ShaveNovember movement, and herInstagram account bears testi-mony to the fact.

“I also posted during NoShave November. I

looked handsomewith beard andmoustache attimes. This yearI could notshoot in mous-tache andbeard becauseof Covid, but

every year I doit,” informedthe actress.

Bidita willnext be seen inthe film FaujiCalling, whichis expected torelease soon

on an OTT platform. IANS

‘I understand menvery well, call

myself a manist’

An online exhibition of pho-tographs by Gurugram-

based writer, filmmaker and aself-taught photographer VijayS Jodha, titled Born to Performfeaturing portraits of some of

the world’s finest and most in-spiring performing artisteswho happen to be physicallychallenged, is currently onview till December 6.

It is organised by IndiaInternational Centre and UN-ESCO to commemorateInternational Day of Personswith Disabilities observedDecember 3 annually.

The exhibition draws from

ongoing photography projectshot in India and abroad. Theproject focuses on some of theworld’s leading performingartistes from Australia,Cambodia, Canada, China,India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan,Malaysia, Mauritius and manyother countries.

As per the organisers, Bornto Perform is a four-year old andongoing photography project

shot in India and overseas. Itfeatures portraits of some ofthe world’s finest and most in-spiring performing artisteswho happened to be physicallychallenged.

“The project focuses on anaspect of disability that islargely ignored by media, pol-icymakers, activists and evenmembers of the Divyang com-munity’s right to cultural re-sources. When it comes to theissue of empowering the dis-abled, issues of education andlivelihood rightfully occupycenter stage. However, trueinclusion can only happenwhen members of the com-munity also enjoy equal ac-cess to all cultural resource,” they said.

This photo project high-lights this aspect by focusing

on some of theworld’s lead-ing perform-ing artistes.Featuredartistes includeAlienetteColdfire (finalist,France Has Got Talent), India’sclassical dance troupe We AreOne and Australian croonerTony Dee - the voice of We’reThe Superhumans campaignfor the Rio 2016 ParalympicGames.

The photographer, Vijay S.Jodha, has worked extensivelyon disability issues in Indiaand abroad. In 2018, he was in-vited to present one of hisprojects and address dele-gates from 195 countries atUNESCO headquar ters in Paris. IANS

Born to Perform features artistes with disabilities

Mumbai: Several celebrities congrat-ulated the cast and crew of the web-se-ries Delhi Crime, which has won theBest Drama Series award at the 48thInternational Emmy Awards.

Filmmaker Karan Joharwrote: “Thisis just amazing! Congratulations to theentire team! Richly deserved.”

Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar congratu-lated the team as she said: “India just wonit’s first Emmy.”

National Award-winning actor VickyKaushal simply wrote: “Congrats Team#DelhiCrime.”

Actress Yami Gautam said: “Proudand congratulations to the team#DelhiCrime.”

Actress Aditi Rao Hydari called thewin “amazing”.

Actress Sonali Bendre said: “India'sfirst International Emmy award.Congratulations to the entire team of

#DelhiCrime.”Actress Dia Mirza congrat-

ulated the team and said thewin is "richly deserved".

The news of the win wasconfirmed by the InternationalEmmy Awards on its officialpage on Twitter. “TheInternational Emmy forDrama Series goes to DelhiCrime produced by

@GoldenKaravan / @skglobalent /@NetflixIndia,” tweeted @iemmys,with the tags #India!, #iemmys and#iemmyWIN. IANS

B-TOWN CONGRATULATESCAST AND CREW

The project focuses onsome of the world’sleading performingartistes includingAlienette Coldfire,

finalist, ‘France HasGot Talent’, India’s

classical dance troupe‘We Are One’, Aussie

crooner Tony Dee - thevoice of ‘We’re The

Superhumans’

Bidita Bag

P3

downtown

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WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 25 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARFINISHING TOUCHES

An artisan paints clayidols at a mandap atDolamundai in Cuttackahead of KartikeswarPuja, Tuesday

INFECTED RECOVERED DEAD

World 5,97,34,991 4,13,26,117 14,05,827

India 91,77,840 86,04,955 1,34,218

Odisha 3,15,271 3,07,374 1,671

COVID-19 TRACKER

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: Revenuefrom mining activities in the statehave increased manifold in the lastfive years, if data presented in theAssembly Tuesday is any indication.

The state government, Tuesday,put forth the data on collection ofcoal royalty by Mahanadi CoalfieldsLtd (MCL) and also theDistrict MineralFoundation (DMF) fundsgenerated from the min-ers under the Union gov-ernment’s scheme.

Data furnished by Steeland Mines MinisterPrafulla Mallick beforethe House said that thestate has seen a 49 per cent increasein coal royalty collection in the lastfive years since 2014-15. Similarly,the state witnessed 68 per cent risein collection of DMF Funds duringthe last four years since 2015-16.

As per the written statement sub-mitted by the state government be-fore the House, the state saw col-lection of`1420.95-crore coal royaltyin 2014-15 which increased to`1622.20crore in 2015-16 and later in 2019-20

the numbers escalated to`2110.54 crore.

Similarly, the state gov-ernment had reported atotal of `395.44 crore DMF

collections in 2015-16 while it wentupto `3079.01 crore in 2019-20, hint-ing towards a 68 per cent rise ofDMF collections.

The sudden rise in DMF collec-tions could be attributed to a surfeitin collections from Angul districtwhich hosts India’s largest coalfield.Likewise, Keonjhar district, whichhas largest iron ore reserves, also sawa robust growth in DMF collections.

The state government has been

pitching for revision in coal roy-alty before the Centre as per theprovisions of legislations on min-ing. The revenues and other col-lections from coal mining in the

state are also expected to rise withfurther planned coal block alloca-tions and mining activities in theeight new proposed coal blocks inAngul district.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: Now, fac-tories and industries can engagewomen employees in night shiftsas the state Assembly Tuesdaypassed the Factories (OdishaAmendment) Bill, 2020.

The House has approved amend-ment to the Factories Act repealingthe Ordinance brought to this effect.

As per the advice of theUnion Ministry of Labourand Employment and re-quest of several industrialorganisations, participa-tion of women in factorieswent beyond 7pm, said StateLabour Minister Sushant Singh.

As per the amendment, now theengagement of women workerswill be allowed, with consent, be-tween 7pm to 6am in factories withthe condition that adequate safety,welfare and security measures andsafeguards taken by the concernedfactories as prescribed.

Also, workers who would beworking for 180 days would be eli-

gible for leaves with wages in thenext calendar year, instead of theearlier 240 days. Similarly, the over-time limit has been enhanced from75 hours to 115 hours per quarter.

The Assembly also passed theContract Labour (Regulation andAbolition) Odisha AmendmentBill, 2020 to increase the thresh-old under the Act.

The state gover nment has exempted small companies

employing up to 50 workersfrom complying with the Act.

Amendment to theOdisha IndustrialInfrastructure Development

Corporation Amendment Act, 1980was also approved by the HouseTuesday.

Now, the state-run IDCO can beengaged in building of social in-frastructure like educational in-stitutions, universities, hotels, mul-tiplexes, commercial complex,healthcare facilities, entertain-ment facilities, resorts, sports com-plexes and tourism projects.

Revenue from coal royalty up 49%

PNN/AGENCIES

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: The stategovernment, Tuesday, informedthe Assembly that it has ordered ju-dicial investigations into two re-cent custodial death allegations re-ported from Puri and Sundargarhdistricts last week.

Replying to a discussion on the ad-missibility of an adjournment mo-tion on the state's law and order sit-uation, Minister of State for HomeD S Mishra said that separate judi-cial officers will probe the allegations.He said that the sub-divisional ju-dicial magistrate (SDJM) of Panposhand the first class judicial magistrate(JMFC) of Puri were entrusted with

the task of investigating the allegedcustodial deaths at Biramitrapurpolice station in Sundargarh dis-trict and Baselisahi police station inPuri town respectively.

Mishra said that the police havebeen investigating the allegationsin strict adherence to the guide-lines of the National Human RightsCommission (NHRC).

The opposition BJP and Congressclaimed that 32-year- old K Rameshwas hacked to death by the per-sonnel of Baselisahi police stationafter he was picked up November18. Another man, Tarique Salim,also died at Biramitrapur policestation under mysterious circum-stances the next day. OppositionBJP and Congress demanded strin-

gent legal action against formerPuri SP Akhileshvar Singh.

The opposition members alsocharged the police with committingexcesses, saying that six people weretortured at Pipli police station inPuri district last week. A deputy in-spector general (DIG) level inquirywas already ordered into the alle-gation. Senior Congress member S

S Saluja demanded resignation of theMinister of State (MoS) for home, andfiling of murder cases against erringpolice officials including formerPuri SP Akhileshvar Singh who wastransferred following the incident inBaselisahi police station.

“The state government is re-sponsible for the custodial deathof two persons in Puri andBiramitrapur. We demanded a caseagainst the erring police officials in-cluding the former SP under Section302 (murder) and a judicial inquiryby a sitting judge of the OrissaHigh Court,” Opposition chief whipMohan Majhi of the BJP said.

“As per official report, seven cus-todial deaths were registered in

Odisha in 2018. However, the guiltywas not punished in a single case.What kind of investigation the po-lice are doing?” he asked citing theexample of arrest of former MLAAnup Sai, who was arrested byChhattisgarh police in connectionwith a double murder case.

Mishra, however, said that thelaw and order situation is good inOdisha as some elections were con-ducted smoothly in recent timeswhile there was no communal flare-up in any part of the state. The min-ister said that the Naxalism alsoremained under control and the po-lice have successfully conductedlockdown, shutdown and curfewduring the pandemic.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: The stategovernment Tuesday submitteda written statement on seizure ofcannabis and brown sugar andthe number of arrests made inthese cases.

Data tabled by Excise MinisterNiranjan Pujari revealed thatseizures made during the pan-demic (2020-21 fiscal) have reducedby almost 50 per cent as comparedto the seizures made in 2019.

According to data, the depart-ment was able to seize 6396.51 kgcannabis in 2019-20. However, dur-ing 2020-21 (till October 31) theseizure of the same was about3495.80 kg. Similarly, the seizure ofbrown sugar in 2019-20 was at1556.4 gram while during the cur-rent fiscal it was 631.66 gram.

When it comes to the number ofpeople arrested for such offences,last year it was 279 but in the cur-rent fiscal it stands at 147. Hetalked about several initiativesthe government is taking to counterdrug abuse. He talked about rop-ing in Multi Disciplinary Squad tocrack down on anti-socials in-dulged in the illegal trade. Hestressed on awareness campaignsorganised by the government onharmful effects of drug abuse.

Drug seizureshalved: Pujari

Govt orders judicial probe amid uproar in AssemblyBJP AND CONGRESS DEMAND STRINGENT LEGAL ACTION AGAINST FORMER PURI SP AKHILESHVAR SINGH

MINING EARNINGS

Odisha saw collection of `1,420.95-crore coal royalty in 2014-15 which increased to

Rs 1,622.20 crore in 2015-16 and later in 2019-20the numbers escalated to `2,110.54 crore

The state recorded 68 per cent rise in collection of DMF Funds during the last four

years since 2015-16

The sudden rise in DMF collections could beattributed to a surfeit in collections from

Angul district which hosts India’s largest coalfield

COAL ROYALTY & DMF COLLECTIONSPERIOD COAL ROYALTY DMF COLLECTIONS

2014-15 `1,420.95 cr ----

2015-16 `1,622.20 cr `395.44 cr

2016-17 `1,649.07 cr `2,114.04 cr

2017-18 `1,750.94 cr `1,800.37 cr

2018-19 `1,945.37 cr `2,595.76 cr

2019-20 `2,110.54 cr `3,079.01 cr

Women can nowwork in night shifts

CUSTODIAL DEATHS

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: The stategovernment, Tuesday, said thatnot a single case filed before 2018is pending with the ChiefMinister’s Grievance Cell. Thedata was furnished by ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik before theAssembly in a written statement.

The details given by the CMsaid that in the last eight years,since 2011-12, it has disposed of28,879 cases which came beforethe special cell. He said in the last10 years the cell received alto-gether 89,222 grievances out ofwhich 36,302 have been disposedof while a total of 44,611 have beenforwarded to the departments con-cerned for action.

The custodial deathcases in Puri and

Biramitrapur showthat British Raj is

going on in the stateMOHAN CHARAN MAJHI |OPPOSITION CHIEF WHIP

Law and order situation in thestate is under control. Thegeneral elections and by-pollswere conducted peacefully.Naxal activity has come downin the state…(sic)DIBYA SHANKAR MISHRA | MOS HOME

POLITICKLE by MANJUL

DHARITRI TURNS 47

Dharitri and Orissa POST Chief Executive Adyasha Satpathy flanked by Editor Tathagata Satpathy lights a lamp aspart of the Odia daily’s 47th foundation day celebrations in Bhubaneswar, Tuesday OP PHOTO

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Cuttack, Nov 24: Acknowledgingthe ‘Right to be Forgotten’ as yet an-other facet of Article 21 of theIndian Constitution relating toRight to Life and Personal Liberty,the Orissa High Court has advo-cated for enforcement of such aright through the ‘process of court’.

At present, there is no statute inthe country which provides for theRight to be Forgotten/getting photoserased from a server permanently,the court observed Monday. The lawat present is silent on the remedy forvictims of sexually explicit videoor photos posted on social media byspurned lovers in order to harass andintimidate women, he said.

According to Article 21 of theConstitution, no person shall be

deprived of his life or personal lib-erty except according to procedureestablished by law. The ‘Right to beForgotten’, requiring erasure ofdata when it is not needed or fol-lowing revocation of consent bythe subject, is recognised under theGeneral Data Protection Regulation,Europe's digital privacy law.

Denying bail to an accused for al-legedly posting on social media in-

timate scenes stealthily recordedwith his female friend, Justice SK Panigrahi said, even as the ac-cused has deleted those obscenematerials, there is no mechanismavailable with respect to the victimto get the objectionable contentspermanently deleted from the serverof the social media platform.

“Though the statute prescribespenal action for the accused, therights of the victim, especially herright to privacy, which is intricatelylinked to her right to get deleted inso far as those objectionable photoshave been left unresolved,” JusticePanigrahi said in the order. “It is alsoan undeniable fact that the imple-mentation of the ‘Right to beForgotten’ is a thorny issue in termsof practicality and technological nu-ances,” he observed.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24:Bhubaneswar division Vigilance of-ficials Tuesday arrested a senior as-sistant ward officer of BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation (BMC) whilereceiving `20,000 as bribe.

The accused, identified asSudhanshu Majhi, was caught red-handed while accepting the illegalgratification. According to sources,the accused senior assistant wardofficer of ward 42 was allegedly de-manding`20,000 from one PrashantaKumar Ray of Rasulgarh area for re-lease of EMD and security depositof a work done by the latter in 2018.Ray approached the anti-corruptionofficials in this connection afterwhich Vigilance sleuths laid a trapto apprehend Majhi.

The Vigilance sleuths arrestedMajhi while he was accepting thebribe money. The hand wash of the

accused and right side pant pocketgave positive reactions with phe-nolphthalein. Majhi was forwardedto court, sources said.

The bribe money of`20,000 was re-

covered from the possession of theaccused. Further investigation ison to find out involvement of otherBMC officials in this case, a Vigilancesource added.

BHUBANESWAR: Vigilance offi-cials Tuesday arrested an assistantprofessor of College of Engineeringand Technology (CET) in Ghatikiaarea of Bhubaneswar for amass-ing assets disproportionate to hisknown sources of income. Assets ofthe accused assistant professor,Prasanna Kumar Mishra, whoteaches mathematics in CET, havebeen valued at `1.88 crore. Duringa raid, it was found that Mishra’s pos-sessions included two four-storeybuildings in Bhubaneswar, one dou-ble-storied building in Tangi, two

plots in Bhubaneswar, two two-wheelers, deposits in different banks,investment in LIC, gold ornamentsand other household items. After cal-culation, it was found that Sahuwas in possession of assets worth`1.88 crore, which constitutes 495per cent of his known sources of in-come. He was arrested by theVigilance sleuths who registereda case (35/20) under various sectionof Prevention of Corruption(Amendment) Act. The court senthim to judicial custody ti l lDecember 7.

BMC SENIOR WARD OFFICERHELD FOR ACCEPTING BRIBE

Vig arrests CET professor

TWEAK INNORMS

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24:Cold wavecondition intensified in the statewith mercury plummeting to aslow as 9 degrees Celsius atDaringbadi.

As per Met department sources,the night temperature has comedown to 15 degree Celsius andeven below it at 12 places, Tuesday.

Daringbadi in Kandhamal dis-trict was the coldest place in thestate recording the lowest tem-perature at 9 degrees C while theminimum temperature at Phulbaniwas 11, Sonepur 11.4, Angul 11.6,Baripada 12, Keonjhar 12.4, Talcher12.5 , Bhawanipatna 13.6 ,Jharsuguda 13.8, Koraput 14,Cuttack 14.5 and Chandbali 14.8.

The minimum temperature islikely to be 2-3 degrees Celsiusbelow the normal temperature atmany places in the state duringnext 24 hours and it will increaseby 3-4 degrees C in subsequenttwo days, the IMD said.

The weather forecasting de-partment also said moderate fogwould occur at one or two placesin Sone pur, Kalahandi ,Kandhamal, Sundargarh, Keonjharand Mayurbhanj districts duringnext 24 hours.

Mercury dips to9° C at aringbadi

PANEL TO CHOOSEOHRC HEADPOST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: A meetingunder the chairmanship of ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik is goingto be held Wednesday to choose thenext chairperson of Odisha HumanRights Commission (OHRC).

The post has been lying vacantafter the retirement of JusticeBimal Prasad Das November 14.The committee also comprisesleader of Opposition PradiptaKumar Naik and the Speaker ofOdisha Assembly, Surjya NarayanPatro. The committee will rec-ommend the name to the Governorfor approval.

CM’s Grievance Cellcleared pre-2018 cases

At present, there is no statute in thecountry which provides for the

Right to be Forgotten/getting photoserased from a server permanently

According to Article 21 of theConstitution, no person shall be

deprived of his life or personal libertyexcept according to procedure established by law

Need ‘Right to be Forgotten’under Article 21, says HC

downtownWEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 25 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARP4

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AFFIDAVITI Priyadarshani Nayak,D/o. Pradeep KumarNayak resident of At:Mohan Plaza Apartment,Flat No. 202, Plot No. 94,Satya Nagar,Bhubaneswar - 751 007,Dist. - Khordha declarethat I change my namePriyadarshani Nayak to“Esther Olive” videaffidavit date 23.11.2020 inBhubaneswar Court,Executive Magistrate.Henceforth, I shall beknown, called, identifiedas “Esther Olive” for allpurpose instead ofPriyadarshani Nayak.

CLASSIFIEDAFFIDAVIT

PNN & AGENCIES

Cuttack, Nov 24: The twin cityCommissionerate Police Tuesdayclaim to have cracked the sensa-tional daylight heist from IndiaInfoline Finance Limited’s (IIFL)Nayasarak branch here November19 with the detention of the ac-cused late Monday night.

Briefing the media at the DCP of-fice here, police commissionerSudhanshu Sarangi claimed that therobbery was an insider’s job.

“Lala Amrit Ray, an employeeof IIFL, had masterminded theloot. The accused have been takeninto custody. Around 2kg gold, twomotorcycles and the clothes they hadworn during the loot have been re-covered from their possession. Theinvolvement of six persons in thecrime was found,” Sarangi said.

Ranjan Behera alias Bapu ofBiswanathpur under Kisan Nagarpolice limits is one of the accused.Although Bapu isn’t directly in-volved in the loot, he had orches-

trated the modus operandi of thearmed robbery. Lala Amrit Ray, aresident of Aranapur under KisanNagar police limits, and Bapu arechildhood friends,” the police com-missioner said.

Sarangi said that Lala AmritRay and his brother Lala Ranjan Rayhad criminal antecedents.“Mangalabag police had arrestedLala Ranjan Ray for misappropri-ating about a kg of gold while work-ing with Muthoot Finance here.Although Lala Amrit Ray was alsoinvolved in the case, he managed toget bail from the Orissa High Court,”Sarangi added.

According to Sarangi, Amrit hasbeen working with IIFL for aroundfive years now, but the companywas blank about his complicity in

the Mangalabag case. “During in-vestigation, we came to know thatAmrit had committed several ir-regularities in IIFL over the lastfour years. He managed to hushup the irregularities in conviancewith previous auditors. Amrit, how-ever, recently landed in troubleafter a new auditor joined the com-pany. Sensing threat, Amrit metwith Bapu and told him about hisplans to quit the job. The duo pre-pared a blueprint for the loot,”Sarangi said.

He added that theCommissionerate Police wouldbring all IIFL staffers under thepurview of investigation to ascer-tain the amount of the misappro-priated gold and cash.

Highlighting the bleak securityarrangements at the ill-fated branchof IIFL, Sarangi said, “The CCTVcamera wasn’t functional. Thealarm system wasn’t working. Eventhe digital locker was defunct sinceJanuary, 2020. The security guarddidn’t have any arms. The regularsecurity guard was away as his fa-ther got infected by Covid-19.”

Sarangi praised the efforts ofthe Cuttack DCP Prateek Singhand other officers for cracking thecase within six days of the heist.

The police commissioner alsosaid that the state governmenthas approved `14 crore for instal-lation of high-end CCTV camerasat sensitive locations in the SilverCity. The Odisha Police Housingand Welfare Corporation has beenentrusted with the task to installthe CCTVs. The move will helpcurb the crimes.

Notably, around four maskedand armed miscreants stormedinto the IIFL branch November 19morning and decamped with goldornaments worth `12 crore and`4.5 lakh in cash within minutes.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik Tuesdaysaid the state cannot lower its guardagainst Covid-19 even after avail-ability of vaccine to fight the viralinfection.

Patnaik said this while attendinga meeting of chief ministers withPrime Minister Narendra Modi, asthe PM took stock of vaccination pre-paredness across the country overa videoconference.

“Though we have prepared forseamless vaccination programmeto save every life on priority basiswe cannot lower our guard, evenwhen the vaccine is available asduration efficacy of the vaccineagainst Covid-19 is still unknown,”the Chief Minister said.

Mentioning that Odisha is fullyprepared with a system in placefor vaccine distribution when it isavailable, Patnaik said, the states

focus is on frontline health workers,people above 50 years and thosewith comorbidity. “We need to en-sure that we all continue to wear

masks, practise social distancing andhygiene to protect ourselves againstthe infection,” he said.

Wearing masks is the best vaccine

which the state has to fight the pan-demic, the chief minister said.

“Let’s resolve not to take thevirus lightly,” Patnaik said.

S tate’s Covid-19 caseloadTuesday mounted to 3,15,271after 642 more people tested

positive for the infection, while 14fresh fatalities took Odisha’s toll to1,671, an official of Health andFamily Welfare (H&FW) depart-ment said.

Of the 642 new cases, 374 were re-ported from various quarantinecentres, and the remaining detectedduring contact tracing, the officialsaid.

Keonjhar recorded the maxi-mum number of new cases at 70, fol-lowed by Nuapada at 69 andSundargarh at 66.

Taking to Twitter, the H&FW de-partment said, “Regret to inform thedemise of fourteen #COVID19 pos-itive patients while under treat-ment in hospitals.”

Five deaths were recorded inSundargarh and three in Sambalpur.One patient each succumbed to theinfection in Angul, Cuttack,

Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Nuapadaand Rayagada.

Fifty-three Covid-19 patients havedied due to comorbidities, he said.

The positivity rate in the coastalstate stands at 5.59 per cent.

Over 56.42 lakh sample tests havebeen conducted so far, including

37,875 Monday, the official added.Meanwhile, another 648 Covid

patients recovered in Odisha, tak-ing the total recoveries in the coastalstate to 3,07,374.

The recovered cases include 76from Khurda, 51 from Angul, 48from Kalahandi and 40 from Cuttack.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24:RSS ChiefMohan Bhagwat arrived hereTuesday evening on a three-dayvisit during which he is slated toattend the annual meeting of AkhilBharatiya Karyakari Mandal(ABKM) amid strict adherence toCovid-19 guidelines.

The meeting, scheduled to beheld Wednesday and Thursday,will be attended by top func-tionaries of RSS from Odisha,West Bengal, Sikkim besidesAndaman and Nicobar Islands.

As many as 35 top office bear-ers from the regions will partici-pate in the indoor meeting whichis being held in a limited scale inview of the Covid-19 pandemic,RSS sources said. Welfare activi-t ies under taken by the‘Swayamsevaks’ during the pan-demic will be reviewed.Programmes, activities and train-ing for the swayamsevaks for 2021will also be finalised in the meet-ing. The RSS chief has no publicengagement during his visit.

BHUBANESWAR: ICAR-CentralInstitute of FreshwaterAquaculture Bhubaneswarcontinues the fervour of service tofisher folk and has representedIndia in two days expertconsultation meeting on“promoting innovations infisheries value chain for improvinghuman nutrition in South Asia”during 24-25 November 2020organized by SAARC AgricultureCentre (SAC), Dhaka, Bangladeshon virtual mode. Delegates frommember countries participated inthe meeting. The purpose of thismeet is two-fold. First is topromote innovations in valuechain dynamics for sustainableexpansion in fisheries and thesecond is policy recommendationsemerging from this consultationfor improving human health.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24:Commissionerate Police, Tuesday,arrested the owner of a placementagency on charges of cheating sev-eral job aspirants of over `10 lakh.The accused was identified asMahammed Ansari, a resident ofMadhsudan Nagar under Jatni po-lice limits.

Ansari has been staying at Srusti Plaza apartment in Airfieldpolice limits.

According to sources, oneSamarendu Rout of Tirtol inJagatsinghpur lodged a complaint

with Airfield police accusing Ansariof taking over `2 lakh from himon the pretext of providing him a

job outside the country. During the course of investi-

gations, the cops found that Ansari,

who has a placement agency - IrsatManagement and Service Pvt Ltd- at Bhimatangi, used to luregullible unemployed youths by or-ganising counselling camps in re-mote areas o f Ja jpur,Jagatsinghpur and other parts ofthe state. He used to collect moneyfrom the youths by promising high-paid jobs abroad.

Police officials till now have comeacross 14 such victims who hadgiven `10.65 lakh to Ansari.

Police arrested Ansari after reg-istering a case (250/20) in this regard.Court later sent Ansari to judicialcustody after rejecting his bail plea.

Bhagwat on 3-dayvisit to Odisha

Light and sound owners’ associations hold a demonstration at Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar, Tuesday, seeking thestate government’s permission to perform in social as well as cultural events OP PHOTO

DRUMMING UP SUPPORTIIFL HEIST CRACKED

Staffer masterminded robbery: CP

Twin city commissioner of police Sudhanshu Sarangi (R) addresses themedia as Cuttack DCP Prateek Singh looks on, Tuesday OP PHOTO

Placement agency chief held for cheating

Around 2kg gold and two motorcycles havebeen recovered from the accused

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: The stategovernment prohibited congre-gations of people at ghats, riverbedsand other water bodies on the oc-casion of Kartik Purnima.

“As such congregations havehuge potential for spread Covid-19 infections. Therefore, the stategovernment has directed in pub-lic interest to prohibit such ac-tivities on the occasion of KartikPurnima,” read an order issued byChief Secretary Asit Tripathy.

The government has also bannedconduct of Bali Yatra this yearand all other congregations re-lating to Kartika Purnima & BadaOsha throughout the state.

Any person found violating thisorder shall be punished under theprovisions of the DisasterManagement Act, 2005 and otherrelevant laws, it said. .

On Kartik Purnima, many peo-ple congregate at river ghats ornear other water bodies to takebath in the wee/morning hours andsail miniature boats.

Besides, Bali Yatra is organ-ised at various places which alsoattract huge crowds.

CONGREGATIONSDURING KARTIKAPURNIMA BANNED

State not to lower guard against nCoV: CM14 MORE COVID DEATHS IN ODISHA

We need to ensurethat we all continueto wear masks,

practise social distancing andhygiene to protect ourselvesagainst the infectionNAVEEN PATNAIK I CHIEF MINISTER

FOR A CRIME-FREE PURI

BJD activists take out a rally in Puri demanding a crime-free Pilgrim City, Tuesday OP PHOTO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: Unknowncyber fraudsters duped an elderlyperson of `6 lakh on the pretext ofupdating his KYC details to activatehis PAYtm account. The victim,Debraj Mishra, 65, has recentlylodged a complaint with theMancheswar police in this regard.

According to sources, Mishrareceived a phone call from a per-son, Ramesh who identified him-self as the official staff of PAYtmJuly 27, 2020. Ramesh told the vic-tim that he had to follow some in-structions to reactivate his ac-count which had been deactivatedjust a day before.

Mishra was also asked byRamesh to recharge his mobilenumber with `10 through his bankaccount having net banking facil-ities as process to reactivate hisPAYtm account. He later sent alink and asked Mishra to rechargehis mobile number by clicking onthe link.

Subsequently, he received sev-eral messages mentioning the trans-fer of around `6 lakh from his dif-ferent fixed deposit accounts at

same the branch. The victim also accused the bank

officials of wrong doing by allow-ing the withdrawal from fixed de-posits without his written appli-cation, as per prescribed bankingguidelines. He sought stringent ac-tion against the accused personsunder IPC and IT act.

Police have started investiga-tions into the case after registeringa case in this regard. Mishra alsolodged complaints with the na-tional Cyber crime reporting por-tal in this regard.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 24: In viewof students facing problems whiletaking admissions to Plus III courses,the Higher Education departmenthas extended the deadline for spotadmission of waiting list candi-dates for 2020-21 academic year.

The department has sent lettersto the principals of degree collegesregarding the revised timeline anddirected them to follow the same.

According to the letter, short-listed students can log in to SAMSwebsite and deposit their admissionfees by 5pm of December 5.Admission and data updation ofstudents who took admission inthe e-space will be done by 5pm

December 9. Students can get all the detailed

information from official websiteswww.dheodisha.gov.in andwww.samsodisha.gov.in.

However, new applicants willnot be entertained, the departmentsaid in the notification.

Earlier, the department hadstarted the procedure of spot ad-mission from November 9, 2020.

Plus III spot admission deadline postponed

Webinar onfisheries held

Crooks dupe senior citizen of `6 lakh

Police officials tillnow have comeacross 14 such victims who hadgiven `10.65 lakh tothe accused identi-fied as MahammedAnsari

Demonstrators throw social distancing norms to the winds during a rally atPMG Square in Bhubaneswar, Tuesday OP PHOTO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Berhampur, Nov 24: Police de-tained a minor boy on charge of hisinvolvement in the rape and mur-der of a minor girl under Sadarpolice limits in Ganjam district.

Police detained the minor boyafter the victim’s body was recov-ered from a house late Mondaynight. Police registered a case overa complaint by the victim’s fatherand sent the body for post-mortem,Sadar SDPO Jayant Mohapatrasaid. Further investigations are

on and the boy will be arrested ifhis involvement in the case is es-tablished, he said.

The SDPO said that the girl was

kidnapped six months back by theminor boy of another area andhad been kept confined in a house.

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POST NEWS NETWORK

Joda, Nov 24: Many firms, aftergrabbing mines with promise ofhigh premiums in Joda mining cir-cle in Keonjhar and Koida miningcircle in Sundargarh district, havestated their inability to operate themines for various reasons. Thiswill lead to scores of workers fac-ing job loss, a report said.

According to the report, afterthe government initiated the minesleases, many new and old miningfirms got hold of leases in variousmining circles in the state. A kindof competition was found in themining leases with companies hav-ing vied for marginal profits. Insuch situation, the government hadestimated to rake in huge revenuefrom the mining leases.

But the government’s hopes havestarted petering out for variousreasons, some mining experts havepointed out.

In June, leasing process of bigmines was taken up. Indian Bureauof Mines (IBM) fixes the prices ofthe minerals. Some mining com-panies had got leases of mines withvarying premiums of over 150 percent on mineral prices (per ton-nage) to be paid to the state gov-ernment. Problem started for somemining firms when they startedmining operations. They calculatedvarious costs related to mineral ex-traction and royalty. Taking allsuch factors into account, theyfound it unfeasible to operate them.They have meanwhile, apprisedthe state government of their op-erational inability.

It may be noted that five of thesemines belong to Joda and Koidamining circles. Experts said that thismight put the government in a fix

and leave it with two options— ei-ther go for fresh bidding or force thefirms to start operations.

On the other hand, thousands ofworkers have started losing theirjobs while operations have beenhampered in these mines.

Since June till date, these firmshave been unable to operate theirmines leading loss of revenue tothe tune of crores of rupees to thestate government. “In this situa-tion, hundreds of mining workershave migrated outside after losingtheir jobs,” lamented MaheswarRout, a labour union leader.

On the other hand, locals havebeen staging protests, demonstra-tions and dharnas, seeking jobs inthe operational mines.

Besides, transporters/truckers are

unhappy over transportation pricesof the minerals. Transporters andthe mine lease holders are at log-gerheads over the pricing issue inthe district. The miners, who havegot hold of the leases with morethan 100 per cent premiums, areallegedly trying to adopt fraudu-lent and illegal means to make upfor their loss.

Joint director of Mines depart-ment, Bhubaneswar, UmeshChandra Jena, during his visit toJoda area had detected that minerswere not abiding by the officialguidelines for their profitability.

In his letter 6605/23/9/2020, he hadpointed out illegalities in mineralgrade tampering.

However, Salil Kumar Behera,the joint director of Joda mining cir-

cle, said that Rs1,600 crore has beencollected as revenue from the min-ing sector from June till November.He admitted if mines were notmade fully operational, the rev-enue collection may be affected inthe current year.

Cost overruns for new mine opsFIRMS FIND IT ECONOMICALLY UNFEASIBLE TO OPERATE THE NEWLY LEASED MINES AFTER TAKING

INTO ACCOUNT THE HUGE PREMIUMS THEY HAVE PAID TO THE STATE

KORAPUT: Kodingamala minein Rayagada is going to be ex-panded. Public hearing on theproject expansion will be heldNovember 25. After protests bylocals, the admin decided to holdanother public hearing December2 at Podapadi in Rayagada.However, locals have opposedthe project and termed it illegal.

OMC on behalf of the stategovernment will conduct thepublic hearings.

A delegation of KodingamaliAnchalbasi Sangha has submit-ted a memorandum to the dis-trict administration in this regard.The Sangha activists said thatthe mining expansion is illegalas mineral extraction in the for-est land requires consent of thePalli Sabha and Gram Sabha asper the Forest Protection Act.

Besides, another outfitKodingamala Surakhya Manchhas assured support to the Sangha.The Manch said that the state gov-ernment has announced January9 to set up an aluminum plant atKansariguda. The Manch de-manded that the administrationafter holding a public hearing onthe project should only proceed.

Locals, activists sayno to expansion ofKodingamala mine

Some mining firms secured leaseswith varying premiums of over

150 per cent on mineral prices (pertonnage) to be paid to the state govt

After taking into accountextraction cost, royalty fees

and other charges, firms find thebusiness as a loss-making one

MATHS GONE WRONG

EXPERTS SAY THAT THIS MIGHT PUT THE GOVT IN A FIX AND LEAVE ITWITH TWO OPTIONS— EITHER GO FOR FRESH BIDDING OR FORCE THE

FIRMS TO START OPS

Artists render final touches to paintings of blackbucks on the concluding day of an art camp ‘Aranya’, organised byGanjam Akademi of Fine Arts, at Buddhakhol shrine in Ganjam, Tuesday OP PHOTO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Angul, Nov 24: Why has coalear ned the moniker ‘BlackDiamond’? How does coal formationtakes place? How coal deposits aredetected/ located? Is coal miningwithout explosion possible? If youwish to learn the answers to theseand more pertaining to coal, fret not.Angul town is going to have a mu-seum in the name of ‘BlackDiamond’ which will be the first-of-its-kind museum in the country.Once the museum comes up, it willhave all information related to coal,a report said.

While the foundation stone forthe museum is to be laid this year,the construction is estimated tobe completed in the next one anda half years.

The proposed ‘Black Diamond’museum is coming up on a piece of

land measuring 3.5 acres, at a budgetoutlay of Rs25 crore. The entireamount will be borne by theMahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).

Assam has a similar museumbuilt by Coal India Limited. But itis not fully digitized; the one com-ing up here is going to be fullydigitised. It will be a three-storiedbuilding.

So, it stands to reason that thestate-of-the-art museum will be thefirst-of-its-kind not only in the state

but also in the country. It is learnt that the museum will

house the equipment once used tomine coals. Visitors will get a chanceto learn everything starting from dis-covery to the usage of coal. Themuseum will also have an inter-national library where a visitorcan have the opportunity to readbooks written by renowned na-tional and international authors.Just a single click will present thema window of opportunity to learnmany a thing.

Students, academicians, histo-

rians and researchers in the dis-trict are very enthusiastic aboutthe proposed museum, referring itto be a milestone in the fields ofeducation and research.

The district administration in-formed that the museum will jointlybe constructed by the Navaratnacompany along with another com-pany. Earlier, three locations wereidentified and one of them has beenfinalised for the museum. It may bementioned here that the displacedpopulace will not be charged any-thing to gain access to the museum.

The fee amount for general visi-tors will be decided once the facil-ity is ready.

When contacted, Angul CollectorSiddharth Shankar Swain informedthat the blueprints for the coal mu-seum and the library have alreadybeen finalised. “Once completed,the museum will be a cynosure ofall eyes,” he added.

First-of-its-kind ‘Black Diamond’ museum in Angul soonWHILE ASSAM HAS A SIMILAR MUSEUM BUT IT IS NOT FULLY DIGITISED

Project plan pics

Foundation stone for themuseum is to be laid this year

The construction is estimatedto be completed in the next

one and a half years

The museum is coming up on apiece of land measuring 3.5

acres at a budget outlay of Rs25crore

The entire cost will be borne byMahanadi Coalfields Limited

WITH FINESSE

POST NEWS NETWORK

Rajnagar, Nov 24: The redraw-ing of boundaries of BhitarkanikaNational Park (BNP) after a span offour decades under this block inKendrapara district has sparkedup sharp protest, a report said.

The administration has excluded52 villages from the territorialboundaries of Bhitarkanika whileredrawing the boundaries. Theresidents questioned the yard-stick on the basis of which theadministration excluded the 52vi l la g es from the l imits o fBhitarkanika.

The matter came to fore afterthe residents under the aegis ofRajnagar-Pattamundai SurakshyaManch met the Rajnagar DFO andsubmitted a memorandum to himin this regard.

They demanded to revise themap of the national park failingwhich they will be ‘forced to launchan agitation within a week’ if theirpleas were not addressed, residentsDebadutta Sethi, Siba PrasadMohapatra, Raghbendra Mohanty,Tusharkanta Biswal andJagabandhu Khatua said.

They alleged that that the ad-ministration without publish-ing any notice, conducting anysurveys or fixing any benchmarkwhimsically excluded the 52 vil-lages from the territorial limits

of Bhitarkanika. They demandedthat the redrawing of bound-aries of Bhitarkanika should besuspended as the residents havenot been informed or are awareabout it.

They claimed that the block head-

quarters of Rajnagar as well as thepanchayats like Mahishasur,Kuranti , Mahulia,Chandibaunshamula andBhitaragad where there is no traceof any jungle and are at a distanceof 30 km from the Bhitarkanikaforests have been included in itsboundaries while the villages on itsfringes or even inside it have beenexcluded from the boundaries ofthe national park.

These areas have been entan-gled in the forest laws as these vil-lages have been marked inside theboundaries of Bhitarkanika.

Reports said the administrationincluded all the villages of Rajnagarblock and 90 villages of 12 pan-chayats in Rajkanaika block in theter ritorial boundary ofBhitarkanika April 22, 1975.

The residents claimed that er-roneous drawing of boundariessparked up resentment among theresidents for which they have beenagitating for the last 45 years.

Row erupts over redrawingof Bhitarkanika boundaries The admin excludes 52 villages from the territorial boundaries of Bhitarkanika while

redrawing the boundaries after 40 years

Aggrieved villagers under the aegisof Rajnagar-Pattamundai SurakshyaManch submit a memorandum toRajnagar DFO in this regard

POST NEWS NETWORK

Nayagarh, Nov 24: Six persons in-cluding two women and two mi-nors were killed after being hit bya dumper in Sarankul town ofNayagarh district, Tuesday after-noon.

The deceased were identified asRajesh Mohapatra, 17, of Gudiasahi,Nilakantha Moharana, 80, his grand-daughter Kajal Moharana, 15 ofSuarsahi in the town, SubhasiniSahu, 42, Sarojini Sahu, 35, andPadmalochan Sahu, 30, ofNarendrapur.

The mishaps occurred at twoseparate places in the town. Notably,at first, the dumper hit two women—Subhasini and Sarojini— nearNarendrapur of the town killingthem on the spot. As the driverfled the scene at a higher speed, ithit more four persons at Suarsahion the way.

Eyewitnesses said the dumperspeedily moved into the Sarankulbazaar and rammed a personPadmalochan supervising works ofhis under-construction house atSuarsahi. Nilakantha and his grand-daughter were standing nearbywhile Rajesh was on his bike by theroadside.

Three male persons were killedat the mishap site whereas criticallyinjured Kajal was rushed to theSarankul hospital where doctors

pronounced her dead.The dumper is stated to be of a

consultancy agency, a report said. The mishap sparked tension in

the area as the residents ofNarendrapur and Suarsahi put upthe bodies on Nayagarh-Odagaonroad and staged a road blockade.

Sarankul police reached the spotand tried to persuade the agitatorsfrom withdrawing the road block-ade but in vain. The tension in-tensified as the administrative of-ficials did not arrive at the spot.

They relented after the Nayagarhsub-collector and Odagaon tehsil-dar reached the spot in eveningand assured of action. The bodieswere sent for post-mortem.

Dumper goes on a mishap spree, kills 6 in Nayagarh

At first, the dumper hit twowomen near Narendrapur of

the town killing them on the spot

As the driver fled the scene at ahigher speed, it hit more four

persons at Suarsahi on the way

Image from internet

Minor boy detained over rape & murder

THE VICTIM GIRLWAS ALSO A MINOR

AND ABDUCTED 6MONTHS AGO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Patna, Nov 24: Two miscreantsTuesday snatched a bag containingRs 5 lakh in cash from a woman atTurumunga village under Patnablock of Keonjhar district.

The victim, identified asAnnapurna Mishra, is an ac-countant of a regional coopera-tive bank.

The incident took place in frontof a Bank of India branch. Eventhough it was a busy hour of theday and the area was crowded,none could get time to react, eye-witnesses said.

Sources said Mishra had with-drawn Rs 5 lakh from the Bank ofIndia branch. After withdrawingthe money, she was walking to

her bank with the bag contain-ing the money. She had come onlya few metres from the bank whenthe two unidentified persons rid-ing a black Pulsar motorcyclestopped near her. Before she couldguess their motive, they snatchedthe cash bag away and sped awayfrom the spot. All that happenedso fast that none could come toher rescue. After getting infor-mation about the incident,Turumunga police reached thespot and launched a probe.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Umerkote, Nov 24:Police Tuesdayrecovered bodies of two youthsfrom near Bamuni rivulet at Chikilivillage under Jharigaon block inNabarangpur village.

Since a bike was also foundlying close to the bodies, policesuspect the youths met an acci-dent Monday night.

Some villagers who had gonenear the rivulet to attend nature’scall Tuesday morning first spottedthe bodies. They immediately in-formed the police.

Upon reaching the spot, the po-lice recovered the bodies for postmortem. They found an AADHARcard and a Voter ID card carriedby one deceased. From these doc-uments, they identified one of thedeceased as Mukunda Jani, a res-ident of Umerkote.

2 bodies recoverednear Bamuni rivulet

Miscreants snatch bag with `5L from woman

The victim, identified asAnnapurna Mishra, is anaccountant in a regionalcooperative bank

FILE PHOTO

WORDSWORTH

power post P6

A fter weeks of refusing to concede election defeat and violating the tra-dition of transition of power at the White House, President Donald J.Trump’s administration on Monday authorised President-elect Joseph

R. Biden Jr. to begin a formal transition process.Trump’s green light to proceed with the transition is a strong sign that the

President’s last-ditch bid to overturn the results of the election may be com-ing to an end.

This is a major relief for everyone as the US is struggling with the risingnumber of coronavirus cases and the uncertainty over leadership is the lastthing that anyone wanted.

However, President-elect Biden waited for neither Trump to concede norto allow the formal transition of power as he set the ball rolling with a flurryof Cabinet picks announced over the last few days.

The speed with which Biden acted, immediately after it emerged that hewas the apparent winner in the November 3 election, is a sign of his resolutenesson ascending the office of the President of the United States (POTUS) andits myriad challenges.

Biden’s Cabinet picks suggest a resumption of a more traditional ap-proach to governing, relying on seasoned policymakers with deep expertiseand strong relationships in Washington and global capitals. And with a ros-ter that includes several women and people of colour — some of whom arebreaking historic barriers in their posts — Biden is fulfilling his campaignpromise to lead a team that reflects the diversity of America.

By tapping into many Obama era officials for several key roles, Biden hassignalled a sharp shift in foreign policies and the Democrat President’s im-mediate priority after assuming office on 20 January, 2021 could be to reversesome of Trump’s policies including the Iran nuclear deal which he helpednegotiate as vice-president during Obama’s era.

While tackling the pandemic and reviving the US economy are said to bethe priority of Biden administration, the President-elect has also laid out afast-paced agenda to unwind Trump’s harsh immigration policies. Biden couldface choppy waters in his efforts to reverse some of Trump’s policies as a closelydivided Congress could hamper sweeping legislative actions on immigrationreform. The Democrat President-elect made his reputation for reachingacross the political aisle as one of the central tenets of his candidacy. Duringhis 36-year career in the Senate, Biden earned admiration – and some criti-cism – for his commitment to bipartisanship and could use this skill toreach out to his opponents to score legislative wins.

On Monday Biden tweeted that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris andhe spent the afternoon meeting with a bipartisan group of mayors, sig-nalling a start of a strong partnership in the months and years ahead.

During the campaign, Biden had pledged to be a president who seeks notto divide but to unify the American society. If his actions since he won thepresidency are any indication, he is already on his way to achieving whathe set out to accomplish.

However, the biggest challenge for Biden would be dealing with a global per-ception about the US. It is no more a question of simply lack of evidence onelectoral fraud that Trump has been repeating every single day in his tweets.Some may label it as a domestic issue. But what Trump is doing, with his everyutterance, is that he is breaking down the edifice of Democracy itself. It was,repeat was, the USA which had been considered the epitome of what is calledthe free world. Trump and his campaign team have gone ahead, with virtu-ally no facts substantiating their preposterous charge of voter fraud, and filedcases in several courts in various states of the USA. Although many courtsare dismissing their petitions outright, the impression across the world hassolidified that elections in the US are susceptible to wrongdoings. This feel-ing itself has been enough to weaken the eternal struggle across the worldfor freedom, democracy and the wide spread yearning for elected represen-tatives to govern countries. The blame lays squarely on Trump for bringingthe USA down to such repute that an undemocratic and totalitarian leaderlike Vladimir Putin could dare to say he does not accept the results of the re-cent US election. This could be Biden’s toughest job coming up!

I used to think that the only peo-ple who believed in conspiracytheories were the type of peo-

ple you might find at a bank hav-ing an intense argument with theATM. “You rascal! I’ve been watch-ing you give notes to people, and I’vebeen thinking, what’s he up to?Then I saw the word ‘reserve’ on oneof those notes. What are you tryingto reserve? Seats for your childrenin medical college?”

In other words, I thought thepeople who believed in conspiracytheories were a little unstable, to putit mildly. Who would believe, for ex-ample, that NASA faked the moonlanding, that British intelligenceagents were responsible for PrincessDiana’s death, or that Mother Teresawas an undercover agent forAmerica?

But in recent years, thanks partlyto social media, there seems to beno shortage of conspiracy theo-ries or people who believe them. Ifyou follow the mainstream media,you may know that Joe Biden wonthe recent US presidential electionconvincingly, but you don’t haveto look far to find theories claim-ing a stolen election. Among the the-ories: ballots for President DonaldTrump were burned in large num-bers, voting machines were pro-grammed to undercount Trumpvotes, and thousands of mail-in

votes for Biden came from peoplewho are no longer alive.

It’s quite possible that a few vot-ers died after mailing their votes,especially with COVID-19 beingso rampant. But it’s less likely thatpeople filled out ballots for theirdead relatives. Americans are notthat crazy. They might cast votesfor their dogs, but not their deadrelatives.

The COVID-19 pandemic has it-self spawned dozens of conspir-acy theories. One theory is thatthe virus was deliberately createdin a lab in China. But if you ask con-spiracy theorists in the Arab world,it was actually Israeli scientistswho were working in the Chineselab. And if you ask conspiracy the-orists in India, you might find that

the Chinese lab received 100 percent of its funding from Pakistan.

Another theory is that the pan-demic is a population-control schemecreated by Microsoft co-founderBill Gates. Anybody who believesthis theory must also believe thatnewspaper reporters are wealthyfrom all the bribes Gates has giventhem to write positive articles aboutthe Gates Foundation. Did the foun-dation really spend billions of dol-lars to help fight hunger and diseasearound the world? Perhaps themoney went directly to a virus-cre-ating lab (along with the millionsfrom Pakistan).

That such theories exist isn’tsurprising, considering all the mo-tives people have for blaming onegroup or another. But what’s truly

shocking and scary to me is thenumber of people willing to be-lieve these theories. It’s not justoddballs living on the fringes ofcivilization; it’s our neighbours,perhaps even our friends. One studyin 2014 found that at least 50 per centof Americans believe in at leastone conspiracy theory (hopefullynot the one about Mother Teresa).

Because so many people believein conspiracy theories, it’s hard tocreate a psychological profile ofthem, says Dr. Viren Swami, a pro-fessor of social psychology at AngliaRuskin University in Cambridge,England.

We can’t label all of them ‘nut-cases,’ especially not to their faces.A few of them certainly are, but therest may be quite normal.

Swami told the Daily Expressthat people who rely on “more in-tuitive or emotional thinking” aremore inclined to believe conspir-acy theories, as are “people who feelpowerless, people who feel underthreat, people who feel they haveno control of what’s happeningaround them.”

I can understand why a Trumpsupporter who feels powerless mightwant to believe that the electionwas stolen. But believing that BillGates is responsible for the virus?That’s a sign that you might needa counseling session with Dr. Swami.

Conspiracy theory believers are everywhere

G20’s DEBT RELIEFA

global collapse in eco-nomic activity during theCOVID-19 pandemic hassignificantly increased

the risk of debt distress in manycountries, pushing the poorestones to the brink. In response,various international organisa-tions have unveiled a number of ini-tiatives to forestall circumstancesnecessitating between respond-ing adequately to the public-healthcrisis and servicing existing debts.

Most notably, the G20 has es-tablished a Debt ServiceSuspension Initiative (DSSI), thatallows the world’s poorest countriesto suspend official bilateral debt-service payments until next year.And this month, G20 leadersadopted a new common frame-work to address sovereign-debtrestructuring needs on a case-by-case basis.

For poorer countries grapplingwith the pandemic, debt not onlylimits their fiscal space for re-sponding to the crisis but alsoforecloses on future development.Faced with the sudden costs ofthe COVID-19 crisis, many coun-tries that are already struggling toservice existing debt have neededfresh financing, only to find thatit is too difficult or expensive to bor-row more. And even if they canmanage to do so, the additionaldebt burden will hamper them foryears, limiting their prospects forgrowth and development.

Far from involving a few un-fortunate countries on the margins,today’s sovereign-debt distressposes a potentially systemic risk.Since 2014, total sovereign debtas a share of GDP has not onlyrisen substantially; it has also be-come more fragmented, owing tothe use of more diverse debt in-struments among a wider rangeof creditors.

Given these circumstances, theglobal financial safety net urgentlyneeds to be broadened beyond thesupport currently offered by in-ternational financial institutionssuch as the International MonetaryFund and the World Bank. To thatend, the DSSI took the first step bysuspending principal and inter-est payments on debt falling due

between May 1, 2020, and June 30,2021 (having been extended fromDecember 31, 2020), thereby ex-panding the safety net for at least77 developing countries.

But while the DSSI offers somerespite, it also merely kicks thedebt-repayment can down the road,leaving the deferred payments tobe repaid in full between 2022 and2024. Debtor countries thus willhave to make up the differencewith larger repayments, and mighteven need to borrow more to serv-ice their frozen debt, in additionto any other debt taken on dur-ing the COVID-19 crisis. The 46countries that have applied fordebt suspension so far eventuallywill have to cover $5.3 billion ofpostponed payments, on top of$71.54 billion of pre-existing com-mitments; and any other debt con-tracted since the COVID-19 out-break will be added to the burden.

Although the G20’s latest debtinitiative misses the mark on manycounts (particularly when it comesto addressing the asymmetriesbetween debtors and creditors),it has at least put a common frame-work for debt reductions squarelyon the international agenda. The

new initiative has two distinctmerits. First, by allowing for acase-by-case approach, it addressesa specific concern raised by private-sector creditors, a key constituencythat was not included in the DSSI.

Second, the new frameworkbrings China on board, havingovercome some initial resistancestemming from the definition ofa state-owned bank (which raisedconcer ns that the ChinaDevelopment Bank and ChinaExport-Import Bank would them-selves be exposed to debt restruc-turing). Because China holds about63 per cent of overall debt owed toG20 member states, its participationis critical for the initiative’s success.

The common framework is animportant first step in the right di-rection. But the G20 cannot stopthere; the initiative needs to beexpanded into a common schemefor sovereign-debt restructuring.Sovereign debt is the only debtclass without a bankruptcy mech-anism. While individuals and com-panies can declare bankruptcy, acountry cannot.

So far, the international com-munity has relied on a contractualapproach to prevent and resolve

sovereign-debt problems. But thismethod often involves deep asym-metries between the treatment ofdebtors and creditors, resultingin an inequitable distribution oflosses among different types ofcreditors. We need a multilateralagency specifically tasked withcoordinating creditors, sharinginformation, and reducing thescope for information arbitrage.

In addition, the new frameworkshould assist debtor countriesthroughout the restructuringprocess. For example, as the IMFhas already suggested, the G20should task international finan-cial institutions with providing lim-ited financing in order to givedebtors some negotiating spaceto secure a sustainable debt-re-structuring deal.

To tie everything together, theG20 should draw on its OperationalGuidelines for SustainableFinancing to promote responsi-ble lending and borrowing along-side orderly, multilateral debt re-structuring. It should also supportdebt transparency and providethe necessary technical assis-tance, so that countries canstrengthen their debt manage-ment capacity before finding them-selves in debt distress.

Clear procedures, transparency,oversight, and accountability formanaging sovereign debt are broadpublic goods. All people deserve tobe fully informed about the stepstheir respective countries under-take when they borrow interna-tionally, just as they should beaware of their countries’ debt ob-ligations and liabilities. A frame-work that clarifies each step inthe process of incurring a debt –including the necessary checksand balances – is critical for en-suring responsible borrowing (andlending) more generally.

The writer, Professor ofInternational Economics at

the University of London’sQueen Mary Global Policy

Institute, is the author, most recently of The Cost ofFree Money (Yale University

Press, 2020). © PROJECT SYNDICATE

LOL

FOCUS

IN THIS

Although the G20’s latest debt initiative missesthe mark on many counts (particularly when itcomes to addressing the asymmetries betweendebtors and creditors), it has at least put acommon framework for debt reductionssquarely on the international agenda

Biden’s Toughest Job

Purchasing new brains

Amid-level executive was sofrustrated at being passed over

for promotion year after year, that, infrustration, he went to a brain-transplant centre in the hope ofraising his I.Q. 20 points.After a battery of physical andpsychological tests, he was told bythe centre's director that he was anacceptable candidate.“That’s great!” the executive said.“But I understand that this procedurecan be really expensive.”“Yes, sir, it can,” the director replied.

“An ounce ofan accountant’s

brain for example,costs one thousand dollars;

an ounce of an economist’s braincosts two thousand; an ounce of acorporate president’s is forty-fivethousand. An ounce of a Democrat’sbrain is seventy-five thousanddollars.”“Seventy-five thousand dollars for anounce of a Democrat’s brain? Why onearth is that?”“Do you have any idea,” the directorasked, “how many Democrats wewould have to kill?”

WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 25 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

It is the Divine Presence that givesvalue to life. This Presence is thesource of all peace, all joy, allsecurity. Find this Presence inyourself and all your difficultieswill disappear.

THE MOTHER

JEST

THE GLOBALFINANCIAL

SAFETY NETURGENTLY

NEEDS TO BEBROADENEDBEYOND THE

SUPPORT CURRENTLYOFFERED BY

INTERNATIONALFINANCIAL

INSTITUTIONSSUCH AS THE

INTERNATIONALMONETARY

FUND AND THEWORLD BANK

Paola Subacchi

WISDOM CORNERDon’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silveror gold. BOB MARLEY

You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. Youare what you are! JOHN LENNON

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world willknow peace. JIMI HENDRIX

WORLD

Readers of Orissa POSTare most welcome to contribute letters(200 words), articles andcolumns (between 750-1250words). Contributors arerequested to send theircontact numbers and fullpostal address/email ID. They may alsosend in their valuable comments, opinionand suggestions, preferably by email, to: edit@orissapost.com

B-15, Rasulgarh Industrial Estate,Bhubaneswar-751010

LettersTO THE EDITOR

THAT SUCH THEORIES EXIST

ISN’T SURPRISING,CONSIDERING

ALL THE MOTIVESPEOPLE HAVE FOR BLAMING

ONE GROUP ORANOTHER

Melvin Durai

Laudable effort

Sir, Mahanga Block Development Officer (BDO) NiharRanjan Mallick has set an example by turning up as alabourer for construction of a house under the PradhanMantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in Cuttack district. It wasto motivate a PMAY beneficiary who was yet to startconstruction of his house despite availing work order andinstallment money. It is found in the state that manybeneficiaries don’t start house construction even after re-ceiving the work order and first installment money eitherdue to lack of interest or some other problems. Despiterepeated reminders from the local PEO, the beneficiar-ies turn a deaf ear. The government has started a num-ber of targeted programmes to eradicate poverty. However,the benefits of the welfare schemes are not reaching thedeserving people. A strict and proper monitoring of allschemes must be done to check corruption and implementthe schemes in such a way that their benefits reach thetargeted people.

Hitesh Kumar Parida, PANIKOILI (JAJPUR)

Controversial amendment

Sir, The backlash by the Oppositionand civil society against the con-troversial amendment to the KeralaPolice Act has paid off, with the LeftDemocratic Front (LDF) govern-ment retracing its steps. The or-dinance mandates a jail term of upto three years for defaming orthreatening individuals through‘any mode of communication.’Even those supporting the LeftFront had expressed reservationsagainst the amendment (Section118A) which was introducedthrough an ordinance on Saturday.

NJ Ravi Chander,BANGALORE

Covid protocols

Sir, Madhya Pradesh has launched the‘Roko Toko’ campaign to stop and admon-ish those people who do not wear masks inpublic places as Covid-19 infections againspread through the state. An amount ofover Rs 1.34 crore has been collected inMadhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district aloneas fine from people violating the Covid-19protocols under this campaign. Many stateshave also been mulling to impose restric-tions to check the spike in Covid-19 cases.A lot of people are not following safetyguidelines and even attending weddingfunctions and public gatherings. Taking pre-ventive measures is the only way to deal withthe virus. The need of the hour is that peo-ple follow Covid-19 protocols and save lives.

Amit Singh Kushwaha,SATNA (MP)

cmyk

cmyk

Verecund

Averecund person is modest, bashful or shy. The Oxford EnglishDictionary’s entry for this word, published back in 1916, doesn’t suggest

it’s obsolete or even rare. In fact, it hasn’t yet quite vanished, though it hasnever been common. You need to have learned Latin in your youth — oncestandard for educated writers of earlier generations, of course — to havebeen likely to include this word in your prose. Its heyday, insofar as it everhad one, was roughly in the half century after 1850. The word is from Latinverecundus, which derives from the verb vereri, to revere or fear.

Vet

AVet is a most curious word when you look into its history. Like the nounof the same spelling, it’s actually an abbreviation of veterinary surgeon.

The noun came first, about the middle of the nineteenth century, and theverb followed a few decades later. The initial sense was the obvious one: tosubmit an animal to examination or treatment by a veterinary surgeon. Forexample, you might have a horse vetted before racing, to be sure it was fit torun. By the early years of the twentieth century, it had begun to be afigurative term for any careful or critical examination, which remains itsprincipal sense. In Britain, it’s also used for the process of investigating thesuitability of a person for a post that requires loyalty and trustworthiness.The key point about the verb vet is that it puts the focus on the process ofexamination or consideration, not on the results of that process. Though theend result may well be approval or its reverse, in the past it has not been asynonym for approve.

If you follow the mainstream media, you may know that JoeBiden won the recent US presidential electionconvincingly, but youdon’t have to look far tofind theories claiming a stolen election

cmyk

cmyk

KERALA

WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 25 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARP7

WESTBENGAL

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Thiruvananathapuram, Nov 24:Well begun is half done, goes the oldsaying and in Kerala, this now aptlyfits the once invincible Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan, who isnow in his fifth year of governance.After a good beginning, he has nowturned vulnerable.

Even though Vijayan never led thepoll battle in 2016, instead it was han-dled by his arch rival and old foe,party colleague -- the aging V.S.Achuthanandan. The moment itbecame clear that the LeftDemocratic Front has won a re-sounding victory, defeating the then'tainted' Congress Chief MinisterOommen Chandy, the master strokecame from the CPI-M party head-quarters in Delhi, with Vijayan be-coming the Chief Minister andAchuthanandan getting a mere dec-orative title -- 'Kerala Castro'.

Thus began the journey ofVijayan, fresh from 17 years of ex-perience of being the toughest CPI-M state secretary, he had nothingto look backward as by then, despitehanding over the charge to a newsecretary, the party in Vijayan'sfull control.

Vijayan had no experience inreal governance before this apartfrom being a minister for around twoyears in the 1996 E.K. Nayanar-ledLeft government as the State PowerMinister.

But he made up with his toughdemeanour, giving an impressionthat he is invincible. It came to apoint that, much like in the party,in the government too, he became

the last word, with none in his partyor the allies ever challenging him.

Incidentally, it was the first timein the history of any Left govern-ment, where the Chief Ministerheld sway over the party, whichuntil then was the other way round,when the governance was driven ef-fortlessly from the CPI-M state partyheadquarters in the capital city.

None will forget, about howVijayan 'controlled' the then V.S.Achuthanandan-led Left govern-ment between 2006 to 2011.

As Vijayan was running his gov-ernment with none to challengehim, over confidence stepped inand with that came a bit of arro-gance. He declared a war with themedia and the common talk wasthe Chief Minister will speak onlywhen he wishes to speak and notwhen the media wants him to speak.

His first acid test came when thegiant Ochi waves in the last weekof November 2017, took a heavytoll of the coastal Kerala in gen-eral and the coastal hamlets in par-ticular in the state capital, which leftaround 143 fishermen killed.

Vijayan, despite being in his of-fice, did not visit the grief strickenhapless families, and when he finallydid, many days later, he literallywas chased away, for not arrivingon time.

Then next year in August, badluck struck Kerala again when thestate witnessed the worst everfloods in a century which left morethan 483 people dead and an esti-mated loss of close to US $ 6 billiondented the state's economy. In 2019again floods hit the state followedby the Covid pandemic.

In between came another test-

ing time for Vijayan, when he madea move, much to the dislike of manyHindus, and opened the famed

Sabarimala temple for all women.This led to a setback in the 2019Lok Sabha polls, when the Left man-aged to win just one of the 20 seats.

Since then, things have started togo from bad to worse for Vijayan.During the pandemic time, Leaderof Opposition raked up the Sprinklrissue, where Vijayan was accusedof giving away precious privatedata of the Covid patients. Andthen came the gold smuggling case,which saw his most trusted secre-tary and senior IAS official --M.Sivasankar go to jail.

If that was not enough, came an-other shocker when BineeshKodiyeri, son of CPI-M state sec-retary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan waspicked up by the EnforcementDirectorate and was arrested andput in a Bengaluru jail. Followinga huge backlash from the Congressand the BJP, Balakrishnan had torelinquish his post.

Then came another huge setbackwhen Vijayan arbitrarily decided toimpose a media gag and came outwith a new Ordinance. However, itdid not have a life span of morethan two days, when the nationalleadership of the party intervened,and Monday he had to pull down.

Despite all these lows, Vijayanis banking up on the local boy pollsscheduled for next month. Generallyin Kerala, these polls have alwayslooked positive for the Left, and ifit manages to win as it has in thepast, Vijayan might be able to wardoff more trouble to his 'invincibil-ity', as at the moment he has turnedvulnerable.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kochi, Nov 24 (PTI): The CustomsTuesday formally arrested sus-pended IAS officer M Sivasankarin connection with the sensationalgold smuggling case.

A day after a special court forPMLA cases granted it permissionto arrest Sivasankar, who is cur-rently in judicial custody, a team ofof ficials from the Customs(Preventive) Commissioneratereached the jail where he is lodgedand recorded his arrest, sourcessaid. Sivasankar, former principalsecretary to Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan, is presently lodged in a jailhere after being arrested by theEnforcement Directorate probingthe money trail in the gold smug-gling case.

Soon after recording his arrest,the Customs filed a plea before theAdditional Chief JudicialMagistrate (Economic Offences),Ernakulam, seeking departmen-tal custody of Sivasankar, who wasthe former principal secretary toKerala Chief Minister.

In the remand report filed in thecourt, the Customs claimed thatthe key accused in the gold smug-gling case, Swapna Suresh, has re-vealed that Sivasankar was in the

know and has also abetted thesmuggling activities.

The Customs said Suresh madethis claim during her interroga-tion at the Attakkulangara Vanithajail in Thiruvananthapuram,November 18.

In an affidavit filed in the courtseeking 10 day custody ofSivasankar, the Customs said fur-ther investigation is warranted toidentify whether any more per-sons are involved in the smugglingof huge quantities of gold intoIndia, which is a grave threat to theeconomy and national security.

I t said inter ro g at ion o fSivasankar is required to acquireclarity as to the modus operandiand details of the accomplices be-hind the smuggling activity, with-out delay.

Seeking the 10-day custody ofSivasankar, the Customs said ithas become most essential for fur-ther progress of the investigation.

Monday, the Customs, in itsprayer before the Special court forPMLA cases seeking permission toarrest Sivasankar, had submittedthat during the course of investi-gation, it was able to get direct in-criminating material against the of-ficer of his involvement in the goldsmuggling.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 24: The Kerala gov-ernment has moved the SupremeCourt against the Centre's deci-sion to lease Thiruvananthapuraminternational airport to AdaniEnterprises.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF)government has filed the appealchallenging the Kerala High Courtwhich dismissed the plea October19 on the grounds that it was di-rected against the privatizationpolicy of the Centre and hence de-void of merits.

Seeking an interim stay of thehigh court's verdict, the plea filedthrough lawyer CK Sasi said thatit has challenged the “arbitrary andillegal action” of the AirportsAuthority of India in attemptingto prefer a particular private con-cessionaire, Adani EnterprisesLtd, for the operation, manage-ment and development ofThiruvananthapuramInternational Airport.

The Kerala government had filedthe application in the high courtafter conducting an all-party-meet-ing, where demands were raised forthe withdrawal of the UnionCabinet's decision to lease the air-port to Adani Enterprises.

The Centre had said that thestate government did not qual-ify in the bidding process thatwas carried out in a "transpar-ent manner.”

Adani Enterprises had won therights to run six airports - -Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur,Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuramand Guwahati -- through the PPPmodel after a competitive biddingprocess in February, 2019. TheKerala State IndustrialDevelopment Corporation (KSIDC)had taken part in the bidding.

“The contention of Kerala...Isthat the attempt on the part of the

Airport Authority to grant right ofOperation, Management andDevelopment ofThiruvananthapuram Airport, toa private party...Who has no pre-vious experience in managing air-ports, is not in public interest andis violative of the provisions ofthe Airport Authority of India Act,1994…,” the plea said.

It said the Chief Minister had of-fered to take the project at the rateat par with what was quoted bythe Adani group firm.

“The High Court erred in hold-ing that there can be no claim ofpromissory estoppel as no promisehas been extended by the CentralGovernment or Airport Authorityof India at any point of time," it said.

"It is submitted that the secondrespondent (Ministry of CivilAviation) assured the State of Keralathat there would not be any priva-tization of ThiruvananthapuramAirport and that a Special PurposeVehicle with State Governmentand financial institutions as part-ners could be created with the valueof the state's property as the state'sshare,” the plea said.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bankura (WB), Nov 24: WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee Tuesday claimed that thenew farm laws enacted by the Centrehave led to black-marketing of po-tato and onion, causing sharp risein prices of the commodities.

Banerjee said that she has writ-ten to Prime Minister NarendraModi that the Centre should en-sure that there is no black-mar-keting of these items or providethe necessary power to states fortackling the problem.

“The central government hasmade destructive farm laws leadingto black-marketing of essentialfood items like potato and onion,”the chief minister said at an ad-ministrative meeting here.

“Earlier we used to keep a checkon prices of these essential fooditems but the central Acts haverobbed the states of their powers.This has caused losses to farmersas well as consumers,” theTrinamool Congress supremo said.

Alleging that the central gov-ernment has looted everythingfrom farmers through the acts,the chief minister said thatprices of potatoes are increasingalarmingly.

She said that the state govern-ment should not be blamed for thehigh prices of items like potato oronion, which were earlier in thelist of essential commodities.

The Centre in September en-acted the Essential Commodities(Amendment) Act, 2020, whichremoved cereals, pulses, oilseeds,edible oil, onions and potatoes

from the list.“The Centre has made such an

act that it (pricing) has gone into thehands of black-marketeers,”Banerjee said.

She said that the West Bengalgovernment is still selling potatoesat Rs 25 per kg from its 'SufalBangla' outlets with the stock it hadprocured earlier.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Kolkata, Nov 24: West Bengal’s rul-ing Trinamool Congress MP fromBasirhat Nusrat Jahan slammed theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) forusing religion as a political tool toconsolidate their support baseahead of the state assembly elec-tions.

She also spoke about 'love-jihad'dubbing it two separate thingswhich have no correlation. TheTrinamool parliamentarian saidthat "love" and "jihad" are two dif-ferent things which do not go hand-in-hand. She said it is a matter ofpersonal choice who wants to bewith whom.

"Love is very personal. Love andjihad don't go hand-in-hand. Just be-fore polls, people come up with top-ics like this. It is a personal choicewho you want to be with. Be inlove and start falling in love witheach other. Don't make religion apolitical tool," Jahan said in replyto a question during a media in-teraction here.

The Bengali actor-turned-politi-cian is married to businessmanNikhil Jain.

Earlier, Jahan had participatedin the festivities of Durga Puja forwhich she came under severe at-tacks by radical Islamists forcommitting a 'sin' and bringingdisrepute to Islam.

The issue was that the actress wasseen playing the dhaak, foldinghands before Goddess Durga anddancing to the beats of dhak (im-provised drums) in celebration ofBengali's biggest festival DurgaPuja this year.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kolkata, Nov 24: With the WestBengal government yet to take acall on when schools can resume of-fline classes, city schools have noinkling whether on-campus processcould begin this year or they haveto continue with online arrange-ments till the pandemic situation im-proves.

Principal of BD Memorial BijoyaChoudhury told PTI Tuesday, theschool authorities will initiate theprocess to start classes with COVID-19 protocols once they receive theadvisory from the state educationdepartment.

“As of now, we are continuingonline mode of teaching and learn-ing in all sections,” she said.

Asked if the school plans tocharge COVID-19 fee from students,she said there is no such proposal.

Principal of Loyola High School

Father Rodney Borneo said, “Wedon’t know when the school can beopened for students. The situation

is fluid. We will entirely depend onthe government recommendationsin this regard.”

With the Calcutta High Courtorder to 145 private schools hereto offer a minimum 20 per cent re-

duction in fees across the boardand not permitting non-essentialcharges for use of facilities notavailed of, there is no proposal to fac-tor-in the cost of enforcing COVID-19 safety measures as and whenclasses start in the school prem-ises, he said. “We have no idea whenin-person classes will begin inschools. All arrangements will bein place as the safety of students re-mains our priority,” he said.

State-run and state-aided schoolsalso said, they were yet to receiveany advisory from the government.

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee and EducationMinister Partha Chatterjee havenot announced any schedule forresuming classes in schools whichhad been suspended since mid-March.

Chatterjee had said, no decisionwould be taken which would en-danger the safety of students.

Pinarayi Vijayan: From invincible to vulnerableTHINGS HAVE STARTED TO GO FROM BAD TO WORSE FOR THE KERALA CM AS HE ENTERS INTO 5TH YEAR IN OFFICE

Thiruvananthapuram: The CPI-M-led LDF government in KeralaTuesday decided to bring out anordinance to withdraw thecontroversial amendment to theKerala Police Act.A special cabinet which met inthe afternoon decided torecommend Governor ArifMohammed Khan to issue anordinance to repeal Section 118-Awhich got his assent Saturday."Cabinet has decided to bringout an ordinance to withdraw theamendment," governmentsources told PTI.Khan had signed the KeralaPolice Act Amendment ordinancebrought by the Left frontgovernment envisaging additionof Section 118-A to prevent cyberattacks against women andchildren. However, after politicaloutcry across the country overthe controversial amendment,the Left government Monday,decided to put it on hold, sayingfurther action would be taken inthis regard after detaileddiscussion at the state Assembly.Opposition parties and even Leftsympathisers had slammed it,saying it was against thefreedom of speech and media.

GOVT TO WITHDRAWCONTROVERSIAL

AMENDMENT

CM’s ex-aide held ingold smuggling case

The NIA, the ED and the Customs are conducting separate investigations into the racket that was busted

with the seizure of gold July 5

Kerala moves SC against airport lease to Adani Enterprises

Adani Enterpriseshad won the rightsto run 6 airports --Lucknow,Ahmedabad, Jaipur,Mangaluru,Thiruvananthapuramand Guwahati --through the PPPmodel after a competitive biddingprocess in February

New farm laws led to potato &onion black-marketing: Mamata

Love and jihad don’t gotogether: Nusrat Jahan

Love is very personal.Love and jihad don't gohand-in-hand. Just beforepolls, people come upwith topics like this. It is

a personal choicewho you want to be

with. Be in love and startfalling in love with eachother. Don't make religiona political tool NUSRAT JAHAN I TMC MP

ALLEGING THAT THE CENTRALGOVERNMENT HAS LOOTED

EVERYTHING FROM FARMERSTHROUGH THE ACTS, THE CHIEFMINISTER SAID THAT PRICES OF

POTATOES ARE INCREASINGALARMINGLY

THE CENTRE IN SEPTEMBERENACTED THE ESSENTIAL

COMMODITIES (AMENDMENT)ACT, 2020, WHICH REMOVEDCEREALS, PULSES, OILSEEDS,

EDIBLE OIL, ONIONS ANDPOTATOES FROM THE LIST

Earlier we used to keep a check on prices of theseessential food items but the central Acts haverobbed the states of their powers. This has

caused losses to farmers as well as consumersMAMATA BANERJEE I CM

School authorities in dark over resumption of classes

CENTRE VS STATE

P8

nationalWEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 25 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Your (BJP’s)inefficient andbankrupt

economic policiesled to eightconsecutivequarters ofslowdown. From slowdown theeconomy was thrown into lockdownand from lockdown to recession

KT RAMA RAO | TRS WORKING PRESIDENT

of theday uote

We are thepeople whobelieve in an

‘Akhand Bharat’...We believe Karachiwill one day be apart of India

DEVENDRA FADNAVIS | FORMER

MAHARASHTRA CM

The wayDevendra jihas said that

time will comeKarachi will be thepart of India... wehave been sayingthat India, Pakistan and Bangladeshshould be merged

NAWAB MALIK | MAHARASHTRA MINISTER

If the NDA government (inBihar) does not provide 19lakh jobs to youth withinone month, we will hit thestreet and carry out protestacross the stateTEJASWI YADAV | RJD LEADER

“Baad Diya He” (just leave it) – a phrasethat former Assam Chief Minister TarunGogoi often uttered when faced with aquandary. And when he departed from theworld, people fondly remember him as aleader who never left them in difficult times

TARUN GOGOI SETS ON HIS FINAL JOURNEY

UP cop’s brothermurderedAmroha: A young man inUttar Pradesh was lured for alate night drink binge andthen murdered by his tenantsover money dispute. The victimturned out to be the youngerbrother of a woman sub-inspector, who registered acomplaint after her siblingwent missing last week.Amroha SP Vipin Tada toldreporters, “Akshay was aresident of Friends’ Colony inAmroha district. He wentmissing Thursday. After acomplaint, a manhunt waslaunched and Akshay's bodywas found in a deserted place.”

Maoist arrestedin JharkhandWest Singhbhum: A Maoistleader has been arrested inJharkhand's West Singhbhumdistrict in a joint operation bythe CRPF and the local police.Soma Angaria (30), wanted inseveral criminal cases, wasapprehended Monday fromBirbal Tola in Goilkera policestation area, a police officersaid. Angaria confessed thathe had a role in some of thecriminal cases filed againsthim, he said.

1st Kisan Railleaves for AssamIndore: The first Kisan Rail ofWestern Railway (WR)carrying 180 tonnes of onionsleft for New Guwahati stationfrom Indore in MadhyaPradesh Tuesday. Railwayofficials said 20 generalcategory coaches areattached in this Kisan Rail,which they said will leave forNew Guwahati everyTuesday from Indore'sLaxmibai Nagar station.After flagging off the train,Indore MP Shankar Lalwanisaid, "There is a lot ofenthusiasm among thefarmers about the first KisanRail of Western Railway.Such trains will increaseinter-state trade of farmers'produce. This will help us inrealising Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's dream of aself-reliant India".

70-year-old manshot deadNew Delhi: A 70-year-old manwas shot dead allegedly bytwo unidentified bike-bornemen outside his house inWest Delhi’s Vikaspuri. Theaccused fled the spot aftershooting the man identifiedas Attam Sigh, who receivedbullet injuries on his head,police said Tuesday. “Thedeceased is an Afghanirefugee who settled in India28 years ago. He does sewaat Gurdwara at AnandpurDham village in Karala,” saidDeepak Purohit, DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP) west Delhi.

SHORT TAKES

yy

cmyk

cmyk

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 24:Given its low pric-ing and higher temperature stor-age, Oxford University’s Covid-19vaccine candidate holds promise forIndia and is a more viable optionthan the Moderna, Pfizer or SputnikV vaccines under development, sayscientists while cautioning that thedata presented is still preliminary.

There is plenty to be hopeful aboutand the Oxford AstraZeneca is agood option to begin with, but it isalso important to remember thenumbers are tentative and a fullanalysis is difficult, several scientistssaid on Tuesday.

On Monday, pharma majorAstraZeneca announced that an in-terim analysis of clinical trials of itsCovid-19 vaccine in the UK and

Brazil showed it was 70 per cent ef-fective on average. The ChAdOx1nCoV-2019 vaccine, being producedin collaboration with OxfordUniversity, was found to be 70.4 percent effective when combining datafrom two dosing regimens fromPhase 3 clinical trials. However, intwo different dose regimens, thevaccine's efficacy was 90 per centin one, and 62 per cent in the other.

“These findings show that wehave an effective vaccine that will savemany lives. Excitingly, we've foundthat one of our dosing regimensmay be around 90 per cent effectiveand if this dosing regimen is used,more people could be vaccinatedwith planned vaccine supply,” ex-plained Andrew Pollard, directorof the Oxford Vaccine Group andchief investigator of the Oxford

Vaccine Trial. Tempering the ex-citement that the announcementcreated, virologist Upasana Ray saidwe should be happy but vigilant.

The interim results look prom-ising but it would be difficult toanalyse it fully without the full peerreviewed report, the senior scientistat Kolkata’s CSIR-IICB added.

“There are knowledge gaps likewhy the lower dose gave better effi-cacy results or how long this vaccinecan be stored in the refrigerator

without negative temperature stor-age conditions. Also, the valuesmight change after the completionof the entire trial,” Ray said.However, compared to the other can-didates, the Oxford vaccine appearsto be a good option to start with,she said. Three vaccine candidateshave shown over 90 per cent effi-ciency over the last few days – Pfizer-BioNtech with 90 per cent efficacyin Phase 3 trial interim results,Sputnik V with 92 per cent and

Moderna with 94.5 per cent. ThePfizer-BioNtech vaccine needs ex-treme cold storage at minus 70°Cand Sputnik V minus 20°C. Modernacan be kept in freezers for long-termstorage though it doesn’t need the spe-cial facilities required for the Pfizervaccine, the company said.

“The Oxford vaccine can toler-ate refrigeration for some period asopposed to the other successful can-didates under Phase 3 like the mRNAvaccines which can only be storedat negative temperatures,” Ray said.

“Thus, the cold chain issue isslightly relaxed in case of the Oxfordvaccine although this might not betrue if the storage has to be made fora long term. As far as cost is con-cerned, if a lower prime dose worksbetter, it will be more cost effective,”she added.

‘Oxford Covid vax results give hope but early days yet’

AGENCIES

Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), Nov24: The Allahabad High Court hasstruck down its previous judge-ment in which it held that religiousconversion “just for the purposeof marriage” was unacceptable.The court said that essentially it doesnot matter whether a conversion isvalid or not. The right of two adultsto live together cannot be encroachedupon by the state or others.

“To disregard the choice of aperson who is of the age of ma-jority would not only be antitheticto the freedom of choice of a grownup individual but would also be athreat to the concept of unity in di-versity,” court said.

The right to choose a partner ir-respective of caste, creed or religionis intrinsic to the constitutionalright to life and personal liberty, theAllahabad high court held, addingthat two previous judgments thatobjected to religious conversionfor the purpose of marriage didnot ‘lay down good law’.

The decision by the two-judgebench was delivered November 11but made public Monday.

The decision may now pose alegal problem for the Uttar Pradeshgovernment, which is planning a lawto regulate interfaith relationshipson the basis of the two previousjudgments that were both deliv-ered by single-judge benches.

The bench, comprising JusticesPankaj Naqvi and Justice VivekAgarwal, was hearing a petitionby a Muslim man and his wife, whoconverted from Hinduism to Islam,to quash a police complaint againstthem by the woman's father.

The petitioners contended theywere both majors and competent tochoose their life partners.

The court agreed with the peti-tioners, Salamat Ansari andPriyanka Kharwar a.k.a. Alia, bothresidents of Kushinagar district.

The judges held that any inter-

ference in a personal relationshipwould constitute a “serious en-croachment” on the right to freedomof choice. “We fail to understand thatif the law permits two persons evenof the same sex to live togetherpeacefully then neither any indi-vidual nor a family nor even statecan have objection to relationship

of two major individuals who outof their own free will are living to-gether,” the verdict said.

The judgment also contradictedtwo previous judgments -- one de-livered in 2014 and the other in 2020-- that said that religious conversiononly for the sake of marriage wasnot valid under law.

Allahabad HC upholdsright to choose partner

No conspiracy found in ‘love jihad’ cases Lucknow: T h e S pec i a lInvestigation Team (SIT) set upto probe cases of love jihad inKanpur, has not found any evi-dence of foreign funding or or-ganised conspiracy. The teamhas submitted its report to theInspector General (IG) Monday.The SIT probed a total of 14cases, including 11 in which thepolice have filed a charge sheetagainst the accused. IG MohitAgarwal said, “A total of 14 caseshad come up in Kanpur in whichthe parents had alleged that theirdaughters were implicated bythe boys by deception. The SITinvestigated all the cases. Of

these 11 cases were found inwhich some crime was com-mitted and 11 people have beensent to jail.” However, in threecases, the adult women havegiven a statement in defence ofthe men, which has contributedto the final report. There hasbeen no further probe in thesethree cases. Agrawal furthersaid that in these cases of al-leged love jihad, the SIT foundthat four of the accused menhad been in touch with eachother. Apart from this, in threecases, the accused had allegedlytold their names as that of someother religion.

The highcourt said

that its earlierverdict on

conversionwas not

good law

The Allahabad High Court has struck down its previousjudgement in which it held that religious conversion “justfor the purpose of marriage” was unacceptable

The court said that essentially it does not matter whether aconversion is valid or not. The right of two adults to livetogether cannot be encroached upon by the state or others

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Nov 24: Security agen-cies have alerted law enforcementagencies in Delhi to keep strictvigil in the national capital as thebanned Sikhs For Justice (SFJ)group in its latest move has givena call to farmers of Punjab andHaryana to raise “Khalistan flags”November 26 at India Gate here.

Even though many of suchmoves of the secessionist group inthe past few months turned futile,Indian agencies are taking all pos-sible measures to maintain peaceand proper functioning of the law-and-order situation in the city aswell as across India by not ignor-ing such inputs.

The alert comes amid informa-tion that 10 central trade unionsNovember 26 will observe a na-tionwide general strike in protestagainst the Centre’s policies, suchas privatisation of public sectorunits and new labour and farmlaws. They have also decided toback a two-day farmers' agitationon November 26 and November 27.

Informed sources, requestinganonymity, told IANS that the SFJmight have taken congnizance ofthe information, finding another

opportunity to give call to woofarmers of Punjab and Haryana.

In its “illegal and anti-national”appeal, the SFJ called for farm-ers’ support to raise Khalistanflags November 26 at India Gate tohighlight that "the only solution tofarm bills is to carve their inde-pendent homeland out of Indiathrough a referendum".

SFJ General CounselGurpatwant Singh Pannun, in avideo message, advised farmersto reach Delhi on November 25where arrangements for their nightstay have been made at GurudwarasBangla Sahib; Rakab Ganj Sahib;Sis Ganj Sahib and Majnu Ka Teelaand where Khalistan flags will besupplied to them for hoisting onIndia Gate, said sources.

Highlighting the significanceof November 26, Pannun statedthat “while Mumbai attacks of

2008 were perpetrated by agents ofIndian deep state, Farms Bill arean open onslaught launched bythe Modi government as an eco-nomic terrorism against farmersof Punjab and Haryana”.

The SFJ called for the moveNovember 26 as it will be observedas the 12th anniversary of the ter-rorist attack in Mumbai. Seriesof terrorist attacks took placeNovember 26, 2008 in Mumbaiwhen 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terroristscarried out 12 coordinated shoot-ing and bombing lasting four dayskilling 166 people and injuringover 300. In these gruesome at-tacks, nine terrorists were killedand the lone survivor, Ajmal Kasab,caught and was sentenced to deathat Yerwada Central Jail in Pune in2012. On November 11, 2012, Kasabwas hanged in Yerawada Jail in Pune.

Intel alert on SFJ’s Nov 26Khalistan flag-raising call

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 24: India Tuesday“successfully” test fired the sur-face-to-surface supersonic cruisemissile BrahMos as part of a seriesof planned trials of the weapon,known for its precision strike ca-pabilities, official sources said.

The range of the new land-at-tack version of the missile hasbeen extended to 400 km from theoriginal 290 km but its speed hasbeen maintained at 2.8 Mach or al-most three times the speed of sound,they said.

“The land-attack version of themissile was test-fired in theAndaman and Nicobar at around10 am and it was a successful trial”,an official source said.

According to official sources, inthe next few days, the Indian AirForce and the Indian Navy arescheduled to carry out separatetest-firing of the new version ofthe air-launched and naval ver-sions of the supersonic cruise mis-sile respectively.

BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russian joint venture, producesthe lethal weapon that can be

launched from submarines, ships,aircraft, or from land platforms.

India has already deployed asizeable number of the originalBrahMos missiles and other key as-sets in several strategic locationsalong the Line of Actual Controlwith China in Ladakh andArunachal Pradesh.

In the last two-and-half months,India has test fired a number ofmissiles including an anti-radiationmissile named Rudram-1 which isplanned to be inducted into serv-ice by 2022.

On October 18, a naval version ofthe BrahMos missile was success-fully test fired from an indigenously-built stealth destroyer of the IndianNavy in the Arabian sea.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Nov 24: The BombayHigh Court Tuesday granted in-terim protection from arrest toactor Kangana Ranaut and hersister Rangoli Chandel in con-nection with an FIR registeredagainst them under sedition andother charges, but directed themto appear before Mumbai PoliceJanuary 8.

The FIR was registered pur-suant to orders passed by theBandra magistrate's court heredirecting the police to carry out aninquiry against Ranaut and her sis-ter following a complaint lodgedagainst them for allegedly “try-ing to create hatred and commu-nal tension” through their socialmedia posts.

A division bench of JusticesSS Shinde and MS Karnik washearing a petition filed by Ranautand her sister, seeking to quash theFIR and the October 17 orderpassed by the magistrate.

The court said three summonseswere issued by the police and thesame need to be honoured.

Ranaut and Chandel’s advocateRizwan Siddiquee then assuredthe court that the sisters shall ap-pear before the Bandra police inMumbai on January 8 from 12 pmto 2pm for recording of their statements. The high court ac-cepted the statement.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Nov 24: A day afterthe Railways resumed train serv-ices in Punjab, the farmers Tuesdayblocked the railway track at theJandiala railway station inAmritsar district. Following thefresh blockade, the trains are beingdiverted.

A railway ministry official,wishing not to be named, said thefarmers blocked the entry of theGolden Temple Express at theJandiala Railway station.

He said the train was divertedto Amritsar via Taran Taran sta-tion. It reached Amritsar stationat 8.45 a.m.

The official said that theAmritsar District Collector andSenior Superintendent of Policefailed to pacify the farmers.

Following the fresh blockade,four trains to Amritsar will run viadiverted route, the official said.

He further said that the agitat-ing farmers are only allowinggoods train to pass through theJalandhar-Amritsar route.

Only Jalandhar-Amritsar routeis a problem as of now, whileJammu-Jalandhar route is clear,he added.

India test-fires land-attackversion of BrahMos missile

Farmers block passengertrain service in Amritsar

Married off as toddler,woman seeks legal help INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Jaipur, Nov 24: A 20-year-oldwoman married at the age of2.5 years has taken the court’sshelter to seek a better future forherself.

She has said in court thatthis kind of child marriage wasunacceptable to her and shewants to build her own futureby studying further. Samta wasmarried in 2003 in Osian Tehsilof Jodhpur district when shewas only 2.5 years-old. Her in-laws have been constantly pres-suring her to live with them intheir house, but Samta has beenopposing this. The in-laws evenstarted threatening her family.

Hence Samta finally took thecourt's shelter and requestedfor the cancellation of the child

marriage in Family Court-1 of Jodhpur. On the basis of thecomplaint, Judge MahendraKumar Singhal on Monday is-sued summons to the so-calledhusband of Samta.

Samta told IANS, “Child mar-riage is all unacceptable to meand am keen to study further tohave a bright future for myself.”

She further said that she re-ceived information about thecampaign against the child mar-riage being run by Dr. KritiBharti, Managing Trustee andRehabilitation Psychologist ofSarathi Trust. Without any delay,she contacted Bharti for helpto get her marriage cancelled.

With the help of Dr. KritiBharti, Samta filed suit for can-cellation of child marriage inJodhpur Family Court-1.

SEDITION CASE

HC grants Kanganainterim protectionfrom arrest

Pedestrians wade through a waterlogged road during heavy rain triggered by Cyclone Nivar, in Chennai, Tuesday PTI PHOTO

SEEKING SHELTER

P9

nationalWEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 25 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR I am very happy to

note that the Centralgovernment had reportedlyinvited the farmerorganisations for talksDecember 3AMARINDER SINGH | PUNJAB CHIEF MINISTER

President Ram Nath KovindTuesday boarded the Air IndiaOne – B777 aircraft – on itsinaugural flight to Chennai, readRashtrapati Bhavan statement

KOVIND INAUGURATES AIRINDIA ONE FLIGHT

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She [MamataBanerjee] wastalking about

outsiders. Who areoutsiders inside herown country?Interestingly, TMCfollows the policy of MahatmaGandhi who was from Gujarat but, ifany person comes here [in WestBengal] from another state, theywill be called outsiders

DILIP GHOSH | WEST BENGAL BJP CHIEF

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I will tell youclearly. In thecoming two to

three months, ourgovernment is beingformed inMaharashtra andyou should remember that

RAOSAHEB DANVE | UNION MINISTER

TheOpposition (inBihar) should

accept the mandateand support thegovernment in thestate with a positivestate of mind as its role is importantin a democracy

TARKISHORE PRASAD | BIHAR DEPUTY

CHIEF MINISTER

Father throws 3kids into canalChandigarh: In a shockingincident, a drunken manallegedly threw his threeminor children into a canal inHaryana’s Karnal district, thepolice said Tuesday. As thepolice were informed,officials rushed to the spotand divers were used tolocate the children, aged between three andeight years old. The accused, Sushil Kumar, aresident of Nalipar village,was arrested and heconfessed to the crime.

Techie burntalive by kin Hyderabad: A 38-year-oldsoftware engineer was killedinJagtial district allegedly byhis relative on suspicion thathe performed black magic,police said Tuesday. Theincident occurred Mondayevening when he had gone tovisit his relative in Malyalamandal, they said. Thevictim, employed inBangalore, was set ablaze.

Ghana nationalheld in Hydrabad Hyderabad: A 32-year-oldGhana national was arrestedhere Tuesday by the ExciseEnforcement on charges ofpeddling cocaine and over 60grams of the narcotic seizedfrom his possession, officialssaid. On reliable information,a team of Excise Enforcementsleuths kept a vigil near ahospital and caught theGhana national when he cameto deliver the cocaine to acustomer and seized 61 grams of cocaine from him.

Man rapesfriend’s mother Jaipur: In a shocking incident,a 21-year-old man allegedlyraped his friend’s mother inAlwar district of Rajasthan,police said Tuesday. The 58-year-old victim was alone inher house when the accusedcommitted the crime Sunday,Sunil Jangid, SHO, Shahjahan-pur said. The accused, VikasJat, used to visit his friend’shouse frequently.

Son beats fatherto death Fatehpur: A 55-year-oldwoman, who was beaten upby her son in Sujanpur villagehere, succumbed to herinjuries Monday, police said.Additional Superintendent ofPolice Rajesh Kumar saidthat Laakhan Singh Sundaybeat his mother, Savitri, witha stick following anargument.

SHORT TAKES

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 24: Crisscrossinglines of religion as they navigatedlove, societal approval and mar-riage, interfaith couples have neverhad it easy but the many hurdles ontheir road to ‘happily ever after'are now increasingly edged withunease – and the oxymoronic stampof ‘love jihad'.

Their challenges increase as thechorus gets louder with politiciansand others speaking out and severalstates declaring their intention tocome out with a law against ‘lovejihad', a term coined by a section of

Hindu groups for Muslim men al-legedly forcing women to convert inthe guise of love and marriage, saidseveral couples.

The societal scanner on their re-lationships has perhaps never beenso intense with every incident,whether of crime or an advertise-ment or a film, impacting on theirday to day lives, said a cross-sec-tion of men and women in interfaithrelationships and marriages.

“The term ‘love jihad' itself is afarce. How can one bring jihad intoa relationship? How can one be re-stricted on the grounds of religionin marital things? We hope the apex

court looks into a law if passed,and strikes it down,” said Delhi-based Sheena Shahulhameed, whois married to a Hindu man.

On Sunday, the BJP termed ‘lovejihad’ a serious problem and backedthe decision of its governments inUttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya

Pradesh to enact laws against it.“Many mothers and sisters havesuffered its bad consequences.This is a state matter and stategovernments should enact lawagainst it,” BJP general secretaryArun Singh said. The same day,debate over Mira Nair’s “A SuitableBoy” escalated with MadhyaPradesh Home Minister NarottamMishra saying state police hadbeen asked to examine a scene oftwo protagonists, a Hindu girl andMuslim boy, kissing with a templein the backdrop. And once more,there was heated debate on ‘lovejihad', with ‘#BoycottNetflix’ even

trending on Twitter. The following day, Monday, an

FIR was registered in MadhyaPradesh Monday against two Netflixexecutives for allegedly hurting re-ligious sentiments through the series.

It was a gathering storm.Last month, the term reared its

head when jewellery brand Tanishqwas forced to pull down an ad show-ing a Muslim mother-in-law or-ganising a baby shower for herHindu daughter-in-law. A few dayslater, a Hindu girl was shot deadby her Muslim classmate inFaridabad and her family claimed‘love jihad’.

Interfaith couples uneasy as ‘love jihad’ storm gathers force ON SUNDAY, THE BJP TERMED ‘LOVE JIHAD’ A SERIOUS PROBLEM AND BACKED THE DECISION OF ITS GOVERNMENTS IN UTTAR

PRADESH, HARYANA AND MADHYA PRADESH TO ENACT LAWS AGAINST IT

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Nov 24:The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) raided premiseslinked to Shiv Sena MLA PratapSarnaik in Maharashtra Tuesdayin connection with a money laun-dering case being probed against asecurity service provider companyand others, official sources said.

His party called the raids a “po-litical vendetta” and said theMaharashtra government or itsleaders will not surrender to pres-sure from anyone.

Sources said the searches arebeing conducted by the centralagency at 10 locations in Mumbaiand neighbouring Thane.

CRPF personnel were seen as-sisting ED sleuths during the op-eration that was launched earlymorning. “The searches are beingconducted on the Tops group (acompany in the business of pro-viding security) promoters and re-lated people, including some politi-cians,” an official source said.

Agency officials also questionedthe MLA’s son Vihang. The probe,

sources said, is related to someoverseas transactions by the enti-ties involved.

Sarnaik, 56, represents the Ovala-Maijwada constituency in theMaharashtra Legislative Assemblyand is also a spokesperson for hisparty. The legislator was in newswhen he wrote a letter seeking re-

opening of an alleged abetment tosuicide case of 2018 in whichRepublic TV’s editor-in-chief ArnabGoswami was arrested by MumbaiPolice recently. Goswami is now out on bail.

Sarnaik had also demanded aunanimous resolution in theMaharashtra Legislative Assembly

for legal action against actressKangana Ranaut, who, he said, has“maligned” the image ofMaharashtra and Mumbai throughher tweets.

“This action (ED raids) is defi-nitely a political vendetta. The EDor other agencies should not workas if a branch of a political party,”Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told re-porters.

He said Sarnaik’s propertieswere raided while the latter wasnot at home, and added that no mat-ter how many notices are issued;only truth shall prevail inMaharashtra. Raut also said thereis no ban on probes by an agency andit can take action if there is evi-dence. “But, you want to mentallyharass the people related to the(state) government. These actionswill backfire on you. And I think thattime is nearing,” he said.

The Shiv Sena was earlier anally of the BJP but snapped tieswith it last year over the issue ofsharing the chief ministerial postand it is in power in the state alongwith the NCP and the Congress.

ED raids premises linked to Shiv Sena MLA THE SENA MLA WAS IN NEWS WHEN HE WROTE A LETTER SEEKING RE-OPENING OF AN ALLEGEDABETMENT TO SUICIDE CASE OF 2018 IN WHICH REPUBLIC TV’S EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ARNAB GOSWAMI

SOURCES SAID THE SEARCHES ARE BEING CONDUCTED BY THECENTRAL AGENCY AT 10 LOCATIONS IN MUMBAI AND THANE

CRPF PERSONNEL WERE SEEN ASSISTING ED SLEUTHS DURINGTHE OPERATION THAT WAS LAUNCHED EARLY MORNING

JOLT

TO

MVA

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 24: Cyclone Nivaris expected to intensify into a 'verysevere cyclonic storm' and crossTamil Nadu and Puducherry coastsbetween Karaikal andMamallapuram on the late eveningof November 25, IMD DirectorGeneral Mrutunjay Mohapatrasaid Tuesday.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) had initiallypredicted that Cyclone Nivar waslikely to intensify into a 'severe cy-clonic storm' but has now esti-mated that it will intensify further.

Nivar is the second cyclone in theBay of Bengal this year. In May,Cyclone Amphan had developedinto a 'super cyclonic storm'.

"Our forecast is it will intensifyinto a very severe cyclonic stormby (Tuesday) tonight

"It is very likely to cross TamilNadu and Puducherry coasts be-tween Karaikal and Mamallapuramaround Puducherry during 25thNovember late evening as a very se-vere cyclonic storm with a windspeed of 120-130 kilometres perhour gusting to 145 kmph,"Mohapatra said.

Besides strong winds, the cy-clone is also expected to bringheavy rains. The IMD has issued redalert for coastal and north inte-

rior Tamilnadu, Puducherry andKaraikal, for November 25, the topmeteorologist said.

"Isolated extremely heavy rain-fall activity also very likely overcoastal and north interior TamilNadu and Puducherry (Pudukottai,Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Karaikal,Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Ariyalurand Perabalu districts during 24thand Kadalur, Kallakurchi,Puducher ry, Vil lupuram,Tiruvannamalai, Chengalpattu toAriyalur, Perambalur and Karaikaldistricts during 25th) and overNellore and Chittoor districts ofAndhra Pradesh on 25th and overRayalseema and southeastTelangana 26th November," theIMD said.

He added that cyclone leads tomulti-hazard scenario. In event of thecyclone, there could be serious dam-age to thatched huts, disruption ofpower and communication lines,damage to roads, uprooting of trees.There could be damage to horti-culture crops like banana and papaya.

The IMD has also suggested totalsuspension of fishing operationsand motorboats and small boats,shifting of people residing in coastalareas to safer places, judicious reg-ulation of road, air and rail traffic.

He said the IMD will issue hourlyupdates from November 25 when thecyclone crosses the coast.

Cyclone Nivar likelyto intensify into verysevere cyclonic storm

A woman wearing face mask stands in front of a mural on novel coronavirus and protective measures in New Delhi,Tuesday PTI PHOTO

AWARENESS DRIVE

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Nov 24: With 37,975new Covid-19 infections, India'stotal case tally reached 91,77,840Tuesday.

Not only was it the 17th straightday when India reported less than50,000 cases in 24 hours, but thenumber of fresh cases were alsoaround 13 per cent less (6,084) thana day before (44,059). The last timedaily new cases crossed the 50,000-threshold was November 7.

According to the data releasedby the Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare, 480 new deathstook the toll to 1,34,218 in the last 24 hours. The total active casesnow stand at 4,38,667. Recoveriesare at 8,60,49,55.

38K new casestake Covid-19tally close to 92L

Miracle baby in UP stuffedin gunny bags, survivesINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Meerut, Nov 24:A baby girl wasfound stuffed inside three gunnybags on the side of a road inUttar Pradesh’s Meerut, just 85kms from Delhi. The infant, leftto die in the cold apparently byher parents, is in hospital andrecovering.

The newborn was found re-portedly when people heard herwails and, to their horror, dis-covered her bundled in layers of sacks.

A gut-wrenching video showspassers-by remove the sacksone by one to reveal the cryinginfant. “What kind of parentscan do such a thing,” a womanis heard saying in the clip.

The people called the police,who rushed her to a local hos-pital. The baby is healthy and isbeing treated, said the police.

“When they brought the babyshe was in very bad shape, herplacenta was attached to her

body and there was a rottingsmell. We sent her to the new-born care unit. She is in a muchbetter condition,” said ManishaAgarwal, the doctor in chargeat the District Women’s Hospital, Meerut.

The doctor said managingthe baby's temperature was crit-ical. “She was thrown out inthe open and this can affect her.It is very important for her tohave mother’s milk within anhour of delivery. This must nothave been given to her. This isharmful for her, we are doingour best to treat her,” DrAgarwal said.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Nov 24: The MumbaiPolice Tuesday filed a charge sheetin a court here in the alleged TRP(Television Rating Points) rigging scam.

The charge sheet was submit-ted before a magistrate’s court bythe police’s Crime Intelligence Unit(CIU), which is conducting a probeinto the case, an official said.

The crime branch has so far ar-rested 12 persons, including RepublicTV’s western region distributionhead and owners of two other chan-nels, in connection with the case,he said.

The fake TRP scam came tolight last month when ratingsagency Broadcast AudienceResearch Council (BARC) filed acomplaint through Hansa ResearchGroup, alleging that certain tele-vision channels were rigging TRPnumbers.

Hansa had been tasked with in-

stalling barometers, which recordviewership data (which channelhas been watched and for how long)at sample households.

TRP is important as advertisingrevenue of channels depends onit. Mumbai Police CommissionerParam Bir Singh last month claimedthat Republic TV and two Marathichannels Box Cinema and FaktMarathi- were involved in manip-ulating TRPs.

Republic TV and other accused

have denied wrongdoing and ma-nipulation of the TRP system.

Earlier, Republic TV’s ChiefExecutive Officer (CEO), two ChiefOperating Officers (COOs) andChief Finance Officer (CFO) weresummoned by the police for ques-tioning in the fake TRP racket case.

The statements of Republic TV’sexecutive editor NiranjanNarayanswamy and senior execu-tive editor Abhishek Kapoor werealso recorded by the police.

The Maharashtra governmentlast month withdrew its “generalconsent” given to the Central Bureauof Investigation to probe cases inthe state, in the wake of the CBI tak-ing over a case registered by UttarPradesh Police against “unknown”channels and persons over allegedfudging of TRP.

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) recently filed a money laun-dering complaint in the allegedTRP rigging scam being investi-gated by the Mumbai Police.

Mumbai Police file chargesheet in fake TRP scam

The crime branch hasso far arrested

12 persons, includingRepublic TV’s western

region distributionhead and owners oftwo other channels,

in connection with the case

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 24: PrimeMinister Narendra Modi Tuesdaycautioned states and UnionTerritories against any laxity infighting the Covid-19 pandemicand called for reducing the posi-tivity and fatality rates by focus-ing on curbing the virus transmission.

Interacting with chief minis-ters, the Prime Minister also calledfor more RT-PCR tests, even as heunderlined that India’s Covid-19 sit-uation is more stable than othercountries in terms of recoveryand fatality rates.

Modi asked them to work to-wards bringing the positive rateto less than 5 per cent and thefatality rate to less than 1 percent and called for more RT-PCR tests.

“We need to speed up our ef-forts to reduce transmission ofthe virus. Testing, confirmation,contact tracing and data must begiven top priority,” he said.

Guard against laxity in Covid-19fight: PM to CMs

REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO

P10WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 25 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

internationalThere is now realhope that

vaccines, in combinationwith other tried and testedpublic health measures,will help to end thepandemicTEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS | WHO DIRECTOR-GENERAL

Changes in climate canincrease infectious diseaserisk in animals, with thepossibility that thesediseases could spread tohumans, warn researchers

MATTER OF CONCERN

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Over the half acentury sincethe

establishment ofChina-Ethiopiadiplomatic ties,traditionalfriendship of the two countries hasbeen getting stronger

XI JINPING | CHINESE PRESIDENT

of theday uote

I am verysorry for theincreased

inconvenience againin daily life anddifficulties in thepeople's livelihoods

MOON JAE-IN | SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT

One of thereasons weneed a strong

military is for ourfight againstinternationalterrorism. As wehave been doing in Afghanistan foralmost 20 years

JENS STOLTENBERG |NATO SECRETARY GENERAL

Will visit Bahrainsoon: NetanyahuJerusalem : Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahusaid Tuesday he would visitBahrain “soon” at theinvitation of the Gulf state’sCrown Prince Salman al-Khalifa. Bahrain followed theUnited Arab Emirates innormalising ties with Israel ina deal brokered by the UnitedStates that marked astrategic Middle Eastalignment against Iran.

Paris policeunder fire Paris: Paris police are undergovernment orders to explainthemselves after officerswere filmed tossing migrantsout of tents while evacuatinga makeshift camp in theFrench capital. Aid groupswere working Tuesday to findtemporary lodging for a fewhundred migrants forciblyremoved from the short-livedcamp on the Place de laRepublique in eastern ParisMonday night.

3 killed in SKplant explosion Gwangyang: Three peoplewere killed in an explosionthat occurred at a plantoperated by South Korea'stop steelmaker, POSCO,Tuesday, fire officials said.The incident took place ataround 4 p.m. with a roaringsound at its plant in Gwangyang,involving a blaze that was putout in about 20 minutes.

NYC’s 1st BlackMayor dies at 93New York: David Dinkins, whobroke barriers as New YorkCity's first African-Americanmayor, but was doomed to asingle term by a soaringmurder rate, stubbornunemployment and hismishandling of a race riot inBrooklyn, has died. Dinkinsdied Monday.

Schools in Pakclosed down Islamabad: Pakistan'sEducation Minister ShafqatMahmood said on Tuesdaythat the decision to closedown educational instituteswas taken due to non-compliance withgovernment-issuedcoronavirus SOPs.

14 killed in Afghantwin blastsKabul: Twin blasts in thecentral Afghan province ofBamiyan killed at least 14people and wounded 45more, provincial officials saidTuesday as the internationalcommunity pledged assistancefor Afghanistan in Geneva.

SHORT TAKES

CHINA’S ‘SPACE DREAM’: A LONG MARCH TO THE MOON

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Beijing/Wenchang, Nov 24: ChinaTuesday successfully launched itsmaiden unmanned spacecraft tocollect samples from the lunar sur-face and return to earth, whichspace scientists here say is theChinese space programme's mostcomplex operation ever.

The Chang'e-5 lunar probe wassuccessfully launched from theWenchang Spacecraft Launch Sitein the southern island province ofHainan, state-run CGTN reported.The spacecraft was launched by aLong March-5 rocket at 4.30 amBeijing Time.

Chang'e-5 is one of the most com-plicated and challenging missionsin China's aerospace history, as well

as the world's first moon-samplemission in more than 40 years.

The US sent astronauts to themoon to collect samples. In theSoviet Union's unmanned lunarsampling missions, the spacecrafttook off from the moon and re-turned to Earth directly.

The mission faces new techni-cal challenges and much could gowrong, Chinese space scientistssaid. “It is the Chinese space pro-gramme's most complex missionever,” Pei Zhaoyu, deputy directorof the Lunar Exploration and SpaceProgram Centre of the ChinaNational Space Administration(CNSA) told the official media.

The 8-tonne spacecraft has fourindependent but interactive com-ponents. This includes one to stay

in lunar orbit as a docking station,one to go down to the moon's sur-face and drill for samples, one to takethe material back to the dock station

and another to bring the samplesback to Earth.

Explaining why China chose todo what has been accomplished by

the US and Soviet Union much ear-lier, Pei was quoted by the state-run Xinhua news agency as say-ing that China chose a complicatedtechnological approach includingunmanned rendezvous and dockingin lunar orbit, and could bring backmore samples and lay a technolog-ical foundation for manned lunarmissions. A major space power,China launched its first Mars mis-sion ‘Tianwen-1' July 23 this year.The Mars spacecraft which includedan orbiter, lander and rover is on itsway to the red planet.

The Chang'e-5 will help promoteChina's science and technology de-velopment and lay an importantfoundation for China's futuremanned lunar landing and deepspace exploration, Pei said.

More importantly, scientists havefound in the lunar samples the idealmaterial for nuclear fusion, andenough of it to meet human's energyneeds for about 10,000 years, Pangadded. China's future moon mis-sions will explore the possibilityof building an international lunarresearch base, the report said.

After it enters the lunar orbit,the lander-ascender combinationwill separate from the orbiter-re-turner combination.

While the orbiter-returner or-bits about 200 km above the lunarsurface, the lander-ascender willtouch down on the northwest re-gion of Oceanus Procellarum, alsoknown as the Ocean of Storms, onthe near side of the moon in earlyDecember, the Xinhua report said.

Long March-5 rocket carrying the Change 5 lunar mission lifts off at theWenchang Space Launch Center PTI PHOTO

IT IS CHINA’S FIRST ATTEMPT TO RETRIEVE MATERIALS FROM AN EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL BODY WHICH IS EXPECTED TO LAST MORE THAN 20 DAYS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nairobi, Nov 24: Alarm spiralledTuesday over Ethiopia's imminenttank attack on the capital of the de-fiant Tigray region, with a rushof warnings about protecting civil-ians three weeks after the warbegan. Prime Minister AbiyAhmed's 72-hour ultimatum forthe region's leaders to surrenderends Wednesday.

His military has warned civiliansthere will be “no mercy” if theydon't move away from the leadersin time – whichsome humanrights groupsand diplomatssay could violate international law.

“The highly aggressive rhetoricon both sides regarding the fight forMekele is dangerously provoca-tive and risks placing already vul-nerable and frightened civiliansin grave danger,” United Nationshuman rights chief MichelleBachelet said. The allegation thatthe Tigray leaders were hidingamong civilians “does not thengive the Ethiopian state carteblanche to respond with the useof artillery in densely populatedareas.” A year before taking powerin Ethiopia and introducing re-forms to win the Nobel Peace Prize,Abiy successfully defended a PhDthesis in conflict resolution.

Now he sits in Africa's diplo-

matic capital and rejects calls fordialogue. Meanwhile, a powerfulvoice in efforts for dialogue, theUnited States, is in disarray as theTrump administration remains fo-cused on internal politics after los-ing the November election — andafter President Donald Trump in-furiated Ethiopia with commentson a separate issue this year. Thediplomatic vacuum has broughtEthiopia, one of Africa's most pow-erful and populous countries, towhat Amnesty International calls“the brink of a deadly escalation”

at the heart of thestrategic Horn ofAfrica. With timerunning out before

the assault on Mekele and its pop-ulation of some half-million people,the UN Security Council is re-portedly meeting Tuesday to discussthe situation.But efforts by the UNsecretary-general, the AfricanUnion, the European Union andothers have been turned aside.

In an unusually public dis-agreement over the weekend,the current AU chair, SouthA f r i c a n P r e s i d e n t C y r i lRamaphosa, backed three high-level envoys for Ethiopia, an ini-tiative the UN chief quicklypraised for “efforts to peacefullyresolve the conflict.” Ethiopia,however, said the envoys wouldmeet with Abiy and not theTigray leaders.

With Ethiopia on brink of escalation,diplomacy in doubt

AP PHOTO

A woman wearing a mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus holds a Christmas lantern as she assembles a display in Quezon city, Philippines PTI PHOTO

CHEERFUL MOOD

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Singapore, Nov 24: Singaporesaid Tuesday that its securitya g e n c i e s h ave a r r e s t e d aBangladeshi man, who wasplotting attacks against Hindusin his own country and plan-ning to fight in Kashmir, afterthey investigated the suspi-cious activities of 37 people aspart of the heightened secu-rity measures in the city-statefollowing recent terror attacksin Europe.

In a statement, the Ministryof Home Affairs said that counter-terrorism investigations into thesuspicious activities of 37 peo-ple in Singapore have been carriedout after most of them posted onsocial media, inciting violenceor stoking community unrest inthe aftermath of the terror at-tacks in France.

Of the 37 people, 14 areSingaporeans and 23 foreigners,mostly Bangladeshis, it said.

As for the 23 foreigners, 16 ofthem, including 15 Bangladeshisand one Malaysian have beenrepatriated, it said.

Seven foreigners are still underinvestigation, it added. OneBangladeshi man under investi-gation – identified as 26-year-oldAhmed Faysal - has been arrestedunder the Internal Security Act(ISA) following investigationsinto "terrorism-related activi-ties", the ministry said.

Preliminary investigations bythe Internal Security Department(ISD) showed that Faysal wasradicalised and harboured the in-tention to "undertake armed vi-olence in support of his reli-gion", the Channel News Asiareported, citing the statementissued by the Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA).

Faysal had been working as aconstruction worker in Singaporesince early 2017, and became rad-icalised in 2018 after "imbibing on-line propaganda on ISIS", thestatement said. He was arrestedNovember 2.

S’PORE ARRESTSBANGLADESHI MAN UNDER ISA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

London, Nov 24: Just in timefor holiday travellers, Englandis cutting the two-week quar-antine facing people arrivingfrom regions not on Britain'scoronavirus safe list, reducingit to as little as five days if theytest negative for COVID-19.

The change to the quarantinerules, which was announcedTuesday and takes effect onDecember 15, has been long-awaited by the travel industry,one of the worst-hit sectors dur-ing the pandemic.

The change will bring the rulesgoverning quarantines in Englandmore in line with other Europeancountries, including Germany.

Under the new rules, passen-gers can reduce the 14-day quar-antine period by paying for atest from a private firm on orafter Day 5 of their arrival at apotential cost of around 100pounds ($133).

The change does not apply topeople arriving from other partsof the United Kingdom.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Kabul /New Delhi, Nov 24: Ina move that further strengthensIndia-Afghan relations, the gov-ernment Tuesday announced thatit is building a new dam inAfghanistan that will provideclean drinking water to millionsof people in Kabul.

External Affairs Minister S.Jaishankar, who led the Indian del-egation at the 2020 AfghanistanConference held virtually inGeneva from November 23 to 24,said that India has just signedan agreement with Afghanistanto construct Shatoot dam, whichwould provide safe drinking waterto 2 million residents of Kabul city.

The Conference is co-hostedby the United Nations, the gov-ernment of the Islamic Republicof Afghanistan, and the govern-ment of Finland and aims to reaf-firm the commitment of the in-ter national community toAfghanistan during the secondhalf of the transformational

decade 2015-2024.The minister at the conference

also announced the launch ofPhase-IV of the High ImpactCommunity Development Projectsin Afghanistan, which envisagesmore than 100 projects worth US$80 million that India would un-dertake in Afghanistan.

India had earlier built the 202-km Phul-e-Khumri transmis-sion line that provided electric-ity to Kabul city. In his statement,Jaishankar emphasised India'slong-term commitment to the

development of Afghanistan andthe benefit of its people as a con-tiguous neighbour and strate-gic partner.

Jaishankar highlighted thatno part of Afghanistan today isuntouched by the 400-plus projectsthat India has undertaken in all34 of Afghanistan's provinces.More than 65,000 Afghan studentshave also studied in India. India'sdevelopment por tfolio inAfghanistan has to-date amountedto over US$ 3 billion.

Afghanistan's growth hasbeen constrained by its land-locked geography, the ministerpointed out, highlighting NewDelhi's efforts to provide an al-ternate connectivity throughChabahar port and a dedicatedAir Freight Corridor betweenIndia and Afghanistan. India'shumanitarian assistance of75 ,000 tonnes of wheat tostrengthen food security ofAfghanistan during the Covidpandemic has been transportedthrough Chabahar port.

India to build new dam in AfghanChina criticises PopeASSOCIATED PRESS

Beijing, Nov 24: China criticisedPope Francis Tuesday over a pas-sage in his new book in which hementions suffering by China’sUighur Muslim minority group.Foreign ministryspokesperson ZhaoLijian said Francis’remarks had “nofactual basis at all.”

“People of all eth-nic groups enjoythe full rights ofsurvival, develop-ment, and freedomof religious belief,”Zhao said at a daily briefing.

Zhao made no mention of thecamps in which more than 1 mil-lion Uighurs and members of otherChinese Muslim minority groupshave been held. The US and othergovernments, along with humanrights groups, say the prison-likefacilities are intended to divideMuslims from their religious andcultural heritage, forcing them todeclare loyalty to China’s ruling

Communist Party and its leader, XiJinping. China, which initially de-nied the existence of the facilities,now says they are centers intendedto provide job training and pre-vent terrorism and religious ex-tremism on a voluntary basis.

In his new book“Let Us Dream,” dueDec. 1, Francis listedthe “poor Uighurs”among examples ofgroups persecuted fortheir faith.

Francis wroteabout the need to seethe world from the pe-ripheries and the mar-

gins of society, “to places of sinand misery, of exclusion and suf-fering, of illness and solitude.”

In such places of suffering, “Ithink often of persecuted peo-ples: the Rohingya, the poorUighurs, the Yazidi — what ISISdid to them was truly cruel — orChristians in Egypt and Pakistankilled by bombs that went offwhile they prayed in church,”Francis wrote.

AGENCIES

Brussels, Nov 24: The EuropeanUnion has struck a deal for up to160 million doses of US firmModerna’s COVID-19 vaccine can-didate, the head of the EuropeanCommission said Tuesday, takingthe EU’s potential stock of COVID-19 shots to nearly 2 billion.

Last week, Moderna said its ex-perimental vaccine was 94.5% ef-fective in preventing COVID-19,based on interim data from a late-stage clinical trial.

“I am happy to announce that to-morrow we will approve a newcontract to secure another COVID-19 vaccine,” Ursula von der Leyensaid, adding the deal “allows us tobuy up to 160 million doses of a vac-cine produced by Moderna.”

Actual purchases will be car-ried out by EU governments if thevaccine is approved by the EU’sdrug regulator. The delivery time-line is unknown. The doses would

be enough to vaccinate 80 millionpeople as the vaccine is expectedto be administered in two doses.

In August the EU’s executiveCommission, which co-leads talkswith vaccine makers on behalf ofmember states, said it had heldpreliminary talks with Modernaover a deal for 80 million doses and

an option for 80 million more. Theterms of the contract have notbeen disclosed. An EU official in-volved in the talks told Reuterslast week the EU was seeking aprice below $25 per dose forModerna’s vaccine..

But Moderna Chief ExecutiveStephane Bancel said on Sunday thecompany would charge govern-ments between $25 and $37 perdose, depending on the amount or-dered. A spokesman for theCommission declined to commenton pricing.

It is the sixth supply deal theEU has negotiated with COVID-19vaccine makers and takes the totalnumber of doses secured by thebloc to 1.96 billion for its populationof around 450 million.

Brussels has already struck dealswith AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech,Sanofi-GSK, Johnson & Johnsonand CureVac. It is also in talks tobuy US firm Novavax’s potentialCOVID-19 vaccine.

EU secures 160mn dosesof Moderna nCoV vaccine

England to cut travelquarantines to 5days with tests

Representative image

CIVIL WAR

P11

businessWEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 25 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

We have relaxed therequirement ofmandatory mock

trading sessions to facilitatetesting of new software orexisting software that hasundergone any change offunctionalityAJAY TYAGI | CHAIRMAN, SEBI

Indian equity indices conquered newpeaks Tuesday, with the Nifty closingabove the 13,000-level for the first time,as banking, FMCG and auto stocks sawheavy buying amid optimism overCOVID-19 vaccine progress.

BENCHMARKS RALLY TO RECORD HIGHS

cmyk

cmyk

A cohesivenational retailpolicy would

go a long way inreviving the sectorand help generateup to 30 lakhadditional jobs in the country by2024

SHASHWAT GOENKA | CHAIRMAN, CII

NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON RETAIL

of theday uote

Enough syringesupply in India New Delhi: An industry bodyof syringe and needlemanufacturers Tuesday saidthat it has written to PrimeMinister Narendra Modioffering an additionalcapacity of over 350 millionsyringes per monthdepending upon therequirements during thevaccination programmeagainst the COVID-19. Thiscapacity is already built upby the manufacturers takinglearning from mask and PPEkits experience India faced inMarch and April 2020, AllIndia Syringe & NeedleManufacturers Association(AISNMA) said in the letter.

Diageo targetszero emissions New Delhi: Global spiritsmajor Diageo Tuesdayannounced its 'Society 2030:Spirit of Progress' plan underwhich it targets to achievenet zero carbon emissionsacross direct India operationsby 2025. Moreover, it aims toachieve net water positiveimpact in India by 2026.Under its global 'Decade ofAction' to help achieve theUnited Nations SustainableDevelopment Goals, Diageo,the maker of popular brandslike Johnnie Walker, said itwill ensure 100 per cent useof recycled content.

FIMI urges govtto ban exportsNew Delhi: Miners' body FIMIhas urged the Centre toimmediately put a completeban on illegal exports of ironore pellets stating that such amove would help meet thedomestic requirement of thekey material used in makingsteel. In a recent letter toSteel Minister DharmendraPradhan, FIMI also made aplea to the government forurgent intervention tointroduce a price monitoringand regulation mechanismfor sale of steel by integratedproducers.

Hiring activityup, says reportNew Delhi: Recruitmentactivity in India witnessed anuptick in September andthough competition for jobs islower compared to severalmonths ago, it is still 30 percent higher compared to a yearago, says a report. Accordingto LinkedIn's latest edition ofthe 'Labour Market Update',hiring recovery in Indiareached 30 per cent year-on-year in September. Findingsfrom the latest edition showthat hiring activity is improvingand the digital divide isnarrowing, suggesting arecovery in hiring for the non-tech sectors.

SHORT TAKES

SMEVwelcomes theannounce-

ment of setting upcharging kiosks atevery fuel station. Itis a massiveinitiative that if done quickly and insufficient density could address theissue of range anxiety

SOHINDER GILL | DIRECTOR GENERAL, SMEV

Every yearover 30 milliontonnes of

paddy stubble areburnt in Punjab andHaryana alone. Theidea of VerveRenewables was initiated with thesole intention of curbing theproblem

SUVRAT KHANNA | CEO, VERVE RENEWABLES

BIZBUZZ

JSW Steel launches website to help MSMEsNEW DELHI: JSW Steel haslaunched a dedicatedwebsite for MSMEs to helpthem purchase steel even insmaller quantities, a topofficial said Tuesday. MSMEsare usually smallercompanies which producevarious products fordomestic and internationalmarkets. And facilitating with timely and affordable deliveries willenable them to compete much better, JSW Steel Director -Commercial Marketing and Corporate Strategy - Jayant Acharya said."With this aim, JSW Steel has launched (website) JSW For MSME. Weare encouraging MSMEs to register so that we understand theirrequirements better. JSW Steel extends help to MSME withpreferential pricing for its steel products.”

Delhi 27th fastest-growing residential marketNEW DELHI: India'snational capital has beenranked 27th, while Mumbaiand Bengaluru were placedat the 33th and 34thpositions respectively in aglobal index that measuresannual price appreciationof luxury residential properties, according to a Knight Frank report.Auckland in the Australasia region topped the index with 12.9 percent price appreciation in the July-September quarter, compared tothe same period last year. Manila and Shenzhen were at 2nd and 3rdpositions respectively with 10.2 per cent and 8.9 per cent price rise.The property consultant on Tuesday released its Prime Global CitiesIndex Q3 2020 report. In the Q2 (April-June) report, Bengaluru andDelhi were at 26th and 27th positions, while Mumbai was ranked atthe 32nd position.

Mercedes Benz ties up with SBI for car financeMUMBAI: Luxury carmanufacturer Mercedes-Benz Tuesday said it haspartnered with State Bankof India (SBI) for car financeat 'attractive' interest ratebesides many otherbenefits. The collaborationwill give Mercedes-Benz India access to the unparalleled marketpenetration of SBI's HNI customer base, while the bank's customerswill enjoy exclusive benefits on booking its luxury cars, the companysaid in a release. The tie-up guarantees many financial benefitsincluding an attractive rate of interest. Besides, all customersbooking a Mercedes-Benz car online through SBI's digital platformYONO will get an additional benefit of `25,000 at the dealerships, itsaid. "We are confident the SBI customers will be highly excited withthe seamless online journey," he added.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 24: About 66.6billion transactions worth USD270.7 billion are expected to shift fromcash to cards and digital paymentsby 2023 in India, and further in-crease to USD 856.6 billion by 2030,a report by Accenture said Tuesday.

This rapid shift to digital pay-ments due to the COVID-19 pan-demic is urgently increasing theneed for banks to modernise theirpayment systems, the report, titled'Playing the Long Game in PaymentsModernisation', said.

The report is based on a surveyof 120 payments executives at banksglobally regarding the transfor-mation of their payments business,as banks make multi-year invest-ments to compete with non-bank dig-ital-payments providers and com-ply with new regulations.

Conducted between July andAugust this year, the report sur-veyed markets including Australia,Brazil, Canada, China, India,Norway, Singapore, Thailand, theUK and the US. It noted that theexpected drop in cash volume isbased on GlobalData and Accenture

Research assumptions. Also, theforecast of non-cash transactions inconsumer spending is calculatedusing cash evolution data and MSCrates provided by GlobalData.

The report forecasted that nearly420 billion transactions worth USD7 trillion, globally are expected to

shift from cash to cards and digitalpayments by 2023 – and increaseto USD 48 trillion by 2030. In India,66.6 billion transactions worth USD270.7 billion are expected to shift fromcash to cards and digital paymentsby 2023 – and increase to USD 856.6billion by 2030, it said.

The rapid move to digital pay-ments has put additional pressureon banks, with three-quarters (75 percent) of surveyed bank executivessaying that the pandemic has in-creased the urgency of their plansto modernise payment systems, thereport added.

COVID-19 has accelerated theshift to digital payments at a pacebanks could not have predicted.The pandemic will permanentlychange how consumers shop and payfor products as they prioritise con-venience above all else, SulabhAgarwal, who leads Accenture's

Payments practice globally, said.He added that while banks' in-

vestments in new payments sys-tems have focused primarily onmeeting compliance deadlines, theway they will drive value movingforward is by embracing the chang-ing consumer dynamic and im-proving the customer experience.

While India has been ahead ofthe curve in terms of real-time dig-ital payments infrastructure drivenby UPI and 24x7 NEFT, the pan-demic has led to a further increasein digital, contactless payments asconsumer behavior has undergonea shift, Sonali Kulkarni, Lead –Financial Services, Accenture inIndia, said. With newer playerslaunching their payments offeringsand increased uptake of 'Buy NowPay Later' schemes, consumer ex-perience and convenience is boundto improve significantly, she added.

‘66 billion transactions to shift from cash to cards’This rapid shift to digitalpayments due to thepandemic is urgentlyincreasing the need for banks to modernisetheir payment systems

RAPID SHIFTWith newer

playerslaunching

theirpaymentsofferings,consumer

experienceand

convenienceis bound to

improvesignificantly

TWO-WHEELERSEGMENT TO‘SEE GROWTH’

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 24: India's two-wheeler exports will see sustainedgrowth in the second half of nextfiscal after witnessing temporaryhurdles in the first half this yeardue to COVID-19 and weakenedcrude oil prices, hurting theeconomies of key exporting des-tinations, according to ratingsagency Ind-Ra.

Exports momentum is expectedto continue in the remaining partof FY21 and FY22, primarily drivenby the exporting countries' lowerpenetration level, demand forusage as commercial fleet, stabil-ity in crude prices, lack of publicinfrastructure and aversion topublic transport amid COVID-19,India Ratings and Research saidin a statement.

India exports two-wheelersmainly to African, Asian and LatinAmerican countries, constituting37.5 per cent, 22.9 per cent and21.4 per cent, respectively, duringthe first half of FY21, it added.

Within this, Nigeria, Colombia,Nepal, Bangladesh and Philippinestogether accounted for around 50per cent of the total exports inFY20 (in terms of value), the rat-ing agency said.

CARS24 RAISES$200 MILLION INGLOBAL FUNDING

AGENCIES

Chennai, Nov 24: CARS24, anonline transaction platform forpre-owned vehicles, became thelatest Indian startup to become aunicorn. The company on Tuesdayannounced raising $200 millionin Series-E funding round led byDST Global where it was valuedat over $1 billion. Existing in-vestors in the startup, such asExor Seeds, Moore StrategicVentures and Unbound, also par-ticipated in the funding round.

The company will use the fundsraised to invest aggressively intechnology and product innovationand scale up new business verti-cals. With more than 200,000 trans-actions annually and a four-fold in-crease in website engagement,CARS24 had already surpassedits pre-Covid business level, thecompany said.

“Traditionally, selling or buy-ing cars has been a tiresomeprocess. But, in the past five years,we have strived to transform thecustomer's journey the CARS24way, which is hassle-free, safe andtransparent. With this investment,we will continue to innovate ourproduct and bolster our capabil-ities to provide the best experiencefor all parties,” Vikram Chopra,co-founder and chief executive,said in a statement.

AGENCIES

San Francisco, Nov 24: Teslachief Elon Musk has surpassedMicrosoft co-founder Bill Gates tobecome the second-richest personin the world.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Indexput the Tesla chief executive -- witha $127.9 billion fortune -- aboveGates -- at $127.7 billion -- for the firsttime.

The 49-year-old entrepreneurhas added more than $100 billionto his net worth since January2020, making him one of the fastest-growing among the world’s 500richest people.

The jump in Musk's fortune cameas the shares of the electric car-maker Tesla soared and its marketcap neared $500 billion Monday.

The wealth gap between Muskand Gate is not huge, and it is pos-sible they could switch places again.

Bill Gates’ current net worth is$127.7 billion, and he would haveranked on the top had he not do-nated so prodigiously to charitiesover the years. Gates has donatedmore than $27 billion to his name-sake foundation, Bill & MelindaGates Foundation, since 2006.

Gates was the richest man forfour years running till 2017 whenAmazon CEO Jeff Bezos overtookhim. Bezos continues to be the rich-

est man in the world with an esti-mated net worth of $182 billion.

Despite the pandemic, whichhas resulted in business closuresand job losses, this year has beena good one for those listed on theBloomberg index, who have col-lectively gained $1.3tn since January.

A week ago, Musk overtookZuckerberg and advanced into thirdplace. The 36-year-old Facebookfounder has fallen back into fourthspot this week, behind the Frenchbusinessman Bernard Arnault, thechief executive of LVMH, the world’slargest luxury goods company.

Musk now 2ndrichest in world

AGENCIES

Mumbai, Nov 24: Vodafone Idea(Vi) has lost further ground to rivals– Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel –with its revenue market share (RMS)slipping 22 basis points (bps) se-quentially to 22.6% in the Septemberquarter, dragged mainly due to com-paratively lower network-relatedspends which led to more subscriberlosses, say analysts.

Conversely, market leader Jio re-ported 34 bps gains on-quarter, tak-ing its RMS in the July-Septemberperiod to 41.3%, while No 2 telco,Bharti Airtel’s was stable at around34.2%, said sector experts, analysinglatest telco financial data collatedby the Telecom Regulatory Authorityof India (Trai).

The decline in loss-making Vi’sRMS was “led by a dip” in sub-

scribers -- as many as 8 million cus-tomer losses in the September quar-ter, said Axis Capital. Subscriber fallcontinues to be a problem area forthe loss-making telco, which lags itstwo rivals on 4G coverage.

Emkay Global expects the telcoto suffer “further market erosion”in coming quarters due to its low in-vestments in the network.

Cash-strapped Vi's `1,040 crorecapex in the September quarter,FY21 was well below Airtel's ̀ 6,790crore and Jio's `5,426 crore. Thetelco is hoping to raise ̀ 25,000 crorein the next couple of months via amix of debt and equity to invest inits 4G network and also clear itsbalance `50,400 crore of AGR ar-rears to the government.

Jio’s quarterly RMS gains weredriven by a combination of strongsequential growth in revenue fromnational long distance (NLD) serv-ices, the residual impact of tariffhikes taken nearly a year back and4G users up-trending to highervalue data packs, say analysts.

“Jio’s NLD revenues recorded astrong rebound with a 64% se-quential jump in the fiscal secondquarter, after falling 53% in Q1,” saidEmkay. The brokerage added that

the market leader also “sustainedits numero uno position in 18 cir-cles,” with revenue contributionfrom its top-7 markets stable at 53%.

Airtel’s RMS was flattish but re-ported gains in key circles such asBihar, Maharashtra and also re-tained its leadership in Karnatakaand Tamil Nadu. Emkay estimatesAirtel’s revenue from its top-7 circlesstood at 59% in the July-Septemberperiod. Trai data showed that Jio,Airtel and Vi’s quarterly adjustedgross revenue (including NLD rev-enue) rose 5%, 4% and 3% sequen-tially to ̀ 16,095 crore, ̀ 13,306.1 croreand `8,813 crore respectively.

“Vi’s higher AGR (including NLD)in the September quarter was due tolower cash payments towards inter-connect usage charges (IUC), post-changes in GST rules for payment ofIUC invoice,” Axis Capital said.

Voda Idea cedes further groundTHE DECLINE IN LOSS-MAKING VI’S RMS WAS ‘LED BY A DIP’ IN SUBSCRIBERS

WITH AS MANY AS 8 MILLION CUSTOMER LOSSES IN THE SEPTEMBER QUARTER

n VI'S `1,040 CRORE CAPEX INTHE SEPTEMBER QUARTERWAS WELL BELOW AIRTEL’S`6,790 CRORE AND JIO’S `5,426CRORE

n THE TELCO IS HOPING TORAISE `25,000 CRORE IN THENEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS VIAA MIX OF DEBT AND EQUITY

The jump in Musk’s fortune came as theshares of the electric

car-maker Tesla soaredand its market capneared $500 billion

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 24: Non-per-forming loans in the Indian bank-ing sector is likely to witness anuptick and may shoot up to 11 percent of gross loans in the next 12-18 months, S&P Global Ratings saidTuesday.

It said forbearance is maskingproblem assets for Indian banksarising from COVID-19 and the fi-nancial institutions will likely havetrouble maintaining momentumafter the proportion of Non-per-forming loans (NPL) to total loansdeclined consistently so far thisyear.

While financial institutions per-formed better than we expected inthe second quarter, much of this isdue to the six-month loan morato-rium, as well as a Supreme Courtruling barring banks from classi-fying any borrower as a non per-forming asset, S&P Global Ratingscredit analyst Deepali Seth-Chhabriasaid.

In its report titled The StressFractures In Indian FinancialInstitutions, S&P said with loanrepayment moratoriums havingended on August 31, 2020, NPLs inthe banking sector will likely shootup to 10-11 per cent of gross loansin the next 12-18 months, from 8per cent on June 30, 2020.

According to S&P, the bankingsystem's credit costs will remain el-evated at 2.2-2.9 per cent this yearand next.

Resumption of economic activ-ity, government credit guaranteesfor small to mid-size enterprises, andbuoyant liquidity is helping to limitstress. Our NPL estimates are lowerthan previous but we are still ofthe view that the sector's financialstrength will not materially recover

until fiscal 2023 (ended March 31,2023), it said.

According to S&P, 3-8 per centof loans could get restructured.

Banks and non-bank financialcompanies (NBFCs) have also beenstrengthening their balance sheetsand bolstering their equity bases.Banks have also been building re-serves and creating excess COVIDprovisions, which in our view shouldhelp them smooth the hit fromCOVID-related losses.

For NBFCs we rate, perform-ance has been improving. Like withbanks, collections have surged forNBFCs. Top-tier NBFCs are bene-fiting from surplus system liquid-ity, as indicated by a sharp reduc-tion in risk premiums. Weakerfinance companies, however, havefaced higher risk premiums. Weexpect such polarisation to persistin 2021, S&P added

NPAs to rise further: S&P

WHILE FINANCIALINSTITUTIONS

PERFORMED BETTERTHAN EXPECTED IN

THE SECOND QUARTER,MUCH OF THIS WAS

DUE TO THE SIX-MONTH LOANMORATORIUM, AS

WELL AS A SC RULING

Printed and published by Tathagata Satpathy on behalf of Navajat Printers and Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Navajat Printers, B-15 Industrial Estate, Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar -751010, Odisha;Phone:7894447142(Marketing). Editor: Tathagata Satpathy, RNI No. ORIENG/2011/37159

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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dubai, Nov 24: The talismanicVirat Kohli and RavichandranAshwin were Tuesday nominatedfor the coveted ICC Men’s Playerof the Decade Award with the Indiancaptain featuring in all five men’scategories for his incredible runin the last 10 years.

Kohli and veteran off-spinnerAshwin are the two Indians amongseven players nominated for themost prestigious award.

Besides the Indian duo, Joe Root(England), Kane Williamson (NewZealand), Steve Smith (Australia),AB de Villiers (South Africa), andKumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) arethe other contenders in this category.

In the Men’s ODI Player of theDecade category, former India skip-per MS Dhoni and run-machineRohit Sharma also found a placealongside Kohli, Lasith Malinga(Sri Lanka), Mitchell Starc(Australia), De Villiers andSangakkara.

Kohli and Rohit also featured inthe Men’s T20I Player of the Decade

category, which also included RashidKhan (Afghanistan), Imran Tahir(South Africa), Aaron Finch(Australia), Malinga and ChrisGayle (West Indies).

Kohli has also been nominated inthe Men’s Test Player of the Decadeand ICC Spirit of Cricket Awardof the Decade categories. BesidesKohli, Dhoni also found a place inthe ICC Spirit of Cricket Award ofthe Decade award category.

Kohli, who averages more than50 in all formats, has alreadyamassed 70 international hundredsand is only behind Ricky Ponting(71) and Sachin Tendulkar (100).He is third in the list of leadingrun-scorers of all time with 21,444runs, behind Ponting (27,483) andTendulkar (34,357).

In the past decade Kohli hasamassed over 7000 runs in Testswhile in the shorter formats, theIndian skipper has accumulatedmore than 11,000 runs in ODIs andover 2,600 runs in T20s.

The final winners will be decidedon the basis of the number of votesa player receives.

KOHLI, ASHWIN NOMINATED FOR PLAYER OF THE DECADE AWARDLIST OF NOMINATIONS

MEN’S PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Virat Kohli (India), Ravichandran Ashwin (India), Joe Root (England), Kane Williamson(New Zealand), Steve Smith (Australia), AB de Villiers (South Africa), and KumarSangakkara (Sri Lanka).

WOMEN’S ODI PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Meg Lanning (Australia), Ellyse Perry (Australia), Mithali Raj (India), Suzie Bates(New Zealand), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies) and Jhulan Goswami (India).

WOMEN’S PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Ellyse Perry (Australia), Meg Lanning (Australia), Suzie Bates (New Zealand),Stafanie Taylor (West Indies), Mithali Raj (India), Sarah Taylor (England).

MEN’S ODI PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Virat Kohli (India), Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Mitchell Starc (Australia), AB deVilliers, Rohit Sharma (India), MS Dhoni (India), and Kumara Sangakkara (Sri Lanka).

MEN’S TEST PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Virat Kohli (India), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Smith, James Anderson(England), Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka), and Yasir Shah (Pakistan).

MEN’S T20I PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Virat Kohli (India), Imran Tahir (South Africa), AaronFinch (Australia), Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Chris Gayle (West Indies), and RohitSharma (India).

ICC SPIRIT OF CRICKET AWARD OF THE DECADE

Virat Kohli (India), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand),Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan), MS Dhoni (India), Anya Shrubsole (England), Katherine Brunt(England), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), and Daniel Vettori (New Zealand).

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 24: India’s staropener Rohit Sharma and pacerIshant Sharma will miss the firsttwo Tests against Australia andare also doubtful for the remain-ing two after it was conveyed to the

BCCI that the duo will requireclose to a month to be match fit.

The two, who are undergoingrehabilitation at the NationalCricket Academy (NCA) inBangalore, are already out of con-tention for the limited-overs legof the series, which begins with the

ODIs Friday.They were kept in the Test squad

for the series starting December 17but tough quarantine rules havemade their availability uncertain.

“The NCA has given a reportthat both Rohit and Ishant willtake at least another 3 to 4 weeks

to get match fit,” a BCCI source toldthis agency Tuesday.

Rohit, while talking to thisagency last week, had stated thathis hamstring injury is fine nowand he is only working on strengthand conditioning to be battle-readyat the NCA.

Ishant, on the other hand, is re-covering from a side strain. “Evenif they travel now they will have‘hard quarantine’ since they willtravel by commercial flight. Hardquarantine means not being ableto train during the 14 days likethe whole team,” the source said.

“S o, n ow i f o n ly C ri cketAustralia can convince the gov-ernment and allow them to trainduring quarantine,” he added.

The Indian team, which landedhere after the IPL earlier thismonth on a chartered flight, wasallowed to train in quarantine asAustralia battled a fresh wave of

COVID-19 cases.National coach Ravi Shastri had

Sunday stated that the two crick-eters’ chances of playing the Testseries hinge on whether they areable to board a flight to Australiawithin this week.

“If you need to play in the Testseries or any red-ball cricket, you’vegot to be on the flight in the nextthree or four days. If you aren’t,then it’s going to be tough,” hehad said.

The four-Test series, after theday-night opener in Adelaide, willmove to Melbourne (December 26to 30), followed by games in Sydney(January 7 to 11) and Brisbane(January 15 to 19).

India will be without skipperVirat Kohli after the first Test ashe will return to the country tobe there for the birth of his firstchild. The visitors had won the2018-19 series 2-1.

Rohit, Ishant to miss first two Australia Tests,also doubtful for remaining two matches

HUGE BLOWTO INDIA

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Sydney, Nov 24: Former Australiacaptain Michael Clarke has warnedthat India could be ‘smoked 0-4’ inthe Test series if skipper ViratKohli does not set the tone in thewhite-ball games before his de-parture.

The 32-year-old Kohli has beengranted paternity leave by the BCCIto be with his wife for the birth oftheir first child. He will lead theteam in the white-ball series, com-prising three ODIs and as manyT20s, and the opening Test atAdelaide before heading back home.

“These ODIs and these T20Is arewhere Virat Kohli can really standup and lead from the front,” Clarkesaid on ‘Sky Sports Radio’ Tuesday.

“If India don’t have success in theODIs and the T20Is, they are indeep trouble in the Test matches andthey’ll get smoked 0-4, in my opin-ion,” he added.

Clarke feels that despite featur-ing in only one Test, the talismanicIndian skipper could still play ahuge role in the outcome of thered-ball series by dominating inthe limited overs game. “I thinkthe tone he sets with this team willplay a big role when he leaves, afterthe first Test match.”

The much talked about contestbetween the two best sides in theworld would begin November 27with the ODI series-opener inSydney.

The former World Cup-winningskipper said Jasprit Bumrah willalso have a huge role in the muchanticipated series, adding that thestar pacer needs to bowl aggres-sively to put the pressure on the

home side. “Opening bowler, prob-ably the best short-form bowler inthe world at the moment but his suc-cess in Test cricket has been ex-ceptional as well.

“He’s quick, he’s got a really dif-ferent action, so I think he needs toset the tone and be really aggres-sive to the Australian batters,”Clarke said.

The 39-year-old pointed out thatBumrah has been winning the duelagainst the formidable DavidWarner and also has the ability totrouble star batsman Steve Smith.

“Again, it’s not just about thewickets he takes, it’s how he bowls.He’s got Davey Warner’s measureat the moment. He’s got him out anumber of times.

“Even to someone like SteveSmith, he’s got to use that shortball consistently and regularly, likeJofra Archer did to Steve Smithin the Ashes.

“They’ve (Bumrah and Kohli)got to take the Aussies on and thosetwo players are India’s best twoplayers to be aggressive to theAustralians,” he added.

Virat needs to settone, feels ClarkeFormer Oz skipper believes whitewash is obvious if

Indian captain doesn’t set momentum before leaving

Target the fifth stump toSmith: Sachin to bowlers

TIM PAINE SAYS…It still annoys me that we lost that Testseries. Whether we had Steve (Smith) orDavid (Warner) or not, you don’t want to belosing any Test matches or Test seriesyou’re involved in, so that still grinds me alittle bit.

(However) we’re a much better all roundside (now). Not just adding Steve and Davidback into it, which is a hell of a lot of runsto add back into a side, but I think everyother cricketer in that team has improvedin the last 18 months as well and we’vebeen playing some really good cricket

STEVE SMITH SAYS…Rohit is obviously a tremendous white-ball player, he hasproven that for a number of years now at the top of the order,so obviously it leaves a bit of hole. But I guess the beauty withthe Indian team is there are so many batters coming through,that are of high quality (giving examples of Mayank Agarwal &KL Rahul)

The same (like Rohit) I think with Virat and the Test squad.You know there are a number of players who can come in anddo a good job. Virat is of obviously of high quality, and weknow how good he has been in all forms for a long period oftimes, so it is certainly going to leave a hole but I still dobelieve that they have got some quality batters waiting in thewings to fill that void

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 24: Steve Smith’sunconventional technique will war-rant a slightly wider line fromIndian bowlers, the iconic SachinTendulkar said, urging the pacersto target the ‘fifth stump’ to bluntthe redoubtable batsman duringthe upcoming series in Australia.

Smith, who missed the last India-Australia series in 2018-19 due to aball-tampering ban, will be itch-ing to go out there and prove apoint. He has always performedagainst India and has six hundredsand a 92, a statistic that won’t be loston India skipper Virat Kohli.

“Smith’s technique is uncon-ventional... Normally, we tell abowler in Test matches to bowl onand around off-stump or may befourth stump line. But for Smith, be-cause he shuffles, may be that line(of delivery) moves further away byfour to five inches,” Tendulkar toldthis agency in an interview.

“One has to aim between (imag-inary) fourth and fifth stump forSteve to nick one. It’s just a mentaladjustment of line, more than any-thing else,” the former captain said.

“Smith, I read, said he is readyfor the short-pitched stuff...Probablyhe is expecting bowlers to be ag-gressive upfront with him. But Ithink, he needs to be tested on andaround that off-stump channel.Keep him on back-foot and inducethat early mistake.”

Can’t an in-swinging yorker bemore effective, considering Smith’spronounced trigger from leg to offstump?

“For that to happen, you have tosee how much the ball is swinging.All those things matter. You can’tuse saliva, so it’s a different case,

if wickets have a lot more life. InEngland during the Test matches,on occasions, the Dukes wouldn’tbe swinging much.

“I don’t know if they will havegreenish wickets for the ball to doa little bit. If the ball doesn’t swing.That swinging yorker, you might noteven see.”

The Indian bowling attack com-prising Jasprit Bumrah,Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharmaand Umesh Yadav is a ‘potent one’but Tendulkar would ideally like theteam management to identify a de-fensive bowler as well.

Thapa, Esmael on target as CFC win

ASSOCIATED PRESS

London, Nov 24: Supporters areset to return to English PremierLeague games next week for the firsttime since March.

British Prime Minister BorisJohnson is allowing a return ofspectators to sports stadiums aspart of an easing of coronavirus re-strictions when the national lock-down ends December 2.

A maximum of 4,000 fans will ini-tially be allowed into venues in theareas with the lowest COVID-19 in-fection rates and up to 2,000 in theareas placed in the next tier of re-strictions. The highest-risk areasstill won’t be allowed fans.

Plans for the return of spectatorsin October were put on hold due to

a spike in coronavirus cases. Thegover nment will announceThursday which tiers English citiesand regions will be placed into.

“We are able to get the turnstilesturning sooner than expected,”Culture Secretary Oliver Dowdensaid on Monday, “taking a cautiousapproach and starting with thelowest risk areas first. I’m confidentthat sports will take every step toensure their fans are safe, and fanswill play their part and look out foreach other until we can safely geteveryone back in.”

Britain has been Europe’s hard-est-hit country during the pan-demic, with 55,230 known deathswithin 28 days of a positive coro-navirus test including another 206in Monday’s daily update.

ENGLISH STADIUMS TOHOST FANS NEXT WEEK

AGENCIES

Goa, Nov 24: Chennaiyin FC (CFC)had a wonderful start to their IndianSuper League 2020-21 campaign asthey defeated Jamshedpur FC 2-1in their season-opener at TilakMaidan here, Tuesday.

First-half goals from AnirudhThapa (first minute) and EsmaelGoncalves (26th) were enough forthe two-time champions to securethe victory. Nerijus Valskis (37th)pulled one back for the losingside, but they couldn’t find theequaliser, which could have earnedthem a point.

Chennaiyin got off to a dreamstart as Thapa opened the scoringseconds after the kick-off. After aneat exchange of passes in the cen-tre, Rafael Crivellaro slipped athrough-ball for Esmael who randown the right flank.

The forward drilled a low crossinto the centre of the box for Thapawhose late run and a splendid first-time strike was more than whatthe Jamshedpur defence and thegoalkeeper could deal with.

It was a fantastic start to thematch as both teams seemed un-willing to sit back with a deep

block. Jamshedpur’s attack ledby last season’s Golden Boot win-ner Valskis tried to press for anequaliser but it was Chennaiyin’senergetic forays forward thatstood out.

Esmael had multiple opportu-nities to score in the first half butwas finally rewarded for his athleticcentre-forward play when IssacVanmalsawma decided to nudgeLallianzuala Chhangte inside thebox in the 25th minute.

Chhangte felt a slight push onhis back as he contested for anaerial ball inside the box and thereferee pointed to the spot.Esmael, also known as Isma, con-verted the penalty to double histeam’s lead.

Jamshedpur tried to build theirattacks from the flanks but their at-tacks were well dealt with by theChennaiyin defence until the 37thminute.

The defenders failed to spotValskis’ run into the box asJackichand clipped a delightfulcross into the box from the rightflank. The Lithuanian striker gotoff the mark with a neat header intothe net from what was his team’sfirst shot on target.

Anirudh Thapa wheels away in celebration after scoring Chennaiyin FC’sfirst goal against Jamshedpur in their ISL encounter, Tuesday